Chapter 36: Meeting Again

The scene before him was the last thing Mo Jiang wanted to witness, for it meant that the might of the God of Dolls truly surpassed his own, even suppressing the World Gate itself.

“According to what the Seventh Doll said, wouldn’t power this great attract the malice of the Main World? He’s survived over three centuries in the Main World—by rights, that malice should have killed him long ago…”

“Or perhaps… this is actually a Monster Apocalypse game world, with its own peculiarities?”

Mo Jiang thought it through carefully and concluded that the latter seemed more likely. “I ought to view this Monster Apocalypse game world as the God of Dolls’ weapon, just as cultivators in xianxia tales wield their magical treasures.”

He calmed himself.

Mo Jiang was not born a hero; before crossing over, he had been an ordinary man, lacking the unshakeable mindset of the strong—his nerves, at times, faltered.

“If that’s the case, then I’ll simply destroy this game world.” He swung the white-boned battle axe in his hand, certain the God of Dolls would never expect his power to surge so suddenly.

Without searching for anything specific, Mo Jiang simply picked a street nearby and swung his axe.

Boom!

The construction of this game world was somewhat akin to the Main World, and as the force of a fourth-level standard exploded outward, the walls of several adjoining shops collapsed at once. Even the upper floors shuddered, windows shattering in a crash of glass.

“So this is the power of the fourth standard level?”

It was the first time Mo Jiang had wielded the power enhanced by the bone armor, and its sheer strength was frightening to behold. In that moment, the last trace of unease in Mo Jiang’s heart vanished; he laughed maniacally, his nerves frayed. “Ha! Ha!”

Still laughing, Mo Jiang swung his axe at another shop, and just as before, another stretch of buildings crumbled in ruin.

Standing nearly three meters tall, Mo Jiang resembled a giant. Scanning his surroundings, he noticed a streetlamp only a little taller than himself—an eyesore. He reached for it, wrenched it free with a powerful tug, and hurled it away.

Boom!

The paving stones shattered, the street torn like a field freshly plowed by oxen, revealing a twisted lamp post with its shade completely destroyed.

“Ha! Ha! God of Dolls, come out and face me!”

With another swing, the third wall collapsed, and the entire row of commercial buildings could no longer bear the strain, toppling with a thunderous crash.

Mo Jiang fled in terror, but was still struck by a few bricks, his pace slowing as rubble and construction debris buried him.

“I… damn it!”

Soon, the sound of bricks being pushed aside rang out. A mound of debris heaved upward and Mo Jiang’s head emerged, spitting out dust, utterly bewildered.

These bricks felt real enough, solid and heavy—they hurt when they hit him.

But to his surprise, Mo Jiang found himself unscathed. Only now did he notice that beneath his armor, his skin was covered in a thick, scale-like layer of keratin, tough as fish scales. The bricks that fell from above left nothing more than a pale mark.

“Fourth level! The Fruit of Wishes!” The strength of this body amazed him; not only was he sure he’d chosen the right path, he was convinced of its power.

“To shatter the heavens with a punch, it’s almost within reach!”

Like some melodramatic youth, Mo Jiang hummed to himself and swung his axe at another building. In two or three strokes, accompanied by rumbling and tremors, another swath of storefronts collapsed.

A vast field of ruins spread at his feet.

“And still he doesn’t show himself?” After demolishing an entire block with no sign of the God of Dolls, Mo Jiang began to doubt his method. But then he remembered he had no other choice; otherwise, he’d have to head to the game world of the Number One Immortal and would have no way back to the Main World. So, he kept smashing away.

As for the omnipresent nightmare the God of Dolls had mentioned, even after Mo Jiang razed an entire town, it did not appear.

…

Meanwhile, as a town crumbled, within the church the God of Dolls’ face turned ashen, a cry of agony escaping him.

“How can he be this strong?”

Propping himself up, terror filled the God of Dolls’ eyes. Only after dragging Mo Jiang into his original “body” did he realize that Mo Jiang’s strength was just one tier below his own at his peak.

“Fourth-level standard! Impossible, the Main World should never allow a being of this caliber!” The God of Dolls was nearly shrieking now. Three centuries ago, he had barged into the Main World with fifth-level standard power, only to soon attract its notice. A misfired nuclear missile struck him, and he perished in confusion.

His soul barely escaped. He seized a human body to cling to life.

He spent years searching for the remains of his original body, and only recently had he managed to refine it into the “Monster Apocalypse Game World,” imbuing it with the strongest domain power he had ever possessed.

The defining feature of fifth-level standard power was the domain. Domains were shaped by certain spacetime laws: they seemed both real and illusory, and could affect reality itself.

The very formation of a relic world required, at minimum, a domain.

If the God of Dolls had not refined his original body into the “Monster Apocalypse Game World,” over time his corpse would have accumulated enough to form a relic world.

In fact, the reason he built the church here and lingered for over three centuries was precisely because a relic world existed nearby. Within it, a power much like the God of Dolls’ own could be found—though unstable and easily influenced by external factors.

Originally, the God of Dolls planned to drag that relic world into his “Monster Apocalypse Game World,” making it a second “town.”

…

After razing the entire town, Mo Jiang stared blankly at the void before him.

It was a vast, blinding white emptiness.

He had assumed this was a vast world.

But after destroying the town and stepping out, he realized the game world was only so large, and the void outside its borders exerted an overwhelming restraint—Mo Jiang could scarcely move.

After watching for a while, Mo Jiang noticed some oddities in the void—outlines of buildings.

“So you’re hiding here!”

Gritting his teeth, Mo Jiang walked over, determined to smash them too.

Yet as he drew closer, the buildings seemed oddly familiar.

“Is this a village?”

Upon entering, Mo Jiang realized it was another town, though far more dilapidated. In the distance, he glimpsed scenes of rural homes.

“Why does it feel like I’ve been here before?”

“Meow.” Suddenly, a wooden farmhouse cat jumped out, followed by a barking farm dog made of piled stones.