The Great Success Cultivator from the Taoyuan Village probably had unwavering confidence in his ultimate skill. So when he saw me suddenly break in and rescue Dong Che, especially at a moment when I, the rescuer, seemed quite weak, he showed an expression of utter confusion.

The demon hunters maintaining the White Light Barrier were also closely watching the changes on this side. Most of them didn't recognize who I was, but a few, who were once my Believers, showed colors of shock and confusion upon seeing me.

As Believers, they might have a mysterious sense for me, the God, instinctively realizing my true identity. It's just that I was not using my usual appearance, inevitably causing some confusion.

Dong Che, however, was entirely different. He had once seen my youthful form on the Moon Concealing Mountain and recognized me at a glance. He stammered, trying to say something, but couldn't even manage to articulate properly.

I didn't know what words to use as an opening line, so I started with a purely ceremonial cliché: "Sorry, I'm late."

Dong Che nodded vigorously, then shook his head forcefully.

"Who are you?" the Great Success Cultivator asked cautiously. "You actually managed to dodge my attack... Your Mana seems only at Bad Level, no, you must have hidden your power, or do you have some special kind of superpower?"

I first instructed Dong Che to step back a few paces, then said to the Great Success Cultivator, "You just gave him a chance to turn away, so I'll give you a chance too. If you turn away now, I won't kill you."

Actually, I was mostly just saying that; I knew full well that the opponent would never give up peacefully. As expected, the Great Success Cultivator dismissively snorted and said in a deep voice, "You're quite confident... perhaps you have some very special power, but the gap in strength between us is still decisive. Do you think you can single-handedly turn the tide? Trying to play hero?"

In secret, I could sense that he was already quietly gathering power. Even though he had reached the Great Success Rank through the power of the seed of the heart, he must have been a seasoned veteran. Faced with an unknown opponent, he wouldn't really lower his guard.

"One more or one less makes no difference; I'll send you both into the 'Paradise'. Once there, you'll realize how short-sighted your rebellion is, and you'll never want to return to the real world," he said.

Dong Che quickly snapped out of it and said hostilely, "What do you mean by 'never want to return to the real world'... isn't it that there's no way to return to the real world?"

"What does that mean?" I was curious.

"Those victims merged into the 'Paradise' in this city have all experienced the slaughter by Taoyuan Village Cultivators and monsters, essentially experiencing the phase of destruction," Dong Che said with a tone of hatred. "Their souls are now fragmented, practically considered dead. Only within the environment of the dream network can the various fragments be preserved and chained together, then using network computing power to simulate a complete personality; once they leave that environment, it would be true disintegration of the soul.

"Their current consciousness has, in some sense, been transformed into an Illusion Technique effect, and they can no longer return to the real world. They can only exist as part of the 'Paradise' component."

The Great Success Cultivator said calmly, "Since they've already gained complete happiness on the other side, what's the need to return to a flawed real world? Their consciousness has only changed in its foundational premise, but the content remains unchanged, still their own consciousness.

"If a lie can be realized to the end, it becomes truth; likewise, if a dream never awakens until the last moment, it can be considered another form of reality.

"How many people in this world yearn to sink forever in a beautiful and vivid dream, yet cannot? You who seek to shatter the ideal dream are the real evil, why do you not understand this?"

Dong Che said coldly, "Perhaps some might think like that, but in this city, many people possess the courage to face reality. With their own will and bravery, they've built their lives and dignity in the real world.

"And you, under the guise of 'for your own good', forcibly impose your ideals on them, destroying all the beautiful things they've accumulated thus far, then forcefully giving them what you find to be good, making them grateful to you, turning them into materials for your wishes...

"In destroying this city, slaughtering the thirty million living people in it, did you ever ask if they were willing?"

The Great Success Cultivator said unwaveringly, "In the real world, only a minority of strong individuals can carve their own path, but only in 'Paradise' can the greatest number realize happiness.

"Even those few strong individuals, they will soon indulge in the happiness found in 'Paradise', one which even returning to the real world cannot match. Eventually, everyone will achieve the best outcome, so why not rejoice?"

At this point, it seemed he had finished gathering his power.

"Enough talk, intruder," he said to me. "Become one of the cornerstones of our grand ambition."

