Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"Everything in my hands should undergo development and change."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Path of Destiny, Part Five

As expected, neither Zheng Zha nor Chu Xuan returned when the Fifth World ended.

Xiao Honglu didn't say anything—he had nothing to say. He couldn't possibly get involved in the Daoist conflict between Zheng Chu and his past life. Nor could he let his companion do such a thankless task.

He simply suppressed his smile and apologized to everyone. Then, after twelve days of misfortune passed without incident at midnight, he and the remaining reincarnators headed to the next world.

The next world, the sixth world.

The Sixth World is Starship Troopers.

After the Tower of Babel fragments were removed, Starship Troopers reverted from its Matrix-like complex world to its original form—ordinary interstellar warfare, ordinary battleship exchanges. Human civilization, still in the interstellar expansion phase, clashed with the Argonauts, also in the interstellar expansion phase. Barring unforeseen circumstances, this war would likely last a long time.

..............................

Alice opened her eyes.

She reached out and enlightened Logandao, who was not yet a true god. Then she entrusted him with the task of dealing with the war, letting him fight as the main force in this world.

She knew Logandao could do it, so she didn't need to trust him—beyond the species' distrust—and after completing the project, she and her other companions temporarily parted ways to carry out what was rightfully hers to handle.

She first arrived at the Nan Yan Zhou team.

And everything unfolded exactly as she had predicted. The former captain of the Southern Flame Continent team, Esdeath, a general from the Akame ga Kill! world, received a new despair before being chosen by the main god because of her actions. This despair compelled her to hastily embark on a path of revenge as soon as she gained power in the cycle of reincarnation. And then, at the end of her revenge lay the long death she was destined to face.

Esdeath died. She died before she could forge bonds with the rest of the Southern Flame Team, before she could demonstrate her worth in Neos' eyes. She wasn't resurrected, nor did she, or was unable to, leave any contingency plans for the next cycle of reincarnation. And when this team battle began, the Southern Flame Team was forced to face Central Continent with a much weaker position than in the original scenario.

—Although they weren't even qualified to meet the Central Continent Team.

After all, Alice had already appeared before them when time began to operate.

And naturally, there was no fighting—Alice simply raised a finger, sending the reincarnation team members, who could have survived until the Lord of the Rings era, to their next lives. Only Neos, who had become the captain of the Southern Flame Continent team after experiencing historical changes, remained, exchanging a few words with her.

Neos's expression changed several times.

"You're too strong." He toyed with a chocolate ball in his hand, wanting to eat it, but in the end he just crushed the chocolate into powder. "Strong beyond reason, strong enough that even the most exaggerated model cannot take this kind of variable into account."

“I am change,” Alice replied, gazing at him.

“…Is that so?” A look of realization dawned on Neos’s eyes. He took another chocolate from his pocket and swallowed it, slowly smoothing his furrowed brow. “I once estimated that when a life form reaches a certain level of power, time and space cease to be obstacles, and the essence of that individual transforms from a physical body with mass into pure energy, into an embodiment of a certain concept—are you from the future?”

“Yes.” Alice nodded. “I came from the final point of this cycle of reincarnation to erase the Southern Flame Continent team, which should have been eliminated in the next world. Because you have the ability to create extra work for me.”

“…Extra abilities? Me? No…it’s not me.” Neos’s eyes flickered sharply.

"I see." He could only sigh after reaching his conclusion. "Is it because I might be able to resurrect my comrades? Is it because one of my comrades might pose a threat to you in the future? Richard? No, no... is it Esdeath, who died in her real world? You killed her? In the earlier past?"

“Yes.” Alice’s response remained concise. “Esdeath possesses traits similar to mine. If I were to give her the opportunity to rise to power, perhaps the next moment another Esdeath of equal stature would stand in my way. Therefore, I cannot leave any room for maneuver in her demise; her death must be swift and decisive, leaving no room for error.”

"...Are you saying that our Nan Yan Zhou team doesn't actually pose much of a threat to you?"

“That’s true. Whether in the original timeline or the current timeline, my defeat of you was very easy and quick.” Alice reached out and plucked an apple from the void. “It wasn’t much harder than picking an apple from a tree.”

She saw Neos slump down, then exhale a long, dejected breath.

"Then why are you talking to me like this? Why not just destroy me from the beginning, like you destroyed my teammates?"

“I need to correct you.” Alice raised a finger and shook her head. “I had no intention of destroying you, nor did I intend to destroy your teammates—whether it’s you or the members of your Southern Flame Continent team, you are all simply leaving the cycle of reincarnation, losing your status as reincarnators—I have arranged for all of you to be reincarnated without any memories of the cycle of reincarnation. As long as you pose no threat to me, you can naturally live the life you want there.”

"Including Esdeath?"

