Master of the System

Jade’s eyes fluttered open, and she turned her head to the side. She was sitting on top of a lily pad, which was resting in the middle of a large pond. A male figure emerged from the woods, and she stared at him with an unblinking gaze. It was the false immortal of the coalition, someone she had expected to arrive.

Bullet King scratched his head as he approached, unsure of how to greet the false immortal in front of him. In the end, he decided to nod at her, cupping his hands to acknowledge her presence. Usually, he’d do his best to stay out of her way, but his goal was too important. He knew the calling he had been feeling was from the Snow Fire Lightning Fruit, and he knew Jade had set her eyes on it over a millennium ago. Back then, he didn’t have the strength to defeat her, but time was the greatest equalizer. With how strong he was now, he could viably contest against her for the fruit.

Jade snorted in response and closed her eyes once more, not bothering to return Bullet King’s greeting. The Snow Fire Lightning Fruit called all those who were worthy of consuming it. If she attacked Bullet King now, who knew if there was actually a third person hiding in wait or not? Once the fruit ripened, naturally, all the players would show themselves. Although she was arrogant, she didn’t believe she and Bullet King were the only two individuals capable of consuming the fruit. There were countless forbidden zones spread throughout the intergalactic society: beasts who had lived lives as long as the planets they resided on, hermits who had secluded themselves thousands of years ago for this one chance to breakthrough—anything could happen. After passing the tribulation of the body and tribulation of the mind, a false immortal was no longer shackled by the limits of longevity. Perhaps a few heroes from ancient times would show their faces for this fruit.

Jade and Bullet King sat in silence, both on guard against the other. The Snow Fire Lightning Fruit’s calling was the strongest at this location, but it was nowhere to be found. There weren’t any plants that looked as if they were a Snow Fire Lightning Plant either. However, they knew they were in the right location thanks to the calling deep within their souls. They just had to wait for the fruit to make an appearance before snatching and consuming it.

Time passed, and several days later, an airship shaped like a whale appeared overhead, casting a shadow down on the two false immortals. A lone figure descended from the ship, and once he reached the ground, the airship took off. In a fight between false immortals, it didn’t make any sense for anyone weaker to stick around. Just the shockwaves from the clashes alone could bring about serious harm to a soul-seed cultivator. Grandpa Vremya glanced at the two false immortals. They were sizing him up, and a strange twinkle appeared in Jade’s eyes.

“You,” she said, her gaze pointed straight at Grandpa Vremya. “Are you a river spirit?”

Grandpa Vremya raised an eyebrow. Although race didn’t matter too much since animals could shapeshift into humans and vice-versa, some people were still biased against non-humans. Of course, he never experienced any of such bias for himself—at least, not in this life. However, it would be unfortunate if the two false immortals in front of him decided to team up against him for such a petty reason. “So, what if I am?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow. Even if the two of them did team up against him, he wasn’t concerned. The power of gravity wasn’t something so easily broken.

A faint smile appeared on Jade’s lips. “We’re allies then; I am a water spirit as well,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “I’m the spirit of an ocean.” Although spirits looked like humans, they behaved more like beasts. A dragon would suppress a snake, and a snake would suppress a worm. Even if the worm had the strength of the snake, it wouldn’t be able to bring out its full potential due to the inherent pressure within their bloodline. Likewise, spirits were the same. A river spirit suppressed a lake spirit, but an ocean spirit suppressed a river spirit. With this suppression in place, Jade had no fear of the newcomer; in fact, she even welcomed his presence.

However, Jade’s face stiffened upon seeing Grandpa Vremya’s reaction. The old man had actually wrinkled his nose and recoiled in disgust. “No wonder,” Grandpa Vremya said and nodded, turning his head away as if continuing eye contact with Jade would make him dirty.

Bullet King couldn’t help but let out a little snort of laughter. After hearing Jade’s first sentence, he thought he was screwed. The two water spirits would definitely gang up on him, the lone human; however, he hadn’t expected Grandpa Vremya to have such a strong disdain for ocean spirits. Perhaps he could even take advantage of this and sow some more discord between the two. “What’s wrong with ocean spirits, Venerable Vremya? Your face paints quite the picture, and I’m not creative enough to understand what it’s trying to convey.”

“Yes,” Jade said, her eyes narrowed into slits. “Do tell. What’s wrong with ocean spirits?”

“I never thought I’d have to elaborate,” Grandpa Vremya said. “Isn’t it obvious? When it rains, water collects all sorts of impurities as it travels. Where does this water go? Ultimately, it winds up in the oceans, depositing all the impurities deep into their bellies.” He glanced at Jade. “I knew I recognized the scent of salt when I first arrived.”

“You’re made up of those impure water droplets too,” Jade said. “Do you think rivers can exist without those droplets flowing through them?”

“A river constantly flows,” Grandpa Vremya said. “I wouldn’t expect an ocean spirit like you to understand.”

Jade rose to her feet. “Oceans have currents too. Your ignorance—”

Grandpa Vremya flicked his finger, launching a black hole at Jade. As someone who had crawled through the toxic cesspool known as the Game of Gods community, he hadn’t just become a master at the game; he had also mastered the art of psychological warfare. By talking smack, he was able to control his opponent’s next actions to a certain extent—namely, he could provoke people into hitting him out of anger. When people were blinded by anger, they left behind many openings. Since Grandpa Vremya was determined to obtain this fruit, why would he not use everything he had to seize it? He wasn’t above ambushing someone or playing dirty. If someone wanted to criticize him, he’d slap them after becoming a god.

Jade’s eyes widened at the sudden assault. She manipulated the water in the pond into a barrier, but it was promptly absorbed by the black hole. The technique that had stumped Rachel for half a millennium was defeated without effort by a flick of Grandpa Vremya’s finger. The black hole advanced without pause, directly striking Jade’s body. There was a series of cracking sounds as her flesh and bones were stretched and elongated, sucked towards the distortion in space. However, a moment later, her body dissolved into a fine mist. Evidently, what Grandpa Vremya had destroyed was just a clone.

Bullet King sighed as he met Grandpa Vremya’s gaze. As shown in their previous fight, Bullet King was unable to harm a single hair on Grandpa Vremya’s head. “Didn’t you just break through to the realm of false immortal? I really didn’t expect to see you here.” Bullet King was talented, and he knew he was talented. It took him several centuries to pass his tribulations, and that could be considered faster than average. However, meeting a freak of nature like Grandpa Vremya had Bullet King reassessing his talent. If Grandpa Vremya could pass two tribulations in the span of four years, what did that say about Bullet King? However, as a false immortal, how could he give up on a chance of becoming even stronger without even trying? He took his BAR out of his interspatial ring and flew into the cockpit. Then, flames surged out of the BAR’s feet as Bullet King flew away as fast as possible. His chance at progression didn’t come from directly defeating Grandpa Vremya. It came from biding his time and waiting for the right moment. The right moment might never come, but it was better than doing something that would end up in complete defeat.