Eternal Destiny

Whoosh—boom!

A crimson figure fell almost vertically from several hundred meters in the air, smashing a huge crater into the desert.

The Sage had been killed once again.

The reappeared Sage did not flee. He merely stood where he was and was captured by Bai Cangshu once more.

The smile at the corner of Bai Cangshu’s lips faded slightly.

Honestly, the game of cat and mouse was only fun because the mouse could always struggle in different ways.

But if the mouse could not even be bothered to run, half the fun of the game was gone.

"Sage, don’t you know that once I lose all interest, I’ll only focus on killing you over and over again?"

He threatened the Sage expressionlessly.

Yet the Sage merely moved his lips and did not argue.

Bai Cangshu sensed that something was off, but the closer he got to this place, the denser the obscure information in the air became.

He stomped down.

Boom!

As the ground burst apart, the desert began to cave in continuously, as though it had turned into quicksand.

Bai Cangshu did not dodge. He simply held the Sage and sank along with the quicksand.

Whoosh!

There was very little air in the sand, while the pressure was immense and the temperature extremely high. For an ordinary person, entering it was no different from being swallowed by quicksand. In the end, they would suffocate to death inside.

But Bai Cangshu and the Sage’s physiques allowed them to hold their breath for several hours when they were neither fighting nor injured. The so-called pressure and heat could not affect either of them.

After several minutes, the sand beneath their feet suddenly gave way, and the two fell out of the quicksand.

The utterly dark space resembled an underground passage. The falling sand followed the terrain, continuously pouring toward a fault ahead. Bai Cangshu carried the Sage and moved toward the place emitting a powerful aura in his perception.

The curse mark on his hand also flickered, as if reminding him that he was approaching the mission site.

"Mercenary Tao, it’s not too late for you to turn back now."

The Sage suddenly spoke. Rather than struggling to escape, he spoke calmly, his tone returning to the gentleness he had displayed when he first appeared.

Bai Cangshu lifted the Sage’s head and met his gaze at close range. The next moment, the Sage suddenly let out a muffled groan.

He saw the Space Panel notify him that he had been attacked by Gaze of Arrogance. After the power check, the damage dealt to him was not particularly high.

But the attacks came again and again, without any interval.

At last, unable to bear the pain of this dull blade carving at his flesh, the Sage opened his mouth to breathe dragon breath.

Bai Cangshu instantly gripped his jaw with his left hand and violently twisted.

Crack!

Amid the horrifying sound of shattering bones, the Sage’s head was twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, turned directly backward.

That blast of Mind Dragon breath was expelled straight into the darkness, its mental shock and piercing force spreading forward.

There was no reaction in the darkness.

Yet the Sage’s expression changed drastically.

"You bastard, do you know what kind of… existence lies ahead?!"

"Isn’t it just a Supreme Expert…"

Bai Cangshu spoke while noticing that although the Sage’s severed spine had not caused biological reactions such as incontinence, he had likewise lost the ability to move.

The enhancements of the Mysterious World had miraculous effects through that special extraordinary power, but they did not directly affect the physical body as much as the powers of other worlds.

At the very least, in other worlds, abilities enhanced to such a high sequence would generally have already granted the body immortality or powerful regenerative traits.

"You know?!"

Ever since entering this desert, the Sage had sensed a familiar aura. But in order not to scare Mercenary Tao away, he had not shown it directly.

Yet as they drew closer to the ruins in the desert, he realized something was wrong.

With Eternal Destiny’s abilities, even he should theoretically have been unable to detect His presence at all.

He was the sort of being who truly stood beyond the mundane, using details unimaginable to ordinary people to restrain world-class powerhouses.

Even with a monster like Saitama in this world, whose danger was impossible to assess, His Lordship had still ruled this world as casually as if taking a stroll.

And through a gift called satisfaction, He had created an invisible cage that sealed away Saitama.

That was the fundamental reason they had dared to so brazenly pursue the power of the Limiter.

Saitama had broken away from this world’s plot and progression, which gave reincarnators the possibility of drastically altering the world’s course.

Then they used the corrupted Shigeo Kageyama to restrain the equally terrifying Tatsumaki.

Using Cognitive Interference on the Professional Heroes, they made those powerful S-Class figures lose their social presence one by one and begin to retire.

Every step of the plan had been entirely within His Lordship’s design.

But why would His Lordship…

Thinking of this place’s location, he quickly realized that His Lordship was pursuing Divine Power.

His Lordship wanted to become a god?!

The Sage could not speculate any further, but he changed his approach and began trying to persuade Mercenary Tao to retreat.

Bai Cangshu grinned, like a demon who could see through people’s hearts.

"The Supreme Expert… isn’t in good condition, is he…"

He smiled, his voice rising.

Bai Cangshu lightly tapped the Sage’s head—the only part of him that could still feel anything—and deliberately moved his hand away when Myriad Death Intent appeared.

He was not in a hurry to kill the Sage yet.

"I know far more than you imagine, Mr. Sage…"

Carrying the Sage, he walked deeper inside step by step while voicing his speculations.

"My guess is that you used some method to restrain people with excessive combat power, like Saitama and Tatsumaki."

"Then you probably used a few tricks to provoke Shigeo Kageyama and make him turn dark."

"After that, you reaped an enormous harvest."

"And then, you deliberately released the news, making everyone realize that a new Secondary World had appeared and believe it was unclaimed land, so they would come to fight for resources."

"But you already knew this world had been twisted by you, so while hunting reincarnators, you could also throw out a group of capable reincarnators to become enemies of the Plot Characters."

"While you yourselves sought even greater power."

At that moment, light finally appeared ahead.

A massive altar seemed to materialize from the darkness, illuminating some of the surroundings.

Atop the enormous altar sat a figure cross-legged. He wore a white robe, with long black hair draped down his back. A hazy glow radiated around his body, making his features impossible to see clearly.

"You think you’re very clever, Mercenary Tao…"

A voice whose gender could not be discerned echoed directly beside Bai Cangshu’s ear.

"So after noticing this, you deliberately spared that woman and left her with Fubuki, just to see whether her weakness could stir those heroes’ desire to fight."

"You probably wanted to use her death to provoke Fubuki, making her irrationally fight my people. Then Fubuki would die, and Tatsumaki would strike in rage…"

"A crude arrangement, but it produced an unexpected result."

The hair behind Bai Cangshu’s head turned white inch by inch. In that instant, nearly half his hair had become white.

He stared at the black-haired, white-robed figure, wanting to see through his appearance.

The next moment, an icy sensation appeared. A finger had already touched the center of his brow.

Bai Cangshu froze. He had not sensed how the other party had appeared at all.

He blinked, confirming that the figure atop the altar had not vanished.

Yet before him, a phantom figure had indeed appeared.

"My Lord, I…"

The Sage wanted to explain his predicament, but he soon fell silent.

The phantom figure looked at Bai Cangshu and spoke.

"Saitama has made his move. How do you feel?"

"Are you also hoping that Saitama will attack me, that a Supreme Expert will ultimately fall here and forge your glorious reputation…"

"But you cannot see through fate’s arrangements. Your self-righteous choice will only let me obtain everything I desire even faster~"

Eternal Destiny’s voice was illusory, His tone hazy, making it impossible to tell whether He was mocking him or praising him.

The curse mark in Bai Cangshu’s palm burned hot, seemingly urging him to complete the mission.

But Bai Cangshu shook his head and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Ha—hahaha…"

"Why would I think that?"

"I know His Lordship’s goal very well. After all… I’ve also met a Black King…"

"So, I’m helping you. I also want to witness the birth of a new Black King."