Ye Chen frowned, the temperature of the black flames engulfing him surging several times, instantly incinerating the Black Blood Worms that burrowed through the tiny orifices of the flames into ash.

The surrounding Black Blood Worms, vast as an ocean, continuously surged forward. Ye Chen’s expression was grim. He reached out and plucked a Black Blood Worm emerging from a small opening in the black flame, squeezing it slightly. The creature’s body flattened under the pressure, oozing wisps of black ichor from its chitinous shell, emitting a foul stench.

Ye Chen didn't crush it immediately. He held it steadily, and sure enough, he soon observed the worm slowly extending numerous fine, crimson tentacles, fine as hair, from beneath its black carapace. These tentacles gently prodded the pores on Ye Chen’s finger before the body began to slip inside.

As the pores parted, Ye Chen felt a curious tingling sensation on his finger, an indescribable comfort.

This Black Blood Worm soon traveled along his finger and entered his body, meandering through his blood vessels, voraciously consuming his vital fluid. It flowed up his arm, making its way toward his brain.

Ye Chen pondered this, waiting until the worm was nearing his cerebrum. With a single thought, all the blood and bone within him—including the blood the worm had already consumed—instantly transformed into intense fire, utterly incinerating the Black Blood Worm into black gas, which then drifted out through the pores in his neck and dissipated.

“So that’s how this little thing eats,” Ye Chen’s eyes flashed. He flipped his palm and retrieved the Demon God Palace from his internal universe. With a thought, the colony of Black Scuttling Worms kept inside crawled out from the various structures, quickly gathering in a colossal central plaza. Leading them was a creature completely covered in fuzz, bristling with countless black tentacles. Its massive body was more than three times the size of the others, and a faint golden light shimmered on many of its appendages, emanating an aura of solemn majesty.

Before it lay hundreds of thousands of Black Scuttling Worms, their numbers significant after so long a period of proliferation. At a glance, they resembled a black sea, completely filling every corner of the vast plaza.

“Master.” Little Black chirped excitedly, “You finally remembered me! Woo-woo-woo…”

Ye Chen looked down upon everything like a celestial being. With a mere thought, he extracted Little Black’s body from the Demon God Palace and placed it on his palm. “What is your current constitution level?”

Little Black, startled by the layer of black flames surrounding them, rolled anxiously in Ye Chen’s palm, whining, “So hot, so hot! What hellish place is this…”

Ye Chen drew a finger across the air, manifesting an ice-carved protective wall around Little Black, isolating it from the external heat. “Speak quickly.”

Little Black seemed more comfortable, groaning, “Only peak Pseudo-God Realm. Little Purple told me you’re already a super big shot, Boss. When will you promote your humble servant too? So I won’t disgrace you when I follow you out in the future. I know Boss is so handsome, dashing, and extraordinarily talented…”

Ye Chen glanced at it, then snatched a Black Blood Worm from outside the flames with his palm. “If you can subdue this one, there will be a grand reward.”

Little Black looked at the creature with its black carapace, its fat body covered in black tentacles rolling like a ball. It whined aggrievedly, “What is this thing? It looks so disgusting, and it even carries the aura of Divine Power…”

Ye Chen frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and with a thought, projected a wisp of divine sense into the Runed Starship within his internal world, addressing Hen Litian, the Civilizational Lord of the Heaven-Hating Civilization. “Do you have any servants or slaves at the God Realm within your internal universe?”

Hen Litian shook his head. “I do not. But the Civilizational Lord of the Ancient Zither Civilization does.”

Ye Chen’s divine sense shifted, arriving before the Civilizational Lord of the Ancient Zither Civilization. He directly commanded him to open his internal universe, then selected a mid-tier God Realm slave from within, bringing him out to stand beside his body. Instantly, Ye Chen conjured an ice barrier and a wind shield to isolate the external temperature. Even so, the slave, a mid-tier god, was covered in sweat, yet his expression remained vacant, as if registering no sensation or awareness.

Ye Chen instructed Little Black, “Go devour him, and ascend to the God Realm.”

Little Black’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Although still asking, its body bounced up like a rubber ball from Ye Chen’s palm, soaring toward the God Realm slave. It landed on the creature’s neck, and its tentacles began probing the pores, slowly sinking its body inside.

The God Realm slave stood motionless, like a soulless puppet. From the outside, one could see a small lump swelling beneath the skin near the jugular vein, rapidly crawling toward the head.

When this lump beneath the skin reached the back of the ear, a look of struggling pain flashed in the God Realm slave’s eyes. He reached up to clutch his head, and Divine Power fluctuations erupted from his body.

“Bad! He’s resisting!” Little Black cried out in alarm.

Ye Chen frowned, struck down with his palm onto the slave’s forehead, instantly shattering his soul’s cohesion.

