Chapter 49: Skull Crusher

This time, Luo Zhou's refinement of his spiritual runes was not merely a change in his innate abilities.

Through repeated instances of burning, his body underwent profound transformations.

Although Luo Zhou remained at the eighth level of the Body Tempering stage and his cultivation realm had not increased, his physical fitness had improved comprehensively.

His flesh, bones, five senses, meridians, limbs, internal organs, spirit, and soul were all strengthened and elevated.

His strength increased to 15,000 jin; with a perfect demonic transformation burst, he could exert a force of 19,000 jin.

Do not assume this is an immense amount of strength; this was not Earth from his previous life. In this world, any random body cultivator or strength cultivator possessed thousands or even tens of thousands of jin of strength. 19,000 jin was merely elite-level in this world, not even considered a minor genius.

His memory grew stronger, reaching a near-photographic state; he became dexterous and skillful, his body as agile as a swallow. No matter how complex a movement was, he could perform it with ease.

His body was robust, his endurance inexhaustible, his blood and qi vigorous, and his essence, energy, and spirit brimming!

His five senses expanded, his spiritual intuition sharpened, and his facial features became more refined, exuding infinite charm.

However, his height had inexplicably decreased by an inch, as if he had been refined and shrunk.

Why did he have to shrink?

The range of the Dragon-Slaying Thorn quietly expanded from four zhang and three chi to four zhang and five chi. This was not just an expansion of the Thorn; the Spirit Induction range and Flash Step all expanded along with it.

Another major change occurred: the original buffs from the "River-Turning and Sea-Treading Warrior" had quietly vanished. It was as if those two Immortal Occupations had never existed, having been completely absorbed by Luo Zhou's body.

When an Immortal Occupation is held, there is a possibility of it being revoked, which would cause the holder to lose various buffs. Now, having completely absorbed them, they had become a part of Luo Zhou's body, meaning those buffs would never disappear.

The Caster occupation also slowly faded, and Luo Zhou unexpectedly gained a new ability: Death Curse!

Only the Hinomatsu Warrior Immortal Occupation remained.

However, Luo Zhou did not care; he had a feeling that this was only the beginning. His body was the Demonic Lord's Sacred Body; everything was just starting.

Time to cultivate!

He cycled through the five major body-tempering techniques—White Sun, Azure Profundity, Purple Cloud, Black Nether, and Brown Scale—performing three hundred and sixty forms through nine complete cycles of the Great Zhou Tian.

Only after finishing his cultivation did he rest.

When he woke up the next day, Luo Zhou let out a long breath. After washing up and eating the leftovers from yesterday, he donned his armor and went to battle!

He stowed the staff version of the Dragon-Slaying Thorn into his Universe Bag. However, he opened the iron mace he had received yesterday; hidden in the compartment meant for a dagger was a Dragon-Slaying Thorn. The hollow space inside the iron mace was quite large, perhaps to save on materials? He placed two Dragon-Slaying Thorns inside. If he encountered a second-order sea beast that pursued him relentlessly, he could strike back and kill it instantly. The battlefield was so chaotic; surely no one would notice.

But then Luo Zhou remembered Battalion Commander Guo and shook his head; he would avoid using it if possible.

He headed toward the eastern gate of the city, but this time he did not join Cheng Peng's squad, instead merging with Pang Yunhua.

The great battle began.

Luo Zhou joined the emergency response squad; wherever there was crisis, he went.

Amidst the fighting, Pang Yunhua remarked, "This sea beast siege is several times weaker than the one five years ago."

"No way?"

"Truly. Logically, it should take another eight or nine years for the sea beasts to accumulate enough numbers to siege the city. I don't know why they started this year. For example, the Siege Crab you killed last time—five years ago, twenty-three of them rushed in at once, breaking the formation and forcing a defensive battle on the walls. This time, aside from the one you killed, not a single Siege Crab has been seen."

Luo Zhou asked, "So, is that a good thing?"

"Of course! I don't think this year's sea beast calamity will be anything major. At most, it will end in five or six days. They won't break the walls, so there won't even be street fighting!"

Luo Zhou nodded. This was likely because of the Jellyfish Holy Son's protector; fearing that Elder Zhang might discover something, they had triggered the siege prematurely. He wondered what Elder Zhang and the others had been up to these past two days!

Regardless, it was time to fight!

This day, Luo Zhou was worked to the bone. He was fighting almost from dawn till dusk, constantly in combat. At critical moments, he would appear with a roll, crashing through the ranks to slaughter the sea beasts.

In the midst of the battlefield, almost all cultivators knew of a youth who was incomparably powerful. He didn't follow the roads; he rolled across the ground, and wherever he rolled, the sea race was crushed. Some had even begun calling him the number one Body Tempering expert below the Qi Refinement stage in Cuiling City!

