187: Chapter 187 Instant Kill! The Pinnacle of Slime Kings! Two Races' Abilities!

The bronze giant gate groaned as it slowly swung open, letting a rush of ancient and savage aura pour out, carrying with it dust sealed away for eons and an invisible pressure.

Everyone felt a blur before their eyes; the ground beneath their feet seemed to dissolve instantly, and a dizzying sensation of weightlessness swept over them.

"Spatial teleportation?"

Lu Qingyun only had time for this thought to flash through his mind before the people around him vanished completely.

Master Ming, Mu Susu, Luo Qing... the dozen or so figures that had been by his side just a moment ago were now nowhere to be seen.

The next second, the sensation of solid ground returned.

He looked up; all around him was pitch-black darkness, with only the ground beneath his feet—a roughly hundred-zhang circular area—glowing with a faint light, like an isolated stone platform. It was vast and deathly silent; he couldn't even hear the wind.

"This place actually looks pretty nice."

Lu Qingyun shoved his hands into his pockets, showing not a hint of nervousness.

No sooner had he finished speaking—

Click, click, click!

A dull, ancient sound of gears turning suddenly erupted from deep within the darkness, as if a mechanism that had been asleep for eons had been awakened.

The crisp sound of gears interlocking echoed through the enclosed space, vibrating the ground slightly.

Out of the darkness, a behemoth slowly stepped forward.

Its ten-zhang tall body stood like a mountain, cast entirely from a pitch-black, gleaming unknown metal. Intricate rune gears interlocked at its joints, and two blood-colored crystals were embedded where its eyes should be, emitting a cold, emotionless red light.

A humanoid Puppet, every inch of its metallic texture exuding the aesthetics of violence.

Standing there, it was like an impassable iron fortress, its oppressive presence rushing toward him.

Lu Qingyun raised his eyes, his gaze landing precisely on the top of the Puppet's head.

[Guard Puppet (LV48)]

[Skills: Heavy Hammer Sweep, Destruction Beam]

...

"Level forty-eight, exactly the same Rank as me."

"It seems this first trial is a test of combat power at the same Rank."

If it were an ordinary Martial Artist at the eighth stage of Divine Intent facing this metal Puppet exuding such ferocity, they would likely be treating it as a grave threat, unleashing all their skills to cope.

But in Lu Qingyun's eyes, this thing was no different from an oversized toy.

"Let's make this quick."

He couldn't be bothered with small talk and moved his mind.

Hum—!

Pitch-black Psychic Power swept out without warning, instantly condensing into a violent storm in mid-air!

The Transcendent Realm Divine Will Storm, driven by his pure-to-the-extreme Psychic Power, far exceeded the power of ordinary Peak Divine Will Spirit Arts.

The black storm was like a Vicious Beast with its jaws wide open, carrying the momentum to tear everything apart as it crushed down toward the ten-zhang tall Puppet!

"Clang—!!!"

A piercing, metallic collision exploded!

The Puppet had just raised its thick metal arm to launch a Heavy Hammer Sweep, but the violent Divine Will Storm had already slammed into its body.

The indestructible black metal shell was as fragile as paper under the shredding force of the Divine Will Storm!

Cracks spread at a speed visible to the naked eye, from its arm to its torso, and then to its legs...

Crack! Crack!

A dense series of shattering sounds merged into one, and in just three breaths of time, that ten-zhang tall steel mountain collapsed!

Huge metal parts clattered to the ground, kicking up dust.

In the end, only a metal head, a zhang wide, remained, rolling lonely on the ground, the blood-red crystals in its eye sockets still flashing with malice.

Zzzzz—!

Two crimson Destruction Beams shot out from the crystals, blasting precisely at Lu Qingyun's face!

The temperature of the beams was extremely high, scorching the air to the point of distortion wherever they passed, carrying a ferocity capable of burning mountains and boiling seas!

Lu Qingyun stood where he was, not moving an inch.

He let the two lasers strike his forehead and chest solidly.

[Ding! Attacked by Destruction Beam, HP -12680!]

[Ding! Attacked by Destruction Beam, HP -21450!]

Two System notifications flashed, and Lu Qingyun didn't even lift an eyelid.

Tens of thousands of damage?

He currently had over ten million HP; this bit of damage didn't even count as a fraction of a percent.

It was purely a water pistol.

"That's all the power you've got?"

He curled his lip, walked forward, picked up the metal head that was still firing lasers, and casually placed it on the stone platform in front of him, adjusting the angle so the two beams pointed right at his chest.

"Beep beep—"

Lu Qingyun deliberately puffed out his chest; it looked as if the lasers were being emitted by the Eyes of Xing Tian on his own body.

Might as well use it as a background prop so he wouldn't have to immediately enter the next trial, which would delay his real business.

He intentionally left the head intact instead of destroying it.

This isolated space blocked all detection, making it the perfect place to upgrade his racial template.

Lu Qingyun dusted off his hands and sat cross-legged in the center of the stone platform.

Behind him, the crimson laser bombarded his back ceaselessly, heating his clothes, but it couldn't even break his skin.

A bizarre and comical scene unfolded in the space.

The ten-zhang Puppet had been dismantled, and its only remaining head was frantically firing Destruction Beams at the youth, yet the youth sat there with his eyes closed as if nothing were happening, as if there were merely two insignificant little light bulbs in front of him.

"System, use the racial template upgrade."

Lu Qingyun thought to himself.

The next second, the familiar System notification exploded in his Sea of Consciousness—

[Ding! Detected racial template upgrade count ×1, confirm use?]

"Confirm."

[Racial template upgrading...]

[Original template: Powerful Slime Leader (Blue)]

[Template shattering...]

Lu Qingyun felt a "crack" in his mind, as if some shackle had instantly shattered.

On the System panel, the blue text in the race column crumbled inch by inch, turning into light dust filling the sky.

Immediately following that, a deep and noble purple rose slowly from the light dust, like an emperor's coronation, carrying the pressure of one looking down upon everything!

[Template update successful!]

[Current race: Apex Slime King (Purple)]

[New Racial Ability 1: King's Pressure—As the Supreme King of the Slime race, your very existence is Supreme majesty. All life forms with a lower life level than yours will be permanently subjected to absolute suppression at the Soul level! The suppression effect is determined by Rank. With the King's wrath, all living beings shall bow!]

[New Racial Ability 2: Follower Summoning—You can currently summon up to 10 Slime Leader followers to fight for you. The followers' Rank will remain consistent with the host's current Rank, and they can be summoned or recalled at will.]

Two pieces of information flooded into his mind, and Lu Qingyun's eyes lit up.

King's Pressure!

Previously, relying on the Hierarchical Severity mechanism, he could only make low-Rank life forms unable to resist, allowing him to crush them.

It had no effect on high-Rank experts, but now... as long as you aren't ridiculously high-Rank, under the suppression of life levels, you'll still be a head shorter when you meet!

As for Follower Summoning... having underlings, not bad!

That's what he said.

A proper big BOSS, how could they not have minions around?

To challenge the BOSS, one must first get past the minions!

"Awesome!"

Lu Qingyun shouted inwardly.

But before he could savor the joy, a heart-wrenching, excruciating pain swept through his entire body!

The true transformation had only just begun.

His flesh surged, his bones shattered and reformed, his Meridians felt as if they were being scorched by raging fire, and even his Soul felt as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible giant hand, repeatedly torn, kneaded, and reshaped!

This wasn't a simple attribute boost; this was a leap in life level!

From Leader to King was the leap from mortal to Supreme!