The World's Spine Mountains were vast enough.
This spared Lu Li from having to contend with excessively treacherous slopes on his ascent to the main peak, but the high-altitude hypoxia and biting cold still tornted him.
Regardless, within the protection of the Deep God's aura, only the path itself stood in Lu Li's way.
The thick layer of snow made it impossible for Lu Li to get a firm footing. He slipped down the incline several tis before managing to arrest his fall, which could have sent him tumbling down a slope that stretched for miles.
Perhaps this could be seen as the Deep God's punishnt for Lu Li. He was aware of Lu Li's arrival but remained indifferent to his struggles.
The only places free of snow were where thin rivulets of divine blood flowed, but Lu Li refused to touch them.
The disastrous consequences of contact with divine blood had already been confird by the anomalies below.
The last few hundred ters to the summit took Lu Li an entire day. After a short rest during the night, he pushed on for the final stretch.
On a gloomy morning, as the oppressive clouds glowed with a faint light, the snow along the edge of the main peak crumbled away, revealing a figure climbing upward.
"You weak creature, who betrayed an ancient being... why do you still dare to appear?"
The Deep God stood at the summit, having assud a human form. His draped, tattered cloak was covered in faint, complex, and exquisite patterns that resembled so kind of symbols.
An indistinct, viscous, and ever-dissipating divine blood dripped from the tattered cloak.
"I don't consider it a betrayal."
Lu Li took a deep breath, expanding his lungs to their fullest to draw in the thin mountain air, preparing himself for the long conversation ahead.
"The cities represent the last remnants of human civilization and order. When the people who inhabit this land disappear, the reason of the world will also vanish without a trace."
"The world has no need for humans."
He stated. asured on a cosmic tiscale, all of human civilization was as insignificant as a fleeting dream to an ancient being.
"But the world finds its aning through life."
Lu Li did not confine himself to a narrow definition of humanity, which made his response sound like sophistry. Humans were life, but life was not only human.
The Deep God fell silent. He suddenly shed his proud, ancient tone and spoke to Lu Li as an equal.
"I... hate you."
He gazed out at the hazy, grim land beyond the World's Spine Mountains, which seed to be in the direction of Midnight.
"Temimas, who sympathized with living beings, acknowledged the aning you speak of and answered the prayers of his believers."
"The price for that... was that an ancient being, born at the dawn of this world, who resisted enemies from the cosmos, whose roots plunged deep into the earth and stretched into countless layers of the In-Between, perished because of the faith of living beings."
"Gods do not die. In this world, no one can kill an ancient being. He should not have died, but because of the tainted faith of his followers, he fell, transforming into a lord who fed on chaos, until he was sealed away by the other ancient beings protecting the world. But He voluntarily dissolved his own life, so as not to defile or harm his followers..."
The shadow beneath the Deep God's cloak fixed its gaze on Lu Li once more.
"I once considered that a weakness. And now, that weakness has appeared in
as well."
An ancient being that had existed for eternity had, in a brief mont of its long existence, co to know a few ants, etched them into its heart, and even changed its very nature—
It sounded preposterous, but Lu Li knew the ancient being and could understand such a long-lived existence.
A sentient being's perception of the outside world stems from its beginning, and that perception is profound. Once that perception is fixed and ford, it is difficult to change.
Perception gives rigidity to thought, but it also brings deep mories. Just as all old people recall and cherish the experiences of their youth.
The prophet who had slumbered for billions of years still rembered Lu Li, and the Deep God still rembered Lu Li—because they had been fortunate enough to leave an indelible mark when the Deep God was weak and simple.
"What are you going to do?"
Lu Li sensed a certain emotion from the Deep God, one that reminded him of the Temimas He had described.
Now, the body of Temimas towered over Midnight, and people respectfully called it the World Tree.
"Resist... before I sink into a new, long slumber."
The Deep God raised his head, his shadow seeming to pierce through the clouds and gaze into the boundless cosmos.
He had been waiting for Lu Li to arrive. Now that their conversation was over, he could prepare for the fight—
"Do you know Prada?"
Lu Li asked suddenly.
He didn't want the Deep God to die a aningless death like Prada.
"The ancient deity who governs fate, the master of cruel jests, the god of the saddle and boot, of mory..."
The Deep God recalled old mories.
"How do you know of him?"
"Ellen Royal City."
Lu Li recounted Prada's fate.
When the eyes from the depths of space had gathered, the ancient being who resisted the cosmos had vanished without a sound.
"So that is why I could not find his trace after awakening..." the Deep God whispered.
"Is Prada dead?" Lu Li asked, rembering the examination papers from Prada that had forced him to commit the god's na to mory.
"He can be awakened through mory, but I cannot feel His aura..."
This ant he had been killed.
Prada's death made the Deep God abandon his plan to resist the enemies from beyond the cosmos.
He felt a sense of sha.
"So, you ca here to laugh at ...?"
"No."
Lu Li reached into his pocket and took out an ancient, book-shaped chess piece.
"The Book of the Apocalypse can double its holder's power. I'm not sure if it works on an Ancient God."
A globule of water enveloped the chess piece and lifted it from Lu Li's palm.
"That is an important item for maintaining your life and your sanity, and you just gave it to an ancient being. You will never get it back," a mocking voice chid in beside him.
Lu Li didn't respond to her sudden appearance. He quickened the pace of his deep breaths, but he couldn't stop the oxygen from draining out of his body.
His body grew hot, a ringing filled his ears, and the outside world gradually faded away. All he could feel was his own suffocation—
Suddenly, fresh, cold air flooded his lungs, and the blurry world sharpened back into focus.
Lu Li looked up. An invisible mbrane of water had enveloped him, and the bubbles churning on its surface brought him oxygen. The Deep God's faint aura was no longer weak.
Where had such a chess piece, one capable of affecting an Ancient God, even co from?
"Has your power not yet recovered?"
The Deep God's blood was still dripping.
"It has recovered, but My... the depletion of my essence will not cease."
This ant He would continue to weaken until he fell into a slumber.
"Were your wounds from the other side of the mountains?"
"...Not all of them. You cannot know Their nas."
This reminded Lu Li of his own low Mind Level now that the Book of the Apocalypse was temporarily in the Deep God's possession.
Lu Li asked Him if He could solve the problem of a low Mind Level. Anna imdiately scoffed.
"So eager to get rid of
already?"
The Deep God regretfully replied that he could not. He could barely control his own power and could only prevent Lu Li from turning into a bloody pulp or losing his mind by being in His presence.
"Let's go..." He said.
"Where?"
Lu Li noted that the Deep God had said "we," not "I."
"Back to the Allen Peninsula... before I sink into a long slumber."
The Deep God whispered slowly.
"I have a better choice now."
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