“Including Esdeath.” Alice nodded. “She will be reincarnated after she dies, and she will also be able to have a new life in the new world that suits her preferences.”

"…………"

“And,” Alice added slowly, “you’ve had dealings with Pei Jiao. Even if I don’t intend to give you face, I have to give Pei Jiao face.”

“…I don’t remember ever having any contact with someone named Pei Jiao.” Neos answered with a wry smile, speculating as he spoke. “Is he someone I’ll come into contact with later? Or someone from the original afterlife? I see… Even at the end of the war, you still need to respect him. So, this Pei Jiao must have some extraordinary background… The mastermind behind the main god? He’d contact me instead of others, could I have some other extraordinary hidden identity?”

Alice didn't answer, she just smiled and looked at him.

"Is it that I can't say... or is my time up?"—He saw Alice raise a finger, the tip of which shimmered with tiny rays of light.

“Satan,” Alice said softly to him. “Remember this word, even if you’ve forgotten what it means.”

"I truly don't know what this means. Could it be the name of God—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

Because Alice's fingertips had already pressed against his brow, causing this individual named Neos to vanish.

The Nan Yan Zhou team was thus completely suppressed.

Alice slowly withdrew her finger and sighed.

[Satan, Lord of the Frozen River of Styx—I now return the favor you did to me in the Zero World.]

Alice lowered her eyes—she knew very well that she would most likely never witness the Holy Hunt Ritual unfolding again in the world of The Wandering Earth. Naturally, she couldn't relive that war that held such significance for her. However, even so, she knew one thing. When she used the power of Brahma to fight against the avatar of Satan in order to sever their karmic ties, the Satan who appeared before her in his identical form had actually held back considerably and cooperated fully with her actions.

After all, while the combat power of a true god represents the upper limit that the universe can withstand, for beings of higher species and levels, the methods to bypass this limit and inflict damage on the true god's body are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Satan helped her then, that was the cause. So, she now had to repay Satan for her love for someone, and that was the end of the karmic entanglement. As for whether Satan could be resurrected because of Neos's memories, and what kind of relationship it would have with Neos—that was superfluous for Alice to consider.

Because she is change, and once change is generated, it doesn't need to consider which direction it ultimately points to.

"Then, this matter is settled. The next thing to deal with is the last thing in this world."

Alice turned her head to look at the other side of the room—a sword-wielding girl with light hair and golden eyes had been waiting there for a long time. Behind the girl, six gems of different shapes and colors quietly circled around.

It's Ex.

However, it wasn't Ex, who was killed by Patchouli—not entirely.

Alice gently rubbed her forehead.

"You... are Exusiai from the Demon Team?"

“Not only that.” Exx shook her head slightly. “I am also Exx of the Senju team.”

"To devour or to inherit?"

“Inheritance.” Ex raised her hand, and the six gem crystals behind her merged into the back of her outstretched hand one by one. “Whether it’s me in the Demon Team or me in the Senzhou Team, I have a flaw. That is… I can’t actually find anything worth caring about.”

"I don't know if it's because of my defects as a synthetic being, or because I suffered some hidden injury. In any case, for this reason, whichever version of me it is, the obsession I possess is very unstable—the moment I became a true god, no, the moment I possessed the Light of the Mind, I almost disintegrated due to the lack of obsession. And in order to deal with this trouble, I had to forcibly disintegrate the Light of the Mind at the moment of its gathering, thus living in the world in an incomplete form."

She lightly clenched her fist.

"Therefore, in the entire cycle of reincarnation, I am the only one who collects gems one by one as I grow the Light of the Soul. Even though I acquired enough resources in the battle of the Moon World, I was unable to move forward and could only helplessly stop at the top of the True God. Because if I took one more step forward, I would inevitably perish, because I simply could not find where the obsession I needed was."

“So you’ve partnered with Sesshouin Kiara.” Alice nodded. “You want to act alongside those who practice the path of ‘self-centeredness’ in order to gain a sufficiently stable sense of self.”

“Yes, it’s a pity that I failed with the Morizu team.” Ex shook her head. “Observing her can’t solve the predicament I’m facing. So, before I have to take that step, I can only use a more risky method to break this deadlock.”

Method...what method?

It's quite simple: since you can't find anything you care about or are attached to, then relinquish everything you have. What remains is the only acceptable outcome. However, doing so isn't much different from taking that step of transcendence directly. And if in the end you find that nothing is left, then isn't it all emptiness?

Therefore, one cannot be discarded during a promotion. The only option is to be discarded during a downfall.

Therefore, a battle where certain death is inevitable is needed...

"So you chose Patchouli."

"After all, that Miss Patchouli is at a similar level of life to me... Among the transcendent species, she is one of the weakest in terms of combat strength. She only gained the ability to completely suppress me after she received an unnamed gift from the outside world."

She shrugged.

