Chapter 783: The Divine King’s Choice

After saying so, invisible ripples appeared around the body of the figure of light.

These ripples expanded to cover both him and the Divine King.

A moment later, both the figure of light and Gu Qing Shan disappeared without a trace.

The only person left inside the Grand Divine Palace was Luo Bing Li.

She continued to create the jade disk following the method in her mind, but at a significantly slower pace.

The audience hall was now empty.

Luo Bing Li sighed sorrowfully.

Within the phantom image that she was responsible for, the Divine race and Desolate race coordinated an invasion that thoroughly destroyed the hidden path of humanity.

From what I just saw, the Divine race clearly had other means prepared.

If it weren’t for Gu Qing Shan transforming into the Divine King and openly deceiving them, I would have never even found out about this.

For some reason, Luo Bing Li suddenly recalled what she had just talked with Gu Qing Shan about earlier.

“You have to live and help me”

“Help you?”

“Yes, do you actually think I would be able to win against two powerful and prepared races on my own?”

Luo Bing Li fell silent.

——it’s very clear now that his judgement was correct.

The Desolate race was even more powerful than the Divine race and caused humanity to feel more desperate.

If the Divine race had so much prepared, what about the Desolate race?

As soon as she had this thought, Luo Bing Li couldn’t help herself shaking.

She felt a chill run down her spine.

…

The endless fog of space-time.

Countless phantom images from the Age of Old flickered in and out of existence like a sea of stars in the night sky.

“What’s going on here?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The figure of light answered: 「 Billions of phantom images. Each of them is a unique period of time within the Age of Old. They are real, they are connected, but at the same time, they are isolated 」

“I don’t understand” Gu Qing Shan shook his head.

「 That is simple—— 」

The figure of light pointed at a phantom image closest to the two of them and spoke: 「 Take a look, this fragment should come to an end very soon 」

Gu Qing Shan’s gaze followed where he pointed.

Within that phantom image, he could see a certain scene.

The Divinities had just descended on the Drifting Moon Immortal Sect to help humanity rebuild this famous sect.

When the sect finished reconstruction, the scene suddenly froze.

Then everything disappeared.

Within the phantom image, another scene appeared.

It was the scene before the Drifting Moon Immortal Sect was destroyed the first time around.

As time passed, humans and Divinities appeared to make preparations to reconstruct this sect.

They seemed to have returned to the past, not knowing that they were rebuilding Drifting Moon Immortal Sect again.

As if this was the first time for them.

“Why is this…” Gu Qing Shan muttered.

The figure of light spoke: 「 Because their phantom image only lasts that long, they have no choice but to repeat that process over and over again until the end of time 」

As if realizing something, Gu Qing Shan asked: “You mean to say that I am also in one of these fragments?”

The figure of light replied: 「 Indeed, within the countless phantom images, there are countless Gods of Frost and Chill. You are the only one among them who changed the course of history due to our interference 」

“Why is space-time like this?”

「 The true space-time is not like this. It only keeps moving forward without repeating itself, no one would be able to return to the past and redo what had already happened 」

“What do you mean…”

「 Yes, the space-time where you reside is nothing but a short fragment of the true space-time, it was the result of a spell—— a spell of humanity 」

Gu Qing Shan shook his head: “Humanity couldn’t possibly have such a powerful spell”

The figure of light replied: 「 All of the Divine race also believed that humanity couldn’t have such a spell. But they, in fact, were able to accomplish this. We believed that humanity, through some way, obtained a piece of their inheritance from the Bygone Era 」

Gu Qing Shan fell into thought and slowly spoke: “And that’s why they were able to create the twin swords Heaven and Earth and perform such an inconceivable spell?”

「 That should indeed be the truth 」the figure of light replied.

Gu Qing Shan hung his head and spoke in a tone of defeat: “I am only part of a fragment of time… I still can’t believe…”

The figure of light turned around and faced him: 「 There is no time to be emotional, your Divine Majesty. You must quickly make a choice 」

“What choice?”

「 In your phantom image, the final moment is actually half a year later. At that time, you were still the one on the Divine Throne, ruling over the two races of human and Divinity 」

「 But if you want to escape that phantom image and truly become ‘alive’, you would have to face countless trials that could cost your very life, all to obtain a small chance to enter the real world 」

「 To stay as the rightful Divine King within a repeating fragment of time. Or to risk everything, including death, to enter the real world and begin your journey anew with a completely unpredictable future 」

「 Between these choices, you must choose one, your Divine Majesty 」

Gu Qing Shan stayed silent briefly before speaking: “I must ask one thing. Within the true space-time, what is the current situation of our Divine race?”

