"Elder Ge, there's no need to be in such a hurry. I invited you here so we could discuss the Garden's future, didn't I?"
Elder Ge folded his arms and looked at him with disdain. Sit down and discuss the future with him? What a joke. Everyone in the Garden knew that Elder Ge and the head of the Garden were the bitterest of enemies.
Sit down and talk things over? That was simply impossible.
Elder Ge knew the head of the Garden well. That man was definitely up to no good.
The guards at the entrance quietly edged toward the doors. As the second-strongest person in the Garden of Existence, behind only the head himself, Elder Ge naturally noticed their little movements.
"What's the matter? Can't hold yourself back anymore, boy? Are you planning to get rid of me and cement your rule?"
"Hmph! Do you think I haven't improved at all over the years?"
Elder Ge grew angry, and a powerful aura erupted around him. It was even stronger than it had been two years ago.
The surging aura made the guards at the entrance tremble at the knees. They were ordinary people who had only become the head's guards because of his promise.
They simply couldn't withstand the aura released by Elder Ge, a Pathstrider.
Sitting at the head of the table, the head of the Garden curled his lips into a cold sneer, full of contempt and mockery.
The next moment, the aura Elder Ge had released was suppressed by another. It came from the head of the Garden.
"Wh-what?! How can this be?! You've gotten stronger!"
Elder Ge shot to his feet, knocking his chair over with a crash. The shock on his face was impossible to hide.
Just two years ago, the head's strength had been far inferior to his own. That was a major reason he had been able to keep the head in check and protect the loyalist faction. But now... their positions had reversed.
The head withdrew his aura and gave the guard beside him a look. Understanding, the guard set the chair Elder Ge had knocked over upright again.
"Have a seat, Elder Ge."
The head spoke with a smile, beckoning him as though inviting a close friend to sit down for a heart-to-heart.
Elder Ge had no choice but to sit. He was at the man's mercy; all he could do now was listen and see what he wanted.
"That's more like it. Isn't it much better to sit down calmly and discuss things at our leisure?"
"Get to the point."
The head paused. The old man was still the same: solemn all day long, impervious to persuasion, and stubbornly set in his ways.
"In that case, I'll be direct. I want to unify the Garden."
Elder Ge's gaze, which had been full of contempt, faltered at those words. He looked at the head in disbelief.
Has this guy lost his mind? He had poached plenty of Pathstriders from the other factions, and the chaos within the Garden was entirely his doing. And now he was saying he wanted to unify it?
"You want to unify it? How?"
Elder Ge spoke in an unhurried tone. He was curious what method the man who had caused it all and now suddenly wanted unity would use.
A cruel smile curled the head's lips. His answer was simple, just one word: "Kill."
Elder Ge's heart sank. Has this guy gone mad? Quell the chaos with slaughter?
"Kill. Kill every last one who won't obey. Kill the chicken to warn the monkeys. Then no one will dare defy me!"
"Bang!"
Elder Ge slammed his palm on the conference table, his face filled with rage.
"You're insane! Quell the chaos with slaughter?! Do you think the Garden isn't chaotic enough already?! Are you going to betray the Garden of Existence's original purpose?!"
"Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"
The head suddenly burst out laughing. His laughter was both wild and desolate.
"Our original purpose? Hahaha! Of course I remember. To follow the Path of Existence in the universe, follow in the goddess's footsteps, and spread the meaning of existence throughout the cosmos.
"But... what use was it? We've toiled for a thousand years. How many worlds have we saved? How many star systems have we spread it to? And what came of it?
"On some damned ship that came back from the dead, there's an Emanator of the goddess, an Emanator of Existence! But what about us? I'm the Garden of Existence's greatest genius in a thousand years. Everyone had high hopes for me, saying I was the one most likely to be chosen by the goddess and become an Emanator! And what happened? I didn't become an Emanator! I didn't!
"The goddess abandoned us, abandoned the Garden. Since she won't give it to me, I'll do it myself! I'll prove it to the goddess! I'm the one most suited to be the Emanator of Existence!"
The head slammed his palm on the table. Behind him, ten pitch-black openings appeared, and glass cylinders rose from below one after another.
When Elder Ge saw what was inside the cylinders through the glass, his eyes widened. The sight before him was simply unbelievable.
Inside the glass cylinders were boys and girls, all with their eyes tightly shut and their faces pale and bloodless.
"These are all the people who've gone missing these past few days! Dong Tian! What are you doing?!"
The head of the Garden, Dong Tian, caressed a glass cylinder as though no one else were there.
"This is an energy extraction device I spent everything I had to build. It can absorb the power inside Pathstriders and transfer it to someone else, making it their power, until the Pathstriders are drained dry. They're lucky to be the first batch of volunteers after the experiment succeeded."
"You! You lunatic! You're trampling on [Existence]! You have no regard for life!"
Elder Ge was furious. He had imagined many possibilities, even that he might die here and never return to the guards, but he had never imagined that bastard Dong Tian would do something like this!
"Trampling on [Existence]? No regard for life? Hahaha, wrong! I'm doing this so the goddess will see our Garden of Existence! As long as I become strong enough, the goddess will surely notice us! Besides, as I said, they're volunteers. It's their honor to give their lives for this great work!"
"Bastard!"
Elder Ge could hold back no longer. He raised his fist and punched at Dong Tian. Wrapped in Path power, it whistled through the air toward the back of Dong Tian's head.
But his fist stopped less than a fist's width from Dong Tian's head. A hand had caught it-a slender hand without a trace of color.
The hand didn't belong to Dong Tian. Both of his arms were caressing the glass cylinder, and this hand looked more like a woman's. The next moment, another arm reached out from the other side of Dong Tian's back. The arm was thick and muscular, with veins that stood out clearly as it exerted itself. Its hand clenched into a fist and slammed into Elder Ge's abdomen.
Elder Ge couldn't dodge in time. The punch sent him flying through the conference room wall and straight outside.
The commotion startled the guards outside. They turned to see Elder Ge, their commander, slowly getting up while coughing blood.
"Commander!"
The deputy hurried over and helped Elder Ge up. He looked at the damaged clothing over Elder Ge's abdomen and saw an exceptionally clear fist mark on the exposed skin.
Elder Ge endured the searing pain, got to his feet, and shouted, "Everyone, retreat! Leave this place! Leave the Ayinai System!"
The order left the soldiers baffled. The deputy was about to ask something when he saw a four-armed figure walking out of the dust through the hole Elder Ge had made in the wall.
"Whole unit, on alert! Prepare for battle!"
The deputy's many years of battlefield experience told him the figure was coming with hostile intent.
The next moment, the figure stepped out of the dust. The instant his face appeared, everyone was stunned.
The man who emerged from the dust was none other than Dong Tian, head of the Garden of Existence.
But now, in addition to his own two arms, another two had grown from his back: one slender, long, and pale, the other dark and muscular. His clothes had been torn to shreds by the power he unleashed, and a human face had grown on either side of his exposed chest.