Immortality: Grinding Experience Starting as a Paper Craftsman

Chapter 92 Demonic Body Transformation, Reversing the Path of the Former Self

Darkness recedes, and light returns.

Gu Yan opened his eyes as usual.

The world before me was a sea of ​​crimson; the vibrant colors that once belonged to humankind were now replaced by countless chaotic, blood-red lines.

He tried to raise his hand to rub his eyes, but all he heard was a screeching sound.

Gu Yan lowered his head and saw a pair of claws covered in black scales, as sharp as blades.

He also had four other thick arms growing from his ribs.

Six arms, black scales, a demonic body—everything was so familiar.

Gu Yan was taken aback.

He stared at the hideous monster reflected in the puddle, a chilling sense of absurdity rising within him.

In this reincarnation, he is no longer Gu Jiu, the divine soldier of the Divine Court.

He was the six-armed demon general who had ended Gu Jiu's life.

"roar!"

An uncontrollable roar erupted from the depths of his throat, filled with a bloodthirsty thirst and a destructive impulse.

That was the instinctive roar of this demonic body, a primal thirst for blood and slaughter.

Gu Yan forcibly suppressed the restlessness that wanted to shatter everything and forced himself to calm down.

He stood behind a bunker piled with corpses, peering through the gaps at the Divine Court's defensive line opposite.

There, golden divine light shimmered.

A young man dressed in tattered golden armor and wielding a chipped halberd was leading two companions, charging left and right through the demon army like sharp blades.

The young man's face was resolute and cold, and his eyes revealed an indomitable fighting spirit.

That's Gu Jiu.

My past self.

"I see."

Gu Yan looked at the "himself" fighting bloody battles on the battlefield, a ferocious smile spreading across his face, revealing his interlocking fangs.

"It's a narrow escape from enemies; is the true meaning of meeting someone you hate really self-destruction?"

This is an extremely malicious joke.

In his previous life, as a human, he was killed by his comrades while protecting the divine court.

In this life, he became a demon, and in order to attack the divine court, he had to kill his past self.

This is a dead end.

If Gu Jiu is not killed, this demonic body will be crushed by the Divine Court's purification array, ending its cycle of reincarnation.

If he killed Gu Jiu, he would become the murderer he hated most, completing this so-called causal loop.

"Since it's a dead end, let's fight our way out."

Gu Yan closed his eyes, and all of Gu Jiu's fighting habits flashed through his mind.

When he swings his halberd to its fullest extent, there is a brief moment of stiffness.

When protecting Liuyun and Xuehe, he would subconsciously expose the gap in his left rib.

Gu Yan even knew exactly when he would use that counterattack move and when he would pull out the Exploding Flame Talisman.

Because those were moves he had practiced thousands of times.

"Gu Jiu, Gu Jiu, this time, your opponent is yourself."

Gu Yan made a move.

Unlike ordinary low-level demons who charge blindly, he blended his massive demonic body perfectly into the shadows, just like the stealthy hunter from his previous life.

He bypassed all of Gu Jiu's warning range and avoided those sharp eagle eyes.

Nearly.

closer.

That "self" had just defeated a blood demon and was in a lull between the exhaustion of old power and the generation of new power.

Just then, Liu Yun and Xue He were clearing out the miscellaneous soldiers on both sides, which revealed that fatal back view.

"Now."

Gu Yan's eyes flashed red, and he exerted force with all six arms at the same time. The black bone spikes in his hands were like venomous snakes emerging from their holes, silently piercing towards Gu Jiu's back.

"puff!"

That was the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh, both familiar and strange.

Gu Jiu's body stiffened abruptly as he stared in disbelief at the black bone spur that had pierced through his chest.

His eyes were filled with resentment and shock, as if he couldn't understand why this demon general would appear here.

"Ninth Brother!"

The mournful shouts of Liu Yun and Xue He rang out.

Gu Yan glanced coldly at the two future traitors, and after delivering a fatal blow, he did not linger. He pulled out the bone spur, quickly retreated, and used the recoil to soar into the sky, disappearing into the darkness and vanishing into the demonic clouds.

First hunt, successful.

……

Darkness descends once more, followed by a new cycle of reincarnation.

This time, Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked at his hands.

They were long, strong, and calloused hands.

He turned back into Gu Jiu.

"call--"

Gu Yan took a deep breath, his gaze becoming more serious than ever before.

He knew that a terrifying adversary lurked in the shadows piled with corpses.

That opponent knew him inside and out; he was none other than himself from his previous life.

"Ninth Brother! Don't just stand there! Those bastards are charging again!"

Familiar lines, familiar pats on the shoulder.

