Stone Aperture Gu, a one-time consumable Gu, whose function is to completely exhaust a Gu Master's foundation and potential in one go, allowing the Gu Master to instantly reach Peak cultivation, and transforming the Gu Master's Aperture into a hardened, inactive Stone Aperture.
This action can allow Gu Masters with damaged Apertures to repair them, or enable Gu Masters facing crisis to instantly surge in cultivation, gaining a sliver of hope.
The cost is that further advancement in cultivation becomes impossible, and the Aperture can no longer regenerate True Essence on its own.
However, for the vast majority of Gu Masters, when facing a life-or-death crisis, preserving their life is everything; where would they have the luxury to care about anything else?
At this moment, as Zhou Ming willed it, the Stone Aperture Gu immediately exploded within his Aperture, turning into grayish-white powder that permeated the entire Aperture.
The light membrane, which was once again collapsing due to the loss of the Spirit Treasure Salvation Talisman, was covered by a layer of grayish-white stone powder, its light instantly dimming, countless cracks rapidly repairing, and constantly thickening, turning into a dull gray stone.
Within a few breaths, Zhou Ming's Aperture wall, which was on the verge of destruction, transformed into a thick, hard Stone Aperture, devoid of all vitality.
Along with this change, Zhou Ming's pale gold True Essence, which had just formed and symbolized Rank Four initial stage, turned into brilliant, shining True Gold True Essence.
In just a few seconds, Zhou Ming's cultivation once again surged, crossing several minor Realms, and leaping to Rank Four Peak!
In the Gu World, this was the cultivation of a Clan Chief in a medium-sized Family, and in large Families, it was also the position of a powerful Family Elder, with prominent status.
However, at present, Zhou Ming had no mind to carefully experience the changes in his strength.
As his Aperture transformed into a Stone Aperture, the Aperture wall completely stabilized, with no further cracks appearing.
Zhou Ming's consciousness also withdrew from his Aperture, once again facing the great enemy outside.
At this time, the Ultimate Mutant was wrapped, entangled, and strangled by thousands of vines, forming a spherical mass of vines that descended into the enormous vine canopy.
Subsequently, the massive vines, which covered a range of tens of meters, also continuously contracted and squeezed inwards, the earth emitting a rumbling sound, cracking open with huge fissures, and the entire tall tree began to sink underground.
Crack, crack!
The enormous wooden face on the tree trunk suddenly cracked open, and Zhou Ming rushed out from within.
At this moment, Zhou Ming's body had undergone a significant degree of mutation due to the overuse of the Wood Charm Gu.
His originally neat short hair had turned into emerald green waist-length hair, with thin strands of long vines and green leaves hanging from his hair, as if an entire pot of pothos had been planted in his hair.
His skin showed woody patterns, no longer smooth and elastic as before, and his facial features had also changed slightly, his nose becoming sharper, his eyes larger, and his entire being filled with a strong natural aura, lush with greenery.
However, compared to his mutated body, Zhou Ming's spirit was excellent.
He had stopped using the Wood Charm Gu, yet he still maintained a considerable degree of control over the spectacle formed by the interwoven powers of multiple Gu worms before him.
Without needing to see with his eyes, he "saw" the Ultimate Mutant at the center of the giant tree, being fiercely squeezed by terrifying forces from all directions, its entire body having transformed into a human-head-sized ball of flesh, yet it still refused to give up, struggling with every means possible.
As the entire giant tree squeezed the Ultimate Mutant, it also continuously compressed inwards, its volume decreasing, its density increasing, and the internal pressure constantly rising.
At the same time, a large amount of soil below was dug out by the flexible, snake-like tree roots and vines, and the entire large tree continuously sank underground, until it was completely submerged below the surface, the pit above collapsing, a large amount of soil pouring down, filling the enormous "sinkhole."
The giant tree shrank smaller and smaller, sinking deeper and deeper, the accumulated soil above becoming thicker and heavier, and the pressure also growing greater and greater.
One hundred meters underground... two hundred meters underground... three hundred meters underground... five hundred meters underground... eight hundred meters underground... one thousand meters underground, Zhou Ming's control reached its limit here, unable to exert even a fraction more force.
Thousands of tons of soil from above tightly squeezed the strange tree, which had already contracted to three meters tall, almost completely incapacitating it, and the internal pressure reached its maximum possible compression.
Under the immense pressure, the Ultimate Mutant's flesh and blood and its internal core almost merged into one, yet it still did not die, stubbornly struggling, difficultly wriggling, and bit by bit recovering its physical strength.
On the surface, a thousand meters above, Zhou Ming "watched" the Ultimate Mutant, which still stubbornly refused to give up underground, and despite it being a great enemy, he couldn't help but praise it.
"For life to be as tenacious as yours, I must express my admiration. If this method still fails, I will then take them and hide in Shandar City, and not step out of this story world again."
As his thoughts moved, a thousand meters underground, within the giant tree, a bomb, preserved at the core of the giant tree and carefully protected, moved towards the flesh-and-blood core with the internal wriggling of the giant tree, and was then activated.
