Admission Ticket

However, her abilities were completely useless against Violent Huangquan. This was because after Little Huangquan used the mask to transform into Violent Huangquan, she possessed two amusing hidden traits. The first was Illiteracy. The effect of this trait was that any text-based ability was completely ineffective against Violent Huangquan—simply because she could not read a single word. It was truly a case of a scholar meeting a soldier—reasoning meant nothing. The second trait was Fighting Fire with Fire. Simply put, only brute force could counter brute force. Violent Huangquan could only be harmed by direct, frontal attacks; all other methods were utterly useless against her. In fact, if Violent Huangquan turned around and faced her back toward an enemy, she could become immune to all enemy attacks. However, Violent Huangquan's personality guaranteed one thing: she would never resort to such tactics. In battle, she absolutely refused to cut corners or play petty tricks. Tanabo tested every single one of her skills as she fought and retreated, only barely managing to avoid being bludgeoned to death by Violent Huangquan's club. Yet when she saw Violent Huangquan gripping the spiked club with both hands and charging forward once more with unstoppable momentum, Tanabo finally let out an angry, indignant shriek. Her body dissolved into streams of data and vanished in an instant. "Trying to run?" Standing on the deck of the Aska, the very moment Tanabo disappeared, Nora fired a shot straight into the sky. In a fraction of a second, the bullet crossed world after world, hurtling in rapid pursuit of the fleeing Tanabo. From a macro perspective across the Tree Universe, it was a bullet using different worlds as springboards to ricochet at breakneck speed, until it ultimately plunged into a single world. Tanabo had barely coalesced back into human form and opened her eyes when she saw a bullet flying straight toward her. Before she could even process a thought, the bullet punched a small hole through her forehead. This bullet targeted Tanabo's soul; a single shot shattered her soul to pieces. Between Mighty Ones, the gap in power could sometimes be absurdly vast. Nora's guns were something even Yu Xian feared, because Nora swapped out her weapons depending on her opponent. Sometimes she held what looked like a toy gun, but in reality, it was a miraculous item. Her most devastating weapon was a soul treasure nurtured by her own spirit. What made it even more ridiculous was that its appearance was extraordinarily plain. Caught off guard, the vast majority of Mighty Ones would capsize in an unremarkable puddle against it. Although Nora had not brought out her strongest weapon this time, she had employed the miraculous item known as the Thousand-Li Soulchaser Gun. Furthermore, the bullet she used had a special property: the farther the target was, the more destructive its impact became. Tanabo was now so unimaginably far from Nora that the resulting shot directly pulverized her soul. Her death was by no means undeserved. It was worth noting that this bullet was also a miraculous item, dismantled by Nora from an entirely different gun. She had stockpiled countless bullets like it, in numbers almost beyond reckoning. In truth, Nora could have used the Thousand-Li Soulchaser Gun to track down the hiding Yu Xian, but she held a firm bottom line: in the real world, she would never turn a weapon against her friends. Naturally, if it were in a place like the Zhen Realm, she would not care either way. *** In death, Tanabo's corpse drifted aimlessly in outer space. This world was known as the Heavenly Fragrance World, where every creature equated beauty with fragrant scent. If a being was not fragrant enough, they would face disgust, discrimination, and alienation from everyone else. Here, even a pig was a delightfully scented, fragrant little piglet. Tanabo had fled to this world because its information networks were exceptionally advanced, equipped with countless central signal relay stations. For her, entering this world was like a rat slipping into a sewer—she could travel anywhere in a single thought. She had simply never anticipated Nora's attack would come so fast, or pack such monstrous power. "Does anyone claim this corpse?" "If nobody wants it, I'm taking it." Just then, an old man dressed in tattered rags and reeking of a foul stench appeared beside Tanabo's body, calling out to the void around him. The old man waited a moment. Seeing that no one stepped forward to claim Tanabo's corpse, he gleefully stepped forward, preparing to take possession of it. Right at that moment, however, the bullet floating below Tanabo emitted a faint glow, and Nora's projection materialized. "Are you an accomplice of hers?" Nora asked sternly, fixing her gaze upon the old man. Surprised, the old man looked at Nora and asked, "What accomplice?" "Stop playing dumb, or else... die!" Nora regarded the old man warily, speaking with absolute seriousness. Even across countless worlds, Nora could sense just how powerful this old man was. This fellow was undeniably playing dumb. "Wait, wait, wait! I surrender! But I'm really not her accomplice—I'm just a poor, humble junk scavenger," the old man hastily raised both hands, speaking with utmost honesty. Murderous intent surged in Nora's heart. She refused to believe in such a coincidence: that Tanabo had fled to this exact world, only for a Mighty One even stronger than Tanabo to be waiting right here. She was far more inclined to believe that Tanabo and this old man were in league, and the only reason the old man refused to admit it now was sheer fear of death. "Wait!" "Hold on!" "Spare me, put down the gun!" "I confess! I'll confess everything!" Seemingly sensing Nora's killing intent, the old man hurriedly blurted out. He then became considerably more forthright, explaining, "This old man's surname is Gu, given name Tiansheng. The Dao I cultivate is the Junk Dao. What others possess, I lack; what others discard, I collect. Residing at the lowest point of all creation, free from contention and attachment, I truly am a good person, not a villain!" "Yet you clearly want to take this corpse. Could it be that you..." Nora looked at Gu Tiansheng with suspicion. A sudden thought crossed her mind, and her expression instantly twisted in disgust. Gu Tiansheng hastily cried out, "Wait! Heroine, please don't let your imagination run wild! I admit I was greedy, but not because she's a woman—it's because she possesses Calamity Origin!" In truth, he had previously been scavenging for junk in another world immensely far from this one. What was junk? Things that once had an owner, but now had none. As long as an item satisfied these two conditions, he could easily claim it and obtain full control over it. Thus, the Junk Dao was by no means trash; in fact, it was extraordinarily potent. It was precisely because he sensed Tanabo's demise in this world that he had rushed over. Seeing that Tanabo's corpse was unclaimed, greed had gotten the better of him. "Calamity Origin?" "Are you looking to become the next casualty?" Nora furrowed her brows slightly, watching Gu Tiansheng as she asked with vigilance. Calamity Origin was no good thing. Although it was a priceless treasure to the vast majority of Mighty Ones, to Nora, it was nothing more than a font of disaster. Whoever possessed it, she would kill. "Alas, forget it, forget it!" Gu Tiansheng hesitated for a moment, ultimately letting out a long sigh. He spoke, "The Junk Dao I cultivate grants me the ability to 'recycle waste' from any piece of junk. According to what I just sensed, I'm afraid the opportunity for the Dao of Calamity has arrived. "I surmise that the next Origin Returner will inevitably be the master of the Dao of Calamity. "Whoever obtains a portion of Calamity Origin will possess the qualification to vie for becoming the next Origin Returner. In other words, this is an admission ticket to Origin Return."