this infinite world

Chu Hao is currently in a rather peculiar state.

There's a scientific hypothesis that human consciousness is merely a ghost imprisoned in the body. Because this physical form restricts the soul's power, humans cannot unleash the full potential of their bodies—for example, by seeing things behind them or by considering the limits of their physical endurance.

Humans are actually controlled by their souls, and it is because of this state that they cannot unleash their full potential.

But... what if a human soul, after leaving the body, could still control their physical body and move freely?

At this moment, Chu Hao was in a state very similar to this so-called "soul leaving the body". His consciousness was suspended above his body, as if he were controlling a game character, precisely "driving" his physical body to fight against Ling Xin, and looking down on everything on the battlefield from a near-godlike perspective.

In this transcendent state, Chu Hao could freely mobilize every bit of energy within his body, precisely channeling it to the most needed locations; various profound spells were effortlessly wielded in his hands, as natural and fluid as breathing; even more terrifying was that he was analyzing and deducing Ling Xin's every combat move at an astonishing speed, accurately predicting the opponent's next action... Although not truly foreseeing the future, he had achieved a superior level of "future calculation" through his absolute computational power!
Back in the Main God Space, Chu Hao had heard Nian Xikong talk about the relationship between cultivation and magic. According to her, magic and cultivation are essentially very similar, both using combinations of runes to form corresponding spells and supernatural powers. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they come from the same source, only they are called by different names.

In other words, even an arcanist like Chu Hao, who obtained his power through the Divine Space, is actually a type of cultivator, and the two have similar effects.

In Nian Xikong's introduction, cultivators at the fourth level condense everything about themselves into a golden core, which is also called a divine spark by mages. If divine fire is the source of energy and the beginning of immortality, then divinity is the energy manifested by divine fire, and the divine spark is the optimized mechanism or program that uses this energy, which is also known as the light of the mind, golden nature, and golden core.

Cultivators often use their golden core as a conduit when using spells or manipulating magical artifacts, thus maximizing the power of their techniques. The path of the arcanist he followed also required a significant amount of computational power as a foundation.

However, Chu Hao previously used a trace of death divinity he obtained from the Alien vs. Predator arc as a medium to analyze and cast spells. While it wasn't impossible, it was essentially just manually creating a virtual machine to perform large-scale arithmetic operations. Now, he has obtained a medium similar to a golden core, and the power he can unleash is naturally unimaginable…

In other words, Chu Hao is now... omnipotent!

……

The battle continues.

However, Ling Xin wasn't a reckless brute lacking combat intelligence. After realizing that Chu Hao's "overload state" was a calculated simulation of future vision, he decisively changed his battle strategy. After all, compared to easily predictable moves and mostly wide-ranging melee combat, dragging the fight into Chu Hao's unknown territory was undoubtedly more advantageous for Ling Xin.

"Scattered beast bones, spires, red crystals, and steel wheels, moving like the wind and still like the void, the sound of spears clashing fills the void city!"

At that moment, Ling Xin moved swiftly, decisively creating distance between himself and Chu Hao.

He chanted a spell, and his voice transformed into tangible sound waves amidst the spiritual pressure vibrations... The next moment, blinding lightning suddenly burst forth from Ling Xin's left palm!

That was no ordinary lightning spell, but a highly compressed spiritual lightning, the Thunder Roar Cannon, the sixty-third ranked demonic path!
Who says Shinigami are just reckless brutes who rely on their Zanpakuto to wreak havoc and engage in mindless melee combat? The four systems of Zanpakuto, Kenpo, and Oni form a highly developed and mature fighting system that has been practiced in Soul Society for thousands of years. And while these weren't originally considered high-level Kido techniques, even the lieutenants could use them with ease. However, after Ryoshin's Bankai, these techniques underwent a qualitative transformation under the intense spiritual pressure!
The instant the incantation finished, the originally bluish-white lightning suddenly transformed into a deep blue radiance, tearing a spiderweb-like blue trail through the air. Each bolt of lightning seemed to possess a life of its own, twisting and coiling, ultimately transforming into over a hundred ferocious lightning serpents, tearing at Chu Hao from different angles!

