Before Yang An could answer, the man had already laid a hand on him.

'He was certain that under the influence of the Power of Rules he commanded, Yang An would never dare to use any Techniques.'

'Any Technique he used would surely backfire on him.'

Countless opponents in the past had been toyed with until they died by this very move, and even Zombie Gods were no exception.

After all, he had fused with a Middle Grade Forbidden Artifact Fragment.

Forbidden Artifact Fragments were, of course, graded.

The lowest, Lower Grade, might only be a tiny, fragmented piece of a complete Forbidden Artifact, containing very little Power of Rules.

A Middle Grade Forbidden Artifact Fragment was at least one-fifth of a complete Forbidden Artifact, making it completely incomparable to a Lower Grade one.

An Upper Grade fragment would be at least half of a complete Forbidden Artifact—something exceedingly rare that one could only hope to find by chance.

Even if he were lucky enough to find one, it was by no means something an Early Stage Zombie God like him could fuse with.

The higher the grade of a Forbidden Artifact Fragment, the more complete and powerful the Power of Rules it contained, and the greater the difficulty of fusion.

Only the most powerful experts among Zombie Gods had any chance of successfully fusing with an Upper Grade Forbidden Artifact Fragment.

As for a Top Grade Forbidden Artifact Fragment, that was something one couldn't even dream of.

What did Top Grade even mean?

It might mean a complete Forbidden Artifact was merely missing a tiny corner, thus classifying it as a fragment.

But the Power of Rules and might it contained were worlds apart from an Upper Grade fragment.

And since he commanded a portion of the Power of Rules that could animate the inanimate, it meant that nearly all of his opponent's methods were useless against him.

Unless his opponent wielded a more complete Forbidden Artifact Fragment than a Middle Grade one, or a more powerful Power of Rules!

But Yang An had yet to reveal any Power of Rules, which made him suspicious.

'Could he be... a Zombie God who hasn't fused with any Forbidden Artifact Fragments yet?'

BANG!

A palm struck Yang An, and the body he had only half-regenerated was sent flying. The flesh all over him shattered into countless pieces once more, leaving only his head hanging from his frame.

Before Yang An's body could hit the ground, the man raised a hand.

RUMBLE!

The ground suddenly trembled. Countless rocks and clumps of dirt surged up from the earth like a wave, instantly swallowing Yang An.

The mass of earth and stone began to spin, forming a terrifying vortex that sought to grind Yang An into a pulp, leaving not even a sliver of bone behind.

The man was not idle either. His flesh and blood once again wove themselves into the large, red garment before him. His bones snapped and twisted at bizarre angles, reforming into a massive folding fan.

Copious amounts of red smoke erupted from it. The fan flapped abruptly, unleashing a crimson gale that blasted toward the earthen vortex.

In an instant, streams of red smoke shot through the vortex, shattering it.

Innumerable shards of rock exploded with sonic booms, peppering the ground like raindrops and blasting bottomless holes everywhere.

But amidst the gale, a skeleton with half a head and a Longbow slung across its body remained standing firm. Its one remaining eye stared directly at the man.

"Still not dead!"

The man's killing intent flared instantly!

The head upon the folding fan grew increasingly frenzied.

"Let's see how much more you can take!"

Abruptly, he raised the giant fan and swung it once more!

He was just about to conjure another gale.

But just then, a colossal hand materialized from the void and violently seized the folding fan.

The hand appeared without any warning, so suddenly that the man was caught before he could even react.

A viscous black fluid oozed from the massive hand, dripping to the ground with an audible SIZZLE.

The man let out a pained shriek, his entire body, along with the garment, unable to break free.

After seizing him, the massive hand slammed him into the ground.

The fist drove straight into the earth.

But just then, torrents of red smoke erupted from underground. With overwhelming force, it tore the twisted hand to shreds.

His flesh, still wrapped in the red garment and caked with dirt, emerged from the crater. The man was in a wretched state, his entire body covered in the black slime that was rapidly corroding his form.

Before he could clean himself off, another hand materialized from the void, lunging at him as a fist.

But just as the fist was about to strike the man's body, it abruptly stopped about a foot away, unable to advance another inch.

The man raised his own hand slightly. In response, the twisted, giant hand slowly lifted and unfurled its fist.

"It's no use! Under my Power of Rules... I told you! It's useless!"

A smile spread across the man's face as he spoke slowly. Then, his head swiveled one hundred and eighty degrees to look behind him, and his gaze suddenly froze.

Where Yang An had been standing just a moment before—nothing but a shattered skeleton and a skull—there was now nothing. He had vanished without a trace, having escaped at some unknown moment!

Even his aura had vanished completely, making it impossible to sense which way he had gone.

The man's expression darkened instantly, and he clenched his raised hand.

The massive hand behind him instantly disintegrated into dust and vanished. At the same time, the black slime on his body and on the ground also disappeared without a trace.

The red garment instantly slid from the man's body to the floor. His form twisted and contorted, quickly returning to that of a normal person.