Guardian Pirate Crew-Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader "cyp6880"

To leave the Second Level, one must defeat the three gatekeepers, so Gu Ding immediately issued a challenge.

Barite was one of the three guardians on the Second Level.

However, to reach the Third Level, one usually doesn't need to defeat Barite; gaining Barite approval is sufficient. This is because Barite is extremely powerful, and he is also a very strict person; almost anyone whose strength doesn't reach the Peak-rank God deity is unable to gain his approval.

After defeating Barite, all that was left was to challenge two more gatekeepers. The Order Keeper quickly informed Gu Ding of the names of the other two gatekeepers, and Gu Ding immediately clicked to challenge them.

The two men were watching the fight from a short distance below the ring. Upon receiving Gu Ding's challenge, they both immediately chose to forfeit. They had witnessed Gu Ding instantly defeat Barite in one move; for them to go up would be suicidal. Therefore, they made the wise decision.

Seeing that he received a response to his challenge in less than ten seconds, Gu Ding was somewhat surprised. But then he realized that the other two might be below the ring, having witnessed the match. In that case, it wouldn't be surprising if they withdrew.

On the arena, Barite, who had been injected with a three-star body repair serum, slowly awoke. Seeing a group of people surrounding him, he guessed the outcome of the match.

"I lost..."

"Boss, don't be discouraged, there will be another chance to win next time," Bruce said, trying to comfort him.

"How is that possible? Gu Ding's current cultivation level is only Five-Star Low-rank God, while I am already Five-Star Mid-rank God. Once he reaches my cultivation level, the gap will only widen..." Barite seemed somewhat dejected.

"True strength lies not in power, but in the heart. Those who are crushed by defeat, no matter how strong, cannot be called true strength." Gu Ding heard Barite's words. He strode over. "In this world, there will always be those stronger than us, because cultivation is limitless. Above gods are true gods, and above true gods are celestial gods. As for whether there are other powerful beings above celestial gods, I do not know, but one day I will know the answer to that question."

"Since you know that cultivation is endless, why bother to expend energy to become stronger and run on this never-ending road?" Barite sat up and looked up at Gu Ding, seemingly eager for the answer to this question.

"Because there are always new landscapes on the path of cultivation." Gu Ding grinned. "I will meet different people, different things, and have new experiences every day. As for whether I can reach the end, that's not important at all. What's important is the experience along the way."

"As for why I keep getting stronger, I'm not pursuing becoming the strongest in the Universe Sea, because that pursuit is distant and unrealistic. I become stronger simply to protect what I want to protect: my dreams, my partners, my family... There are many things worth risking our lives to protect. Don't you also have people you want to protect?"

Upon hearing this, Barite glanced at the group of underlings surrounding him. They all looked at him with hopeful eyes, and he felt a warm glow in his heart.

Seeing Barite's expression, Gu Ding knew he didn't need to stay any longer and turned to leave.

Stepping out of the arena, Sea Emperor couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you invite this guy to join our Pirate Crew? I think his temperament suits your taste, and he's quite strong too. Even in his normal state, his combat power exceeds that of Four-Star Half-Step True God, and after transforming, his strength is close to that of Six-Star Half-Step True God."

"He has his own companions; he won't be happy without them," Gu Ding shook his head.

Sea Emperor and the others had always thought that Gu Ding was a carefree guy who would invite anyone he found interesting to join the team. Little did they know that every invitation Gu Ding extended was actually the result of careful consideration.

"You left so gracefully, are you not planning to keep the points from the duel?" The Sea Emperor was silent for a moment before asking again.

"Given Barite's personality, he's not going to renege on his debts, there's no need to be in such a hurry. I'm going back to catch up on some sleep," Gu Ding said, yawning. "I got up too early today for the competition."

"Hey, that's no excuse! You're already a god, you can go years without sleeping, eating, or drinking and still be fine!" the Sea Emperor couldn't help but shout.

"I just want to sleep, mind your own business." Gu Ding ignored the Sea Emperor's shouts and walked towards his prison cell.

"Gu Ding defeated Barite in one move!"

The news spread throughout the Second Level of the Gate of Purgatory in less than a morning, sparking much discussion.

The vast majority of people had watched the match, and some who hadn't watched it before for various reasons immediately watched the battle videos recorded on the official website of Gate of Purgatory.

Gu Ding, one of the parties involved, was fast asleep in his room.

Meanwhile, Barite, the other party involved, was already full of energy and had gathered his group of followers together.

