Flesh Pasture

A black volcanic rock several thousand meters across appeared like a hill above the fog-shrouded sea.

The black volcanic rock maintained the shape of a gigantic hand, like the Five-Finger Mountain from myth and legend that suppressed the Great Sage.

"Heh."

Beneath the volcanic rock, a long-haired figure less than two meters tall stood on the ruined seabed, both hands raised as he steadily held up the thousand-meter mass of volcanic rock.

Bai Cangshu was not the Great Sage, and Surtur could not bring down a Five-Finger Mountain upon him.

Every muscle across his body bulged. His physique did not look particularly explosive, but strength was already contained within it.

Bai Cangshu could now fully understand why Saitama’s physique had barely changed even after gaining such terrifying power.

After breaking through the Limiter time and again, the same body and the same attributes could contain power on an entirely different scale.

It was like a single muscle fiber in Bai Cangshu’s original body could hold only a few hundred jin of force.

Even that level had long surpassed what ordinary humans could imagine or compare to. Bai Cangshu at that level had already been a Supernatural Being who had completely transcended the shackles of humanity.

Moreover, in terms of the strength of his Limiter alone, he had seen few reincarnators who could compare with him.

This was not self-praise. After witnessing the battles of quite a few reincarnators, Bai Cangshu even believed that he was the kind of reincarnator best suited to the space’s demands—not in terms of temperament, but in his adaptability to all kinds of powers within the space.

Whether it was comprehension, application, or endurance, Bai Cangshu stood first among them.

Yet even Bai Cangshu had previously sensed the limits of his Limiter. Now, with the aid of the Life Furnace, he had broken through those limits, shattering his original Limiter for the first time and gaining a new one.

The true "mass" of his body had now become something inconceivable to ordinary humans and reincarnators alike.

He did not need to alter the form of his muscles for a special burst of power. He could bear this level of weight as he was.

He suddenly hurled the volcanic rock aside. With a single step, he vanished in an instant just as the surrounding seawater rushed back in.

The figure he had sent flying earlier had already returned from the air.

Perhaps because Bai Cangshu had violently broken through Torch Dragon’s flames, Lawrence’s return flight was much easier this time.

The force field condensed by his excessively high biological level no longer distorted, instead clinging perfectly to the surface of his body.

Unfortunately, the thousand-meter giant of flesh and blood, along with the power of the complete Life Furnace, had all been depleted when Bai Cangshu forcibly activated Kaio-ken and broke through the first threshold of the Limiter.

In terms of biological level, Lawrence was now far inferior to how he had been at the start, when merely setting his gaze upon Professor, who had entered the Strong-tier, had been enough to knock him from the sky.

Bai Cangshu tilted his head, analyzing this peculiar form of power—or rather, the so-called Life Ladder.

This was the first time Bai Cangshu had experienced this kind of power. Most of the time, powerful vitality only served a restorative function.

Even when biological levels rose, their destructive power still manifested through physical destruction such as physical strength.

But Lawrence, in his Life Furnace form, displayed an effect where simply having too high a biological level inflicted lethal harm upon other living beings.

If he had to draw a comparison, Bai Cangshu felt it resembled how excessively high Spiritual Pressure in the Bleach World could crush other souls. For example, Aizen after fusing with the Hōgyoku could walk into a human city and cause countless souls to shatter and die.

The difference in soul quality would oppress other souls in the form of Spiritual Pressure.

And now, Lawrence had climbed the Life Ladder to great heights. Likewise, because his biological level and vitality were too high, he had begun to harm weak, lower life-forms.

Perhaps life itself possessed fluidity, passively flowing from low-density, low-quality life-forms toward high-density, high-quality life.

The electrical activity in Bai Cangshu’s brain became extraordinarily active, and his thoughts raced at a terrifying speed. Almost immediately, he roughly simulated how the Life Furnace operated.

Lawrence frowned. More eyes emerged beneath his eyelids, and pairs of eyes locked onto Bai Cangshu at once.

He had not expected that powerful Dragon King to be defeated so easily by this beast. Even the flame giant that had incinerated the peninsula had been unable to suppress it.

No. Calling the other party a beast at this point would be arrogance on his part.

This guy was an unimaginably powerful individual. Not a dragon, not a beast, and certainly not a human.

Lawrence exhaled, and white mist burst from all over his body. The enormous wings of golden Ripple behind him began to transform as well.

Their shape, which had extended infinitely to either side, rapidly contracted into a spiral-like form.

Within the spiral’s curves, pairs of illusory eyes appeared. They opened at once, shooting out scarlet gazes.

Bai Cangshu moved, about to become wind, but as the gazes fell upon him, he felt his body stiffen.

His brows furrowed, and his thoughts became difficult to turn.

Bai Cangshu’s current control over his body allowed him to perform internal observation with ease, yet it took him some effort to discover that masses of flesh had appeared inside his brain.

You have been affected by Lawrence (Life Furnace)'s special ability: Flesh Pasture.
Immunity failed. This ability possesses high priority.
You have been parasitized by Flesh Pasture.

Lawrence looked down from above at the enemy whose movements had begun to stagnate. This enemy called His Excellency Mercenary Tao had finally been successfully parasitized by his flesh.

This was one of the supreme authorities of the domain of life. It should have been a healing ability capable of restoring the dead to life and regrowing flesh upon bare bones, but through excessive nourishment of flesh, it had become an even more terrifying power.

No matter how powerful a body was, once its brain was parasitized, it would lose control of itself.

Lawrence rose into the air. He had no interest in trying to kill an enemy of this level. That sort of task was better left to the Flame Lord. He had something more important to seize now.

He could sense that, for some reason, the source essence seemed about to awaken. Yet neither he nor the Dragon King had touched Seraphina.

Could it be…

Crackle!

Blue-white lightning suddenly exploded, and Lawrence’s countless eyes immediately focused again.

The next instant, he heard a snickering laugh. It began softly, but then grew louder and louder, increasingly crazed.

Lawrence watched as Mercenary Tao thrust two fingers from each hand into his own brain through his temples, then violently began stirring them.

The black smoke around his head had yet to dissipate.

This guy… had blasted his own brain with lightning?!

And now he was trying to dig that flesh out of his brain with his bare hands?!

The other party’s madness made Lawrence wonder whether he, too, was a climber of the Life Ladder.

Crack!

Another bolt of lightning struck Bai Cangshu’s head. He swept the long hair over his forehead back behind his head, his hair now completely loose.

That proliferating flesh did not possess his body’s special resistance to lightning. Perhaps that was the best news for now.

But this ability had undoubtedly affected him!

Violent ki surged skyward from Bai Cangshu’s body. Bai Cangshu felt a long-lost thrill.

Boom!

The flame giant rose again and strode across the sea toward him from behind. Bai Cangshu opened his eyes, multicolored light gleaming in his pupils.

One hand high and one hand low, golden ki and scarlet Ripples burned together.

"Don’t die, Lawrence."

Possessing Surtur, he saw only black Ripples erupt from below, blotting out the sky and sea in an instant.

Like a pitch-black barrier, it completely enveloped him.

Then boundless killing intent came crashing down.

It was as though countless enemies had appeared in every direction. The next moment, violent fist intent swallowed everything.

Shun Goku Satsu: One Instant Thousand Strikes