Chapter 1150: Keys of the Elder Gods
The witch of dreams licked her lips, then smiled charmingly. "I do have such organs, but all my children are malformed. Would you like to give it a try?"
Yang Ze could admit that the witch of dreams' appearance was indeed very charming, but who knew what lay behind such an exterior? Perhaps she was like the king of evil, whose body was a mass of slime, of sticky fluid, that gave out a noxious stench.
Yang Ze hurriedly hid behind Zhang Lie. He might be able to accept a pile of slime, but if she were a chimera of some sort...
The witch of dreams sighed upon seeing Yang Ze's reaction. "It's a pity. I wanted a human child."
Zhou Ying asked curiously, "It doesn't sound as though you're a mother?"
The witch of dreams smiled. "I've had a few kids. One of my favorite hobbies is to transform into members of various races and collect the corresponding children—of my own blood, of course. It's a pity, though. Sometimes, the children look so cute that I can't help but gobble them up."
Zhang Lie had to revise his previous hypothesis. Perhaps the witch of dreams could give birth to ordinary children—but she ate all of them. This was truly one of the strongest aliens in the third realm. Despite her beautiful appearance, her personality was more twisted than even a madwoman's.
Nightdemon suggested, "Let me introduce you all to some of the guests in attendance. The man in the cloak was Yibb, known as The Patient One."
Zhang Lie glanced subconsciously toward Yibb's side, where another isolated person in the crowded banquet hall was present.
The figure had no head, organs, or limbs. Its soft, putty-like body drifted like a wave. This gelatinous mass could well be the ancestor of all life among the three thousand worlds. Around the mass were scattered a great number of carved stone tablets, each recording some alien intelligence so deep as to be incomprehensible.
The superficial meaning was distinct from the meaning arrived at by deep contemplation, but reading between the lines seemed to yield a different conclusion entirely. It was as though there was an endless amount of intelligence hidden within the inscriptions.
Mortal intelligence, philosophical quandaries, the meaning of life, intelligence beyond the reach of mankind, divination of the future, martial techniques—the members of Team Zenith almost found themselves lost in contemplation with just a single glimpse at the tablets.
They couldn't have been carved by any lifeform among the three thousand worlds—the inscriptions seemed almost godly in origin.
Huge gelatinous bugs, with the consistency of jelly, whose bodies were like nothing else in the third realm, squirmed and writhed over the tablets, headless, organless, and featureless, squabbling blindly against each other for territory.
There were limitless resources from the tablet within their grasp, but they were fighting for a few fragments on top of it. Despite the fact that neverending intelligence lay beneath them, none of the wriggling masses could understand it.
Even a small portion of intelligence would allow one of the bugs to dominate over the rest, to lead them all, but none of the bugs could manage this feat.
The sight was pure irony.
Nightdemon patted Zhang Lie on the shoulder. "Wake up!"
Zhang Lie suddenly came to his senses. "Ah, I'm sorry. I apologize."
Nightdemon shook his head. "It's not a problem. Anyone who sees Ubbo ends up like this. It's because of the Keys of the Elder Gods it possesses."
Zhang Lie looked back behind him to see all the members of Team Zenith equally attracted to the tablets in sight. He didn't wake the hunters up immediately; after all, their contents was abstruse and difficult to understand.
Zhang Lie guessed that understanding or intuiting just a portion of it would be beneficial to the hunters. He intended on taking advantage of this banquet to have the members of Team Zenith all intuit part of the inscriptions.
Zhang Lie asked, "What are these Keys of the Elder Gods?"
Perhaps Nightdemon had broken him out of his reverie to prevent him from gaining access to the endless intelligence captured within the tablets.
"They're the floating tablets around its body, containing the knowledge to change the structure of the very universe itself."
Upon hearing Nightdemon's explanation, Zhang Lie couldn't help but feel as though he was right. As expected.
Nightdemon sighed. "Ubbo is an existence from roughly the same period as I am, but unintentionally obtained the Keys of the Elder Gods. Others consider this fortunate, but to me, it's the greatest misfortune."
Zhang Lie seemed perplexed. "Why do you say that?"
Nightdemon asked, "Do you know how Ubbo ended up in this state?"
Zhang Lie shook his head.
Nightdemon sighed. "It was the aftermath of intuiting the contents of the Keys. Back then, I tried to do so myself, but I stopped myself in time. I felt that the contents of the Keys were too abstruse for mortals like us to study and understand."
Zhang Lie was shocked that the king of chaos would call himself a mortal.
The king of chaos was the strongest existence in the third realm, and the entities gathered here in this banquet hall were more than sufficient to take over the three thousand worlds.
As to why they didn't, it was likely because they didn't think it worth their time, and because the king of chaos had a loftier goal in mind.
Nightdemon continued, "If inhabitants of the three thousand worlds forcibly try to intuit the contents of these tablets, horrible outcomes will unfold. As it turns out, I was correct to avoid the tablets. Ubbo, who didn't listen to my advice, ended up in this sorry state."
Zhang Lie asked, "Do you think that gods really exist?"
Nightdemon shrugged. "Gods are just what we call them. In the same vein that entities as strong as superior kings are like gods to the weak, we address those who are far stronger than we are as gods. To me, existences that can create realms are undoubtedly gods."
"Are there stronger existences than you in the third realm?"
Nightdemon laughed. "Perhaps it would be normal for other aliens to ask this question, but you're from a realm that lies beyond ours. There are no stronger existences among the three thousand worlds, but whether or not there are higher realms beyond—well, I think you would know better than anyone else, wouldn't you?"
Zhang Lie wasn't surprised that the king of chaos knew of this information. Those entities on the level of superior kings tended to have some knowledge of the existence of a fourth realm.
Nightdemon looked toward the members of Team Zenith.
"I suggest you awaken them."
"Intuiting a bit of information won't turn them into the likes of Ubbo, surely?"
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