Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - Chapter 615: Unless You Step Over My Corpse

"Hmph... Looks like this is the end."

I wouldn't say I'm satisfied, but I'm not particularly disappointed either.

Gustav appeared in a flash on a large, unidentified piece of wreckage floating in the sea.

He rubbed his temples, putting Xiao Wu out of his mind.

"The Leader has reproduced the entire set of control commands, so recovering the Planet Will should be relatively simple. Tartaglia should have been dealt with by now, and then it's Ye's turn."

Somewhere deep in the ocean, Ye and Yu He are probably still locked in a fierce battle.

"That Yu He guy, he'll definitely need to be taught a good lesson after this is over... But wait, let's get down to business first--"

At this time,

The instant he took that step—

"Stop!"

Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"--how!?"

For the first time, Gustav showed a look of surprise! Energy, immense energy, overwhelming killing intent and fighting spirit, so intense that even he had to take it seriously! The rumbling explosions resounded through the heavens and earth. Following the spine-chilling killing intent, what came into view was lightning—not purple or purplish-red, but pure golden lightning!

The sea churned, the waves were distorted, and a gigantic whirlpool formed on the sea—the very spot where the golden lightning erupted!

It's also the location where Xiao Wu's fragments fell before!

"Gustav... Gustav... Gustav Gustav Gustav Gustav Gustav Gustav Gustav Gustav!!!!!!!!!!"

A bolt of golden lightning shot straight into the sky, the vortex growing ever larger. A female figure leaped out from the bottom of the lightning, from the center of the vortex! Her tattered body burst forth with its last breath, piecing itself back together in an extremely ruthless manner. The lightning patterns all over her body had turned golden, radiating like golden snakes dancing wildly, and her golden eyes held a killing intent that could pierce through everything! Urahara Sakura Dance was still alive. Not only that, she had even burned out her last remaining potential, unleashing an unprecedented and unparalleled power in the face of life and death!

In response, Gustav --

"... Ha." He laughed.

"Hahaha... hahahaha... hahahahahahahaha!!! Not bad, not bad at all! To encounter such a pleasant surprise, it was definitely worth the trip!!!"

"Shut your mother, Gustav... Ye... Haoyue... if you want to lay a finger on them—"

The golden lightning that filled the heavens and earth responded to Xiao Wu's will and condensed into a tangible solid—a huge golden arm, an extension of Xiao Wu's fist, with all its power compressed within it!

"--Unless, you step over my dead body!!!!"

"Unleash your strongest killing move, Urushihara!!!"

Xiao Wu roared and charged toward Gustav, causing space to collapse wherever she went! Golden hands rose, clenched into fists, and slammed toward the strongest creature on earth! Gustav laughed, the hardness of his clenched fist surpassing everything in the world. It was the embodiment of the concept of "power," the ultimate power that Gustav had earned through a thousand years of arduous training!

"The Ultimate Secret of the Polar Night--"

"Destroy in despair--"

People against people, fists against fists, strength against strength—the moment they intersect.

"--Heavenly Extreme Death!!!!!"

"--One-hit wonder!!!!!"

The clash between the strongest creature and the perfect warrior shook everything.

"--!?"

Suddenly, Sin Annihilation raised his head and looked into the distance.

(What's with this airflow!?)

The rumbling sound grew closer and closer, echoing throughout the heavens and earth. It sounded like thunder, but it was many times more powerful than this common natural phenomenon. Then, a sudden gust of wind almost blew her off, but several more pairs of membranous wings sprouted from her back, which barely allowed her to maintain her balance in the storm.

The sky was clear, all the clouds had been blown away, and the sea was churning with huge waves. Sin Annihilation gritted his teeth, sacrificed the skin on his back to form enhanced wings, and forcibly increased his speed to move forward against the storm.

The sudden storm and thunder seemed to be coming from a very, very far place, the aftershocks of some enormous energy eruption. If it was so intense from such a distance, what kind of devastation must have occurred at the epicenter?

"Could it be... them?"

An unpleasant premonition arose in the heart of the Sin Annihilation.

A very, very bad premonition.

"Oh no, we have to hurry! Everyone, Xiao Wu, please at least--!!!"

Let's rewind to a few minutes earlier --

The organization's headquarters were located in a pavilion somewhere wrapped in gray-black bandages.

Givinia —or rather, Fogg Silver, who had impersonated Givinia to create a Givinia —was pacing anxiously back and forth. Her brow was furrowed, and she kept biting her nails; worry was written all over her face.

"Why aren't they back yet... this time..."

"Your expression doesn't look like Givinia's, Silver."

"Alas!?"

The Huang Huo suddenly appeared beside her. Although she had deliberately suppressed her aura, it still startled Yin.

"I'm so sorry, Your Huang Huo! Please don't—"

"Enough with the nonsense, I just came to check on you."

"Um..."

"Remember, your task is simply to 'disguise yourself as Givinia and operate elsewhere while she infiltrates the vault to gather secrets from the Leader,' and provide an alibi when she is suspected."

"Yes, I understand..."

"So all you have to do is make yourself look and act like Givinia. Don't tell me you can't even do something this simple."

