Chapter 573 - 529: [Slay the False God! Completed!]
A 0.000001% probability meant that under normal circumstances, the tributary named [Colorful Rebirth] was essentially impossible.
The only reason this minuscule probability existed, the only reason such a tributary could appear in the River of Destiny, was precisely because of the Eye of Destiny’s power.
[Tributary 819: Colorful Rebirth]
[The Colorful Insect sealed within Shi Ming’s body has been exploited multiple times and has now lost all ability to resist. But with Huang Ji’s arrival, it has found its best—and possibly last—chance to escape. It wants to make a deal with Shi Ming in exchange for its freedom.]
[The terms of the deal are as follows:]
[1. Shi Ming is to voluntarily cease his suppression and lend the Colorful Insect a portion of his power, enabling it to cast the Calamity-level skill, "Bicolored Celestial Calamity."]
[2. Shi Ming and the Colorful Insect are to cast Bicolored Celestial Calamity simultaneously.]
[3. The two Calamity skills will resonate, unleashing unimaginable power. While the pollution cannot directly affect a pseudo-god, it can exploit the bloodline connection between Huang Ji and her 1003 scions to pollute them to the greatest possible extent.]
[4. Leveraging the unstoppable group causality effect of the "Bicolored Celestial Calamity" skill—in which the minority submits to the majority—cause and effect will be inverted to retroactively pollute Huang Ji.]
[5. Shi Ming obtains the loyalty of a pseudo-god; the Colorful Insect obtains freedom and a new life.]
[Probability: 0.000001%]
’Interesting.’
’This Colorful Insect just doesn’t know when to quit.’
After suppressing the Colorful Insect, Shi Ming could use his connection to it to unleash its Calamity-level skill, [Bicolored Celestial Calamity]. This skill didn’t belong to the same system as any S-rank, Holy Hall-rank, or Nirvana-rank skills found in the Star Sea.
Its single-target damage was mediocre, but it could cause a catastrophe for an entire race.
Its effect was to plant a seed of pollution within a group, which would rapidly grow into a mental contagion spreading throughout the entire population. Once more than 70% of the individuals were polluted, the unaffected minority—and even those outside the group, no matter how strong-willed—would be forcibly assimilated. They would be compelled to follow the principle of the minority submitting to the majority, an inversion of cause and effect.
It was an incredibly overwhelming group-pollution skill.
After obtaining this skill, Shi Ming had felt an instinctual revulsion toward it.
So he had never used it.
’And now, the Colorful Insect is offering a chance to "cooperate"? I could use this skill to pollute Huang Ji’s weak scions and, in turn, retroactively pollute the powerful pseudo-god herself?’
’Interesting.’
But unfortunately,
more than killing a pseudo-god, Shi Ming was unwilling to let an uncontrollable Calamity escape his grasp, especially in a unique Star Domain like the First Civilization Cosmic Country.
He would not choose such a tributary of destiny.
However,
’What if they cooperated in a different way?’
’Surely there were loopholes in the deal’s terms that he could exploit?’
Transparent, twelve-segmented insects swam about in Shi Ming’s eyes. They were the external manifestation of his skill, [Bore]. As a numbered Nirvana-rank skill, [Bore] could find loopholes not only in tangible objects but also in abstract concepts. Things like "civilization," "pollution," and "destiny" were all natural targets.
The borer insects swam into the abstract River of Destiny and drilled into this shallow, almost invisible tributary.
’Absolutely perfect things don’t really exist.’
’Every target has a bug, and even if it doesn’t, the borers themselves *are* bugs. The moment one burrows into a target and becomes part of it, the target now has a bug!’
The twelve-segmented insects crawled all over the tributary of destiny. Finding a point of ingress in destiny was no simple task. Fortunately, the Eye of Destiny was of an extremely high tier, granting Shi Ming the ability to tamper with fate. Soon, the borers infiltrated the tributary, riddling the once-strict deal with loopholes:
[1. The Colorful Insect can cast a powerful Bicolored Celestial Calamity within the Hundred-Floor Celestial Tower by irreversibly overdrawing its own essence, without needing to borrow Shi Ming’s power.]
[2. Rebirth can take many forms and isn’t necessarily linked to freedom.]
[3. Even while suppressed, the Colorful Insect can still be reborn, if it is willing.]
After finding the loopholes, the tributary of destiny [Colorful Rebirth] was twisted into:
[Tributary 819: Colorful Rebirth]
[The Colorful Insect sealed within Shi Ming’s body, after multiple sessions of "re-education," has now conceived of a mutually beneficial cooperation. With Huang Ji’s arrival, it has found its best—and possibly last—chance for rebirth. It wishes to cooperate with Shi Ming to achieve a win-win outcome.]
[The terms of the cooperation are as follows:]
[1. The Colorful Insect will sacrifice a portion of its essence, proactively and irreversibly burning its own bicolored essence to cast Bicolored Celestial Calamity on Huang Ji. It will exploit the bloodline link to pollute her scions as much as possible. By leveraging the "Bicolored Celestial Calamity’s" unstoppable group effect, it will enforce the causal principle of the minority submitting to the majority, thereby retroactively polluting Huang Ji.]
[2. Shi Ming obtains the loyalty of a pseudo-god; the Colorful Insect is reborn.]
[Probability: 0.000001%]
Shi Ming nodded.
’Not bad.’
’This was the tributary of destiny he wanted.’
’This was the most logical explanation for the old saying, "Destiny lies in your own hands."’
The dozen or so transparent, twelve-segmented borers consumed all their power and dissipated into the silver River of Destiny. A glint flashed in Shi Ming’s eyes as his Destiny Fixation ability locked onto this tributary. In that instant, the path with a mere 0.000001% probability seemed to become the only one. All other tributaries, no matter how robust they once were, dimmed and began to wither away with the passage of time.