Chapter 856: Can All the Great Taos Allow This Seat to Clear Anton!?

"Whew...! This is too hard!"

"The Volcano wiped us again!"

"Don't look into its eye at the Energy Transmission Center!" In the heart of Anton’s energy core, the towering demon standing guard split open the monstrous eye upon its belly. A single raider, a fraction of a second too slow to react, met that colossal gaze head-on.

Instant death!

And with that single demise, the demon’s grievous wounds vanished, its flesh knitting back together perfectly.

...

"Energy group wiped too!"

The raid had failed.

Once!

Twice!

Thrice!

...

Staring at the four mocking words flashing on the screen time after time, the room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.

"System Notification: Your game time has reached its daily limit. Would you like to overdraw your hours?"

"No."

Everyone had endured a grueling day; pushing forward now would only cause their performance to deteriorate further.

"It's over, disperse!" The crowd of spectators gathering behind them began to drift away.

"This Anton raid... it feels practically impossible. They spent so much time preparing beforehand, and after another full day of attempts today, they still couldn't clear it."

Amidst the murmuring of the crowd, the frontline raiders quietly logged out of the game.

Nalan Hongwu retrieved his communication jade and opened the Penguin chat group, his voice weary. "Everyone worked hard today. Go get some rest."

"No!" Zong Wu barked in frustration. "A few more practices and we can definitely pass it!"

"Enough!" Gu Tingyun cut in. "Everyone's performance is noticeably slipping. Go rest."

"..." The group chat fell silent for a long moment.

"Seriously though... what exactly is happening up on the Volcano?" In the mortal realm, these men were cultivators whose cultivation had reached at least the Saint Realm, accompanied by a perfectly geared Holy Order. "How could you fail so many times without a single clear?"

"What makes the Volcano so difficult?" Nalan Mingxue inquired.

"It's unplayable, utterly unplayable. Its speed is akin to teleportation; I couldn't even see its movements clearly," Zong Wu explained. "Moreover, the entirety of the Black Volcano—the monsters, the rising lava—is completely under its control. One moment the magma erupts, the next a horde of elite minions spawns. The terrain is a nightmare."

Though labeled as minions, one had to remember that even the dreaded Tog was considered an elite minion.

(While the lava eruptions were only seen during the Black Volcano story mission in the original game, in this system version... since it was the same entity, it naturally possessed every skill in its repertoire.)

"Can't you use area-of-effect attacks?"

"No. Its damage reflection rebounds onto everyone. If one person attacks blindly, the whole party gets wiped instantly."

"..."

The group lapsed into silence once more.

To think that even the finest masters, equipped with the most flawless gear, were utterly incapable of breaching it.

Was this... the sheer majesty of a power wielded by a true god?

"Is it completely immune to attack?" Nalan Mingxue pressed.

"Not entirely..." Nalan Hongwu murmured, recalling the frantic battle. "There is an energy shield around its body that drops for the briefest fraction of a second when it strikes. But... it's too fast. I only managed to land a hit by pure coincidence."

"Which means..." Nalan Mingxue mused, "one must strike precisely at the exact millisecond it attacks. Neither a moment too fast, nor a moment too slow. Otherwise, you will inevitably be slain by your own reflected power?"

"..." Had they been facing an ordinary master, counter-striking at the exact moment of an opponent's assault was a feat everyone present could achieve with ease.

But to execute such precision against a mighty... god?

To do so was practically a fairy tale.

Yet to withhold their strikes meant being beaten to death where they stood.

As for forcing their way through the shield by brute strength... considering the boundless ocean of energy within Anton compared to the meager trickles within a human body, that path was clearly a fool's errand.

In past dungeons and raids, there were always strategies and mechanics to exploit.

But this obstacle, at least this specific mechanic, offered no shortcuts; it demanded raw, unyielding strength and flawless combat technique.

"If I practice a bit more, I should be able to barely manage it," Nalan Hongwu stated after a long pause.

"Old Ghost Nalan, didn't you just return recently? Since when did you become this powerful?" Zong Wu asked, caught off guard.

Immediately after, his heart sank. He had been surpassed once again.

"I experienced a breakthrough recently. I feel as though my perception and combat techniques have become much clearer." Standing in his private courtyard, Nalan Hongwu swung his blade through the air. "I've caught a slight glimpse of what the shop owner calls... the 'Micro-Control' realm."

"Micro-Control?!" Zong Wu scoffed in surprise. "Isn't that just the nonsense the owner spouted when he was talking about *Ultimate Terror*? Claiming that reaching the fourth stage of the Genetic Lock, the 'Micro-Control' realm, makes one a being comparable to a god, and the fifth stage makes one a... Saint?"

