World-Ending Potential?

A flower-filled meadow, warm as spring all year round. This was a corner of Zhong Hao's sea of consciousness, Zhong Yunxi's residence—the Mind Garden.

At the very center of the Mind Garden stood a giant tree ten meters in diameter. A pink treehouse had been built among its branches, while one branch stretched straight outward, with two vines hanging parallel from it to form a swing.

"Dead girl! Dead girl! Dead girl!" Zhong Hao shouted in dissatisfaction.

The swing swayed, and the silver-bell laughter of the stunningly beautiful girl echoed through the garden, completely ignoring Zhong Hao's displeasure.

"You dead girl, aren't you going to explain yourself?" Zhong Hao slapped his forehead.

With his childlike body making that gesture, he looked cute no matter how one viewed it.

"Explain what? Your big sister is busy right now." Sitting on the swing, Zhong Yunxi lowered her head to look at Zhong Hao.

"Explain what? Why did you suddenly make me connect my mind to endless spacetime? Why was the range of my Conqueror's Haki so huge? I could clearly feel my soul becoming exhausted. With such massive consumption, who knows what side effects there might be, yet you look completely fine. It's infuriating."

After saying all that in one breath, Zhong Hao was still dissatisfied. He added, "And can't you come down? My neck is getting sore from constantly looking up at you."

What a loss. What a terrible loss. With this body, he was already at a disadvantage in terms of presence. If this dead girl had not gone too far this time, he would never have come in. The body was easy to repair, but the soul was difficult to restore.

"Huh? I was clearly helping you! Don't you think Conqueror's Haki is too useless? Other than clearing out weaklings, it has no purpose at all. During the Summit War, Whitebeard clearly possessed Conqueror's Haki, yet he never used it. Every punch and kick he threw was an area attack, so even Conqueror's Haki's sole advantage in range was gone. What use is an ability like that to you?"

Zhong Yunxi jumped down from the swing. Her emerald dress fluttered in the wind, exposing a section of leg as white as jade. Pressing close to Zhong Hao, she compared their heights and feigned surprise. "Oh my! Our little brother actually grew taller."

Dead girl. Once I grow up, just wait and see how I deal with you. Zhong Hao cursed inwardly before saying, "Then isn't my Conqueror's Haki, which connects my mind to endless spacetime, also useless apart from having a larger range... Wait, you mean the burst after compressing the range is somewhat like psychic power."

"That's right, that's my idea. Ever since you awakened Conqueror's Haki, I've been helping you deduce ways to make this seemingly useless Haki possess incredibly strong offensive power. Besides, range isn't completely useless!" Zhong Yunxi raised a slender jade-like finger, wagged it, and continued.

"Your soul is resilient enough, but there's simply too little of it. Think about it—if your soul energy increased a hundredfold, then after drawing upon the energy of endless spacetime, the area you could cover would no longer be a single island, but the entire planet. Add in your unique Dark Illusion, and you could absolutely destroy the world with a single thought. Then, if you compressed the range and unleashed it all at once, hehe, wouldn't you be able to blast through a star..."

The corner of Zhong Hao's mouth twitched as he cut off her fantasy. "Destroy the world with a single thought? Destroy your head! Do you think this is blowing up a balloon? The area covered isn't just a matter of having more energy. The greater the area, the harder it is to control. Besides, a planet may not have consciousness, but it has emotions. Once the range expands to a certain extent, what I would be fighting against wouldn't be humans, but the entire planet, right? And increase my soul energy a hundredfold? Why don't you tell me where I can increase my soul energy by a hundredfold? Don't be so unrealistic, idiot."

Although Zhong Yunxi was left dazed by the scolding, she still stubbornly argued, "It's only an idea. We can try it slowly. It's not like I'm asking you to accomplish it overnight. It's good to have a goal."

Having finally found an opportunity to bully her back, how could Zhong Hao let her off so easily? He pressed on aggressively. "This ability needs to draw upon the power of endless spacetime. But endless spacetime is unimaginably vast. Before it, even the enormous universe is merely a grain of sand. That kind of energy has to be drawn into my body. If I lose control, my body could be blown apart. I thought you had a clear and complete method for something so dangerous. Who knew it was only one of your guesses? Are you trying to kill me?"

The more Zhong Yunxi listened, the more wronged she felt. She bit her lip tightly, tears welling in her eyes as she fought to hold them back. Sniffling, she said, "I-I was only... trying to help you. All you think about every day is power, power. Other than training... it's still training. How long has it been since you came in... to keep me company? I finally... found a way to communicate with endless spacetime. I only meant well, and you still... yelled at me."

After speaking, she leaned against the giant tree and sat down, hugging her knees as she buried her tear-streaked pretty face in the crook of her arms. Her shoulders trembled.

