Lu Mingxuan beat on Cross' chest and said "Who's time of the month is it!? Who's your wife!?" Cross smirked and said "I don't remember saying it was you... Are you admitting that you're my wife?" Lu Mingxuan pointed at Cross with her mouth open like an 'O'. Cross chuckled and pulled her in as he said "How did you know I could go for 100 rounds? Do you want to test it? My tongue isn't just sharp you know."
Lu Mingxuan was flustered, this guy was even dirtier than her! Long Chen laughed and Bai Shishi wanted to chop Cross to death. He let Lu Mingxuan go and slapped her ass with a grin, she jumped and shot back "Harder, daddy~" Bai Shishi almost spit out blood and dragged Lu Mingxuan away.
Luo Ning pouted at Cross, who patted her head and smiled at her. Luo Ning huffed and muttered "Vixen!" Long Chen chuckled and they went to their designated area.
Bai Shishi glared at Cross, who smiled and suddenly disappeared.
He appeared in an arena and was attacked right away, Cross instinctively punched. The guy popped like a balloon and exploded. Cross was sent out and everybody looked at him angrily, he was confused and said "What?" Luo Ning said "You just killed that guy."
Cross was stunned before saying "I had no idea I was going to be sent somewhere else, plus this guy attacked me right away! I reacted on instinct and punched him, I really didn't mean to kill him..." Everybody was startled and it seemed to be the case, Cross said in a bad mood "Who attacks someone right away? He didn't even speak before attacking me!"
A moment later
The second round was ready. Cross flashed into an arena and saw a man across from him. The man said "Hi. You're going to die in here." Cross nodded and said "Oh!" he walked over and the man slashed at him with a big knife. Cross caught the knife with two fingers before flicking the man in the head and blowing it right off his shoulders.
Cross was sent out and saw everyone else, Lu Mingxuan and Luo Ning said "So long?" before looking at each other and sneering. Cross shrugged and said "The guy decided to talk this time. But then I killed him. It's very easy here." Long Chen nodded, feeling the same.
The third round came and Cross flicked from afar, blasting the person to dust before going back. These flies were getting annoying. He appeared with the rest and one of the disciples from the War God Temple came back, collapsed to the ground with a knife in his forehead that said 'Chu'.
Cross frowned and looked into the crowd, his eyes extremely dark. He disappeared into the arena and soul searched the opponent before killing him. He continued for another round until he found the people. He returned back to the group and said "The Chu disciples go back to the area when they lose right?"
Long Chen nodded and Cross grinned, his grin was truly malicious and chilly. Nobody else spoke. Cross disappeared and looked at the man, he smirked and said "You're from the Chu clan right? You were sitting in their area." the man sneered and said "Scared?" Cross chuckled and disappeared, arriving behind the man and clamping his neck as he said "Not at all, happy actually."
He spun the man around and pushed on the man's forehead. A black lotus appeared and Cross knocked him out. They both disappeared and Cross had a happy smile on his face, Long Chen said "What hap-"
'BOOOM!'
The Chu area exploded into black flames.
Cross smiled happily and the rest felt a chill run down their spines. Long Chen said "You did that?" Cross looked confused and said "What are you talking about?" Long Chen blinked before laughing and shaking his head. Cross smiled and a loud bell rang with a voice saying "Congratulations for making it to the top 10,000!!"
Cross yawned and walked to the exit with the group, going back to the residence. He didn't go inside but sat on the branch he was sitting on before and leaned back with his hands behind his head, looking up to the sky as he hummed to himself.
Many thoughts came to his mind. What is beyond the Heavens? Is it space? Could it be like Earth where it's just a planet? A speck of dust in an infinitely large place? How strong was he in the grand scheme of the world? Maybe even the strongest expert in the Immortal World was just an ant in front of someone else?
This begged another question, if he was still an ant at that time what was Life truly about? What did it mean to live? To become a God? After that? What he thought was a God a long time ago, happened to be just the beginning of another method to get stronger. Then he was fooled once again, he was still just a puppy in front of a lion here.
So when he became a god here, would he just be a bigger puppy? Would be once again be brought into another place where he's the weakest existence? Where was the end? He blinked, there was no end. The so-called End was just another beginning!
He sat up and frowned, is life just an endless cycle? If he lives forever how strong would be become in the end? Would he create his own world? What's the point of life in an endless cycle? He looked up at the sky in a daze.
He sat there for a while and his eyes flashed in and out of their dazed state before he muttered "There is no end and there is no beginning... Only Destruction and Creation from Nothing to Nothing into Something."
The Dragon on Cross' back flashed and squirmed around, Cross felt his cultivation expanding but he quickly suppressed it. Are you kidding? The entire city would be destroyed! Also he had an idea for his next breakthrough, he was waiting until he got back to the Academy to do it.
