Chapter 599: Chapter 498: Two Failures
"By opening an endless time loop, can we escape that gaze?" Han Zhan asked, puzzled.
"If it were just a simple time loop, no. But if it’s an endless loop that ends in ’death’, then, it can be done." This was the Queen Mother of the West’s answer.
Death is like the stones beneath the riverbed of the River of Time.
They are densely packed, everywhere, deeply buried in the riverbed, unnoticed by anyone.
To meet the conditions of this endless loop, the Queen Mother of the West used the Flat Peach Feast and the opportunity for Ascension to Saint as a lure, inviting the Immortals of Fruit World.
With the means of a Saint, she diverted everyone’s River of Time, and then killed them.
"After the River of Time is diverted, ’I’ as a ’Saint’ will completely disappear. Although I will suffer the punishment of the River of Time for this, the possibility to stay alive by paying this price is completely acceptable."
"The death of everyone in Fruit World will cause this Fruit World to become completely silent, turning into stones buried beneath the River of Time, escaping the unknown gaze."
The Queen Mother of the West’s plan was perfect.
But in the process of diverting the River of Time, there was an unexpected change.
The change was Emperor Chong’en.
During the time the Queen Mother of the West ascended to Saint and explored beyond Fruit World, Emperor Chong’en achieved the Way through knowledge and was about to take the last step on the path of the Saint.
The memory of knowledge is like the waves in the River of Time; even someone as powerful as the Queen Mother of the West couldn’t completely erase him.
One must know, the existence of the River of Time is not directly connected to the life or death of life itself.
The Primordial True Insect [Silence], long before the Queen Mother of the West’s ascension to Saint, had been dead for an unknown number of years, yet its River of Time still existed.
Similarly, although Emperor Chong’en died, the memory about the Queen Mother of the West’s ascension to Saint still existed.
This led to a most crucial problem—the Queen Mother of the West could not leave the endless time loop she created.
If she leaves the endless time loop, and if that gaze still exists, she would have nowhere to hide.
The Queen Mother of the West dared not bet on such a possibility.
Thus, to ensure that the secret she discovered would be passed on, she made a second preparation.
"I threw the Kunlun Mirror into the River of Time. It is a special medium, and if someone in the future is destined to find it, they can re-enter the Kunlun Twin Fruit World through it."
"If he can successfully break this endless time loop, I will tell him the truth."
"This is the truth."
After hearing the Queen Mother of the West’s story, Han Zhan couldn’t come back to his senses for a long time.
Whether it was the World Tree, Fruit World, Primordial True Insect, or the disappearance of the Saints.
Or the Queen Mother of the West slaughtering the immortals, opening the loop, throwing the Kunlun Mirror into the River of Time.
All of this, when connected together, left people with a deep shock.
But within this truth, there were still unexplained doubts, like a few black ink spots on a pure White Paper, impossible to ignore.
Firstly, why did the Saints disappear, and what exactly was that horrifying gaze felt by the Queen Mother of the West?
Secondly, the Queen Mother of the West only mentioned throwing the Kunlun Mirror into the River of Time, but not Nuannuan. How are Nuannuan and the Kunlun Mirror connected?
Thirdly, now that the endless time loop is broken, will the Queen Mother of the West disappear like the other Saints?
Fourthly, where is the Heart Monkey now, who was momentarily seen in Fruit World?
When Han Zhan asked the Queen Mother of the West these four points, she was silent for a long time.
"The first three questions, I cannot answer, because even I do not know."
"As for the fourth question..."
"I will answer the fourth question." At this time, the voice of the Heart Monkey resounded from behind everyone.
Upon hearing the voice, everyone turned back to look.
They saw that it was wearing the Phoenix Wing Purple Gold Crown, the Locking Golden Armor, the Lotus Silk Cloud-Stepping Shoes, and holding the Ruyi Golden Cudgel, looking exhausted as it walked over from afar.
The Heart Monkey.
Or perhaps, at this time, it should be called, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!
The Great Sage had gone through unknown experiences, exhausted to the extreme, yet it still walked step by step.
Firstly, it glanced at the Queen Mother of the West, then turned its gaze to Han Zhan, nodding in approval.
"My judgment was not wrong, you were indeed the one chosen by Fruit World."
"The one chosen by Fruit World?" Han Zhan was astonished.
Before Han Zhan could remain in shock too long, the Great Sage continued to explain, "Every Fruit World, every era, or perhaps every few eras, will see the birth of a true leader."
"He or she will bear the responsibility of leading the entire Fruit World forward."
"I, her, you, are all such people." The Great Sage paused slightly here, "We are all the world-chosen people."
"The only difference is, your world still has a future, and our world has completely lost its future."
"Both she and I are just two lingering remnants of failure."
To the description by the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, the Queen Mother of the West did not open her mouth to refute but chose to remain silent.
It turned out, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and the Queen Mother of the West were not from the same Fruit World?
Han Zhan was initially taken aback, but suddenly felt somewhat relieved.
The legendary Great Sage Equal to Heaven, born from a heavenly stone, and belonging to a different Fruit World from the Queen Mother of the West, wasn’t entirely unfathomable.
"So, both of you were the Saint leaders of your respective worlds." Han Zhan nodded knowingly.
To his surprise, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven firmly denied, "She and I are not the same. At least, my Fruit World did not perish at the hands of its own, nor would I bury the entire Fruit World for a truth."
His tone seemed to carry a strong disdain for the Queen Mother of the West.
"But my Fruit World still exists." The Queen Mother of the West retorted immediately.
Listening to their tones, these two don’t seem to have a harmonious relationship.
"Is this why you helped them?" The Queen Mother of the West asked again.
She didn’t plan to argue further with the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, their views were different, without right or wrong.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven lightly chuckled at the Queen Mother of the West’s question.
"I understand you kept me hidden in this endless loop just to have me block a blow for you at the right time."
He pointed at his already shattered War Armor, with a wry smile, "Can’t you see it now?"
Early on, upon seeing Han Zhan and the others, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven had made his final decision.
He abandoned the loop, revealing his true form from the obscurity representing ’death’, venturing beyond Fruit World.
The Queen Mother of the West knew this, and did not prevent it.
Having someone else make the first move on her behalf, why not?
"We, like rats in the shadows, have lingered for so many years." The Great Sage Equal to Heaven stated, with a hint of self-deprecation in his tone.
"Yet that gaze was always there, never leaving."
He paused, then continued, "Queen Mother of the West, I owe you nothing now."
