Chapter 1841: Chapter 444: Reaching the Heavens
"Mr. Yan, long time no see."
A drop of water fell onto the surface, creating ripples that spread far and wide. Tianshui slowly walked up to the man bound by chains.
In the void of the Source Tower, countless chains swirled and twisted around.
This level is known as the "Reincarnation Realm."
A figure resembling a withered shadow sat on the ground, lifting his head, with sunken dark eyes...
Mr. Yan smiled and said, "Tianshui."
He has lived far too long.
To be precise, this spirit has lived far too long.
Due to excessive use of Divination Skill, Mr. Yan’s physical body had been completely disassembled, dissipating into the destiny gold thread, vanishing into the real world.
To preserve the legacy of "Divination Skill."
Qinglong intervened, keeping this spirit intact, imprisoning it in the Double God Dream of the Source Tower, using the power of the fire seed to seal Mr. Yan’s last fragment of soul. This method defies the heavens, but Mr. Yan suffers daily from the pain of his soul being torn. Even though he’s alive, he cannot taste the joy of living.
"...I already know about the things happening outside."
Mr. Yan smiled faintly.
Though he had only the last fragment of soul, due to unlimited use of Divination Skill, he basically understood what was happening outside.
Divination Skill is like using a credit card.
And at this moment, Mr. Yan is like a heavily indebted gambler... His time to pay has long come, yet through "spiritual imprisonment", he continues to overdraft an account already emptied to zero.
Under such circumstances, he doesn’t care whether he can afford the cost of overdraft.
"The arrest warrant, the Red Dragon, and some of your matters... I know them all."
Mr. Yan sighed deeply.
"The real world... probably has fifteen seconds left."
Mr. Yan looked up at the world above the Dream, chuckled lightly, "After fifteen seconds, the world I’m in will turn pitch black."
This is the future he saw through Divination Skill, watching himself.
He knew very well what pitch black meant.
However, inside this spiritual world, the flow of time is vastly slowed down.
So...
The two still have time to converse.
"The arrest warrant, the Red Dragon, and I... are no longer important."
Tianshui, wearing a mask, sat down across from Mr. Yan.
Resting his hands gently on his knees, he smiled and said, "What matters is you."
"I’m not that important, just a ’dead man’."
Mr. Yan shook his head.
In the years of serving the Source Tower, he’s almost forgotten the meaning of his existence, this fragment of soul imprisoned in the spiritual world, chained and bound, continually providing the Source Tower with accurate predictions and divinations. And when ignored, his will would be forced into hibernation by the Double God Dream to prevent excessive consumption and waste of ’lifespan’...
The term lifespan has ceased to exist for him, replaced with the duration of use being perhaps more descriptive.
But now, his existence holds little meaning.
[Deep Sea] completed the eleventh upgrade, the main system has started to control the entire world, there are many things that no longer need him.
No longer need Divination Skill.
"I promised you I would let you survive." Tianshui gently asked, "Now you only need to consider one question, the same question as before. Do you... want to live?"
Many years ago, Tianshui had once asked Mr. Yan the same question.
That time was during the great hunt in Sangzhou Cave.
The identity of the Lord of Wine was yet unclear, Tianshui hoped Mr. Yan would utilize Divination Skill to help the Source Tower find the "God’s Favored Son."
The outcome later was...
Mr. Yan used Divination Skill to lock onto that little girl.
"I... want to live..."
"No..."
"I... don’t want to live..."
The man bound by chains had empty eyes full of bewilderment. He looked at Tianshui’s mask. Over the years the destiny gold thread of Divination Skill, apart from the fire seed taboo that couldn’t be gazed at directly, the only unseen thing was the mask of Tianshui... But now in his dizzy brain, suddenly, long-buried memories came flooding back.
When he just learned Divination Skill.
It seemed there was a vague face appearing before him.
Mr. Yan stared blankly at the man in front of him.
He did not answer the question of wanting or not wanting to live, but muttered, "Tianshui... who are you?"
Riiiip.
The fragment of soul, dry and brittle to the extreme, suddenly began to disorder.
Fragments of broken memories surged forth at this moment.
Mr. Yan turned his head away, seeing not the boundless water ripples of "Reincarnation Realm", but a life-sustaining pod slowly closing its cover, lights flickering, as if he returned to the environment many years ago, above was a spacious alloy metal plate, faintly through transparent windows he saw the meteors flying by outside.
He was not bound by chains, but held by a pair of strong arms.
This memory lasted less than a second.
Then he fell back into the Reincarnation Realm.
The broken memory and the pitch-black reality constantly intertwined.
Tianshui’s masked face, and the obscure face that held him in the life pod years ago, gradually overlapped, gradually became one, even the voices they spoke seemed to merge.
"Do you want to live?"
Mr. Yan remembered.
About the matters before he came to the Source Tower, truths which confused him for years...
Now with the merging of memory images, it was suddenly unlocked.
Divination Skill was never a technique to be mastered by people of the Five Continents, it was an ancient text power researched by the former Starship Civilization, so the other bearer of Divination Skill in Qingzhong, Qianye, also came from the [Old World].
Mr. Yan was the same.
It’s just that he did not have the good fortune of Qianye, to encounter someone like Gu Changzhi after awakening from slumber.
When he awoke, his body was already shattered.
The reason he was imprisoned in the Double God Illusion Realm was that he had no path left... Even if Qinglong released the Dream, letting him go to the real world, he would die immediately.
