Slaying the King of Flesh

**Shk! Shk! Shk!!**

The King of Flesh was run through by Stellar Sword after Stellar Sword. Ragged wounds tore open across his body, green blood pouring freely from each one.

Even so, his injuries were still closing at a ferocious rate.

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected the King of Flesh to regenerate this quickly even under sustained assault.

Still, to Lu Yuan, it was little more than an inconvenience. If one round of damage couldn't finish him off, he'd simply keep pushing.

His will stirred. Countless Stellar Swords pierced the King of Flesh from every angle. Dark energy began eating into the creature's body, while radiant force worked in tandem, relentlessly purifying the Aberration aura clinging to his flesh.

Submerged beneath that terrifying storm of power, the King of Flesh stared out with stunned eyes and let out a guttural roar:

"Light Laws, Dark Laws, Stellar Laws... damn it all! *Three* Laws?! How is that *possible*?!"

As a Laws Rank powerhouse, the King of Flesh knew better than most just how grueling it was to comprehend even a single Law.

In all his ages of destroying universe after universe, he had only rarely — vanishingly rarely — encountered beings who had comprehended multiple Laws. And those individuals had, without exception, been put down personally by the Mother of Aberration.

Rightly so. A warrior of that caliber was beyond even a fellow Laws Rank existence like himself.

But in this young, fledgling universe — a native who had *just* broken through to Laws Rank — and he had comprehended *three*?!

The King of Flesh began to wonder if he was somehow hallucinating. How could anything be this absurd?

Deep within his cold, ageless heart, an emotion stirred. One that had never surfaced in all the eons since his birth.

Fear.

Alone against an opponent like this, he had no chance.

*I'm going to die.*

Green light blazed across the King of Flesh's body. Wild, surging power erupted from him — a frenzied, final attempt to shatter Lu Yuan's restraints and make one last stand.

But no matter how hard he fought, pinned beneath the pressure of three Laws working in concert, resistance was agonizingly futile.

Worse still, as his wounds accumulated, his body instinctively drained power to fuel recovery. The more it healed, the less he had to fight with.

In moments, his regeneration could no longer keep pace with the damage being inflicted.

The three Laws Lu Yuan wielded had invaded the King of Flesh's body at the very instant his flesh was torn open, bearing down on and suppressing his own Flesh Laws from within.

Once the Law Force of a Laws Rank warrior — their greatest weapon — was crushed, the King of Flesh's renowned regeneration crumbled with it.

Lu Yuan watched the King of Flesh howl and thrash without expression, holding his pressure steady without a flicker of effort.

It was then that a roar erupted from the Flesh Nest in the distance. Seeing their sovereign besieged, the aberrant beasts surged toward Lu Yuan — a seething, innumerable tide. Hundreds of millions of them, with hundreds of Divine Grade specimens among their ranks. The Aberration aura they exuded set the Chaos currents themselves shuddering.

Further back, Mados and the other Mechanical Race warriors who had watched Lu Yuan subdue the King of Flesh stood frozen in a daze. They hadn't expected Lu Yuan to restrain that monster so effortlessly — the very creature whose mere aura had nearly broken their will to resist. They hadn't expected this level of power.

But as the beast tide stirred, Mados and the others snapped back.

They glanced at the howling swarm crashing through the Chaos Space toward them, and power surged through their bodies.

Mados raised his heavy sword overhead and bellowed:

"Brothers! Support Lu Yuan! For our universe!!"

Kulos's face set in a grim line as he raised his own blade.

The Mechanical Warriors behind them gave a unified roar:

"For our universe!!"

The aberrant beasts were vast in number, with swarms of Divine Grade creatures among them — but their greatest Laws Rank warrior had just been rendered helpless by Lu Yuan. Faced with what remained, the Mechanical Race charged without hesitation.

And then, just as the warriors were about to surge forward, a dense wave of radiant energy rose. Lu Yuan extended his right hand toward the beast tide.

The next moment, a white sphere of light — blazing like a small sun — materialized at the heart of the swarm.

**BOOM!!**

Searing radiant force exploded outward. The energy, saturated with Light Laws, radiated in all directions and crushed every aberrant beast in its path, snuffing out their lives in an instant.

The light faded. Only scattered fragments remained in the Chaos, and even those dissolved quickly under the grinding pressure of Chaos Qi, crumbling to ash and vanishing without a trace.

