Tiny particles of white light gently rose into the sky as Zhang Dong’s mechanical armor started to fade away. His tired face and beads of sweat became apparent as the draconic mask vanished to reveal his tired expression. He was about to fall down to the ground after overtaxing his cultivation yet a gentle hand held on to him from the side.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just give me a moment…”

Zhang Dong smiled at his wife who gave him a shoulder to rest on. Even though everyone had been lending him their power he was doing most of the heavy lifting. Below them, there was a giant hole that looked like an impact area from a large meteor. Slowly it was starting to fill up with lava from the side while the person in the center drew his last breath.

Wang Long was still there but he was barely holding on. Most of his body was gone, his legs and arms had been disintegrated during the overwhelming attack. What was left behind was just his upper torso and his head which were partially melted. There was nothing left of his old face after the combination of beast and man.

“We did it, senior brother, our sect has been victorious and the demonic bastards are running like the cowards that they are! Just give me an order and I’ll finish the job.”

Huo Qiang shouted while beating his chest. His body was all scratched up and even his nose had been broken during the fights but apparently, he still wanted more. Zhang Dong shook his head as this was not the time for more carnage

“That’s good to hear but let them go, there had been enough bloodshed for one day, we need to save our resources for later, we might have won this battle but the threats are still there.”

“My husband is right as always, you should try using your brain from time to time Qiang.”

Liena scoffed at Qiang while the muscle-bound man returned the action with a glare. It was clear that their sect had gone through a lot here. Even the golden bastion had its walls breached and it would need to be repaired. If they spread their troops too thin, they would be opening themselves to an attack.

A few recovery pills made their way into his mouth to help him stabilize his soul and body. Within a moment he regained enough strength to float down before his enemy that was on his deathbed. While the people around him looked to him as a defeated foe he wasn’t willing to ignore the potential of a turnaround. It always happened at these junctures, it wouldn’t be that strange if Wang Long had some kind of backup plan.

‘Bob, get ready to intercept it.’

“y-Y--u-U…”

There was still some fight left in those eyes but it didn’t seem that Wang Long could string together a full sentence. If looks could kill then he would have been dead on the spot. There was so much hate and indignation in those eyes. Zhang Dong didn’t feel that much remorse; the man before him had made his choice, which was now the result. He had tried to reach out an olive branch multiple times and it had been swatted away each time.

‘Affirmative’

This fight wasn’t quite over, even if his enemy was dying this was not the end of his plan. Just like the years before after a system holder was killed he would be replaced. He already knew thanks to the previous owner of the system that released him from the original system that this would happen.

Some kind of signal would be sent out and he needed to intercept it. If the people outside of this world knew that Wang Long had died, something drastic could occur. This world was already in the middle of the war between empires which was supposed to last for many years. A new system holder would be ill-equipped to enter this higher-level event at this point.

Zhang Dong’s biggest fear was that something like in the other world might occur. One of those strange overseers could appear and wipe everything off the face of the planet. This was his biggest fear that all of his friends and family would cease to be. Something like this would be called a hard reset but a soft one could also be an option.

In the case of the other one, instead of everyone dying the scenario would just play out and after the bridges between empires closed life would continue as it was. The new system holder would just arrive thousands of years later to repeat the cycle. Perhaps the beings above had some techniques related to time that would speed up the process even further.

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While the second option wouldn’t be that bad he couldn’t risk it. It would be better to just block the transmission from going through. With his hacked system he could act as a dummy so that whoever was out there still thought Wang Long alive. After he was successful he would have some time to deliberate on his next step. Reaching the immortal realm wouldn’t be out of question, perhaps when he achieved that he would have the power needed to comprehend everything.

“y–y-u-u-u…d-DIE!”

Just as he expected Wang Long still had one trick up his sleeve. As he approached him a beam of black light escaped from his mouth. This technique was something that he could recognize, it was a last-ditch effort of a demonic cultivator to achieve victory. To everyone’s surprise, Zhang Dong didn’t do anything, he just motioned his hand toward everyone to signal that it was fine as he took the black energy beam to the face.

