His vision blurry, Haruto tried his best staying lucid. Unable to move, he could only see the brown rocky terrain in front of his very eyes.
Lying on the ground, his vessel a bloody mess, he tried to look at his own status, but did not even have enough willpower to.
'What...' Attempting to think, he was soon shut down by his current weakness. His ears ringing, he somehow managed to hear Alexander's voice from afar.
"Why don't you guys let me keep his soul? I've never had a soul from my native Universe, it will be a great addition to my collection!"
Curious, many wondered what he was planning. Out of them, Qiu Qigang was the first to react.
"Brother... do you intend to place his soul inside your Eternal Soul Corridor?" Shivering in the process, he sometimes wondered if he truly was the craziest of the two.
Nodding, Alexander's affirmation made Qiu Qigang look at the withered Haruto with some sympathy.
'Tragic!'
Feeling a sense of weightlessness, Haruto regained some lucidity, his soul still frail.
Waving his hand, Alexander extracted Haruto's soul.
Placing it inside a transparent container, he smiled, closing the lid in the process.
'This kid gave me some good insights, but I'm quite shocked about the flow of time... I've been here for almost thirty million years, yet the man said he was a salaryman... maybe it's just still there... though I doubt humanity would've even survived that long...'
'But then what about Earth's Universe? If this guy could be transported from one to the other... wait how did they even do that?! Was it all because of Celestial Descents or something else? Maybe I'm overthinking it... The way I ascended to this Universe wasn't even related to any of this... I was just evicted.'
Ready to depart, the group suddenly felt a powerful aura submerge them, causing all Overlords except Alexander and Qiu Qigang to sweat profusely, having difficulties circulating any Qi.
"What's going on here? Who are you to barge into my Blazing Sun Sect's territory so wantonly?"
Frozen from fear, the beautiful Overlord of Faith opened her mouth with some hesitation.
"Greetings to Senior Yang!" Cupping her fists, she was followed by the rest of the group, excluding Alexander and Qiu Qigang.
Watching as a group made from a dozen Overlords shivered in fright, Alexander snorted.
"Why act so meekly? Bunch of trash, even if brother Qiu can't contend with this burnt head, I do!"
As if noticing Alexander only now, Yang Zhi laughed audibly.
"Alexander, you little brat! How were my little gifts back then? Had fun?"
Narrowing his eyes at the maniac old man, Alexander fully released his cultivation base, shutting Yang Zhi's mouth in an instant.
Trembling, he looked at Alexander in horror.
"What?! How can-"
Unable to finish his sentence, Yang Zhi was sent flying across multiple light years, his head annihilated in the process.
Recovering, he was even more dumbfounded.
'I couldn't even see it!'
This time, it was his left arm's turn to suffer, immediately being bent in dozens of different directions at multiple intersections, a state much worse than Haruto's leg.
Feeling dread, Yang Zhi did not retain his aloof majesty, as his current disheveled appearance gave away his innate terror.
'He was barely a ninth layer Overlord a few million yea-'
Teleporting behind Yang Zhi, Alexander placed his palm on his back, before blasting onto it a powerful [Celestial Palm], a simple palm print made of Celestial Qi instead of Star Qi. This only caused Yang Zhi's body to be sent flying to the now far away group of Overlords.
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Looking down, Qiu Qigang smirked at Yang Zhi's torn body laying at his feet.
"Brother Alexander is not someone who ignores grudges like this, I don't know what you did to him, but clearly... it wasn't a smart choice!"
Connecting the dots, Yang Zhi thought for a moment before spatting through gritted teeth.
"Alexander! Was it you who messed with my Blazing Sun Sect's Grand Qi Gathering Array?!"
Amusement showing, Alexander stared at the pitiful crawling Yang Zhi and his bloodshot eyes.
"So what? Does it matter to you?" His face filled with arrogance and contempt, Alexander did not stop.
"What can you do? With your little tenth layer Ascension Realm cultivation base... Using such meagre strength to attack me is beyond embarrassing!"
"I won't forg-"
Not letting Yang Zhi finish his words, Alexander decided to put an end to his humiliation, kicking his crawling figure into the distance, not forgetting to sneak some troll systems inside his fleshly vessel.
Observing the scene with disbelief were the dozen Overlords that did not know of Alexander's reputation.
Watching a powerful tenth layer Ascension Realm Overlord be played with like a little toy was beyond terrifying.
