My Core is the Boss

Within the gaps of the void lay endless darkness, where even the stars illuminating the myriad heavens could not cast their light. Ordinary cultivators who ventured inside would not survive even a single breath. Only Mythic cultivators who illuminated the heavens could barely travel through the void rifts.

Standing upon a gourd, a handsome young male cultivator wielded a flying sword. He sent his sword flashing forward. Resembling a streak of light, the sword stabbed fiercely toward the phantom ahead.

Crack!

The flying sword collided with the shadow. Although the phantom resisted with all its might, it simply could not withstand the blade. After struggling for a brief moment, it died on the spot.

A fish fell into the handsome man's hand. "A Void Fish? Not a bad haul."

The handsome man was a Mythic cultivator from the upper world. Together with his junior sister, his avatar had entered the void rifts to gather resources.

A rather scantily clad young female cultivator exclaimed in a sweet, affectionate voice, her eyes sparkling, "You’re so amazing, Senior Brother! I admire you so much!"

The young man basked in her praise. With a generous flick of his wrist, he tossed the Void Fish toward her. "It is yours, Junior Sister."

The young woman happily caught it. "Really? Senior Brother, you are the best! I am the happiest woman in the world!"

The handsome man wore a look of unmistakable pride. "There are quite a few treasures within the void rifts, many even more valuable than Void Fish. Of course, there are also many terrifying monsters lurking here. One of them is called a Blood Crystal Essence. They come in all sorts of shapes and are enormous in size. Their most distinctive feature is their blood-red forms, as though formed entirely from blood.

"These Blood Crystal Essences are believed to have condensed from the radiance of the stars themselves. They're excellent treasures, capable of strengthening the Light of Illumination for Mythic cultivators like us. Not long ago, I went through considerable effort to slay an exceptionally gigantic Blood Crystal Essence."

She flattered in a sweet, coquettish tone, "Wow, how incredible you are, Senior Brother! You even defeated a Blood Crystal Essence!"

The handsome cultivator found it immensely gratifying. "See those things ahead with tiny glowing whirlpools above them? Those are lower world continents. Stay away from them, Junior Sister. They're filthy. I wouldn’t want them to sully your precious self."

Just then, he froze. "Oh no, Junior Sister, why did you swallow the entire Void Fish in one bite?"

The young woman in pink stared at him tearfully. "Do you dislike me because I eat too much?"

He hurriedly reassured her, "Of course not! It's just that you shouldn't eat too many Void Fish at once. Otherwise you'll easily... pass gas... and... leak water."

By "pass gas," he naturally meant farting. By "leak water," he meant urinating. If one ate too much at once, even ordinary Mythic cultivators could temporarily lose control over their own bodies.

As if on cue, she farted. The young woman blushed deeply. "Ah! I am doomed! I can't go on living! Wuwu... I can never face anyone again!"

The handsome cultivator panicked and took a deep sniff. "How fragrant! It's just a baby fart."[1]

How could he bear to let her suffer even the slightest grievance?

At that moment, however, the young woman in pink tensed up. "S-such... such a huge Blood Crystal Essence!"

The handsome man straightened proudly. "Where is it? How dare a mere Blood Crystal Essence frighten you!"

Sword in hand, he prepared to cut it down with a single strike for daring to scare his precious junior sister.

The young woman pointed into the distance, her sweet voice now trembling. "Over there!"

The handsome man followed the direction of her finger, and his pupils contracted violently before widening in horror. "Th-this..."

Far beyond the limits of sight, an enormous and armored blood-red behemoth was traversing the void rifts. It was so unimaginably huge that no words could adequately describe it. Never before had the handsome cultivator seen such an incomprehensible creature.

In fact, what was visible was merely the tip of the iceberg, yet even that was enough to reveal a humanoid form. A gigantic humanoid deity, seemingly endless in size, was clad from head to toe in blood-red armor. The crimson radiance of its armor dyed the surrounding void red. When it raised a foot, the void trembled. When it waved a hand, the fabric of the void itself shattered.

