She could even perceive Qi Xing’s sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and even the rhythm of his heartbeat and the power overflowing from him.

A feeling that wasn't quite becoming one, yet was infinitely close to it, made Sasa indescribably excited!

This feeling even gave Qi Xing a sudden, extremely strange premonition: the thirty [silver coins] might be fifteen pairs of fifteen, with concepts corresponding to each other. The meaning of each [silver coin] hid an "other side" that had yet to be revealed.

But talking about this now was a bit too far-fetched.

Giant Spirit Hera, whose left hand had been severed, retreated rapidly, her right hand still protecting Xue Ning, who was gradually being absorbed. Channeling her divine power, she shot out countless beams of moonlight; if even one beam struck Qi Xing, or even just delayed him for a moment, it would be enough—

But Qi Xing swung his black blade like the wind, slicing them all apart.

The moonlight beams, originally containing infinite destructive power, became like flashlight beams the moment they touched the black blade; even the scattered fragments of light could no longer harm anyone.

The great blade that Sasa had transformed into using the [silver coin] was like the pen of a Creator; where the blade touched, even light was rewritten.

A large, round moon loomed over the entire island. The Giant Spirit used this as gravity—a massive gravitational force, almost equivalent to actually pulling the moon over, intended to crush Qi Xing or at least make him stop.

But with a light tap of Qi Xing's black blade, Sasa made all things as light as a feather.

This was only natural. After all, she was an omnipotent god!

It was only natural that she could turn the impossible into reality.

That was exactly why she was a god.

Even if beaten to the brink of death, as long as she could recover even a sliver of her authority, the laws of the Creator would not change, even when facing this creature that resembled a god!

"Go! Hack it to pieces!"

Sasa shouted from within the blade.

"If I hack it to pieces, wouldn't Xue Ning die too?"

Qi Xing retorted.

"Who cares! That thing is beyond saving anyway!"

Sasa was blunt and merciless.

At this very moment, countless strands of white flesh extending from Giant Spirit Hera's chest, as if to cover Xue Ning's body, or perhaps to protect her from Qi Xing's interference, had wrapped around her layer by layer and absorbed her into the chest cavity.

Qi Xing could no longer see Xue Ning.

If he hacked the entire Giant Spirit to pieces and dug out the [Truth] [silver coin], what would happen to Xue Ning? Would she die along with it?

Sasa would scoff and say she deserved to die… perhaps she did, but Qi Xing did not like that ending.

He knew that although the island's residents had grown suspicious and fearful of Xue Ning, they still hoped in their hearts that she would survive.

What should he do?

Qi Xing walked slowly toward the Giant Spirit, gradually forcing it into a dead end, all the while thinking constantly.

"…Sigh, you are truly stubborn."

He heard Sasa muttering inside the blade.

"…Forget it, let me tell you this way."

After a subtle pause, Sasa said again.

Why the sudden pause?

Just as Qi Xing was feeling curious, Sasa continued:

"You don't need to hurt her, you just need to sever the Giant Spirit's 'core.' The key is whether you can sever only the Giant Spirit's core and the connection between her and the Giant Spirit."

"That sounds difficult. Can't you just drag Xue Ning out of the Giant Spirit's body?"

"It's not like we're actually piloting an EVA. Her body and soul have already fused and become entangled with Giant Spirit Hera. Just dragging her out won't work."

Sasa said meaningfully,

"If you can fully utilize the power of [Dominion], you can do it. It's as difficult as separating black and white paint that have already been mixed together; by conventional logic, it's impossible."

"But if your mind is flexible enough, your will is firm enough, and if you truly want to become the king who opens up a new world… perhaps it's possible."

"Can you do it?—Do you have the confidence to do it?"

That sounded like it really required confidence.

"Ha. Who do you think I am?"

Qi Xing answered with a scoff.

"I am the one who looks down upon the foolish, the number one in the world, the [Master Leipu] who can make a black hole [climax] with his [member]!"

"You actually really like this joke, don't you?"

Giant Spirit Hera was showing signs of defeat.

