Mo Fan's voice echoed in the empty stone forest. The fine drizzle gradually stopped, dripping along the edge of his Shadow Leopard cloak and creating ripples in the blood puddles on the ground.

  He stood before a small mountain piled up with the corpses of tier-one late-stage Spirit Beasts, his eyes flashing with the gleam of a nouveau riche, yet simultaneously falling into the happy dilemma known as "choice paralysis."

  A massive surplus of exactly 20 computing power points.

  This was enough for him to splurge and create a shocking behemoth.

  Moreover, there were simply too many top-tier materials on site: the Earth-Rending Giant Bear's skeleton, thick as a city wall; the Iron-Clad Rhino's horns and hide, nearly immune to low-level spells; and even the remains of several massive subterranean beasts.

  "Build a ranged bone mage? No, the System's current skill tree hasn't unlocked the authority to solidify spells within an undead body."

  "Then a giant war stomper? Relying on sheer tonnage to crush things like a Blood Mud Giant?"

  Mo Fan stroked his chin, his brain spinning rapidly, beginning a deep tactical analysis.

  He turned his head, looking at Mo Yan (Summon No. 001) who had been guarding silently by his side.

  Mo Yan currently had his sword hand lowered. That rusty iron sword, already dilapidated, was now covered in chips and nicks after half a month of high-intensity hacking and blocking.

  Mo Fan shook his head.

  In previous battles, to protect the backline, he had to force Mo Yan—a swordsman with top-tier sword path instincts—to act as the Main Tank. Although Mo Yan relied on cultivator jade bones to forcefully tank the damage, it was like making a peerless assassin hold a tower shield to take a beating.

  Not only was the posture awkward, but it also severely limited his positioning and DPS frequency.

  "A swordsman should focus all his energy on sealing the throat with a single strike, rather than being distracted by defense."

  Mo Fan's eyes cleared up.

  In his tactical system, there was Mo Yan (Main DPS), No. 003 (Assassin / Sub-DPS), and himself (Support / Crowd Control).

  What he lacked now was a true, pure, absolute Meat Shield—one that required zero positioning and could induce despair just by standing there.

  The direction was set. But before beginning the assembly, Mo Fan's hand paused in mid-air.

  His gaze shifted back and forth between No. 001 and No. 003.

  001, 003.

  The empty "002" in the middle was like a soft thorn, gently pricking his nerves.

  In his mind, he couldn't help but flash back to that thrilling night at the bottom of Abandoned Sword Cliff. That palm-sized skeletal frame with practically zero combat power (the Corpse Sparrow), in order to cover his retreat, didn't hesitate to crash into the Shadow Leopard's eye like a bullet, ultimately shattering into pieces without leaving even a speck of dust behind.

  "Heh, since when did I become so sentimental?"

  Mo Fan laughed mockingly at himself, though his voice sounded somewhat somber in the post-rain breeze.

  "Although you are just a pile of soulless bones, here with me, Mo Fan, every serial number represents a contract to fight side-by-side."

  He raised his head, glancing at the dark-cloud-covered firmament above.

  "The position of 002 will forever be reserved for the sky. When I have the ability in the future, I will go get the remains of the most top-tier avian beast in the Mystic Realm and awaken it once again."

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "As for this heavy meat shield in front of me..."

  Mo Fan's gaze became fanatical and focused again. He rolled up his sleeves and strode into the mountain of corpses.

  "Your designation is Unit 004."

  The craziest surgical operation kicked off in this bloody stone forest.

  Since it was an absolute meat shield, he couldn't pursue speed or height; the chassis had to be utterly stable.

  Mo Fan rummaged through the corpse pile for a long time, eventually selecting the spine and four limbs of a tier-one late-stage [ Stone-Rending Pangolin ] as the main body. This creature spent its life drilling holes underground; its bone density was extremely high, and its center of gravity was exceptionally low. Once it planted itself on the ground, it was an unshakable fortress.

  Once the main frame was set up, Mo Fan began to madly stack stats and materials.

  Utilizing his basic assembly skills, he took the thick bone plates of the [ Iron-Clad Rhino ]—which were nearly immune to mortal iron hacking—and fused and overlaid them layer by layer on the exterior of the pangolin skeleton, just like laying tiles.

  Finally, he even took the hardest skull of the [ Earth-Rending Giant Bear ] and buckled it directly upside down on top as No. 004's head armor.

  "Awaken."

