Super Gene

It wasn’t just physical attacks he had to deal with; Han Sen had to battle within the mindscape. There was no skill involved there.

You could lie to others about the power you possessed, but you could never truly lie to yourself. If Han Sen’s mind was weak, his nemesis would not have to exert effort in trying to kill him. If Han Sen was weak, Six Paths could just ask Han Sen to kill himself and he’d do what was bidden.

There was a clear difference between the heart and willpower. Willpower improved one’s faith, but that was not all.

People with normal willpower and normal body power could still have strong faith.

People with a strong mind might not be the strongest physically, but it was still common for physically strong people to have strong minds.

The fists collided with a sword while faith clanged against faith. There were no sparks for the latter, but the lethality of that dance was just as wicked and dangerous.

Every hit and every turn teetered on the brink of a knife. A misstep would bring certain death.

Han Sen had experienced many life-and-death battles in his time, but his mettle had never been tested this much before.

Han Sen fought his hardest when he was in combat with an enemy that was clearly stronger than he was. But in this fight, he couldn’t solely rely on his body. He had to rely on his heart as well.

This was almost overwhelming, and Han Sen was exhausting more power than he should have been to make decisions.

Beneath that power of attraction, Han Sen still managed to keep his head clear. His objective had not been mired and he did not let himself succumb to the charm of his opponent.

Han Sen didn’t think highly of himself. He was a demi-god, one of the best in the Alliance. But at the end of the day, what Han Sen wanted out of life was fairly simple.

“So what? It doesn’t matter how good you are. I’m soil, and I will grow my own faith! I don’t need others influencing me.” Han Sen’s heart was incredibly strong. He really admired Six Paths’s faith, but he would never consider trying to become like him.

“All I have to do is remain who I am. Be myself.” Han Sen was really strong of faith, and he was most certainly not going to change due to the skills that Six Paths possessed.

Suddenly, Six Paths withdrew his sword and stopped for a moment. He stood where he was, unmoving, just staring at Han Sen.

“Why have you stopped?” Han Sen looked at his enemy with confusion.

Six Paths shook his head. “Your talent is too strange. It seems as if you are able to predict the motions of your enemy. My sword was unable to move your heart, so it is pointless for me to fight.”

“You concede?” Han Sen asked, with shock.

“I only used my first technique. I have five others, so I won’t concede. But you are an enemy unlike any I have ever seen before. You are a rare sort. You did not even have to use a geno core to do combat with me. I don’t want to fight you.”

“What does that mean? Are you fighting or not?” Han Sen did not know what he meant.

Six Paths said coldly, “The most delicious food must be enjoyed. To me, that is what you are. But you are not strong enough for me to enjoy the thrill of fighting you to my fullest. I will wait until the day I do not have to scale down to fight you.”

After that, Six Paths withdrew his weapon and readied himself to leave.

“Hang on!” Han Sen shouted.

“What is it?” Six Paths turned around.

“I can let you take first place. Just give me an item to trade. My geno core was reinforced nine times already, anyway. You’ve only done it eight times, correct?” Han Sen made himself look like a charitable person.

But in Han Sen’s heart, he thought, “You are an emperor. Even if you destroyed your geno core, you should still have a bunch of worthy goodies. Give me something better than that Ghost Eye did.”

Six Paths looked at Han Sen with much surprise, and he said, “Okay. I’ll trade this with you.”

Han Sen accepted what Six Paths offered him. It was a wooden sword. It looked like the Six Paths Sword, but it had been crafted from black wood instead.

Han Sen had no clue what wood it had been made from, but it wasn’t a beast soul or a geno core. It really was just a hunk of wood.

“I crafted this wooden sword when I was practicing. This is all I have to give,” Six Paths said coldly.

“Um, okay. Then I’ll leave.” Han Sen said he was going to leave, but his legs did not move.

Han Sen thought he’d earn a treasure off the man. He didn’t expect he’d only receive a plank of wood.

“I hope you can become stronger soon, so we can have a real and true fight someday,” Six Paths told him.

“Okay. I will work hard to ensure that,” Han Sen said randomly and then quit the fight.

“This is bad. I swapped my first place for a wooden sword?” Han Sen regretted his decision, but he didn’t want to backpedal on his word.

Six Paths becoming first place did not create much of a fuss. People believed Six Paths’s new geno core was bound to be better than his old one, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise.

He was not a nameless emperor. He was from chaos. He had been alive for a thousand years, and none could rival him.

His old geno core was the second best on the super geno core leaderboard. It had made a big fuss in the Fourth God’s Sanctuary before, so this was more-or-less a repeat that didn’t warrant the same fanfare. Spirits believed it to be a normal, almost natural and expected occurrence.

Han Sen brought the wooden sword back to the shelter with him. He went and saw Moment Queen, who wanted to access the Geno Core Storage.

They said hello to each other, but when Moment Queen saw the sword Han Sen held, her eyes opened wide.

“What are you doing?” Han Sen saw Moment Queen approach him and grab the wooden sword with profound excitement. It was like she was looking at some extremely expensive antique or relic.

“Impossible… how can…” Moment Queen’s face stiffened with a massive shock.