Chapter 1 The Beast Tide

Chen Li's vision was drowned by the tide of beasts, his ears filled with the echoes of wild roars. He didn't even have time to get up again. The mammoth stepped down, and the iron body of Shi Tie Zhi Tu (Iron-Eating Disciple) covered him like a golden bell, withstanding the heavy blow.

"Bang!"

Dust billowed from the ground.

The giant elephant pressed down with great force, even pausing for a second as it stepped on the raised mound, before slowly lumbering past, finally leaving behind a crater several meters deep!

Within the crater, the ethereal Iron Disciple spread its arms, as if splitting the heavens, doing everything in its power to protect this fragmented domain embryo.

Before reaching the fourth rank, this Iron Body Domain was, after all, incomplete.

Chen Li sat inside the crater, his spiritual aura gradually recovering its stability, and a touch of color returning to his pale face.

But this color wasn't just on his cheeks!

It also swirled deep within his pupils.

Chen Li's gaze was sharper and colder than ever before.

Dust and sand flew in from all directions, but were completely blocked by Shi Tie Zhi Tu, creating a crackling sound.

In previous years, his spirit was always unstable, and he often forgot himself during intense battles, triggering the "Gluttony" state, transforming into a brutal brute without consciousness, and wreaking havoc.

And that was precisely why.

The Federal Security Committee constantly monitored him.

At the slightest sign of abnormality, he would be taken to the building and placed in solitary confinement for mental testing!

But after meeting Gu Shen, the "Gluttonous Disciple" within Chen Li's heart gradually calmed down... He was no longer easily angered, no longer lost his reason, became cautious and careful, and was no longer a "reckless man" in battle.

He was once delighted by his "transformation."

He no longer had to worry about losing control.

His teacher and fellow disciples no longer had to worry about or fear him.

He completed his prison missions these past few years with exceptional performance, and Old Zhou from the Security Committee personally revoked his surveillance... Everything was developing for the better, but now, for the first time, he had the urge to enter the "Gluttony" state.

In just ten seconds, the Iron Disciple made nearly a hundred attempts.

Each time it tried to stand up, the giant elephant, and the constantly surging tide of beasts, suppressed it.

How could these be beast spirits without intelligence?

This was clearly deliberate provocation, ridicule, and suppression—

Chen Li took a deep breath.

He slowly reached out his palm towards the front of his neck, and after touching nothing, the little iron man was stunned for a second, then a gentle smile appeared in his cold, sharp eyes.

He wanted to break his mental protection seal.

It was only when he touched nothing that he remembered.

That mental pendant he hadn't used for many years had been given to Gu Xiaoman a few days ago...

"That's great."

One more reason to "lose control."

Chen Li slowly raised his head.

The giant elephant, after circling around and returning to its original spot, now raised its front foot to the extreme, like a small mountain—

Shadows obscured the sky, falling on Chen Li's face.

"Boom!"

The giant elephant stepped down, and the crater exploded with a cloud of blood!

Amidst the chaotic tide of beasts, a muffled roar, filled with anger, horror, and weakness, vibrated—

This blood wasn't Chen Li's!

A figure in black rose up, raising one hand, with five fingers together, an iron fist facing upwards, piercing through the giant elephant's foot!

At the moment the black shadow fell, Chen Li flipped over and stood up, his eyes instantly turning completely black... His mind sea boiled and surged with anger, and he indulged himself in the all-too-familiar "Gluttony" state.

The shadow of the Iron Disciple trembled violently, transforming from an extremely lean and frugal state, into a large mass of boiling iron water.

The next moment—

The giant elephant lost its balance. It felt like it was being pulled, and its natural instinct as an extraordinary life form reminded it to escape quickly, but it was already too late... The crater that the giant elephant stepped on had turned into a black hole, with endless suction!

It wanted to escape, but it couldn't!

"Boom—Boom—Boom—"

Chen Li plunged his palm into the flesh of the giant elephant's foot, his five fingers gripping a bone, and then, without rhyme or reason, he clenched the point of force and began to swing!

He stood in place!

This giant elephant, weighing dozens of tons, was swung around by the berserk Iron Disciple, smashing wildly into the tide of beasts!

This level of bombardment was no different than firing artillery shells!

Those beast spirits, with red eyes, wanting to tear Chen Li to pieces, were directly smashed into powder if they were touched by the edge of the swing. To stand up in the tide of beasts required a relatively clean "spotless land"!

After a round of swinging, an area of twenty or thirty meters fell into absolute silence—

As for that giant elephant... it had been dead as dead could be.

Chen Li's five fingers were still deep in the flesh, he didn't make any movements, and the Gluttony-transformed Iron Disciple shadow lifted him up and slowly flew out of the crater, landing on the ground.

"Whirr, whirr, whirr..."

Only then did he slowly raise his arm.

But his five fingers remained clenched.

Chen Li raised his arm slowly, as if drawing a sword—

Finally, he pulled out a slender leg bone from the giant elephant... Under the effect of Shi Tie Zhi Tu, the bone gradually rusted, gradually weathered, and gradually grew into a round stick.

