The far north is the forgotten edge of the world and the mass grave of fallen gods. Xiao Wuchen's consciousness trembled violently within the remains of the ancient armoured warrior. Without the system's pain shield, the tearing sensation from the depths of his soul almost made him faint again. He could feel every inch of his body and will undergoing a primal adjustment to this iron armour.
This warrior had clearly endured a horrific battle in life: a large hole in his breastplate was now filled with Xiao Wuchen's dark red 'unwilling soul'.
'Cough...' A mouthful of thick ice shards escaped through the helmet's seams. Xiao Wuchen trembled as he raised his right hand. The dull, lifeless 'Rootless' spike was frozen in his palm due to the extreme cold. In the snowstorm, three pairs of eerie green eyes slowly appeared.
They were Old God Hounds, not living beings, but rather the greedy obsessions left behind after the Old Gods' will dissipated. They devoured the remnants of souls that fell into the icy plains.
The lead hound lunged forward, its body composed of ice crystals and rotting flesh leaving a trail of afterimages in the air. "Awooo—!" In the past, Xiao Wuchen could have vaporised it with a single sword strike, but now, devoid of any spiritual power, even lifting his arm felt like lifting a thousand pounds. 'Get out of my way... you beast!'
Xiao Wuchen's eyes widened, revealing the aura of a war god that hadn't faded even in the depths of despair. Instead of swinging his sword, he used the momentum of his forward lean to slam the heavy armour on his shoulder into the hound's chest.
'Bang!' The dull thud echoed across the empty ice field, sending the hound flying. Xiao Wuchen was thrown heavily onto the snow by the immense recoil, too.
'Logic module damaged... Attempting to activate underlying emergency protocol.' In Xiao Wuchen's mind, the disintegrated system that should have disappeared transformed into a string of basic text due to its extreme will to survive:
'Current status: Will Parasitism (Extremely Weak);
Broken Body Synchronisation Rate: 12%; Core Driver: Unwilling Soul (Burning).'
'Since... I'm not completely dead... Xiao Wuchen leaned on his short spikes and stood up forcefully again before the three hounds surrounded him. He could feel that this rusty armour... The material faintly retained the aura of an ancient battle intent.
He no longer attempted to mobilise his spiritual power, but instead completely immersed his consciousness in the metal shell, sensing the cold steel grain and awakening the dormant passion within the scrap iron.
The Beginning of Reforging: The Fusion of Flesh and Iron.
Just as the three hounds pounced simultaneously, a blinding dark red light erupted from Xiao Wuchen's chest. He had burned the last vestige of his divine consciousness, forcibly vaporising the surrounding ice and snow and using the intense heat to weld the metal seams of the armour back together with his soul.
"Eighth Form: Reverse Moon Burning Heaven — Residual Flame!' Though unable to unleash its full power, his extreme obsession had transformed into a ball of pitch-black, ghostly fire which spewed outwards from the gaps in the armour.
The demonic sword 'Rootless' sensed its master's resolute will, and its previously dull surface shattered instantly to reveal a new blade as black as obsidian and riddled with blood grooves. In a flash, Xiao Wuchen's figure vanished into the steam. The next second, the three hounds didn't even have time to howl before they were neatly sliced into blocks of ice in mid-air.
Xiao Wuchen, panting heavily, felt the armour greedily absorbing the lingering ancient divine energy within the hounds. "Not enough... not enough."
He gazed at the distant black tower, faintly visible amidst the blizzard — the heart of the graveyard.
The three ancient god hounds shattered into ice crystals and scattered across the ground. Xiao Wuchen knelt in the snow pit, gripping the short dagger 'Rootless' in his right hand. The dagger emitted a greedy, devouring sound. The greyish-white liquid, the remnants of the ancient gods, that had seeped from the hounds' bodies, seemed to have found a home, flowing frantically into the cracks of his iron armour.
[System residual log: absorbed extremely low-purity divine matter.]
Remnant Body Synchronisation Rate: 12% → 15%.
[Functional repair: left leg joint dynamic compensation is now online.]
The earth-shattering power feedback of the past was gone; only a humble feeling, like parched land sucking up dew, remained. But this reality gave Xiao Wuchen an unprecedented sense of groundedness. This power was something he had forged himself, sword by sword — no longer a gift from the heavens. Just as he tried to steady himself, an extremely faint bell tolled through the wind and snow.
It was the Death Knell. In this desolate, lifeless Arctic landscape, the sound of bells symbolised both life and the countdown to death. With the instincts of a general, Xiao Wuchen detected a faint trace of human life in the wind. He dragged his heavy footsteps across the ground, each one accompanied by a screech from the rust on his armour. Crossing an iceberg formed from the spine of a god, he beheld a breathtaking scene: beneath the half-collapsed skull of an ancient colossal god lay a village of dilapidated tents and stone houses. At its centre, a ghostly blue flame flickered stubbornly in the icy landscape.
