...
After a grueling span of two weeks spent in absolute isolation within his warded pavilion, Sunny was finally able to lower his guard by a microscopic fraction.
He explicitly dedicated this quiet period to calculating his absolute survival strategy, utilizing the Supreme Merge System.
He clearly determined that while his Phantom Ash Scorpion was a flawless assassin, it was insufficient for large-scale warfare. He explicitly decided that the next entity he fused must be a colossal, towering monstrosity capable of effortlessly destroying entire mortal villages.
A massive siege-beast possessed the sheer area-of-effect devastation necessary to shatter the coordinated battle formations of the righteous Orthodox Paladins, ensuring Sunny could remain safely hidden miles away from the actual bloodshed.
His exhausting period of strategic contemplation was abruptly shattered.
Quartermaster Jin knelt directly outside the doors of the pavilion. He explicitly knew that disturbing the Supreme Flesh-Crafter during a period of deep seclusion was typically a crime punished by slow, agonizing flaying.
He fully expected the heavy doors to open and a wave of corrosive venom to instantly liquefy his organs.
"Supreme One," Quartermaster Jin whimpered, "This worthless insect begs for your dark mercy. Several Elite Vanguard Slaughter-Captains have forcefully requested your terrifying presence at a blood-banquet today. I was commanded to escort you."
Inside the pavilion, Sunny felt a massive wave of stress crash over his exhausted mind. He explicitly wanted to remain in bed and sleep for another three days.
His internal monologue was a frantic spiral of panic. He knew definitively that if he attended this gathering, these veteran killers would undoubtedly interrogate his methods and expose him as a complete fraud who relied entirely on a magical blue interface.
However, he also clearly understood that explicitly refusing an invitation from a cartel of high-ranking executioners would result in them sending shadow-assassins to murder him in his sleep.
Having no other valid option to preserve his life, Sunny pushed the heavy obsidian doors open.
His innate villainous aura immediately flooded the courtyard. Thick waves of dark Qi rolled off his shoulders.
"..." Sunny offered absolutely no verbal confirmation. He merely stared.
Jin firmly believed the Young Master was already calculating which of Jin’s limbs to sever first as payment for this severe interruption.
"The bone-palanquin awaits, Supreme One! I swear my life as collateral for your safety!" Jin babbled frantically, scrambling backward on his hands and knees to lead the way.
Sunny silently followed, his dark robes billowing ominously. They boarded a massive palanquin forged entirely from the bleached ribs of a slain Abyssal Wyrm.
Sitting rigidly in the darkest corner of the claustrophobic carriage was a young, female acolyte named Xue.
She was a junior disciple bound to the Resource Hall. Clutched tightly to her trembling chest was a shivering, mutated beast.
Quartermaster Jin had explicitly forced her to bring the creature, foolishly hoping the Supreme One might bestow a casual blessing upon it during the journey.
Xue was absolutely paralyzed by fear. She did not care about her beast’s progression; she was entirely convinced that the notorious Evil Sect Young Master was going to devour her soul to sustain his dark arts.
Her body language explicitly broadcasted her mortal dread. She hyperventilated loudly, pressing her spine so hard against the bone-wall of the carriage that it threatened to bruise her flesh, her eyes wide with the certainty of her own impending death.
Sunny was merely physically exhausted from his lack of proper sleep. He casually shifted his gaze toward the shivering creature in her arms.
The Supreme Merge System instantly projected a glowing blue data frame directly into his retinas.
[Target Identified: Four-Eared Blood-Sonar Bat]
[Monster Level]: Tier 2 (Elite)
[Monster Grade]: Normal
[Monster Attribute]: Sonic / Shadow
[Evolutionary Requirement]: ...
Sunny noted the information with mild interest. A sonic-attribute beast was highly useful for battlefield espionage.
He continued to stare blankly at the creature, his mind wandering as he silently calculated the raw spirit stone cost required to fuse such an entity.
To Xue, this prolonged, unblinking crimson stare was the ultimate nightmare. She explicitly concluded that the Supreme One was meticulously analyzing the spiritual density of her flesh, deciding whether she or the bat would make a more succulent appetizer.
Sunny maintained his silence.
The bone-palanquin finally halted at the Crimson Marrow Terrace. This was a highly exclusive, suspended observation platform constructed directly above a bubbling, subterranean lake of highly corrosive acid.
The environment was explicitly engineered to be as hostile as possible.
Seated around a massive, circular table forged from cursed black-iron were a dozen heavily scarred, veteran slaughter-captains. They explicitly radiated the suffocating, metallic stench of fresh murder.
Sunny felt his stomach drop into an abyss. His uncultivated human heart hammered violently against his ribs. He was a modern civilian trapped in a room full of sociopathic warlords. He explicitly wanted to turn around, flee into the ash-fog, and never return.
However, his survival depended entirely on projecting supremacy. He stepped onto the terrace, his villainous aura flaring to counteract their combined killing intent.
"Supreme One," Quartermaster Jin stammered,
"Allow me to introduce Commander Vile of the Flaying Pavilion, Captain Retch of the Bone-Marrow Hunters..."
Jin rapidly listed the terrifying titles of every executioner present. Sunny explicitly realized that this was not a social gathering; it was a coordinated, political ambush.
These warlords had gathered to forcefully conscript him into mass-producing Commander-tier fiends exclusively for their private armies.
Commander Vile did not bother with pleasantries. He slammed a spiked, blood-stained gauntlet directly onto the cursed iron table.
"We are aware of your volatile genius, Young Master. However, Grandmaster Gu has explicitly recorded that feeding highly corrosive venom-sacs to a shadow-attribute fiend results in instantaneous, catastrophic core collapse. Yet, your Scorpion survives. Explain your impossible flesh-mending theories to us. Prove you are not a mere charlatan utilizing forbidden, unstable artifacts stolen from your father’s vault."
Sunny was internally screaming in absolute panic. He explicitly possessed zero knowledge of demonic biology or flesh-mending theories.
He could not explain anything because his entire methodology consisted of the System miraculously bypassing the laws of nature.
He clearly knew that if he attempted to invent a biological explanation, these seasoned veterans would instantly recognize the lie and execute him for insulting their intelligence.
He explicitly understood that there was only one valid escape route. In the Demonic Path, the only defense against an overwhelming interrogation was absolute, unfathomable arrogance.
Sunny slowly rose from his seat. He did not shout in rage. He did not overturn the heavy iron table.
He merely swept his glowing crimson eyes across the gathered warlords, letting his dark aura flood the terrace.
"..."
"Ignorance," Sunny finally whispered.
His voice dripped with such profound, absolute contempt that the ambient temperature on the terrace noticeably plummeted. He offered absolutely no explanations, explicitly refusing to justify his divine methods to lesser beings.
He turned his back entirely on the deadliest killers in the Vanguard and walked away, his dark robes swirling in the acidic wind, projecting the image of a sovereign completely bored by the trivial squabbles of insects.
The slaughter-captains remained seated in rigid, stunned silence. To their deeply paranoid, battle-hardened minds, Sunny’s explicit refusal to even acknowledge their interrogation was not evidence of a fraud; it was the ultimate, terrifying display of supreme confidence.
They explicitly concluded that the Young Master viewed their vast, accumulated knowledge as so pathetically rudimentary that it was completely beneath his dignity to even correct them.
"He treats us as though we are mere fodder," Captain Retch hissed,
"He genuinely believes our Elite methodologies are absolute garbage."
Jin fully expected Sunny to return to the barracks later tonight to slowly peel the skin from his bones as the ultimate punishment for organizing this insult...