Chapter 576 - 530: Infinite Brain, Evolves Again
He could only look for another opportunity.
During the process of evolving the Brain of Order, Huang Ji’s remaining sources of power had finished coalescing.
One was [Life], a verdant green power source containing the force of life. The other was [Bestowal], which contained thousands of internal purple lines. Shi Ming had already experienced the abilities of the former, [Life]. The latter, [Bestowal], was an auxiliary skill that allowed Huang Ji to form bestowal contracts with other creatures. When necessary, she could copy and bestow her own skills upon them, though the upper limit of the bestowed skills could not exceed the power of [Bestowal] itself.
[Bestowal] might seem ordinary, perhaps even inferior to Rui Liang’s [Sorrow], but for Huang Ji, it was a divine skill. It allowed all of Huang Ji’s offspring to be blessed by their mother’s power, turning each of them into a miniature Huang Ji.
Unfortunately, all 1,003 of her offspring had been wiped out in one fell swoop by the Bicolored Celestial Calamity.
Two of Huang Ji’s treasures still remained within the ruins of the battlefield. As for her other ordinary treasures or Holy Hall Tier skill sources, they had been completely pulverized by the terrifying power, leaving not a single trace behind.
These two treasures were named [Everlit Candle] and [Desolation Seed].
Shi Ming put them away, planning to use the Eye of Destiny to investigate and study them later.
The news of Huang Ji’s death likely wouldn’t stay hidden from the other pseudo-gods for long. This would inevitably make them wary, and they might even forge deeper alliances. Because of this, Shi Ming had to plan ahead.
He took out the Star Lamp,
and contacted Ali, the woman in the Star Skirt, to inform her of Huang Ji’s demise.
"..."
"???"
"Are you kidding me? Who are we talking about? Huang Ji! One of the oldest new gods, who commanded [Life]! For over a hundred thousand years, she’s had more than a thousand offspring, including over forty at the Nirvana Tier! And whether they were Nirvana, Holy Hall, or even a newborn S-rank, every single one of them counted as one of her lives!"
"She couldn’t possibly fall unless all her offspring were dead."
Shi Ming paid no mind to her astonishment. Through the connection channel established by the Star Lamp, he briefly revealed the aura of the Nirvana source, [Life].
Facts speak louder than words.
The other party was silent for a long time.
"You don’t have to be so shocked. Killing her was a complete fluke. Besides informing you of her demise, this conversation is also to let you know that the source of the numbered Nirvana skill, [Life], is useless to me. If you want to acquire it, you can offer a treasure of similar value in exchange. As partners, I can take a small loss in this trade. How about a buy-one-get-one-free deal? I’ll even throw in the source for [Bestowal]."
"You really killed that woman?"
Ali clearly still couldn’t believe it.
Auras could be faked.
But she was more worried that Shi Ming had been deceived by that cunning woman, that he thought he had killed her but was actually being played like a fiddle without even realizing it.
"If you don’t believe me, you can ask the Time Giant. As a darling of destiny, he must have already sensed the ripples in Huang Ji’s fate."
Ali shook her head.
"The new gods possess the authority of deities and have an extremely high status. Even the Time Giant, Candela, being a new god himself, would find it difficult to constantly monitor the course of Huang Ji’s fate. At most, he could perceive the fate of Huang Ji’s offspring. If what you say is true, then we can help you keep this a secret."
"A secret?"
"Yes, concealment. If the other new gods learn that you possess the power to kill them—regardless of whether it was a fluke—they will undoubtedly unite again and eliminate you, this threat, with lightning speed and at any cost. Even if you were lucky enough to kill one new god, when three of them unite, it will be difficult to change the outcome of the battle, even if my sister is willing to help you."
"This hardly counts as an advance payment for our cooperation."
"...Of course."
The channel established by the Star Lamp disconnected. Ali didn’t have time to ruminate on the conversation before plunging her consciousness into the Divine Country, [Sea of Fallen Stars], to contact Amonev as quickly as possible.
"The Withered Queen... has fallen..."
...
...
...
Walking alone through the First Civilization Cosmic Country, the Time Giant, Candela, arrived on a withered planet, more than half of which was shattered. Guided by fate, he discovered a large number of remaining Civilization Stones here.
It was rather interesting.
As a new god who could take whatever he pleased, he suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he were a child treasure hunting in the Star Sea again.
But the joy of such a harvest was something he could no longer experience. As his thresholds had risen, there was little left in the Star Sea that could cause any emotional fluctuation in him.
The Eye of the Divine was one exception.
’I just never expected that the Eye of the Divine, which the Light of Enlightenment, Bertutan, had been searching for for tens of thousands of years, had actually been obtained by that nascent being. If I hadn’t received a revelation from destiny on the [Gold and Silver Island], I would never have learned this secret. I would have simply thought he was a lucky kid who had become the final [Heir of the Gods].’
[Abandon the body of the Time Giant]
[Seize the lost Eye of the Divine]
That was the revelation from destiny.
"Hm?"
After collecting the Civilization Stones left on the withered planet, he sensed a fluctuation in destiny.
It came from several of Huang Ji’s offspring that he had previously marked.
As a new god himself, Candela couldn’t precisely grasp the course of Huang Ji’s fate, but he could, with deliberate effort, monitor the fates of her weaker offspring. At this moment, most of the destiny anchors he had marked had all dissipated and withered away.
They were decaying rapidly.
Just like the planet before him.
He had originally used those destiny anchors to indirectly monitor Huang Ji. Now that they had all shown an anomaly at the same time, this darling of destiny grew vigilant.
He took a step back and vanished into the flow of time.
In the blink of an eye, he returned to his Divine Country, which was intrinsically linked to his temporal body.
Gold and Silver Island.
The three-thousand-meter-tall giant’s body returned to the island. He sat cross-legged at the border of gold and silver, resonating with the island. The patterns on the giant’s body gradually awakened and spread out. Half were silver, and half were gold. They flowed down from his brow to his feet along fixed paths, weaving together at the nexus of his heart.
TICK,
TOCK.
As a darling of destiny, fate would always grant him some revelations. On his own Divine Country, the Gold and Silver Island, his sensitivity to destiny’s revelations was heightened, like a child returning to his hometown or residence.
He just sat there quietly.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
Deep within his pale golden pupils, silver lightning appeared, only to be washed over in the same instant by an indescribable emotion! It was like a tsunami, causing the Time Giant’s thoughts and body to seize up. The Gold and Silver Island began to tremble.
Within the giant’s Divine Country, torrents surged and lightning filled the air.
"Dead?"
"All 1,003 offspring, annihilated?"
As a former colleague, Candela certainly knew what this meant. That once-favored of the gods had fallen in the nascent First Civilization Cosmic Country, her fate utterly extinguished.
...
...
...
Amonev, Bertutan, and Herakrode were still in a team. Their progress was just as fast, and they were now about to approach the Core Area of the First Civilization Cosmic Country.
Bertutan suddenly paused.
"Hm?"
asked Creator Uncle Herakrode.
The old man, his eyes full of wisdom, stroked his beard and smiled.
"An ancient civilization in the Star Sea has fallen."
"Oh?"
Herakrode wasn’t particularly interested in this. The fall of a civilization was a common occurrence. Herakrode commanded [Stillness] and knew that all things would eventually fade into silence, even the gods, let alone a so-called ancient civilization.
Perhaps one day, even the Star Sea would return to silence.
Bertutan didn’t elaborate on the matter. The civilizations he had traveled through were as countless as the stars in the sky. The fall of an ancient civilization would normally be a major event, but compared to the task of seizing the will of a newborn universe, it was nothing.
Important, but not urgent.