?The Heart of the Rot didn't roar. It shrieked—a high-frequency vibration that cracked the glass of the few remaining light crystals in the cavern.
?Jiang Chen felt his eardrums pop. Blood trickled down his neck.
The massive organ hovered just above the ground, its outer membrane slick with blue slime. The central eye, vast and yellow with a rectangular pupil, fixed on him.
?It didn't see a human. It saw food.
?WHOOSH.
?Dozens of arteries detached from the main bulk, lashing out like tentacles. They were thick as tree trunks, tipped with bone barbs.
Jiang Chen didn't have room to dodge.
He didn't try.
?The energy siphoned from the Foreman was boiling in his veins. His [Bronze Skin] glowed cherry-red. If he didn't vent this power soon, he would cook from the inside out.
?"Come on!" Jiang Chen screamed, his voice distorted by the pressure.
?A tentacle slammed down.
Jiang Chen punched it.
[Skill: Discharge.]
?He released a fraction of the stored energy.
BOOM.
The contact point detonated. The tentacle was blown apart in a shower of blue gore.
But three more took its place. One slammed into his side, launching him across the cavern.
?He hit the wall, shattering the stone.
His ribs groaned, but the [Bronze Skin] held.
He fell to the floor, panting. The air was getting heavier. The Heart was pumping out spores so thick the air looked like blue soup.
?[Warning: Toxicity Critical.]
[Venom Core: Capacity at 90%.]
?"I can't fight it from the outside," Jiang Chen realized, watching the wounds on the Heart knit together instantly. "It's too big. Too fast regeneration."
?He looked at the central eye. Beneath it, the "mouth" of the organ—a sphincter of grinding teeth—opened and closed rhythmically.
If you want to kill a parasite, you don't cut the skin. You poison the gut.
?Jiang Chen stood up.
He focused all the unstable energy in his body into his legs.
The muscles in his thighs tore and repaired instantly under the strain.
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?He waited for the next volley of tentacles.
They came. A wall of flesh crashing down.
?[Skill: Thunder-Blood Burst (Overclocked).]
?Jiang Chen moved.
He didn't dodge away. He ran up the falling tentacle.
He was a blur of bronze and lightning, sprinting along the flesh-bridge before it could retract.
?The Eye widened. It saw him coming.
The Heart tried to close its mouth.
Too late.
?Jiang Chen launched himself off the tentacle, a living artillery shell.
He pulled his arms back, his claws extending into long, smoky blades.
?"Open wide!"
?He dove straight into the grinding teeth.
?CRUNCH.
The teeth clamped down on his legs.
[Bronze Skin] screeched against the enamel. The pressure was immense—enough to snap steel beams.
Jiang Chen roared, grabbing the gums with his claws.
He dragged himself deeper, ignoring the crushing pain in his shins.
?He slid down the throat, into the wet, suffocating darkness of the Heart's interior.
?It was hot. It smelled of sulfur and rotting meat.
Acids sprayed from the walls, eating at his skin. The bronze began to pit and dissolve.
[Armor Integrity: 60%... 50%...]
?But Jiang Chen saw it.
Suspended in the center of the stomach chamber was the core.
Not a crystal. A fetus.
A curled, half-formed thing made of pure, solidified blue light. The "Foundation" of the beast.
?It pulsed, sending waves of sickness through Jiang Chen's mind.
GET OUT, the entity screamed psychically.
?Jiang Chen stood up in the acid. His skin was sloughing off in sheets, revealing the raw muscle beneath.
He grinned, his teeth melting slightly from the fumes.
"No."
?He grabbed the fetus with both hands.
It burned. It felt like holding a star.
The [Venom Core] in his chest spun wildly, hungry for the power.
?Jiang Chen bit into the neck of the fetus.
[Skill: Predator.]
?He tore a chunk off.
The scream that echoed in his head was deafening. The Heart convulsed, slamming him against the walls, trying to vomit him out.
Jiang Chen dug his claws in.
He swallowed.
?[Consumed: Foundation Essence (Living).]
[EV +500]
?"More," he growled.
He ate the arm.
[EV +500]
?He ate the chest.
[EV +800]
?The cavern outside began to shake. The Heart was dying, its regeneration failing as its core was devoured.
Inside, Jiang Chen was feasting.
His body broke down and rebuilt itself in seconds. The acid no longer burned; it tickled. The toxicity became fuel.
?Finally, he ripped the head of the fetus off and swallowed it whole.
?[Target Neutralized: The Heart of the Rot.]
[Total EV Gained: 3,500.]
[Zone Clear.]
?The fleshy walls around him turned grey and necrotic. The acid stopped flowing. The heartbeat stopped.
Jiang Chen stood in the silent, dark stomach of the beast.
?He felt... heavy.
Not just physical weight. His soul felt heavy.
The energy he had just consumed was too dense for a Qi Condensation body. It was liquidizing his Qi, forcing a transformation he wasn't ready for.
?[Alert: Critical Energy Density.]
[Warning: Host body cannot contain Foundation Essence.]
[Suggest Immediate Evolution or Death is imminent.]
?Jiang Chen clawed his way out of the dead Heart.
He spilled onto the floor of the cavern, covered in blue slime and grey ash.
He couldn't stand. His blood felt like mercury.
?"System," he wheezed. "Spending... spend it all."
?[Evolution Tree Accessed.]
[Current EV: 1,871 + 3,500 = 5,371 EV.]
?He had five thousand points.
Enough to buy a kingdom. Or build a god.
?[Recommended Upgrade: Perfect Foundation Construction.]
[Cost: 5,000 EV.]
[Effect: Remolds the mortal frame. Stabilizes the Foundation Essence. Creates a 'Flawless' Dao Base.]
?Jiang Chen looked at the number. It was everything he had.
"Do it," he whispered, his vision fading to black. "Build the Foundation."
?[Acknowledged.]
[Beginning Metamorphosis...]
[Time required: 24 Hours.]
[Host entering Hibernation Mode.]
?The slime around Jiang Chen hardened.
It turned into a cocoon. A shell of black iron and blue crystal.
Inside, Jiang Chen dissolved.
?The cavern fell silent.
The Boss was dead.
But something far worse was about to be born.
