Inside Arcadia headquarters, within the Gift Game domain.
A white sun traced its path along the horizon, never rising, never setting.
This was the boundary line of eternal day and eternal night, a planet enveloped by the laws of the White Night. It was a stage originally crafted by Shiroyasha herself, a symbol of her own Divinity.
This stage, once exclusively Shiroyasha's, was now jointly owned by her and Su Mo for certain reasons.
Constructing a physical universe like a Gift Game stage was far more difficult than techniques like Reality Marbles. Many Asuras, Gods, and Buddhas in Little Garden had mastered this skill, but few could match Shiroyasha's level, and almost none could reach its current state.
This was because, after Shiroyasha's initial creation, Su Mo had modified and optimized the stage.
The original stage Shiroyasha had built was already breathtaking, boasting the scale of a galaxy.
To create a galaxy from thin air just for a stage—that concept alone was enough to drive any being below the 3-digit class to despair.
But now, with Su Mo's enhancements, the stage had expanded further, reaching the scale of a true universe. This feat alone was a peak that other Asuras, Gods, and Buddhas could scarcely hope to surmount.
Shiroyasha's original Gift Game stage was relatively small, partly due to a misunderstanding of her own Divinity during its initial creation, and partly due to her relationship with the Halloween Queen.
The former had been discussed when they first met.
Shiroyasha's essence was not that of a Sun Celestial Spirit, but the personification of the material plane of the universe itself.
Therefore, the stage symbolizing her Divinity shouldn't have been a 'white night' field, but the material plane on a universal scale.
This was why the stage could be expanded to such a degree while still reflecting her Divinity.
The latter was simply a matter of the grudge between the two problem children. In truth, the stage Shiroyasha herself created should have been larger, but due to her poor relationship with the Halloween Queen, she hadn't populated the game field with a starry sky, which had limited its size.
With Su Mo's intervention, both problems had been solved.
Within the Gift Game domain, one could see the white night of the horizon by looking straight ahead, and the starry night sky by looking up. The entire stage possessed the mass of a full-scale universe.
Even the well-traveled Sun Wukong couldn't help but be awestruck upon entering a stage of this magnitude for the first time.
"My goodness, this is much bigger than the World-Honored One's Buddha Kingdom in the Palm!" she exclaimed, her vast experience lending weight to her words.
The World-Honored One's Gift Game domain was large, at best, but this White Night Game Field was complete. A game field on a universal scale, containing almost every element of the material world. It was unlikely that anything surpassing this domain could be found even in the entirety of Little Garden.
"So this is the magnanimity of His Excellency Su Mo!" Seeing a stage of this scale, she had to admit she was impressed.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
"Amazing! It's so much bigger than before!" the silver-haired loli marveled at the sight, then turned to look at Shiroyasha. "Shiroya, you really gave him everything, didn't you!"
She had noticed earlier that Su Mo had casually drawn Shiroyasha's Gift Card to summon the stage.
The two of them had acted so naturally, without a hint of defensiveness, as if they were long accustomed to it. Their coordination was unconsciously perfect.
That single action spoke volumes.
Not only had Su Mo and Shiroyasha established a high degree of trust, allowing them to borrow each other's Gifts, but they even shared ownership of the Gift Game stage.
Although the entire game field was a reflection of Shiroyasha's Divinity, even Kurma could sense that half of the sovereignty over this stage now belonged to Su Mo.
For a moment, she puffed out her cheeks, a little angry. "Damn it! The last time I said I wanted to play with it, you were so stingy and wouldn't lend it to me!"
Even if he's the lover you like, the difference in treatment between him and a friend shouldn't be this huge, right?
Hearing Kurma's complaint, Shiroyasha rolled her eyes. Setting aside the fact that they weren't exactly best friends and their meetings usually involved bickering, even if their relationship were incredibly close, it couldn't possibly compare to Su Mo's!
"Never mind my relationship with Su Mo. He's the one who helped me modify this Gift Game stage. More than ninety percent of the credit is his. Of course I have to give it to him!"
If Su Mo didn't need it, she wouldn't have cared if he took not just half, but all of the sovereignty.
"Besides, don't you have any idea why I refused you back then?" Shiroyasha retorted. "You actually wanted to release your true form in my game field. If I had really lent it to you, wouldn't you have just burst it open?"
Shiroyasha had never been a stingy type. Her reason for refusing Kurma was perfectly valid. A "mere" galaxy-sized stage couldn't possibly contain Kurma's true form.
"Ugh... w-well, can you lend it to me now? It's big enough now, right?" Kurma whimpered, unwilling to give up as she asked again.
"Still no," Shiroyasha shook her head decisively, spreading her hands as if it had nothing to do with her. "This is our joint property now. You have to ask Su Mo's permission."
"Oh!" Kurma had clearly never experienced being given the runaround by a seasoned professional. Ask the husband for a loan, and he'll say his wife holds the purse strings. Ask the wife, and she'll say her husband is too stingy to lend. Perfect coordination.
So, hearing Shiroyasha's standard line, she immediately looked toward Su Mo with anticipation. Like a dog with a high demand for walks, if she had a stage large enough to frequently transform into her true form and relax, she could stay in Little Garden for a long time.
At that moment, Su Mo and Sun Wukong were just finishing their conversation.
"Your Excellency Su Mo, you said you would successfully persuade me by showing me evidence of the future direction of humanity." The golden-haired girl, fully armed and tightly gripping her Ruyi Jingu Bang with her 3-digit Divinity completely unleashed as Su Mo had requested, looked at him in confusion.
"I have released a Body Outside the Body as you instructed. Where is your evidence?"
She naturally knew that Su Mo's goal wasn't to persuade her with force.
If it were, she would have just surrendered without a fight. With the power Su Mo had demonstrated, one of her could at best delay him through a drawn-out battle.
A hundred of her could still only delay him.
According to the original plan of the World-Honored One and the Twin Goddesses, the two sides would likely be clashing right now, displaying their respective bargaining chips.
But in the face of Su Mo's earth-shattering words, what they were doing now was vastly different from what the others had imagined.
What Sun Wukong was waiting for was the evidence Su Mo had mentioned, the proof that would reveal humanity's future path.
But after following Su Mo's instructions, plucking a hair from her head and using her divine ability, all she saw was another golden-haired girl identical to herself. There was no special change.
"Don't be hasty." Su Mo shook his head and calmly beckoned to the Body Outside the Body.
The identical clone exchanged a look with the golden-haired girl, then obediently walked over.
Su Mo placed his palm on the clone's head. In an instant, an illusion of stars poured from his palm into the girl's body, causing her to gradually heat up and her eyes to brighten.
A dozen seconds later, Su Mo lowered his head and whispered something to her. Before she recalled her clone, even the original golden-haired girl didn't know what Su Mo had said.
All she knew was that after Su Mo casually handed her clone a weapon forged from Ruyi Gold-Steel, her clone, without a word, swung the pillar-like staff at her with an unbelievably powerful sweep.
What's going on?! Is this a betrayal of the original? A mere Body Outside the Body wants to devour its master?
An alarm went off in the golden-haired girl's mind. Her combat instincts were already sharp, and with Su Mo's prior warning, she was fully armed.
She reacted quickly, bringing her Golden-Hooped Rod up to block the blow.
"So strong! This can't be the power of a Body Outside the Body! What's happening?!" The golden-haired girl leaped back, her expression a mixture of shock and suspicion. She was utterly shaken.
Could it be that another Six-Eared Macaque has appeared, trying to replace me?