The Mechanical Warriors who had been about to charge stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at the slowly dissipating radiance — at the ashes drifting away on the Chaos currents.

A dead silence fell.

Even Mados and Kulos — both War Gods — were struck dumb.

Hundreds of millions of aberrant beasts. Wiped out. With a single strike.

*This is Laws Rank?*

It was beyond their comprehension.

It felt almost unreal.

Lu Yuan glanced at what remained of the beast swarm, then tilted his gaze up toward the Flesh Nest — that colossal, grotesque structure looming in the Chaos. His eyes narrowed slightly.

The next instant, a second sphere of radiant energy shot forth.

It streaked through the Chaos Qi in a heartbeat and struck the Flesh Nest dead-on.

White light blazed. The air thundered. The Chaos Qi churned and screamed.

The shockwave was so immense that even the Mechanical Race warriors sheltered inside the rift felt a suffocating pressure crash down on them.

When the white brilliance finally subsided, the Flesh Nest was gone.

"..."

Mados and Kulos stood with their swords raised, frozen like statues.

As for the King of Flesh, still held in Lu Yuan's restraints, he watched his nest turn to nothing. A green gleam flickered in his deep, dark eyes, and the vein-like green patterns crawling across his body pulsed with light as he strained with everything he had left.

But it didn't matter. He could not break free.

His body, hammered relentlessly by Light Laws, could no longer regenerate.

Stellar Swords continued to pour through him in their hundreds, shredding the King of Flesh into smaller and smaller chunks. Those chunks twitched and contracted in a desperate bid to reintegrate — but held in place by the radiant force smothering them, they couldn't move.

Gradually, the flesh-chunks seemed to smolder, as if Radiant Fire had caught in them. One by one, they turned to ash.

By the time every last scrap had crumbled to nothing, not even Lu Yuan's perception — vast as it now was — could detect the faintest trace that the King of Flesh still existed. Body and soul alike had dissolved entirely.

Only then did Lu Yuan release his hold on Light Laws, Dark Laws, and Stellar Laws.

He surveyed the Chaos Space, now settled into complete stillness, and let out a slow breath. A faint smile touched his face.

His cultivation had paid off after all.

A Laws Rank being — the King of Flesh, no less — had fallen this easily.

But...

His expression sobered quickly.

The King of Flesh had arrived faster than anticipated.

It was clear that the destruction of a Descended Avatar was something the King of Flesh — and perhaps the Mother of Aberration herself — could sense directly.

The Avatar's death had drawn the King of Flesh here in person.

Now the King of Flesh was dead too. Would the Mother of Aberration come herself next?

The thought made Lu Yuan's brow furrow. A weight settled in his chest.

From what the King of Flesh had let slip, the Mother of Aberration outclassed him by a significant margin.

*At his current level, he might not be able to handle her.*

He could only hope she was slow to respond — that he still had time.

He looked out at the Chaos Space. The Chaos Qi churning through this region was dense and unyielding; the space itself was locked in an abnormal rigidity. Even now, with Spatial Laws at his command, he found he could not teleport within Chaos Space — the Laws themselves couldn't force a rift open here.

Which meant the Mother of Aberration would have to travel the old-fashioned way.

He still had a window.

*Then I need to move fast.* A quiet urgency took root in him. He had no room to retreat now. It was a race against time.

While Lu Yuan was thinking, Mados, Kulos, and the rest of the Mechanical Warriors finally came back to themselves.

The group exchanged glances. Even Mados and Kulos looked at each other, disbelief still plain on their faces.

Kulos spoke at last, voice halting:

"...T-this... is it... did we win?"

"...Seems like it?"

There was a distinct note of uncertainty in Mados's voice.

It had been too easy.

Both of them had steeled themselves for the worst — ready to lay down their lives. And then Lu Yuan had arrived, and they hadn't needed to lift a finger. It was over before they could draw breath.

Their Laws Rank opponent — the being whose aura alone had nearly shattered their will to resist — had been completely and utterly suppressed by Lu Yuan, left with no recourse whatsoever, kept alive only by its freakish regeneration and nothing else.

Everything had felt like a dream they hadn't woken from yet.

But gradually, it sank in. The colossal Flesh Nest was gone. The terrifying King of Flesh was truly and completely dead.

The assembled Mechanical Warriors erupted.

"We won!!"

"We won! A Laws Rank invader and it still couldn't breach our universe!"

