Ever since he learned of Senluo's world-ending mechanism, a faint sense of incongruity had lingered in Yaxiu's heart.
Yet unforeseen crises had slapped him across the face like relentless slaps: the Three Mythological Gods, Spectre Prophet Weixi, the Doomsday Storm, Silver Lantern's ascension, and the gaze of the Four Pillar Gods had struck one after another. In just a few short hours, Yaxiu had endured cataclysms enough to kill an ordinary person seven or eight times over—a buy-one-get-all deal packing every thrill into one overwhelming burst. Where could he possibly find the time for deep contemplation?
It was only now, when Tamashi said, "The Azure Lord is dreaming of me," that clarity dawned upon Yaxiu—like surfacing from the deep sea, his mind no longer choked by turbid waters.
The strangest part about the world-ending mechanism was that while its workings were crystal clear, any guiding process was nonexistent. For two whole centuries—the two hundred years the Senluo Azure Lord had been wounded—it took until Silver Lantern appeared for the world-ending mechanism to be carried out. Had Silver Lantern never emerged, the mechanism would have practically ceased to exist.
And Silver Lantern only uncovered the truth by inheriting the Grey Fox sorcerers' will. In other words, even the step of "understanding the mechanism" had never been made public by the Azure Lord. Sorcerers had only deduced through blind guesswork that the people of Senluo could actually choose how they went extinct.
In this entire process, who was the one in the greatest hurry?
The Senluo Azure Lord!
The crux of the world-ending mechanism wasn't ending the world—it was saving the Lord!
He had suffered injuries beyond His own power to heal. He needed to cast off the burden of the Senluo realm, and He had left behind a world-ending mechanism precisely for that purpose—yet He had never arranged a guiding process! It was as if you had bought the most incredible two-player co-op game, prepped the couch, TV, and snacks, but had no friends at all, waiting two hundred years before a little girl finally snuck in.
So either the Senluo Azure Lord truly hadn't prepared a guiding mechanism, or the one He arranged had been sabotaged.
Thinking carefully, it was indeed very likely that the Azure Lord had entrusted the guiding process to the Three Gods. After all, they were gods who had ascended from Senluo itself, and assigning them to guide the apocalypse would have met far less resistance. But the Azure Lord hadn't anticipated that treason ran in the Three Gods' bones. Thus, the guiding mechanism was cancelled outright by them, plunging Senluo into two centuries of wasteland chaos.
Under normal circumstances, the Senluo Azure Lord really would have been screwed to death by His own gods.
A God Lord being killed by His own subordinate gods was not only unprecedented, but likely never to be repeated.
Yet even if there had been a guiding mechanism, an insurmountable obstacle remained: the threshold to open the Silent Spiral was astronomically high.
A full seventeen grand laws—only an utterly deranged sorcerer like Weise could have collected them all. Furthermore, it required a convergence of right time, right place, and right people. First, nearly thirty grand laws truly existed across the wasteland—that was the right time. Second, she rode the momentum of the Four Pillar Cult's rise to complete her initial accumulation of resources—that was the right place. Third, she possessed the means to lure those grand laws—that was the right people.
Lacking any of these factors, Weise could never have opened the eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral. In fact, without Yaxiu's support, she would have been devoured by the Square-Round Cicada back in the Divine Fire Trial.
With the difficulty so immense and the requirements so steep, even if the Azure Lord had arranged a guiding mechanism, normal developments would hardly guarantee this contingency could ever be activated.
Yet there was no alternative. If the world-ending mechanism were simple enough for an ordinary Senluo sorcerer to trigger willy-nilly, the Azure Lord would have shot Himself in the foot. At the very least, Yaxiu didn't think the Azure Lord would keep His eyes glued to Senluo every waking moment. If He got engrossed in some research for a year or two and emerged only to find Senluo had been formatted, He would probably be laughed at by the other God Lords for millennia.
If Yaxiu were the Azure Lord, he would never rely solely on a world-ending mechanism. A true life-preserving measure had to be an ultimate miracle that required no guidance whatsoever—one that could activate no matter how catastrophic the losses.
So, what was the worst-case scenario?
The Azure Lord dying abruptly, His negative energy drowning Senluo and turning the world into a Strangling Green purgatory. Weise had said the eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral was the closest place to the Azure Lord. When the time came, the deathly malice of the Azure Lord would blast straight through the Silent Spiral from the bottom, subjecting all living beings to Strangling Green while triggering the plummeting cataclysm.
The worst outcome was death.
The corresponding countermeasure was naturally resurrection.
"It feels like... a lot of things have suddenly flooded into my head." Tamashi held his forehead, his expression gaunt. "But right now, the only thing I can use is the administration method of the Senluo Dreamscape. I can manipulate all illusions at will, including..."
The emotion in Crow Cull's voice was exceedingly complex. "...parts of my special constitution."
"Your Void Realm aversion constitution isn't innate?" Igola asked. "Were you cursed by the Azure Lord?"
