"Kikyo truly is a model worker. I didn't expect her to bring the Kagura sisters as well. Not bad…"
Liu Che nodded, satisfied. With a stir of consciousness he folded the void, bringing the two sisters to his side.
They had only just taken on bodies.
Neither wore a stitch of clothing.
Liu Che thought for a moment, then dressed Shenwu in a pure-white butterfly-trimmed dress and Kagura in a light red gown.
White for purity.
Red for ardor.
The choices fit their natures as neatly as they fit their forms.
Shenwu was the first to wake. Silver light flickered in her hollow eyes. Focus gathered, settled, and at last fixed upon Liu Che.
The aura around him was immeasurable,
and yet he exerted no pressure, only a gentleness that wrapped around her.
"Who are you? Who am I… who am I…"
Anxiety and confusion threaded her soft, young voice, with a touch of helplessness.
Liu Che smiled. "Your name is Wu. Because you took shape through my power, we'll call you Shenwu. As for me…"
He inclined his head slightly. "I am lord of the heavens and all realms. They call me the God of Eternity."
The Supreme God.
At the instant their gazes met, streams of knowledge poured into Shenwu's mind—her origin, what she had been, what she might become. A goddess had found her in the lower realm and pulled her free; otherwise, tethered to that filthy fiend, she could only have sunk deeper into wrongdoing.
Shenwu sank to her knees and set both hands before her brow in a formal kowtow.
"Thank you for granting my name. I will serve you well."
"Rise," Liu Che said with a smile. "Your sister will wake soon…"
Shenwu obeyed and stepped back, stealing shy glances at her god. Respect and curiosity warmed in her gaze.
She had been born without feeling—void made flesh.
But when Liu Che fashioned her body, he wove a strand of the Law of Emotion into it, and so Shenwu had feelings.
With feelings came guidance.
Newborn, newly knowing her past, she had already placed her god on the altar of her heart.
While Liu Che's thoughts wandered, Kagura stirred at last. Burgundy eyes opened, clear and bright.
"I greet the Lord God of Eternity. Thank you for your gift."
"Mhm."
Ever quick to understand, Kagura absorbed the memories as they surfaced, then bowed low, fear pricking her heart. She did not wish to offend her god.
"From now on, the two of you will be paired with Hina and the other shrine goddesses to manage the temple. When you have time, you may descend to the lower realms. Someone will teach you the rules."
"Thank you for your grace."
Hina arrived and guided the sisters away.
Liu Che cast his divine mind outward, peering into Kyle Morris's God-Realm to see how the invasion progressed.
Within, battle raged from horizon to horizon.
Tanjiro had linked up with Orochimaru.
The two fought shoulder to shoulder,
a bulldozer team grinding the enemy flat.
Tanjiro's close-combat instincts were razor keen—his kills were swift and clean. Orochimaru was pure darkness: curses, illusions, nightmares—he cycled through a menagerie of strange sorceries without pause.
Behind them, hundreds of thousands of haulers streamed through space-time wormholes,
stripping the realm like locusts.
"Move it! Evacuate everything. If it's edible, portable, or useful, it comes with us—even grain!"
"Faster over there! If you can't dismantle that building, burn it to the foundations!"
A crafted divine star
didn't last seven hours before it was plowed into a plain.
Under the high priests' direction, the faithful even extracted leyline marrow and star cores from the enemy's worlds.
If it could be moved, it was plundered.
Kyle Morris's followers were apoplectic.
"Damn it—why won't our god respond? Is our world truly going to fall?"
"Yesterday some hateful dragon stole God's favorite mount—said she was taking it to 'have babies.' The shamelessness!!"
"Don't say it out loud—Scandinavia's planet got hollowed out when they yanked the core. That's our home… oh, oh…"
…
Liu Che couldn't help the wry smile.
Good grief.
How long had Ao Qian been holding back?
Forget it—let it go.
Dragons will be dragons.
They were working hard; besides, a divine star getting cored was more farce than tragedy. The "planet" was a built construct that ran on laws—there'd never been a natural core.
Creation god?
Truly impoverished.
He watched only a little longer. When Kyle Morris's head showed no signs of waking, he withdrew and returned to his own cultivation.
He had work to do.
Three laws, each to be explored and understood.
…
Myriad Worlds Chat Group
General Yuwen: "Brothers, post some battle clips, will you? I'm so bored at home. Even drinking has lost its flavor—cat-sigh.jpg"
Pursuing Sentient Beings: "Tell me about it… even chicken drumsticks have no taste."