The moment the energy made its way into his body Wang Long’s body started crumbling into dust. It wasn’t important anymore as the system always stuck to the important part of its user, which was their soul. This soul was now trying to take over his body and that was something he was hoping for.

“Retard, I will eat you from the inside, and then that slut of a wife will be mine!”

“Is that so?”

“What!?”

Normally demonic possessions like this were hard to counter. These dark arts were studied by the evil cultivators while to the orthodox ones it was taboo. Thus most of the time the demonic expert won over the unprepared one in this confrontation. Zhang Dong was not like that, after his visit to the other worlds his soul energy was truly massive. There was no one in this world that would be able to contend with it and Wang Long quickly started to regret his decision.

The two found themselves in a word created by both of their souls. There wasn’t much there but some light and the void. Soon the world sprung to life and Wang Long found himself looking at gorgeous scenery that looked like paradise. He was not alone there as when looking up he saw a giant and this was Zhang Dong.

“You look different… so this is how you looked before coming here.”

Wang Long’s original appearance as an overweight keyboard warrior was revealed. At this moment he was standing on top of Zhang Dong’s palm and the difference between them was trouly massive. This size disparity was due to the amount of soul energy that the United Element Sect’s Patriarch was in possession of. His enemy looked truly pitiful but his actions had led him here and he needed to be punished.

“Wait, what are you doing?... No, please. Let me live, I give up, you can have that world, just let me live.”

It was finally clear to Wang Long that he had no chance of winning. Perhaps it was due to changing into his old form but the man’s bravado had instantly vanished. Instead, he was now down on his knees and trembling before Zhang Dong’s might. It was quite a pitiful scene but the deed needed to be done. Too many people had been killed by this narcissist and their souls demanded vengeance.

“No please, you c-can’t j-ust…”

Zhang Dong brought both his palms together and Wang Long’s voice vanished. His hands began to glow in a faint light as his energies began dispersing the soul essence of his foe. While Wang Long probably didn’t deserve it he offered him a painless death. It was slow and he would just feel as if he was falling into deep sleep that he would never wake up from.

‘Your time to shine Bob.’

‘Initiating suppression, attempting to suppress the ‘Devouring seed protocol’, please standby…’

Bob went silent while he compressed both of his palms onto Wang Long’s soul that contained the system within it. On the outside, everyone that had gathered was looking in amazement at the strange phenomenon. To them it looked like the black energy that collided with Zhang Dong’s face was forced down into his palms. It was as if he was trying to crush it with his hands.

“Should we do something?”

Huo Qiang asked while unsure if his senior brother was handling the situation well. Liena on the other hand believed in her husband, when he told her that he would handle it, then he would.

“Just wait a moment, I can feel that demonic soul vanishing.”

She was also a nascent soul master so to some degree she could feel Wang Long’s soul disappearing. It was being replaced by something else, something with a lot of power. When looking at her husband's hands she could see them slowly spreading apart to reveal a cube made of some sort of energy.

Before it formed a swarm of strange symbols appeared on top of it before a wave of energy knocked everyone away, including Zhang Dong that was trying to contain it. The cube floated there in place for a moment before dropping down to the ground where previously Wang Long’s corps was and the procedure concluded.

‘Suppression of the other system was successful.’

Zhang Dong gave out a sigh of relief as he gathered himself up. What was left of Wang Long was a nucleus and within it his system was stored. Now he was free to do with it what he wanted, absorbing it or even passing it to someone else seemed to be an option.

‘Finally, it's all over now, perhaps my life can return to normal…’

He smiled at the cube as all the tension left his body. This was finally the end, the other empires didn’t really pose much of a threat, and with this, he would have enough time to think of the next step in peace. However, unbeknownst to him, there was someone with different plans there…