"You could say it's innate, since it has accompanied my growth from the moment I was born," Tamashi said, lying on Yaxiu's back. "But it isn't a curse. Rather, it's because I have always been watched by the Death Wish Raven Corroding Dragon. The moment I enter the Void Realm, it immediately provokes an attack from the Death Wish Raven Corroding Dragon, regardless of where I am in the Void Realm. Hmm, He didn't give it a name, so for convenience, let's call this constitution the Death Wish constitution."
"The Azure Lord seems to be the only Death Wish sorcerer who ever managed to grow to maturity while hunted by the Death Wish Raven Corroding Dragon. He designed the 'Heavenly Return Scale Powder' mechanism for Senluo. Under the suppression of the Heavenly Return Scale Powder, all mortals with the Death Wish constitution in Senluo are unable to recognize any written words and cannot connect to the Void Realm, cutting off any possibility of being hunted by the Death Wish Raven Corroding Dragon."
"However, the Heavenly Return Scale Powder has a second function: all Death Wish mortals capable of reacting with the Heavenly Return Scale Powder gradually become perfect vessels for the Azure Lord's resurrection. The collapsing Senluo Dreamscape will serve as an eggshell, allowing the Death Wish vessel to incubate and be reborn."
At last, all doubts were dispelled.
Yaxiu and the others were not affected by the world-ending spell's pull because they were not Senluo natives; Tamashi was not pulled because individuals with the Death Wish constitution were the resurrection vessels preserved by the Azure Lord.
For a moment, Yaxiu and the others did not know what to make of it.
Undoubtedly, the Azure Lord's original intention had been benevolent. In His youth, He had suffered immensely from being hunted by the Death Wish Raven Corroding Dragon, and He knew how appalling the mortality rate was for those with the Death Wish constitution. Thus, He suppressed His compatriots across the board to spare them from mortal peril. Though they lost any chance of becoming sorcerers, at least they could keep their lives.
Yaxiu and the others were sorcerers themselves; how could they not know the agony of being pursued by Void Realm creatures? Even they had never heard the name Death Wish Raven Corroding Dragon before. By the most optimistic estimate, it was at least a legendary creature dwelling on Ruby Mountain, and far more likely a demigod entity that had stepped into divine territory.
Put yourself in those shoes: you've just stepped into the Void Realm with only a single sorcery spirit on you, before you've even condensed silver sorcery power, and you're hunted by an existence like that... One could only imagine what a terrifying monster the young Azure Lord must have been to grow up under such a hundred-percent lethal predicament.
In other countries, anyone born with the Death Wish constitution would likely perish the instant they stepped into the Void Realm, yet that kill would ultimately just be chalked up to a Fish Slaying Dragon. No one would ever realize a higher being was hunting novice sorcerers.
Aside from the Senluo Azure Lord, nobody even knew mortals with the Death Wish constitution needed protection, let alone how to protect them.
Over so many years, countless Death Wish mortals had been shielded by the Azure Lord. Now that He was gravely wounded and dying, was it excessive for Him to seek resurrection through a Death Wish vessel?
It was not.
Had it happened to anyone else, Yaxiu would certainly have thought it entirely reasonable.
"So, as long as I pull you into the Thousand Wishes Kingdom of Heaven, you can escape the fate of becoming a resurrection vessel?"
"I don't know," Tamashi said softly. "I don't know if fleeing Senluo will let me escape Heavenly Return, nor do I know if I should flee."
"The Azure Lord is the guardian god of our Senluo people. He established the dreamscape rules, shielding Senluo in peaceful development for over a thousand years. Even if He harbored selfish motives, His deeds genuinely benefited countless people of Senluo... The most fundamental rules of the Senluo Dreamscape were 'Immune to all illnesses,' 'Inexhaustible soil fertility,' and 'Favorable winds and timely rain'... Even if He bound Himself to Senluo to use Senluo as a shield against damage and escape death, I cannot fault Him for doing so, because all of this was bestowed upon us by Him in the first place."
Igola opened his mouth immediately. "That's clearly—"
Tamashi raised a hand, interrupting the deceiver. "I know you could come up with many ingenious arguments to put my mind at ease, but in my heart, I know right from wrong. If the Azure Lord can be revived, He will certainly create far greater value than I ever could. At the very least, this land could be reborn in His hands."
"Is your worldview so narrow that it can only accommodate two extremes of right and wrong?!" Igola laughed out of sheer exasperation. "You just want to die, don't you?"
"We people of Senluo are all that simple." Not angry in the slightest, Tamashi nodded. "Simple enough that we can only fit a single faith; simple enough that we slaughtered one another across the wasteland for hundreds of years. Swaying with the wind might let one live merrily, but staying faithful from beginning to end is what brings us peace of mind."
Igola was struck speechless for a moment. Yaxiu exhaled a long breath and asked, "Do you truly think that way?"
"Yes."
"It's not that I don't understand that people's values differ, let alone the value of a God Lord compared to an ordinary human," Yaxiu said. "I also know you people of Senluo aren't afraid of sacrifice, ready to live like fireworks at any cost. Looking at the big picture of the world, the rebirth of the Azure Lord would carry extraordinary significance for all Six Countries. But what if I disagree?"
