Chapter 1357: After the Apocalypse

A long series of text appeared on the War God UI:

[As the jade pendant Adorable’s performed Skill was ‘borrowed’, the following description must be made:]

[When a new ability is ‘borrowed’, all traces of the previous skill will completely disappear, so you may only comprehend the most recent ability performed by the jade pendant]

This wasn’t hard to understand, so Gu Qing Shan simply answered after skimming through: “Got it”

A final line of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:

[A total of 100 million Soul Points must be consumed to comprehend Life Talisman: Wicked Thoughts Burning Spirit]

Gu Qing Shan was surprised and asked: “Why does it cost so much Soul Points?”

The War God UI replied: [Because you have not practiced any sort of Life Talisman techniques, a large amount of origin power of the soul must be used to analyze, study, reconstruct, and complete that Life Talisman. Through calculations, that amount was estimated to be 100 million]

Gu Qing Shan then asked: “If I had practiced Life Talisman techniques before, would that mean the number of Soul Points necessary to comprehend this technique would decrease like in the past?”

[That is exactly the case] the War God UI replied.

Gu Qing Shan appeared nostalgic.

Something similar had happened in the past.

For example, then comprehending the Divine Skill [Ground Shrink], I had to practice it quite a few time beforehand.

The more skilled I became, the fewer Soul Points was necessary to comprehend the technique.

And so, the right understanding is:

The more in-depth knowledge I have towards a certain topic, the number of Soul Points necessary to comprehend a Skill in that topic would be correspondingly reduced.

Unfortunately, the talismans of the cultivation world were regular spirit talismans, which were usually used to unleash spells.

On the other hand, the talismans of the Wraith realm were Life Talismans that require human life force to activate.

——–the entirety of the Wraith realm is a huge mystery, so it was nearly impossible to already have knowledge of their civilization and knowledge beforehand.

I wouldn’t have a chance to study other Life Talismans, nor would I be able to improve my understanding of this one through practice.

Gu Qing Shan was a bit hesitant.

100 million Soul Points in exchange for comprehending the Wraith realm’s Life Talisman techniques.

——is it worth it?

After a short pause, he quickly made his decision.

“System, I want to spend 100 million Soul Points to comprehend [Wicked Thoughts Burning Spirit]”

His remaining Soul Points value jumped on the War God UI.

The 100 million Soul Points he just earned were instantly used up.

The War God UI spoke up:

[Soul Points received, now beginning to expend origin power of the soul to analyze and record the Life Talisman]

[Attention, this is knowledge of a completely unknown civilization, the system will require a bit of time]

[One hour later, you will obtain all knowledge regarding the Life Talisman]

Gu Qing Shan happily replied: “Thanks”

—–this was a Life Talisman from Red Wraith himself, if the War God UI can decrypt this talisman and extract the great amount of knowledge within, Gu Qing Shan believed that the 100 million Soul Points cost wouldn’t be a loss.

The War God UI slowly calmed down.

Gu Qing Shan looked up at the great pillar of white light.

A certain life form seems to be in the middle of that pillar of light, seemingly regaining its power.

With every passing second, Gu Qing Shan could sense it become considerably stronger.

This power had even surpassed the Saint Spirit world, almost at the same level as the Earth Creator and Lady Fusi.

“How… extraordinary”

Gu Qing Shan muttered, then felt like he had ignored something important.

After thinking back, he recalled something.

The War God UI had stated earlier that I received the rejuvenating baptism of the Chaos Serpentes King, Ouroboros.

——that’s right.

[Chaos]!

Could this Serpentes King be an Awaiting from the [Chaos] faction?

Gu Qing Shan was doubtful.

『 I’ve left you waiting 』

A gentle voice spoke up.

Following this voice, all the holy white light in the sky pulled back and returned to the ground.

The entire forest from earlier had disappeared.

Instead, a lake of light was situated where the forest was previously.

“Hello, were you the one who helped me dispel the wicked hex? I have yet to thank you”

Gu Qing Shan respectfully asked.

The gentle voice replied: 『 There is no need for such formalities, in fact, it was you who saved my life. When I pushed this world away from its impending doom not too long ago, I had to expend all of my power—— but never did I expect to face this Plague Apocalypse before I even had a chance to catch my breath, almost succumbing to it 』

Gu Qing Shan’s attention focused on those words.

Indeed.

The extinct monster world, the Plague Apocalypse world, as well as the Saint Spirit world, were all at the brink of destruction, but the remnant Origin of these three worlds fused with one another and initiated a local timeline reset, which gave them a temporary chance to exist.

Gu Qing Shan said: “It might be rude of me, but what exactly happened here in your world?”

From the glowing lake of light, the gentle voice responded:

『 Perhaps you do not know because you came from a different fused world, but if you wish to know, I can explain it to you somewhat 』

“Thank you” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The gentle voice began:

『 The void call us the Awaitings, and so do we 』

『 In my original parallel world, the Apocalypse managed to knock open the Reality Gate, causing the infinite worlds of the space vortex to descend into destruction 』

『 We who were in slumber did not fully regain our strength, and by the time we had awoken, what we saw were everything coming to their ends 』

『 We felt despair——– as the measures we had spent all of our powers to arrange failed against the Apocalypse 』

Gu Qing Shan’s gaze became focused.

The so-called measures were most likely [Order] and [Chaos].

But Gu Qing Shan didn’t try to ask, simply keeping silent and waited for the other party to continue.

The gentle voice continued:

『 All the Awaitings were dead 』

『 ——-only I, the [Chaos] Serpentes King, managed to find a single way to survive 』

Hearing that, Gu Qing Shan asked: “Your grace, did you truly find a solution against the Apocalypse?”

