Chapter 637: Breakthrough Plan

Xu Zhi returned to his room, leaving the cooking to the butler.

He settled into his chair at the desk, facing the cold sunlight from the window, and quietly picked up his pen to organize his thoughts.

"Both of them will be here for three days, staying in my courtyard for three days," Xu Zhi murmured, contemplating the number. Both individuals were coincidentally nearing the end of their lives and lacked guardians. Bringing them in now not only averted their immediate crises but also offered an opportunity for an evolutionary transformation.

"However, the Phoenix's partial entry into death this time allowed me to fully grasp the profound mysteries of the Ninth Tier and even more terrifying information," he thought. "The Ninth Tier is terrifyingly powerful and incredibly wondrous; it's almost inconceivable. The difference between it and an Eighth Tier deity is like that between a god and a mortal! It truly is another qualitative leap, a world of difference."

"After all, while an Eighth Tier deity's energy undergoes highly condensed qualitative change, their attacks still fall within the scope of energy bombardment, fundamentally similar to the attack mode of a Seventh Tier Heavenly Emperor. The Ninth Tier, however, already involves attacks based on fundamental laws."

"The Phoenix told me that perhaps only one in a million ordinary deities can break through to this level, and now it doesn't seem exaggerated at all," Xu Zhi mused with some surprise.

Finally, he tapped his pen tip and made up his mind.

"I must start with Carolyn! An ordinary person, or a standard cultivation system, could never reach this level. However, with the 'Death God's Eternal Life' system and the computational advantage of the demonic cores, carrying billions of beings within an inner world, there might be a slight possibility. Previously, if the Humanoid Pillar God had absorbed the two major Pillar Gods, his viral computing power would have expanded. With billions of supercomputer-like demonic core beings working together, he might also have reached this height. As a creature of destiny, that was his unique life-form characteristic. But that was a shortcut, not the righteous path. The borrowed mental power and divine sense were demonic. To destroy such a 'crippled' Ninth Tier being, one only needed to slaughter the computer-like beings under his control, as he couldn't even achieve true regeneration from a single drop of blood."

That's why Xu Zhi had suppressed the Pillar God at the time; the direction of cultivation could not be distorted. Once a crooked path was taken, it would be difficult to return to the righteous path of cultivation.

At this moment, Xu Zhi felt a surge of enthusiasm, convinced his goal was perfectly correct!

The demonic core system, combined with "Death God's Eternal Life," amplified their advantages, making it possible to enter the Ninth Tier the fastest! After all, they possessed inherent, unique benefits. Initially, the Ishdal civilization's development speed was astonishingly rapid, matching their destructive capabilities. This meant Carolyn was still very young, a High God at only two thousand years old, making her highly likely to achieve this level of cultivation!

Xu Zhi believed that since current powerhouses could only force their way through using such hardcore, primitive methods, unable to find a second path, he would use this very path to break through! Once he broke through and possessed his first Ninth Tier SSR—a true overlord and giant among all realms—he could then, with a broader perspective, have this Ninth Tier being reverse-engineer other methods for Ninth Tier breakthroughs, allowing other deities to also enter this realm.

Xu Zhi couldn't help but smile. "This is the best method. Carolyn will be the primary vanguard for the Ninth Tier, breaking through the threshold and then refining the breakthrough methods in reverse. The secondary Ninth Tier vanguard is the Phoenix; with her eternal life, she could cultivate for several more lifetimes and eventually reach the Ninth Tier. However, due to her cultivation system and biological characteristics, her breakthrough would still be too slow. Medusa could also reach the Ninth Tier this way, but by the time she does...?"

Xu Zhi's expression turned odd. That would take an eternity! The strongest late-stage beings are, after all, the strongest late-stage. They just need to be nurtured and developed slowly.

Three days here equated to three hundred years there. Xu Zhi was also not in a hurry to decide where to place the two individuals who would soon emerge from seclusion. He needed to figure out which world would be most suitable.

"And during this time, Li Shengjiang is also planning something! It seems he intends to use the pressure from Medusa's three-day presence to fully evolve his own species!" Xu Zhi thought. "He's likely here because of Almin's impending demise, and he's been working hard for almost a week now. I'm quite interested in his species."

Thinking about this, he mused that it was quite rare for a player to be so genuinely serious. He couldn't help but glance at the world sandbox layout, which had transformed into the Six Realms after the Creator God's recent descent. With the death of Daoist Lord and Medusa's departure, disputes were erupting everywhere. They were fiercely contending for the next ruler of the Demon Realm, causing quite a commotion.

In the Underworld.

Almin slowly opened her eyes and smiled. "Mother Earth Qingteng is too mysterious. She told me that Medusa is doing very well and there's no need to worry."

She merely turned a blind eye to the change of ownership in the Demon Realm. As she was also about to enter a deep slumber, she didn't want to get involved in too many affairs. Her greatest concern was Medusa's sudden disappearance. With the Creator God's departure, her long-cherished dream had finally been fulfilled, but how was Medusa faring now? After all, they had been together for six or seven thousand years. From initial arch-enemies, they became the last two sorcerers of the old era, the grave keepers of two ages. It was impossible for them to have no feelings for each other.

"At the same time, Mother Earth Qingteng told me a strange piece of news..." Her gaze pierced through the ancient Great Tartarus Tomb as she murmured, "After more than six thousand years, my teacher is to return within these three hundred years."

To her, this was almost impossible. For the dead cannot be resurrected, especially when she herself had buried him. Yet, she hesitated, holding onto a glimmer of hope and expectation that she might see that figure one last time before her slumber. Grantham, that legendary name, would forever remain unforgettable to her.

Xu Zhi's eyelids twitched wildly.

"Mengmei is truly cunning! She used information about Medusa and the Alchemist Emperor to win Almin over to her side, aiming to seize control of the Demon Realm again. She wants her other disciple, Hu Haihan, to become an Origin Demon God, constantly promoting disciples to power while she herself hides behind the scenes, living off their success?"

He was utterly astonished! Time and again, she proved adept at this tactic: instead of fighting herself, she skillfully propped up her disciples to rise to power.

Xu Zhi's face darkened. "Are you some kind of disciple-uplifting demon?"

"...Now, Mengmei has no interest in the Monster Realm. After all, the Monster Realm also has its Ultimate System Players, who are more or less 'her own people.' Seizing the Demon Realm offers maximum benefit."

What if Hu Haihan actually became the Origin Demon God? No longer a Gorgon... Her form would be... A Nine-Tailed Demonic Fox?

Xu Zhi recalled the past, when he was still Bai Xiaosheng. There was Mengmei, with the little fox traveling around the world in a carriage, and a coldly observing Medusa. The group used to be so boisterous. It felt like an age ago. Even Hu Haihan was rising to power. Indeed, new talents emerged in every generation, replacing the old.

"Although the Monster Realm is still being coveted, it should be able to hold out." Xu Zhi glanced over, having no intention of interfering at the moment. In contrast, he was more focused on the Ninth Tier experimental subject: Carolyn, and the Ninth Tier experimental ground of the mini-universe era. This was the true grand world, an area the size of China's territory within the cosmos.

He stood up. "While I was dealing with this sudden emergency, half a day passed. In the mini-universe world, fifty or sixty years of transformation have occurred. Perhaps a new era has begun."

Xu Zhi's gaze fell upon the Stone Star, and he suddenly felt something was amiss. They had finally developed decomposition and synthesis technology, but then he wondered, "What is this thing?" He saw a large, adorable serpent made of pixels, looking very much like the "Snake" game from pixelated arcade games.