As if it were born to be a finely carved bone staff, polished thousands of times.

Chen Li swung it, creating a series of whistling sounds. The bone staff was just a blur in the air. Seeing this, he nodded in satisfaction.

Then, in the next second, he disappeared from the spot.

This casually extracted giant elephant bone staff was slammed out by him, smashing out a gust of rusty wind!

A gap was torn open in the tide of beasts!

The Shi Tie Zhi Tu, which was originally just short of perfection, inadvertently achieved its final consummation in this "out of control" state.

Advancing to the fourth rank!

The Iron Disciple's shadow completely dispersed, rushing in all directions. With every swing of Chen Li's staff, a large number of beast spirits were shattered, and blood splattered everywhere. The scene was extremely bloody. Not far away, Mr. Zhuang Su, who was barely holding his own in the tide of beasts, watched with a trembling heart.

Zhuang Su quickly spoke telepathically, "Little Chen, quickly regain your 'mind'!"

This reminder was meaningless.

The Gluttony-transformed Shi Tie Zhi Tu would not heed the voices of outsiders.

Chen Li wreaked havoc!

He had completely lost his reason at this moment, with only his inner fighting instinct guiding him... He first swept back and scattered those beast spirits charging at him, and then raised his head with red eyes.

That Great-Winged Crow King was still maneuvering in the air, not leaving!

Seeing that Chen Li hadn't been trampled to death by the giant elephant, and had even broken through on the spot, a trace of panic flashed in the sharp eyes of the Great-Winged Crow King. It was a high-level extraordinary life form, and had already developed its own intelligence. It could communicate simply with humans through consciousness, and could even understand some complex civilized operations of human society—

Chen Li's almost overwhelming killing intent, the Great-Winged Crow King could see it!

However, it didn't rush to leave, but called out loudly, while flapping its great wings—

"Xiu, xiu, xiu!"

The sky was covered with Mount Tanyao ash. The Great-Winged Crow King used its wings to gather the mountain ash from hundreds of meters around, and then sprinkled it down!

For a moment, sand and rocks flew on the ground, and chaos arose again. Seeing the man on the ground, holding a long staff, frowning and closing his eyes, and being submerged by the tide of beasts... a look of ridicule reappeared in the eyes of the Great-Winged Crow King.

However.

Its smile completely disappeared a few seconds later!

A sound of something piercing the air, penetrating the sky, volcanic ash surged on the ground, obscuring the vision of all living things... a slender stick, sharpened after being ground down, suddenly shot out of the smoke and dust, piercing through the Great-Winged Crow King's body.

The next moment.

Chen Li also shot out of the tide of beasts like this stick—

He was also launched out—

The Iron Disciple on the ground instantly dissipated after throwing its master.

"Sizzle!"

Chen Li flipped over and sat on the back of this large bird, smashing a fist fiercely into the Great-Winged Crow King's head!

This punch caused blood to spurt out—

The sky was silent!

Chen Li held the end of the iron staff in both hands, using force to pry it away from the Great-Winged Crow King's torso, and then, stepping on the falling corpse of the bird, slammed towards another black crow like a cannonball—

He smeared the tip of the staff with his five fingers, and this time the iron staff became an iron blade!

A flash of silver light!

Repeating the process, Chen Li continued to kill the next Great-Winged Crow!

His ability was originally a ground-based, close-quarters combat system that couldn't fly, but he relied on his extremely powerful explosive force to complete the slaughter of the entire Great-Winged Crow flock in the air!

The entire process took only one minute!

After the slaughter ended, Chen Li looked towards the distant sky, his eyes dark. Unfortunately, the Great-Winged Crows were a flying race, and after he killed the Great-Winged Crow King, a few despicable creatures had already fled far away, and their whereabouts were unknown.

Finally, Chen Li landed on the giant tree where Adam was.

The sea of leaves had withered here... Nothing was left.

Adam was gone.

But this might be a good thing, because at this moment the little iron man was completely bloodshot, he couldn't maintain his rationality in the "Gluttony" state, and he had completely forgotten about the so-called "mission"...

After killing the mammoth giant elephant, and then killing the Great-Winged Crows, he focused his gaze on Zhuang Su, who was avoiding the tide of beasts in the distance.

"Little Chen?"

Zhuang Su felt something was wrong.

Seeing Chen Li slowly get up, casually break off a tree branch, and "ironize" it, Mr. Zhuang felt a strong ominous premonition enveloping him.

"Whoosh!"

The next moment—

The ironized tree branch was thrown out by Chen Li, and its speed was astonishing, creating a series of sonic booms!

This was more terrifying than a bullet!

Zhuang Su was very fast. Because he had foreseen the danger, he successfully shifted and dodged the moment Chen Li raised his hand, and then retreated towards the distance. However, in terms of physical abilities, whether it was strength or speed, the "Gluttony-transformed" Iron Disciple was superior to him.