  With Mo Fan's low shout, a massive amount of necromantic Mana poured into this messy pile of bones like a blue waterfall.

  Crack, crack, crack—

  Amidst the tooth-aching sounds of bone restructuring, a monster three meters long, looking like a miniature armored vehicle, draped all over in thick, composite bone armor, slowly stood up from the pool of blood.

  A dull, earth-yellow soul fire ignited in its eye sockets, giving off an impression as steady as a mountain.

  Although it looked extremely clumsy, under the blessing of several core high-tier Spirit Beast tendons specifically selected by Mo Fan, its four thick, pillar-like thighs possessed extreme grip. Once it ran and charged, it would absolutely be an out-of-control dump truck.

  Mo Fan's mind sank slightly.

  [ System Notification: Unit 004 (Heavy Bulwark) assembly complete. ]

  [ Current Occupied Load: 16. ]

  Mo Fan quickly pulled up the panel to confirm: 35 + 16 = 51 / 55.

  Perfect! It slotted right inside the safety line, even leaving a 4-point computing power redundancy.

  "Just looking at the appearance isn't enough; I have to test the goods."

  Mo Fan stepped back a few paces and issued a command to Mo Yan nearby.

  "Mo Yan, draw your sword. Don't hold back. Use the absolute limit of your current late-stage Qi Condensation combat power and slash it!"

  The soul fire in Mo Yan's hollow sockets flashed.

  He didn't hesitate in the slightest. Exerting violent force from his waist, his whole body turned into a black afterimage. The rusty sword in his hand brought forth a piercing sword intent—the resolve and sharpness unique to a sword cultivator—and slashed viciously toward No. 004's broad back armor!

  CLANG—!!!

  A deafening sound of metal clashing against metal, even stirring a visible ripple in the air, echoed thunderously through the stone forest.

  The massive recoil force actually forced Mo Yan back half a step. The weather-beaten rusty sword in his hand let out an overwhelmed wail, a large chip breaking right off the blade.

  Looking again at No. 004.

  Its massive body lay dead still on the spot. Its four limbs were deeply embedded into the mud; it didn't even sway.

  And on its composite bone armor, as thick as a city wall, only a faint white mark less than half an inch deep was left!

  "Hiss—"

  Mo Fan sucked in a cold breath. The calmness in his eyes was instantly replaced by a fanaticism named "invincibility."

  "Even Mo Yan's full-powered strike couldn't break the defense... And this is just its default defense relying purely on bone density!"

  Mo Fan rubbed his hands together excitedly. "If, during a battle, I cast a layer of [ Skeletal Armament · Bone Shield ] on it, and then Mo Yan stands behind it outputting crazy DPS without any worries..."

  The picture was too beautiful!

  This was a true iron wall defense line! With No. 004 acting as this Wall of Sighs, Mo Yan could from now on completely drop all defensive concerns and transform into a pure, blood-spilling meat grinder dancing on the edge of a blade.

  "Perfect wrap-up."

  With the final tactical puzzle piece in place, the tier-one Spirit Beast resources in this back mountain Buffer Zone had been thoroughly plucked clean by Mo Fan, this miser.

  It was time to pack up.

  Mo Fan began commanding his three undead underlings to pack up all the most valuable parts—intact pelts, venomous fangs, and special organs—from all the tier-one late-stage beasts hunted over the past half month.

  The storage bag was stuffed tight. Even Mo Yan's shoulders and No. 004's broad back armor were hung with massive bundles tied with coarse cloth.

  This trip could be called returning fully loaded.

  After doing all this, Mo Fan walked to a clear stream and washed away the blood and mud covering his body.

  He took off that wild Shadow Leopard cloak, stowed it away preciously, and changed into the clean, decent deep-cyan clothes Old Lü had prepared for him earlier.

  Although his skin color still presented a tough bronze, that gloomy undead aura was perfectly retracted into his body. Right now, he looked like a highly spirited, vigorous, orthodox outer court body cultivator.

  Mo Fan withdrew his entire undead army into his storage bag and stood alone on a high slope.

  Looking at the winding mountain road leading to the Qingmu Market in the distance, he took a deep breath of the post-rain air filled with spiritual Qi, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably splitting to his ears.

  "Seclusion ended."

  He patted the storage bag at his waist—so heavy it felt like it contained a mountain of gold—and strode meteorically down the mountain.

  "Myriad Treasures Tower, get ready to welcome your most distinguished VIP client."