Chapter 210: 209: The Ultimate Destruction

"Trash, can you just die? This is fucking boring, why are there so many people watching a battle of this level?"

"It's just garbage, what's actually worth watching? Where's the point in this kind of thing?"

"Yeah, yeah, and that so‑called head of the Yin Extreme Divine Sect—I see it as pure trash, pure waste."

"Useless junk, too trashy. I recommend everyone watch Wu Yun Agency's Wu Yun Live; that's far more entertaining and even shows a super war between galaxy‑scale civilizations."

The chat barrage in the live room was dense, but Wang Wu instantly spotted a comment from an acquaintance. It was clear that the acquaintance was extremely frantic—King Jiji, frantic beyond measure.

Wang Wu didn't know why Shashou Ge was so triggered, but judging by Shashou Ge's inability to defeat his master and the fact that both belong to the same profession, perhaps it's a case of rivals being enemies.

Wang Wu had no intention of getting involved in the conflict between Shashou Ge and his master. After all, one is his lifesaver, the other his master and lover; if they quarrel, he truly can't pick a side.

Since picking a side would offend the other, he might as well just watch the show—watching can't go wrong and offends no one. Later he can praise the victor, console the loser, and boost both their favor.

Yes, that's exactly what he should do, exactly the choice he should make—this is Wang Wu's way of survival.

One must admit Wang Wu is truly brilliant, possessing world‑shaking wisdom—actually, never mind.

The fight over there is still ongoing; as Master Qin Xiang said, it will probably take several days to finish.

After all, the HP bar is massive and the stats are close. Yin Shenli has already activated her True Martial state, not fighting in a normal mode.

What puzzled Wang Wu was that his master hadn't shown her Yin Extreme True God form; clearly, transforming into the Yin Extreme True God body before activating True Martial would boost combat power even more.

For warriors who cultivate various 'transformation techniques,' the human form is actually a restrained state, with power effectively suppressed.

Only after unleashing their true bodies—the transformed state—do they become their genuine 'battle form.'

Combat power spikes dramatically, all attributes rise, Qi consumption and recovery are optimized, and combined with the newly developed universal warrior skill 'True Martial' from the latest martial arts update, the panel is blown up.

"You, quite impressive."

At that moment, Wang Wu's phone emitted Yin Shenli's voice, but Wang Wu no longer looked at the phone.

He had other matters to attend to; although the high‑level duels in his master's live room were indeed spectacular, they gave this low‑rank dog—still below third tier—a harsh glimpse of the market.

He had seen it before, but that's irrelevant. Anyway, he can't spare the time now; many tasks remain.

Yuan Xiangzi couldn't recall when she returned to her cell; when she awoke, she was already lying on her cell's bed.

Recalling the beatings and torment of recent days, the lingering scars on her body throbbed faintly, causing unbearable pain—she couldn't... the wording is off.

In short, it's sheer agony—a double grind of mind and flesh.

In this world, or rather most worlds.

The privileged class is always far more 'open' than ordinary people below. And in a place where gender isn't distinguished, women

just as the peasants of Wang Wu's hometown would never know the elite's fancy ways, cultivators belong to this world's scholar‑gentry class.

Regardless of gender, they are already people above others.

Moreover, aside from physiological differences, there's no status disparity between men and women here. So while women differ from men in many ways, in some aspects there's no distinction.

Of course, women from the millennial civilization of his hometown are vastly different.

Even back home, after Empress Wu Zetian ascended, she kept a harem of lovers; here, female scholar‑gentry have no status comparison with men.

For a man, if a particularly beautiful female villain kidnaps you, she does so to exchange you for ransom and does nothing else.

You also needn't worry that your family won't pay the ransom, because you're important enough to them.

Simply put, you're like the affluent defeated nobles of Western medieval wars. Well, not those from the Hundred Years' War or similar conflicts, otherwise you'd die.

In short, it's a payment request, America: after being taken by this extremely beautiful—no, should say otherworldly stunning—explosively‑bodied woman, she tortures you daily until you're red‑swollen… ahem.

For a man, of course—not universally, as there are still many chaste good men in this world.

At least for those bad men who aren't so virtuous and don't value their chastity, this isn't considered a bad thing.

