Perfection, Danger!

Lin Fan didn't hesitate. He cupped his right hand, and Calamity appeared in it.

Gripping the long handle with both hands, he drove Calamity's crescent-sharp blade viciously into the priceless alloy door, designated ZG-003.

Sizzle!

An unprecedented feast of metal began.

Lin Fan braced himself against the scythe and watched the half-meter-thick solid alloy door visibly soften and cave in.

Ripples spread across its once-hard, icy surface. Then it turned into countless silver-gray streams of light, forcibly drawn out and sucked into the black blade.

Devouring this high-purity solid alloy was far more efficient than devouring scrap cars full of impurities.

[Devoured ZG-003 alloy (Grade A).]

[High purity. Conversion rate: 100%.]

[Calamity (Scythe) growth progress: +0.5%...]

[+1.2%...]

[+3.5%...]

The progress bar shot upward. In just a few minutes, the intact vault door had been "eaten" into a hole about a meter in diameter, its edges smooth as a mirror.

The progress bar, which had been at 23.5%, was now completely full!

[ Ding! Calamity's growth progress has reached 100%.]

[Energy accumulation complete.]

[Conditions met. Beginning rank advancement.]

[Current stage: Rank 0 prototype -> Rank 1 Divine Weapon.]

"It's full!"

Lin Fan's attention was completely drawn to Calamity before him.

Boom!

An invisible shockwave spread outward from Calamity, kicking up the dust on the ground and forming a small vortex.

Then, a terrifying aura unlike any he had ever felt erupted from deep within the blade, instantly filling the entire underground space.

The blade, once jet-black and matte, plain at first glance, began to change dramatically.

The dark-purple patterns that had been all but invisible on its surface seemed to come alive. They flowed and intertwined across the blade, covering it entirely in moments.

Then, a deep purple light spread from the patterns.

"This aura..."

Lin Fan stared at Calamity as it transformed, narrowing his eyes slightly as he felt the stirring of a blood-deep connection.

But just as the purple light reached its brightest, the system notification had ended, and Lin Fan's concentration was at its peak—

"ROAR!!!"

A vicious roar erupted without warning from beyond the hole corroded into the metal door.

A dark shape shot through the one-meter-wide opening like a cannonball, trailing a nauseating stench of blood and decay.

Its thickly scaled claws tore through the air and slammed toward Lin Fan, who was completely unprepared.

It was too fast, and the distance was far too short.

By the time Lin Fan heard the rush of air, he hadn't even managed to raise his head before the fierce gust struck his face.

His body instinctively tried to dodge.

But it was too late.

Thud!!!

A dull impact rang out, painful to hear.

Lin Fan only had time to shift his body and raise the hovering Calamity across his chest to block the blow slightly.

The next instant, an overwhelming force crashed into his chest.

"Pfft!"

Lin Fan spewed blood into the air and flew backward like a fly struck by a racket.

He slammed into a concrete support wall twenty meters away, leaving a deep, spiderweb-shaped crater in it before sliding helplessly to the ground.

"Cough, cough... cough..."

Lin Fan felt as if his chest had caved in. The agony made him suspect that his ribs weren't just broken—they might have pierced his lungs.

Even breathing made his vision darken with pain.

Lin Fan struggled to lift his head and look ahead.

Beside Calamity, still glowing with deep purple light, crouched a massive beast.

It was nearly four meters long, with shoulders and back rising like an anvil. Its body was covered in black, needle-like bristles, each one gleaming with a metallic sheen, as if it wore heavy armor made of spikes.

Its head resembled a badger's, but its mouth split all the way to its ears. One red eye and one dark eye glared with the fury of a beast whose sleep had been disturbed.

"Iron-Bristled Demon Badger..."

It was a ferocious beast renowned for its defense and explosive power.

Judging by its size and the metallic sheen of its bristles, it had clearly grown to the advanced beast general level.

"Damn it, why is there one of those things here?"

"Roar!"

The Iron-Bristled Demon Badger growled and dug in with all four limbs. Its sharp claws carved deep furrows into the hard concrete floor.

It gave Lin Fan no chance to catch his breath. Its hind legs drove off the ground, and the beast lunged again like a heavy tank skimming across the floor.

Its gaping maw, trailing a suffocating stench, shot straight for Lin Fan's head.

The presence of death pressed down on him.

Lin Fan slumped in the corner, his body spasming with pain. For a moment, he didn't even have the strength to raise his arms and block the attack.

The pain in his chest was numbing. The beast's gaping jaws loomed closer and closer in his vision; he could even see scraps of flesh caught between its teeth.

A hopeless situation.

An ordinary martial artist would already have been dead.

But there was still no fear in Lin Fan's eyes. His gaze, unfocused from his severe injuries, gathered itself once more, turning cold as ice.

"You want to kill me?"

Lin Fan's will stirred.

Whoosh.

Sky Splitter appeared behind him, and six silver streaks of light, thin as cicada wings, shot without warning from its feathers!

At this moment of life and death, Lin Fan pushed his Spiritual Force to its limit.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The six silver streaks traced six strange, flawless arcs through the air toward the Iron-Bristled Demon Badger.

The beast was on the verge of crushing its prey's skull. Bloodthirsty delight already gleamed in its eyes.

But in the next instant, a deadly chill pierced its nerves first.

It instinctively tried to shut its eyes, hoping its thick eyelids—strong enough to deflect bullets—would withstand the attack.

But the Psychic Feather Blades were too fast, and their angles too precise.

Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft!

Six faint sounds of blades entering flesh overlapped almost perfectly.

Two pierced the weakest gaps in its eye sockets, shredding its eyeballs and plunging straight into its brain.

Two slipped in behind its ears, passing through the soft cartilage and severing its central nervous system.

The last two were even deadlier. As it lunged with its mouth open, they shot deep into its mouth, angled upward, and pierced its brain stem.

Every strike hit a weak point!

The Iron-Bristled Demon Badger's savage charge came to an abrupt halt.

It let out a shrill, distorted wail. Its massive body still slid forward under the force of its momentum, skidding all the way to within two meters of Lin Fan before coming to a heavy stop.

Its head convulsed violently. Blood poured from all seven orifices, and its supposedly unbreakable iron bristles trembled.

Its struggles lasted only a few seconds.

Then it crashed to the ground.

The dust settled.

Silence once again filled the underground space.

Only Calamity, still glowing purple in the distance, trembled, while six bloodstained feather blades hovered around Lin Fan, humming softly.