In the past few days, Su Ming’an and Xiber had visited many places.
They went to many small tribes to deliver survival resources.
The recent catastrophic toxic rain had severely affected many tribes in Qiongdi, with houses collapsed and buildings lted, and many corpses still lay on the ground.
At this ti, Xiber demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills; she properly conducted post-disaster reconstruction work, personally comforted the surrounding tribes, and allocated resources, fully displaying the deanor of the Clan Leader of the First Tribe.
Facing her, once a despised and exiled heretic, many people were embarrassed, but seeing the bright red Sacrificial Crown on her head and Su Ming’an by her side, they refrained from any extre actions.
Fengchang’s dying request was that the truth of the Twin Gods not be disclosed, and both Su Ming’an and Xiber respected his wishes, keeping the truth hidden and maintaining the public belief that Bai Shen was the Righteous God and Jiu Shen was the Evil God.
Yet now, Bai Shen Su Ming’an stood by the side of this sole believer of Jiu Shen, supporting her.
Changing faith was indeed not sothing that could be achieved overnight, akin to flaying and dissecting people. Not to ntion that curses originated from faith; even with a change of deities, it only slowed the death process.
Only if Su Ming’an beca Bai Shen could he possibly break this deadly loop.
However, gradually, people realized... perhaps Xiber, the heretic, wasn’t as evil as the legends described.
In fact, she seed more intelligent, wise, and kind-hearted than the average person, with a great sense of the bigger picture.
Unfortunately, they realized too late; the insults and pains Xiber had endured could no longer be nded.
During these days, Su Ming’an also took on so side missions, such as establishing barriers, dispelling the night fog; helping Teacher Fang record ancient fantasy language characters; or killing wild beasts, clearing safe spaces, and more.
These missions were useless for a perfect pass; he normally wouldn’t even look at them, but these days he found ti to do them, sporadically earning 80 Points.
With no players, no enemies, no constant replica crisis, everyone believed in him, adored him, respected him, and wherever he went, people always surrounded him.
He and Xiber went to rebuild their holand, patrol Qiongdi, clear out wild beasts, and at night, they would sleep in the best buildings warmly prepared by the tribal people, along with the freshest vegetables and fruits, the best roasted at... This dream-like, leisurely tour differed drastically from the painful tension they had faced just days before, giving one an illusion of still being in a dream.
He suddenly didn’t need to be so tense, so cautious, so utterly absorbed in strategizing every minute.
All the people around him liked him.
He briefly reviewed his strategy progress.
First, guided by the Raven, he went back five years to save people. Then, he returned to the ancient castle to stop the tentacled Xiber from purifying Qiongdi. Finally, he used the Lighthouse Church to deceive people to gain faith, experiencing nurous tamorphoses, deaths, and madness...
It must be said, those top-ranked players lost justifiably; they did not have "Qin Wang’s Feather Pen" and could not draw the Talent Awakening Formation to make people believe he was the awakened Bai Shen.
A perfect pass... truly one linked closely to another, with Nolia’s rose from the Second World affecting the breakthrough in the Seventh World, and the Talent Bloodline Awakening Formation from the Fifth World bringing convenience to the Eighth World.
But a single misstep could lead to a chain of errors.
On the fourteenth night, it snowed, and he stayed in a cabin on the way back.
Xiber stood by the window, watching the white snowfall outside, snowflakes sticking to the window screen like catkins.
The cold wind blew through her silvery hair, her gaze appearing shallow and serene.
"...It’s ending." she said, "Tomorrow will be the fifteenth day."
Su Ming’an leaned in the corner, playing the Snake ga on his wristwatch.
"I have never lived past fifteen days." Xiber smiled, looking at her hands, "This ti... my body is undamaged, the curse on wasn’t triggered, and even my hands, which would rot in each cycle, are clean... Finally, I’ve lived to see this day."
"Mhm," Su Ming’an said.
"...That’s really nice," Xiber said.
She watched the snow outside the window, seeming to see through the distant cold wind, seeing much beyond.
Scenes from the past flashed before her eyes.
