Breadth and Depth

Even though Yu Xian and the others had wandered through the Tree Universe for more than a decade, they had actually been circling within a single "branch" of it all along. In fact, the worlds they had explored in this branch alone amounted to less than a hundred-millionth of its whole. No! More accurately, it was less than one part in a hundred million to the power of seventeen. And this was merely a tiny, thoroughly negligible branch—roughly equivalent to a minute segment of space formed after a branch in the Tree Universe bifurcated again and again and again and again and again. Furthermore, the Tree Universe was constantly growing and annihilating, making its expanse virtually infinite. For Yu Xian and the others to track down two targets intentionally hiding in the Tree Universe, finding a needle in a haystack would be considered trivial by comparison. After a round of discussion, everyone realized that continuing to talk would lead nowhere, and silence fell over the group. "Zhougelasi, what do you plan to do next?" Yu Xian asked, breaking the silence as he changed the subject and looked at the giant. Zhougelasi gave a wry smile. "The necklace I'm wearing must be very precious, right? If possible, I hope to find an item that can replace it, and then return the necklace to you." "The necklace is just a small matter. You can return it whenever you like. Aside from that, is there anything else?" Yu Xian offered generously. He had more than a dozen items with similar effects, so he truly did not mind Zhougelasi wearing the necklace. Besides, the fact that Zhougelasi openly laid the matter on the table was in itself a display of forthright integrity. A person like this understood gratitude, and Yu Xian had no objection to offering him a bit more help. Zhougelasi fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. "Probably... nothing. My homeland was completely destroyed in the Twilight of the Gods. That's why giants like me who survived are called Twilight Giants. I have no home left, nor do I have anything I must do." It was precisely because his home was gone that he had begun traveling, going wherever he pleased. "In that case, do you want to travel together with us? Since we're all at loose ends anyway," Yu Xian said with a brief start, followed by a smile. A hesitant look crossed Zhougelasi's face, and he said worriedly, "Right now, I can only maintain my sanity with the help of your necklace. If I travel with you, I worry that if the necklace gets damaged..." "Don't overthink it. You might be very strong, but we're not weak either," Zhang Shou interjected, speaking with absolute confidence. Zhougelasi glanced at Zhang Shou and answered honestly, "Actually... you look quite weak. You seem like the type I could kill with a single punch." "Kill me with one punch? You?" Zhang Shou's eyes widened. He hadn't expected that after kindly offering reassurance, Zhougelasi would dare make such an outrageous boast. Zhougelasi nodded. "Yes. One punch should be enough." "Come on, none of you stop me! Come, let's spar and see what makes you think you can kill me with one punch!" The veins on Zhang Shou's forehead bulged as he laughed out of sheer fury. Zhougelasi hesitated. "Maybe we shouldn't. I'm afraid I'll hurt you." Saying so, he looked back at Yu Xian and pleaded sincerely, "Sir, could you persuade him?" "It's fine. Just don't actually kill him. This is a good chance for us to see your strength," Yu Xian said with a beaming smile. Earlier, Yu Xian had only subdued Zhougelasi while the giant was half-mad and halfway into demonic fall. He truly wanted to see just how strong Zhougelasi was when lucid and rational. Even though Yu Xian had bound him with Chains of Light, Zhougelasi had never actually been injured from start to finish. "If that's the case... all right then," Zhougelasi agreed, nodding reluctantly since Yu Xian had put it that way. Promptly, everyone cleared space for Zhang Shou and Zhougelasi, retreating to the edge of the platform. Yu Xian pulled out a chair and sat down. Not far away, Gong Qian began putting pressure on Zhang Shou: "Zhang Shou, don't embarrass us! If Zhougelasi punches you to death, just die nice and clean—don't resurrect and humiliate yourself all over again!" She said this mainly because Zhang Shou truly possessed resurrection abilities. Everyone present was an old friend accustomed to Zhang Shou repeatedly dying and coming back to life, so they were no strangers to him getting killed. "Come on, let's see if you can kill me with one punch!" Zhang Shou first flipped Gong Qian off, then turned back to Zhougelasi and spoke seriously. With his hand resting on the hilt of his blade, his entire presence turned razor-sharp, like the sheathed weapon in his hand, a towering aura surging straight into the sky. Zhougelasi sighed and said, "I don't know about other worlds, but more than a thousand cosmic annihilation epochs ago, I met an unfathomably powerful master. He told me... even Mighty Ones are divided into various ranks. In my view... you've merely crossed the threshold. You belong to the lowest tier." "Then let me witness the power of a higher-tier Mighty One!" Zhang Shou declared grimly. The next instant, he drew his blade with fierce resolve and slashed straight at Zhougelasi. This single strike concentrated his spirit, vital energy, and mind, fusing together a thousand years of blade comprehension, will, and rules. Overlord Blade—Invincible Slash! A blazing arc of blade energy cleaved toward Zhougelasi in an instant, as if heaven and earth themselves were about to be split in two. Zhougelasi lightly tightened his fist. The moment the blade energy descended, he threw a punch. This strike seemed to drag upon all creation, concentrating the might of all things into a single point. In a flash, Zhang Shou's blade energy was shattered by the punch. The terrifying fist drove straight forward, arriving before Zhang Shou in an instant and halting right at the tip of his nose. At that moment, time seemed to pause. Zhang Shou stared wide-eyed at the fist, each of its fingers larger than his entire body. He did not doubt for a second that this punch had the power to kill him outright. How could he be that strong? Zhang Shou swallowed hard, a bead of cold sweat trickling down his forehead. Clap, clap, clap, clap! Just then, Yu Xian's applause rang out. He jogged over and smiled. "Impressive, truly impressive! Zhougelasi, was that the enhancement rule you used?" "Yes. Rank five enhancement rule," Zhougelasi answered, slowly pulling his fist back and nodding. Yu Xian nodded. "No wonder. Old Zhang is far behind you in both breadth and depth. The gap really is immense." After becoming a Mighty One, mastering a single rule was merely the basic foundation. To become even stronger, one had two choices: one was to master more rules, which was the path of breadth. The other was to deepen one's comprehension of that single rule, drilling further into it until one's affinity with that rule across the myriad heavens and worlds continuously ascended. Traveling down this path was practically endless, for the Tree Universe itself was infinite. Yet, if one cultivated to an exceedingly profound stage, a flash of inspiration might strike, or an intuitive breakthrough might dawn, allowing one to realize how to completely claim the root source of that rule. At that point, if successful, one would have the chance to become an Origin Returner.