The stars went out.

In the showdown with Alpha and everyone else, the heavens and earth were shrouded in a black filter, and everything became dim.

Whether it was Jing Si’s starry sky or Alpha’s black mist.

But now, the battlefield was only illuminated with dazzling golden light, as if the entire Denglin City had turned into the most luxurious jewel in an instant.

After Wu Jiu lost consciousness, his soul was still pulled out, a dark shadow.

Despite the extreme fragility of high-dimensional living beings’ souls, which meant that the mere appearance of a soul signified the exposure of the greatest vulnerability,

Alpha was different, his soul could only be sealed, not destroyed.

Just now, while the soul had not yet returned to the Divine Body, he was like an unarmed soldier... extremely sensitive to pain and with a greatly reduced fighting power.

At this moment, he saw the one who had pushed him to the brink.

The Crimson figure was wrapped in a huge white light.

During the fight, the runes engraved on that figure faded away, one after another, in exchange for powerful strength.

But now, Alpha realized that those runes were ancient curses, a formidable sacrifice.

Now there was only the last rune left on that body, which was the ninth shackle.

However, the owner of that body had lost consciousness.

Alpha’s fear stemmed from his terror of the surrounding golden light, but also from the Crimson figure.

The shadow gradually coalesced into a human shape. He could wait until he returned to the Divine Body before striking a deadly blow to the fallen figure.

But he couldn’t wait, he was afraid the figure would use the ninth sacrifice and unlock the final shackle.

He must kill him right now, this very moment!

Even though he had lost powerful strength and speed, even though he had lost the sense of his Divine Body, Alpha, a black shadow loosely resembling a human form, still managed to conjure a "Twisted Spear" in the high sky.

The power of this spear, of course, was incomparable to the pinnacle, but killing the present Wu Jiu would be a breeze.

The other side had already lost consciousness; the spear, now imbued with the Law of Causality, was bound to hit its mark.

Aiming, throwing!

Alpha had never felt such an intense desire for someone to die.

As he watched the spear that could kill the opponent in an instant getting closer and closer, his suspended heart felt as if it could finally be set free.

But that damn premonition erupted once again, more intense than ever!

Before this, each time, Alpha only felt that the humans had not used all their methods, that they had not been driven to a desperate situation, and he enjoyed seeing their backups.

But this time, it wasn’t their last resort he sensed, but their trump card.

The Twisted Spear dissolved into nothingness silently just as it approached the white light.

Below the falling Crimson figure, a white shadow corresponding to Alpha appeared.

"As you’re about to be returned to your cage, shouldn’t you be taking a good look at this world?"

The enormous column of white light seemed to be a passage for Wu Jiu’s fall, but on one side above the passage, more details of the white figure gradually emerged.

Like black and white opposing, like light and darkness being born together.

The moment Alpha saw the other, he exclaimed:

"It’s you... Bai Wu!"

"You recognized me so easily?"

Alpha finally realized why these humans were always able to burst forth with power that wasn’t theirs to possess, it all came from Bai Wu.

Bai Wu had gone to the deepest part of the Well, clearly having mastered some power.

"He can indeed open the ninth shackle, and with that, the battle would end. I hope you remember, Alpha, you have already lost, defeated by the captain."

Although without facial features, Alpha’s shadow was indeed terrified. At this moment, he didn’t think much, just strived as hard as he could to return to his own body.

But the next second, another huge column of white light fell from the sky. Bai Wu’s figure suddenly blocked in front of Alpha.

He leaned against the massive black pupil of Alpha’s Divine Body:

"Ahead, passage is forbidden."

The white barrier blocked Alpha’s soul, as Bai Wu continued to narrate the events of the past:

"To put it simply, before the captain burned out, I preserved his hope of survival; the ninth shackle wasn’t unlocked. After he fell into a deep sleep in the Well, the sacrificial effect brought about by those distortions would also disappear."

Will. When Alpha heard this word, he understood:

"You’ve become a Will?"

He didn’t feel fear, in fact, Alpha even felt a bit of joy.

Because in the process of fusing with the Immortal, he had learned some of the experiences of the other two Sequences.

To obtain those two Sequences meant abandoning one’s human identity, advancing to become a Will.

Only by doing so could one unleash the power of the Sequences. Alpha didn’t believe he could confront the Will of the Well World, but he understood that the World Will needed a vessel, and the Will of the Well World was no different.

A Will cannot leave its vessel, and now Bai Wu, in order to save that Crimson monster, forcibly condensed his Will into a physical form, leaving its vessel, which could not possibly last long.

The Will’s combat power wouldn’t be too high either. Perhaps dissolving his own Twisted Spear had already exhausted a great deal of Bai Wu’s strength, and the "vessel" he forcibly condensed was about to dissipate.

And tens of thousands of meters above, who else could he find as a vessel?

The golden formation, although it filled Alpha with dread as if seeing the future prison, still left him time!

He condensed the Twisted Spears, more and more Twisted Spears kept appearing; he had to accelerate the consumption of Bai Wu’s strength.

