The One Who Broke Fate

"Ha!"

At the summit of the volcano, Bai Cangshu threw back his head and roared. Blazing lightning erupted alongside the power of Magnetic Field Rotation, and at that same moment, Bai Cangshu sensed the surging impulse within his body.

An immensely powerful blast of energy erupted from his mouth.

Boom!

A jet-black energy emerged from the lightning and, in an instant, sprayed down upon the projected Martial Artists below.

In a single moment, the black breath swallowed everyone and erased the volcanic crater along with them.

After the lightning faded, large masses of nauseating flesh remained amid the crater’s ruins, while lava flowed toward the sea from the other side.

[The Life Equation has loosened. You have touched the Authority: Life Equation]

[The fifth tier of the Eternal Regression Ladder, Dragon's Heart Furnace, has been restored]

[Fifth Tier: Dragon's Heart Furnace]

[Abilities: Life Plunder Domain (A), Abyssal Breath (A+) have been unsealed]

Within Bai Cangshu, the power of the demonic dragon Grendel had fully awakened. The Anti-Life Domain demonic dragon within his body provided Bai Cangshu with an internal furnace.

It resembled a miniature Life Furnace, constantly converting and obtaining vast amounts of vitality and flesh-energy.

This effect differed from the regenerative power of instant healing. It was more like improving the resilience of his flesh, ensuring that even as it was destroyed, more flesh was available to fill the gaps.

This was also why, once this ladder reached its perfect form at the sixth tier, it would be able to support Bai Cangshu’s body as he fully activated the Eightfold Kaio-ken without suffering collapse.

Now, as the Authority [Primordial Human Body] that Bai Cangshu had obtained through the crown [The End and The Beginning] entered its second tier, he had finally relied on the effect of standing at the source of life to slightly break free of the seal of the [Life Equation].

The [Eternal Regression Ladder] came from the spiral of life and Anti-Life. Because Anti-Life had been sealed, the spiral had broken, and the ladder could not be maintained.

Now, that spiral had finally begun to turn slowly once more.

Bai Cangshu still possessed [Authority Fragment: Yin/Yang]. This item could allow him to raise the [Binary Paradox Ladder] by another tier.

However, because this powerful ladder was an optional ladder, he could choose its effect for every tier himself.

Rapidly raising the ladder was not difficult. The difficult part was that the choices could not be reversed!

In other words, Bai Cangshu could quickly use all kinds of opposing Authorities to raise the ladder’s tier and gain high-level effects.

But if he later obtained opposing powers of a higher rank and greater conceptual significance, there would no longer be room for him to upgrade it.

That was why Bai Cangshu had yet to upgrade this powerful ladder.

Opposites among elemental forces, such as light and darkness or water and fire, were actually the easiest to obtain.

But finding something with an effect like the first tier, [The Paradox of Good and Evil], would require some effort.

Bai Cangshu’s current targets were [The Paradox of Life and Anti-Life] or [The Paradox of Life and Death].

He had a chance to obtain either one.

Now that the Primordial Human Body had improved and the Life Equation was beginning to loosen, he had a chance to obtain either the Life Equation or the Authority of life from this.

As long as he could obtain it, then because he already possessed the characteristics of [Death Intent Senluo] and Grendel, he would likely be able to climb the ladder quickly.

Bai Cangshu descended from the air. The pressure within this Cultivation Institute was no longer sufficient for him. He had to raise the harshness of the environment to its maximum and exchange Singularity Points for powerful enemies as opponents before he could achieve any training results.

In truth, Bai Cangshu had remained in the space because he was waiting for a trade.

Reincarnators from outside the East District had sent word through an Information Broker that they wanted to strike a deal with Mercenary Tao.

One of their items had caught Bai Cangshu’s attention.

[Dragon Ball Radar]

[Quality: Special]

[Description: A special radar created by a scientist from a certain world. It reacts to the Special Creation: Dragon Ball.]

[Effect 1: When used in the Dragon Ball World, this item can detect the approximate location and distance of Dragon Balls.]

[Effect 2: By spending 2 B-rank Anomaly Points and 15,000 Dimensional Points in the Infinite Dimensional Space, you may forcibly activate the special mission: Dragon Seeker.] 
[Note: This mission will forcibly initiate a deployment.]

The effect of directly opening a deployment into the Dragon Ball World was alone enough to tempt Bai Cangshu.

What was more, the item could also be used to search for Dragon Balls in the Dragon Ball World.

