Cunning
The green dog studied Lu Yuan in turn, its green eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
That razor-sharp voice — like a claw dragged across glass — rang out inside Lu Yuan's mind:
*"Human? Who are you?!"*
It simply couldn't believe it. There was actually a warrior this powerful among the humans of this planet?
If someone like this had been present the last time all those humans surrounded it, it would have had no chance to flee — it would have died on the spot.
After all, it understood that this human commanded extraordinary spatial abilities. There was no other way to transfer it from its previous position into outer space so abruptly. It had resisted — and lost, in the domain of space, to this human.
Hearing the green dog's words, a faint smile crossed Lu Yuan's cold face.
"I'm nothing more than an ordinary human."
As he spoke, wisps of black mist began seeping from his body, spreading in an instant across a radius of nearly a thousand kilometers. The entire region was swallowed by darkness — even a Saint would have difficulty perceiving what was happening inside from the outside.
Shadow Sacred Domain!
Within the Shadow Sacred Domain, a terrifying aura radiated outward from Lu Yuan, and one after another, Shadow Clones shimmered into existence around him.
Stardust condensed about his body. A fearsome Power Burst swelled and expanded — flickers of starlight danced around his black hair, and stellar patterns rose across his brow.
At the same time, radiance blazed at his back, and pairs of Wings of Light condensed behind him — six full pairs, unfurled in brilliant array. The dark pupils of his eyes shifted, golden crosses appearing within them.
His already-elevated aura surged even further.
Stellar Body and Wings of Light.
Two Saint Grade Combat Techniques activated in sequence, both enhancement-type — and with Lu Yuan's base power as the foundation, what he had reached now could only be described as terrifying.
Even the green dog stiffened, its eyes narrowing as it stared at Lu Yuan with sharp, guarded intensity.
Within the Shadow Sacred Domain, even a Battle Emperor-rank expert would struggle to perceive the outside world. But as a Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beast, the green dog possessed unique abilities alongside its overwhelming strength. Though its perception was significantly diminished, it could still sense within a range of several hundred kilometers.
And Lu Yuan's aura — even at that distance — was like a sun blazing to life in the dead of night. Now that Lu Yuan was well within range, the effect was overwhelming. That aura carried a threat the green dog felt in its bones.
Spirit Power surged around the green dog's body. Green mist began to seep outward, touching the surrounding darkness with a soft, hissing sound of corrosion.
The green mist was eating through the shadows.
Yet even as the darkness was steadily corroded, new shadow-force continued to seep from the void, endlessly replenishing what was lost.
In the next instant, space twisted around the green dog as it attempted to use its spatial ability to relocate.
But barely had the distortion formed before it smoothed out — Lu Yuan had countered with his own spatial ability, locking the green dog in place.
The green dog glanced at him, its lips pulling back in a cold, vicious grin.
With a shriek, it transformed into a streak of green light and vanished. Sounds of corrosion erupted at multiple points throughout the Shadow Sacred Domain as the green dog came hurtling toward Lu Yuan.
At that moment, within the domain's darkness, Shadow Clones condensed one after another — each shimmering with stardust, blurring into afterimages that encircled the green dog entirely. Waves of sword-light flashed, slashing toward it with merciless precision.
Hundreds of beams appeared simultaneously. Individually, a single strike wasn't enough to make the green dog flinch — one blade alone would barely register. But in such numbers, they became something else entirely.
Quantity has its own quality.
The green dog sensed a mortal threat — one it hadn't felt even when facing Lu Yuan directly.
It shrieked, green mist erupting wildly around it to form a glowing shield, while its body flickered and twisted to dodge the incoming blades.
Complete evasion was impossible. But the beams that did connect couldn't break through the shield — they merely left faint scratches on its surface.
Lu Yuan watched without surprise. If the green dog were that easy to deal with, it wouldn't have weighed on him so heavily.
Then — without warning — wisps of green mist began seeping from Lu Yuan's own body. The golden radiance on his skin flickered violently, and the Wings of Light at his back dimmed noticeably.
