The next day, Ren Kurogane put down the secret technique manual, carefully tucked it away, and headed out toward the Demon Suppression Tower.
Watching Ren leave, Xiao Tian felt a bit puzzled. This guy actually got up so early today?
When Ren arrived at the tower, he found that Qing Zizai was also there alongside Welcome.
"Yo, Master Qing, how do you have free time today? Not being hounded by Xiao Fei to upgrade his armor?" Ren teased.
Qing Zizai smiled bitterly. "Don't mention it. Xiao Fei only hones his combat skills and completely ignores his mind. I'm afraid upgrading his armor will have to wait for a specific catalyst."
Ren grew thoughtful. At first, he too thought he was only one catalyst away from an upgrade. However, over the past month, after practicing the core mental technique of the Light-Shadow Armor, he realized what he truly needed might be an emotional trigger severe enough to detonate his inner power.
Come to think of it, in the original story, when Xiao Tian and the others upgraded their armors, it was always achieved under a state of extreme emotion!
"Alright, alright! We came here today to find the Gengnu Diamond Scepter, not for you two to practice your cultivation!" Welcome interrupted them. She pulled out her keys and pushed open the heavy doors of the Demon Suppression Tower.
Greeting their eyes were the hideous stone statues of the Nether-Demons.
Welcome explained, "The Gengnu Diamond Scepter is inside the tower, but its location is constantly shifting. No one knows exactly where it is."
"Then what do we do? Wait here for it to show up on its own?" Ren asked.
"Of course it won't show up on its own. That's why we have to look for it!"
"Look for it?"
Welcome nodded, spun around in place, and said, "The Scepter is right here. Let's start searching!"
Ren scratched his head, feeling the whole situation was a bit absurd. "If it's always changing locations, do you think it might just automatically appear in my hand?" he murmured.
"Mm~ Impossible!" Welcome shattered Ren's fantasy. "The Gengnu Diamond Scepter only travels within the walls of the tower; it won't manifest in the open."
"Fine, looks like we can only search slowly~" Ren sighed, wandering around the tower to look.
Three days later.
"You guys keep looking! I'm going to teach Xiao Fei how to cultivate!" Qing Zizai, sporting dark circles under his eyes, turned and left the tower. Although he was curious about the Scepter, his own physical health was far more important. Once he went back to sleep for two days and recovered his energy, he would return to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ren!
Not long after Qing Zizai left, the doors opened again, and Welcome walked in carrying breakfast.
"Hmm? Where did Ah Qing go?"
"He said he has a deficiency and needs to go home to take his medicine!" Ren laughed. "What's for breakfast?"
Welcome set the food on the ground and smiled. "Freshly baked morning dim sum!"
"Oh? Quite a feast today!" Ren sat on the floor and began to wolf it down, emptying the containers in no time.
Seeing Ren eat so happily brought a natural smile to Welcome's face. After he finished, she asked, "Are you going to rest today? You haven't slept in three days."
"Relax! My body is as sturdy as an ox! Going without sleep for a mere few days is nothing to boast about!" Ren patted his chest and laughed. "Alright, Welcome, you can hang out and play on your phone here. I'm going to keep looking!"
"Got it~" Welcome cleaned up the trash. After tossing it outside, she didn't play on her phone; instead, she helped him search for traces of the Scepter.
During this period, because Lufa had very few soldiers left, he stopped sending anyone out to cause trouble. His plan now was simple: get his three Captains back in alignment, take his few remaining henchmen to snatch Youzi, and complete his own resurrection. Once he resurrected, those Armor Heroes would be no match for him! Lufa possessed absolute confidence in his own strength.
Furthermore, even if the Captains were unwilling to listen to him, he still held his ultimate trump card! However, using it would mean completely severing any remaining bond with his subordinates, so he was reluctant to resort to it. After all, they were brothers who had fought across battlefields with him; tens of thousands of years of camaraderie wasn't something to throw away lightly.
"Anmixiu, Qiao Shefei, Kuffins..."
Seeing his master reminiscing about the past again, Kubixiu—the ultimate escape artist—tactfully withdrew. Only Misulin and Lufa remained in the secret room.
Inside the Demon Suppression Tower, Ren searched for another two days until his mind and body reached their limits.
"Welcome, I'm taking a quick nap." Before a stunned Welcome could respond, Ren leaned against a pillar and fell into a deep sleep the very next second.
