Only by defying heaven can one attain the truth of primal unity!

Late at night, the two sat cross-legged on the grass.

Wang Zhuo stood behind her, tidying her long, jet-black hair.

"Sister Bao'er, how did you find me?"

"Dunno. I just suddenly felt something strange here, so I came to have a look..."

Feng Baobao lay on the grass, gazing up at the starry night sky.

"You feel... so quiet now... so quiet..."

Wang Zhuo sat cross-legged beside her and leaned forward slightly. "Sister Bao'er, feeling down?"

"Dunno. There's this feeling in my heart that I can't put into words. I can't describe it..."

She pressed a hand to her chest, unable to describe that feeling all this time.

That feeling had suddenly appeared in her heart back when she saw the five of them enjoying themselves together.

It would not go away, clinging like maggots burrowed into bone, forever feeding off her.

"Loneliness?"

"Yes! That's the feeling!"

"How'd you know?"

"Because I'm lonely too."

Feng Baobao turned her head and looked into his clear blue eyes, even more puzzled. "How could you be lonely?"

"You look so happy."

"Sometimes, loneliness isn't something you can judge by someone's form, appearance, voice, or expression. More often, it's a feeling you can't put into words."

Wang Zhuo answered softly. He had a lot weighing on his heart.

Can I get back to my original world?

Is this low-powered martial world real or fake?

How exactly should I walk this path?

He was actually lost too. That loneliness from the depths of his heart could not be put into words.

Ordinary people felt a little lonely when they arrived in an unfamiliar city, but they could all go home.

Some people felt deeply lonely when they arrived in an unfamiliar country, but they could go home too.

But what about Wang Zhuo himself...?

He had appeared in this world out of nowhere. Although he had family and a home here...

Why not wipe my memories clean instead of leaving me with nothing but misery?

Feng Baobao looked into his eyes. They held emotions somewhat like her own-or perhaps even more severe.

She gently stroked his cheek. "Don't be sad."

Wang Zhuo's pupils sharply contracted, but he quickly recovered and smiled. "You too, Sister Bao'er. There's bound to be somewhere both of us belong."

At worst...

At worst, I'll smash through the barrier between worlds!

As long as I get stronger, as long as I'm strong enough, I'll be able to break through dimensions and go back!

I'm... so fucking cool!

Wang Zhuo, who had still been gripped by an intense obsession a moment earlier, suddenly felt explosively cool.

It was practically as if Heaven-Stealing had possessed him!

Being cool is a feeling~!

Feng Baobao nodded. "Okay. I suddenly feel a lot better."

"Heh. One person suffering is suffering. Two people suffering together are just a pair of miserable bastards." Wang Zhuo smiled helplessly and gently stroked her face.

Early the next morning.

To keep up appearances, Wang Zhuo had stubbornly stayed seated there all night, nearly freezing until his nose ran.

No, for my dignity, for the image of a master, I have to endure!

I'm going to be aloof and exalted!

Yujing came over again. Looking at that figure, he kept feeling that some subtle change had taken place in him.

"Fellow Daoist Liu?"

He was afraid Wang Zhuo was still in meditation. If that were the case, were they even going to hold the match?

This time, Wang Zhuo raised his hand and gave him an OK sign.

By the time the sun was high, the spectators and competitors were all present, only this time, things were especially lively.

"Oh, they've taken the sign down this time. I thought we'd still have to keep quiet today."

"So everything's fine now?"

"Who knows what actually happened?"

"Who cares? Both of today's matches are heavyweight bouts!"

"Have you decided whose match you're watching?"

"Heh, who else? Daoist Zhang against Liu Guanyi, of course."

"What about Zhang Chulan?"

"That prick? You think there'll be anything worth watching? We'd just be sitting there doing nothing."

"True enough. Come on, let's go. I brought a video camera especially for this. I'm recording the whole thing."

Talking and laughing, everyone headed toward the arena where Wang Zhuo was.

When they saw the enormous changes to the arena, they were all dumbstruck, especially when they saw Wang Zhuo below, wreathed in an ethereal air.

"Holy shit! Th-this... this... Liu Guanyi isn't about to ascend to heaven in broad daylight, is he?"

"Nonsense. They probably just did some landscaping."

"Who the hell does landscaping for a match?"

While they were discussing it, the Ten Elders, Zhang Zhiwei, and the others also arrived for this match.

As for Zhang Chulan's match, they truly had no interest in watching two people who were practically joined at the hip fight each other.

They would be lucky if those two did not take them for fools and make a joke of them.

"Feng Baobao! Zhang Chulan! Enter the arena!"

"Zhang Lingyu! Enter the arena!"

Lu Jin looked down at Wang Zhuo, seated cross-legged, with worry in his eyes. "Is... this all right?"

"He still looks like he's meditating."

Zhang Zhiwei was momentarily speechless. "Old Lu, you really are getting old. This brat is obviously putting on an act."

"Putting on an act?"

"That brat!" Lu Jin did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had been worrying over nothing.

"Heh, young people like doing this sort of thing. They're not like us. We returned to simplicity long ago." Zhang Zhiwei sat in his grand armchair and teased him.

In truth, he was just as curious as Lu Jin, wondering what exactly Wang Zhuo had comprehended.

He had undergone such an enormous change in just one day and two nights.

It was as though his spirit had roamed heaven and earth.

Lu Linglong and the others watched the figure below with great excitement.

"Wow, Brother Liu looks so handsome in white robes too."

Jia Zhengliang, Feng XingTong, and the others stared without blinking.

"Damn, how did this guy do it? How come I didn't know there were Outsider techniques that could make plants grow?"

[Tap, tap, tap...]

[Brother Liu is fucking awesome!]

Zhang Lingyu slowly entered the arena. The sight of the arena brimming with life startled him.

He had never imagined his opponent could revive withered trees and make barren soil bloom.

Suppressing his shock, he slowly walked to his position and quietly looked at his opponent.

"Brother Liu, I'm here."

"Following the Dao merely spends a common man's allotted years; only by defying heaven can one attain the truth of primal unity."

Wang Zhuo delivered that line out of nowhere, leaving everyone baffled. He slowly rose and looked at his opponent.

"Brother Zhang, show me what you've got!"

Zhang Lingyu began advancing, chanting:

"Mystic source of heaven and earth, root of all Qi."

"Through countless eons of cultivation, I manifest my divine powers."

"Within and beyond the Three Realms, the Dao alone reigns supreme."

"Golden light within my body, envelop and illuminate me!"

With every step he took, the golden light around him grew stronger.

"Match-begin!"

In an instant, Wang Zhuo transformed into surging lightning and raging fire and swept forward. Not a blade of grass or leaf burned, while the rushing thunder shrieked deafeningly.

I can't take this head-on!

Under such pressure, Zhang Lingyu's tightly closed eyes snapped open. Water-Dirt Lightning gushed from his sleeves, the black water pouncing and snapping like a fierce tiger.

Their battle was truly as swift as lightning.

In the time it took the onlookers to blink, the two had already switched positions. Some even blinked rapidly, trying to keep up with the match below, only to find that the faster they blinked, the faster the two seemed to become.

"Waaaaah!"

"What's going on?!"

"Look, everyone! Wherever the lightning and fire pass, those flowers and blades of grass aren't damaged at all!"

"And Daoist Zhang's lightning...? It's black and dirty. So strange..."