『 That is not the case 』

The [Chaos] Serpentes King answered bitterly: 『 I had merely found a solution to temporarily prolong our last breaths 』

“Prolong your last breaths?” Gu Qing Shan doubtfully asked.

『 I discovered that the majority of Apocalypse had a certain characteristic, that is once they had sensed a certain level of destruction within a world, they would cease to summon more Apocalypses——- from that point on, they would simply wait for the situation to develop itself and silently wait until everything comes to an eventual end 』the [Chaos] Serpentes King explained.

“Please elaborate further” Gu Qing Shan sincerely asked.

The [Chaos] Serpentes King replied: 『 The world we are currently in was in fact a destroyed world. Furthermore, we had placed a strict requirement that any entity who enters this world must be a one-of-a-kind unique existence, which was the only way to deceive the Apocalypse 』

Gu Qing Shan realized what that meant and said: “Because every entity is a one-of-a-kind unique existence, there would be no possibilities of reproduction, and since this world was already destroyed, any Apocalypse that comes into contact with this world would believe that it would eventually be destroyed, thus no longer attack it”

『 That is indeed the case, you are very smart 』the [Chaos] Serpentes King affirmed.

Gu Qing Shan felt waves surging in his mind.

——so something like this was possible!

This could be considered as deceiving the Apocalypse, but also not deceiving them at the same time.

Due to the composition of only unique entities, there would be no possibilities of a ‘species’ being formed, as well as no possibility of creating any offspring, everyone is doomed to die while being single.

The world would certainly be heading towards destruction step-by-step.

But this process would be incredibly slow, and the unique entities who reside here would survive longer than most others.

“To be able to come up with such a solution, I truly respect your grace”

Gu Qing Shan said from the bottom of his heart.

The [Chaos] Serpentes King answered him in a lonely manner: 『 In the end, we still lost to the Apocalypse and would have to die sooner or later 』

Gu Qing Shan fell silent.

The [Chaos] Serpentes King also didn’t say anything else.

What exactly are the Apocalypses?

Why are Apocalypses constantly manifesting, spreading, trying to destroy everything?

If every Awaitings were already dead, then—–

What happened to Lady Fusi?

She was friends with Time itself, capable of moving along the flow of time and observing secrets that others cannot.

And also, what was the Earth Creator’s final outcome in that parallel world?

——–Gu Qing Shan had actually never managed to completely explore the power of the Coin of the Earth.

Because he was too weak.

The Earth Creator was different, it was extremely powerful.

It was able to completely exert the power Fate through [True Luck], while Lady Fusi was able to borrow the power of Time——-

Could the other Pillars Gods also have been alive?

Gu Qing Shan recalled how the Soul Artifacts that manifested from the Laws of the other three Pillars had arrived to witness him taking on the mantle of the Earth God.

The Law Soul Artifact of the Wind God was an azure key.

——-Key of the Wind.

If the Wind God of the Pillar Gods was still alive, they would be able to use the power of the Key of the Wind to travel to any place within the space vortex.

Which meant that the Three Great Laws of Reality – Time, Space, and Fate would be on their side.

Perhaps that wasn’t enough to fight the Apocalypse, but couldn’t they have survived?

With that in mind, Gu Qing Shan tried asking: “Have all of your comrades died?”

『 Indeed, I am positive about this 』the [Chaos] Serpentes King replied.

Gu Qing Shan’s thoughts turned a bit and asked: “Then, what about your enemies?”

『 Enemies? 』

The [Chaos] Serpentes King pondered: 『 Those fellows from the [Order] faction seemed to have escaped to the Eternal Abyss 』

『 It had been much too long, let me think… 』

『 The Inner Plane had been destroyed, but at the very bottom of the Eternal Abyss, there is a passage that leads into the destroyed Inner Plane 』

『 However, it seemed to have been guarded by something terrifying—— due to that ‘thing’, the Eternal Abyss was forced to remain in slumber, unable to even wake up… 』

『 How ridiculous, the Eternal Abyss was the greatest monster ever to be born into the space vortex, and yet it was afraid of that ‘thing’ 』

Gu Qing Shan’s heart started beating faster.

There is a horrifying creature at the bottom of the Abyss.

Boss had also once mentioned this, but his expression showed that he had zero intentions of attempting to return to the Inner Plane.

Gu Qing Shan was able to sense that Boss had some ideas, but he also sensed helplessness.

——helpless to do anything, unable to change reality.

The [Chaos] Serpentes King continued: 『 In the past… the Eternal Abyss had exhausted all of its means to finally come up with a solution against the terrifying ‘thing’, a weapon 』

Gu Qing Shan silently sighed, already knowing the answer, but still asked: “What was that weapon?”

The [Chaos] Serpentes King stayed silent briefly before answering: 『 It was the Guardians against ultimate extinction, the Swords of Changing Fate, the Key to infinite worlds, Evil-warding weapon of the Bottomless Abyss, the legendary twin swords: Heaven and Earth 』

“Evil-warding weapon of the Bottomless Abyss…” Gu Qing Shan muttered this name.

The [Chaos] Serpentes King continued: 『 Regretfully, the sword called ‘Earth’ had been completely destroyed 』

Gu Qing Shan questioned: “Why couldn’t a replacement be made?”

『 This type of weapon carries with it a unique mission, infused with the Laws of Causality and Secret, which means that it would only ever appear once along with the lengthy flow of history 』the [Chaos] Serpentes King said emotionally.

『 Speaking of which, at the final moments when the Apocalypse destroyed everything, most likely that one or two of those fellows from the [Order] faction had remained to stop the terrifying ‘thing’ at the bottom of the Abyss, then those still alive would enter the destroyed Inner Plane—– or none of them managed to survive at all 』

Gu Qing Shan immediately asked: “Why did they go there?”

『 …I do not know 』

The [Chaos] Serpentes King answered full of confusion.