"I have to say, I’m surprised. I never thought there’d actually be people who weren’t afraid of death, who’d dare to come after me in such a small group."

"Especially when the death toll at my hands keeps rising," Qi Suian said calmly.

It wasn’t strange that people were coming to kill him. What was strange was that the various nations were sending small, elite teams to do it.

As for asking a stupid question like "how did you find me"—the Apocalypse Game’s permanent event, "The Violator," broadcast his position every half hour.

Finding him wasn’t the hard part. The hard part was killing him.

"Afraid? You think you’re invincible just because you killed a few weaklings?" the lead survivor said with a disdainful look.

"Killing one person doesn’t make me invincible, but if you take a good look at the number of digits in my kill count... never mind, there’s no explaining it to you," Qi Suian subconsciously started to retort.

But he quickly realized. ’That expression, paired with that emotion... their intelligence has definitely been lowered.’

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have this kind of attitude.

According to the data the AI Brain downloaded from the nations’ databases, these hundred or so people were the elites of the elite. There was no way their IQ was this low.

So this group was just here to throw their lives away.

Of course, the order must have come from the Holy Union Conference.

This was a new power structure formed after the nations exchanged benefits, setting aside their old divisions. It had only been established in the last day or two and was still being perfected.

And this Holy Union Conference was planning to use Qi Suian, the Violator, to make a name for itself and establish its legitimacy.

As for the large army that had been previously assembled, it had yet to move. They were letting this group of elites make the first move.

The main army was held in reserve, ready to act if this team failed.

Not three seconds after Qi Suian finished speaking, the Tai Sui God moved.

Augmented by its many modules, the Tai Sui God instantly snatched the survivor who had just talked back to Qi Suian.

Powered by the Dragon and Tiger Primordial Divine Force and the Myriad Phenomena Thousand Truths Hundred Refinement Skill, it viciously mangled over half of the man’s body in an instant, gruesomely separating bone from flesh.

The man died on the spot, without a moment’s hesitation.

After he died, the Tai Sui God immediately tossed his body into the Melting Furnace.

"A top-tier survivor at the very least. While the quality isn’t quite at the Venerable level, it’s already reached the threshold of a Beast King," a pleased look appeared on Qi Suian’s face.

The vast majority of survivors were just like Cold Energy Monsters—ordinary grade. Only the top-tier ones had just crossed the Beast King threshold, meaning both their stats were approaching 2.5.

As for survivors comparable to a Venerable, they probably hadn’t appeared yet.

Survivors had their advantages, but those advantages likely weren’t enough to produce someone comparable to a Venerable in such a short amount of time.

The Tai Sui God’s slaughter was simply too fast. By the time the man was dead, the others had only just processed what happened, and they naturally launched their attacks at once.

Unfortunately for them, in the eyes of the Tai Sui God, in the brief time it took them to attack, another three people died.

Every survivor who died was one of the top-ranked members of their elite team.

This was no illusion, because the Tai Sui God was killing them according to a list.

It was killing its way down from the top.

The stronger they were, the higher their value as fuel.

The attacks landed on the Tai Sui God, but the force generated by the Dragon and Tiger Primordial Divine Force completely negated the damage.

It was like having an invisible... well, actually, it was visible.

After the Dragon and Tiger Primordial Force was upgraded to the SSS-grade Divine Force, the force flowing in the shapes of a dragon and a tiger became faintly visible to the naked eye.

Later, under the enhancement of the True Martial Jade Vein Lotus, the Tai Sui God gained a Martial Dao will, and these dragon and tiger forms naturally became the external manifestation of that will.

As the slaughter continued, the images of the dragon and tiger grew from faint outlines to increasingly realistic figures. If someone with a weaker will were to see them, they would suffer a spiritual assault.

However, this effect was useless against this elite team.

Their intelligence may have been lowered, but they had seen their share of intense situations and possessed considerable strength. The effect was minimal, if there was any at all.

Qi Suian was actually wondering how the various nations could be so stupid.

But on second thought, he understood. ’It must be my protagonist plot armor clearing the obstacles for me.’

If these hundred or so people died, it would be equivalent to Qi Suian wiping out the top tier of survivors.

It would also deprive the Clone Legion of a batch of high-quality ability providers.

Although it wouldn’t cripple the nations, losing these carefully cultivated talents would make it very difficult to find replacements.

"Retreat!!!" someone shouted. Clearly, the way Qi Suian was mowing them down like grass had allowed fear to overcome their diminished intelligence.

With someone shouting the order, the formation instantly broke. This group of people turned to flee without the slightest hesitation.

But it was too late to escape now.

To ensure this group of top-tier survivors would become fuel, the AI Brain had long since dispersed the Floating Cannons, using Dark Energy Beams to form a Dark Energy Network cage.

The range of the detection network was one kilometer per point of armor value. The moment they stepped into range, they were already detected by the AI Brain.

A trap had been specially laid to capture all of the fuel in one go.

"Since you’re here, don’t even think about going back."

