Will of Honkai

Naturally, not just anyone could watch a battle between peak experts. The moment Fu Hua and Mu En made their moves, Xuan Zi immediately took Huo Yuhao and the others away from Sea God Island, while Jing Hongchen barely escaped the battlefield under the protection of his Soul Tools.

Before Xuan Zi and the others had completely left Sea God Island, violent ripples spread from Sea God Pavilion, making it impossible for Yan Shaozhe and the other experts to approach. Even the few who were qualified did not rashly head to Sea God Pavilion to join the battle, Xuan Zi included.

Xuan Zi and the others knew full well that even if they went, they would be unable to help. Though Xuan Zi's cultivation had reached Rank 98, the difference of one rank was like the gap between heaven and earth.

When experts fought, unless life and death were decided, it was naturally difficult to determine a victor. Yet, to the surprise of everyone by Sea God Lake, this battle did not last long. After the battle's disturbances had vanished for quite some time, Xuan Zi led Yan Shaozhe and the academy's upper echelon to Sea God Pavilion. But upon arriving before the pavilion, the sight before them nearly made everyone faint.

Sea God Pavilion had originally been carved from the Golden Giant Tree, a seamless whole. Yet now, it would not have been an exaggeration to say that this golden tree had been pruned. All the surrounding branches had broken off and fallen away. Though the trunk remained, it looked somewhat "sparse."

When they returned to Sea God Pavilion, they found Mu En lying in the reclining chair at the head of the first-floor conference table. The culprit was nowhere to be seen; according to Mu En, she had left. Mu En then announced that he would enter seclusion to recover from his injuries. He did not mention Chi Yuan Douluo to the others, only instructing Xuan Zi to bring Huo Yuhao and the others to obtain soul rings before swiftly finding Ling Mo and bringing him back.

While many great changes were occurring in the outside world, where was Ling Mo, whom both Shrek and Fu Hua's side were searching for?

Within a dim space, Ling Mo sat cross-legged in the void with his eyes shut. His pale purple hair was now snow-white. Not far away was Benares, still unconscious as it absorbed the Life Gold.

Before long, "Ling Mo" opened his eyes. His left eye held a golden pupil that did not belong to him, while his right had become a deep, secluded violet—the color of Honkai. Clearly, the one controlling this body was not Ling Mo, but the End.

The End's brows were tightly furrowed, and she looked slightly pained, as though she was not in good condition. She muttered softly, "Tsk, I didn't expect to be discovered even after thirteen years. Can't you be a little more careful? It hasn't been long, and you nearly died again. How did you even survive for so long in the Honkai World in your previous life?"

Seemingly knowing that Ling Mo could not hear her, the End sighed softly, closed her eyes once more, and tried her best to sort out the violent, turbulent Honkai Energy within her body.

She was not as indifferent as she had claimed when she last appeared. When Ling Mo once again encountered a life-or-death crisis, the End intervened and saved him. This time, however, the one she had fought was a soul beast—a soul beast known in the Star Dou Great Forest as the Beast God.

Several months earlier, Ling Mo had left the academy and gone to the Star Dou Great Forest in search of a soul ring. After searching for around a month, he had finally found a soul beast with both fire and light attributes. Moreover, after careful observation, Ling Mo had determined that this soul beast's attributes were of extremely high quality. Although it possessed an additional light attribute, that did not matter much to Ling Mo.

Yet Ling Mo regretted acting as soon as he made his move. Though this soul beast was not very old, its strength was actually comparable to the Snow Empress's ice cocoon. Just as Ling Mo was preparing to use spatial transfer to leave, an aura locked onto him directly, followed by overwhelming pressure. This made Ling Mo's already perilous situation even worse.

There was no need to say what happened afterward. How could Ling Mo possibly have been a match for a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? It was only when the soul beast that had locked onto him spoke that Ling Mo realized the soul beast he had targeted was actually the Imperial Beast from the original work. Poor Ling Mo only remembered that the Imperial Beast would eventually become Wang Qiu'er, but he had completely forgotten what it looked like.

