Chapter 1738: Chapter 82: How Will You Get Out?
Yi Song suddenly spoke: "Isabel."
Isabel lowered her gaze and looked at him. Her feelings towards him were more akin to curiosity and interest rather than love. A lowly human could touch her heart, and the waves stirring within her made her feel amused, thus she treated him differently.
"Isabel, let me give you psychological treatment for the last time." Yi Song said.
The scarlet eyes stared at him: [You also want to persuade me to join the war?]
Yi Song shook his head: "Isa, I just want to as a psychologist, to make the last guide for my patient. I remember you once told me that occasionally, you would dream. In the dream, you were not the Mother Goddess, you were just a... Princess walking in the garden. No one needed you to reproduce. The reason I came to heal you, to become your doctor, was because I sensed your loneliness, a solitude stemming from your identity. If one day, you could live carefreely under the sun, letting this loneliness be healed. As a doctor, I would be satisfied too."
What he implied was that only by the Demon Mother Goddess assisting Su Ming’an to end all this, could there truly be a day of healing.
Isabel fell silent.
[... Heh.] Then, a sneer:
[—Tiny mayfly, dare to delude itself into untangling the divine?]
[The Original dark, the abyss of desires, the mother of all demons... You humans always love to project your own insignificance onto all things, thinking that even gods need redemption. This is the greatest arrogance, as well as the greatest sorrow.] Her tendril slowly raised, the tip lifting Yi Song’s nearly translucent, fading chin, the motion seemed affectionate, yet had not a trace of warmth:
[Yi Song, indeed I regard you in a different light, for at that time, I was just a princess of a humble civilization, while you were an ’Awakener’, transcending beyond this world, coldly observing from the sidelines.]
[You once saved me, giving me a key as a keepsake. I gradually fell for you... However, one day you suddenly withdrew.]
[The so-called lust, is but a speck of dust in an age of ignorance. Now you are an ant struggling to survive, while I am a deity overlooking eternity. I’m merely curious about you, yet you think you can persuade me?]
[Now the seal is open, you all can do nothing against me. If an ant dares chatter again, I shall kill you.]
"Ha... Hahaha... Hahaha!!!"
Yi Song suddenly laughed.
"Patient... My patient..." he laughed and shook his head, each word distinct, gazing at the unspeakable Mother Goddess, "What I regret, is not that in this life I can never again be loved by you!"
He raised his hand, his arm now transparent like glass, gently stroking the tendril, as if embracing,
"What I regret, is that as your doctor, in such a brief time, I cannot heal you!"
"Your illness has penetrated to the bone!"
Isabel’s tentacle suddenly tightened, aiming to kill Yi Song. Unexpectedly, Su Ming’an suddenly threw an object, flickering with light—
[What is that...!] Isabel had always been wary of Su Ming’an, to her, Yi Song was merely an ant who could be crushed with ease; Su Ming’an was the most terrifying enemy. Seeing Su Ming’an throw something, she instantly lashed out a tendril, striking it fiercely!
"Pa!"
The tendril touched the glowing object, sticking to it as if electrocuted, unable to pull away!
In an instant, Isabel let out a scream so shrill it seemed like her soul was being electrocuted, her jet-black tentacles thrashing wildly, causing the heavens to shudder and waters to rage!
Violent tremors resounded, one storm after another shot outwards, Violet hurriedly protected Chen Yuhang, wings of light flaring from her back amidst the violent gales, blood and feathers torn apart.
Pearly white tendrils immediately protected her, as if a pure white wall before the dark mass of flesh. The next moment, Su Ming’an appeared above Isabel’s blood-red eyes, his face expressionless.
—The glowing object he threw was a lock!
Worn, rusty, simple and ancient.
...
[Before leaving, the man left a key, a farewell gift for the princess.]
["I must leave now, for the safety of your civilization, I cannot return. This is the key to the Awakener dream realm where I exist, with this, you can always call upon me. You have no magic, you cannot hear my voice, but as long as you speak, I can hear."]