“With her ‘cooperation,’ I can die slower and die more clearly.”

"When you cut meat with a dull knife, you often end up with only minced meat... It seems your risky gamble has paid off handsomely."

"Yes, when only one of the two of me remained, I finally realized that for me, there was something that transcended absolute order."

“It’s ‘self’.” She loosened her clenched fist. “When I, from the Morizu team, lost everything, not even the very origin, I finally understood that self-awareness must transcend absolute order. And that’s how I was able to advance.”

Alice's lips twitched.

"As far as I know, the purpose of attachment is to stabilize the Tao, to ensure that the self can be maintained after the transformation of life form... But you, you maintain the stability of the self with attachment to 'self'. This is truly an amazing nested doll-like structure of attachment to the Tao. But, with 'self' as your attachment, how can you continue to climb higher?"

“That’s my own business.” Ex smiled, a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth. “But before that, this entanglement must eventually be resolved.”

"You don't mind two against one, do you?" Patchouli appeared silently behind Alice, gently placing her hands on Alice's shoulders. Behind Patchouli, the pages of a book were constantly turning.

"Who made me, a member of the Senzhou team, die so completely that even my clone can't find any help?" Ex spread her hands, acknowledging the situation, and entered a battle stance.

Thus began a pointless war between the transcendent species. And this war was destined to continue until the very end of this world's script, with Ex being unilaterally and brutally beaten.

—This battle is destined to remain undecided.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Path of Destiny, Part Six

The Seventh World, The Lord of the Rings.

After giving Ex a sound beating, rendering her unable to walk for at least two thousand years, the Sixth World came to an end.

Nothing unusual happened. Riding the divine remains and possessing the power of a true god, Logan easily dealt with all the people or insects that stood in his way. Thus, with everything settled, the Seventh World appeared in the view of the Central Continent Team's reincarnators.

The Lord of the Rings.

The main content of The Lord of the Rings is the battle between several reincarnation teams.

When Alice arrived in the Seventh World, the first thing she had to do was send Mr. Haotian, who had tried to infiltrate the Central Continent Team, to be reincarnated.

"The captain hasn't returned yet," his teammates reminded him—they were Ming Yanwei, Zhang Jie, Ba Wang, and Zhao Yingkong, who had temporarily left the team earlier, and Xi Lin and Zhao Zhuikong, who had joined the Zhongzhou team at this time.

The members of the Central Continent Team can basically be considered to be all gathered here.

Once everyone is gathered, there are only a few things to do.

Alice read through the history of this new Ring—it was clear that the original creator of the Ring was a sage whose name was recorded in the Outer Multiverse. Now, with the fall of this sage, Shimazaki Setsuna, the reincarnation of the East Blue Team who had usurped the divine authority of the creator in the future of this world and proclaimed herself the ruler of this world, and her companion Altair, naturally became the true masters of this world.

The usurper became the true creator. The myth of usurpation replaced the true myth.

The Lord of the Rings world remains the same. However, the main setting has shifted from a Western to a Japanese style due to the change in the creator—roughly similar to the worldview of Record of Lodoss War. The evil god, originally a binary opposition to the creator, has also transformed into a minor conflict between the two creators.

The One Ring still exists, but it has changed from its original purpose of ruling over the earth and all living beings to a wedding ring used by the Twin Creators to exchange their love. The story of the One Ring has thus been slightly modified—one of the Twin Creators' handmaidens, after being tasked with guarding the ring, suddenly became greedy, took it to Earth without permission, and became a tyrant ruling the land. Because of her actions, calamities befell the earth.

Because the earth could not bear the weight of this ring, endless natural disasters arose from its loss. The once fertile land became overgrown with thorns and poisonous weeds, and docile animals mutated into bloodthirsty monsters. Storms and floods then raged, linking the ring's loss to the subsequent wars.

The beings on Earth suffered greatly as a result, and after consulting the wisest sages, the heroes finally found a way to save the world—to retrieve the lost ring, take it to the Altar of the Doomsday Volcano in Mordor, and sacrifice it there to the Twin Creators who had long since ceased to care about the mortal realm. And this was the new path of the Ring.

—It looks like a third-rate script cobbled together in three minutes by a third-rate author. But since things have already turned out this way, there's no turning back. And all the members of the Central Continent Team who haven't yet reached the Transcendent Rank need to do is escort this small team to the Doomsday Volcano Altar, retrieve the ring, and incidentally deal with that Rebellious God's Handmaiden.

It's a very simple job, with absolutely no difficulty.

Alice looked up and glanced at Altair and Setsuna Shimazaki, who were hidden deep in space—good heavens, these two had been back in the original world where Setsuna Shimazaki was born eight hundred years ago, playing tricks on the resurrection of the old gods. They had absolutely no interest in the complicated and trivial matters happening in this side of the world.