3 So, who does this body belong to?

After the assimilation, the Lord God watched as her view changed into darkness.

'This! This vessel is really strong, I have never seen a Dantian this big.'

Darkness as far as the eyes can see, endless darkness. The Lord God was surprised to see the vast area that surrounds her.

In her world, a person's strength and innate talent is measured by his or her core, or in the Lord God's case, the Dantian. The bigger and more vast the dantian is, the stronger the potential of the owner. And what the Lord God was seeing right now almost made her faint. This vessel's dantian is even bigger than hers back when she was still living as an immortal in the cultivation world, way bigger.

"This vessel... Lerian, this gift of yours... I will treasure it for eternity."

The Lord God, as if full of pride and resolute shouted.

"Let this vessel be named as Lerian!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! She said Lerian.. Who the hell is Lerian?! HAHAHAHAHA"

"Wha-"

Suddenly, The Lord God was startled as she heard someone laughing in the darkness.

'What the... How long has he been here?! I couldn't even sense him.. but more importantly'

"Who are you?! Show yourself!"

"Hahaha! Show yourself, she says..."

The man continued to laugh as he revealed himself from the darkness. It was a handsome tall man with long black hair and horns on both of his shoulders.

'This man, he is strong!'

Feeling pressure, the Lord God summoned blades of light, floating around her.

"Are you stupid?! Do you want both of us to perish?! Withdraw your weapon now, woman!"

"Answer me first! Who are you to intrude in my vessel?!"

"Your vessel? I was here first."

"..."

The Lord God thought about it, if this stranger heard her saying those words, then that must mean that this stranger must have been here before her, or at the very least they both went into the vessel at the same time.

"It doesn't matter. This vessel belongs to me now! Vanish or I will be forced kill you!"

Although the Lord God said this, she was actually hesitant to fight this man. She could feel that if they fight, even if she manages to win, the toll on her body would be so bad that she might perish along with this vessel. But for her, the most important thing is that she doesn't let this man have this vessel. After all, this was gifted to her by one of her servants, her junior, Lerian.

"Kill me? Do you think you have that kind of power?"

"You dare?!"

"Of course, I dare", the man smiled.

Seeing his smug reply, the Lord God couldn't help it, she waved her hand and the blades of light surrounding her suddenly vibrated and shot towards the position of the stranger.

When the blades of light was almost at the front of the man's nose, they disappeared.

"Wha. What did you do?!"

The Lord God was at a lost on what just happened, she didn't even feel the stranger use any powers of some sort.

"My turn."

The man suddenly raised his hand and pointed above and summoned a huge ball of flame. Seeing this, the Lord God immediately put up her guard and summon a light barrier.

'T-this pressure!'

The Lord God gritted her teeth as she prepared herself for the coming attack. Right when she was ready, the huge ball of flame suddenly vanished into thin air. The Lord God was surprised but she didn't let her guard down.

'What is he planning?'

"Relax. Did you see what just happened right now?"

The Lord God didn't reply and she just watched the man as he tried to explain.

"I didn't do anything to your attack, it just.. it was... absorbed, I guess?"

"You guess?! Do you really think I will believe that?"

"Eh? Who cares what you believe in. Anyway. None of our attacks will work here. I tried"

The Lord God was about to say something when she realized that her shield of light already disappeared. Seeing this, the Lord God relaxed herself and sat down.

"...It doesn't matter, this vessel still belongs to me. I can't waste my junior's life just because of you. Leave before this vessel matures and fully matures into a live human"

"A human... so we are inside a human's core? Intruiging... very intruiging. Haha!"

"Why are you always laughing, and why are you still here? Do you not understand the consequences if both of us remain here?"

"Heh. I wish I could leave."

The stranger whispered something, the Lord God couldn't hear the stranger so she just chose to ignore him. Telling the stranger to leave again, before meditating and circulating the enormous ki on her meridians.

Despite being told to leave, the Demon God also sat down and just watched as the Lord God was meditating.

Minutes, hours, days - they stayed like this for a few days before the Lord God opened her mouth.

"Hmph, do you truly not wish to leave this vessel?"

"Woah, I thought you were dead?!"

"Just answer my question, stranger."

The man chuckled before he answered, "I can't leave. I have been trying to do so before you even came."

"What do you mean?"

"I... we're stuck here."

"Impossible! You could just exit from one of the meridians if you want to!"