"I have always... been waiting for the day of success," she said, "Then, this day, so distant and elusive... suddenly ca before ."
Su Ming’an put down his wristwatch and looked at her.
"Su Ming’an, I have always been afraid that I am not worthy of the suffering I have endured," she said.
"All the people I know always just pass by again and again. In so reincarnations, I can see them still alive. But more often, when I walk up to them... they have already turned into corpses. Just one step later... and they would die, just like every other cycle, in a predetermined way.
Lava, sludge, curses, acid rain... Sotis, I really wonder... do these people actually exist besides ? Or are they just programd entities, forever destined to act upon their assigned fates, and if I don’t intervene, they will die at a set ti, in a set manner?"
Su Ming’an was sowhat surprised.
Xiber’s thoughts... were very much like his own.
"In many cycles of reincarnation, there are people... whose backs I can only ever see," Xiber said. "No matter how many tis I start over, there are things that cannot be changed... like him."
"Whether I want to explain, to follow, or to resist... no matter how I choose to confront him, he only leaves with the view of his departing back."
"Because I can never reach a ’best’ ending."
"We are destined to be on different paths of fate, unable to save one another."
"So, even this ti, even if it is the best outco," she tilted her head, her smile sowhat weary.
Her complexion was exceptionally pale, like a clump of snow wrapped in a fiery red robe.
"...it’s the sa," she said.
She breathed out, warming her sowhat icy hands, her pale eyes trembling slightly in their slender sockets.
"I can no longer rember, this is how many tis I’ve been through the cycle of reincarnation," she said after a mont. "My mory is getting blurrier, and the thoughts in my mind are more fragnted. Sotis, I forget so things, and at other tis, I rember sothing new... What do you think, Su Ming’an, do you think this is the first ti we have t?"
"You and I, this is definitely the first ti we are eting," Su Ming’an said. "But I am not sure if you and the character I am embodying have t before."
He is not from this world and will leave when the ti cos.
But the person he is embodying is Xiber’s fantasy creation, a real life ford by her power of faith from her persistent longing. He is the person who suddenly appears in her endless cycles of reincarnation, the only variable in her cycles.
"If... I an if," Xiber said. "If in the previous cycles, my fantasy creation and I had reached the end, if I had survived to the fifteenth day, if he had succeeded in becoming a deity, but in the end, we still couldn’t resolve the curse problem and the cycle restarted.
And I, having forgotten all this, would think he had never appeared before..."
Su Ming’an understood what she was worried about.
The essence of her worries was very similar to his own—if they found out at the end that the outco couldn’t be changed, what should they do.
At that mont, what supported them, the pillar that kept them alive, would collapse thunderously.
"Worrying has no purpose," Su Ming’an said. "Because we have already done our best, and you have also given everything to achieve the best outco. At least there will be no regrets or remorse."
Xiber laughed softly.
"Good." she said.
She closed her eyes, walked to the bed, pulled back the covers, and lay down.
Lying on the bed, she suddenly rembered her first encounter with Su Ming’an, that night she was also lying in bed, and he was leaning in the corner. At that ti, she was full of suspicion and wariness, fearing that he might abandon her.
But now, it seed there was no need to worry about anything anymore.
All that was puzzling, failures, dangers... had vanished in these fourteen days.
Tomorrow would be the final return journey.
Snow streaked past the window outside, and the sound of a dog barking seed to co from afar. Under the protection of the barrier, the black fog could not intrude, and she could distinctly sll the faint freshness in the chilly air—that was the scent of snow.
She felt a bit cold, pulling up the blanket and wrapping herself from head to toe, her voice muffled and deep:
"...Su Ming’an."
"Hmm."
"Tomorrow, everything will co to an end."
"Hmm."
"I know you’re not from this world, if you leave, will I... still be able to see you?"
Su Ming’an opened his eyes and gazed at the shadow on the bed.
He knew the answer was "no."
The Ruler had a skill that enabled him to return to worlds he had perfectly passed, but he couldn’t return to the pinnacle competition worlds. This was the case with Terrily Town in the Fourth World.
