I can receive unlimited protection; my parents handed me over to the state.

When Gaia's voice, filled with endless allure and ancient majesty, resounded directly in everyone's minds, a chilling despair from the depths of their souls instantly enveloped each person. They were faced with two choices: submit and become part of that nauseating carpet of flesh and bacteria; or be completely devoured and digested along with the world, becoming fertilizer. This was not a choice, but the final judgment from a higher-dimensional being upon lower life forms.

"It's over...it's really over..." Chi Lian stared at the enormous woman's face that covered the entire sky, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground. All color drained from her alluring face, leaving only endless fear and despair. She wasn't afraid of death, but she dreaded dying in such a humiliating way. To become a pile of fertilizer? That was worse than death itself!

"Damn it! I'll fight her to the death!" Gu Tianye's crimson beast eyes stared intently at the huge face in the sky, letting out a beast-like growl. "Even if I die! I'll tear a piece of flesh off her!" He gripped the [Thousand Transformations Beast Soul Axe] tightly in his hand, his burly body trembling violently with extreme anger and resentment.

"That's right! You want us to surrender? Dream on!" Xiang Batian slammed the [Titan Axe of Creation] heavily on the ground, splattering a cloud of purplish-black flesh and blood. "We humans only have heroes who die standing! We don't have cowards who live on their knees!" Although they knew there was an insurmountable gap in strength between them and their opponents, the pride of top geniuses and the fighting spirit of human warriors wouldn't allow them to surrender without a fight!

However, just as Gu Tianye and Xiang Batian were preparing to burn their lives in a final, suicidal charge, a calm, even slightly lazy, voice slowly rang out behind them: "What's all the fuss about? It's just a big mushroom, what's the big deal?"

Everyone was startled and turned around abruptly. They saw that Lu Yuan had somehow emerged from the cockpit of [Pangu], still wearing the most ordinary black forging suit, with the same sleepy and lazy expression on his face, as if the world-destroying catastrophe that could bring down the entire Northern Territory was just a large mushroom in his eyes.

"Master Lu...Master Lu..." Gu Tianye looked at Lu Yuan's calm and composed demeanor, his mouth opened and closed, but for a moment he didn't know what to say. He wanted to say that it wasn't a mushroom, but the mother of the abyss, a terrifying existence that could devour the world, but when he saw Lu Yuan's calm eyes, his heart, which had been raging with fear and anger, miraculously calmed down, as if as long as this young man stood here, the sky wouldn't fall.

"Interesting little fellow, are you their leader?" Above, the enormous female face, its eyes like abysses, fixed its gaze on Lu Yuan with interest. "Your soul is indeed extraordinary; I can smell the essence of 'creation' emanating from you. Come, little fellow, become a part of me. I can bestow upon you unimaginable power, allowing you to witness with me the ultimate mysteries of the universe. This is your supreme honor."

Gaia's voice was filled with condescending generosity and unquestionable authority, as if being chosen by her was Lu Yuan's greatest honor. However, Lu Yuan couldn't help but laugh upon hearing her words. He picked at his ear and said in an extremely nonchalant tone, "Um... Sister Mushroom, are you mistaken about something? I don't have any grand ambitions, and I'm not interested in the ultimate mysteries of the universe. I just want to sleep until I naturally wake up every day, eat barbecue, drink cola, occasionally do some blacksmithing, and flirt with my beautiful housekeeper. This talk of eternal evolution sounds exhausting. So, I decline your 'invitation'."

Lu Yuan's words were spoken casually, yet to everyone present, they were like a magnitude 18 earthquake. Everyone looked at him as if he were a god, never dreaming that anyone would dare speak to a living, breathing ancient god of the abyss in such a mocking tone. This wasn't just audacity; it was utter madness!

"What...did you say?" Above the sky, Gaia's enormous, exquisite face showed a hint of astonishment for the first time. She had never expected that her "invitation," filled with supreme glory, would be so bluntly rejected by a mere mortal, and the reason given was simply that "it sounds tiring." A chilling anger, a sense of offense, began to slowly gather in her eyes.

"Mortal! Are you defying a god?!" Her voice suddenly turned icy and majestic, and a mental pressure ten times more terrifying than before, like a tangible divine punishment, pressed down on Lu Yuan. She wanted to make this arrogant little insect repent in endless pain and fear.

However, facing this terrifying pressure—enough to cause an S-rank expert to suffer a mental breakdown on the spot—Lu Yuan didn't even flinch. He simply raised his head, calmly looking at the face in the sky, slightly distorted by anger, and slowly shook his head: "No, you're mistaken again." A bright smile appeared on his face, a smile full of utter contempt and disdain. "I'm not provoking you, I'm just stating a fact. That is—"

His voice, amplified by Pangu's sound system, resonated clearly throughout the Northern Territory: "You, a low-level fungal aggregate without even a fixed form, have no right to stand here and negotiate with me!"

When Lu Yuan's words, filled with utter contempt and disdain, echoed throughout the Northern Territory, the entire world seemed to fall into a deathly silence. Gu Tianye, Xiang Batian, Mu Bingli... these prodigies who had just crawled out of the abyss of despair were all petrified, staring wide-eyed at the boy who stood in mid-air, seemingly at odds with the entire world.

