A Moment of Leisure Amidst Busyness

Standing proudly amidst the clouds.

Xiao Le's frantic warnings echoed in Li Dui's ear.

"This strike is just a hair stronger than the Immortal threshold," Li Dui thought calmly, evaluating internally.

He couldn't test it further. If he pushed the power any higher, the E9-Grade spaceship he'd traded over 1,000 points for would be ruined.

He was fully confident that if he unleashed his complete comprehension of space laws, he could surpass that strike by more than a full layer of the Heavenly Bridge.

Li Dui looked up, his gaze seeming to pierce through the clouds toward the void of the Primordial Secret Realm.

That strike just now could pass the Universe Rank Primal Heavenly Mountain.

The genius benchmark of the human race? It sounded lofty and grand. In truth, it was just so-so. Even the upper echelons of the race didn't place much weight on this so-called benchmark.

Just look at the reward. Passing the Universe Rank Primal Heavenly Mountain earned a reward of 100 million points. Setting aside how many powerful secret techniques 100 million points could buy, the key was that it was still an empty promise. You couldn't claim it until you reached World Lord rank.

What did that imply? It meant there must have been lessons from history. Some people could reach the benchmark at Universe Rank but later faded into mediocrity. Or they simply died before ever growing to World Lord rank.

World Lord rank was different. Passing the World Lord Primal Heavenly Mountain directly rewarded 100 billion points. That was the net worth of a King Rank pinnacle.

What was truly valued were people like Kedi. Short cultivation time. Passing the Primal Heavenly Mountain at Universe, Domain Lord, and World Lord ranks alike. Becoming an Immortal God and immediately being able to kill Marquis Rank.

Of course, there was also Luo Feng. Touching upon fusion laws at just a few hundred years old.

Geniuses like that were personally taken as disciples by the Chaos City Lord.

Too bad Kedi was killed by the Zerg. Dead as dead, the kind that couldn't be revived.

"No, my survival ability is too weak. I need to be sneaky, even sneakier." Li Dui warned himself inwardly. He couldn't do anything too conspicuous. He wasn't Luo Feng, with a bunch of avatars to go wild with.

So envious!

Boarding the spaceship, he needed to find another place to land. The commotion here just now was too loud. What if someone noticed?

Lumo World, Hengfeng Main City.

On the ninth floor of the Zhenwei Restaurant, over a dozen Sky Rank women danced gracefully on the central stage.

The stage was surrounded by three tiers of seating on three sides. There weren't many guests.

Li Dui put down the piece of Desolate Beast meat in his hand, raised his wine glass, and drained it in one gulp.

The attendant beside him silently refilled the glass.

"Ah~"

He let out a long breath. Moments like this, this kind of ease, were truly too enjoyable, too comfortable.

How hard had the past four months been for Li Dui? Every two or three days, he would actively sever his connection with the "Ring" and forcibly fuse a Xueluo Crystal, enduring hellish torment.

After enduring the torment, he would randomly descend upon a main city, head straight for the City Lord Mansion, and violently kill the City Lord to vent his pent-up frustration.

In four months, he had killed 27 City Lords and obtained 44 Xueluo Crystals. Adding the one he had before, Li Dui now had a total of 45 Xueluo Crystals.

Other things like the currency of the Xueluo World, various treasures, cultivation materials, Desolate Beast materials, strange collectibles, and Universe Crystals had piled up into a mountain. Most were useless to Li Dui. He had Xiao Le carefully sort through them, picking out the more valuable ones to sell to the Giant Axe Martial Arena when he returned, exchanging them for Universe Coins.

The most important gain was that through these dozens of painful ordeals, his will had gradually grown stronger.

Compared to the first time he forcibly fused, when he had nearly pushed his will to the brink of collapse and lost consciousness before barely managing to crush the violent consciousness within the Xueluo Crystal.

Now, after crushing that consciousness, while the red thread-like power within the Xueluo Crystal began to transform his body, he still had the spare energy to try reconnecting with the "Ring."

Though this attempt had never succeeded. Once the thread-like power started working, he could only passively endure it. He couldn't control his body, couldn't control his soul. Only his thoughts remained free.

It wouldn't stop until the transformation succeeded or failed. There was nothing you could do about it. Unless you connected with the "Ring" first.

Li Dui planned to wait until he could crush the violent consciousness more easily before cheating to fuse a second Xueluo Crystal.

Two days ago, he came here to hunt the City Lord. Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming weariness in his heart. After entering the city, he didn't want to kill anymore. He found this best restaurant and took a good rest.

This place was nice. He liked a lot of the food and drinks. The dance below was especially graceful. He had already decided to spare this city's City Lord. He would make this his temporary base and enjoy a few days of life.

If you asked whether killing so many City Lords had caused any ripples?

Locally, the impact was certainly significant. Overall, though, Li Dui didn't know.

The Xueluo Continent was divided into over ten million World Cities. Each World City governed dozens to thousands of territories.

Each territory had a City Lord. Li Dui would kill one, board his spaceship, fly into the void outside the Xueluo World at about 0.7 times the speed of light in a random direction for two or three days, and end up four or five hundred billion kilometers away.

A single World City on the Xueluo Continent ruled over an area of hundreds of millions to billions of kilometers. Four or five hundred billion kilometers meant he was dozens or even hundreds of worlds away. Then he would descend into the clouds, enter a city, and kill another. He had killed 28 in total. How much impact could that have?

Anyway, Li Dui felt that as long as he didn't go looking for trouble in a World City, things should be mostly fine.

Better not to go to a World City.

It wasn't that he was afraid of fighting a World Lord.

Of course, fighting a World Lord did carry considerable risk. World Lords had long lifespans and formidable strength. Who knew if they had some life-saving or desperate trump card?

Li Dui, with his high attack and low defense, was a fragile glass cannon. Better to stay far away from World Lords.

Moreover, the World Lord level bordered on Immortal Gods. Who knew if some World Lord had an Immortal God backing them? Perhaps some talented, favored World Lords even had an Immortal God stationed at home.

Li Dui planned to stick to playing with Domain Lords. He wouldn't even glance at a World Lord. That should be safer.

Normal Universe Rank core members taking on dangerous-level missions had a 50% survival rate. Li Dui refused to believe that with his cautious nature, he could die here.

If he got chopped to death by a Domain Lord, Li Dui would have no complaints—he'd accept his fate.

He had killed twenty-eight city lords in total. All of them were at least at the Heavenly Bridge third-layer level. Some had just stepped onto the third layer, while others could put up a fight against the third-layer gatekeeper. The strongest one, Li Dui estimated, could almost pass the third layer—barely within the fourth-layer range.

He had to admit, these Domain Lords who could fuse with the Xueluo Crystal were all quite formidable. If they went to human territory, as long as they didn't compare themselves to the core members of the Five Great Powers, they could absolutely be considered elite Domain Lords. Getting a Domain Lord-level Giant Axe Warrior title at the Giant Axe Martial Arena would be a piece of cake.

"Ah~ If only I could get a clone! Every time I think about my own safety..." Li Dui couldn't help but sigh. Another day of envying Luo Feng.

"Master, Luliduo has accepted your friend request," the auxiliary AI Xiao Le reminded Li Dui in the Virtual Universe.

"Alright~ My god. This lady really! How long has it been? I almost forgot about this." Li Dui, who had been meditating in the Virtual Universe, leaped to his feet.

He initiated a call invitation. Soon, the other side picked up. It was a voice call.

The Virtual Universe was very user-friendly; the receiver could choose their own answering mode.