Cheng Shi handed Long Jing two items.
One was a fragnt of divinity. The other was a die.
He looked at the divinity in his hand and explained:
"Before coming here, I made a special trip to see Hong Lin and obtained this strand of Prosperity divinity from her.
This is the divinity you'll need to bring to that world. If all goes well, a single fragnt of Prosperity divinity should be enough."
Long Jing blinked, thinking carefully. "And if things don't go well?"
"Then front the cost yourself. I'll pay you back when you get ho."
"???"
'Dude — are you seriously pulling a no-money-down scam on ?!'
'I'm already going to my death and you want
to chip in?!'
'Die and call it even, right?!'
Granted, the logic wasn't entirely wrong — making the best use of everything and all that — but Long Jing's face went dark all the sa.
Seeing this, Cheng Shi chuckled and continued:
"I told you, stop being so pessimistic. I'm not letting you die.
Yes, Su Yida's death was personally verified by Deceit. But don't forget — that Deceit is only the Deceit within a slice universe. As long as It never left that world, It couldn't possibly know what happened outside it.
You've all looked through Su Yida's mories by now, I assu. I'd wager there's a gap — the period just before he arrived in our world — that you can't see, correct?"
The Dragon King and Long Jing both nodded. Clearly, to prepare for the impersonation, they had already combed through every mory the Master of Trickery possessed.
Getting the confirmation he expected, Cheng Shi's lips curled.
"Good. Long Jing — that gap is your lifeline.
I'll explain the specifics, but first we need a life-preserving prop that can sustain a dead soul — sothing like a keepsake that shelters the spirit after death for resurrection elsewhere. Old Zhang, do you have anything like that?"
Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes, thought for a mont, then produced from his personal space a sliver of wood no longer than a finger joint.
"Death SS-grade pseudo-divine relic: the Epiphytic Wood. As you described — a life bound to it will not have its soul sent to the Fishbone Hall upon death. Instead, the soul clings to the relic, awaiting resurrection.
Its advantage is that as long as the relic isn't destroyed, resurrection is always possible.
Its disadvantage is that it can bind one person and one person only.
It's one of my backup lifelines. It hasn't been bound yet."
With that, Zhang Jizu held it out.
Cheng Shi took the Epiphytic Wood, examined it briefly, nodded, and tossed it to Long Jing.
"Everything's in place. Now for the operational plan..."
Cheng Shi laid out every detail of the plan with the utmost seriousness. As Long Jing listened, his eyes grew wider and wider.
"What?! You're coming with ?"
Cheng Shi smiled. "Of course. Otherwise, how would the other world's Cheng Shi et his 'Cheng Dashi'?
Relax — my main body still has work to do here. But my shadow will go with you.
Two traveling together — that should put your mind at ease.
That said, don't count on
helping you. To avoid unnecessary surprises and complications, I'll seal off everything and turn myself into an inert object — a prop on your person.
This die is carved from Prosperity wood. Crush it and it can fuse with Prosperity divinity. I'll hide inside the divinity until you reach that world, then reveal myself to fill in all the 'history' I lived through for that world's Cheng Shi."
"Absolutely not!"
The mont Cheng Shi finished, Zhang Jizu shook his head, his expression grave.
"This is far too reckless. With our current capabilities, we could easily use sothing like a puppet to simulate everything Cheng Dashi did.
Unless it's absolutely necessary, you'd better not leave this world.
The Real Universe is dangerous."
Cheng Shi had long anticipated Mi Laozhang's objection. He smiled at Old Zhang and asked a single question:
"Was the Real Universe not dangerous when you swapped places with the other ?"
Zhang Jizu froze, then narrowed his eyes. "My life is inconsequential. But you... you are Fixed Destiny."
Cheng Shi shook his head with a smile:
"No. Every life matters. I understand how critical Fixed Destiny is, but that shouldn't beco the reason our hands and feet are shackled.
Like I just said — different slice universes are already entangled. If I don't go in person, how can we guarantee the torch gets passed?
Besides...
You might think this argunt is sophistry, but let
put it this way: isn't it possible that we must live through this very mont — pass through this experience — before Fixed Destiny can see a road ahead?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
That single sentence silenced every Joker in the room.
When it ca to clever argunts, who could out-argue Yu Xi?
If he insisted on tying the world's future to such ethereal, intangible things, who could refute him?
Zhen Xin felt as though she were watching a replay of Cheng Shi's earlier farewell to her. She sighed wearily:
"Letting you be yourself doesn't an letting you throw your life away every single ti.
Have you even considered what happens if you—"
"No!"
Cheng Shi's reply was ironclad.
The others' expressions turned solemn, assuming Cheng Shi had another card up his sleeve. Only Zhen Xin knew that his ace in the hole was none other than their Benefactor — the one who had faked His own death and slipped away!
'Is the Clown really insisting on passing the torch in person because of so nonsense about entangled worlds...? Hard to say. But he definitely wants to search for Deceit in the Real Universe.'
Thinking this, Zhen Xin sighed again and said nothing more. She didn't believe anyone could stop Cheng Shi from going.
Seeing that no one spoke up, Cheng Shi smiled:
"Don't worry. Soone will bring
back.
Have faith in Fixed Destiny. After all, in the whirlpool of Fate, he has never once lost his way."
Just as she'd thought!
Hearing those words, Zhen Xin finally let her heart settle.
...
A few days later, the date for the eting with Jie Shu was finalized.
All along, Jie Shu had been invested in the plan but never in a hurry — which had given the Jokers ti to prepare.
It wasn't until the lost and drifting Mo Shu "rediscovered his purpose in life," the vanished Zhao Xishi reappeared before everyone, and the ever-improving Su Yida finally acknowledged his own strength... Everything fell into place naturally. The plan comnced.
According to the arrangent Jie Shu had once laid out in Su Yida's mories:
They needed a follower of mory to find the "path" they had co from, and then a follower of Oblivion to erode the thickness of the world-wall, allowing Jie Shu to construct a passage through which the Master of Trickery could leave this starry sky.
The reason the Master of Trickery had to be the one to go was a Folly theory called the Spatiotemporal-Trace Resonance thod, which could use the connection between two living beings to locate a similar world.
And so Su Yida beca the heaven-chosen executor of the assassination plan — because among all the versions of Cheng Shi anyone had encountered, the one he had t was the weakest.
If the assassination succeeded, the Master of Trickery was to bring Cheng Shi's corpse back and hand it to Jie Shu, who would use it to construct a more stable spatiotemporal passage for everyone to flee this world and reach a utopia without Cheng Shi.
Every word in the mory was crystal clear on its own, yet strung together, not a soul could make sense of it.
But that was no great concern. After all, Jie Shu was about to face a true god, a candidate for godhood, the Universe's Fixed Destiny, and... an Acrobat.
Even without understanding the theory, improvising on the spot would be more than sufficient.
And so, Long Jing — playing Su Yida — with the Dragon King playing Long Jing at his side, strolled brazenly up to Jie Shu.
...
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