this infinite world

"Captain, what should we do now? Please give the order!"

"You chose... Chu Hao, is this your choice!?"

"Little brother, whatever you choose, I will support you..."

Choose... Yes, choose!

In Chu Hao's more than twenty years of life, this was the word he heard most often.

At countless crossroads of fate, he made countless choices, each one accompanied by bloodshed, sacrifice, and the loss of one life after another, including those he valued and loved most...

"...This is how we brothers and sisters resolve our differences: everything is decided according to our individual plans."

Amidst Chu Hao's silence and the sound of sword energy slicing through the ground nearby, Ling Xin's voice pierced through the battlefield's clamor, clear as if whispering in Chu Hao's ear: "Chu Hao, didn't I tell you this a long time ago? The weak should have the awareness of the weak. Just like in chess, if you know you're going to lose, you should decisively resign and give yourself a dignified end..."

"Endgame my ass! Bullet time, 10x speed!"

Before Ling Xin could finish speaking, Zhang Heng, standing beside Chu Hao, roared like thunder. An astonishing surge of cosmic energy erupted from his body, causing his Sagittarius Silver Cloth to shine with starlight, causing his aura to surge wildly, violently, and overwhelmingly… As the triple spiral arrow shot out, he transformed into a streak of silver light, rushing towards Ling Xin!
Bullet time accelerated tenfold!

It should be noted that in the exchange of the main god, the highest level of this skill, which only targets oneself and can greatly increase one's speed and reaction speed in a short period of time, is only nine times, while ten times speed is already outside the scope of this skill... It can be said that Zhang Heng's power at this moment has broken through the upper limit of the "bullet time" skill in the main god!

In an instant, the violent energy fluctuations pulverized all the surrounding rocks. Zhang Heng's speed had completely broken the sound barrier, and the shockwaves he generated plowed deep trenches into the ground, leaving a long trail of light behind him, like the tail of a comet; while the starlight condensed in his right fist almost materialized, forming a spiral of destructive energy!
Facing Zhang Heng, who was hurtling towards him like a meteor, a hint of seriousness finally flashed beneath Ling Xin's metal mask. He brandished his longsword, drawing a perfect silver arc in front of him—

"Shikai!"

The moment the two-word mantra was uttered, the blade suddenly emitted a dazzling cold light, and an extremely heavy pressure descended immediately, as if establishing a rule in this space. This caused Zhang Heng to freeze in place, and even the three spiral arrows that shot towards him could not withstand this immense pressure and exploded directly in mid-air!
"Space? No, that's not right... Gravity? No, that's not either..."

In that instant, a thousand thoughts raced through Chu Hao's mind as he prepared something. But looking at Zhang Heng, who was like a statue trapped in amber, his muscles bulging yet unable to move an inch, his face flushed red; and at himself, who felt little pressure, at most only experiencing a slight slump, and combining this with the liberation incantation Ling Xin had chanted when he spoke and his usual behavior, Chu Hao quickly came to the most likely conclusion: "It's... the rules?"

"You changed the rules of this area?!" "Truly worthy of being my younger brother, and the one with the greatest potential among us siblings..."

Hearing Chu Hao guess the true ability of his Zanpakuto's Shikai in the shortest time as if he had read a script, Ling Xin couldn't help but feel a hint of surprise in his eyes. But this surprise quickly turned into deep appreciation: "That's right, good and evil are rewarded accordingly. My Shikai's effect is to establish rules and determine the good and evil of actions within a 300-square-meter area."

“Behaviors that conform to ‘good’ will be reinforced, while behaviors that conform to ‘evil’ will be weakened… and I will define what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘evil’!”

"To be my enemy is an evil deed!"

In an instant, a bright banner of rules appeared out of thin air and hung directly above the battlefield of the three, as clearly visible as a torch. Feeling the invisible pressure that suddenly pressed down on him, Chu Hao whispered, "So that's how it is... Zanpakuto, this is your exchange."

There's a saying that goes, "The battle between reincarnators is sometimes a battle of intelligence." After all, every exchange has its corresponding weaknesses. For example, Devil Fruits are afraid of seawater, and Holy Light often has a special effect on negative energy creatures like skeletons and vampires... In the vast sea of ​​exchanges available to the Main God, the "cost" of finding weaknesses is greatly reduced.

Of course, not everyone could think of this. After all, in the eyes of ordinary reincarnators, famous things are generally considered better, such as skills, attributes, bloodlines, and so on from anime, manga, movies, and novels. Ling Xin's words, however, clearly indicated his exchange... a Zanpakuto!

But that's precisely why Ling Xin's choice surprised Chu Hao even more, because he had also looked at the corresponding exchanges for Zanpakuto for the purpose of gathering intelligence... Unlike the bloodline exchanges that he had expected, such as Asauchi, Shikai, and Bankai, which were upgraded step by step, the Zanpakuto exchange at the main god's place was not only an upgrade that could only be done once, but also only an upgrade of a B-rank attribute!

There is no advanced enhancement or subsequent exchange. Once the Zanpakuto enhancement is completed, the user will become a Shinigami bloodline owner and receive a spirit-type weapon, the Zanpakuto. The evaluation from the main god is not high, even lower than most B-grade attribute bloodline enhancements. At best, it is just an initial enhancement bloodline... The only advantage is probably that it comes with Shinigami bloodline, allowing the exchanger to freely switch between soul and body.

That's why virtually any intelligent reincarnator would never exchange for this utterly useless bloodline enhancement. Unlike equipment, skills, or items, bloodlines can only be exchanged once, and no one would choose such a dead-end path with no future...

But for some reason, Chu Hao was able to understand Ling Xin's feelings at this moment, and understood why Ling Xin wanted to strengthen this bloodline. So he said in a low voice, "Ling Xin, you still haven't given up your point of view... No, it's because of that conversation I had with you before entering this mission world that you appeared in front of me."

"Lingxin, my brother..."

"Do you still harbor hatred for the 'evil' of humanity in your heart?" (End of Chapter)