Ancient God Transformation, Kirin!

Time rewound to ten minutes ago.

With a bang, Gu Jianlin knocked over a table and rolled continuously across the floor until he slammed into the wall.

He felt as if every bone in his body had fallen apart and his internal organs were shifting; a mouthful of blood sprayed out.

This was merely the result of being struck by the Joker's mutated body.

As a seventeen-year-old boy, he was enduring pain far beyond what his age should have to bear.

This was a lesson written in blood: in all things, one must rely on oneself.

From this day forward, he would absolutely never pin his hopes on his teammates again.

He had assumed the Ether Association's elite strike team would be formidable, but he hadn't expected that after a grand entrance, they would be wiped out without the slightest ability to resist.

However, this could not be blamed on them.

Behind the Joker, there seemed to be someone else.

Fortunately, the Divine Priest's abilities were comprehensive. Although there was no offensive capability at the current stage, there was still sustainability.

Gu Jianlin braced himself against a flowerpot nearby, and pale ghost fire ignited on his five fingers once again!

"Sacrifice!"

The Sansevieria in the flowerpot withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, its lush vitality sacrificed to nature.

Gu Jianlin also received the gift of nature's power. The wounds and bruises on his body recovered completely, and even the internal injuries in his body were quietly healing, flowing through his entire body like a warm current as if he were bathing in sunlight.

A shrill sound of tearing air arrived. His expression changed slightly, and he kicked the table over.

In an instant, a sturdy and resilient spider web stuck to the table, gumming it into a lump.

This was followed by one spider-silk bomb after another, erupting with shrill, sharp noises.

Gu Jianlin hurriedly picked up the flowerpot and stood up, relying on the few obstacles in the cafeteria to dodge.

There wasn't much space left in the cafeteria for him to maneuver; spider webs were stuck everywhere.

After the Joker completed his spider mutation, his physical fitness had improved significantly, and he could even crawl on walls.

If not for Gu Jianlin possessing Life Perception, he would have been ambushed and killed instantly in such a dim environment.

"Run! Where else can you run?"

The Joker's hoarse, cold voice sounded from the ceiling: "Guess what an Ascender feels when they are near death? You will know, because I will let you experience that fear slowly."

Gu Jianlin looked up, meeting a pair of crimson compound eyes, and said coldly: "You talk too much."

Profiling had already failed because this guy had turned into a giant spider. Although he still retained human consciousness, he possessed the hunting instincts of an arthropod, making it impossible to predict his movements.

This was truly a desperate situation.

The reason for falling into this desperate situation was that his teammates were too incompetent.

But now was not the time to blame teammates; Gu Jianlin had to seize the last glimmer of survival.

The mysterious old man in the grocery store had once told him:

"The gate of life lies in the south, the gate of life is in the fire."

Fire!

Gu Jianlin decided to make one last stand, turned around, and rushed toward the cafeteria kitchen on the second floor!

For a moment, the spider that the Joker had transformed into erupted with astonishing jumping power and lunged at him.

The sharp arthropod limbs glinted with a cold light.

"Die!"

Gu Jianlin raised his left hand, his fingertips stained with a smear of blood, and pale ghost fire suddenly ignited!

Ghost Curse!

He was very glad at this moment that he had chosen the Divine Priest path.

Because the Joker's entire body had mutated and hardened, bullets couldn't penetrate it.

On the contrary, the Ghost Curse could ignore all movement and defense, dealing true damage.

With a soft puchi sound, the Joker erupted with thick, foul blood and fell from mid-air. The fatal strike was deflected.

It just happened to graze past the boy's back and landed on his thigh!

Gu Jianlin also faltered due to the damage from the Ghost Curse, staggered as he rushed to the second floor, and collapsed to the ground, sliding toward the kitchen ahead.

Blood flowed ceaselessly from his left leg; the knife-sharp limb had torn the artery in his thigh. The intense pain made everything go black before his eyes. If not for the surging adrenaline forcing his body to hold on, he likely would have lost the ability to fight after taking that hit.

"Sacrifice!"

His right hand reached for the Sansevieria in his arms again, sacrificing its vitality to receive the gift of nature's power.

The injury to his thigh artery healed quietly.

As for the Sansevieria in his hand, it had already withered, on the verge of death.

