First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!

Watching him sit there with such composed elegance.

Taogu barreled forward, both fists thrust out. A biting chill sliced the air—the predawn cold sweeping across the land, freezing heaven and earth. Millennia-hardened ice that could withstand artifact attacks crept up his arms as he threw the punches in a twin-dragon-out-to-sea formation.

“You like to put on a big show? Fine—then sit tight and don’t you dare move!!!!”

Thinking himself a mighty spirit-demon with an invincible physical body?

Facing the incoming double fists,

Lu Ding clenched a hidden-hand punch charged with Mountain-Shaking Earth-Quaking and punched straight through!!!!

Apertures flared open, black smoke mixed with flesh fiend vapor spewing forth, staining the whole arm. Black light erupted, as if the apocalypse had arrived—heaven and earth fused into one hue—only Lu Ding’s crimson eyes cut through all the darkness with startling clarity!

“You like to spout nonsense? Fine—brace yourself, and whatever you do, don’t die!!!!”

Seeing such an oppressive spectacle,Taogu regretted it before he even made contact. In that one-hundredth of a second, he wished he could do it over. If given the chance to redo it, he would never have chosen to clash bodies with Lu Ding.

Who taught him that?

Those who excel at techniques must have weak bodies.

Who told him that!

Spirit beasts and demons must have stronger bodies than humans!?

The fists collided. An enormous force beyond words poured out like a destructive flood.

It shattered the ice-clad fist Taogu wore, turning it to mush, pulverizing it.

The final blow slammed into his chest.

Bang!!!!!!!

From his apertures erupted black smoke mixed with flesh fiend vapor, rolling into rings and exploding outward. Shockwaves nested in widening circles—one wave enveloping another—bursting open!!!

Usually white mists would ring out; today Lu Ding swung with everything and triggered black smoke and flesh fiend vapor instead, forming oppressive rings of black qi as a more terrifying special effect.

Boom!!!!

As Taogu’s flesh and blood were torn apart, his whole body was blasted backward. He tumbled through the air, his flesh gradually disintegrating, bone by bone shattering, his form striking and destroying one towering statue after another within the Black Prison of Death’s Body.

The goddess on the Throne of Divine Embrace showed a hint of displeasure.

All of this had been ‘His’ carefully staged atmosphere.

Now it was ruined—how much extra work would that make for ‘Him’?

Next time, ‘He’ definitely wouldn’t choose this aesthetic.

Rooster Sun goddess had just dropped in front of Lu Ding when Taogu was blown away.

She was left alone, skidding to a halt before Lu Ding.

Up close, the suppressive terror made the old chicken woman just want to cuss!!

Weren’t they saying this guy’s physical body was relatively weak?

So why did he fly first!!!

Now she was stuck—neither to hit nor not to hit.

If she stayed farther away and fought with techniques, she still had room to dodge.

Face to face, with less than a meter between them—

Where could she dodge to?

Besides, she’d just been gravely injured; doing any kind of full-on fight was asking too much. She could at best provide backup. You want her to square off head-on against the youth who could punch Taogu into oblivion?

No way.

The old chicken woman held two daggers, forcing a smile at Lu Ding: “Can I admit defeat?”

Right now she recalled the earlier announcement: “749 Bureau on the case, bystanders step aside.”

By normal logic, when the 749 Bureau faced demons and monsters like them, they would try to capture alive whenever possible.

Though that might mean being taken for experiments later,

it at least meant staying alive—better than being punched to death right now, right?

Lu Ding copied her smile: “No～way!!!”

The smile on the old chicken woman’s face froze into something worse than crying.

Listen.

A grinding sound, like a crusher starting up.

On Lu Ding’s hand the Torture-Crushing Great Rotation activated—rings upon rings of razor teeth spinning irregularly, a terrifying sight that made one’s scalp tingle.

Only then did the old chicken spirit understand.

So all of this killer technique was stored in his hand!!!

“Taogu!!!”

“You screwed me!!!”

“Ah!!!!!!”

Lu Ding raised his hand and pressed the Torture-Crushing Great Rotation directly onto the old chicken woman’s crown. Its suction disrupted her Spiritual Energy circulation, preventing resistance.

The spinning teeth shredded her flesh, her bones, her cultivation, her fate—everything—into nothing within the Torture-Crushing Great Rotation.

Fragments spewed from the ejection port—meat paste and bone shards blasted out, raising a blood mist—evidence of how finely the Torture-Crushing Great Rotation shredded its prey!

From the buried rubble in the distance, Taogu snapped up at the sound of her cry.

He rose, a mangled figure.

He cried out hoarsely: “Spells!!!”

“More spells!!!”

“That punch—definitely a spell!!!”

He shouted while coughing up shredded organs.

His smashed chest convulsed, dark red blood and entrails trembling with every violent movement.

Taogu fixed his gaze and saw Lu Ding had utterly destroyed Rooster Sun goddess.

He pointed a trembling finger: “That’s a spell too!!!!!”

“How do you know so many spells!!!”

“Three schools of spells—impossible, absolutely impossible. You’re only at Second Prohibition cultivation, so why do you possess three schools of spells!!?”

His eyes blazed with ferocity. Although his life force was like a candle in the wind and death was near, the trapped beast still fought!!!

It’s at such moments that a feral killer instinct ignites.

When spirit beasts and demons take on human forms, they seldom reveal their true shapes because revealing it discloses an aura that’s difficult to suppress—one they’d have to repress again later.

Their true forms maximize their power.

Yet humans are the spirit of heaven and earth; the human form greatly aids cultivation.

That’s why demons and spirits sometimes take centuries or millennia to cultivate, while humans can in a few years or a decade achieve tremendous cultivation and combat power.

Taogu’s body shook, his skin splitting piece by piece, revealing underneath bark-like tissue.

His body stretched taller, towering higher!!!!

Roots, trunks, branches, leaves all emerged!!!

Up to the very sky—Taogu’s combat power fully released!!!

He transformed into a ferocious tree-man, mouth hollow and gaping, howling wind whipping, bone-penetrating cold, branches and leaves lifting the starry sky. His cultivation flared into dazzling, overwhelming ferocity!!

This was a do-or-die fight!

“You have secrets—I’ll kill you!!!! I’ll kill you!!! The spells are mine, the spells are mine!!!!”

Thud... thud... thud... thud... thud thud thud thud thud...

The sky-reaching tree-man’s footsteps grew faster, pounding the earth, making the ground tremble.

Lu Ding watched the scene.

He had finally received the challenge!!!

This sort of domineering might, this kind of battle—that was exactly what could let him breakthrough in combat.

Lu Ding rose, slowly standing from the throne.

His motion thrilled the revealed Taogu.

“You’re scared! You’re scared!!! You stood up!!!! Hahaha you stood up, finally you stood up!!!”

Taogu’s elation could not be understood by anyone else—he’d been fighting half-dead, he thought he’d killed the man, and the target hadn’t even budged. Now at last the man stood!!!

Lu Ding’s small step was, in Taogu’s mind, a giant victory!

Jealousy drove him insane.

Lu Ding understood it.

But he had only stood—he hadn’t fallen. Why was Taogu so happy?

With a reverse hand he pressed the void; ripples spread and a vast divine might slowly surfaced.

As Lu Ding withdrew,

the ancient stone stele revealed a corner, accompanied by Aoyu’s roar.

Roar!!!!

Taogu charged, his huge hand wrapped in bark massaging icy ferocity!!!

Today—even if he died—he would fight Lu Ding to the end, absolutely not...

“Stone Dang!!!!!!!!!”

“How do you have a Stone Dang!!!!!!!”