Chapter 137: The End

With two horns atop its head and its lower body submerged in magma, its charred, blackened skin was cracked into blocks, with orange-red lava flowing through the fissures.

The creature Fang Tang had fashioned was none other than the Minotaur—the Magma Demon—encountered in this special environment.

This was not a real Magma Demon, but merely a shell created by Fang Tang, with its control core still residing in the Heart of Magma he carried. Though Fang Tang still had to pilot it, it was akin to having an extra pair of hands, and the effectiveness was vastly increased.

The man seemed to perceive the Magma Demon's core. With a cold sneer, he tensed his waist and tightened his fist, taking a light step forward, intending to shatter the demon with a single blow.

But Fang Tang would not let him have his way. Manipulating the magma, he shifted the Magma Demon aside and gestured with his hand, causing a whip made of lava to appear in the demon's grasp.

*Snap!*

The Magma Demon flicked the whip, the sound tearing through the air—it truly looked like the Minotaur had been resurrected.

The lava whip instantly bound the man's hands, yet the searing magma had absolutely no effect on him. Even a pure eighth-rank evolution level could not possibly possess such defense.

Solid Bastion was truly terrifying!

However, with his mobility reduced and his hands bound, the man’s combat effectiveness was severely compromised.

Fang Tang, wielding the Daxia Longque, flashed behind the man.

Just as he prepared to launch his "Millennium Kill: Decapitation," the man sensed it first. He leapt into the air, his body rapidly undulating until he transformed into a hard, massive ball of flesh.

Solid Bastion was defined by its solidity, but its core essence was indeed the "Bastion." Anything involving the word "bastion" was almost always related to war. This sequence talent was no exception.

As the man turned into the meatball, the lava whip was cast off. Immediately, bone spurs sprouted from his body, and in the blink of an eye, he became a ball of spikes.

*Boom!*

The man landed, shaking the ground so violently that ripples surged through the thick magma.

The spiked ball seemed to have an automatic targeting function; the moment it touched down, it charged straight at Fang Tang.

Fang Tang activated "Extreme Shadow," dodging and weaving as the spiked ball pursued him. During the chase, Fang Tang also used the Daxia Longque to probe the creature's defenses.

However, the strength of a spirit-bound item is inextricably linked to its user. To give a simple example, the effectiveness of the Daxia Longque in Fang Tang's hands versus Liu Yiran's hands was vastly different. In Liu Yiran's hands, the weapon’s power would be elevated by at least one tier. That was the gap created by rank.

Facing a three-rank disparity, the Daxia Longque in Fang Tang’s hands could not penetrate the man's defenses at all, let alone against someone possessing a high-tier defensive sequence like Solid Bastion.

For a moment, Fang Tang found himself in a difficult spot. With both physical and magical attacks failing, his options were running thin.

"Make good use of the sixth attempt, it will surely work..."

"It’s not as tough as I imagined... which means the Solid Bastion has a weak point, but where could it be?"

Fang Tang muttered to himself, following the hint provided by his Eye.

[Jump!]

Lost in thought, the Eye suddenly prompted him.

Without a second thought, Fang Tang leaped upward with all his might. Looking down, he saw the spiked ball hurtling toward him like a cannonball, trailing the momentum of thunder.

"If only I had the Captain's 'Piercing the Surface with a Single Point' technique," Fang Tang sighed. He twisted his waist in mid-air, forcing a change in direction to narrowly avoid the spiked ball's attack.

Even so, his clothes were shredded by the bone spurs, and his skin burned with sharp pain.

[Haven't you figured it out yet? The spiked ball is spinning at such high speed specifically to hide its weak point. You must know one thing: the higher the rank of the sequence, the more obvious its weak point becomes. Don't let the fact that Solid Bastion is in the top fifty fool you.]

Fang Tang: ...

Can we be more direct? Stop being so cryptic; this is a matter of life and death, you know!