It couldn't be used anymore.

A high-level Divine Priest could extract vitality within a certain range, sacrifice it to nature, and feed it back to themselves.

But he couldn't do that yet.

Moreover, there wasn't much spirituality left in his body; it couldn't be used for healing anymore, so it was better to use it for a few more Ghost Curses.

A rustling sound came from behind, the sound of some insect crawling.

The Joker climbed up again and sneered: "You actually walked into a dead end yourself, stupid."

This humanoid monster walked on eight spider legs, holding a pitch-black bell in his hand, and approached slowly.

The cafeteria kitchen had a large space, mostly for storing ingredients; it was indeed a dead end.

Gu Jianlin ignored him entirely, retreated silently, and then glanced at the corner.

It was a small liquefied gas tank.

Drawing his gun, chambering a round, the last alchemy bullet, aim!

He didn't know how much gas was left in this tank.

But it hadn't been changed for a while, so the explosion power shouldn't be enough to blow him up along with it.

The trigger was pulled, and the specially made alchemy bullet turned into a line of fire, racing out from the muzzle and hitting the target dead center!

At that moment, the Joker turned his head to look at the corner, and a massive burst of fire suddenly swallowed him!

Boom!

The violent explosion engulfed the Joker, and the flames, accompanied by a shockwave, rolled in, collapsing the walls like dry wood.

At the last moment, Gu Jianlin forced his body up and rolled into a storage cabinet. He felt the cabinet shake violently, then it was flipped directly onto the ground, rolling intensely across the floor, the world spinning.

A moment later, he kicked the cabinet door open and stood up slowly.

Thick smoke billowed, and fire burned in the ruins, blindingly bright.

However, right in the blinding fire, a burning figure stood there, emitting a cold, chilling laugh.

The Joker!

At that moment, Gu Jianlin's heart sank. Damn it, even a gas explosion has no effect!

That old man's fortune-telling really hadn't been accurate.

The Joker erupted with terrifying jumping power and leaped over, like a monster choosing someone to devour!

The shrill cold light felt like a knife cutting his face. Gu Jianlin couldn't dodge this time and was pierced through the lower abdomen!

Blood gushed out, and the intense pain seemed to pierce his soul.

The Joker's hideous, terrifying, and severely deformed face was close at hand, his crimson compound eyes like a demon's.

"The way you struggled at the end satisfies me."

He grinned, revealing an exaggerated smile, his mouth reeking of foul blood: "Come, taste the fear."

Gu Jianlin looked at him coldly, his pupils seemingly frozen.

At some point, the pitch-black bell had already floated above his head.

Mythic Armament, Soul-Pacifying Bell.

--Release!

Boom!

At that moment, Gu Jianlin heard a roar like an ancient bell, which almost shattered his soul!

He felt as if he were in an endless vortex; the tidal waves of sound rolled in, his near-shattered soul was about to be swallowed, his remaining consciousness gradually fell into darkness, and the world was silent.

The pitch-black bell released a black halo, as if it were about to pull the boy's soul out of his shell.

It was also at that moment that the Black Kirin in the depths of his consciousness opened its golden vertical pupils again, angry and majestic.

Roar!

With a roar that resounded through his soul, Gu Jianlin regained consciousness.

So the last Mythic Armament was also aimed at the spirit.

The Black Kirin could also help him become immune!

Wait!

It was this moment of mental clarity that made him realize one thing.

What the old man had warned him about didn't mean that.

In the extraordinary world, it certainly wouldn't be ordinary fire.

Gu Jianlin remembered the stone slab he had seen at the grocery store. At that time, he had profiled a bizarre scene: a boy in pale sacrificial robes had ghost fire burning on both hands, pressing hard against the monster's skull.

Both sides were burning together!

As if parting the clouds to see the light, Gu Jianlin suddenly realized: he only had one kind of fire on him!

Divine Sacrifice Fire!

In an instant, Gu Jianlin's hands ignited with pale ghost fire, and he pressed directly onto the monster's skull!

"Sacrifice!"

Boom!

The Joker let out a shrill scream, his vitality evaporating like oil in a hot pan, sacrificed to nature.

The chaotic vitality fed back into the boy's body.

The world seemed to fall into silence after this vitality that didn't belong to him surged into his body.