A muffled grunt escaped him. His chest felt thick. His face went slightly pale.
A thread of weakness crept through him.
He looked up at the green dog, its eyes pulsing with green light. *It has curse abilities?*
His eyes narrowed. Even with the Wings of Light — which granted resistance to debuffs — he had still felt it.
Clearly, this curse was extraordinarily powerful. Without the Wings of Light, it might have critically wounded him.
A smile tugged at the corner of Lu Yuan's mouth.
A ring of gray light appeared in his eyes alongside the golden crosses.
Hand of Death.
An invisible hand materialized above the green dog as it wove among the Shadow Clone attacks — and closed.
The green dog's body shuddered. A pained screech tore from it as its aura weakened noticeably and its speed dropped. Caught off guard, it took hit after hit from the Shadow Clones. Its green shield shattered, and waves of sword-light landed across its body. In a harsh, grating chorus of impacts, gashes opened across its flesh, and threads of green blood seeped out, corroding the surrounding darkness wherever they fell.
Green mist surged around the green dog as its wounds rapidly closed — sealing almost entirely within moments.
Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed, a cold glint surfacing in his gaze.
*Faster than I expected.* He hadn't heard anything before about the green dog possessing this kind of recovery.
His best guess was that this Aberration had grown even stronger since the last encounter — this regeneration might be a newly developed capability.
While directing his Shadow Clones to keep the pressure on, he withdrew a Spirit Crystal and absorbed it, replenishing his Spirit Power to full.
As a Battle Sovereign simultaneously maintaining four powerful Saint Grade Combat Techniques, even Lu Yuan wasn't immune to the drain.
It wasn't enough to exhaust him any time soon — but anticipating a prolonged fight, he had no intention of letting his reserves dip below a safe level.
With his Spirit Power restored, his expression sharpened. Silver-white radiance emerged from his body, and six silver-white metallic forms materialized.
Floating cannons. Fabricated through the Mechanical Saint's Mechanical Fabrication ability, each one reached sixth-tier Sovereign Grade in quality — and as Gene Armaments, Lu Yuan could enhance them directly, pushing the set all the way to Saint Grade.
Six cannons formed a set, collectively equivalent to a single Saint Grade Gene Armament — a load Lu Yuan's current strength could comfortably sustain.
Once the silver-white floating cannons appeared, the dark pupils of Lu Yuan's eyes seemed to transform into iron-black gears, slowly turning. Behind him, alongside the white wings, ghostly gear shapes shimmered into view.
The mechanical enhancement ability of the Mechanical Saint.
This was Lu Yuan at his full augmentation.
Streams of gray-iron light poured into the floating cannons. Gray radiance rippled across their surfaces, and Spirit Power surged at their muzzles, building toward enormous intensity.
Before, the six cannons combined barely reached Saint Grade output. Now, a single cannon alone could concentrate Saint Grade force — each one more devastating than the Shadow Clone attacks.
Lu Yuan's thoughts moved, and the floating cannons unleashed a volley of silver-gray Spirit Power blasts.
The shots warped space as they traveled — and slammed into the freshly-reformed light shield surrounding the green dog.
**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!**
Thunderous detonations rang out. The shockwaves tore through the domain, and almost instantly the green shield fractured, fissures racing across its surface before it shattered entirely.
The violent recoil broke the green dog's evasive rhythm. In that frozen instant, it was engulfed by countless sword-beams — and that glass-scraping shriek rang out again.
A flash of green light erupted, and the green dog burst free from the Shadow Clones' encirclement. Compared to before, it now bore a web of brutal new wounds.
Green mist surged. The wounds writhed and slowly began to close.
The green dog fixed Lu Yuan with a cold, cunning stare — then let out a terrifying shriek.
The scream expanded as a shockwave. The Shadow Clones that had been closing in to renew their assault were obliterated instantly. Lu Yuan's vision went white. Warmth trickled from his ears and nose, his face drained of color, searing pain blazing through him.
