Ultimate: Lotus Brilliance!

Jiang Ran looked at the prompt that had appeared on the panel before him and paused.

Profession fusion material...

This wasn't the first time he'd seen this prompt.

The panel had displayed a similar message before, when he'd absorbed the Seed of Return to Void and unlocked the Martial Monk Profession.

There were two types: advancement materials and fusion materials.

Jiang Ran had taken note of them.

However, he hadn't found any materials that triggered the prompt since then.

He'd even begun to think that profession fusion was a very distant prospect.

He hadn't expected to come across one here.

"Bone Tempering Golden Marrow..."

Jiang Ran murmured the name, his gaze settling on the dark golden stone in his hand.

He didn't choose yes right away.

Instead, he focused his thoughts and closed the panel first.

Then he stowed Zhi's massive corpse in the Heavenly Net Pouch and brought out the corpse of the Human-Faced Spider Mother he'd killed earlier.

Although the Spider Matriarch hadn't been clearly recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas,

she was still an Exotic Beast of Blood-Sensing Grade.

Perhaps... she had similar materials, too?

With that thought in mind, Jiang Ran drew his tactical knife again and began carefully dissecting the Spider Matriarch's corpse.

Half an hour later.

Jiang Ran straightened up and let out a quiet breath.

Nothing.

Apart from some residual glandular tissue, there was nothing inside the Spider Matriarch like the Bone Tempering Golden Marrow.

"Looks like... not every Exotic Beast of Blood-Sensing Grade has one." Jiang Ran considered this. "Maybe it depends on the species or its abilities?"

Zhi's Bone Tempering Golden Marrow was clearly tied to its bony spines and hard bones.

The Spider Matriarch's abilities, on the other hand, had more to do with weaving webs and controlling her brood.

It made sense that she had no special materials inside her.

Still, obtaining a piece of Bone Tempering Golden Marrow was already a pleasant surprise.

Jiang Ran stopped dwelling on it and stowed the Spider Matriarch's corpse in the Heavenly Net Pouch again.

Then he went to the window and lifted the curtain a little.

A faint pallor had begun to creep across the horizon.

Dawn was near.

Jiang Ran carefully listened for any movement nearby.

Aside from the occasional indistinct gust of wind in the distance, the entire old residential district was as silent as a graveyard.

After confirming that it was safe for the moment, he sat back down on the sofa.

He opened his palm.

The dark golden Bone Tempering Golden Marrow lay quietly in it.

Jiang Ran closed his eyes and regulated his breathing.

The qi and blood in his body flowed slowly, gradually dispelling the fatigue left by the battle.

Once his condition had steadied, he summoned the panel again.

[Do you wish to fuse professions?]

Yes.

The instant he gave the command in his mind,

the Bone Tempering Golden Marrow in his palm suddenly lit up.

The dark golden glow seemed to come alive as it seeped through the skin of Jiang Ran's palm. In the blink of an eye, it had vanished.

At once, a scorching warmth surged backward up his arm.

A faint prickling sensation followed in its wake.

But after the prickling came an indescribable sense of ease.

It was as if his bones were being tempered anew and his muscles reforged.

Jiang Ran grunted, his entire body tensing in an instant.

At the same time,

the pale blue panel appeared in his vision again, a series of prompts flashing across it:

[Choose a skill to develop]

Below it, four familiar icons appeared in a row.

Each icon had a brief description beneath it:

[Dragon-Tiger Fist: Infuse it with sharp metal energy to greatly enhance the penetration and destructive power of your fists. It can develop advanced traits such as Dragon Form: Armor-Piercing and Tiger Form: Bone-Shattering.]

[Golden Bell Shield: Fuse it with the marrow's vitality to turn defense from external to internal. It can temper the hardness of your bones and greatly enhance your ability to withstand blows and rebound force.]

[Eight-Step Cicada Chase: Channel metal energy into your feet to transform your burst speed and short-range dodging. Your steps ring like clashing weapons, and your movements become difficult to predict.]

[Buddha's Wrathful Vajra: Fuse the Vajra's wrath with the marrow's killing intent to extend the duration of the state and further increase its power boost. Your fury can condense into tangible pressure.]

Each of the four options was tempting.

The descriptions alone made it clear that any skill he developed would become far more powerful than it was now.

The development of Buddha's Wrathful Vajra was especially enticing, as it would directly extend its duration and increase its boost.

That would greatly strengthen his trump card and leave more room for error.

But...

Beneath those four icons,

there was a fifth option.

A dark golden icon he'd never seen before.

Three seal-script characters sat at its center.

Finishing move.

Jiang Ran's brows slowly drew together.

Since he'd acquired the Profession Panel, every Profession's skills had fallen into just two categories: basic Profession skills and core Profession skills.

This was the first time he'd seen a finishing move.

A finishing move, as the name suggested, was an attack that killed in one blow.

A means of ending a battle. An all-out burst. A final strike that wagered every last chip.

Jiang Ran's gaze drifted slowly across the five options.

Developing one of his existing skills was undoubtedly the safest and most straightforward way to improve.

Dragon-Tiger Fist's penetration and destructive power, Golden Bell Shield's bone tempering, Eight-Step Cicada Chase's transformed footwork, Buddha's Wrathful Vajra's enhanced state...