This time, however, Gu Yan did not rush to charge.

He held down Liuyun and Xuehe, his voice low: "Don't move. There's something dirty."

He didn't follow the usual plan of feinting an attack on the left or flanking from the right.

He stood still, the halberd in his hand slowly drooping, seemingly relaxed, but in reality, his divine power was running at its peak.

He is waiting.

Waiting for that damned demon general, who was "Gu Yan" in the previous life, to make a move.

really.

Just as the smoke from a Blood Demon's self-destruction obscured their vision.

A black afterimage flashed out from the blind spot.

That was the sure-kill route that Gu Yan had summarized in his previous life—tricky, ruthless, and unsolvable.

In this life, Gu Yan foresaw this prediction.

"clang!"

A deafening clang of metal clashing.

Gu Yan's halberd had somehow appeared behind him, precisely blocking the fatal blow.

The collision of the two enormous forces generated shockwaves visible to the naked eye.

The six-armed demon general revealed its form, a hint of surprise flashing in its scarlet compound eyes.

Clearly, it hadn't anticipated that its perfect assassination attempt would be thwarted.

"Got you?"

Gu Yan grinned, his halberd jerked violently, and using the momentum, he turned around and unleashed a powerful sweeping strike that slammed into the demon general's chest.

"boom!"

The demon was knocked back dozens of feet and crashed into a huge rock.

But this is just the beginning.

The ensuing battle became a game of strategy that only Gu Yan himself could understand.

Demon General Gu Yan used his powerful demonic body and multiple arms to deliver deadly blows; Divine Weapon Gu Yan, on the other hand, used his divine power and self-awareness to advance step by step.

This is a battle where each side knows the other best.

With each swing of his halberd, the divine weapon Gu Yan knew how his opponent would dodge; with each evasion, the demon general Gu Yan knew how his opponent would pursue.

This looks exactly like a Möbius strip.

In each cycle of reincarnation, the victor gains strength by learning from the losers' experiences, and then becomes the ultimate boss in the next life.

This is what the red-eyed old man meant by "meeting with those you hate".

The person you hate the most is always the stronger version of yourself.

The two were like dancing in front of a mirror, and the only uncertainty was the instant when the light reflected their movements into the mirror.

In the end, the Demon General Gu Yan proved to be the more skilled one.

He used a feint that seemed to lead to mutual destruction to trick Shenbing Gu Yan into revealing his trump card, and then used his remaining four arms to forcefully break through Shenbing Gu Yan's defenses.

"puff!"

Gu Yan collapsed into a pool of blood once again.

But when he died, he had a smile on his lips and his brows were relaxed.

Because before he died, he severed one of the demon general's arms.

This proves that the perfect "self" is not invincible.

……

In the tenth reincarnation after I killed myself, the demon general Gu Yan lost an arm, but because of this, he learned to create even more insidious traps.

In the eleventh reincarnation, the divine weapon Gu Yan used the terrain to trap and kill the demon general, but was taken away by the demon general's self-destruction before his death.

The twentieth time... the thirtieth time... the hundredth time...

This is a long and brutal tug-of-war.

With each cycle, the scales of victory sway.

Sometimes, the Demon General Gu Yan wins. He will step on the corpse of the Divine Weapon Gu Yan, let out a triumphant roar, and then watch the Divine Court perish in the demonic tide.

Sometimes, it was the divine soldier Gu Yan who won. He would cut off the head of the demon general, then lead Liu Yun and Xue He to break through the encirclement, eliminate the traitorous companions, and finally die at the hands of the Divine Court's supervisory team.

No matter who wins, the ending is death.

In this process, the boundaries between life and death, good and evil, and man and demon become increasingly blurred.

Sometimes, he is a saint who sacrifices himself to protect all living beings; sometimes, he is a demon who slaughters the world in pursuit of power.

He fought against countless versions of himself across countless times and spaces.

He killed his weak self, killed his greedy self, killed his arrogant self, killed his foolish self.

These hundreds and thousands of cycles of reincarnation are not meaningless.

Gu Yan is undergoing a transformation in the process of repeatedly "killing himself".

Each cycle of reincarnation is a heavy blow.

Every death is a tempering process.

As a demon general, he learned the cruelty, cunning, and extreme development of physical strength of the demon race.

He knew how to use every muscle, how to turn killing into an art.

As a divine weapon, he learned the exquisite use of divine power, how to find a way out in desperate situations, and how to use his Dao heart to control power, rather than being controlled by it.

His martial arts and his temperament were forged in this endless purgatory into a piece of divine iron without any impurities.

The 1001st cycle.

Gu Yan has become a demon general once again.

He crouched in the shadows, watching Gu Jiu in the distance.