"Instant sleep... I'm so jealous," she murmured. She pulled a blanket from her car to cover him, then resumed her search for the Scepter.
Four hours later.
"Hiss~" Ren stretched, standing up as his entire skeletal frame popped with a series of crisp, crackling sounds like roasting beans. "Comfortable"
Rubbing his eyes, Ren realized he was holding something in his hand. Looking closely, it was a scepter.
"Oh, it's the Gengnu Diamond Scepter..."
"..."
"Huh?" both muttered simultaneously.
Welcome dashed in front of Ren, snatched the Scepter from his hands, and scrutinized it closely. "It really is the Gengnu Diamond Scepter!"
Ren looked ecstatic. "I didn't expect that after a quick nap, the Scepter would just deliver itself into my hand! If I knew that, I would've gone to sleep earlier!"
Welcome rolled her eyes, playfully punching Ren's chest as she laughed. "Alright! Stop acting coy after getting such a massive bargain! Quick, pull out that fragment, and we can fully restore the Gengnu Diamond Scepter!"
Ren didn't delay and immediately produced the piece. Welcome inspected the Scepter, aligning the fragment and pressing it into the gap. The next second, a purple light flashed across the Gengnu Diamond Scepter, radiating a series of powerful energy fluctuations.
"So the repair is successful?" Ren asked. "I wonder how this thing is used?"
"Dummy! Of course you just hold it to use it!" Welcome laughed. "According to my understanding, the Gengnu Diamond Scepter is used for genetic restructuring. Simply put, after using it, we can mass-produce Armor Summoners who possess unique magnetic fields just like you!"
"Oh? It can alter genetics?"
"You could say that!"
Hearing Welcome's answer, Ren's breathing grew heavy and rapid. Altering genetics meant altering bloodlines! To put it bluntly, he could become the Emperor Armor!
No! Calm down! Ren forcefully suppressed his wildly pounding heart, forcing himself to steady his mind. The summoning of the Emperor Armor is different from the Shura Armor. The Emperor Armor is the Lord of the Light Realm and possesses its own consciousness; it might not necessarily choose me as its summoner. Right now, I should focus on finding the Shura Armor summoner and getting that armor into my hands first!
Tossing his extra thoughts aside, Ren didn't use the Scepter. Instead, he took Welcome and left the tower.
"What are we doing next?" Welcome asked from the passenger seat.
"First, find the Shura Armor, then wipe out the Nether-Demons. Once that's done, I'll accompany you to travel the world!" Ren said.
"Ah you still remember my dream" Welcome smiled with a hint of secret delight, her heart full of sweetness.
"Of course! This is Lady Welcome's dream; how would I dare forget~"
Meanwhile, the exact moment the Gengnu Diamond Scepter returned to the world, Lufa sensed its energy fluctuations and immediately grew anxious.
"Dammit! They brought out the Gengnu Diamond Scepter... could they have found the location of the Shura Armor?!"
Lufa couldn't help but panic. Previously, Ren had demanded the Shura Armor's location from him, but Ren had vanished for the past month, barely showing his face. Now that the Scepter had suddenly emerged, Lufa's mind raced with worst-case scenarios!
"No! I absolutely cannot let him get the Shura Armor summoner!" A ruthless glint flashed in Lufa's eyes as he initiated the Ares Assembly Order without a second thought.
The next moment, Anmixiu, Kuffins, and Qiao Shefei appeared before Lufa, dropping to one knee. "General!"
"Good. Go immediately to destroy the Armor Heroes and seize the Gengnu Diamond Scepter back!"
"Yes!" The three Captains vanished into thin air.
Lufa prepped himself and took his two remaining lackeys to the place where Youzi was currently working. It wasn't exactly an on-camera job; she was just helping Xiao Tian handle promotional items behind the scenes for his livestreams. When Xiao Tian wasn't streaming, Youzi acted as a virtuous partner at home, dreaming of a beautiful future with him.
Welcome and Ren had just driven back into the city center when three Nether-Demons blocked the road ahead. Ren's heart jumped when he saw they were the three Captains.
Didn't these three refuse to help Lufa? Why are they blocking my car?! Ren was utterly bewildered.
"Welcome, stay in the car. If someone comes to steal the Gengnu Diamond Scepter, just hand it over directly. You must ensure your own safety! Understand?!" Ren said with absolute gravity. He wasn't afraid of the three in front of him; his only worry was Lufa sending someone to ambush Welcome! Welcome was just an ordinary person and stood no chance against a powerful Nether-Demon.