By dismantling the originally linear lightning cannon into multi-tracking lightning, Ling Xin clearly did more than just spend reward points and side quests from the main god to exchange for the corresponding Ghost Path; he incorporated his own understanding into it.

But...can it succeed?
This was clearly impossible. Faced with the encircling lightning, Chu Hao still made no counterattack, yet every movement he made was incredibly concise and terrifyingly precise. Those azure lightning bolts, powerful enough to vaporize steel, appeared as slowed-down projections before Chu Hao. The trajectory of each attack was perfectly predicted, embodying the phrase "walking leisurely in a garden" to the fullest extent. Not even the hem of his clothes was grazed by the lightning…

Of course, this was clearly part of Ling Xin's plan. After all, the trajectory was predictable; at most, it was just pure lightning, much more powerful and faster. Obviously, it posed no threat whatsoever to Chu Hao, who could predict the future through calculation. He showed no sign of defeat, instead, his left hand clenched into a fist!
In an instant, the hundred or so ferocious lightning snakes suddenly split and expanded, transforming into tens of thousands of lightning dragons that burst forth!

"The thundering chariot, the cracks in the spinning wheel, this thing has light, and it is divided into six..."

This technique of controlling and dispersing lightning was clearly exceptionally skillful; countless bolts of lightning nearly blocked all of Chu Hao's escape routes. At the same time, Ling Xin's mouth wasn't idle either. With his rapid chanting, six golden bolts of lightning suddenly froze in mid-air, transforming into six dazzling spiritual spears. These lightning spears weren't stationary; rather, they moved around Chu Hao like living things, each intersection precisely blocking his evasive angles—

Front, back, left, right, up, down!
"Sixty-one of the Dao of Binding, the Six-Stand Light Prison!"

By perfectly fusing the offensive Thunder Roar Cannon with the imprisoning Six-Staff Light Prison, Ling Xin created his unique "Thunder Prison"—this was the killing move he had prepared. In an instant, lightning and thunder rose from the ground, like a divine decree of punishment descended by the Thunder God, illuminating the battlefield as if it were daytime!

—Still useless.

Before Ling Xin could even finish his final chant, Chu Hao, who had anticipated what moves Ling Xin would use, had already begun his own actions.

The instant the six lightning spears solidified, Chu Hao had already escaped the most dangerous center of the encirclement. He sidestepped the first spear that grazed his nose, and leaned back to avoid the second blade of light that brushed past his back. The most dangerous moment was when the third and fourth spears crossed each other; at the last second, Chu Hao used his toes to touch the ground, spinning like a top as he passed through the gap between two spears.

As the fifth lightning spear descended from above, Chu Hao subtly flicked its shaft with his right hand, causing it to deviate slightly from its trajectory and collide with the sixth lightning spear that emerged from beneath his feet, annihilating it simultaneously. He moved with complete ease, as if each attack trajectory of those lightning spears, imbued with destructive power, was clearly marked with an evasive path in his eyes… However, watching Chu Hao's movements, even though his own attacks had all landed in vain, Ling Xin seemed to have discovered something, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

Then, the young man began his chanting again, this time several times faster than before, each syllable causing the space to tremble—

"A faint, murky emblem, an untamed and arrogant talent; a surge, a denial, a paralysis, a fleeting moment, hindering eternal slumber. The crawling Iron Princess, the self-mutilating clay doll, uniting, rebounding, extending to the ground, knowing its own powerlessness—"

"Ninety of the broken path, black coffin!"

The pitch-black spiritual pressure seeped out like viscous asphalt, and a black swamp coffin covered with spikes instantly took shape in the void, imprisoning Chu Hao, who had just emerged from the lightning prison, once again within it.

This time, it's a move ranked above ninety, and it's the one Aizen used to attack Kurosaki Ichigo after fusing with the Hogyoku: Black Coffin! It was once modified by Aizen and was a killing move that could instantly incapacitate a Captain-level Shinigami!
However, before Ling Xin could even have a sliver of thought of success, a human-shaped mark appeared on the supposedly indestructible black coffin... Chu Hao's figure, like a phantom projection, directly pierced through the pitch-black coffin wall, which was theoretically capable of sealing even space, and landed back on the battlefield!
“This kind of attack is useless against me, Lingxin.”

