GOD OF ALL SYSTEMS

The scene had an intense atmosphere. Lian Zu floated in the distance as he stared at Patrick; even after hearing what Patrick said, he wasn't surprised. On the contrary, he chuckled amusingly as he steadily approached the balcony. Hovering in the distance away from Patrick, Lian Zu sat mid-air with hands supporting his head as he spoke, sounding calm and friendly.

"Not surprising at all; as someone who made me have this tingling sensation for battle, I would be surprised if you didn't know me. You know, I have been stuck in the space void of this universe for countless eons where I have lost count at this point; I have seen and witnessed the rise and fall of countless generations of cultivators and fought countless powerful entities, including the Jade Emperor, but never did any of them make me feel this tingling sensation.

But then, I felt it; weeks ago, I felt someone break the rules of this universe, not once but many times simultaneously. I have understood many things after being thrown into this universe; one of them is this universe has the same heavenly system as mine, where there is a heavenly tribulation sent at anything that goes against the natural order of things. And yet, after breaking the universal rules numerous times, the heavens didn't even budge, let alone act to eliminate you.

So now, my question is, who are you?"

Lian Zu spoke as he stood mid-air, looking at Patrick with an expecting expression.

Patrick listened to Lian Zu without interruption; he maintained his impassive expression as he heard Lian Zu's question or exactly Sun Wukong's question.

"I am countless things, but you can call me Patrick."

"... Hmm, countless things, huh! Does that mean you are nothing and everything at once?"

"You can say that. ... I know you are here for a fight, but I don't mind since you are fun to play with. So, I propose we start now before I get bored."

"Hahaha, you are quite an interesting fellow; first, you call yourself a being of many things, then you say fighting me would be playing, and then say you will get bored? Those are words even the Jade Emperor dare not utter lightly. ... Very well, but before we fight, I need to know if you are even qualified to fight me, ... here, this is a little pin I carry around with me, if you can catch it, then, we'll know you aren't all talk."

Simultaneously to him finishing his sentence, Lian Zu pulled a gold pin from his right ear; the pin was a finger long and radiated with immense energy; he then flickered it at Patrick at fast speeds, despite the short distance, the overwhelming energy released from the pin caused the space to shatter numerous times before eventually reaching Patrick. The gold pin moved in slow motion as it was an inch away from Patrick's face, but then, Patrick dodged it by swinging his head left, causing the pin to launch past him and get stuck into the glass wall of the building.

The glass wall assumed countless cracks with the gold pin stuck in it.

Seeing this, Lian Zu's expression changed to that of surprise as he chuckled; he spoke while stretching his hand with the gold pin instantly and simultaneously launching back from the glass wall and returning to him.

"Not bad, at least you are honest about your strength, but I must say, you are quite fast to dodge Ruyi; speed must be your specialty. But let's see if you can dodge it for the second time."

Again, Lian Zu spoke as, this time; he injected Qi into his finger before mightily flickering the pin at Patrick. The pin instantly reached Patrick, but again, Patrick dodged it as it passed him and hit on the glass wall. But unlike the first time, the glass wall didn't assume any crack; instead, the gold pin only bounced on it before falling to the ground.

This time, Lian Zu's expression changed to that of surprise as he frowned with suspicion; he stretched his fingers again, re-summoning the pin. But before the pin could return to its original master, it got restrained by Patrick's attire, the Omniverse Devouring Robe. The robe held onto the pin with its materialized hand as it steadily held it before Patrick's view. Patrick stood with hands behind him; he stared at the struggling pin trying to return to its master; he then looked at Lian Zu as he spoke.

"You see, you aren't the only one with a sentient object. As for if I can lift your staff, you can see that even my robe is more capable of restraining it, let alone catch it. ... Here, you can have it back."

The Omniverse Devouring Robe then released the pin, with the pin instantly flashing in Lian Zu's hand after. Seeing this, Lian Zu couldn't help but be amazed; he spoke.

"So, you are faster and more resourceful than I thought, impressive. And also, your house is quite sturdy, seeing it could bounce off Ruyi. What is it made of?"

"It's called Transcendatium. ... Now, since we are testing each other's strength, here is one; this is one of my ten rings of True Omnivastance, catch this, and I might consider playing with you."

Patrick spoke as he stretched his right pinky finger, then the ring on the finger slowly came off and rested on his palm; opening his palm, Patrick casually blew the ring as it launched at Lian Zu. The ring casually shattered reality as it drifted through the void, causing the scenery to change numerous times before even reaching Lian Zu.

Seeing this, Lian Zu assumed an astonished expression as he saw the numerous changes in reality, but still, he stretched his right arm, aiming to catch the ring in his palm. But then. BOOM, POOSH!! A loud and exaggerated booming sound reverberated through the atmosphere as Lian Zu instantly got sent flying into the void the moment the ring came a meter close to him; he couldn't even touch the ring as the mere pressure around the ring sent him flying.

Seeing this, Patrick didn't even react; to him, this was within his expectation. He stretched his finger as the ring returned to its original position. Stretching his right hand, Patrick spoke to Grace.

"Grace, give me a staff. Since the monkey wants to play, I should make him never forget this fight for the entirety of his existence."

Simultaneously, a six-foot-long, six-inch thick staff materialized in Patrick's hand; the staff was black with a large golden-colored infinity symbol etched around it. The staff radiated with endless black energy as it caused the surrounding space to bend according to the shape of the staff. Grace voiced.

[Staff of Infinite Concepts (Sentient): A staff capable of embodying any concept in existence; it has no limitations and can do anything the master wishes.]

Seeing the description, Patrick spoke while rotating and swinging the staff in a testing manner.

"A staff without limitations, hmm... I shall call you limitless."

'Limitless is eternally grateful for master's benevolence.'

The staff spoke as it vibrated with excitement. Patrick held the staff as he looked far in the distance.

Billions of light years away from the Athos Tree, Lian Zu's figure flashed through the void as he constantly shattered and broke the space and sound barriers; his upper body was naked as the continuous crashing in the space barriers tore his clothes. Blood spewed from his mount and nose, leaving him unconscious while flying through the void.

Then, Lian Zu's eyes opened as he gasped for breath; he hurriedly stretched his arms and bellowed.

"Ruyi, grow!!"

Suddenly, the gold pin from earlier flashed before Lian Zu, then, without warning, the pin grew from six inches to over a hundred million feet long in an instant. Lian Zu quickly gripped the long staff and impaled it deep into the earth, causing his flying speed to reduce significantly. Soon after, Lian Zu stopped crashing into the void; he spoke again.

"Ruyi, retract."

The hundreds of millions of feet-long staff instantly shrunk into a six-foot-long pole as it hovered next to its master. Lian Zu stood mid-air as he watched the damage done to the body; he spoke.

"You may have the potential, kiddo, but your body is quite weak, the fight hasn't even begun, and you are already bleeding, ptui! Guess I can do you a favor and instill your body with one of my many body cultivation techniques. I stole this from the Jade Emperor's treasury; you won't be dying anytime soon."

Lian Zu spoke the next moment; his body began radiating with golden Qi; the Qi instantly regenerated his wounds and healed his injuries in an instant. Then, gripping his golden staff, Lian Zu wiped his nose like a monkey as he climbed on his staff, sniffed the atmosphere, held his hand to his head as if blocking the sun, and stared far into the distance; he spoke.

"So, you want to play with staff too, huh? Then I'll show you why I'm called the monkey king. Eeya!"

Lian Zu flashed at an unscalable speed as he vanished from his location.