In the blink of an eye, the magnificent golden room was destroyed by a single spatial collapse, and Gumantong's throne was not spared.
But Gumantong probably couldn't care about that anymore. As long as its domain wasn't destroyed, it couldn't truly die - it was just a matter of reviving once more.
At this moment, it hesitated within its domain.
"If you're not clear on the situation, you can continue to stay in your domain."
The masked figures in the room didn't have much patience. This light threat made Gumantong afraid to not take their words seriously.
Just now, it had been a step too late and died once. The masked figures were serious.
In its infant-like state with short limbs, big head, and large belly, the terrified Gumantong truly crawled and rolled out of its domain, its face... still ashen gray.
"What do you great ones... command..."
Gumantong had lived longer than most people and had advanced to SS-level, with faster internet speed than most humans. Recently, with things getting so big, it of course understood that if these were genuine masked figures, it was absolutely no match for them.
Those who could fight evenly with that Chaos fellow, how could they be simple characters?
People can't all be judged the same way. The masked figures were clearly on the monster faction's side, so latching onto their thighs wasn't too much.
The red-cloaked masked figure remained silent. The one with the strange voice stepped forward and reached out to grab the monster.
Gumantong felt a wave of energy sweep over it, as if all its secrets were exposed.
No... "as if" should be removed...
"The first A-level monster, the first S-level monster, actually surpassed by San Zhu's test subject. What a waste. Why don't we change to a different monster?"
Gumantong's face... was too ashen gray to change much, but its heart churned like a stormy sea. That Chaos fellow was actually a test subject?!
"Are you questioning my decision?"
The red-cloaked High Priest began condensing a spatial collapse at the first sign of disagreement. Gumantong felt a chill down its spine. With its twelve eyes, it needed an extra-large version of the pain mask.
The strange-voiced masked figure raised both hands in surrender, no longer flippant: "High Priest, I misspoke."
The red-cloaked High Priest stopped condensing the spatial collapse. "Less nonsense, get to work quickly."
Both Gumantong and this masked figure breathed sighs of relief.
The masked figure looked at Gumantong, his tone malicious, clearly venting his earlier anger on Gumantong, "If you weren't so useless, we wouldn't have had to make this special trip."
Gumantong dared to be angry but not to speak.
It had been minding its own business at home, inexplicably died once, and was still being accused of being useless.
"Listen, we'll help you advance, but at the same time, you need to cooperate with our actions."
Gumantong was on alert, its huge head struggling to lift up, "Why do you want to help me?"
Although it mainly relied on force to suppress, it had learned from humans to use more monsters to expand its rule. Its huge head wasn't just for show. There must be some ulterior motive for helping it without reason.
Besides, Chaos from San Zhu had died. Before a new SSS-level monster appeared, it didn't really want to advance.
If it advanced to SSS-level monster, it wouldn't be facing masked figures, but a whole family group.
Wait... a whole family group?
Gumantong immediately understood, "You want to use me as bait?"
"Tch..." The strange-voiced masked figure clicked his tongue softly, "If you had spent the time you used for research on improving your strength, you'd be SSS-level by now."
And then have an empty head for you to fool and manipulate?
Gumantong grumbled inwardly, but due to the vast difference in strength, it didn't dare to show it.
"I forgot to mention earlier, the reason you can understand what we're saying is because of my mental connection."
The strange-voiced masked figure spoke with amusement, "So..."
Gumantong's mind was buzzing with this news. The other side knew everything it was thinking!
Where on earth did these humans come from?
Any random person could abuse it.
Gumantong said resentfully: "Sir, I'm at your command."
The situation was stronger than the monster. Gumantong could bend and stretch. If it didn't cooperate, it would die before even seeing the whole family.
"Don't worry, as products created by the Supreme God, we are very tolerant of you..."
Hearing this, Gumantong couldn't control its inner thoughts: very tolerant means killing once upon meeting to check things out.
Almost all the monsters in the entire palace had been slaughtered.
Gumantong's inner voice was transmitted to the avatar, and the masked figure changed his tone, "Of course, except for the useless ones."
"If you keep interrupting me inappropriately, the High Priest won't wait that long."
Gumantong shrank its head, how could it control its thoughts...
This idea had just emerged when it forcibly suppressed it.
"Ruling over a country, yet still unable to advance to infecting reality. You should be clear where the problem lies, I don't need to elaborate, right?"
Years of rule and near invincibility, those who could beat it didn't bother with it, those who couldn't were either devoured or ruled by it. Power corrupts the heart, monsters were no exception.
For the first time feeling so embarrassed, it couldn't hide its emotions.
Feelings of resentment kept bubbling up, and Gumantong nodded reluctantly.
Humans, as intelligent beings, were the best material to distort and change, but not the numb ones.
The humans of Duoheluo Country had been under its rule for decades. The humans who dared to resist had their bones in its stomach, and those who didn't dare to resist only lived like livestock, taking each day as it came.
These humans barely thought, numbly living through each day. The difficulty of distorting and changing their way of thinking had been raised to hell mode.
And Gumantong's special ability was poison mist, so the channel of changing humans physically was also blocked.
Waiting for humans to slowly adapt, it might as well change inanimate objects. At least inanimate objects wouldn't die from the poison mist.
To make it abandon its granary and advance somewhere else, it really couldn't bear to.
Therefore, Gumantong had been slow to advance.
As news of monsters advancing in the five great countries dying miserably kept coming, it became even more determined. Better slow than dead, provoking those who shouldn't be provoked would only lead to a quicker death.
However, trouble came knocking when the monster was sitting at home.
Gumantong's ethereal and eerie voice sounded again, "You can help me speed up the infection of inanimate objects...?"
If it could advance to SSS-level, then join forces with the High Priest to drive away that old and young pair, this matter might turn out to be an opportunity for it.
With strength, it would have more confidence when facing the red-cloaked masked figure.
The mental ability masked figure sneered, "You seem to have forgotten that I'm connected to your mind, and do you think you were chosen by chance?"
Having its little schemes known crystal clear, Gumantong was shocked, then calmed down.
It indeed didn't know why it was chosen, but knowing from the mental ability masked figure's words that it wasn't easily replaceable was enough.
"How do you plan to help me..."
If not inanimate objects, then it must be humans.

lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”

Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!