The Fox Who Only Loves Money: "Work hard and you won't be stuck spectating. I'm telling you—this God-Realm is a goldmine. If you can see it, you can steal it!"
Uncle Nine—Demon-Slaying Daoist: "I—I'm speechless. That arrogant?"
Young Master Murong: "Arrogant? It's intoxicating. Funnel these resources into a divine star, grow your planet, elevate your residents—straight to higher-tier divine stars. All of that is merit."
What practice pays faster than divine rewards?
If you want strength,
merit-for-reward exchange is the best bargain there is.
Now that a realm lay open and ripe for plunder—
how could they not go crazy?
Even Solanum had pulled back from the Moon-and-Star World and sprinted here to loot.
And that girl was the worst:
two people looted together—
and when it came time to tally, she'd claim it all as hers.
Tanjiro: "It's not that we didn't want to chat—there's literally no time. See that Western dragon I grabbed? Looks like a lizard, rides like a dream."
The feed showed Tanjiro astride a gold dragon in the thick of battle.
Jealousy flared across the group.
The World-Helping Lord: "Watching you all fight is torture. I'm speeding up my own timeline—slipping out…"
Judicial God: "…We probably won't get to this god-war, but next time I—Yang Jian—will be the first to charge."
Fallen White-Robed Wizard: "Brother, spare me some soup—I want those goodies too."
Spirit of the Demon Sword: "There'll be drops—supplies, mounts, all of it. Don't panic. Develop your own worlds. The gods' revival will stir other gods' hostility. Contact is inevitable—this is only the first brush."
For Peace: "Exactly. Sister Solanum called it. I've cleaned house and unified faith in my world—prepping for promotion!"
In the One Piece world,
heroes were legion.
Whether willingly or grudgingly, they'd taken up divine cultivation and reaped a year's worth of growth in months.
Now there was a god-war to join—
these thick-skulled warriors thumped their chests and begged for deployment.
Even Dragon's own son was no longer Pirate King.
What use was that title? Be a warrior of the gods!
That was an identity worthy of a real man.
Zoro looked to Monkey D. Dragon. "My lord, are there really countless powerful enemies?"
"Of course. I'm just afraid you won't have enough to kill."
Dragon's smile was fierce.
A god-war
was slaughter on the scale of hundreds of millions.
How tragic?
Even if they fell, God would resurrect them.
That was the fearless courage of believers.
Zoro nodded, excitement prickling his skin.
The God-World?
There would be swordmasters without number. He would meet them blade to blade, hone his edge, and climb.
Their own world was finished.
Without the World Government,
with the Devil Fruit Tree burned to ash,
there were few left who could challenge the gods. Zoro could hardly find opponents anymore.
And with Luffy as a vessel,
he couldn't roam freely either.
Stagnation bred malaise.
…
Elsewhere.
In the Fengyun world,
Xiongba had gathered masters from every corner of the martial world.
They sailed a great ship toward the Immortal Island, far overseas.
On deck he told Wuming and the others, "Once we go to sea and slay the dragon, our faith will spread in earnest. We'll promote the world, restore aura, and ascend to the immortal realm."
"Master priest, rest assured—we're ready," Duan Lang said with a grin.
The others nodded.
Hundreds of masters had tasted the benefits of divine law.
Feng and Yun themselves had broken into the realm of earthbound gods—
cloud-walking and mist-riding at will.
What man doesn't wish to grow stronger,
to fight greater masters?
"I wonder how Dugu the Swordmaster fares. Dongying must be a handful, no?" Wuming leaned on the rail and glanced at Xiongba.
Xiongba shook his head and smirked. "He settled Dongying. Established a branch shrine. Any who resisted were butchered. If you ask me, the Swordmaster's ruthlessness is justified—he used divine arts to make them kill their own kin."
Dugu's ruthlessness had been forced.
He'd been separated from his wife too long,
and he'd been in a fine mood.
Then those bastards brought men to block his way.
Was that tolerable?
Never underestimate a man in heat.
And so, here they were.
In the Swordmaster's words: could those in Dongying still be called people?
They were beasts in human skin.
Three days later, near noon, land rose on the horizon.
Even before they drew close,
the air turned heavy with damp,
and thunder rolled across the sky.
Xiongba's expression hardened. "We're nearing the jiaolong's lair. The humidity is suffocating. Everyone, be on guard."