"Whoosh—"
This was no longer resistance — it was a naked provocation.
Even the slowest gods among them could see, from Fate's past actions combined with today's events, that the Outer God Fate wanted a faithless Fixed Destiny.
And War's act had undeniably cut off Fixed Destiny's path forward — polluting him with faith so he could no longer serve as a sacrifice untouched by it.
A true god's throne may have required the Pact's approval, but an Envoy had always been elevated by the true god alone, needing no other proof. When a living being held a Faith Container, received a true god's recognition, and acted as proxy for a true god's Authority — they naturally beca an Envoy.
And as luck would have it, Cheng Shi already carried both War's Container and War's Authority!
He was a natural candidate for Envoy — separated from the real thing by nothing more than a single word of divine promise.
Today, that promise had co.
And so Fate was furious.
The darkness that the flas had driven back ca roaring back in an instant. The thick, fathomless blackness — impossibly deep yet awash in terrifying iridescence — pressed down like a physical force, rcilessly eroding the inferno blazing around War.
Inch by inch, the fire shrank. Drop by drop, the blood multiplied.
Even though War was the god most skilled in combat in the entire universe, against this sliver of the Origin's power, He had no strength to resist.
This mont echoed that other mont — the scene before them reminded both Cheng Shi and Hong Lin of those countless Wars in the Real Universe, charging upstream against the current, only to be wiped out in a single stroke.
The two sights were uncannily similar, save that War's destruction was far slower this ti.
This was the Outer God's wrath — and Qin Xin's tornt.
Just as the Outer God had said, no one could prevent Fixed Destiny from being taken. The only reason He still lingered here, sparring with the gods, was that the Spaceti Storm He awaited had not yet arrived.
Cheng Shi's expression shifted. Before he could intervene, the flas imploded into darkness, and the flowing blood dissolved into the Void, becoming part of the hollow backdrop beneath the starry sky — gone without a trace.
War had vanished — just like that!
No. He hadn't vanished.
Qin Xin had vanished.
The instant Qin Xin disappeared, a pair of brand-new War eyes — one blazing fire, one weeping blood — opened before the assembled gods. Within those eyes, spirals of the Void swirled without concealnt. They settled on Cheng Shi, who had spun around in alarm, and spoke in a spectral murmur:
"Soone stole my identity in a futile struggle, attempting to pollute Fixed Destiny. Fate saw through it.
His tily intervention freed my true self. I am deeply grateful.
All prior commitnts were made by the imposter and hold no validity.
Fixed Destiny... has never resisted. He never once resonated with my will. He does not deserve the title of my Envoy..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
He was not even trying to pretend anymore.
The Outer God no longer cared what the gods thought, nor whether truth held aning within this universe. In the end, even without this charade, He could simply reset ti, roll it back, kill Qin Xin first, and then deal with everything else.
But He had not done that. Instead, He perford this pantomi before the assembled gods — not rely as a dismissal, but as a declaration to the universe: Fixed Destiny could never be defied.
"Ha."
Cheng Shi laughed. He stared at those eyes of War and laughed like a madman.
"Fate, oh Fate — I think you're the biggest clown on this stage.
Your performance is truly hilarious. Ha — hahahaha!"
The universe fell deathly silent, leaving only Cheng Shi's laughter echoing through the void.
Those frigid Stellar Eyes slowly stilled their spirals. Fate gazed at His follower for a long, silent mont — and then, at last, commanded the power of Fate to engulf him. Together with Fixed Destiny, He vanished from the gods' sight.
The dust had settled.
The Outer God departed. The Origin's power dissipated. The crushing pressure lifted in an instant, and the stars smothered by darkness regained their color.
But a furious roar imdiately tore through the starry sky. Hong Lin, still falling, transford into a leopard mid-descent and bolted toward the depths of the Void.
She did not know where the Outer God had taken Cheng Shi. But she knew with absolute certainty — wherever it was, that was where she would be buried.
'I will never abandon a single friend. Never!'
Prosperity chased after them through tears. Those who remained sighed in sorrow. The gods exchanged glances and quietly dispersed.
The farce seed to be over. Perhaps when Fixed Destiny was sacrificed to the Origin, the world... could go on living?
No one dared say for certain. Not even the gods.
The colossal skull atop the Bone Throne sighed as it gazed at the spot where the Outer God had vanished. Then the green flas in its eyes flickered, and the Fishbone Hall disassembled into a torrent of white bone that carried its follower away from the devastated starry sky.
When the hall found a tranquil stretch of Void and reconstituted itself, a stream of pure Death power quietly seeped from the colossal skull, restoring a small skull beneath the throne to human form and rousing the follower who lay unconscious before it.
An Mingyu stumbled forward and nearly collapsed on the steps before the Bone Throne. She "looked" toward the distant figure of Zhang Jizu as he groggily ca to, and her heart clenched:
"Where is Cheng Shi? Is he..."
Zhang Jizu's whole body convulsed. He stared at his own hands, and sothing seed to click. Then, in a voice hoarse, choking, and full of despair, he slamd his fist into the ground and howled:
"No!!!"
And when the colossal skull and An Mingyu heard that single "No" —
"BOOM—"
Both god and mortal's minds erupted in chaos.
Countless torrents of bone surged skyward from either side of the staircase. The entire Void began to fill with the aura of Death. That seething Death power writhed as erratically as the shock within the colossal skull. Its green flas blazed sky-high as it stared at its follower before the throne, utterly unable to comprehend.
He bore Zhang Jizu's aura through and through — so why was his voice...
An Mingyu was overjoyed beyond all expectation. She thought her prayers had finally been answered. Lifting the hem of her skirt, she dashed to Zhang Jizu's side, seized his hand, and wept with joy:
"Cheng Shi... you're alive!"
That's right!
The voice emanating from beneath Zhang Jizu's skin was Cheng Shi's!
He was not Zhang Jizu — he was Cheng Shi!
The essence of substitution magic lay in deception — in misdirection. As long as you could fool everyone's eyes and ears, the stand-in would naturally be accepted as the genuine article.
Zhang Jizu had used precisely this thod to deceive every god present — including the Outer God — allowing himself to beco the "Fixed Destiny" that had to be sacrificed!
But this world's Deceit had long since perished. Even His Authority was being wielded by the Outer God Fate. So how had Zhang Jizu impersonated Cheng Shi well enough to fool an Outer God who could see through all truth in the universe?
Because...
The Zhang Jizu who had been taken was never Zhang Jizu at all. He truly was Cheng Shi!
Only — a Cheng Shi from another world!
Rember the attempt to seek knowledge from the outside, just before Cheng Shi entered Mockery and Jeering? At that ti, Cheng Shi had encountered another world's Mi Laozhang, who had inherited the Authority of Death. And at the very sa mont, Zhang Jizu had encountered another world's Cheng Shi — one who had inherited the Authority of Deceit!
That Cheng Shi — spirals filling his eyes — took one look at the stunned and bewildered Zhang Jizu and said:
"Good. It seems my chance to atone has finally co."
He extended his hand toward Zhang Jizu, grinning with extraordinary joy.
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