Fusion

The spacecraft hovered beyond the cloud layer.

Li Dui adjusted his state. From a wooden box beside him, he took out a Xueluo Crystal.

The method of fusion was no secret; the books he had read earlier covered it.

He channeled his primal force into his finger, slicing open a gash on his left palm. Blood immediately welled up.

Gritting his teeth, he pressed the Xueluo Crystal firmly against the wound, bracing for the pain. He remembered that Luo Feng had suffered greatly for this.

"Hm?"

A familiar sensation made Li Dui pause. Then, a glimmer of understanding dawned. Right, the fusion of a Xueluo Crystal starts with an assault on the will.

A ferocious will surged into Li Dui's sea of consciousness, roaring and howling. Cries of "Kill!" echoed through his mind.

But it was useless. Li Dui was linked to the Hula Hoop; this trick didn't work on him.

Li Dui focused his will and clashed with that savage intent. Impact after impact, the ferocious will gradually weakened. Li Dui grew bolder with each collision. Finally, he shattered that will.

As the savage consciousness dissipated, strands of red thread seeped from the Xueluo Crystal, burrowing into his body through the wound on his palm.

Li Dui braced himself inwardly. He knew the pain was coming now.

"Hm?"

What was this now? Li Dui felt a bit bewildered.

He only sensed some discomfort. His body seemed to develop a will of its own, wanting to make strange movements. But he could easily suppress this restlessness.

That wasn't right. At this point, there should be intense pain. His body should twist into bizarre shapes. He should lose control.

"Lose control?" That word jolted Li Dui awake. Oh! I'm linked to the Hula Hoop. How could a single Xueluo Crystal make me lose control?

So, if I can stay in control, no pain? No transformation either?

Makes sense.

Li Dui nodded to himself. But would this work?

Time ticked by, second after second. Li Dui waited quietly.

The Xueluo Crystal on his palm wound grew smaller and smaller. Finally, it vanished completely. The discomfort and strange restlessness in his body faded away.

Success! Connected to the "Ring," Li Dui had keen perception of his own body. He could now clearly sense a power lurking deep within his cells.

He tried to drive that power. It took a long while to find the right method.

On the skin of his chest, blood-red simple secret patterns emerged. At that moment, the world felt different to him.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Light, Time, Space.

The Ten Great Universe Origin Laws became clearer in his perception.

Of course, that was useless.

A bit clearer—so what? Even if it were 360-degree high-definition with no blind spots, magnified a hundred times, and freely rotatable for viewing, so what?

Could it be clearer than my Hula Hoop bro?

So, ignore that.

What I need is the gene multiplier. I'm finally not stuck with trash talent! Li Dui burst into laughter.

He never expected the Xueluo Crystal worked on this principle. He'd been ready for a long war, slowly grinding it out.

He glanced at the remaining Xueluo Crystal in the wooden box. Reaching out, he took it, squinting at it.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled. This time, he cut a large gash on his right palm and pressed the Xueluo Crystal onto it.

"Mmph!"

A muffled grunt escaped Li Dui's throat.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

A terrifying will rampaged through his mind.

This time, Li Dui voluntarily disconnected from the "Ring." He was here to seek suffering.

"Bring it!" Li Dui roared inwardly, forcibly focusing his will to clash with that savage, brutal intent.

Again and again. Each collision left Li Dui's consciousness groggy, his spirit scattered. He gritted his teeth. Though he never spoke of it, he knew in his heart: willpower was his weak point.

He couldn't even get past the sixth island of the Illusion Sea.

Hong could clear twenty. Thor and Luo Feng could probably clear over a dozen too.

Willpower wasn't something else. Why was he so far behind them? Ordinary people could have strong wills. Why couldn't he?

After countless collisions, Li Dui's consciousness began to blur. Yet he still charged fiercely at that will.

Finally, red threads flowed out from the Xueluo Crystal.

On the edge of mental collapse, Li Dui hadn't even finished his exhale—"Waaah—"

A cry of pain burst naturally from his throat.

His body suddenly underwent a drastic transformation. Like a balloon being inflated, he swelled violently, expanding to the point of near bursting, then, as if punctured, deflated and shrank until he was gaunt and skeletal. Sharp bone spurs slowly grew from his knees, elbows, shoulders, and other joints. His entire body was completely out of control.

An indescribable agony.

"Bang!" Li Dui's chest split open with a gaping wound. A massive surge of Xueluo Force flowed back into the Xueluo Crystal at lightning speed.

Li Dui's body returned to its normal shape. He gasped for breath, using his Source Power to slowly heal the wound on his chest.

"Ptoo." He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

It had only been twenty minutes from start to finish. But the difficulty and torment within that time were unlike anything he had experienced in either of his two lifetimes.

Worth it! His assumption had been correct. Doing this could indeed temper and strengthen his will.

Li Dui decided that every so often, he would put himself through this ordeal.

Since that was the case, he couldn't cheat and fuse a second crystal for now. The fusion of Xueluo Crystals only gets harder with each one. This second crystal was just right for the purpose of tempering. As for the ones after that, he couldn't afford to knock himself unconscious right from the start—that would be useless.

The Sixteenth Cloud Layer.

The E9-Grade Spaceship was parked not far behind Li Dui.

After resting enough outside the cloud layer and returning to the Xueluo World, Li Dui suddenly felt like stretching his limbs and moving around.

The cloud layer was so vast that the chances of encountering an Immortal God-level native were minuscule. If he did run into one, he could just flee.

The long blade in his hand gleamed—Giant Axe Third Blade.

The blade's light silently shot forward through the clouds, carving a rift that stretched who knew how far.

This was the first time Li Dui had used a secret technique of this level. The move that had killed Kuang Yu before was merely a peak-level technique from the fourth layer of the Heavenly Bridge. Its power was far, far less than this one.

"Huh, I'm such an idiot. I've been saying there's nothing to cut. Isn't there something right here to cut?" Li Dui suddenly turned his head and looked at his E9-Grade Spaceship.

This could work. Activate the protective shield, turn on the defensive runes. It could withstand several attacks from an ordinary Immortal God.

He immediately ordered Xiao Le to activate all of the ship's defenses.

"Clang!"

Giant Axe Third Blade. Equivalent to the power of just entering the eleventh layer of the Heavenly Bridge, executed by Li Dui, a peak Universe Rank with 2x gene level.

The ship's defensive shield rippled faintly, as if brushed by a gentle breeze.

"No damage. Energy consumption: 0.077%." Xiao Le reported.

Li Dui nodded. This result was reasonable. At most, this strike was equivalent to the power of a World Lord just entering the ninth layer of the Heavenly Bridge.

"Clang!"

This time, it was a hard slash that mobilized the Origin Law of Space.

The ship's shield trembled lightly.

"No damage. Energy consumption: 0.36%."

Huh? Was he going too easy? Li Dui admitted he had no experience with this.

Again.

"Thump!"

The ship's shield shook.

"No damage. Energy consumption: 0.98%."

With the test from the previous strike, Li Dui had a better grasp this time. This slash could enter the twelfth layer of the Heavenly Bridge. It could suppress 99.99999% of the World Lords in existence.

Again! A chilling aura of the Law of Space surged around Li Dui's blade.

"Boom!"

The ship was blasted back dozens of kilometers, its protective shield trembling violently, on the verge of shattering.

"No damage. Energy loss: 15.92%. Approaching defense limit. Danger! Danger! Danger!"