In the next instant, he sensed a sinister presence closing in from behind. Space rippled around him as he went to spatial-shift away.
But the space resisted him — more than it had before.
*The Aberration's interference?*
A chill ran through him. The Aberration's spatial abilities were inferior to his own — but it could still manage limited disruption.
Without a second thought, Lu Yuan's body blurred into an afterimage and threw itself sideways.
Spatial movement disrupted by interference had no practical value at this level of combat. The moment it took to force open a portal was all the time an opponent needed to tear you apart.
He wasn't about to stand still and let that happen.
Even reacting as fast as he did, he was still a fraction too slow. A vicious claw raked across his armor. His defenses were formidable, but they couldn't fully absorb the blow — cracks split the armor, and blood began to seep through.
At the wound, threads of corrosive green mist crept inward, filling him with a gnawing, searing pain.
He shot backward, glanced at the gash on his arm, and let light-force flow through him — the green mist dissolved. Then Life's Gift activated, and the wound sealed itself in moments.
The green dog was already charging again. Having recognized that Lu Yuan could produce vast numbers of clones, it had no intention of getting bogged down fighting them — it went straight for the main body.
This time, the green dog's claw came sweeping directly for Lu Yuan's head. Green mist churned around it, and the raw force of the blow cracked space itself, fissures splintering through the void.
Lu Yuan's expression went cold. He gripped his heavy sword, activated Black Steel Force, and let stardust-light and white radiance flow into the blade — the two forces coiling together and converging, compressed as though forced into a single point.
Then he swung.
The compressed power exploded on impact, colliding with the green dog's claw.
**BOOM!!**
A thunderous crack rang out. Both Lu Yuan and the green dog were sent flying in opposite directions.
Disbelief filled the green dog's cold eyes. *This human is only a Battle Sovereign — by this universe's power scale, that's equivalent to Saint-rank — and it's meeting me blow for blow?!*
Before the green dog could process its shock, Shadow Clones were already condensing around it again, surging forward.
Its expression twisted. "Damn it!" it screamed.
It had finally found a clear opening to eliminate the main body — but the main body was stronger than it had anticipated, and now the clones had reappeared. It was on the back foot again.
Meanwhile, though Lu Yuan had been sent flying and both hands were numb, his actions didn't slow. He called up another wave of Shadow Clones and, in the same motion, vanished into the spatial fold — reappearing directly behind the green dog.
Spatial movement!
Without the green dog's interference, his spatial ability was back to full precision.
He materialized behind it, and a Heaven-Sundering Slash — infused with both stellar-force and light-force — came sweeping toward the green dog's neck.
The instant the Heaven-Sundering Slash drew close, a flash of cunning crossed the green dog's eyes — and it shrieked again.
Every Shadow Clone was obliterated at once. A grunt escaped Lu Yuan as fresh, agonizing pain tore through him, briefly draining the color from his face.
Seeing this, the green dog bared its teeth in a vicious grin. *The human fell for it!*
It swung its claw again at Lu Yuan's head.
But in that very instant, where Lu Yuan had stood — there was no Lu Yuan. In his place stood a Shadow Clone.
The green dog's claw crashed down on the clone and smashed it apart. And at the same moment, the space behind the green dog warped. Lu Yuan stepped out, his heavy sword blazing with concentrated radiance, and brought it down in a crushing blow.
Sensing the lethal threat from behind, the green dog's eyes went wide. It couldn't understand why the human had become a Shadow Clone — but there was no time to think. Green mist surged around it, forming a shield to intercept the strike.
**BOOM!!**
The heavy sword struck the shield. Cracks raced across it. Green mist boiled outward — and was scattered by the light-force radiating from Lu Yuan's body.
The shield shattered. The sword landed.
A brutal wound tore open across the green dog's body. Its form dissolved into a mass of green liquid — and vanished.
The remaining liquid surged toward Lu Yuan like a wave. He sensed the danger immediately, his eyes hardening as he threw himself backward.
From a distance, the green dog rematerialized — its back bearing a gaping wound that had nearly cleaved it in two.