"Quick! The scent of the hounds has dissipated. Now is the time to collect the ice marrow!" A hoarse voice echoed from the edge of the village. Several men, clad in heavy animal hides and with grey runes etched on their faces, rushed out of the village entrance. When they saw the ancient armoured warrior, covered in embers of black fire, slowly approaching through the snow, they all stopped abruptly, their eyes instantly shifting from fear to almost frenzied devotion.
"That's... the tomb keeper?"
'Impossible. The tomb keeper perished in the 'Great Exile' three thousand years ago.' Xiao Wuchen remained silent. His eyes, hidden behind his helmet, flashed with a cold, crimson light. As he approached, an overwhelming aura of iron-blooded killing intent emanated from him, as if from thousands of soldiers. The burly men couldn't withstand the pressure and collapsed to their knees.
'My lord...' An elderly man, leaning on a withered wooden cane, shakily emerged from the crowd. Looking at the hole in Xiao Wuchen's breastplate filled with 'unwilling souls', two streams of turbid tears flowed from his eyes. 'Have you finally crawled back from your grave?'
The old man told Xiao Wuchen that they were descendants of the elite Zhenbei Army of the Great Qian Dynasty and that the armour he wore was that of the Zhenbei Army commander.
'General, although your soul has awakened, this mortal iron body cannot withstand it for long,' said the old man, pointing to the dark mountain range behind the village. 'There lies the ten-thousand-year-old cold iron that Lu Qingyun used to seal the northern spiritual vein. Only that can withstand the forging of your 'unwilling soul' and help you reshape your immortal demonic body.'
Xiao Wuchen looked at the black mountain. He could sense an aura lurking there that was a hundred times stronger than the hunting dogs from before — the 'Old God Guardian' guarding the mine.
Take the iron and reforge it.'
Xiao Wuchen's voice was deep and rumbling, like thunder. He sheathed the short dagger, 'Rootless', back into his waistband and black smoke rose from his armour once more.
Xiao Wuchen refused the old man's offer of companionship, dragging his weakened body alone towards the frozen Black Mountain. The mountain was not made of stone, but was formed from the blood of ancient gods, weathered by extreme northern winds over thousands of years and frozen into permafrost. Rather than spiritual energy, what seeped from the mountain's crevices was the maddening 'murmurs of the ancient gods'.
[System residual log: Extremely high concentration of mental pollution detected. Warning: The host is not currently equipped with the 'Heartless Lock', which makes their mind highly susceptible to damage.'
'Without the lock, I can still manage,' Xiao Wuchen replied coldly. With each step, his iron boots left deep footprints in the black permafrost. Without spiritual energy to sustain him, the weight of the armour nearly crushed his will, but the crimson light in his eyes burned ever brighter in the biting wind.
'Is that all you've got?' Xiao Wuchen rose from the rubble, his helmeted face splattered with blood. However, due to his special ability, 'Will Parasitism', the blood was ignited the moment it flowed out of his body, transforming into dark red demonic fire due to his 'Unwilling Soul'.
He set his sights on the crystal radiating a chilling blue light from the vengeful spirit's chest — the essence of ten-thousand-year-old cold iron.
'Use your core to fill my gap!' Xiao Wuchen suddenly sprang up, abandoning all defensive techniques, and pounced on the vengeful spirit like a trapped beast. He plunged his demonic sword, 'Rootless', deep into the cold iron essence. At the same time, the Netherflame within him surged wildly into the sword.
'Use your body as an array: Melt Gold Body Refinement!' This was a life-or-death refining process. Xiao Wuchen used his willpower as a furnace to forcefully melt the cold iron essence into a liquid state within the vengeful spirit's chilling aura and draw it towards his own chest.
"Ah—!" The raw iron and the cold iron resonated.
It was a scream from the depths of his soul. Like magma, liquid cold iron surged into Xiao Wuchen's body through the gaps in his armour, making direct contact with his soul.
The moment it touched the essence of the cold iron, the rusty cast iron armour underwent a dramatic transformation: large patches of rust peeled away, replaced by an indestructible, deep, dark gold colour, like the starry sky.
[System log: epic-level material detected.]
Body Synchronisation Rate: 15% → 45%.
[Functional Reorganisation: Willpower Skeleton has completed 'Metal Enhancement' and 'Demonic Body Emerging'.
The vengeful spirits were completely drained and vanished into nothingness. Xiao Wuchen stood quietly in the centre of the mine. His new body was no longer fragile scrap iron. At the centre of his breastplate, the core formed from the essence of cold iron pulsed slowly, radiating a steady yet terrifying pressure. He raised his right hand and looked at the demonic sword, 'Rootless'. Although the blade remained short and spiked, it now possessed a cold, icy lustre.
"The first piece." Xiao Wuchen's voice was no longer hoarse, but it now had a chilling metallic quality. He looked deeper into the Black Mountain, where something even more important awaited him.
[Stage Status Update] Equipment: Black Gold Frost Iron Armour (Initial Enhancement)
Synchronisation Rate: 45% (physical strength can now support simple martial arts killing moves).
Objective: Retrieve the three 'Old God Sparks' from the far north, integrate them into the armour and reshape the 'Great Qian Demon God Body'.