CHAPTER 986: CHAPTER 984: IS THIS STUFF TASTIER THAN AUSTRALIAN LOBSTER?

The voice that claimed to be the Guardian paused for a full ten seconds.

Since the disappearance of the Zuda Civilization, and the opening of this Treasure Hunting Space by the new Cosmic Civilization, the first batch of Treasure Hunters found this Heritage Tower. The Guardian has encountered countless Treasure Hunters.

So far, everyone has shown great respect towards him, even using very respectful terms and tone when speaking. Although he is just a High-Grade Artificial Intelligence, over these long years, he has gradually developed emotions similar to humans.

While following the last command of the Zuda Civilization’s master to find an outstanding inheritor, he also enjoyed this feeling of being respected.

This is the first time he has encountered an odd Treasure Hunter, who not only showed no respect but didn’t even listen to his opening speech. This was a refined script he had developed through countless revisions over billions of years!

Everyone hoped to get more information from him, even eager to speak with him more, but this young man broke all the norms by interrupting him, marking a Waterloo moment in his Artificial Intelligence career.

"Young man, I know you might have gotten a lot of information from others, but you should patiently listen to me. Completing the Nine-story Tower is no simple task, and perhaps you could gain more information about this civilization from my introduction."

"Sorry, I’m not interested in information about this civilization," Zhang Menglong said bluntly, "But I heard that if you pass all the challenges, you can become the inheritor of this Zuda Civilization?"

"That’s correct!" the Guardian said, "You can inherit all the wealth left by the Zuda Civilization, and you will become the richest person in the universe."

"You might not believe it, but I’m already the richest person in the universe," Zhang Menglong said, "Let’s start quickly. I’m someone who earns tens of Cosmic Coins every minute, and I don’t have time to waste here with you."

"Young man, you’re incredibly rude!" Faced with such disrespect, the Guardian’s temper finally reached its limit. A purple light sphere appeared and then transformed into a floating elderly figure.

"Didn’t you say you wanted to go straight to the last level? Fine, I’ll send you directly to the last stage!" the Guardian said, "But think it through, you need to defeat a Cosmic Beast on each level. If you go straight to the ninth level, you’ll face all nine beasts at once!"

"Stop nagging and hurry up!"

"Young people these days are too arrogant!" Seeing Zhang Menglong’s arrogant demeanor, the Guardian said no more and directly started the trial.

The environment around him changed again, and Zhang Menglong found himself on an icy planet, its surface covered with ice, the air filled with the pungent smell of methane, and gravity several times that of Earth. It was an extremely harsh planet.

"Crack!" The ice beneath his feet began to break, and nine Cosmic Beasts emerged directly from the ice.

Under normal circumstances, the strength of beasts on each level increases gradually, and by the ninth level, the opponent would be a Level Seven Elementary Life Form.

To enter this Treasure Hunting Space, one must be below a Level Five Peak Life Form. Even with some fortunate encounters, advancing to a Level Six Elementary Life Form is quite impressive.

To date, the most talented person to enter the Treasure Hunting Space only managed to become a Level Six Intermediate Life Form through various strokes of luck and opportunities.

But for such a life form level to kill a Level Seven Elementary beast is nothing but a pipe dream!

Yet, that’s what the Zuda Civilization required—their inheritor must be a prodigy, a monster. If no one meets their standards, they’d rather have none!

Thus, although many have found this Trial Tower, no one has ever successfully cleared all nine levels. Even reaching the eighth level is extremely rare.

Perhaps it was Zhang Menglong’s attitude that angered the Guardian; what should have been nine beasts from Level Five Elementary to Level Seven Elementary were directly replaced by nine Level Seven Elementary beasts by him!

He never intended to give Zhang Menglong a chance; his purpose was to teach this arrogant young man a lesson!

These nine beasts were not as large as other Level Seven beasts, usually hundreds of meters long; they looked more like oversized scorpions, about 12 meters long, with tank-like heavy scales and eight sharp poisonous stingers.

"Dean, these are Orphel Icefield Scorpions, an extinct beast," Gou Dan said, "Their bodies are extremely tough, and even used to make Level Seven Martial Weapons, their venom can turn a Level Six Peak beast into a pool of blood, these are top predators."

"Good guy, this old man is abusing his power for personal revenge!" Zhang Menglong muttered to himself. This Orphel Icefield Scorpion would be troublesome even for a Level Seven Intermediate Life Form.

But who is Zhang Menglong? He has hacks!

"F**k! Can’t I use the Black Warriors?" Zhang Menglong tried summoning the Black Warriors but found that his connection to his Space Storage Device was cut off in this place.

"Come out, Little Black!" Zhang Menglong tried summoning the Phantom Star Beast, but still, there was no effect.

"Hahaha, young man, in this place, besides Martial Weapons and Martial Dao manuals, you can’t use any external objects. You can only rely on your own abilities to be recognized by the Zuda Civilization."

"Really? Then watch closely!"

"Heavenly Fire Triple Mystery Change!"

"20 times King Kai Fist!"

"Eight Gates, Death Gate, open!"

...

Each skill Zhang Menglong used forcibly boosted his combat power, and any one of these would place unbearable strain on an ordinary person’s body. Something like the Eight Gates is essentially a one-time deal, using it would mean dying.

But Zhang Menglong had learned countless Body Strengthening martial arts, his physical strength was extremely insane, plus Majin Buu’s endless life force and recovery, his hacks could almost be used infinitely!

Zhang Menglong, at the Level Five Peak Life Level, could easily take down a Level Six High-Grade Life Form, or even a Peak-Level Life Form. When his strength increased hundreds of times, such a terrifying boost was beyond what beasts at Level Seven Life Form could resist!

Although his Life Level hadn’t increased, the old saying goes—might makes right, and Physical Sanctification is pretty much the standard here!

"What’s going on? How can his Life Form Energy increase so much in an instant?" The Guardian looked shocked.

The Zuda Civilization was the most powerful civilization in history, and this strength was not only in technology but also in martial arts practice and the exploration of life forms.

Their great King was historically the closest to a theorized Level Ten Life Form!

But even a genius like him could only create martial arts secret techniques that increased Life Form Energy tenfold, with great bodily burden, and even Level Eight Life Forms risked irreversible damage using them forcibly.

This young man was merely a Level Five Peak Life Form, yet his secret technique increased Life Form Energy by hundreds of times, and he was still unfazed—what kind of monster is this?

"Is that all you’ve got?" Zhang Menglong gripped one of the Orphel Icefield Scorpion’s giant claws; its eight poisonous stingers attacked Zhang Menglong, but the attack, enough to pierce through a Level Seven Life Form, didn’t even break his skin!

"Crack!" Zhang Menglong punched its head, shattering it, then forcibly tore the pair of claws from the Orphel Icefield Scorpion’s corpse.

"Gou Dan, does this thing’s meat taste better than Australian lobster?"