At the moment of Ling Mo's impending death, the End appeared once more. Soon after, Di Tian, who had sensed that the Imperial Beast was in danger, rushed over.

With the End's strength, even in her current condition, Di Tian and the help of the Silver Dragon behind it should not have been enough to threaten her. Yet in the end, the End had retreated into this Imaginary Space that belonged exclusively to Ling Mo to recuperate.

The reason the End had ended up in such a state was not Di Tian, but—Honkai!

In the Honkai World, Herrschers were envoys who carried out the Will of Honkai's task of destroying human civilization, and the Herrscher of the End was no exception. Although the End had died in the final battle of the Honkai World, that did not mean the Will of Honkai would disappear. On the contrary, it was completely unharmed.

But since Herrschers existed, they naturally had a purpose. Though the Will of Honkai was powerful, it could not personally act against human civilization. That was why Herrschers came into being. It needed tools to act in its place, and the End was the strongest and most useful among them. This could be clearly seen from the End's repeated successful destruction of human civilization. Without the Herrscher of the End, the Will of Honkai was helpless against human civilization. Yet creating another being equal to the End was no easy task. From a certain perspective, the End's death could be considered a victory over Honkai, because during the extremely long period before a new Herrscher of the End was born, humanity could absolutely grow to the point where it could ignore the Will of Honkai.

However, matters were no longer so simple, because the truth was that the End had not truly died. When she opened the Sea of Quantum during her previous intervention, the Will of Honkai had already noticed this world. This was also one of the reasons cracks connecting the Honkai World and the Douluo World had appeared.

But discovering it did not mean it could directly act and seize the End. Strictly speaking, the Douluo World was merely a planet, but the true world containing that planet also possessed its own will. Unless the Will of Honkai decided to destroy the Douluo World, there was no question of superiority or inferiority between the wills of the two worlds. And would the Will of Honkai destroy the Douluo World?

The answer was no. Though it sounded laughable, the Will of Honkai destroyed human civilization because it believed humanity's development had affected the balance and stability of the world, so it decided to remove this "tumor" from itself.

To humanity, this was exceedingly cruel. But it was not human; from a certain perspective, it could not even be considered a living being. It had no emotions, which was why Ling Mo had always scorned this "god," the Will of Honkai.

Returning to the matter at hand, though the Will of Honkai could not directly intervene due to the Douluo World's world will, it would be another matter if the End affected the Douluo World. The End had no such reservations when she acted. During her battle with Di Tian, several of her attacks had nearly killed the Imperial Beast, which occupied an important place in the trajectory of fate. Naturally, the world will would not permit this, and thus the Will of Honkai was able to act.

But why had the End not been taken away? Because of Ling Mo!

From his original world to the Honkai World, Ling Mo had transmigrated. From the Honkai World to the Douluo World, however, Ling Mo had been reborn! In the eyes of the Douluo World's world will, Ling Mo was a living being of its own world. Though this living being was a little unusual—Tang San was already a precedent—the Douluo World's world will was still relatively naive at its current level.

To it, there was no problem with the Will of Honkai acting against the End, but acting against Ling Mo was unacceptable. The final result was that the End was injured, but the Douluo World's will would not allow the Will of Honkai to take her away.

The End had sensed the exchange between the two world wills as well, but this could not continue. Though she had escaped disaster this time, there was no guarantee that nothing would happen next time. She had only managed to break free of the Will of Honkai's control by faking her death, and she did not want to be captured and taken back just like that.

After much thought, the End finally decided that the best solution was to integrate into this world, just as Ling Mo had done. However, the End did not intend to be reborn like Ling Mo. Ling Mo had had no choice, but she was different.

Speaking of integrating into the Douluo World, what could be better than becoming a god? But she controlled too many laws. There was no divine position for her to inherit if she wanted to become a god, so she could only create one herself. Yet creating a divine position on this continent alone would be far too slow. She could sense that this world had more than one path to godhood, so it would be best to visit other places in this world.

Recalling the aura of the God Realm she had sensed when she first arrived in this world, the End stepped out of the Imaginary Space and began determining the nearest coordinates...