"W-what just..." The handsome cultivator was terrified beyond measure. Then he noticed something else, causing every hair on his body to stand upright. "It... it's actually..."

The terrifying giant slowly spread its enormous, blood-filled maw, about to swallow a cultivation world. From this distance, it seemed as though it was simply trying to eat a steamed bun. However, it was a full-fledged cultivation world, one that was no smaller than the handsome cultivator’s own to boot.

The handsome cultivator trembled uncontrollably. He had entered the void rifts only to witness what seemed to be an evil Heavenly Venerable swallowing an entire world! In the next moment, the blood-red giant swallowed the world in a single bite. That enormous world offered not the slightest resistance in its grasp, disappearing as effortlessly as though it were merely a delicious snack.

The young woman in pink turned deathly pale, clutching her senior brother's robes tightly.

The handsome cultivator immediately embraced her. "Don't be afraid, Junior Sister! It's very far away from us. We'll be fine."

Yet just then, a voice like heavenly thunder exploded beside their ears. "What 'baby fart'? It was obviously a stinky fart! Spare me your disgusting fucking PDA!"

The handsome cultivator's expression changed dramatically. "W-who's there?!"

The young woman likewise looked around in embarrassment and indignation, but could see no one.

"I am the Blood Crystal Essence you were talking about."

A thunderbolt seemed to explode within the handsome cultivator's mind. He hurriedly looked into the distance, only to see that terrifying blood-red giant turning its head toward him with a distinctly perplexed expression.

The handsome cultivator instantly dropped to his knees. His junior sister fared even worse. Perhaps because she had eaten the Void Fish, she failed to hold it in and wet herself on the spot.

The colossal blood-red creature appeared even more baffled. "What are you going to call it this time? Baby pee?"

Then, the gigantic figure swayed as it continued swimming through the void rifts, apparently searching for its next target.

Meanwhile, the handsome cultivator and his junior sister clung tightly to each other, terrified beyond words.

"Wuwu..."

***

Elsewhere within the void rifts, that terrifying blood-red giant was naturally Qi Yuan. After obtaining the coordinates, he had begun wandering through the void, swallowing every world under the Great Calamity's jurisdiction. By now, he had already consumed more than a thousand worlds. Once he finished another two thousand or so, he would have eaten them all.

He rubbed his stomach. "I'm getting kind of full. I won’t end up burping like a baby too, will I?"

Recalling the pair he had just encountered sent a chill all over him. He quickly forced the thought out of his mind and headed toward the next set of coordinates. His boundless form drifted through the void like an enormous whale swimming through the ocean, constantly feeding. Naturally, Qi Yuan had no interest in the scraps scattered throughout the void. The things he was after were Blood Crystal Essences.

"I never expected to find so many snacks for Little Bride here."

Indeed, after entering the void rifts, Qi Yuan had discovered these peculiar creatures known as Blood Crystal Essences. They possessed neither intelligence nor spirituality, attacking anything on sight. He noticed at a glance that they closely resembled the Blood Crystals both he and Little Bride enjoyed eating, only of a much higher grade.

[Blood Crystal Essence. A special lifeform condensed from the radiance of the myriad stars.]

That was the information revealed by his eyes.

At present, he had already stuffed himself with mountains of Blood Crystal Essences. "I wonder if Little Bride will evolve after finishing all these snacks."

Ever since Little Bride had first appeared, she had remained by his side. It could even be said that she had contributed enormously to Qi Yuan's successful completion of the game. If he fed all these snacks to her, perhaps she would become significantly stronger.

He wondered when his Little Bride would finally grow jade-like hands and jade-like feet. Of course, that was merely a figure of speech. If his words actually came true and she literally grew feet made of jade, that would be rather awkward.

Lost in such random thoughts, Qi Yuan arrived at another set of coordinates in the blink of an eye. He opened his enormous mouth once more and swallowed the world in a single gulp.

The living beings within that world had no idea what had happened. They merely felt all the stars across the heavens extinguish at once, while the entire world turned crimson, leaving only ten blazing suns hanging in the sky.

1. ***E/N: Never have I felt such a strong urge to jump out a window, Fellow Daoist. ☜