"Meridians? What are you talking about? Anyway, I truly can't leave. Believe me, I tried... someone... something else is here"

Hearing this, the Lord God closed her eyes and tried to reach one of the closest meridian of the vessel with her will. When she did so, she immediately felt a heavy pressure. She felt someone looking at the very depths of her soul. The Lord God immediately retracted her will and opened her eyes. If she had a real body, she would be full of sweat right now and breathing heavily.

'What in the world was that?! Even in my millions of years as a god, that was the first time I felt that kind of pressure!'

"Woah, you're one crazy woman, aren't you? Even though I warned you that something else was here. In fact, it's probably watching us right now. Brr, I get the chills just thinking about it"

"What was that?!"

"Heh, as if I'd know."

"This... couldn't be one of your tricks, stranger?!"

"...Xanthus."

"What?"

"My name is Xanthus. Xanthus of Freiden."

"I didn't ask for your name, stranger"

"Well, if we're going to be stuck here until this vessel is born, we might as well know each other."

The stranger reached out his hand to the Lord God.

"Hmph, very well. I am the Lord God"

"..."

Xanthus paused for a moment, and suddenly laughed his lungs out.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Wh-why the hell are you laughing?!"

"Lo-lord God, she said! HAHAHAHA!"

"You dare defile my title?!"

"HAHAHA! A title! Very well, I am The Devil, Demon God Xanthus."

Xanthus lifted his head up and said his title with pride. But deep within, a deep loneliness and disgust can be seen. This small hint of loneliness didn't escape the Lord God's eyes.

'The Devil, a path full of thorn and regret'

"This one's name is Lu Ying Yun, Lu Ying Yun of... Xuezhou"

"Xuezhou... East? I have conquered all of the eastern countries. How come I have never heard of someone as strong as you there?"

"We are probably not from the same world, Xanthus of Freiden"

"Hm, I suppose."

Being as strong as they were. The notion of there being another world wasn't that uncommon for them. Thus, Xanthus did not bother with her explanation anymore, so he just asked him what their next step was.

"I do not know, Xanthus of Freiden. Perhaps we are meant to die with this vessel? Perhaps beings like us do not deserve a second chance."

"..."

"I just wished I wasn't this unlucky. One of my friends sacrificed himself so I can find a suitable vessel and travel the six paths. But then you are here, just my luck"

"A friend? I... am deeply sorry about that"

Xanthus knew the burden of being a god, they were not allowed to have friends. To treat one as such must mean that Lu Ying Yun must truly cherish this "friend" of hers.

"I... left someone in my world as well, Cortana."

"Cortana? She seemed very nice"

Suddenly, both of them were having a very normal conversation. They realized this at the same time and couldn't help but chuckle.

"I can not blame you for choosing this vessel, Xanthus of Freiden. It... is very strong"

"Choose? I am afraid you have the wrong idea, oh Lord God"

"Hmph, explain."

"I am supposed to be cut off from the cycle of life. I didn't want to be reincarnated"

"..."

"Instead, I was absorbed... by this treasured "vessel" of yours."

"What?! Is that even possible?"

"Can't explain it myself, as I was about to disappear I could feel a black hole suddenly sucking me in.. at first I thought it was Cortana sucking me, if you know what I mean."

"A black hole?"

Lu Ying Yun totally disregarded the latter part of what Xanthus said.

"Yes, it just sucked me right in... and before I know it, I was here. I tried to get out at first but I felt an extreme pain go through my body, didn't want to try that again. And after a few moments, I suddenly heard someone shouting. And so here we are"

Lu Ying Yun thought hard about what could have caused this, but she just couldn't come to a conclusion. One thing is for sure though, whatever brought Xanthus here, the owner of the eyes that looked at her when she tried to look at the vessel's meridians was definitely involved.

"Could it be the mysterious master that are looking at us whenever we try to leave?"

"No idea. This vessel of yours is mysterious for sure. In fact, I think you didn't even choose this vessel, it chose you."

"...Tha-"

But before she could even reply, both of them heard a loud sound. A sudden pressure came down upon them causing them to kneel down.

"Oooh boy, what is happening now?!"

"S-shut up, I am trying to concentrate!"

Suddenly, two large eyes appeared in front of them.

"It's here!"

"Who are you?!"

The large pair of eyes just continued to stare at them until it just closed and disappeared as fast as it came.

And then once again, another pressure came upon them. This time, it accompanied a sound.

"T-that noise.."

"It... it can't be?! It's still too early! This vessel isn't even ready yet! It hasn't even been a week!"

What they heard caused their spines to chill.

It was...

A heartbeat.