Huh? Isn't this cheating? Even I haven't cried despite looking like a child, yet you're the one crying first. I'm the victim here, aren't I? Something feels off... Forget it. Since you've put so much effort into deducing this for me, I'll comfort you first.

"Well... I think this move isn't completely without advantages. It's more like the prototype of a powerful ability. For now, let's not consider the matter of its coverage range. First, we should solve the issue of safely communicating with endless spacetime and drawing power from it. I think the power of Conqueror's Haki after compressing its range is still very strong. It has great potential for development."

Seeing that Zhong Yunxi's shoulders were still trembling, Zhong Hao added, "Also, this only enhances the soul to use Conqueror's Haki. What if it enhanced the body instead? I think I could blow up a Super Saiyan. That shows this move has plenty of potential. Besides, the future you envisioned may not be impossible. Otsutsuki Kaguya's Infinite Tsukuyomi could cover the entire world, so perhaps my move can do the same."

When Zhong Hao saw Zhong Yunxi's shoulders still shaking, he felt that something was increasingly wrong. As he walked over, placed a hand on her shoulder, and brought his ear close to the space between her cheek and arms, he heard... laughter.

"Dead girl, you..." Zhong Hao instantly realized it. How could this little demon, who loved tormenting people so much, possibly cry tears of grievance?

"Hehehehe—oh, it hurts! I'm dying of laughter! Oh, my stomach hurts, my stomach hurts!" Having been exposed, Zhong Yunxi raised her head. There were no tears at all. She sprawled on the ground, laughing so hard she could not stop.

"Dead girl, after being fooled once, your tears won't work on me ever again." Zhong Hao was so embarrassed that he wanted to kick her.

After laughing for a long while, Zhong Yunxi finally stopped. She somehow pulled out a notebook and wrote inside it: "Zhong Yunxi's Husband-Taming Notes—No matter how old a man is, he has no resistance to a girl's tears."

Zhong Hao craned his neck and saw what she had written. Once again, he cursed, "Taming? You actually used the word 'taming'? Do you think I'm some kind of beast?"

Zhong Yunxi put away the notebook and waved her hand indifferently. "Only idiots care about details. Your big sister is Zhong Yunxi!"

Zhong Hao snorted, walked to the other side of the tree, and lay down. He hooked down a hanging leaf and covered his face with it.

Zhong Yunxi walked over, knelt beside him, and gently pushed him. "Why aren't you talking anymore?"

Zhong Hao slapped her hand away. "Don't bother me. I'm tired."

Zhong Yunxi persistently continued pushing him, each shove stronger than the last, but he remained motionless like a corpse.

"Hmph! You rarely come in, yet you won't even talk with me. How annoying." Zhong Yunxi suddenly gave him a hard shove, then sat to the side and sulked.

Zhong Hao removed the leaf from his face and said helplessly, "You're just too troublesome."

Zhong Yunxi snorted. "Would you come in if I weren't troublesome?"

Zhong Hao frowned. "Even if you're being troublesome, you can't go this far. My soul was injured this time, and my body nearly collapsed. If I hadn't severed my connection to endless spacetime during that final burst, I would have almost died. I didn't really blame you, did I? Yet you still put on an act to fool me. Who am I supposed to complain to?"

"It would be better if your body collapsed. At worst, your soul could flee into endless spacetime, and we could drift around for another million years." Zhong Yunxi let out a heavy breath, then added, "Just you and me."

Zhong Hao raised his brows. Only then did he understand Zhong Yunxi's true thoughts. Compared to the countless years they had spent together day and night, he had indeed entered the Mind Garden far less often these past few years. Although Zhong Yunxi could share his vision and they could communicate telepathically, she was not truly human and did not possess humanity's social nature.

She was merely a consciousness born for him. Her world contained only him. Yet he wanted more.

Zhong Hao sighed. "You know that I have people I care about now. I can't stay in the Mind Garden all the time like before. Besides, if we drifted through endless spacetime for another million years, we might not be as lucky as we were before. My consciousness would eventually be worn away completely. Then I would truly die."

Zhong Yunxi snorted and turned her back to him. "You always have a reason. I'm just something that can be discarded whenever you want."

Zhong Hao was not good at answering questions like that, so he could only change the subject. "I feel like this incident left serious aftereffects. My soul feels as though it's about to float out of my body. My body feels light, and my reactions are incredibly slow. Dead girl, how long will this state last?"

"Hmph! It'll be fine once your soul recovers naturally." Zhong Yunxi saw that he was changing the subject, but she did not make things difficult for him.

For some reason, her words carried a strange hint of delight in his misfortune.

Zhong Hao continued, "Recover naturally? How long will that take?"

Zhong Yunxi said, "Five or six months!"

Zhong Hao was horrified. "F-Fuck! Dead girl, you've really screwed me over..."