Apocalypse Gachapon

Just before the Zhuangxiang Eight Trigram Palace shattered, Ye Zhongming threw out a dense cluster of puppets from his spatial storage.

Then, he activated his bloodline, summoning the Sand Lightning Monster to meet the thunder head-on.

But that wasn’t all. The King of Cloud Peak gripped two weapons in his hands, mounted Yangos’ back, and the evil dragon instantly took to the skies.

A single flap of its wings was enough.

“Little Ye, if Grandpa Dragon dies here, you better build me a dragon tomb filled with gold coins and bury me with a hundred or so beauties. Otherwise, even as an undead dragon, I won’t let you off.”

The long-unused mental communication suddenly popped into Ye Zhongming’s mind at this moment.

The King of Cloud Peak tossed an object onto the ground, pointed at it, then patted the dragon’s head with a smile.

At this moment, the scene on the light screen had a striking sense of layers.

At the very top was the collapsing but not yet fully dissipated Zhuangxiang Eight Trigram Palace, struck by the thunder. Below it was a dense layer of puppets, and beneath them, a bizarre, lightning-horned monster.

If that were all, this scene would merely be a montage of desperate defenses against the thunder. But beneath Yangos, a massive tree was rapidly growing upward, soon reaching the dragon’s feet.

Cloud Peak’s forces were completely obscured beneath this colossal tree, vanishing from the light screen.

The weakened thunder struck the puppets, which shattered like glass under a hammer blow despite their seemingly sturdy defenses.

The Sand Lightning Monster charged fearlessly into the thunder. Though it was a hybrid of lightning and sand—making the thunder akin to its own element—its body couldn’t withstand the strike. After barely a second, it was blasted apart, its fragments scattering beneath an unknown plant.

By now, the thunder’s power had diminished significantly. Yet when Ye Zhongming met it, he still had no confidence.

But he gave it his all, channeling every ounce of energy into his two weapons before hurling them at the thunder.

Many from other factions watching this scene thought the Cloud Peak leader had run out of ideas, resorting to such a foolish tactic. Attack-type weapons weren’t defensive gear; no matter how high their tier, they couldn’t possibly block thunder of this magnitude!

Yet, against all expectations, this seemingly childish move worked.

When the thunder struck the two weapons, it was as if they had been halted. Not only did its brilliance dim sharply, but parts of it even scattered, deflected elsewhere.

This… was bizarre!

The puppets were creations Ye Zhongming had crafted using three monster templates obtained earlier in the space: Stone Cavalry, Flame Giants, and Slime Monsters. He had forged them all using the Human Refining Furnace and Engraving Machine.

This naturally required an immense amount of time, but the earlier star adventures had given Ye Zhongming both the opportunity and materials to mass-produce them.

Now, all three templates had been fully realized as puppets.

Their unique trait was that after being expended, they would merge into three far more powerful entities.

Facing the tripled thunder, Ye Zhongming refused to risk his subordinates. After Xia Bai, Xiao Min, and Dai Zhi weakened it, he took charge of the rest.

These puppets were gambled here.

Yes, there was a risk of complete destruction—but also the chance to merge into something stronger. Far better than wasting irreplaceable assets like the War Puppets.

As for the two weapons, one was Wind and Thunder, the other the unnamed metal hammer.

Ye Zhongming wasn’t afraid of losing them. After all, they were the essence of a dimensional realm—a realm that had once been a powerful planet. Their essence shouldn’t fear the thunder.

Moreover, they were infused with his energy.

The result proved him right. The thunder couldn’t destroy them, merely knocking them aside while exhausting much of its own power.

Next to face the thunder were Ye Zhongming, Yangos, and the colossal tree that had now overtaken them in height.

This was a Roselle Cedar, activated by Ye Zhongming using Fertile Soil.

The seeds of the Death King Tree, in a sense, grew into mindless bodies—though without the enhanced durability of the original post-evolution Death King Tree, which had transcended its species’ limits.

But there was no denying the Fertile Soil’s trunk was incredibly sturdy.

Given the extreme time constraints, even with vast amounts of Fertile Soil and the Gardener’s skills, it couldn’t have grown so large so quickly. So Ye Zhongming used another ability on it.

The third power of Auspicious Fortune: “Nourish All Life.”

This ability granted instantaneous growth to living beings, with the extent depending on the energy invested by the Auspicious Fortune.

The brirght star adventures had also served as a charging process for the Auspicious Fortune. Now, all that energy was poured into this ability.

Thus, the Roselle Cedar became a towering giant in mere seconds.

The collision between the thunder and the colossal tree was earth-shaking.

The sky-piercing tree toppled, and the thunder was drastically weakened.

Yes, even after shattering the Roselle Cedar, the thunder persisted.

But their clash bought Cloud Peak ten critical seconds.

The drastically reduced puppets were hurled skyward again by Ye Zhongming. Rather than being destroyed, they inherited their trait, merging into fewer but far stronger entities.

They met the thunder once more.

Again, they shattered, scattering from the sky. The thunder remained, but anyone could see it was on the verge of dissipating.

Ye Zhongming lunged upward himself, raising his arm, where an exquisitely crafted shield was strapped.

The moment the King of Cloud Peak made contact, he was slammed into the ground, the impact carving a crater around him and sending nearby warriors and beasts tumbling.

But they survived.

And the thunder… vanished.

The terrifying tripled Annihilation Thunderstrike had been withstood by Cloud Peak!

Rising from the crater, Ye Zhongming touched the faintly cracked purple shield on his arm and knew:

The Mountain King Wheel’s challenge had just lost all suspense.