However, as he carefully observed the spiked ball, he faintly caught sight of the weak point the Eye had mentioned.

Wasn't that exactly where the man’s excretion point was located?

Could it be... that the ultimate "Millennium Kill" was finally viable again?

However, the man was spinning too fast, making it difficult to aim.

Glancing at the Magma Demon nearby, Fang Tang had a flash of inspiration.

Got it!

He plunged his hands into the magma and pulled out two more Magma Demons, splitting his focus to command them to create lava chains, while another chain manifested in his own hand.

The four lava chains acted like four crimson vipers, instantly binding the man. Fang Tang flashed to the man's side and pinpointed his weakness.

Without hesitation, he drove the Daxia Longque into the spot.

The man let out a muffled grunt, the spiked ball state dissipated, and he glared at Fang Tang with fury.

Fang Tang chuckled, though he was quite surprised. Why did the "Millennium Kill: Decapitation" fail? No matter; as long as the speed is fast enough, even a snail can become The Flash.

He pulled the Daxia Longque out and thrust it back in rapidly. After repeating this three times, the man completely collapsed.

Before he could even speak, he instinctively touched his neck, only to see his palm covered in a large patch of scarlet blood.

"You..."

The man looked at Fang Tang in disbelief.

Fang Tang was overjoyed; he swung the Daxia Longque in a wide arc, and the man's head was smashed into the wall. His stocky body fell to the ground and was quickly swallowed by the magma.

"A pity to lose three high-tier sequence talents." Fang Tang felt a twinge of regret. Solid Bastion was truly strong, and Savage Evolution was, to be honest, quite good as well. But he lacked the ability to strip away sequence talents.

Waving his hand to solidify the surrounding lava, Fang Tang returned to his dwelling.

He pulled out his phone, intending to check on the others, but the screen suddenly went white.

"Even things from the Cult of Technology can malfunction?"

Fang Tang was puzzled. Just as he was about to try a crude method to factory reset it, the phone suddenly sprang back to life.

However, the new interface was different from before.

The previous interface had been like WeChat, a phone dedicated to chatting. But now, a black spider web was slowly rotating. In the center of the web, there was a glimmer of light.

Fang Tang lightly touched the light, and the surrounding scene shifted abruptly. He arrived in a room entirely devoid of color.

There was only a table and a chair in the room. The chair slowly turned, revealing the face of a woman.

"Hello, Earthling."

The woman's voice was soft, yet devoid of any emotion, as if she were an artificial intelligence.

Fang Tang watched the woman warily, unsure of what this sudden change meant.

The woman looked Fang Tang up and down and smiled faintly. "You possess a sequence talent that feels very close to me. Is it that little one, Omniscience?"

Good grief, "that little one," Omniscience?

"Eye, come out and see this—someone is dissing you."

"Who are you?" Fang Tang asked, bewildered.

"Me?" The woman thought seriously for a moment before saying, "I am who I am. You may call me Distortion, or perhaps Chaos."

Distortion? Chaos?

Fang Tang's heart skipped a beat; his brain struggled to keep up.

"Is there something you need from me?"

"No, I simply sensed the presence of Little Eye," the woman smiled. "Little Eye, aren't you going to come out and say hello?"

[Uh... hi, long time no see... Mother.]

Mother?

Seeing this word, Fang Tang was completely dumbfounded. The Eye called her Mother? Wait!

Could this woman be the big boss from the core area of the Abyss?

The woman looked into Fang Tang's eyes and said softly, "Little Eye, have you been happy since you were awakened after such a long slumber?"

[It's been alright, though this world has changed quite a bit. It took me a long time to get used to it.]

The Eye appeared very humble; Fang Tang had never seen the Eye act this way before.

The woman seemed satisfied and nodded slightly. "Since you've encountered a person of destiny, take a good look at this world. The Eye of Omniscience represents the supreme order. Your previous performance has left me very dissatisfied."