"As the saying goes, ’Welcome friends from afar... so they may be slain, no matter the distance!’"

As he spoke, those who ran slower were caught, killed, and stuffed into the Melting Furnace.

Those who were a bit faster crashed right into the Dark Energy Network and were instantly disintegrated into carbonized particles.

With this cautionary tale laid out before them, the remaining survivors understood that Qi Suian had them trapped like rats.

"HQ, HQ, we can’t get back! Fire on our position!" one of them shouted into his communication device without hesitation, ready to make a noble sacrifice.

But the next second, he discovered that there was no response from his device.

That shouldn’t be possible.

Qi Suian, however, had no intention of explaining. Instead, he killed the man and stuffed him into the Melting Furnace.

’This guy is resolute and decisive. To say something like that even with his intelligence lowered... he’s extremely dangerous. He has to die first.’

As for the lack of response? That was perfectly normal. Did they really think his satellite, communications, and signal-related modules were just for show?

Although he didn’t have a jamming module, it was no trouble for the AI Brain to hijack their communication channels directly.

Of course, they could also send a message through the Apocalypse Game’s chat channel, which was why Qi Suian had chosen that man as his first target.

He had to prevent him from realizing that.

Three minutes later, the entire intercept squad, composed of top-tier survivors, had been stuffed into the Melting Furnace.

"What a massive harvest."

"But this is just the appetizer. The main course is just beginning." Qi Suian’s gaze fell upon the dense troop movements appearing on the detection network.

They had indeed sent the elites to their deaths first due to their lowered intelligence, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t surrounded him beforehand.

The reason Qi Suian wasn’t worried was that breaking through their so-called encirclement would be ridiculously easy for the Tai Sui God.

If not for the "Violator" permanent event that announced his position every half hour, with the effect of the Shadow Navigator unit, they would be completely blind unless he was standing right in front of them.

"AI Brain, draw up a plan. Where should we start capturing fuel?" Qi Suian said calmly.

The AI Brain and the Tai Sui God were the ones executing this, so Qi Suian wouldn’t get involved.

Compared to the AI Brain, he was far too lacking in combat capability.

So, he just needed to provide the Tai Sui God with feast energy to serve as an amplifier.

He didn’t need to worry about the rest.

[Planning in progress. Estimated enemy attack in ten minutes.]

"Do you think that if all the tens of thousands of survivors here were used as fuel, it would be enough for the Tai Sui God to evolve again?" Qi Suian glanced at the Tai Sui God’s armor value.

It was already on the verge of evolution. Even without these tens of thousands of survivors, it would have evolved today anyway.

[You are overthinking it. The valuable survivors among the enemy forces have all been sent to the Melting Furnace. The rest are merely ordinary-level survivors.]

[They are not sufficient to fuel a single evolution of the Tai Sui God.]

[From the very beginning, what the Tai Sui God has needed is not sufficient quantity, but sufficient quality.]

[You need the strong and the skilled, not the weak and the ordinary.]

[An army of a hundred thousand is not worth a single Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monster, even if that army could overwhelm it through sheer numbers.]

[It is only because you cannot find a Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monster that you have chosen the enemy army as a fuel substitute.]

-----------------

A fighter jet broke through the clouds and landed at the foot of Celestial Pillar Mountain.

Tang Qing could feel that the temperature was much colder than elsewhere, by at least a third.

It made him a little uncomfortable. The Dragon Roar Daoist, on the other hand, disembarked from the jet and stretched his limbs, seeming to have recovered quite a bit.

"Why didn’t we fly directly to the summit of Celestial Pillar Mountain? Why stop at the foot?" the Dragon Roar Daoist asked, confused.

"The temperature drop is too severe; it’s not suitable for the jet. Besides, I also need to acclimatize gradually," Tang Qing said directly.

"Hahaha, this temperature is nothing. It will get even colder in the future. You need to adapt as quickly as possible." The Dragon Roar Daoist laughed when he heard this.

"I heard the Cold Beast Ancestral Court is even colder?" Tang Qing asked.

"That’s right. But it’s not without its benefits. Haven’t you noticed that your Qi Cultivation Method is circulating more smoothly?"

"Back in the old days, you wouldn’t have even been able to set foot on Celestial Pillar Mountain. This place was the domain of the Cold Beast Kings," the Dragon Roar Daoist said, his expression turning slightly grim.

But his mood soon cleared. "Who would have thought how things can change? The hegemons of several eras are now reduced to a state worse than livestock."

"This Celestial Pillar Mountain is all yours now."

Tang Qing nodded, his gaze falling on the chat channel.

The war of the nations to encircle and destroy the Violator had already erupted. From the intel on the channel, it was clear the vanguard had been completely wiped out.

The next step was naturally a saturation strike, seeking to deal with the Violator as quickly as possible.

However, the situation did not seem optimistic, because he could see the constantly rising death toll in the "Violator" permanent event.

The numbers were increasing, which meant the Violator was not only alive but was also on a killing spree.