Whichever he chose,

his combat strength would rise another level in a short time.

But...

The battle with Zhi involuntarily resurfaced in Jiang Ran's mind.

He'd unleashed Buddha's Wrathful Vajra and hammered away with Dragon-Tiger Fist.

Again and again, he'd smashed his opponent into the ruins.

But Zhi's vitality had been terrifyingly tenacious, and its bones impossibly hard. Even with its head deformed and its organs crushed, it had still managed to struggle and fight back.

If Jiang Ran hadn't eventually worn it down by sheer force,

the battle might have ended differently.

"Buddha's Wrathful Vajra is a trump card, but it's a boost to my overall state, not an attack that can end anything."

Jiang Ran murmured to himself, his eyes gradually brightening.

He needed a divine ability that could decide the outcome in an instant.

A finishing blow that could unleash power far beyond his current limits.

Especially after witnessing the terror of that Zhi.

Jiang Ran was more certain than ever.

As his explorations went deeper, the enemies he encountered would only grow stronger.

Without a trump card that could decide everything in one blow,

relying on drawn-out battles to wear down his opponents would only become riskier.

Besides...

The words finishing move might signify a deeper system hidden within the Profession Panel.

With that thought, Jiang Ran took a deep breath and made up his mind.

"I choose... the finishing move."

The instant he made his choice,

the scorching sensation in his body didn't recede. Instead, it suddenly contracted.

It was as if all the qi and blood in his body had been forcibly clenched and compressed into his tightly balled right fist, poised to strike.

Jiang Ran's eyes flew open.

Deep in his pupils, the phantom of a blood-red lotus suddenly appeared.

At the same time, the panel appeared in his vision again.

[Congratulations! You've acquired the finishing move "Ultimate: Lotus Brilliance"]

The outskirts of Feng City.

At the foot of Cuiping Mountain.

The evening light painted the mountain ridge gold. It looked just like the real world: peaceful and serene.

But Liu San was anything but calm.

He crouched on a boulder, clutching his phone, eyes wide as saucers.

The video playing on the screen was the one the drone had recorded the night before.

A man in black had stood on a speeding sports car and fired a bow and arrow, then fought the ancient Exotic Beast Zhi alone. Finally, he'd summoned a blood-red Vajra Phantom and beaten the giant beast to death with his bare hands.

"That's him!!" Liu San jumped up and shouted at the top of his lungs. "The Zhang Qiling I told you about is that guy!!"

His voice carried far across the open mountainside.

Several people nearby, who had been keeping watch in separate spots, immediately gathered around. They were dressed in casual clothes.

The man leading them looked to be around thirty, with an ordinary face.

He came to stand beside Liu San and glanced at the phone screen. His brows twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Are you sure?" the man asked calmly.

"I'm sure! A hundred percent!" Liu San was so excited that spittle flew from his mouth. "I've seen him twice!"

The man ignored Liu San's excitement and asked directly, "Tell me everything that happened after you met him. Give me all the details. Don't leave anything out."

Liu San swallowed and tried to calm himself down.

He recounted both times he'd met Jiang Ran.

The man listened. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly asked, "You mean he was more or less like an ordinary person at first?"

"That's right." Liu San nodded emphatically. "He was impressive back then, but still within the bounds of what a human could do. The second time I saw him, he didn't seem quite human anymore."

At that, the people around them couldn't help frowning.

If Liu San was telling the truth...

Then this man's rate of growth was absurd.

It had only been a few days since he'd gone from using martial arts to kill ordinary monsters to fighting an ancient Exotic Beast alone.

"His first trip into the Abyssal Void was on the fourteenth, and today's the eighteenth... That's four days." A young woman with glasses murmured as she counted. "That kind of growth is completely beyond the norm."

The man in charge didn't answer right away.

He stared at the frozen image on the phone screen. After a long while, he finally spoke, giving the people beside him an order:

"Do everything you can to find this man."

"If you can't find him..." He paused. "Then find a way to get in touch with someone who can reach him. See if we can bring him into our operation."

One of the others immediately nodded. "Understood."

The man looked back at Liu San, his brows creasing. "What about you? How much longer until you can find the entrance to the tomb?"

At that, Liu San immediately pulled a long face.

"Look, boss, I'm not stalling... I only sneaked in once before, after the archaeological team had finished excavating.

Besides, the tomb's location here is completely different from the outside world."

The man could tell Liu San was making excuses, but he didn't press him.

What Liu San had said was true.

Although the geographical environment in the Abyssal Void was exactly the same as in the real world...

that was only true above ground.

Many things beneath the surface were different from how they were in reality.

After a moment's silence, the man turned to another companion.

"Get in touch with Yuan Hang and the other groups. We need to figure out what's underground as soon as possible."

The person beside him promptly nodded in agreement.

Then the man suddenly remembered something and asked, "What about the situation in the real world? Who's in charge of excavating this tomb?"

The other person quickly pulled up the information and reported, "According to the public records and internal information from the Cultural Relics Bureau, the excavation is being led by the Bureau. Apart from several resident archaeological experts, two specialists were temporarily brought in from the Feng City Museum to assist with the preliminary work."

He scrolled through the screen and read out two names:

"One is Wang Wenjuan, a senior researcher at the museum. She specializes in bronze vessels."

"The other is named..."

"Jiang Ran."