Even in the Dragon Ball World, a Dragon Ball Radar was an extremely rare item.

Aside from specific Plot Characters, almost no one could make one.

And once one possessed a Dragon Ball Radar, one would have a genuine chance to gather all the Dragon Balls, summon the dragon, and make a wish.

Even though it was currently impossible to determine exactly which dragon it would summon, there was no doubt that, for reincarnators now, such a wish-granting effect was more than outstanding enough.

Outstanding enough that even someone as greedy and Prideful as Bai Cangshu was willing to remain in the space and wait for the other party to arrive for the trade.

At that moment, a spatial message finally appeared. Yet after reading its contents, Bai Cangshu frowned slightly.

Not long after, he had returned to his Private Space.

Someone he had met a few times before was already there.

The man still had messy hair and a scruffy beard, but the half-black, half-white crown atop his head clearly showed that this unreliable-looking fellow had indeed defended the crown of [Supreme Expert] in the previous title competition.

"An Zhiyuan, you actually came looking for me again. Let me guess, is this about Azure Sky?"

Bai Cangshu tilted his head slightly upward, his tone unrestrained. He had always held a poor opinion of An Zhiyuan.

That impression had begun when the man first refused to divine the location of someone whose name Bai Cangshu no longer remembered.

Of course, Bai Cangshu’s dislike had nothing to do with An Zhiyuan refusing to serve him. What he looked down on was the perpetual air of melancholy that clung to the man.

It was as though something had already worn away all his impulses.

Yet this man, who radiated such an aura, repeatedly ran about and fought over matters that had nothing to do with him.

He could not stand the state of the world, yet felt powerless to change it; he wanted to walk away, yet could never cut himself free.

No matter how one looked at him, he was only half-committed. Someone like Bai Cangshu, who was always striving forward, simply could not think well of such a person.

An Zhiyuan could easily see the undisguised mockery and amusement in Mercenary Tao’s eyes, but he did not get angry.

"Yes. If it weren’t for him, I certainly wouldn’t want to come looking for you."

An Zhiyuan sat down on his own, while Jin Yue’an tactfully left the space.

"But I’m also here for you."

An Zhiyuan emphasized that final word, but Bai Cangshu remained completely unmoved.

"You must have learned through other channels as well, about your… [Destined Death]!"

An Zhiyuan watched Mercenary Tao sit down on the sofa as if he had not heard a single word.

He frowned. Someone like Mercenary Tao was fundamentally incompatible with him and extremely difficult to persuade.

But he was not lying.

An Zhiyuan’s foremost purpose in coming here was naturally to make one final struggle—to attempt an impossible miracle and bring that man back to life once again.

That way, the order of this world could remain stable. And regardless of whether it was a dimensional war or anything else in the future, having that man around always made people feel more at ease.

But at the same time, he had a second purpose…

"Mercenary Tao, [Destined Death] is no joke. It is not a calamity you can overcome merely by gaining a new ladder or a new power."

"Even if you wear this unprecedented crown, even if you become the strongest [Supreme Expert], once Destined Death comes, you will still be unable to escape death."

Bai Cangshu found him rather noisy and waved a hand.

"Get to the point. The death of someone like me shouldn’t be so difficult for you to accept, should it?"

Bai Cangshu disliked the powers of the Fate Aspect, but he did not deny fate itself.

Ever since that Strong Luck which had always accompanied him, he had known that such power had been subtly influencing many things.

But to him, rather than allowing that power to influence things imperceptibly, it would be better for it to erupt completely and become a tangible opponent.

It did not matter whether it was some god, some conceptual attack like the "butterfly effect," or even supreme beings from other worldviews personally taking action.

Bai Cangshu could accept any ending that awaited him.

The clearest difference between Bai Cangshu and other reincarnators was that he viewed his own life and the lives of others with equal indifference.

To him, even dying during a deployment or a mission would merely prove that he was only that capable.

His only regret was his own weakness.

Therefore, An Zhiyuan’s words held little persuasive power for him. Even when the Multi-Faced Star People had told him about Destined Death, he had felt little in response.

Compared with that, the crushing pressure of facing Saitama or the Black King Clark—the sensation that death was certain—was far more exciting and real to Bai Cangshu.

He… longed for the taste of that death.

"You… can you really still be considered human?"

An Zhiyuan frowned. Simply by looking at Mercenary Tao, he could roughly sense what Mercenary Tao was thinking.