What's even more infuriating is that Chu Hao, after passing through the black coffin, remained completely calm, as if stating a perfectly ordinary fact: "Thunder Roar Cannon, Six-Staff Light Prison, Black Coffin... in essence, they are all just corresponding combinations of runes. As long as I can analyze their corresponding core rune principles, then they pose no threat to me."

"Yes, I noticed, but just now, you did make a 'counterattack' move, right?"

Ling Xin nodded, seemingly unsurprised by Chu Hao's performance, as if they knew each other very well: "This proves that my attack on you was actually effective."

As he spoke, Ling Xin slowly raised the Zanpakuto in his hand: "Since you are using calculation to analyze my actions, then I will increase the variables in the battle as much as possible, increase your burden, and disrupt your calculations; since I cannot gain an advantage in close combat, then I must first completely disrupt the entire battle situation; and since simple sword energy and slashes cannot harm a hair on your head, then I should use overwhelming area attacks to sweep away everything in front of me with overwhelming force!"

"boom!"

As the two-meter-long Zanpakuto pierced the ground, the earth within a radius of several thousand meters instantly shattered. A violent spiritual pressure, carrying countless fragments of stone and dust, shot into the sky, forming raging black pillars of light between heaven and earth!
In an instant, the entire area seemed to be undergoing a miniature tectonic movement, with a black aura emanating from Ling Xin's blade, capable of devouring everything in its path. Wherever the shockwave passed, everything was lifted into the air, and before it could fall, it was reduced to ashes by the surging, violent spiritual pressure!

However, those who disappeared within this extremely ominous black spiritual pressure naturally did not include Chu Hao, who was in an "overloaded state".

Chu Hao moved like a butterfly flitting among flowers through the apocalyptic scene, effortlessly dodging bursts of black light. Even though there was nothing beneath his feet, translucent hands repeatedly formed steps, allowing him to evade attacks time and again…

The hand of the mage!

It was still the most basic level 0 spell, still the work of an ordinary mage. But Chu Hao used this commonplace spell in a way that felt completely different from everyone else.

At the center of the destructive energy storm pillar, dozens of translucent mage hands flowed around Chu Hao, resembling the Thousand-Armed Guanyin from mythology. These low-level spells, which ordinary people would only use to manipulate objects remotely, transformed in his hands into perfect weapons of offense and defense... Some condensed into leverage points in the void, allowing him to gracefully change direction amidst the explosive shockwaves; others became invisible shields, effortlessly dispersing the aftershocks of spiritual pressure; and still others intertwined around him to form a filter, completely blocking the deadly energy fluctuations and poisonous mist!
This is hardly a beginner-level trick; it's clearly a self-contained defensive system!

"Truly incredibly powerful... but predicting my actions requires mental effort, attacking me requires your energy, and even analyzing my moves requires your computational power. How long can you sustain such a large-scale calculation?"

The black spiritual pressure storm gradually dissipated, and in the battlefield where the landscape had been completely transformed, Ling Xin slowly rose, leaning on his Zanpakuto. During the exchange, he had taken several more attacks from Chu Hao, but his overall condition was still relatively good: "Ten minutes? Thirty minutes? Or longer?"

"But... if you don't decide the winner soon, your companions won't be able to hold on much longer."

Hearing Ling Xin's words, Chu Hao, who was under immense strain, adjusted his glasses. Then, beneath his skin, the runes that had previously merged into his body lit up with corresponding light...

"You have a point."

"Chu Hao, why don't you try a different fighting style? Instead of being a magical turret from afar like before, why not imprint magical runes into your body and amplify their power within yourself..."

Chu Hao replied earnestly, "So, it won't be delayed for too long..."

"I will end the battle as soon as possible."

As he spoke, the azure light in Chu Hao's pupils shone even brighter. (End of Chapter)