And the reason for working so tirelessly was only one.
That was the person who saved him... was Tianshui.
Years ago, it was Tianshui.
Years later, it was the same.
The two faces merged together, Mr. Yan’s sunken eye sockets became moist, and he forced out a hoarse voice, struggling immensely to utter one word.
"Want."
Years ago, the lights at the skytop of the starship shattered, and droplets of water fell vertically above the Reincarnation Realm.
"Plop."
This droplet landed on the water surface of the Reincarnation Realm, and Mr. Tianshui extended a hand, placing it before Mr. Yan, slowly closing his eyelids. This closure meant eternal rest.
This soul, bound in chains within the Spiritual World, welcomed liberation.
Countless spiritual glimmers fluttered in the void, crashing into Mr. Tianshui’s large sleeve.
At the moment the droplet fell.
Fifteen seconds passed in the real world—
This was precisely what Mr. Yan had foretold, the "darkness" he was to face.
But everything was not over.
The entire Reincarnation Realm began to riot, the Heavenly Curtain was shattered, the skytop of the Reincarnation Realm was lifted by two fingers, and a giant face remotely gazed down upon this Spiritual World.
Tianshui stood up and looked up at that enormous face.
"Rumble..."
The face slowly approached, the view from the skytop of the Reincarnation Realm could no longer encompass it. In the end, Tianshui only saw a giant, indifferent eye filled with murderous intent.
The floodwater of the Reincarnation Realm began to boil, a vast amount of steam spread out, turned into mist, and condensed into clouds.
None know exactly how many layers the Source Tower has.
People only know that the Source Tower is very tall, as tall as the sky.
In fact, each layer of this giant tower can be moved freely, raised, lowered, erased... This heavenly existence for ordinary folk is merely a toy of the Sky Divine Throne.
With intense tremors, the Reincarnation Realm suddenly began to rise.
A great pressure descended.
Tianshui emitted a muffled groan from his throat, his knees slightly bent, but ultimately did not kneel—
"Buzz!"
Finally, the entire Reincarnation Realm was elevated to the highest layer at the tip of the Source Tower, surrounded by mist and clouds, overlooking the entire Upper City, even Central Continent.
However, the originally vast and expansive Reincarnation Realm now seemed like a square chessboard.
"Mr. Yan’s" soul is no longer present.
Thus, on this chessboard, there was only a solitary chess piece left.
Tianshui stood in the center of the Reincarnation Realm, looking at the giant eye.
The view retreated once more—
This solitary eye returned to a giant face again.
Qinglong held the chessboard gently with his hand, and after releasing his palm, the evaporating mist held up the board.
If at this moment a third party entered the tip of the Source Tower, they would notice.
Everything here is normal, except Mr. Tianshui on the chessboard, who looks like a miniature chess piece.
"Teacher."
Qinglong sat on the throne, leaning on his cheek as he spoke slowly: "In light of the nurturing grace and cultivation kindness... I’ve given you time to escape the Source Tower, if you want to escape, I actually won’t pursue."
This is why Tianshui could conclude this conversation in the Reincarnation Realm with Mr. Yan.
He did not escape, but stayed in the Source Tower.
Actually...
He took away Mr. Yan’s soul.
If Qinglong continued to ignore him, he could do even more inside the Source Tower.
"I don’t intend to escape."
Tianshui stood on the chessboard, looking at the disciple he had raised.
The Source Tower is tall, but the real connection to the heavens is not the tower.
But Qinglong.
"Is it because you know you don’t have long to live?"
Qinglong asked with a smile: "Or is it because... you desperately want to kill me, thus naively believing that sacrificing yourself, making some arrangements, could kill me?"
Tianshui smiled but neither affirmed nor denied.
"I don’t like rainy days... but these years, Upper City has several rainfalls each month."
"These were all arranged by you, I know."
"Gu Xiaoman’s thoughts lean towards the East Continent, this was also arranged by you... I know as well."
"Red Dragon is the orphan you picked up, he does not have much attachment to the Source Tower, even as the First Divine Envoy, he wouldn’t truly work for me."
"This, I know all too well."
The man sitting on the throne, surrounded by numerous mirrors formed from clouds, flipped up, reflecting the entire Five Continents, continuously expanding Heart Flow power as he played against the main system of the Deep Sea. Now the Cloud Mirror’s dominion spreads across the Five Continents, nearly touching every corner.
He almost knows everything happening here.
Qinglong earnestly looked at his teacher.
"I see all these things, I just don’t speak of them."
Though he was still smiling, there was a hint of sorrow in his laughter.
"Oh teacher... I’m merely curious, if you disagree with me so much, why did you spend such energy to support me back then?"
Countless Cloud Mirrors flipped, projecting Blazing Light, shining on Tianshui.
Standing on the chessboard, under the Blazing Light’s embrace, Tianshui shook his head.
"Supporting you back then was sincere."
"Now wanting to kill you is also sincere."
"Humans... they change."
Tianshui spoke: "You might as well use the Cloud Mirror to look at yourself and see how different you are now compared to before?"
Qinglong fell silent for a moment after hearing these words.
A Cloud Mirror in front slowly flipped.
He looked at himself in the mirror.
Mist surrounded the mirror, his exact appearance was indistinct.
But what was clear was...
He sat at the highest position in the world, unparalleled.
Here, almost touching the sky.