As he finished speaking, Dong Che showed an expression of shock, seemingly trying to urgently speak a warning, but it was too late. A green lightning burst from beneath my feet, transforming into a pillar of lightning that erupted from the ground, engulfing my sight.

Facing this fierce lightning attack head-on would mean death or crippling even for those at the Great Success Rank. In my current state, it's even harder to resist.

But I had already come up with the best response I could think of. As a result, I was not harmed in the slightest. The lightning pillar passed through my body like an illusion. Then, I moved forward and stepped out of the range covered by the lightning pillar.

Seeing this, Dong Che let out a big breath of relief. He apparently noticed something was off with my current state and was probably worried about any unexpected events. Meanwhile, the Great Success Cultivator's expression changed dramatically, yet his actions did not stop due to surprise. He immediately fired several thick bolts of lightning at me, but all the attacks passed through me like an illusion.

"No damage... why?" The Great Success Cultivator said in disbelief, "Did he evade at a very fast speed... no, I clearly hit him..."

"I just evaded, but I used a slightly special method. Specifically, it's about..." I rarely found an appropriate opportunity to explain my move.

But Dong Che quickly voiced out, "Don't explain your moves to the enemy on the battlefield, Senior Zhuang Cheng!"

Since even my comrade straightforwardly stopped me, I could only regretfully keep the explanation to myself.

This technique that ignores enemy attacks is simple when explained; it's merely me shifting slightly out of sync with the opponent on the time-space axis.

To describe it, it's like moving to a different layer on image editing software. Although we can still visually see each other's existence, we aren't on the same interface. The opponent cannot affect me unless they can move to the same "layer" as me. The previous attack seemed to hit me, but in reality, it was as pointless as using a low kick aimed at the ground against an opponent floating in the air.

Historically, there have been special ability users who were able to dematerialize their bodies, nullifying any attacks they faced. The principle is similar to what I'm doing now. In the Impermanence Level, this ability is nearly invincible. Even a Great Success Rank cultivator cannot break it easily, because without forming an interactive relationship, breaking it by sheer power difference becomes particularly difficult.

For those with the Impermanence ability, this requires no mana at all; it's merely a slight spatial repositioning, as simple as moving a step.

Those who can perceive the truth and break the invincible state can do so directly. Those who can't, even after hearing an explanation, won't be able to do it. At most, they can try to strike during the gap when I leave the invincible state to see if they can hit me. Since their attacks can't reach me, they assume my attacks can't reach them either, thus thinking the enemy's attack moment is their opportunity to counterattack—most would think this way. I also captured similar emotions on the Great Success Cultivator's soul surface.

Regrettably, he didn't have that opportunity.

"Wait... what did he call you earlier?"

The Great Success Cultivator was not deaf. Hearing Dong Che's address to me, he seemed to instantly connect the dots correctly and finally realized the seriousness of the problem.

I said nothing, stretched my hand towards him from afar, and then grabbed something. From his perspective, I probably just seemed to be grabbing a handful of air. Then, something unexpected appeared in my palm.

It was a heart, a heart that was beating vividly.

The Great Success Cultivator froze for a moment, then showed a painful expression, clutching his chest and could not help but cough out a mouthful of fresh blood.

"That is... my heart?" he said, unable to accept it, "How could it be..."

I clenched my hand, flames burst forth, igniting and crushing the heart. The Great Success Cultivator, in the distance, immediately sank to his knees, with a large amount of blood gushing from his mouth and nose, rendering him extremely miserable.

In the perception of normal people, the human body is a closed system, but in my perception, its closeness is an illusion. A box without a lid placed in front of a being with only two-dimensional perception would seem like a perfectly sealed container; however, a being with three-dimensional perception would realize it is not.

Though due to resistance, I cannot currently perceive the internal state of his body directly, knowing where the brain and heart are located doesn't require special confirmation. When combining the Impermanence ability that ignores spatial distance with my current ability to penetrate matter, even this is possible.

Similarly, this is not a spell. It doesn't use any mana. It's just a simple action of reaching out and grabbing something.

This trick, I tried it for the first time. I originally intended to grab the brain but accidentally caught the heart instead.

I reached out again and caught something, then pulled it over. This time, a complete grayish-pink brain appeared in my hand, with many nerves deeply buried in the void still connected.

Seeing this scene, the Great Success Cultivator was extremely horrified and hastily shouted, "No, wait—!!"