The figure of light replied: 「 The majority of the Divinities have died. Only a few of our brethren have hidden themselves within our imitation of humanity’s 9.9 billion World Layers, barely clutching onto survival 」

Gu Qing Shan showed an appropriate expression of sorrow.

He was actually recalling the conversation he overheard between the Lord of Desolation and the previous Divine King.

…

At the time the Divine King said: 「 The reason we created so many worlds was to attempt to recreate the past. To see what kind of things the Bygone Era humanity was thinking that they gave up on everything and entered that gate 」

『 You—– mere insects would be so full of yourself to try and look into the ultimate secret of the Bygone Era? 』

『 The Samsara cannot be controlled. You dared to imitate the power of the human race and created it means that you’re challenging my authority 』

「 Lord of Desolation… the Samsara had only just been created, it doesn’t have any power… I… offer it to you…」

…

——–Those were the Divine King’s last words.

What kind of secret could be hidden there?

Gu Qing Shan silently kept that thought in mind.

He didn’t have time to carefully consider that right now.

The figure of light spoke again: 「 Your Divine Majesty, make your choice. Would you rather return to your own phantom image and continue to be King, or face the harsh trials ahead and use everything to move into the real world 」

Gu Qing Shan spoke calmly: “You call that a choice?”

The figure of light looked straight at him: 「 Your Divine Majesty, you mean? 」

Gu Qing Shan replied: “How could the King of Divinity bear to live within his temporary illusion?”

After a moment of silence, the figure of light slowly nodded.

「 Your Divine Majesty, I have once again been assured, you truly are a King worthy of the Divine race’s hope 」

「 Your Divine Majesty, you must now face your first trial 」

Gu Qing Shan replied: “Tell me”

The figure of light spoke: 「 Within your phantom image, at the moment of your coronation, a certain crucial event happened to humanity 」

“What was it?”

「 A few human cultivators managed to escape our surveillance and travel to the Desolate world—— after studying history, we found that it was exactly after their return from the Desolate world this time that many changes began to occur within humanity 」

「 That is our reason to believe that humanity must have discovered some sort of secret within the Desolate world 」

「 Perhaps both the twin swords Heaven and Earth, as well as the phantom image spell, were obtained within this period of time 」

「 Your Divine Majesty, you are the most powerful Divinity, you must travel to the Desolate world and find that secret 」

Gu Qing Shan wasn’t surprised.

Sure enough, after the final moments of history, the remaining Divinities deeply studied history and reconsidered the past events.

And they discovered that detail.

——-the fact that Xie Gu Hong came to the Desolate world and returned unharmed.

And that humanity began to change at this time.

…Gu Qing Shan had also thought of this.

He originally intended to make a trip to the Desolate world——– because after leaving this phantom image, he couldn’t be sure that he would stumble into the same period of time again——– the time that Xie Gu Hong was in the Desolate world.

So the figure of light’s request was the perfect chance for Gu Qing Shan to go.

“Very well, after the Heaven sword jade disk is complete, I will be on my way” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The figure of light spoke: 「 Your Divine Majesty, once you are discovered by the Lord of Desolation, you will surely be met with his furious rage, you would be eliminated without a doubt——— are you sure you still want to accept this trial? 」

Gu Qing Shan replied: “I have to”

The figure of light stared straight at him and spoke in a slightly glad tone of voice: 「 Excellent, your Divine Majesty. I will provide you some help 」

“What kind of help?”

「 You cannot enter the Desolate world as a Divinity as you would surely be exposed, I will use a secret technique to disguise you as a human, giving you a more secure identity and help you silently infiltrate the Desolate world 」

Gu Qing Shan froze as he heard that.

I didn’t even know the Divinities could do such a thing, seriously…

Gu Qing Shan appeared a bit anxious.

“You want this king to disguise himself as a human? Can this really be done?” he asked with a doubtful voice.

The figure of light replied: 「 Do not worry, your Divine Majesty. This disguise is surely the best, I guarantee that if you pose as a human cultivator, no one would be able to discover your true identity 」

“…If that’s the case, I shall try it once” the Divine King answered with a solemn tone.