Then to return his soul back to his own body, as long as he completed all this, he still had time to escape this grand formation!

As if finding salvation in a moment of despair, Alpha’s soul unleashed a power that surpassed his limits!

Dozens of Twisted Spears, not aimed at Bai Wu, but at Wu Jiu instead.

At the critical moment, Alpha didn’t forget to analyze calmly; if aimed at Bai Wu, he could likely be deceived by Bai Wu’s blinding tactics, but if aimed at Wu Jiu, Bai Wu would actively bear that force.

The Twisted Spears descended like a shower of arrows!

Bai Wu sighed softly:

"Do you feel pleased, finally finding my weakness?"

The sound of a snap echoed in Alpha’s mind.

Bai Wu indeed snapped his fingers.

The next second, the dozens of Twisted Spears falling like a rain of arrows, all disappeared. As if melted by that white light.

"It’s my turn to attack, and this is the final attack, Alpha."

In Bai Wu’s hand, seven rings suddenly transformed into seven blades.

"Pride!"

A flash of white light, and Alpha felt his soul seemingly pushed towards the sky by a tremendous force.

But quickly, that ascending state was interrupted, because Alpha felt himself hitting something above.

There is no top to the sky; it was just that behind him, a massive bronze prison pillar had appeared.

The Heart of the World can create matter at will.

At this moment, Alpha’s soul came into contact with that massive bronze prison pillar, his instincts urging him to break free.

Even as just a soul, he possessed strength enough to twist the world, yet he was unable to destroy that immense bronze prison pillar.

The figure of Bai Wu had already fixed the sin of Pride onto Alpha’s wrist.

Like a thorn, it pierced through his wrist, then through the bronze prison pillar.

"Wrath."

Another white crystalline spike struck with swift ferocity, ruthlessly nailing Alpha’s other wrist.

"Lust."

The shoulder blades were penetrated, the agony from the soul made Alpha roar.

He recalled the tribesman who had defeated him thousands of years ago.

It was with such a set of Seven Sins weapons that he ruthlessly trapped himself. Everything seemed to have returned to the past, history appeared to be repeating itself!

"Sloth."

With no emotional fluctuation, Bai Wu softly recited the names of these weapons, like an executioner who had beheaded countless people, now devoid of any sentiment toward life or death. After Alpha’s abdomen had been pierced, he began his next attack.

Alpha roared in indignation, but tens of thousands of meters in the sky, no one responded to his panic.

Only Bai Wu.

"Gluttony."

"Greed."

"Envy."

With each word spoken, the bronze prison column restraining Alpha became even more secure.

His knees and throat were penetrated by three of the Seven Sins.

This sinfully twisted soul was finally completely shackled to the bronze execution column by the seven sins of humanity.

Alpha, furious, tried to break free, but he had no way to do so.

Only at this moment did Bai Wu’s figure begin to fade:

"What a pity... you guessed part of it, but not all. Indeed, I am a will, but I will not always be a will. My time is short, to defeat you, I must rely on the captain as a vessel, but this final reaping will not drain me of anything."

"What do you mean?" Alpha, unable to free himself from his imprisonment, at least wanted to understand why.

Bai Wu watched as the golden barrier steadily enveloped the surroundings, and gradually, a huge golden disc emerged beneath the feet of him and Alpha. The disc kept expanding, as if it were as large as an entire city.

Alpha knew that High Tower was descending, or rather, a brand new High Tower was being created.

"I chose not to become a complete will, because I temporarily abandoned an idea."

Alpha could no longer pay attention to Bai Wu’s words; he wanted to escape.

He kept calling out to the Divine Body, but once the soul had left, even the immortal Divine Body was just an empty shell.

"You already know the secret! Do you really resign yourself to stop searching? Bai Wu... let’s collaborate, only by working together can we possibly discover that ultimate mystery!"

"Sequence Zero? There is indeed something inside your Inner World worth fearing, but sorry, not every story has someone who is relentless in seeking answers to the end."

The High Tower began to reveal its outline; Reverse Dimension and Rule Binding had already started to take effect.

A crack appeared in front of the monk in a certain part of the vast Denglin City.

He stood up, gave a gentle smile to Hong Yin and White Deer, and walked towards the fissure resolutely.

The massive consumption of Temporal Power left Xu Wei, Yin He, The Pursuer, Lin Rui, and The First Generation in a state as if they were about to burn out.

But everyone clenched their teeth, continuously overextending their powers.

That High Tower, like an ancient bell descending from the heavens, covered the world’s mightiest Demon King.

...

...

Not long before, Level Five of Well World.

In the heart of Baichuan City, Wu Jiu bid farewell to Bai Wu.

Watching the already disappeared figure, Bai Wu’s mind repeatedly conjured up images of that beautiful world.

In that world, Lin Rui, forever youthful, had his story of fighting the Great Demon King turned into a comic.

The captain continued his duty of protecting the city, and Zero continued to guard his Mechanical City.

Everything was reviving, everything was becoming wonderful.

Compared to the city beneath his feet, such a Baichuan City indeed seemed too good to be real.

But the better that city was, the less he was willing to accept it.