By nightfall, the battle ended. He earned 18,535 fragmented spirit stones in military merit. It wasn't as much as yesterday because there were no big prizes like the Siege Crabs!

Luo Zhou withdrew from the battlefield and went home honestly. Bath, eat, rest... then cultivate.

This time, the accumulated Fate was only 1,231.

He performed twelve rounds of Body Tempering and Spirit Condensation. Among them, eight rounds repeatedly strengthened his innate abilities: Telekinesis, Rattle, Insect Emperor, Flash Step, and Diting. The Rattle gained an extra sound, becoming a Triple Consecutive Strike. Other abilities grew slightly stronger, but without significant changes. The "Reward Good and Punish Evil" ability was wasted once.

The remaining three rounds transformed the "Light Pathfinding" ability into the innate "Light Law." Luo Zhou now possessed an excellent talent for practicing light-attribute spells. He also transformed the "Death Curse" ability into the innate "Death Curse," granting him the talent to cast curse-type spells.

For the final round, Luo Zhou's "Sharp Vision" ability underwent constant changes under this baptism. Sharp Vision was obtained from Meng Junzheng's ability. "Sharp" meant it could enhance vision to see a sesame seed as large as a wheel. "Deep" meant night vision and the ability to see in the dark.

At this moment, the ability quietly evolved from an ability to a characteristic, and finally to an innate talent. The Sharp Vision ability became the "Heaven and Earth Eye." With himself as the center, everything within the space of heaven and earth—up, down, left, and right—was within his sight! This meant the surrounding space was entirely within his visual field; darkness, daylight, mist, or dust were all rendered meaningless.

Thus, except for "Reward Good and Punish Evil" and "Flash of Light," all his other abilities were now divine talents.

The range of the Dragon-Slaying Thorn immediately expanded from four zhang and five chi to five zhang and one chi!

Upon obtaining the Heaven and Earth Eye, Luo Zhou entered a trance-like state. This was the first time his "Omniscience" was systematically integrated into his cultivation system through the Heaven and Earth Eye. It felt as if he had comprehended many things. He slowly stood up and began to move around the room. As he moved, he practiced the River-Turning Palm and the Sea-Treading Fist.

This time, there was no rolling or jumping. Instead, his steps were light and slow, advancing three steps and retreating one. He appeared clumsy and dull, yet his movements contained an innate, natural essence!

Luo Zhou practiced like this all night, only waking from his trance at dawn. However, he felt no fatigue; instead, he was full of vigor.

He joined the battle once more, still in the emergency response squad. But this time, Luo Zhou was different from yesterday. There was no longer the sight of him rolling on the ground; instead, he wandered through the battlefield with ease and leisure, as if he were on a stroll in the countryside.

Because of his cultivation last night, he had used the Heaven and Earth Eye to merge Omniscience into his fists and palms. Under the Heaven and Earth Eye, he perceived himself, his enemies, and the battlefield—everything was known! Everything was under the control of Omniscience!

He used all his strength—the Heaven and Earth Eye, Diting, River-Turning Palm, Sea-Treading Fist, Telekinesis, Rattle, and Flash Step—to achieve a perfect unity through Omniscience. With a perfect grasp of the battlefield, he would slip past silently and then suddenly erupt with his strongest force, striking the enemy's weakest point for a killing blow.

His "River-Turning and Sea-Treading" techniques had reached a higher level, used to their absolute extreme. He subverted his own attacks to make them the strongest, subverted the enemy's defense to make it the weakest, and subverted space itself—touching meant arriving, then killing!

On the battlefield, people saw Luo Zhou walking quietly and noiselessly. With a slight movement, a sea beast's head would explode. It was effortless and nonchalant! He was a complete departure from the image of him rolling on the ground from the previous two days!

Passing through a crowd of mermen, a light sweep caused a massive area to collapse! Every sea beast died with a burst head!

When he first mastered the River-Turning and Sea-Treading techniques, he could only strike according to set patterns—that was merely scratching the surface. Rolling on the ground and striking from the air was entering the hall. Now, being effortless and natural meant he had reached perfection.

Everyone was stunned!

Someone gave him the nickname "Head-Popper." However, since Cuiling City already had a "Head-Popping Demon," which was considered bad luck, they eventually changed it to "Skull-Crusher."

Some people secretly bet that Luo Zhou would inevitably be killed by the Head-Popping Demon, arguing that the struggle for titles lasted a cultivator's entire life. Others argued that the Head-Popping Demon specialized in killing Qi Refinement cultivators, and since Luo Zhou was only at the Body Tempering stage, he could still live for a few more years.

Some even placed secret bets!