The Black Kirin seemed to have been stimulated by something.

In the depths of his consciousness, the evil boy in white sacrificial robes fell into a deep sleep.

Replacing him was the Black Kirin, waking from its slumber.

The two sides seemed to have swapped positions.

And swapped the leading power.

With a crack, Gu Jianlin heard the sound of bones breaking within his body.

Blood flowed from his head, and pitch-black Kirin horns broke through his skin, noble and ferocious.

Fine beads of blood seeped from his entire body, his fair skin was pierced, and black dragon scales spread over his whole body.

Fangs glinted with cold light, piercing his lips.

His dim eyes suddenly lit up, replaced by golden vertical pupils, ancient and majestic.

His withered body was propped up by surging power.

His exhausted spirit was ignited by violent rage.

At this moment, Gu Jianlin only wanted to roar at the sky and release the power gushing from his body.

He seemed to hear a roar from the ancient wilderness, like the collapse of the world, narrating a lost epic.

Dim, barbaric, vast, and majestic.

It was as if the vast, boundless universe were echoing with the roar of annihilation.

The Joker smelled the scent of fear; it was the pressure of a supreme, ancient god from a higher level.

He was terrified, feeling in a trance as if he had turned from a hunter into prey.

The original prey, however, had turned into an ultimate predator.

In the darkness, Gu Jianlin's golden pupils were burning.

His majestic, indifferent gaze seemed to be looking down at an ant.

Huge terror exploded in the Joker's mind. He screamed and swung his massive steel limbs, slashing down like a sickle!

The shrill sound of tearing air came toward him, but Gu Jianlin merely raised his eyes and blocked it with a wave of his hand!

Clang!

The sharp limb slashed against the back of his hand, which was covered in dragon scales, sparking intense fire.

The gap in physical strength had been completely reversed.

"Is that all you have?"

Gu Jianlin felt the power in his body, grabbed the limb with his backhand, and gave it a casual tug!

The Joker suddenly let out a shrill wail, and intense pain pierced the depths of his soul, because his steel limb had been snapped off, as fragile as a chopstick broken by hand.

In the darkness, only a pair of golden pupils burned, as dazzling as the sun.

Gu Jianlin reached out and grabbed the other limb, his rock-hard palm exerting force, and a cracking sound erupted.

"Thank you."

Before the Joker could scream, the other limb was brutally torn off, and blood sprayed wildly.

With a thud, he was smashed to the ground by brute force again.

"For letting me awaken this power."

Gu Jianlin grabbed his neck and threw him against the wall like trash, emitting a huge sound.

Rubble rolled down, and the Joker's mutated head was more than half-caved in, thick, foul blood flowing from his seven orifices, as if even his soul had been shattered!

Gu Jianlin stepped on his head, looking down from above, his golden vertical pupils burning:

"Now it's your turn to taste fear."

At this moment, he had finally returned to the state he was in when he first traveled to the Kirin Immortal Palace.

Kirin horns, scales, fangs, golden pupils.

This was the posture of the Kirin.

At night, the grocery store opened for business once again, sandalwood incense curling upward in thin wisps.

The old man remained seated in his wheelchair, toying with the six copper coins in his hands; the cold moonlight reflected against his profile, making him look like a mottled ancient painting.

"Teacher."

Jing Ci was still dressed in a suit and tie, gazing into the distance as he said with a smile, "You lost the bet again."

The old man was silent for a moment, a smile touching his lips as he took ten red banknotes from his pocket and placed them on the table.

Jing Ci said with a beaming smile, "In this world, it is generally believed that the Fallen are a manifestation of a corrupted spirit."

"In the dark Middle Ages, countless Fallen were branded as black wizards and executed at the stake."

He paused, then continued, "But they do not know that so-called corruption can also harbor the opportunity for evolution. If someone can harness that corrupted spirit with a powerful mental will, their initial evolution can be on par with a Divine Servant. So many young people have come these past few days, yet he was the only one who saw through the content on the clay tablet, proving that he is capable of evolution."

"Since his talent is decent, I gave him a chance at the Path to Heaven; it is up to him whether he can seize it."

The old man smiled faintly, looking up at the bright moon in the night sky.

"However, I am not satisfied with merely reaching the level of a Divine Servant..."