Its left hand had been blasted off by [Death Force], and it had now become a defect that only Sasa could repair.

It originally had two crescent moon divine artifacts, but with its right hand needing to protect its chest, how could it wield weapons?

That fifty-meter tall body was still massive and terrifying, but every movement had become sluggish; as it retreated step by step, shattering stone slabs and cracking streets, it clearly still possessed destructive power, but under the strike after strike of the [Pale Knight], it gradually began to show signs of decline and vulnerability.

Hera's divine might was waning.

It was a pity it didn't have a [Buddhism]-style divine mask, otherwise it could have had a bunch of arms; what a shame!

—Well, in all seriousness, whether it was Hera or Juno, they were indeed not gods of war.

As the Queen of Heaven, Hera possessed the divine status of a guardian of kings, but her combat ability was not strong;

Juno's original form had the chaotic attributes of a moon goddess, but madness did not equal strength; there was no such easy thing. Madness alone could not contend with true [Dominion] and [Death].

This Giant Spirit Hera must have also been fused with a third goddess—some image of a more ancient Earth Mother Goddess. Who was this third goddess? Qi Xing did not know yet.

But regardless, even if those ancient goddesses were bloodthirsty and cruel, they could never match the might of the many later male god-kings and war gods on the battlefield.

Strike after strike, Qi Xing continued to force the Giant Spirit into a dead end.

With every slash, wherever the blade pointed, the Giant Spirit's pure white body would explode in sections. Its divine power, like the moon before dawn, gradually dimmed and disintegrated, as if a decree of death was flowing along the wounds into the laws of its existence.

The islanders, hiding behind cover or deep within the administrative building, were many of them holding their breath, peeking out tremulously at the battlefield that looked like a myth reenacted.

Most of them were demigods with divine blood flowing in their veins. That mountain-like Giant Spirit, though they did not know it themselves, was indeed the source of their lineage.

But now, that "Mother Goddess" had gone berserk, and the divine might she unleashed had nearly destroyed the entire island.

Even if one were to consider their empathy, at this moment they should empathize first with each other's fear and pain, rather than empathizing with the Giant Spirit's rage.

However, there were some—especially those islanders with thick divine blood in their veins—who, watching Giant Spirit Hera being forced to retreat step by step, her left arm severed, and even reduced to a state where she couldn't fight back, couldn't help but feel a trace of sorrow in their hearts.

It was not simple mercy or sympathy, but a more primitive, more complex emotion.

It was like watching one's own kin age, fall, and struggle powerlessly to be destroyed…

As for [Master Leipu]—this terrifying man clad in ghostly white armor had originally been an existence that many islanders feared. But now, he stood like a knight of death in the center of the storm of destruction, using an unshakable will to force the Giant Spirit back with every slash, protecting them.

The [Pale Knight], an integration of [Death] and [Dominion], was like an executioner presiding over the apocalypse, every strike carrying judgment and termination.

Compared to Giant Spirit Hera, he now appeared even more like a true god.

"To be beaten like this and not yet start spawning monsters means it truly hasn't been stitched with the attributes of the Mother of Monsters."

Sasa-blade said, thoughtful,

"It's time to kill it. Qi Xing, if you insist on trying to save someone, it's time to stab in."

"Stab where?"

Qi Xing frowned, "Cut open the chest and dig the person out?"

"No need, and there's nothing to dig out; just stab the blade in."

Sasa said decisively,

"The most basic combined usage of [Dominion] and [Death] is a blade that can sever anything you wish to sever. You just need to be able to avoid wounding Xue Ning and only sever the Giant Spirit's core. The key is whether you can imagine it."

"As long as you can imagine it, as long as you can understand this concept, you can do it."

"I hope so."

"When have I ever screwed you over?"

"That joke is hilarious."

Without further ado, Qi Xing exhaled and swung his blade, deflecting Giant Spirit Hera's near-instinctive final resistance.

Then, with a backhanded strike, steady and resolute, he stabbed into the Giant Spirit's chest.

The black blade pierced in as if meeting no resistance, until the hilt was completely submerged.

The Giant Spirit had no life.