Sometimes it might even become a talking point.

After all, the majority of the demon race rarely do this to captives, simply because they're uninterested. Humans don't provide a good experience for demons, unlike the reverse.

If a demon forces it, that actually counts as recognition of the human's 'personal charisma.'

After all, that's the type 'even demons find appealing.'

Even though relations between the human and demon races in this galaxy are extremely tense and mostly hostile, being praised and recognized by the enemy certainly heightens the sense of achievement.

Even an enemy who dislikes you has to acknowledge you; doesn't that prove your worth?

In short, Yuan Xiangzi is in great anguish now, because she is a very upright, proper female scholar‑gentry.

The soundproofing of the two human captives' cell is decent—not total, but adequate. They aren't completely cut off; the room has a dedicated communication device that Wang Wu set up for them.

After all, Wang Wu is an Earth demon, so he treats captives with a concern for human rights.

At that moment, the room's communicator rang.

Leaning against the bed, reminiscing the pain, Yuan Xiangzi's recollection was interrupted; she opened her eyes irritably and glanced at the communicator.

But moments later, she forced herself out of bed, straightened her now‑smaller belly, walked to the communicator, and pressed answer.

"What's up, junior brother?"

"Senior sister."

On the other end, Zhen Guangzi's voice was calm, yet Yuan Xiangzi still detected a faint tremor.

"Senior sister, wh‑why!?"

"What 'why'?" Yuan Xiangzi frowned, not quite understanding.

"Why degrade yourself like this!???"

Zhen Guangzi shouted into the communicator, "He's a demon!!! Why stoop so low! Have you forgotten who you are?"

"What are you saying?" Yuan Xiangzi's brows furrowed tighter, "Now that we're under someone's roof, whatever happens…"

"Is kneeling before him like a dog also beyond your control!???" Zhen Guangzi roared, his voice hoarse.

"Of course. What else can I do? Kill it? It can instantly refine even our leading real person; what am I supposed to do?"

In response to the junior brother's accusation, Yuan Xiangzi answered with righteous confidence.

"Is it like a dog eating, or even being eaten as food?!?"

"Are you upset because those few female demons didn't even glance at you?" Facing the somewhat hysterical junior brother, Yuan Xiangzi's tone remained calm, then she asked him.

In an instant, the communicator on the other end fell into silence.

"Anything else?"

After waiting about half a minute and seeing still no response, Yuan Xiangzi asked again.

There was still no answer, but the communication was cut off.

When the call ended, Yuan Xiangzi recalled her junior brother's words, which were rather humiliating.

The humiliation also intensified the pain in her body, forcing her to press her hand on the wound to ease it.

She had indeed fought monsters before, but without doubt, Wang Wu was the most powerful monster she had ever seen. No monster, let alone a human, and even that so‑called spirit‑artifact environment could not compare with him.

As for Zhen Guangzi, she didn't think his anger was truly because she, a human, bowed to the monster race. As she just said, it was probably just a psychological imbalance.

After all, they were all captives; why could you eat and play Chinese chess every day while he was forced to stay locked in his room?

That's fundamentally unfair!

But this world has always been unfair.

Yuan Xiangzi felt no apology toward that junior brother; they were never of the same rank. Though both were scions of great families, there were still hierarchies between families.

The next morning, Wang Wu glanced again at the live stream; Master Yin Shenli was still broadcasting, with no intermission.

For the past dozen‑plus hours from yesterday to today, she had been battling that Qiong Ji. Wang Wu did the same; to live up to his master's expectations, he had been training nonstop yesterday.

Even during the break, he didn't forget to train in his spare moments.

That made Yuan Xiangzi feel a bit uncomfortable.

For the three female monsters on the ship, after the two Jiekuo monsters left, the human captive Yuan Xiangzi inevitably became the most hated, most irritating thorn in their side.

After all, this woman had taken up far too much of the time that rightfully belonged to them.

They thought she was just human and wouldn't last long, but the problem was that this guy simply didn't seem human at all.

Facing Wang Wu's relentless torment and beating, she somehow held on, repeatedly losing and fighting, repeatedly winning and losing.

No one knows what the problem is—why, even as a captive who can't beat Wang Wu, she still crazily challenges the windmill? Does she really think she's Don Quixote?

