When the heart dies, the lamp goes out. When the person dies, the path fades.
The Ritual of Truth was indeed grinding everything away — disassembling the fuel it had marked and feeding it all into that brilliant nebula, stockpiling power for the next experint.
Cheng Shi's form slowly crumbled away within the experint. From feet to head, from limbs to features — in monts, all that remained was a mouth. And yet even that last mouth still curved upward in that final instant.
Nobody in their right mind could have managed a smile at a ti like this. So why was Cheng Shi still smiling?
Because...
[Birth]!
Don't forget — Hu Xuan had planted a Pregnancy Rhythm on Cheng Shi's arm. So long as [Birth] was also part of this divine clash, he could always revive through [Birth]'s power and return to the world.
So in life's final second, he was waiting for a miracle — a miracle belonging to [Birth]. He'd experienced one before, and as it turned out, where there was a first, there would be a second.
In the instant those last lips were about to dissipate, a surge of [Birth]'s revival power erupted, pushing back against [Truth]'s erosion and reclaiming Cheng Shi's flesh.
The curve of his smile grew wider and wider. As the revived body solidified, the skin pulled taut by that exaggerated grin made his face look almost ferocious.
But the revival's power had its limits. Once the Pregnancy Rhythm exhausted every drop of its strength, Cheng Shi's smile froze — then inverted in an instant, the triumphant smirk collapsing into helpless panic.
[Birth] could give him a second life, but not a third. [Truth]'s erosion continued. After reopening his eyes, the Pregnancy Rhythm had rely postponed his death by a few more minutes.
"Damn..."
When death lood close, even the dying cursed.
Cheng Shi was losing his mind. He scraped together the last dregs of his strength, struggled to snap his fingers, and warped himself back to Hu Xuan's side — hoping to buy ti by spamming Pregnancy Rhythm reapplications like exploiting a bug, stalling until his Benefactors could break free from the divine standoff to save him.
He also knew Fang Yuan was with Hu Xuan. That loophole-exploiting [Order] follower might just find so gap in the rules to keep everyone alive.
And sure enough — Cheng Shi guessed right. Fang Yuan was indeed protecting the group. Though his thod was rather creative.
When Cheng Shi dragged himself to the group, all five were unscathed — in far better shape than he was.
He was astonished. But what shocked him even more wasn't their condition — it was the utterly absurd scene before him.
Three identical pudgy figures were tearing pages from the books in their hands and shouting: "Experintation-based displacent is prohibited in this area!" It was this [Order] power that had held off [Truth]'s erosion, keeping their bodies intact.
As for why there were three identical pudgy n — that wasn't Fang Yuan's doing. It was the work of ng Youfang, standing behind him pale as a ghost but grimly holding on. The God Worship Society president had summoned two copies of "Fang Yuan" in one breath, and all three were barely fending off the Ritual of Truth's decomposition with their combined [Order] power.
Behind ng Youfang were Chen Yi and Wei Zhi, currently locked in a wide-eyed staring contest over Hu Xuan at their feet, utterly baffled.
Because Hu Xuan was going into labor.
"!!??"
Could you even imagine the scene these people had assembled? When Cheng Shi beheld it, his brain short-circuited — so thoroughly that he nearly forgot he was dying.
Hu Xuan's belly was swollen larger than the blood moon over Far Dusk Town.
'Lady — we seriously have to pick now!?'
'Does a baby born during a crisis develop a stronger sense of crisis or sothing!?'
'This is insane! [Birth] doesn't seem like the impatient type! Who did you inherit this urgency from!?'
The weakened Cheng Shi materialized and imdiately crumpled to his knees. Seeing his brother arrive, ng Youfang's flagging spirit surged. He blurted out:
"Brother — [Truth] actually dared attack ! Is It trying to reconstruct a new god out of my body!?"
"..."
Nearby, Chen Yi's face was iron-green: "Hold on a little longer. He won't abandon ."
Fang Yuan was drenched in sweat and couldn't spare the breath to reply. Wei Zhi eyed the others with a shifting gaze and let out a contemptuous snort:
"A ragtag mob. Nothing more."
"..."
Cheng Shi gritted his teeth, stood up, shoved Wei Zhi aside with a "you want to do it yourself?
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