This was an aberration lacking empathy. An Zhiyuan even felt that Mercenary Tao was a complete alien creature merely wearing human skin.

There was not even a basic bridge of communication between him and an Earthling like An Zhiyuan.

Humans were highly intelligent beings, and all beings that developed high intelligence instinctively rejected extinction.

Because once they were extinguished, everything that belonged to them would lose meaning. Thus, the more intelligent a life-form was, the more it feared extinction.

Even the so-called God Species, Immortals and Buddhas, demons, devils, and monsters he had seen in other worlds—who among them did not fear extinction?

This fear and rejection of extinction formed the basis for much communication.

Yet the so-called "new king" of the East District standing before him was a madman who did not even fear his own destruction.

If such a "person" truly became the new king, where would this world be led?

An Zhiyuan began to hesitate. Was his choice really correct?

Perhaps… Ye of the West District was the truly correct choice…

He dimly realized the truth, but then he thought of his old friend.

An Zhiyuan slumped into the sofa, looking somewhat dejected.

"Mercenary Tao, I know you once broke fate and shattered a worldline. Can you tell me how you did it?"

Bai Cangshu merely tilted his head without answering.

In truth, he believed that the one who had broken the fate of becoming [Fatalism] had not been himself. It should have been Saitama—or rather, Saitama and Shigeo Kageyama together.

He, who should have become [Fatalism] in the future and brought even greater danger upon B711 World, had forcibly awakened Saitama, who had been influenced by [Eternal Destiny], and had therefore been blasted to death by Saitama.

That future and that worldline had been severed.

Then, after [Spirit World Evil Lord Shigeo Kageyama] fought Saitama, the Spirit World became unstable and could no longer maintain those hundreds of thousands of yin spirits.

Therefore, Shigeo Kageyama used the Golden Soul Fragment that belonged to that little Marine from the One Piece World to repair and revive himself.

Essentially, he had not broken fate. That worldline, along with himself, had simply been shattered…

After receiving no answer, An Zhiyuan fell silent for a moment before continuing.

"I hope you can break Cao Qi’s Destined Death. In return, I can erase your Destined Death as well…"

An Zhiyuan gave his final condition.

Bai Cangshu raised his eyelids slightly. An Zhiyuan’s ability exceeded his expectations—he could interfere with the fateful lines of others.

At least on a practical level, it had surpassed what [Eternal Destiny] had achieved back then, though that might also have been due to the difference in the two sides’ compatibility with and utilization of their Authorities.

In Bai Cangshu’s view, aside from being clever enough to avoid confronting Saitama directly and instead influence him through society, that [Eternal Destiny] had not displayed many characteristics of the [Eternal Destiny] crown.

Instead, its ability to point from the sky and blast apart the desert had been rather formidable.

Seeing that Mercenary Tao still offered no response, An Zhiyuan stood up with a solemn expression.

"Mercenary Tao, whether you believe me or not, I truly do not want you and him to die together in that world!"

"That would be a disaster for us."

An Zhiyuan raised a hand and drew a circle directly in the air.

In the next instant, Bai Cangshu saw, within that circle, a strange rift appear in the depths of a black sea.

Vast quantities of seawater were continuously being drawn in and expelled.

Dense vitality constantly leaked from the rift. The biological level of those creatures was far higher than that of native life-forms such as whales and sharks found beneath the sea.

"Do you see it? Our world has already been marked. More and more visitors from beyond the stars will invade our world."

Bai Cangshu’s eyes widened, Golden Eyes gleaming brilliantly. His lips split into a wide, delighted grin.

"Ha, those guys move fast."

After the monster that had appeared in Yingtian was killed by Skylark, Heavenly Feast and Black Butler had analyzed it and concluded that it most likely came from the monster creatures of the [Pacific Rim] worldview.

According to that setting, it was indeed possible for the real world to be marked and invaded.

Now that it had truly happened, Bai Cangshu instead felt delighted that the world was finally beginning to change.

"An Zhiyuan, don’t you think our world has been far too boring?"

Within the enormous White Jade Manor, an Illusory Gate appeared. Reinhardt stood before it as immense authority manifested, and strange phenomena faintly emerged in the sky.

The bloodline of the Ancient God Race satisfied the bloodline requirement of the God Species.

Cao Qi stood where he was, while golden veins automatically linked themselves to the Illusory Gate across the ground.

The Star Spirit Race had also been born amid prayers.

After the two keys appeared, the Illusory Gate finally stabilized.

The two turned around.

"Now, only that guy is missing…"