Chapter 540 - 497: Pillar Stone of Truth
"The former First Civilization Cosmic Country had two factions. The first was the god’s direct lineage, led by the eleven Heirs of the Gods. The second was composed of powerful experts from the Star Sea who had sought refuge with the god from other Cosmic Countries."
"You can think of them simply as the core family and the outsiders."
"As the Cosmic Country grew ever stronger, the influence of the latter group grew day by day."
"They needed to secure a sufficient amount of influence."
"Thus, the First Civilization Cosmic Country established a Divine Council composed of these outsider experts. The entry requirements were extremely high. To become a chairman of the council, one had to reach the realm of a Pillar Stone and also possess a numbered Nirvana Skill to approach the primordial truth. This council was also known as the [Pillar of Truth]."
"Because of this, a single piece of intelligence about a numbered Nirvana Skill could fetch a price of 200,000."
"The [Pillar of Truth] was filled with elites."
"There were eight chairmen in total, each granted a unique title by the god. When the god fell, the three members located within the First Civilization Cosmic Country’s territory couldn’t escape in time and were annihilated along with the Cosmic Country. The remaining five chairmen survived. Their god-given titles were [The Divine Adjudicator], [The God-Favored], [The Grand Architect], [The Divine Warrior], and [The Friend of the Secret]."
"..."
As he neared the Primordial Star, Shi Ming glimpsed even more intelligence through his Eye of Destiny.
Over the past five days, as his exploration deepened, Shi Ming had acquired many secrets about this Star Domain. He now had a deeper understanding and a rough hypothesis about how this Realm of Death had formed.
To put it simply:
1. After achieving godhood, the god manifested his Divine Country and superimposed it onto the territory of the First Civilization Cosmic Country. This effectively accelerated the civilization’s development. On the surface, there were no drawbacks; civilization advanced at a tremendous pace, and the First Civilization Cosmic Country became the undisputed strongest Cosmic Country in the Star Sea.
2. Then, the unexpected happened. The god fell, and the Divine Country was destroyed. The gift of the past became a fatal price. Every living being born in that country, no matter where they were in the Star Sea—be it a corner of some planet, a Secret Realm, or another Cosmic Country—was instantly annihilated, with no chance of escape.
3. This mass annihilation created an unstoppable aura of death within the First Civilization Cosmic Country.
4. Although foreign travelers and refugees weren’t instantly annihilated, if they didn’t escape the territory of the First Civilization Cosmic Country in a very short time, they would also be affected. Their bodies and spirits would be eroded by the silent death, leading to an agonizing demise—a fate worse than instant death.
5. Three of the eight chairmen of the [Pillar of Truth] died. The other five not only survived but also seized some of the god’s powerful authorities after his fall. They went from being Pillar Stones to the first batch of pseudo-gods, becoming the few beneficiaries of this catastrophe.
...
Shi Ming was speechless.
’Seriously?’
’Come on.’
’He had always tried to assume the best of others, but right now, he couldn’t help but suspect those five chairmen. In situations like this, whoever benefits is the most suspicious. And on what grounds did everyone else die while you five survived, even managing to devour parts of the god’s body to seize his authority?’
’Could it be any more obvious?’
His Eye of Destiny hadn’t evolved to its highest level; its standing was still insufficient to reconstruct the true reason for the god’s fall. Therefore, all his suspicions were just speculation.
But it wasn’t just Shi Ming. Any outsider who knew these facts would find it hard not to point the finger at the five existing pseudo-gods. Even if they were truly innocent, their situation was too compromising to explain away easily. Besides, Shi Ming hadn’t forgotten that he still had a [Slay the Pseudo-God] quest to complete.
’If they really were involved,’
’these people were only Pillar Stones back then. What ability did they have to interfere with a god’s fate and cause his fall?’
Facts could only be deduced through analysis, not conjured from thin air.
Perhaps the final truth would only surface after he obtained more intelligence, or after his Eye of Destiny evolved into the true Eye of the Divine. And the old man who had mastered [Void]—the one Shi Ming had briefly encountered in the Red Wood Tribe—was undoubtedly one of the five surviving pseudo-gods.
Shi Ming had yet to truly meet the other four.
...
[Respected Heir of the Gods,]
[We have arrived at the Primordial Star.]
[You have reached your destination. The fee for this Teleportation Vortex has been waived. We wish you a pleasant journey ahead.]
Before Shi Ming’s eyes was a dead planet, far grander and a hundred times larger than the biggest life-bearing planet he had ever seen—Treasure Star from the Thirty-Seventh Cosmic Country. One hundred and twenty thousand years ago, this place could have been considered the center of the Star Sea.
Countless geniuses were born here. The one and only god presided over this world, and civilization took this place as its standard, its influence radiating throughout the entire Star Sea.
Now, however, it had become the largest tomb in the Star Sea.
A shimmering light flashed before his eyes. It was a notification from his Eye of Destiny—
[There is an old saying from the Endless Ocean.]
[The closer one gets to home, the more timid one feels.]
[Philosophically speaking, the you of yesterday is not the you of today. Even if the Eye of the Divine evolves and awakens again, it will no longer be the same Eye of the Divine it once was. Yet at this moment, an overwhelming number of fragments have begun to surface.]
[This is a good thing. Intelligence will become extremely active.]
[...]
[This is the Primordial Star, also known as the "Old God Star."]
[The Star Sea is infinite. Even before his fall, the god could not remain guarding a single corner forever. When the Cosmic Country developed a personified will under the cover of the Divine Country, the god left this place to roam the Star Sea, leaving behind only a sliver of his consciousness to stand guard.]