Struck with reverence, they all bowed at Alexander.
"Thank you senior! Without your generosity, we would have suffered terrible consequences!"
Both Qiu Qigang and Alexander knew why they behaved this way, as they were aware of their cultivation base and its limitations. Yang Zhi was just like the both of them, immortal under the Heavens, but this group was not.
The strongest was only a fourth layer Overlord like Wei Jiahao, the Dawn Academy's principal. As for the weakest, he was a middle aged man barely at the first layer, a testimony to his horrendous level of power, as most Overlords would breakthrough the second layer in a matter of decades.
Done with the fun part, Alexander had already a plan of action. Therefore, he immediately cupped his fists at Qiu Qigang.
"Brother Qiu, this Alexander will take his leave, I need to go see Tan Jianghong for something."
Cupping his fists as well, Qiu Qigang saw his good friend disappear into the distant void.
-----
Arriving at Tan Jianghong's residence, Alexander knocked on the door near the hillside, the same door creaking open barely a minute later.
However, greeting him was not an old man with grey hair but a young one.
Looking at the grey haired youth, Alexander was sure he had seen him somewhere.
"Senior! Please come inside." Cupping his fists respectfully, Zhao Yong led Alexander inside.
Walking past a few corridors and halls, they found themselves inside a gigantic forge deep underground.
Observing the giant black, grey and white room he had seen multiple times already, Alexander headed straight to an old man's back near the end of the room.
"Old Tan, I've gathered what I talked about last time, and since my cultivation base has increased, I hope you can forge this artifact as soon as possible!"
Turning around, Tan Jianghong's small stature contrasted with Alexander's relatively normal one.
"Kiddo, it's perfect then, you have a nick for timings I must say! Hahaha! So what..." Cutting him short was Alexander's space ring landing on his forehead. Taking it, Tan Jianghong was curious, quickly releasing his Divine Sense inside.
"?!" His mind numb, he decided to inspect it multiple times over, only resulting in the same outcome.
"Kiddo... is that... how did you even cut it apart?!"
Smiling, Alexander explained.
"The important materials were not in the way, so I could handle it, if not... Well let's just say I might've had to cut it into many more pieces. I just hope you can use those ores inside."
Chuckling from pride, Tan Jianghong looked at Alexander with fiery eyes.
"Don't you even worry kiddo! It does not matter how tough these Celestial Ores are, I am not the greatest artifact refiner of this Universe for nothing! See how I'll create the true masterpiece of this Universe's entire history!"
Happy with the old man's confidence, Alexander excused himself after receiving enough details.
'It will take around three million years... I hope my amazing talent doesn't kick in too fast... If I don't have this sword during that... I'm not sure how it will go. I would prefer having it on hand just in case...'
Reaching Ascended Galla once more, Alexander secluded himself inside the Great Temple's depths, near the abyss constantly erupting in Celestial Qi.
After three millions years had elapsed, Alexander had managed to reach the absolute limit of the Universe, a peak eleventh layer Ascension Realm Overlord. It was safe to say that he now contended for the first place in the Universe against Ghastal Mergulis, the current strongest expert in the Universe, at least publicly known.
"I already reached the absolute limits, and it will start anytime!!" Not wasting any more of his precious time, he immediately headed for Tan Jianghong's residence, barging inside.
"Old Tan! Are you done yet?" Alexander had started to feel nervous for the first time in millions of years.
Grumbling, Tan Jianghong turned to look at Alexander who had intruded inside his forge, again.
"Kiddo! Are you trying to give this old man a heart attack?!! Can't you wait, the three whole million years deadline has been met barely a few minutes ago!!" Tan Jianghong was dumbfounded, knowing of Alexander's usually calm attitude, that had clearly been shattered.
'Since when was this kid even nervous? Did he even know what that word meant?'
Reluctantly handing Alexander a grey space ring decorated in magnificent colors and metals, patterns of golden dragons and drifting immortals fighting engraved all around it. He gave a stern warning.
"I don't care how you do it, I want you to win and take my greatest masterpiece to the Celestial Realm! I dare you to even chip it!" Aware of what was to come, Tan Jianghong hoped to have Alexander expand his legend to even the legendary Celestial Realm.
Inspecting the beautiful space ring, Alexander saw a sheathed artifact inside. Releasing his Divine Sense to scan it, he could not help his childish smile from showing.
'With this... Ascending won't be as hard!'