Little Black seized the chance and successfully burrowed deep inside. Not long after, a light returned to the God Realm slave’s eyes, filled with cunning and coldness.

This glint was fleeting, quickly reverting to a dull, ashen blankness. Then, a small bulge was visible under the skin, quickly moving toward the heart region.

Roughly three minutes later, the God Realm slave appeared to have shrunk by more than ten sizes, leaving behind only a withered husk. The essence and plump flesh of his body had all entered Little Black’s stomach.

If anyone witnessed this scene, their scalp would surely crawl. What kind of utterly merciless and brutal person could engage in such a cruel act—feeding a monster with a living human?

Ye Chen’s expression remained unchanged. Once Little Black had consumed the entirety of the God Realm slave’s essence, it emerged from the victim’s ear. Its body was now bloated, larger by three sizes, resembling a small apple, and it bounced onto Ye Chen’s shoulder. “So full, Boss! I’m about to break through. Once I digest this, I’ll break through! Ah, digesting quickly, quickly!”

Little Black cheered. Before its words fully faded, a streak of golden light suddenly pierced down from the sky above Ye Chen’s head. This ethereal divine power penetrated the outer shell of the Blood Beast and pierced through the black flame shroud, landing upon Little Black, reshaping every inch of its flesh and blood.

Little Black’s body floated within the golden light. After a long while, the radiance gradually receded, and Little Black settled back onto Ye Chen’s shoulder. Its once pitch-black tentacles had now turned dark gold, brimming with a potent sense of strength.

“If you can’t beat it, eat it,” Ye Chen said, grasping it and tossing it toward the Black Blood Worm.

Little Black’s fighting spirit soared. Hearing Ye Chen’s words, it dared not be careless. It knew this murderous fiend always kept his word. Immediately, it mobilized all the power within its body, channeling it into its tentacles, and landed before the Black Blood Worm.

“Squeak—”

The Black Blood Worm let out a sharp shriek. The eight sharp, black legs hidden beneath its carapace suddenly exerted force, ramming toward Little Black. Furthermore, without warning, a sharp needle-like beam, compressed from golden divine power, shot out from an unseen location under the shell.

Little Black was startled and hastily dodged, but still couldn’t fully evade the attack. One of the Black Blood Worm’s legs snagged it, tearing a massive wound.

The intense, burning pain and the shame instantly ignited its fury. It did not rush forward rashly. After devouring so much human brain matter, it had long acquired an intelligence that was far from purely instinctual. In this critical moment, it constantly urged itself to remain calm.

And quickly, it did calm down.

It dodged while closely monitoring the Black Blood Worm’s attack patterns. After enduring more than a dozen assaults, its body was covered in wounds.

It finally spotted a glimmer of hope—

Before every attack, the Black Blood Worm exhibited a habitual preparatory motion: its two front legs would curl backward. Little Black targeted this opportunity, knowing that when the front legs bent backward, it was inevitably gathering momentum, which meant a temporary suppression of speed.

It let out a sharp screech, its countless tentacles weaving together like hemp ropes. The boundless divine power within surged forth madly, forming a colossal, sharp sword-light that ripped through the air, cleaving down fiercely toward the Black Blood Worm.

In the afterimages of this sword-light, two additional sword-lights were subtly concealed. Most people would assume that blocking the first strike was sufficient, believing the rest to be mere afterimages, unaware that this was a three-strike combo.

This technique Little Black had learned from the minds of humans it had consumed long ago. It was particularly fascinated by such tricky moves.

The Black Blood Worm was instantly struck. With a cry, its body was bisected by the second and third sword-lights, meeting its immediate demise.

Ye Chen waved his hand, drawing Little Black and the corpse of the Black Blood Worm toward him, his tone indifferent. “That took a bit too long.”

Little Black, which had been expecting praise, immediately threw itself onto its back upon hearing this, letting out a weak sigh.

Ye Chen’s expression remained normal. He snatched another Black Blood Worm from the surrounding black flames and tossed it to Little Black. “Go possess its body.”

Little Black rolled like a fuzzball in his palm. “I’m not going, not going! Dealing with that last one exhausted me! Hmph, I know what you’re planning. You’re trapped here by these little bugs, and you want me to take control of one so you can catalyze its body to the God Emperor Realm, making it the leader of these bugs, to solve your problems for you. Hmph! I’ll help, but I’m dead tired. I want delicious food.”

Seeing that it had immediately deduced his intention, Ye Chen rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Are you going, or not?”

“Not going.”

“Really not going?”

“…Don’t threaten me.”

“Are you certain?”

“…Fine, I’ll go, but I am truly exhausted.”

Little Black felt a tremor in its heart looking at Ye Chen’s dangerous gaze. The deep-seated fear of Ye Chen that had long taken root in its mind immediately manifested its effect. It dared not argue further, yielding reluctantly.

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