"Lu Yuan!! Invincible!"

"Lu Yuan!! Invincible!"

The cheering roused Lu Yuan from his thoughts.

He vanished from where he stood and reappeared in the plaza of the Mechanical Fortress, stepping up before Mados and Kulos.

Mados's face was full of gratitude:

"Brother Lu Yuan... thank you. If not for you, everyone here would have died."

Kulos nodded in vigorous agreement:

"Thank you! Brother Lu Yuan!"

Lu Yuan smiled slightly. "Let's not celebrate too early, seniors. That Laws Rank warrior wasn't the strongest being their side has to offer. There are existences far beyond it — and I'm not certain I could handle them yet."

The smiles on Mados and Kulos's faces froze.

Words seemed to catch in their throats.

Silence fell. Mados managed, with effort:

"...There are *stronger* aberrant beasts out there?!"

He had assumed this was the ceiling. The absolute peak.

And yet... there was something above this?

Lu Yuan nodded. "Yes."

It was the truth, and he saw no reason to conceal it. Besides, if he let people believe the King of Flesh was the greatest threat, they would relax completely — and if the aberrant forces invaded again, they might not hold.

He glanced at the rift.

He could, in fact, use his Law Force to seal all of these rifts right now — ordinary aberrant beasts would be completely shut out.

But that was treating the symptom, not the disease. As long as the Mother of Aberration, the King of Destruction, and the King of Corruption were still out there, his universe remained at risk.

Better to let them keep their post. Pressure made people grow faster.

With that decided, Lu Yuan said:

"Seniors, I need to get back to my cultivation. I'll leave the cleanup here to you."

Mados and Kulos nodded without hesitation:

"Don't worry — we've got it!"

Though Lu Yuan's manner toward them remained warm and easy, they knew full well he was now a Laws Rank warrior — the mightiest being in the universe. They couldn't bring themselves to treat him as a junior any longer.

Lu Yuan departed. Mados and Kulos exchanged a look, then turned to rally the Mechanical Warriors in hunting down any stragglers that remained, while also assessing the sections of the Mechanical Fortress damaged by the battle's shockwaves.

They were still inspecting the fortress when the nearby space tore open and several figures burst through in rapid succession.

Ruoshui, Kro, and several Human Race War Gods. Jinka and Beast Race War Gods. Bingling alongside Elf Race War Gods.

Every one of them arrived wearing grim expressions, power rolling off them in waves — ready for battle.

Catching sight of Mados and Kulos, Ruoshui spoke first, her voice urgent:

"What's the situation?! Yuan should have arrived by now, right?!"

She had checked the Training Hall before coming and found Lu Yuan already gone, so she had followed.

"Where's the Laws Rank aberrant beast?! Where is it?!"

Kro called out impatiently.

That was when they noticed something was off.

Out beyond the rift, in the Chaos Space — there was no Laws Rank aberrant beast. There wasn't even an ordinary swarm attacking the rift. Just a handful of stragglers drifting aimlessly.

The assembled War Gods stared.

Mados cleared his throat.

"Brother Lu Yuan was already here — and he's already left. You're all too late."

"Left? Where? And the Laws Rank aberrant beast?"

Ruoshui looked baffled. She wasn't alone.

An odd look crossed Mados's face.

"...The Laws Rank aberrant beast was killed by Brother Lu Yuan. And not just that — the aberrant beast swarm in the area and the Flesh Nest that the King of Flesh brought with him have both been destroyed. Once that was done, he went back to cultivate."

Everyone: *??*

Silence crashed down over the group.

They all stood there, completely at a loss.

They had rushed here ready to fight — and it was *already over*?!

What in the — how could it be over that *fast*?!

Wasn't that thing a Laws Rank creature?

How had it died so quickly?

Whether it was Ruoshui or Nuxing and the others, they had all braced for a bloody, desperate battle. Some had even quietly made peace with the possibility of sacrificing themselves to buy Lu Yuan an opening.

And instead... all of that was for nothing.

Yes, Lu Yuan had only just broken through to Laws Rank — so how had he killed a Laws Rank war-king in the time it took them to get here?

None of this made sense. Not even a little.

It was undeniably good news. But standing here in the aftermath, they felt oddly hollow — no surge of elation, no rush of relief. The whole thing was simply too surreal. It hadn't sunk in. It didn't feel real at all.