Their minds went blank; they couldn't find the words to describe their feelings. Shock? That was an understatement. It was the utterly absurd feeling of mortals witnessing their own kind, mere ants, daring to point their fingers at the creator god and hurl insults! He's insane! This man is absolutely insane! That was the only thought that simultaneously crossed everyone's minds.

"What...did...you...say...?" Above the sky, Gaia's enormous female face froze completely. Her eyes, like a deep abyss vortex, stared intently at the tiny boy below, who was as insignificant as dust. The cold anger that had just gathered in her eyes was replaced by an even stronger sense of astonishment and confusion.

She had slumbered for countless years, devouring countless worlds, and had encountered countless "heroes" and "gods" who dared to defy her, but she had never seen an existence like Lu Yuan—weak yet arrogant, insignificant yet proud. He seemed completely unaware of the insurmountable gap between himself and a "god," even looking down upon her with an even more superior attitude. This caused Gaia's vast consciousness, composed of countless chaotic pieces of information, to experience an emotion called "confusion" for the first time.

"Mortal, by what right do you?" Gaia's voice no longer held its previous authority and condescension, but instead carried a hint of genuine curiosity. "Why do you say I am not qualified?"

"Heh..." Lu Yuan laughed upon hearing this, his smile brimming with intellectual superiority, like a top university professor looking at a kindergarten child who can't even do one plus one. "Why?" He held up a finger and pointed to the still-wriggling purplish-black fleshy fungus. "Because of your flawed energy structure, because of your ridiculously low-level evolutionary methods, because of your crude life form that doesn't even follow the most basic law of conservation of energy."

With each word Lu Yuan spoke, Gaia's face in the sky twisted more. She realized she couldn't understand what this mortal was saying. Energy structure, evolutionary methods, energy conservation... what kind of nonsense was this? As an extension of the Abyss's will, her very existence was the rule, and evolution itself was the truth. When did it become the right of a lowly mortal to point fingers?

"It seems you still have no self-awareness at all." Lu Yuan looked at Gaia's eyes, which were filled with confusion and anger, and shook his head helplessly. "Fine, since you want to know so much, I'll give you a free 'anatomy' open class today."

As Lu Yuan spoke, he slowly raised his right hand. Behind him, the thirty-six "Genesis Mechanical Arms" of Pangu slowly unfolded, like a metal lotus flower about to bloom.

"First, for our first lesson, let's talk about your 'body'." Lu Yuan's voice was cold and calm, like a surgeon giving a lecture. "[Abyssal Moss] is essentially a semi-energy, semi-matter aggregate life form that feeds on 'information' and 'soul'. Each of your creep cells possesses independent thought and the ability to devour, and they are connected through a mental network similar to 'quantum entanglement,' forming your vast collective consciousness."

"The advantages of this structure are obvious: near-infinite regeneration and powerful assimilation capabilities. As long as one cell remains, you will never truly die. Am I right?" Lu Yuan asked calmly, looking at the face in the sky.

Gaia didn't speak, but her sharply constricted pupils said it all. She was shocked, unable to comprehend how this mortal could analyze her most fundamental life essence so thoroughly with just a few glances. This wasn't observation; it was blatant "analysis"!

"However," Lu Yuan ignored her shock and continued in a emotionless tone, "the flaw in this structure is equally fatal, namely that your 'core' is too dispersed. Your consciousness exists in every cell, which means you don't have a true 'brain,' and all your actions rely on a vast mental network to transmit and process information."

"This causes an extremely small but fatal delay in your reaction speed, and once this mental network is severely interfered with or severed, your massive body will instantly fall into chaos, each going its own way, even attacking and devouring each other, like a pack of mad dogs that have lost their queen bee."

Lu Yuan paused here, a cold smile curving his lips: "And I happen to know a method that can precisely interfere with, or even sever, your 'mental network'."

He slowly extended a finger, and at its tip, a wisp of pitch-black flame, deeper than a black hole and colder than death, slowly ignited. It was a flame of destruction formed from the fusion of the purest "Asura Killing Intent" and "Void Origin" absorbed by [Asura]!

"【The Fire of Godslaying】." Lu Yuan looked at the enormous face in the sky, which was beginning to show signs of terror, and smiled faintly. "That's the name I gave it. Do you like it?"

"No--!!"

The moment Gaia saw that wisp of black flame, her massive collective consciousness let out a shriek filled with extreme terror for the first time! She could clearly feel that the seemingly insignificant black flame contained a terrifying power capable of completely erasing her mental network at the conceptual level!

She tried to escape, to shrink her massive body back into the void rift, but it was too late.

"[Pangu]." A cold madness flashed in Lu Yuan's eyes. "Lock onto the mental connection nodes of all creep cells. Then..."

His voice suddenly turned sharp, carrying an undeniable command: "Use [God-Slaying Fire] to perform a...nerve-severing surgery covering the entire Northern Territory!"