Inside Cross' body, all the colorful dots in his blood all gathered together, flowing into the Divine Dragon in his back, returning his blood to a Golden-Red state. The Dragon calmed down and went to sleep.
Cross's soul underwent a change however and it became golden-black with a swirling pattern on it.
Cross closed his eyes and took steady breaths. His Body, Qi, and Soul were in harmony but there was a final piece missing. Cross opened his eyes and let out a breath, feeling that his next breakthrough will be extraordinary.
He let out a breath and leaned back on the Tree, he looked down and saw a guy with a long knife on his back. He tilted his head and the guy said "Um, do you know if Long Chen is here?" Cross said "You're a Dragon Blood Legion warrior?"
The man was startled but his face soon became joyful as he said "You know the boss!? Are you in the Dragon Blood Legion too??!" Cross spat and said "He wishes. Little Bro!" Long Chen came out and said "Wh- Qin Feng!" Qing Feng jumped and hugged Long Chen shouting "Boss!" the two started crying and Cross sighed before jumping from the Tree and walking away.
He didn't need to be reminded of Ling Jie and the people he left behind.
He drank wine from his gourd as he roamed the streets. He sighed at the sour tasting wine, mood really does impact the taste...
He put it away and looked up to see that he was standing in front of a gate. The gate said 'Wine God's Hall' he looked at his own gourd and drank the rest before walking inside with an empty gourd.
He came in to see a statue of a fat man with a gourd of wine, he had a kind face. There were incense sticks to light in respect but Cross ignored them and the statue as he walked into the building, all he wanted was wine.
Long Chen had told him he couldn't buy wine here. Only get it gifted to him, he didn't understand. He drank a lot so he wanted a lot, there was enough in his gourd to fill up a lake before a single gourd wouldn't satisfy him.
He wanted into an area with a man sitting at a table silently. Cross looked at the man and nodded before leaving. The man said "Not going to stay?" Cross said "I came to drink, not talk about the Dao, plus the amount of Wine I need... You can't fill it."
The man shook his head and said "You're too naïve. You didn't pay respects to the Wine God and you want wine. It's a dream." Cross replied "Nobody can take my respects, even lighting a stick of incense won't happen. No matter if it's the Wine God, the Flame God, or the God of Heaven. If I have to pay respects for some Wine then that's truly a pity."
He sighed and turned around to leave the whole place saying "What a joke." the man said "What's a joke? Do you think you are above the Gods?" Cross looked at him and said "I am me, they are them, they aren't my ancestors, I don't have faith in so-called Gods. To you they're Gods, they stand at the Peak of this world but what about beyond that?"
Cross pointed to the sky and said "What about beyond this world? The 'Gods' become ants to people with unfathomable power. When I was in the Lower Realms, I believed I was a God twice, only to be proven wrong twice. The term God is only the starting point of a child in a higher plane of existence."
He shook his head and said "How many people have I killed to be where I am? How many experts did I have to trample to ascend? In the end, a child is the same Realm as me, cultivating without hardships for just a few years."
Cross looked at the dazed man and said "So to answer your question, no. I don't think I'm above the gods. There is no above and below, there is no beginning or end, were all dust that floats in a bigger world. Frogs in a well, only to jump out and find out were in a bigger well. We're all equal, it's our wills that make us different from the rest."
He turned around and walked out of the Wine God's Hall with a disappointed look on his face. He didn't manage to get any wine in the end.
The man who was in a daze, suddenly achieved enlightenment and his Wine Dao Progressed by leaps and bounds! Who would've thought he would be so lucky today? He came out of his enlightenment hours later but didn't find a trace of Cross anywhere. He was depressed, he wanted to thank him and give him Wine but he had already left!
He was determined to find him, but first he needed to make the best Wine he had ever made in his life!
Cross returned to the Residence and laid down on the tree branch, looking up at the stars, slowly falling asleep.
The next morning, he woke up to a heavy feeling. He opened his eyes and saw Lu Mingxuan on his chest, drooling with a blush on her face. He was amused, this girl... What's she dreaming about? He shook his head and got up, holding Lu Mingxuan in his arms in a princess carry.
She still didn't wake up, purring in his embrace, like a little cat. Cross smiled and joined the rest, Bai Shishi looked at Lu Mingxuan and almost chopped Cross to death. Qin Feng gave him a big thumbs up and Long Chen laughed as he said "Let's go."
Cross smiled and said "I'm not going to carry you all the way there." Lu Mingxuan jumped out of his arms and giggled, hiding behind him from Bai Shishi, who sighed. Luo Ning glared at Lu Mingxuan, who stuck out her pink tongue and the group left, going to the stadium for the second day of the Convention.
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