["If you no longer love me, then give this key to someone else at will. You shall never have any connection with me again."]
...
Isabel suddenly realized something, but it was too late.
Su Ming’an’s divine power and Yi Song’s strength poured madly into that worn lock. Yi Song raised his head, looking at the horrid, greedy face of the Mother Goddess that was so close, a complex smile appeared on his face.
This smile, vaguely resembled the one he gave as a last glance when bidding farewell to the princess on the castle terrace years ago.
[—Yishong Candobeia!!!!] Isabel screamed with anger and madness. No one had expected a Mother Goddess to be so furious.
In Yi Song’s eyes, there was no joy of success, only the sorrow of a healer unable to save a patient. The Mother Goddess’ furious tendril stabbed fiercely into his abdomen, stirring violently. Yet he, with a pale face, coughed up blood, his arms tightly embracing, holding her close.
"As a profession dealing with human minds, psychologists will face patients who are insane, paranoid, even antisocial. A mature doctor, like a skilled Chess Player, plants clues for unforeseeable risks. This is a kind of professional risk management, aimed at protecting both parties..." Yi Song spat blood,
"If a patient attacks a doctor out of dissatisfaction or illness, a doctor must have a way to protect himself..."
"Princess Yisha, I am well-versed in this path."
The lock in Su Ming’an’s hand resonated with the key within Isabel.
"Buzz——!!!"
The worn lock burst into light!
It traced along an unseen, non-physical "Causal Line," directly back to the source!
That line stemmed from the "key" given by the man atop the medieval castle, entwined with the princess’s countless days and nights’ caress and obsession that followed, spanning her becoming an Awakener, stepping into Luowasha, enduring tribulations to ascend to godhood... until this moment, the "key" she, now a Demon Mother Goddess, still had not relinquished!
The key was never the warm farewell gift left by the man, but a trap—a cunning and treacherous man, who even after winning the princess’s love, still kept a guard, leaving the princess with a triggerable bomb. If the princess ever grew to the point of betraying the man, the man could detonate the "key" through the "lock" he held, to kill the princess.
Even though the princess back then was merely a life of a lowly medieval civilization, able to do nothing, confined to a castle her entire life. It was only after death, upon touching the Black Water Dream, she became an Awakener and eventually ascended to the Demon Mother Goddess... The man actually left a clue for such a seemingly potential-less life.
At that time, she was still his lover.
He left such a trap for her.
Yi Song thought this was a self-protection mechanism of a doctor, to prevent the patient from attacking the doctor out of anger or dissatisfaction, a doctor needed to leave such clues.
...He really used it.
The parting gift which seemed filled with love was the last dagger he thrust into the heart of the betraying patient. The laughable thing was, even the Demon Mother Goddess Isabel still carried the key Yi Song left her.
Coincidentally, it became the sharpest blade against Him.
He became an Awakener through this Key, thereby gaining the potential to ascend to High Dimensions... Most of His causality was founded upon the Key, and when the man chose to detonate this Key with a lock, unless Isabelle’s positional rank at this moment completely surpassed the authority of the former "Awakener"... otherwise...
...
"[We perform on this world’s stage, my lover leisurely watching the play,]"
"[He watches me perform various genres, using different forms to dispel my uneasy emotions...]"
"[Occasional joy makes me happy, so I wear the mask of comedy.]"
"[At times, I turn joy into sighs, so I perform the tragedy again.]"
...
The lock in Su Ming’an’s hand became scorching hot. He clenched it tightly, his pale arms bulging with veins, pouring in the remnants of his divine power without reservation!
Isabelle’s massive body began to twist violently, like a painting igniting at the edges, rolling back along the causal line into the lock! Thousands of faces howled and melted, the deep purple divine light dimmed and extinguished, and the tentacles drooped powerlessly.
If it weren’t for the Eighth Thrones previously eroding His will, if Su Ming’an hadn’t severely injured Him before, if Si Nian hadn’t sacrificed to deplete a large amount of His divine power to break the seal... Without these overlapping events, Yi Song couldn’t have succeeded now.