Speaking of which, who was Don Quixote? They didn't know; the name just popped into their heads.

Pushing aside the corpse pressed to his body, which only twitched intermittently from residual nerve activity, Wang Wu picked up his phone and resumed watching his master's live battle.

"Wang Wu, what are you watching?" As he opened the stream, Long He's voice came from beside him.

Although there was still no substantive development between the two monsters—by 'substantive development' meaning the monsters' notion of real progress, i. e., Wushan…

As for anything else, unless it can give birth to life, it doesn't count as substantive development.

Of course, the relationship between the two monsters kept heating up; at least Long He felt she already had the upper hand and was sure she could win Wang Wu's affection before her sister did…

"My master's duel with that Star Lord," Wang Wu planted a kiss on Long He's cheek and said, "It's not over yet."

However, in the now‑ended, meaning‑dissolved cosmic space on the screen, Wang Wu saw another person's presence.

Come to think of it, that's why his master's hometown strictly forbids strong beings of their level from fighting in the real universe: the damage to the cosmos would be damn huge.

Full‑blast firepower would turn an entire universe into a heat‑death state, illustrating how terrifying a being of that tier is.

In older ages, when the Human Empire had not yet collapsed, during their era of burning the universe, humanity's damage to the cosmos was even more staggering and terrifying.

That already involved certain 'concepts' and 'rules.'

Altering universal rules and concepts, the Human Empire wasn't actually that far from the legendary 'Transcendent Empire.'

"Momentary birth and death, cyclical flow, ultimate emptiness… Amitabha…"

When he heard the Buddhist chant from the live stream, Wang Wu froze.

He had assumed there was no Buddhism here, that his own 'Amitabha' was his unique creation in this universe.

But to his surprise, today, here, he actually heard someone else utter 'Amitabha.'

And the voice, the tone—just by hearing it, it was clear it came from someone as enlightened as he was, a half‑baked… no, a truly attained person.

Sure enough, when the camera panned, Wang Wu saw a bald… er, a kindly‑eyed, benevolent old man.

Clad in a tattered monk's robe, holding a bowl‑staff, he looked like an enlightened high monk.

"Neither born nor extinct, neither constant nor ceasing. Since the devotee has entered the realm of impermanence, transcended the forms of birth and death, reached the ultimate, why then does he still possess such…"

The monk continued, looking at Yin Shenli, a hint of doubt in his eyes:

"Devotee, why do I see in your eyes an endless sea of suffering and an endless prison of cold?"

"All conditioned things are impermanent; that is the law of birth and death."

Long He looked at Wang Wu with surprise, listening to each word spilling from his mouth:

"My goodness, is this monk linking heat‑death with the Buddhist view of impermanence?"

"Because you are about to die, monk."

From the other side of the screen, Yin Shenli's voice rang out.

"That endless sea of suffering, that endless cold prison, are your ultimate, your heat‑death."

"Within this ultimate destruction, your impermanence will collapse, and you will move toward total dissolution, beyond nirvana."

Yin Shenli is a classic lunatic; she may not be one among the older humans, but here she might be the quintessential mad one.

War and killing, to her, are the only meanings a person holds.

Of course, that's in combat mode.

"Disturb my good business, and you shall die here!!!"

In an instant, Yin Shenli appeared before the monk.

Is heat‑death the universe's end? A question Wang Wu, an ordinary college student, certainly doesn't know; in fact, he only knows the term and its rough description.

However, in the hypotheses from his hometown about the universe's ultimate fate, heat‑death is indeed the end of everything.

Everything reaches thermal equilibrium, time halts absolutely, matter becomes silent—this is the total conclusion.

But spiritually, if you forcefully argue with those religions, one could say spirit transcends matter; even if matter erodes, spirit can attain the ultimate 'bliss' in this state.

Transcending the realm of ability, transcending three lifetimes, the awakened nature shines clearly; all is nothing but one reincarnation after another.

After the ultimate destruction, the great dream of the "Universe" awakens.

And when the new universe begins, it also marks the beginning of a new cycle of dreams for humanity.

Even the heat death is nothing but "impermanence", like breathing; expansion and contraction are all within the law of dependent origination.

(End of chapter)