Gravity bomb.
During the previous mission interval, Zhou Ming had earned a massive amount of reward points, which he heavily invested in purchasing powerful items, adding many strong trump cards for himself.
The implicit restrictions of the Gu World system made it extremely difficult for him to strengthen himself at high levels.
He had more than enough reward points, but he had to consider whether bringing high-level enhancements into the Gu World would lead to them being refined into Immortal Gu, thereby inviting a deadly disaster.
Therefore, he could only temporarily invest his reward points in powerful items.
Sci-fi weapons surpassing the scientific discoveries of his previous life, scrolls and Talismans from magic worlds and cultivation civilizations... Zhou Ming did not lack powerful offensive means; what he lacked was the opportunity to use these means.
And now, this opportunity was created by Zhou Ming himself.
An ultra-small gravitational field appeared, beginning to draw everything within a ten-meter radius towards its center.
The last time Zhou Ming used a gravity bomb was in Dr. Max's underground laboratory, and although there were various metal structures present, the surrounding space still felt a bit too empty.
So, last time, in fact, until the very end, not much matter was drawn in, and the resulting super-dense sphere failed to kill the Ultimate Mutant, allowing it to escape.
This time, however, it was a thousand meters underground. The surrounding environment was incredibly dense and heavy earth and rock.
As the gravitational field's pull expanded, the first to be affected was the strange tree that had absorbed the gravity bomb into its body, continuously compressing it along with the Ultimate Mutant, whose flesh and blood were pressed together.
Then came the surrounding soil and rocks; everything within ten meters converged towards the center, compressing in volume, forming an underground cavity.
If it were on the surface, it would be a spherical void with a ten-meter radius, with a high-density sphere at its center, until the gravitational field disintegrated, and the power of the gravity bomb ended.
But this was underground!
The unsupported underground cavity, once formed, immediately began to collapse.
Tons of soil from above fell, and upon entering the ten-meter range of the gravitational field, were immediately drawn to the center, forcibly squeezed into the high-density sphere, increasing the sphere's mass and volume, and at the same time enhancing the gravitational field's power, causing the high-density sphere to continue compressing.
The soil and rock above continuously diminished, the formed underground cavity grew larger and larger, and the amount of surrounding soil and rock falling also increased, thereby the underground cavity continuously expanded, and more and more soil and rock collapsed, gradually creating a large underground cavern, and then a massive collapse of the earth!
Rumble... Standing on the ground, Zhou Ming's feet felt waves of violent tremors from underground; the ground in front of him began to gradually bend and sink, the amplitude growing larger and larger, and the scope wider and wider.
Large sections of the earth collapsed, revealing huge, deep underground pits, profound and dark, from which the echoes of collapsing collisions continuously reverberated, like ghostly wails, sending shivers down one's spine.
Finally, the gravitational field a thousand meters underground also reached the limit of its material compression; the super-dense sphere continuously expanded, soon reaching a ten-meter radius, the collapse gradually stopped, and the rumbling sound beneath the earth finally subsided.
After another period, the duration of the gravity bomb ended, the gravitational field dissipated on its own, leaving only the massive, deep sinkhole on the surface, and the extremely dense super-sphere underground, bearing witness to the incredible events that had occurred there.
Zhou Ming stood at the edge of the huge sinkhole, silently gazing into the profound darkness within for a long while, then turned around and walked towards Whale Shark and the others in the distance.
In fact, even before the power of the gravity bomb had ended, a notification from the Main God had sounded in Zhou Ming's mind.
"[Killed Ultimate Mutant, gained 10000 reward points, gained one special reward, to be redeemed during return settlement.]"
The Ultimate Mutant died amidst continuously intensifying high-density compression; what material its body was compressed into after death was hard to say.
This extremely tenacious opponent had finally met its end.
"It's over."
Walking up to the five eagerly awaiting individuals, Zhou Ming exhaled deeply and announced to everyone.
Having difficultly defeated a great enemy, with the dawn of victory in sight, everyone should have been happy and celebrating. However, looking at Zhou Ming's body, which was mutated beyond human semblance, not a single person could be happy.
"Your body..."
"It's nothing, don't forget, we still have our almighty full-body repair." Zhou Ming smiled, pointed to the sky, and then glanced at Dr. Max with his eyes.
Everyone understood, not discussing Main God-related matters in front of the mission, but the worry in their eyes never faded.
At this moment, Dr. Max stepped forward and bowed deeply to Zhou Ming with solemnity.
"Although I don't yet know why you've become like this, I believe that the power of science is infinite, and I will definitely be able to restore you to your original state."
"I will definitely find a way, I promise you."
Zhou Ming laughed heartily, patted Dr. Max's shoulder, and said, "Doctor, you should first research the kenny potion; my matter is not urgent, saving humanity is the big deal."
"Let's go, we've come such a long way, and we're finally reaching our destination."
Listening to Zhou Ming's words, everyone simultaneously looked up at the majestic, towering city in the distance.
Shandar City, they had finally arrived.