"Can I choose to leave? I don’t like such a future; I am not a hero."

The two Sequences behind the curtain were dumbfounded, how could this human being waver at such a moment full of grand righteousness?

After Wu Jiu left, Bai Wu indeed had second thoughts.

"I’ve always wanted to end the distortion and utterly destroy immortality, so I have no choice but to become a complete will."

"Isn’t that a good thing?" the heart of the World asked seriously, as always.

"But why must it be me? Yes, I’m indeed someone who likes to get to the bottom of things, someone who likes to play a game to see all possible outcomes. The High Tower Master has already achieved an outcome that’s not bad but fraught with hidden dangers."

"Therefore, my instinct is to reject the options that others have chosen. Especially since it seems like the High Tower Master has been defeated, he didn’t have the last laugh in the end. Alpha is causing havoc in the world again, and might even break the balance between the two worlds, creating a world of absolute distortion."

"No matter how you look at it, that great guy was beaten by Alpha. His actions were meaningless. Naturally, I would reject such a choice and think, should I make a better choice, one that completely obliterates Alpha?"

Bai Wu said a lot, seemingly fearful, evading his own destiny, yet his eyes became brighter and brighter.

The Heart of the Rule behind the curtain said:

"Theoretically, it’s possible to do. If you’re willing to become the true will of the Well World, you’ll always find a way to erase him. Always in his heart, establish a point where he can be killed."

"Yeah... but in that case, I wouldn’t exist in that beautiful world, why should I accept that?"

Bai Wu took a step forward:

"Why should it be that I can’t partake in such beauty? Why can’t I live in a world without distortion along with everyone else? If my existence’s purpose is to sacrifice myself for the benefit of others... then I would rather have never existed at all."

This statement left those behind the curtain, the Heart of the Rule and the World’s Heart, dumbfounded.

"It’s for them, of course."

"Yes, for them, for Captain Zero, Yan Jiu, Lin Rui, K, Hong Yin, even Xu Wei and Yan Zizai, I could die. But only for them. If the distortion were to dissipate, how long would they live?"

"Maybe a few years, a decade? Or perhaps several decades to a century? I can’t imagine human lifespans would suddenly increase, right?"

Bai Wu smiled:

"I’m doing this only for them, not for everyone. I’m not the captain, I’m not K, I’m not Lin Rui. I just want them to survive."

"Given this, why should I necessarily choose that most perfect outcome, the one where sacrificing myself could save the entire world?"

With that, the two most powerful Sequences were rendered speechless.

"Why can’t I accept that Alpha can only be sealed, not killed?"

"Ah... literary stories really do harm people deeply. It’s always like this in all the stories, with the Demon King sealed away, after thousands of years the seal loosens, and so the dragon-slaying heroes grit their teeth to face the Demon King, deciding to solve the problem of the Demon King once and for all."

"After all, sealing the Demon King means there’s the possibility that the Great Demon King could break the seal and wreak havoc since a righteous cohort is supposed to permanently kill all threats, leading to the prince and princess living happily ever after, the people dwelling in peace and prosperity, and the world free from distortion... But that world would no longer have me. I won’t accept it."

I won’t accept it, Bai Wu stated these four words with righteousness and vigor.

The Heart of the Rule behind the curtain said sarcastically:

"Is this you chickening out?"

"No, I’ve just realized something. Your goal is to hope for completely wiping out Alpha, to eradicate immortality for good because immortality might become the only objective reality in the upcoming subjective world."

"But if Alpha is always sealed within the High Tower, that possibility would not arise. The High Tower Master paid with his life to seal Alpha. That’s because the High Tower Master never reached the fifth level."

"At that time, the Well Water was still flowing in the fourth level."

"Now that I’ve reached the fifth level, I can do what he couldn’t, reach heights higher than him, but at the cost of sacrificing myself, just like him, dead for good. Sorry, I, Bai Wu, don’t like this next journey, this journey that includes those most important to me."

"Since I have acquired power that surpasses the High Tower Master, why should I do what he couldn’t instead of perfecting what he did do?"

It’s like a game, people obtain powerful items and think about going to higher difficulty areas to kill monsters.

But there are also those who choose to use powerful items to return to previous areas, to kill those not-so-powerful monsters more easily and efficiently."

In Bai Wu’s opinion, the High Tower Master did defeat Alpha. If the High Tower Master hadn’t died, this story would not have unfolded at all.

So why must I die to become a hero who only lives in people’s memories but will ultimately be forgotten?

Just because the Great Demon King might break the seal? No problem, as long as I’m alive, he breaks the seal once, I’ll seal him again.

Realizing this, Bai Wu suddenly thought that the High Tower Master was indeed a genius. Why should I abandon the method left by the most ingenious person of a high-dimensional civilization and seek an entirely new path?

Of course, the most important reason is... that the world is too beautiful for me to die.

Finally, Bai Wu stood in front of the curtain, as if negotiating with the two mightiest Sequences across a table, his stance incredibly firm:

"I demand a change in the way we collaborate. Otherwise, let the distortion come."