The Celebrity Effect

Boom! The scepter's head crashed down upon the Death Emperor's head, the tremendous force slamming it straight into the ground. It was an utterly lethal strike. The moment the scepter collided with the Death Emperor's head, golden light pierced through his skull like a greatsword. Coupled with Li Zhenlong's Strength Rule, although the Death Emperor's head did not burst open on the spot, the inside was reduced to mush. Only after confirming that the Death Emperor was dead did Li Zhenlong restore his weapon from its three-section staff form back into a staff. He used it to flick the Death Emperor's corpse off the ring, then retrieved his gourd, unstoppered it, and guzzled down mouthfuls of wine. Exhilarating. Then, remembering something, he stepped down from the ring and slowly extracted a portion of Calamity Origin from the Death Emperor's body. Holding the Calamity Origin in his hand, feeling the ominous aura within, his eyes narrowed slightly. If the Death Emperor had not lied, then that Margot Moxi certainly possessed even more Calamity Origin. Challenging the strong had always been his passion, and she happened to possess the Calamity Origin he needed... It was decided. The next target was Margot Moxi! Li Zhenlong drew the Calamity Origin into his body, where various rule powers instantly suppressed it within his dantian to be refined. *** Within the Zhen Realm. Yu Xian and the Death Emperor sat cross-legged on prayer mats inside the small dark room, watching a projection in the center showing the region of the Tree Universe where Li Zhenlong was located. The very second after the Death Emperor was killed by Li Zhenlong, Yu Xian had directly resurrected him. Now, both were waiting for Li Zhenlong to emerge from the Martial Dao World. "Master, if you ever face Li Zhenlong in the future, remember this: under no circumstances should you fight him inside his Martial Dao World," the Death Emperor said earnestly to Yu Xian, staring at the pitch-black void on the screen. While caught in the midst of it, he had not noticed anything amiss about the Martial Dao World, even feeling that it was merely an ordinary space. Only now, having returned from the dead and escaped the Martial Dao World, did he realize its secret. Anyone who fought Li Zhenlong inside that world would suffer an immense disadvantage. "What did you discover?" Yu Xian looked up at the Death Emperor and asked directly. The Death Emperor frowned. "Inside the Martial Dao World, one's thinking gradually becomes binary. Moreover, any technique is read by the Martial Dao World before it is even unleashed. In other words, Li Zhenlong fighting inside the Martial Dao World is equivalent to fighting an opponent whose intelligence has been lowered and whose every move is completely under his control." In truth, he had many abilities and could have combined them seamlessly. Yet inside the Martial Dao World, he had failed to do so entirely. At the time, he had stubbornly used each ability in isolation rather than coordinating them. The troubling part was that back then, the Death Emperor had found it completely natural, believing right up until his death that his skills were simply inferior. That was binary thinking—it was either A or B, with no possibility of C. "In that case, the scoundrel is quite insidious," Yu Xian remarked thoughtfully after listening to the Death Emperor's explanation. Although the end result meant the Death Emperor was destined to lose against Li Zhenlong, he should not have lost so pathetically. A battle between Mighty Ones was never easily won unless one side lost their mind. Li Zhenlong had not even defeated the Eye-Snatching Demon with such ease, and the Death Emperor was essentially an enhanced version of the Eye-Snatching Demon at the time. There was no reason for him to fall so quickly. At that moment, Li Zhenlong emerged from the Martial Dao World. He glanced around and immediately headed off in the direction of Margot Moxi. Seeing this, Yu Xian and the Death Emperor looked at each other, both breaking into smiles. *No matter how crafty the ghost, you still have to drink my footwash!* Li Zhenlong's abilities were formidable and insidious, but so what? He had still been played like a fiddle by Yu Xian and the Death Emperor. Sooner or later, Yu Xian would reclaim the bait and groundbait cast today, with interest. Over the next few days, Yu Xian and the Death Emperor took turns monitoring Li Zhenlong's movements. Although Li Zhenlong had decided to move against Margot Moxi, that did not mean combat was imminent. First of all, the distance between them was simply too vast. Even if Li Zhenlong moved at quadrillions upon trillions of times the speed of light, it would take him at least three hundred years to reach Margot Moxi's region. Secondly, Li Zhenlong was no fool. Even if he intended to strike at Margot Moxi, he would first observe from the shadows, deciphering her abilities so that he could act with full knowledge of both himself and his foe. Thus, a fight between Li Zhenlong and Margot Moxi would not break out anytime soon. Yu Xian also kept an eye on the other powerful beings in the Tree Universe. The Gourd of Legacy did not mandate that the corpses must be slain by his own hands. The Mighty Ones were currently locked in chaotic free-for-alls; if an opportunity arose, Yu Xian had no objection to looting the spoils left behind by others. At this moment, in some obscure corner of the Tree Universe—a branch of a branch of a branch that kept branching out endlessly—two Mighty Ones were locked in a frenzied battle. The surrounding worlds had long been reduced to ruins by their clash, yet neither of them was a destruction-oriented Mighty One. One of these Mighty Ones was named Hong Xiguan, the legendary founder of Hung Kuen, while the other was Wu Song, the Heavenly Harm Star from *The Water Margin*. In truth, across the myriad heavens and realms and infinite parallel universes, the more famous a person was, the greater their chance of breaking free from the shackles of their original destiny to tread a different path. The reason was simple. Suppose that on a whim, Yu Xian decided to visit famous historical figures, perhaps wishing to drink wine with Li Bai in person and watch him recite poetry and perform a sword dance while drunk. Would he not intrude into some parallel world to find that world's Li Bai? If so, that Li Bai's destiny would almost certainly change. The slightest scrap slipped from Yu Xian's fingers would be enough to turn that Li Bai into an immortal-like figure in his world. When such possibilities spread across the entire Tree Universe, the probability of these 'celebrities' becoming Transcendents naturally skyrocketed. And after being sifted through the sands of time, a few Mighty Ones were bound to emerge among them. Hong Xiguan and Wu Song had become Mighty Ones in precisely this manner. One had encountered a Transcendent who wished to learn authentic Hung Kuen, and that Transcendent had eventually brought Hong Xiguan to a world inhabited by Transcendents, setting him on the path of transcendence. Wu Song, on the other hand, had been swept along by a fan, followed by numerous opportunities, slowly attaining the status of a Mighty One over countless ages. Yet time spared no one. Whether Hong Xiguan or Wu Song, their personalities, abilities, temperaments, and realms were no longer what they once were. The two clashed with singular focus, every move and stance aimed solely at one another, yet the tremors generated by the collision of their rules decimated the surrounding worlds. Hong Xiguan cultivated the rules of Flesh, Authority, and Life, while Wu Song cultivated the pure Strength Rule. As they clashed, rule powers rippled outward like waves. The closer worlds shattered like paper in an instant. Everything tied to the rules crumbled directly. Yet this was merely the aftershock.