"Understood!" Welcome didn't say anything foolish about guarding the Scepter with her life. She knew that as long as she wasn't captured, even if the Scepter was stolen, Ren could always snatch it back. But if she was taken hostage, Ren's hands would be tied, and Lufa would manipulate him completely! Therefore, regardless of the reason, Welcome would not put herself in danger.
Ren opened the door and stepped out, glaring at the three figures. "What is the meaning of this? Are you throwing away your lives for Lufa?"
Anmixiu, still maintaining his composure, replied coldly, "He used a special method; we cannot resist. Just hand over the Gengnu Diamond Scepter, and we can return to report our mission!"
"Cannot resist?" Ren sneered. "You can't resist this time so you want me to hand over the Scepter. What about next time you can't resist? Are you going to ask for my life?"
"Diamond Armor! Fusion!"
With a flash of light, Ren completed his transformation.
"It seems this battle is unavoidable!" Anmixiu's temper flared violently as he roared at Ren, "That's enough! You already executed ten of my brothers in one go! What, in your eyes, are the lives of us Nether-Demons not worth anything?!"
Ren had never swallowed such hypocrisy. He snapped back furiously, "The lives of Nether-Demons? Let me ask you: you previously collected the Core Crystals of half the life-bearing planets in the galaxy. Did those planets give them to you voluntarily? When you annihilated them, did you consider their lives worth anything?!"
The more Ren spoke, the more enraged he became! Thinking about the actions of Lufa and his cohorts in the lore, calling them demons was a massive understatement! Over twenty thousand planet Core Crystals—even if only a tenth of those planets held intelligent life, that was still two thousand six hundred civilizations! Furthermore, after taking the Core Crystals, they directly destroyed the planets to erase all evidence, making them vanish from the universe entirely!
To put it bluntly, even the Dark Emperor was barely on that level. And Anmixiu, as one of the executors of this entire crusade, was now barking in front of Ren, whining about whether a Nether-Demon's life mattered? Did he take Ren for some spineless pacifist?!
"You!" Anmixiu was completely speechless, unable to counter. What could he say? The facts of what they had done were laid bare by Ren; any rebuttal now was utterly hollow.
"What about me?! I have nothing to say to a pack of unscrupulous monsters like you! Since we crossed paths today, you can all die right here! Bursting Diamond! Upgrade!"
Ren unleashed a thunderous roar. He swiped a brand-new card from his belt container and slotted it into the summoner. The next instant, the Extra-Dimensional energy radiating from his body exploded exponentially!
Ku-ku-ku-kei-kei~
Following a mechanical clanking of armor configuration, the upgraded Diamond Armor stood before the trio. The previously golden accents had turned a pristine white, shimmering with a crystalline luster.
However, Ren felt no joy from upgrading his armor; his only desire right now was to pound these three Nether-Demons into scrap metal!
"Thunder-Steel Explosive Axe!"
With a swift motion, a one-handed weapon—half axe, half hammer—manifested in Ren's hand.
"You Nether-Demons are either committing atrocities or on the way to committing them. Today, my Diamond Armor will erase you from this world entirely, so you can never plague humanity again!"
Seeing this, Anmixiu and the other two summoned their weapons, keeping a wary eye on Ren. Although they were forcibly mobilized by the Ares Assembly Order, their raw power was immense, and the order hadn't completely wiped out their consciousness.
The strongest among them, Qiao Shefei, had originally wanted to defy the order directly. But thinking back on his tens of thousands of years of military service, he had ultimately shown up. He had wanted to draw a final circle around his past, but looking at the situation now, it seemed he could fully atone for his sins today. His only regret was not having the chance to repay his master's kindness.
Kuffins' eyes darted around erratically. Unlike the other two, his current life was going smoothly. Though he lacked grand ambitions, he had a girlfriend who loved him dearly, and his days were sweet. He believed that with his capabilities, it wouldn't be long before he lived a happy life with his partner. Therefore, Kuffins decided that the moment an opportunity presented itself, he would bolt!
"Come on, you trash!" Ren gripped the Thunder-Steel Explosive Axe in one hand and marched toward them.
Simultaneously, Welcome used her telepathic transmission to relay the unfolding event to Xiao Fei and Xiao Tian. Both stated they would arrive immediately!