Tamashi was slightly taken aback. "You disagree?"
"Did you forget? I'm the Inquisitor assigned to discipline you. Just moments ago, you said you'd follow me all the way to Hell. Are you trying to back out now?"
"...Are you trying to convince me with that?"
"Not just that. You remember we're villains notorious across multiple nations, right? Harvey can raise an army of the undead at the drop of a hat. Igola can manipulate an entire country from the shadows without breaking a sweat. Emotionally, there's no way we could ever accept the Azure Lord reviving inside your body. The moment He successfully resurrects, the three of us will be His enemies."
Yaxiu added, "Tamashi, you wouldn't want the Azure Lord to get bullied by us, would you?"
Harvey raised an objection. "Actually, raising an army of the undead is still a bit difficult for me..."
"Shut up," Igola snapped. "I've told him hundreds of times that a mind sorcerer isn't a hypnotist, and did he listen? Not one bit."
Tamashi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "How can you be like this?"
"In truth, I could activate the Wish Hub right now and haul you away directly," Yaxiu said. "But I want you to know: you're no longer that Death Herald Crow wandering the wasteland to hunt down Mercury Trojan. You're free to care about your faith, your homeland, and strangers you've never met—but you must also remember that there are people in this world who care about you."
"So don't let us down," he said. "Besides, what if there are other Death Wish mortals? Even if we leave, the Azure Lord might still resurrect."
Tamashi: "Wouldn't that still require someone to serve as the vessel? Besides, since administrative authority was handed to me, it means I'm first in line."
"What if there's a second or third in line, and they happen to be more than thrilled to serve as the Azure Lord's vessel? You can't rule out that possibility, can you?"
"You're being completely unreasonable..."
"Yeah, and so what?" Yaxiu blinked. "Is it weird for me to be unreasonable?"
"Black Crow, he can be unreasonable, but you can't."
Igola spoke up as well. "I'm still alive, so you're not allowed to die either—unless you want to betray your own principles."
Tamashi froze, instantly catching the deceiver's subtext: earlier, he hadn't sacrificed Igola's life to strike down Mercury Trojan, so now he shouldn't sacrifice himself to revive the Azure Lord. That was the path Crow Cull walked—whether punishing evil or saving lives, nothing should come at the cost of sacrificing a life.
Yet was sacrificing others truly the same as sacrificing oneself? Tamashi felt his thoughts spinning into a muddle; confronted with the deceiver's logic, his fledgling new Crow Cull faith faced a severe test.
And yet, his wavering heart finally found an answer that set it at peace.
"Spending time with you people, I feel like I'll turn bad sooner or later."
Tamashi sighed, the corner of his lips slanting into a wry grin as warmth touched his eyes. "Kidnapping me like this might send you straight to Hell, you know."
"Still, going to Hell with you guys would definitely be entertaining," he laughed. "When the time comes, I'll introduce my sister to you all over again."
"I'll tentatively look forward to it, then," Yaxiu replied. "You no longer want to be the Azure Lord's vessel?"
"No," Tamashi said earnestly. "I, Tamashi Crow Cull, would much rather charge recklessly alongside you. I care about you."
The expressions of Yaxiu and the other two turned slightly unnatural. As expected of a Crow Cull bred from the good-aligned camp—to say such words with such unblushing calm.
Yaxiu only had to recall running over to hug them earlier to feel an urge to dig a hole and bury himself in it.
"All right." Yaxiu hastily changed the subject, taking out the Wish Hub. "Then we'll—"
"Yaxiu," Tamashi suddenly asked. "Are you still willing to save the people of Senluo, as long as you're able to?"
Yaxiu looked at him curiously and nodded. "Of course."
"Then do you trust me?"
"Can you stop wasting words?"
Tamashi hopped down, took the Wish Hub from Yaxiu's hand, and walked through midair. Yaxiu stared in astonishment—so you didn't even need me to carry you all this time!
"I'm not completely certain either, but perhaps..." Tamashi stepped in front of the Empty Door. Gripping the Wish Hub tightly, he shoved it straight into the Empty Door.
The other three watched in silence until the Empty Door suddenly shimmered with white flowing light and rapidly expanded, nearly filling the entire fissure!
Meeting their stunned gazes, Tamashi explained, "I possess administrative authority over the Senluo Dreamscape. Not only can I invoke existing rules—like 'Shelter' and 'Kaleidoscope'—I can also create new rules, even if doing so will further accelerate the world's collapse."
"When I heard you say the Wish Hub could teleport directly to the Thousand Wishes Kingdom of Heaven, Yaxiu, I wondered if I could temporarily create a rule to fuse the Wish Hub with the Empty Door sorcery spirit."
"From the looks of it now, it seems to have succeeded."
Tamashi glanced down at the colossal luminous gate, then looked at Yaxiu.
"The people of Senluo have been abandoned by the Azure Lord. Are you willing to take them in as your subjects?"
Chapter 748