However, the feeling of this strike was indeed like killing a mother protecting her child with her life.

…Had Qi Xing been a bit too sentimental lately? But if he lost even a shred of compassion, he would likely just fall into another form of depravity.

The next instant, Giant Spirit Hera let out a low, mournful wail. Her terrifyingly pale divine body began to disintegrate, turning into shimmering particles.

The rustling rain of particles scattered like stardust under the moonlight; unlike any of the previous scenes of chaos and destruction, this scene even had a touch of sacred beauty.

As the Giant Spirit disintegrated, Xue Ning also fell out from within its body, collapsing to the ground, unconscious. Her clothes had no tears, her skin had no blade wounds; it was as if she were brand new.

It was only natural. Because Qi Xing's strike had never harmed her in the slightest. It was only to sever the Giant Spirit's core and sever her connection with the Giant Spirit and the [silver coin].

Just as Sasa had said—

Qi Xing was, of course, capable of doing such a thing.

Just as she had said, that silly boy Qi Xing had been tricked by her again.

Watching the disintegration of the Giant Spirit and Xue Ning appearing from within its body, Sasa chuckled inside the black blade.

[Dominion]—what exactly was [Dominion]?

Sasa had said that the [Dominion] [silver coin] was the core of all [silver coins], the master key to the authority she used to rule the universe; it was ruling, governing, dominating, and controlling—it was the archetype.

It was the archetype, and therefore it was everything in the world; it was complete and also incomplete, because the Sasa Universe had never been complete, never truly "complete."

So just now, Qi Xing had already sensed a trace of something strange: why was the synergy between [Dominion] and [Death] more natural and more powerful? Was it just because most gods of the underworld possessed the attributes of a "ruler"?

Was it just because of that? …This answer was far too simple.

Qi Xing might be a bit unlearned, but at least he had some understanding of Eastern philosophy and religion; after all, he wasn't so ignorant that he didn't even know who King Yama was.

However, if one seriously examined Eastern philosophy and religion, one would discover—the concept of [Change], in Eastern mystical systems, actually also possessed the attributes of a "ruler" or "dominator."

For example, in Hinduism, Vishnu was the [King of Illusion], capable of conjuring the illusion of the "universe" through the power of illusion—in the worldview of Indian-based religions, including [Buddhism], the entire universe was originally an illusion, a projection of illusion.

The external phenomena of the universe, though beautiful and colorful, were ultimately illusions.

The one who could dominate external illusions was Vishnu, the supreme celestial god who maintained the universe.

And the one who could dominate internal illusions was the Awakened One, the Enlightened One, the Sage, the Buddha.

Returning to Taoism, that domestic product—Taoist thought viewed "illusion" as "change," as "impermanence," and as the form of "water." And "water" was precisely the symbol of the "Tao":

Water excels at benefiting all things without contention, is ever-changing, and encompasses everything.

And the true meaning of the "Tao," from the *Tao Te Ching*, known as "the mystery of mysteries, the gateway to all wonders"—its essence could not be described in terms of form, but was an indescribable, elusive flux, possessing a negative transcendence.

It was neither substance nor void, but a constant flow that could not be named.

[Illusion] was both the manifestation of change and the manifestation of the "Tao."

If one could dominate illusion, one would be dominating change and dominating all phenomena, which meant mastering the operation of the "Tao."

—Then how could one say that [Illusion] could not be compatible with [Dominion], or that it was weaker?

If one could truly fuse and connect [Illusion] and [Dominion], what would be born would certainly not be a mere lord of the underworld, but some kind of transcendent, omnipotent existence capable of dominating reality on all levels.

That would far exceed the divine status of merely judging the dead and granting life or death, a level far higher by more than just a few degrees.

…But just now, Qi Xing was too busy, fighting while also preventing the islanders from suffering. Moreover, he really wasn't an intellectual, often solving problems with his fists. So he only vaguely sensed a trace of something strange, but did not ponder it deeply.

Otherwise, Sasa's little pretense might not have been enough to fool him.

Why did she want to fool Qi Xing and keep him from thinking too much?