Yi Song acted at this final moment to ensure a one hundred percent success rate.
Isabelle struggled, Her divine thoughts scattered like fragments in chaos, Her divine sense unwittingly reverted to a mortal tone, as if "Princess Isa" momentarily came alive:
[I am not... I have not... I do not need healing!!!]
[You deceived my love and abandoned me! You said you would heal me, and now you want to destroy me!!]
[Yishong Candobeia—!! You liar!! You quack doctor—!!!]
Yi Song’s body also dissipated, almost merging into the flow of light with Isabelle.
Compared to the raging, betrayed Isabelle... the calm Doctor Yi appeared more like a god.
He arbitrarily deemed people as patients, arbitrarily healed them, and when they developed affection and dependency, he turned away without mercy, heading to the next patient... He never called it "having a foot in many boats," and ignored confessions and struggles from others; in his eyes, this was truly just treatment.
Beauty turns to bones in less than a hundred years; if he could offer himself as a remedy, he was willing.
"Boom——!!!"
The towering Demon Mother Goddess, under Su Ming’an’s suppression, turned into a torrent mixed with deep purple and dark red, flowing with countless crying faces and shadows, being wholly consumed by the rusty brass lock.
The lock body shivered suddenly, making a soft "click," as the lock clasp shut by itself.
The light withdrew.
"Clang——!"
The lock flowed into the palm. Su Ming’an instantly felt formidable world-shaking energy madly pouring into his body, being fiercely restrained by him.
Unexpectedly, this time it changed from "seeking allies" to "devouring allies," related to the Demon Mother Goddess breaking the covenant repeatedly but also inevitably linked to every companion.
"Huff...!" He exhaled, the cries in his mind madly clamoring for the desire to "devour" and "consume." He swung his palm towards the blade with a harsh "clang."
"Shut up."
The palm quieted briefly, followed by more intense temptation and whispering:
(Devour them, devour these nutrients... You will become omnipotent, you will become the overlord... nobody can stop you...)
(You want to call back a true friend, find your family, keep your companions... all achievable...)
Su Ming’an suddenly thrust his hand claw to the ground, the void black water sizzled, his palm barely quieting.
As Isabelle was absorbed into the palm, where the Mother Goddess once stood, only endless dissipating black demonic qi remained.
Yi Song’s figure also disappeared accordingly; he had abandoned his body to come here, now reaching his limit.
The broken soul shadow, like a sand painting blown by the wind, transformed into countless fine, shimmering light points, quietly drifting in the silent air of the Nine Serenities.
...
"Doctor Yi!"
"Doctor Yi!!"
"Doctor Yi, please save me, I need you..."
Yi Song once witnessed countless, countless... ordinary, lowly, yearning eyes.
Is this heaven’s punishment for the cruel Awakeners? He once saw civilization as dust, carrying the Lord of Dreams’ orders, twisting or destroying too many humble civilizations. Now, he became part of the humble civilization himself...
He chuckled, put on a white coat, and walked towards the Mortal World.
"I have come to heal you."
"This world is critically ill but not without remedy. If the world remains like purgatory, mortals floundering within... let me become the medicine, become the water, to mend wounds for you..."
...
[Current squad survival count: 12/15]
...
World Chessboard.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough...!"
Lu sat on the throne, coughing lightly, when suddenly, he saw a vortex swirling on the chessboard, a figure gradually appearing.
"Su Ming’an...?" Lu raised his head and saw the black-robed youth.
Leading Violet and others away with the Reincarnation God first, Su Ming’an, carrying the Demon Mother Goddess’s power, returned to the World Chessboard. It was Lu’s blade that knocked his consciousness out of the body, the body still lying on the World Chessboard, and now he had to return to wear his real body again.
Before him lay the vast, boundless Star Sea, grand Chess Pieces standing tall, spread across the almost personless Black and White Chessboard, where the Blue King, cloaked in a fur coat, sat serenely on the throne, like a Chess Player in the shadows.