Zhuang Su heard the sound of something piercing the air rapidly approaching from behind, and couldn't help but feel his scalp go numb.

Little Chen usually looked naive and silly, but the fighting power he unleashed in his out-of-control state was truly terrifying!

He couldn't escape—

Zhuang Su took a deep breath. He suddenly stopped, and then turned around.

After escaping dozens of meters, he scattered his mental power along the way, waiting for the final moment when Chen Li attacked him—

His spirit, like a net, had already been laid!

The moment he turned around, Zhuang Su was stunned. He had thought that Chen Li would be very fast, but he hadn't expected him to be so fast... The two were already forehead to forehead, and Zhuang Su's spirit invaded Chen Li's mind sea.

At the same time, Chen Li pressed one hand against Zhuang Su's chest.

"Bang!"

A muffled explosion erupted in the forest—

Mr. Zhuang flew out nearly a hundred meters, his body like a kite with a broken string, crashing into seven or eight ancient trees along the way, and finally raising his hand with difficulty to grab a fragile branch, hanging in the air.

His face was as pale as paper, and he looked down at the position of his chest. His clothes were already torn, and a cyan handprint appeared on his skin... It was Chen Li's imprint, and the power of the Iron Disciple was ironizing this piece of skin, and the ironization was still spreading.

"Cough, cough..."

Zhuang Su coughed up two mouthfuls of blood. He felt a strong metallic taste filling his throat.

It was as if all his internal organs were turning into rusted iron.

Fortunately, this palm deviated at the last moment, and didn't directly hit the heart, otherwise he might already be dead.

At the final moment, Zhuang Su's spirit successfully pierced into Chen Li's mind sea, resulting in this "mutually destructive" outcome.

He stared at the depths of the forest where smoke and dust were rolling, and for a moment, he couldn't see Chen Li's shadow.

"Was it successful..."

Mr. Zhuang was anxious, not knowing if his mental attack had been effective.

The tide of beasts surged beneath him. These beast spirits, with very obvious intentions of attack, no longer actively provoked him after Chen Li broke through out of control... At this moment, the tide of beasts was moving normally, and amidst the chaotic sounds, Zhuang Su caught a trace of a sharp whistling sound!

"Whoosh!"

An iron leaf flew past, piercing his shoulder, bringing out a splash of blood—

The wound torn by the Iron Disciple, even the blood had a rusty taste!

Zhuang Su's pupils contracted. He looked towards the distance in disbelief. In the same place where they had collided earlier, a figure was sitting leisurely on a tree trunk, looking like he hadn't received any mental damage...

Chen Li, whose mind was shrouded by the Iron Disciple, was sitting on the tree trunk, with his legs crossed, pressing his knee with one hand and propping his chin with the other, gazing at Zhuang Su with a look of pity and pity, locking onto him.

The wind blew his iron robe, creating a rustling sound.

The Iron Disciple's shadow floated behind him, casually picking a handful of leaves.

Chen Li flicked his fingers, making a snapping motion—

"Whoosh!"

The second iron leaf was thrown out by the Iron Disciple, and this time it was aimed at Zhuang Su's face, and another burst of rusty blood flew out.

Mr. Zhuang was stunned.

His mental attack was ineffective against the out-of-control Chen Li?

If that was the case, then the cyan handprint on his chest that deviated was deliberate...

"Little Chen" didn't want to kill him directly, but wanted to slowly torture him to death.

He came back to his senses and suddenly understood the reason why his mental attack had failed—what was attacking him at this moment was no longer the "Chen Li" he was familiar with, but the faint, floating, cyan shadow.

In other words, Shi Tie Zhi Tu had given birth to its own consciousness, and due to the out-of-control state, it had completed the manipulation of Chen Li's body.

But the one who was enduring his mental attack was still Chen Li.

To change this situation, the mental attack needed to be deeper, directly reaching into the mind sea!

But Zhuang Su asked himself, he didn't have this ability.

The third iron leaf was being played with in the palm of the Iron Disciple.

Mr. Zhuang took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and waited for the final judgment of fate—

Then, after he closed his eyes, the third iron leaf was still not shot out.

The tide of beasts surged and roared beneath him.

But the world above the trees became extraordinarily quiet.

"Mr. Zhuang..."

A familiar, gentle voice rang out in the forest.

"Sorry, I'm late."

Zhuang Su was stunned for a moment, and then slowly opened his eyes. Perhaps because of the "ironization" of his body, his vision was a little blurry. After a few seconds, the scene on the distant tree trunk gradually overlapped and became clear:

He saw that Chen Li, who had been sitting leisurely on the tree trunk, had stood up at some point. His expression was extremely embarrassed and angry, and he was struggling desperately. The shadow of the Iron Disciple behind him was constantly rolling, swirling like a black fiend.

But both of them were unable to move at all.

Because a hand was gently placed on Chen Li's shoulder.

With just this touch, it was like a mountain weighing a thousand pounds, pressing down on Shi Tie Zhi Tu, making it unable to move.

Gu Shen spoke indifferently, "Leave the rest to me."