[...I was just afraid of being discovered, wasn't I?]

"Discovered? When did you become so cautious? Since when has the law of the Abyss ever affected you?"

The woman asked three questions in a row, and the Eye remained silent.

Fang Tang broke the awkward silence, rubbing his nose as he asked, "Um, Auntie? I'd like to ask, are you the great deity inside the Gate of Evolution who created the Distortion?"

The woman shook her head. "I am Distortion, but that distortion law was not created by me. It was created by a mere wisp of consciousness that I cast off while I was sleeping."

My goodness, I have no words.

I thought she was a great deity, but she turned out to be a True God. The distortion law that consumes the heavens and the myriad worlds was merely a wisp of her consciousness. Was it even possible for humans to oppose an entity of this level?

At this thought, Fang Tang had a moment of realization.

Evolution levels rely on Distortion to upgrade, and explorers delusionaly attempt to use Distortion to boost their power so they can find the Source of Distortion and stop it from consuming everything. In other words, evolutionaries are byproducts of Distortion, and their ceiling is the level of the Source of Distortion itself.

So how could one stop the consumption? It was a paradox, an impossible task.

And with the woman before him being an existence beyond Distortion, stopping it seemed even more impossible.

My god, I think I’ve discovered something incredible.

So that’s why the Eye has always been acting like a riddle-monger—it was afraid of shattering my confidence if it told me the truth?

Fang Tang’s mind raced. When he came to his senses, he noticed the woman observing him with a meaningful gaze.

Clearing his dry throat, Fang Tang cautiously asked, "Does that mean you've known what we've been doing all along?"

The woman shook her head. "I am also just a wisp of consciousness; my true form is still asleep, so I don't know much. However, since I set these rules in place, it means I encourage humanity to walk out of the Abyss and explore the Distortion. As for whether you can stop me, that depends on your own abilities."

Fang Tang fell silent.

Is this the confidence of a True God?

How can an ant in the palm of one's hand ever overturn the heavens!

However, he still had a question. Seeing the woman was so approachable, he decided to ask: "You created the Distortion, but what about the Abyss world itself?"

"That is also me." The woman smiled mysteriously.

"To be precise, it was also created by a wisp of my consciousness. The sequence talents and mutated abilities were all concocted by these two consciousnesses of mine."

Fang Tang: "..."

Is this what a great deity is like?

Auntie, I don't want to work hard anymore!

However, after seeing the woman's strange smile, Fang Tang shuddered.

I forgot, I have no secrets in front of this woman; even my thoughts can be perceived. I must be careful with my words and actions.

Fang Tang blinked, hoping the Eye would come out to save the situation. But the Eye remained as quiet as if it were dead.

The woman then spoke: "Don't bother. Little Eye is very afraid of me. Given his personality, he's probably shivering in some small corner. However, I do have a few words for him."

"As the knowledge carrier of my consciousness, acting with such excessive caution is certainly not my style. Be bolder in the future. The consciousness in the core won't know. Only by being bold will you avoid taking unnecessary detours."

"Also, go visit the 'Transcendence of Distortion' more often when you have time. There are things there that can help Little Eye upgrade. Upgrade more; consider it a remedy for his personality."

With that, the woman tapped Fang Tang lightly and said, "As Little Eye's host, I’ll give you a good gift. Get along well with him; he will help you a lot. Treat him well."

The woman vanished, and Fang Tang returned to his dwelling. His phone was perfectly intact, still displaying the simple WeChat interface.

"Emmm... what benefit did your mother give me?"

Fang Tang looked around but couldn't find the "good gift" the woman had mentioned.

[Feel your own evolution level.]

Fang Tang was stunned for a moment. As he sensed it, the realization gave him a start.

"Holy crap? Twelfth rank?"

Sensing the abundance of skill points within his body, Fang Tang was ecstatic.

"Damn, I’m invincible!"