Within the territory of the Tower of Myriad Treasures, Duran had transformed his private resting space into a brilliant starry sky.

Countless stars hung overhead, flickering softly in the darkness.

A pale-faced young woman sat in a wheelchair.

She seemed to be enduring unimaginable pain, and even her frail body trembled uncontrollably.

Her eyes remained tightly closed.

As Duran observed her, he suddenly muttered,

"All four supreme treasures in the Heroic Spirit Corridor were bought outright by the same mysterious powerhouse."

"Lina, don’t you think that’s strange?"

"Haha..."

Duran looked at the young woman with indescribable tenderness.

He had never shown such a gentle smile to anyone else.

The girl in the wheelchair did not immediately answer.

She could not even open her eyes.

Instead, a strange, broken laugh escaped her throat.

Yet to Duran, that eerie laughter sounded like the most beautiful music in the world.

With her eyes still closed, Lina quietly replied,

"It does sound rather strange."

"But Duran... will this Myriad Worlds Tournament be dangerous for you?"

An unnatural smile flashed across Duran’s face.

He quickly concealed it and answered in a gentle voice,

"Don’t worry."

"I possess extraordinary talent, and my strength is enough to crush every opponent at my level."

"How could I possibly be in danger?"

"I will definitely enter the top three and convince a Peak Sovereign to act personally."

"With a powerhouse like that treating you, your injuries will certainly be healed."

"Once you recover, I’ll take you traveling throughout the myriad worlds."

"I’ll show you every beautiful sight in existence."

"I’ll even pluck every uniquely colored star in the universe and give them all to you."

Lina released another strange laugh.

"You big fool."

"All I want is for you to stay alive."

"Don’t let my condition become a burden upon you."

"I hope you can always live happily."

"As long as you are happy, what does it matter if I never get to see the stars?"

"Your happiness would be the greatest gift you could ever give me."

Duran suddenly reached out and gently held Lina’s small hand.

He lowered his voice.

"Don’t worry, Lina."

"I’m strong now."

"I’ve become far stronger than the Duran you remember."

"Your injuries were left behind by a God King-level powerhouse."

"With my current strength, I cannot remove them completely."

"Even an ordinary Sovereign-rank powerhouse might not be capable of healing you."

"But if a Peak Sovereign takes action, you will definitely make a complete recovery."

"I will enter the top three of the Myriad Worlds Tournament."

"I’ll make that Peak Sovereign fulfill his promise and heal you."

Hearing those words, Lina nodded faintly.

A sweet smile appeared on her lips.

"I believe you, Brother Duran."

"You will always be someone worthy of my trust."

Duran stared at the incomparably frail girl before him.

She endured agonizing pain every moment, her body constantly trembling beneath the torment of her injuries.

His heart ached unbearably.

At the same time, he silently swore that he would secure a place among the top three in the Myriad Worlds Tournament.

As he gazed at her gaunt face, memories of the distant past surfaced within his mind.

At the time, Duran had only recently become a Space-Time Player.

After arriving in that unfamiliar world, he had been enslaved by the local NPCs.

They ordered him around like livestock and beat or berated him whenever they pleased.

Duran had believed that his life was already over.

He thought he would spend eternity living as a slave.

Then Lina appeared before him like a beam of light.

She killed the NPCs without hesitation and rescued him.

After being saved, Duran began following Lina everywhere.

Only then did he discover that beneath her overwhelming strength and beautiful appearance, Lina possessed a heart as innocent as that of a little girl.

As she traveled, she continuously rescued others.

Countless Space-Time Players like Duran were saved and healed by her.

Yet among all those people, Duran was the only one willing to continue accompanying Lina into one deadly situation after another.

Together, they experienced countless life-and-death battles, hardships, and torments.

They gradually became stronger until they finally earned the opportunity to join the supreme faction known as the Tower of Myriad Treasures.

However, after joining, the two were forced to cultivate separately.

It was not until their first assigned expedition that they finally met again.

By then, Duran had already become a dazzling new prodigy within the Tower of Myriad Treasures.

Lina, meanwhile, was regarded as merely an ordinary powerhouse.

No one expected that shortly after entering the forbidden land together, they would encounter a peak God King-level enemy.

At the time, Duran was only a High God.

He had no possibility of resisting a peak God King.

Inside that forbidden land, the Tower of Myriad Treasures could not provide them with any protection.

They could rely only on themselves.

Of the more than one hundred people who entered that deadly region, Duran was the only one who returned unharmed.

But the reason he had survived was that Lina had risked her life to block a fatal strike from the peak God King.

Lina could originally have escaped on her own.

Yet for Duran’s sake, she willingly sacrificed her chance to flee.

From that day onward, Lina was afflicted by a curse formed from the Law of Destiny.

A terrifying poison tormented her day and night, forcing her to endure indescribable agony.

To heal her injuries, Duran began subjecting himself to cultivation and training so extreme that others considered it madness.

Only a single thought remained within his mind—

Become stronger.

Continue becoming stronger until he possessed the power to remove Lina’s curse of destiny.

He owed Lina far too much.

If he lost her, he could not imagine how dark his life would become.

Returning to the present, Duran shook his head and forcibly suppressed those painful memories.

"Everything is in the past now."

"After struggling for so long, I finally obtained the chance to participate in the Myriad Worlds Tournament."

"I have even received the recognition of a Peak Sovereign."

"As long as I enter the top three, that Peak Sovereign will heal Lina."

"Once she recovers, we can travel together again."

"We can continue journeying across the myriad worlds and saving those who are suffering, just as we did before."

As for winning the championship, reaching the Sovereign rank, or becoming a Peak Sovereign—

Duran did not care about any of those things.

Even the Apocalypse Tribulation meant nothing to him.

The only thing that truly mattered was restoring Lina’s health.

Everything he had done—

Everything he was doing now—

Was solely for the sake of allowing this girl to recover.

...

Meanwhile, within the territory of Evernight Palace—

Morado was also cultivating inside his private secret realm.

A waterfall descended as though pouring from the highest heavens, crashing against the azure stone beside him.

The water carried extraordinarily pure spiritual energy.

Under its cleansing influence, Morado’s gaze gradually became clear.