This time, he didn't rush to make a move.

He watched as that "self" skillfully commanded the battle, and watched as each move of that "self" carried a sense of returning to simplicity.

That was a new realm he had come to understand in his previous reincarnation.

"That's really strong."

"The Demon General Gu Yan sighed."

He understood that Gu Jiu, on the other side, had also noticed his presence.

Across the clamor of the battlefield, across the boundary between life and death, the two exchanged a distant glance.

That glance held no murderous intent, only a tacit understanding that only the two of them could comprehend.

"It's time to break this cycle of reincarnation."

The demon general whispered.

He didn't choose to launch a sneak attack because it was pointless, but instead walked out openly and honestly.

With six arms outstretched and his entire body radiating demonic energy, he resembled a world-destroying demon god.

With six arms outstretched and his entire body radiating demonic energy, he resembled a world-destroying demon god.

Gu Jiu, who was opposite, pushed Liu Yun and Xue He aside and walked out alone.

With his halberd pointing diagonally, gleaming with divine light, he resembled an invincible war god.

The sounds of fighting all around seemed to disappear.

Only these two figures remained in the world.

One represents the ultimate expression of humanity, the other the pinnacle of demonic power.

"Come."

"Come."

Two voices rang out at the same time.

The next moment, the two figures collided.

There are no fancy moves, only the purest clash of power and the ultimate battle of wills.

Demonic energy and divine light intertwined, leveling the battlefield within a hundred miles.

This battle lasted for three days and three nights.

Fight until the heavens and earth collapse, fight until the sun and moon lose their light.

Five of the six arms of the demon general Gu Yan were broken, his scales were almost all gone, and his demon blood had dried up.

The divine weapon Gu Yan's golden armor shattered into powder, his halberd broke in two, and his divine power was exhausted.

last of the last.

The two stood facing each other, teetering on the verge of collapse.

The demon general Gu Yan plunged his remaining hand into the chest of the divine weapon Gu Yan.

The broken halberd in the hands of the divine weapon Gu Yan also pierced the heart of the demon general Gu Yan.

perish together.

But this is not the end, but a new beginning.

Just as the flame of their lives was about to be extinguished.

Demon General Gu Yan suddenly laughed.

He released his grip, letting the demonic heart shatter and transform into a pure stream of dark essence, flowing along the broken halberd and into the body of the divine weapon Gu Yan.

"Take it."

The voice of Demon General Gu Yan echoed in the mind of Divine Weapon Gu Yan, "This half is yours."

At the same time, Shenbing Gu Yan also released his grip.

The core of divine power within his body collapsed, transforming into a pure source of light that surged into the remains of the demon general Gu Yan.

"This half is for you."

Light and darkness, god and demon.

That's just two sides of the same coin, like the palm and the back of the hand.

At this critical juncture where life and death intersect, and through the accumulation of thousands of reincarnations, a strange yet perfect balance was finally achieved.

"boom!"

It wasn't an explosion, but a roar of new life.

That originally inevitable cycle of reincarnation was forcibly cracked open by this power that fused the two extremes of gods and demons.

Gu Yan had a feeling that his soul was ascending.

He was neither a demon general nor a divine weapon.

He was the stone that rolled around in the mortal world, and the passerby who listened to stories at the foot of Burial Dragon Mountain.

Gu Yan was also the one who truly took control of his own destiny.

The world before my eyes began to collapse.

The demon army vanished, the divine court's defenses collapsed, and even the rift in the sky turned into nothingness.

That blood-red battlefield faded away like a mirage.

Gu Yan found himself standing in a void of starry sky.

Two things were floating in front of him.

On the left is a jet-black, powerfully beating heart, the Heavenly Demon Heart, formed from thousands of demonic reincarnations.

On the right is a golden, shimmering rune with an understated divine aura—a divine bone forged through thousands of human reincarnations.

"God and demon are one, and the heart of the Dao is planted with demons."

Gu Yan stretched out his hands and grasped both items at the same time.

At that moment, the Tower of Babel within his Qi Sea, which had just been successfully established, underwent another dramatic change.

A black dragon relief is wrapped around the golden tower.

The original solemn and sacred aura has been replaced by a touch of domineering and eeriness.

This is no longer just about incense and religious rites.

This is Gu Yan's unique path of both gods and demons.

"So this is the true solution to the problem of being bound by hatred."

Gu Yan looked at his palm, feeling the terrifyingly surging power within his body, and exhaled a breath of stale air.

"One cannot become a Buddha without slaying demons."

"By killing the demon, I am both Buddha and demon."

"Red-eyed old man, this second cup of tea tastes quite good."