Bruce and the others were somewhat surprised when Barite said he wanted to hold a meeting, because Barite had never called a meeting before. He had also said before that leaders who liked to hold meetings were not good leaders. Usually, if there was something that needed to be conveyed, he would tell a few people around him and then have them pass it on to others.

But Bruce also noticed that Barite's temperament seemed to have changed somewhat after being defeated by Gu Ding. So, upon hearing the request, he didn't raise any objections but quickly notified the others.

Although Barite was very famous on the Second Level of the Gate of Purgatory, he only had about twenty men by his side, all of whom he had personally selected. Many people wanted to curry favor with him, but he refused them all.

A few minutes later, all twenty-eight people gathered on the First Level of the cafeteria and sat around a huge round table.

This spectacle also attracted the attention of many other people in the cafeteria who secretly gathered around to watch.

"Everyone's here," Barite said, glancing at everyone to make sure no one was missing. "Then I'll just give a brief introduction."

"This time, I suffered a crushing defeat in my battle with Gu Ding. But this defeat also made me realize my shortcomings. Therefore, I plan to leave the Second Level of the Gate of Purgatory and go to the Third Level or even the fourth level to hone myself and become stronger."

"Boss..." Hearing Barite's words, the group of people at the round table couldn't help but be moved. They hadn't expected that Barite's defeat would lead to such a big change.

Barite waved his hand to stop everyone from trying to persuade him to stay, and continued, "Gu Ding said a lot. To protect the people I care about, I must become stronger. The Second Level of the Gate of Purgatory is just a well; all you can see is a patch of sky at the well's opening. So I will keep striving to go to the Third Level, the fourth level... and clash with even stronger opponents. Through these clashes, I will become stronger."

"Boss, but what are we going to do now that you're gone?" Although everyone shared the same wish for Barite to become stronger, they were all still reluctant to let him go when the time actually came.

"You must also become stronger; you can't always live under my protection. Look at the Gu Ding Pirate Crew. Almost every member is not weak. In fact, they are among the strongest of their kind. They have all followed in Gu Ding's footsteps, going further and further. If you are willing to believe in me, then follow in my footsteps and keep moving forward. Let's all become stronger together and protect the most important things in our lives!" Barite seemed to have become much wiser after this battle. He used to be least good at saying such emotional things, but now his appeal brought tears to the eyes of many.

"Boss, how about we start a Pirate Crew too, and you be the captain!" Kevin's eyes welled up with tears. He wiped them away with his sleeve and then shouted.

"That's a great idea!" Bruce immediately agreed, then turned to Kevin and laughed loudly, "You little rascal, you always come up with all sorts of terrible ideas that could kill someone, but today you've finally come up with a good one."

The others around the round table also became somewhat excited upon hearing this suggestion.

"Forming a Pirate Crew is indeed a great idea. Every powerful Pirate Crew has a group of united partners. Once we form Pirate Crew, we'll all be family!"

"I agree to form Pirate Crew!"

"I agree!"

Barite was somewhat tempted by the suggestion, and seeing the brothers' faces full of enthusiasm, he couldn't bear to refuse their good intentions.

"Alright then, let's form a Pirate Crew! As for the name, let's call it Guardians, to protect what's most precious to us."

"Guardian Pirate Crew, although this name doesn't quite fit your usual personality, I still wholeheartedly agree," Bruce was the first to shout.

"I wholeheartedly agree!" Kevin shouted.

"I agree with both hands, feet, and my little ding-ding!" One person's shout caused a burst of laughter from the surrounding crowd.

Barite's formation of Pirate Crew in the cafeteria wasn't kept secret. Many other diners were present and witnessed the scene. The Gate of Purgatory imprisoned unruly individuals, many of whom were former Interstellar Pirate, so they found it quite interesting.

The only ones who didn't look too good were the few Order Keeper on duty in the cafeteria, but Barite and his group didn't cause any trouble, the Order Keeper couldn't interfere.

Of course, the news quickly spread outside the cafeteria and became known to others. It also sparked a heated discussion on the Second Level of the Gate of Purgatory.

Gu Ding slept until the next day before waking up, and only then did he hear about this from the Sea Emperor, which he found quite interesting.

Not long after he woke up, Barite also came to visit him.

~~~

[Thanks to classmates "cyp6880", "BaiDu", "missmore", "luoke000", "Mengmengmengmengmeng", "Ms" and "Free Mortal" for their support this week. I would also like to thank everyone for your support through monthly votes, evaluation votes and recommendation votes~~ Thank you~ The third update is here. The fourth update cannot be released today. But it doesn't matter, I will continue with the third update tomorrow.] (To be continued ~^~