[717] Omni-Being Particles!

Battle erupted! The moment Yu Xian awoke, he was greeted by the sight of Margot Moxi's Mechanical Empire locked in a slaughter with the Insect God's swarm. The Mechanical Empire was encircled by an endless tide of insects, looking as though it had plunged into an ocean of bugs. Even though the Mechanical Empire reaped them frantically, it did nothing to stem the flood. There were simply too many; everywhere the eye could see was a sea of bugs. Even robots at the Mighty One level could be slain by the swarm through sheer numerical superiority under the Insect God's covert enhancement. Furthermore, the Insect God commanded creatures known as Gold-Devouring Beetles. They specialized in devouring defeated robots, evolving at a staggering speed. Initially, they had needed to skulk about in secret, but before long, they were waiting boldly and righteously for their next meal. At first, the Mechanical Empire had held the upper hand, suppressing the swarm. But after sacrificing legions of bugs, the tide gradually turned, and the insect swarm gained a slight advantage. Across the myriad worlds, countless Mighty Ones watching the battle sucked in a breath of cold air. A moment ago, they had dreaded Margot Moxi's terrifying might; now, they dreaded the dreadful capabilities of the insect army. As long as neither of the two died, most of the Mighty Ones would find it hard to ever sleep soundly. *** Outside the Tree Universe, the Transcender-Whale drew closer and closer to one of the branches of the Tree Universe. Within its body, Dui Tianji spoke: "Our chance has come. I will stimulate the Whale, and we will prepare to return to the Tree Universe!" "I hope you don't mess this up, or every single one of us will die," Quan Juehua said, opening his eyes and looking at Dui Tianji. Dui Tianji smiled. "You know what I want. Relax, nothing will go wrong. That branch is very long, with countless forks. There's no way we'll miss it!" "Hmm." Quan Juehua gave a flat response and closed his eyes once more. Dui Tianji was entirely indifferent to his attitude. Instead, she looked upward with a smile, almost reluctant to leave this place. In truth, though she was Quan Juehua's inner demon, she was also considered a child of the Whale. She had been born here and had grown up here, and now she was finally about to depart. "There's one day left. Time to make preparations!" Dui Tianji said to Quan Juehua a few hours later. Quan Juehua opened his eyes, waking from his contemplation of the Origin Seed. "What kind of preparations?" "Go gather all the white particles around us," Dui Tianji said. "You need enough white particles to envelop yourself. Otherwise, the moment we leave—even for the briefest, most fleeting instant—you will vanish into nothingness. Only these white particles can protect you." Quan Juehua frowned. "Are there side effects?" "A tiny bit, but I don't think you'll mind that much," Dui Tianji said with a smile. Quan Juehua narrowed his eyes. "And what if I do mind?" "Then we'll cross that bridge when the time comes. Either way, it won't be fatal. Besides, even if you knew the side effects, would you really refuse to use them? Do you have another choice?" Dui Tianji countered. Quan Juehua was left speechless by her rebuttal. After all, facts were facts. He had no other choice; even knowing there were side effects, he would still have to use the white particles. "Humph." With a cold snort, Quan Juehua stood up and began gathering the tiny white specks around him. "Don't pick the black specks. And don't take the ones where black and white are interwoven either. Only take the purest white specks," Dui Tianji ordered after observing him for a moment. Quan Juehua's expression darkened, and he immediately tossed away the intertwined black-and-white particles he had picked up. In reality, the white particles were exceedingly tiny, scattered across various places, making the task quite time-consuming. Quan Juehua could not shake the feeling that Dui Tianji had deliberately waited until now to tell him, merely to watch him scramble in a fluster. After all, no matter how rational an inner demon was, it remained a creature steeped in malice toward its host. The current Dui Tianji was already vastly different from a regular inner demon. A normal inner demon sought only to harm the host at its own expense. So long as it could inflict damage on the host, it would spare no cost, even if it meant destroying itself just to deal a vicious blow. But Dui Tianji was different. Perhaps because her composition was mingled with the power of an archdemon or the resentment of other living beings, she was willing to temporarily set aside her pride and cooperate with Quan Juehua for her own benefit, despite bearing him malice. This was a circumstance that would never occur with a typical inner demon; an inner demon could never truly cooperate with its host! Quan Juehua moved swiftly, collecting the white particles while lost in thought. Once he accelerated his personal flow of time, he moved so fast he left afterimages. Since Dui Tianji wanted to see him looking wretched, he refused to let her have the satisfaction. Not enough time? Then he would accelerate his flow of time, treating a day as a year, or even a hundred years if one was not enough. He refused to believe he could not gather enough white particles to escape this place. A day passed in the blink of an eye. Quan Juehua's entire body was covered in tiny white dots, making him look like a pixelated mummy. He looked toward Dui Tianji and asked, "Time should be about up. Why haven't we arrived yet?" "That was only a rough estimate. The Whale's speed isn't constant. If it sways slightly, the timing shifts considerably. Just wait patiently," Dui Tianji replied. Between Being and Non-Being, the Transcender-Whale slowly approached the Tree Universe, never truly touching it. As it passed near a branch, it suddenly felt an itch. Instinctively, it sneezed, and an immense surge of matter immediately jetted out from the blowhole on its back. Both Quan Juehua and Dui Tianji were blown out with it. Quan Juehua stared at Dui Tianji in horror, unable to believe that she had actually dared to stab the flesh around the rim of the Transcender-Whale's blowhole with a blade. If the Whale were to fully awaken, not a hundred, not even a hundred million of them would be enough to die! "Are you insane?!" "Hehehehe, you only realized that now?" Quan Juehua and Dui Tianji drifted upward at high speed. The moment Dui Tianji's voice faded, Quan Juehua felt something assault him. Black particles! At the same time, his skin began to itch, as if it was being assimilated by the white particles—bizarre growths were even sprouting out of him. On his chest, for example, a gigantic flower bloomed right then and there. "Isn't this side effect way too huge?!" Quan Juehua roared, on the verge of a breakdown. The flower was not growing merely on his chest; it was rooted in his soul and his spiritual spark. He would never be able to rid himself of this flower on his chest for the rest of his life. "Hehehe, when weighed against life and death, what does this little side effect count for?" Dui Tianji laughed. Feeling an itch on his head, Quan Juehua touched it with a grim face, only to discover that another head was actually growing on top of his. The white particles were named 'Being', also known as 'Omni-Being particles'. Simply put, they could be transformed into any tangible thing. When clustered intimately against Quan Juehua, whatever they randomly generated became a part of him.