"Nonsense or not," Nalan Mingxue interjected, "the words may be crude, but the logic holds true. After all, if one ascends to a completely new realm of existence yet their combat skills and mastery remain trapped at the mortal level, wouldn't that be... rather absurd?"

"Then, Old Ghost Nalan," Zong Wu turned his attention back to Nalan Hongwu, "how did you achieve this breakthrough?"

"That..." Nalan Hongwu fell into deep thought for a moment. "I truly cannot put it into words."

"It feels like... an accumulation," Nalan Hongwu said solemnly. "Like a dam holding back water. The reservoir fills to the brim, and then one day, someone opens the floodgates. The water simply flows out naturally."

Once that threshold was crossed, any technique, regardless of its original system, could be grasped and mastered almost instantly.

"Everyone should return and reflect on this deeply," Zong Wu said. "The raid progression is officially suspended for now."

At least for the moment, he could think of no better solution than to elevate his own insights.

...

During those days, everyone sought their own breakthrough.

Combat technique... Micro-Control.

The Heavenly Sword...

"The metaphysical sword, unprecedented through the ages, revered by ten thousand blades..."

Inside a quiet cultivation chamber within the City of Yuanxiang.

Zong Wu, the middle-aged warrior, sat cross-legged as his turbulent mind gradually settled into utter stillness.

In terms of latent accumulation bursting forth, he could not compare to Nalan Hongwu. His experience was like that fleeting spark of enlightenment caught before the seat of a "True Immortal" on Mount Square and Inch, leaving him with a vague, hazy sensation that he ought to have gained something.

Yet the myriad laws of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, along with the profound truths of heaven and earth, ultimately remained as elusive as viewing flowers through a thick fog or scooping the moon from the water's surface.

But things were different now.

The grand principles of heaven and earth, the countless profound truths... could they truly grant immortality?

Just like Sun Wukong, he had no need for grand Daos or wondrous concepts, for the monkey had already harbored his own desired path within his heart from the very beginning.

Of the three thousand Great Paths, one needs only to choose a single one to follow!

What Zong Wu desperately required now was not a collection of ten thousand different laws, but rather... his very own Dao!

"If that is the case, then this master must ask: 'Can these myriad grand Daos allow this master to conquer Anton?!'"

Crack—!

Above the City of Yuanyang, the sky suddenly erupted with furious wind and thunder!

The Spirit Platform... Mount Fangcun.

Spirit Platform and Fangcun, both signify the heart.

The slanting moon and three stars likewise represent the mind.

No one knew just how much time had slipped away...

The No-Heaven Sword Realm from "The Storm Riders."

The highest good is like water from "The Legend of Sword and Fairy."

...

All manner of realms and insights reflected within his mind.

Yet his innermost soul remained entirely clear and empty!

"So that is how it is..." He slowly stood up from the quiet chamber.

...

Within the game.

The Dark City.

Following the Era of Destruction, everything that once existed had been utterly ruined, including the humans of that place.

The main city had now shifted from Hendon Myre to... this gloomy city of another world.

GSD, the initial mentor to all Ghost Slayers, had also long since departed from that alley in the back street.

"The sword does not hesitate!"

"The blade cuts the flesh, the mind cuts the soul!"

"..." Strain after strain of familiar voices still lingered about the ears.

A blindfolded swordsman chanced into the guild area and, in a fleeting moment, seemed to catch sight of that familiar figure once more; that white-haired old swordsman whose voice remained just as open-minded, yet carried a hint of unfamiliarity: "You have met the me of another world? I can sense his aura from you, young man."

Yes, that open-minded old swordsman who had once taught all the Ghost Slayers had also perished in that great destruction.

The one seen now was merely his counterpart from another world.

And in this world, walking down that street again would only yield a sight of endless ruins.

"What kind of person... was he?"

The short, white-haired old man hesitated for a brief moment.

Suddenly, the entire heaven and earth seemed to be swallowed by darkness.

Save for... a sudden flash of thunderous light!

In this split second, he seemed to witness... a long sword piercing the sky, a god descending upon the world!

Yet in the next instant, the thunderous light vanished, retracted... entirely at the command of his will!

"The Asura Descent...! He... has already surpassed us..." Watching the retreating figure of this adventurer, the old man... seemed to murmur to the self of that other world, filled with a myriad of emotions, "You... must be very pleased."

...

"Anton Raid Group, assemble!"

The moment Boss Fang came downstairs today, he saw these people, one by one, including the youths and several old men, their spirits soaring to the nine heavens, enough to make gods and buddhas step aside.

"What are you all doing?!"

"Blazing the trail—for Anton!" The sheer grandeur of their momentum shook the heavens and cowed the earth!

.