If this replica ended, he wouldn’t see her again, and from then on, it would be equivalent to a forever goodbye.
After waiting for a long ti without a response, Xiber knew the answer.
She curled up in the blanket, her voice very soft, like a wisp of light smoke about to drift away—
"I’ve forgotten many things, and my mind is very ssy," she said, "but I will, definitely, definitely rember you. Everything you’ve given is more important than any of the previous reincarnations."
"Hmm."
"All right," she said. "Good night."
She closed her eyes.
Under the thick night, the snow painted the scene outside the window a grayish black, while the candle on the table burned quietly, scattering a circle of warm orange light.
This snowy night, in her mory, seed to beco a rare warm tone, warming her long, lonely life thereafter. All the confusion and sadness were buried in this cold snowy night.
From then on, she no longer had to sing herself lullabies.
That night, she slept exceptionally soundly.
...
[Eighth World Replica Activation·Day 15]
"Ding dong!"
[Congratulations, you have survived until the fifteenth day and have collected twelve Silver Stars!]
[Please proceed to the coordinates (298, 870), the final altar has been opened!]
[Current remaining number of warriors: 2.]
...
In the morning, Su Ming’an received such a system notification.
"Let’s go," he said to Xiber.
The location of the final battle, Su Rin should show up there.
He didn’t know where this guy had been hiding, as he hadn’t shown up from the start.
On their way to the coordinates, Lv Shu brought a significant gift.
What Lv Shu brought was one of the three essential elents of godhood, [Energy].
Previously, Lv Shu had bred a group of Curse Black Beasts at the cost of his life and, after becoming a follower, his body was recreated, freeing him from the fate of death, but the group of Curse Black Beasts still remained.
After Lv Shu killed them, they transford into [Energy].
The [Energy] Xiber had possessed before was absorbed by Shadow during the succession ceremony on the eighth day and was all used to revive her after her life force was depleted and died. Now, the [Energy] brought by Lv Shu was like tily aid.
"I still lack [Faith], Xiber sighed, "I have [Authority], and now I have [Energy], only lacking [Faith]... Unfortunately, this [Faith] is sothing I can never attain."
Peoples’ belief was deeply rooted; it was impossible to believe in her, and her own aspiration to beco a deity was still just a dream.
"No worries, I only lack Black Crow Authority now," Su Ming’an said. "Toppling the Black Wall, I should be enough to beco a deity myself."
The perfect pass requirent for TE·Day of Blossoming was just to make him achieve Bai Shen, and now the progress was already at 95%, probably no need for other things moving forward.
Su Ming’an glanced over Lv Shu’s follower panel.
...
[Follower·Lv Shu
Weapon: Fourteen Blades
Skills:
1.Beast Control (Red Level)
2. Alluring Stone (Red Level)
Blade Technique Expertise lv.5
Spirit Beast Affinity Innate Talent (Red Level)
Life Skills: Tea Ceremony (Red Level)
Health Points: 2000
Combat Power: 1900 ]
...
Lv Shu’s panel was very clean; Beast Control was his core skill. Alluring Stone was a supportive skill to strengthen Black Blade. His overall developnt was very focused, mainly on Beast Control, supplented by his own blade close combat.
Su Ming’an had room to spare, thus having skills in different directions such as Space, Annihilation, and Insight, with a more balanced developnt and equipped with Cloning and Judgnt for hard control.
After all, in pursuit of perfect passes, he could not afford obvious deficiencies.
Closing the follower panel, they headed in the direction of the final altar.
During this ti, many people ca to see them off.
In the heavy snow, people stepped on the white snow, carrying oil lamps, warm stones, and their layered figures swayed in the distance.
Many realized what day it was.
—The end day of the Hundred-Man War.
They did not believe that Bai Shen Master and the Clan Leader would lose to a guy who had hardly ever shown his face.
Their fate seed to be permanently changed on this day—by a girl they had long despised.
—The number one ranked adventurer and his number one hundred "Prophet" had really made it to the end.
Su Ming’an gazed into the distance, looking toward the final altar.
He seed to see a shadow waiting there.
Reviews
All reviews (0)