"I understand! But, Givinia... she usually doesn't stay long before returning, so why isn't she back today?"

"That's not something you need to worry about. Just play your role, and even if you ask me... tsk."

His Huang Huo eyes narrowed, then he sighed.

"I don't know exactly what happened, but... I have a bad feeling about it."

After shaking his head, the space around him crumbled into cracks, and he vanished from the spot.

In the organization's headquarters, in a dark storage room--

Jili stood in the center, his gaze sweeping over each of the Divine Item, a faint smile on his face.

The framework of the gate is based on the Boundary Breaking Armor.

The karmic fire will melt and destroy the Boundary Breaking Armor.

The door is shaped using the cooling process of Crystal Realm Fruit.

It takes the Truth Incantation and the Rakshasa True Word as its core.

Use the Gleaming Gold South-Pointing Compass as your navigational beacon.

To be honest, the steps to construct World Crossing Gate are quite simple and straightforward.

This is also thanks to the fact that they were originally one entity, and that the pioneer, the Craft God, researched and organized them. Thanks to this, the Jili not need to spend too much effort on them.

"Everything is ready, except for the east wind...?"

He murmured to himself, his mood growing increasingly cheerful. If he hadn't long since lost interest in music, he might have even burst into song. In his four thousand years of life, he had long been accustomed to waiting, but even so, this result, which had been awaited for over three thousand years, still thrilled him.

Jili possessed the strongest superpower from the very beginning. He had been the strongest human in the world for a very, very long time. It is likely that among all 666 fragmented human realms, there was probably no human who was truly worthy of being his opponent. By opening the World Crossing Gate, he opened a passage to the High Yuan World—a world given the very casual name "Demon Realm"—allowing the annoying World Will of the Spirit Star World to be swallowed up by the World Will of the Demon Realm. At the same time, he himself could step into the even more magnificent stage of the Demon Realm.

It's like a player who has held the top spot in the national server for a long time, and after a long wait, is finally able to venture into the global server. He feels as excited as a child about to go on a field trip.

There's something even more important.

Planet Will.

Jili hates failure and cannot tolerate it.

In the human realm, he was the ultimate powerhouse, but what about in the higher-dimensional world?

In the wider world, he would certainly not be considered weak, but compared to the strongest beings in the demon realm—the "Demon King" mentioned by the man surnamed Yu—he is probably far inferior. In other words, he is neither the best nor the worst.

Therefore, we cannot be satisfied with the status quo; we must enhance our capabilities.

Moreover, relying solely on so-called hard work will absolutely not allow one to catch up with the strongest beings in the Demon Realm, so the only way is to take an unconventional approach.

Therefore, the Yusuo Zai and the Planet Will were used again.

Although he was very unhappy with the man surnamed Yu, he had to admit that without cooperation and deals with him, he wouldn't have achieved what he has today.

If Ji Li directly asked Yusuo Zai for power, he would undoubtedly grant her invincible strength immediately. With that power, she might even be able to easily defeat Demon King. However, Jili wouldn't do that. "What you give, you receive"—this is an ironclad rule of the world, one that Ji Li, with four thousand years of life experience, Jili all too well. If she obtained power from Yu without paying a price... who knows what disastrous consequences that would ultimately lead to?

This raises the question: what should I offer in exchange for power from Yusuo Zai?

The entire organization's subordinates? Impossible, those scum are simply not qualified.

My own life? Impossible. How can I be strong if I don't even have a life?

His own soul? That was the most unlikely thing. Jili would rather perish into nothingness than hand over his soul to Yusuo Zai.

After some consideration and after consulting with Yusuo Zai, Jili finally came up with a suitable item for the trade, which would definitely bring him immense power.

That is the "Spirit Star World".

In the Spirit Star world, humanity's vessel is the Spirit Star; in other words, the Spirit Star is the core of this fragmented human realm.

Those who obtain the Spirit Star have essentially obtained this world.

But what exactly constitutes obtaining the Spirit Star? This standard is far too ambiguous; it sounds simple, but it's practically impossible to implement. For Jili, destroying the Spirit Star with a single powerful attack would be far faster than "obtaining" it.

That's why Planet Will is needed.

The planet was originally without consciousness, but the threat from humanity caused it to develop self-awareness, thus giving birth to a loyal guardian known as the Planet Will. It can be said that the Planet Will is the embodiment of this planet, and to subdue the Planet Will is tantamount to taking the Spirit Star into one's possession.

Therefore, by deducing step by step, what Jili to do became quite simple.

They captured the Planet Will and used it to make a deal with someone surnamed Yu, in exchange for invincible power.

When discussing with the man surnamed Yu the Planet Will —or rather, the extent of power that could be gained through trading this Spirit Star world—he pondered carefully for a while before giving his answer:

"It's hard to say... It's probably impossible to rival the Demon King, but destroying a fragment of the human world shouldn't be too difficult."

That's enough.

"... Um?"

It was a conversation from a memory, yet I truly heard it.

When did you appear?

"Just."

Jili looked at the person who had suddenly emerged from the darkness, someone even more demonic than himself.

My rare good mood was ruined.

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When it comes to real men, I only admire Wu Ye!