Chapter 1 The Doubt

In fact, Hao Ren had been having doubts about this for a while now:

What was the true purpose of the Godslayer event?

Initially, the culprits active in this event were only those Godslayer traitors, so the purpose of the Godslayer event could be easily explained as a mortal race attempting to become gods, thus brazenly assassinating their deities. However, when a larger mastermind emerged behind the Godslayer traitors, this reason became a bit untenable. The larger mastermind clearly possessed greater power and a longer history, and even if they weren't a god, they should have been close. This powerful being clearly had a deep understanding of gods, so it was unlikely that They would try to seize divine power through Godslaying—They should have known that doing so was completely meaningless. So what was His motive for inciting the traitors to kill the Creator Goddess?

Obviously, it was a more complex and far-reaching reason than "becoming a god," and His goal was definitely not just limited to Godslaying.

"As you know, the war ten thousand years ago… the Godslayer traitors were just pawns. Although their own depravity and sin were also important factors, the instigator behind the scenes was the real culprit," Bai Xiaobai hovered above the platform in the center of the cabin, slowly telling Hao Ren what he knew, "Regarding the true origin of that mastermind, none of us know, not even the Creator Goddess was able to fully investigate. We only know that He is the oldest intelligence in our universe, the earliest power in the world. His existence even predates the Creator Goddess, so He is also quite powerful. But this Eternal Being is not a true god, so He was ultimately no match for the Creator Goddess. For a long time, He was just hiding in the darkest depths of the universe, pretending to have been completely sealed by the Mother of All Life—but in reality, this cunning Eternal Being planned a counterattack."

"He first found the Godslayer race. This race had glory in the beginning. They were among the earliest mortal beings created by the Mother, and because of their high compatibility with the source blood, they were smarter, longer-lived, and more powerful than other races. But this race had a fatal flaw, which was greed and blindness. They were never satisfied, always considering themselves the 'creatures closest to the gods.' The more powerful their civilization became, the more they oppressed and discriminated against their brothers and sisters who started a little later. After gaining supreme power in the mortal world, this race began to covet the power of the gods, and their innate arrogance made them unaware of what reverence was."

"Therefore, the dark and evil Eternal Being corrupted these 'original ancestors' with hardly any effort. In some way, He bypassed the warning system set up by the Mother, also bypassing the guardians' surveillance, and directly bestowed power upon those Godslayers, even giving them weapons and rune technology sufficient to fight against divine power."

"He chose to use these mortals to fight against the true gods, not just because He didn't dare to act directly, but also because only in this way could He truly and completely defeat the Creator Goddess."

Speaking of this, Bai Xiaobai deliberately paused to allow Hao Ren and the others to digest this information, and then he said the main point:

"It's not enough to just defeat the Goddess, because the living beings created by the Goddess still exist, the Goddess's influence on the universe still exists, and the traces left by the Goddess in the rules of the world are still there. These residual factors are unknowable and unpredictable to mortals, but to the Eternal Being who has already stepped into the realm of truth, they are a huge constraint. He must fundamentally eliminate the influence of the gods in order to regain control of the entire universe, and to do this, it is not enough to just destroy the god's body, soul, and memory. He must do one thing: make the god deny herself, delete herself."

"Deny herself?" Hao Ren felt that he understood a little, but then he became confused again, "What do you mean?"

"It means to let the miracles cancel each other out, let the divine powers conflict with each other," Bai Xiaobai explained, "External force is difficult to erase the mark of the gods, but if the god herself has doubts about her actions, what she left behind will immediately become fragile. The Creator Goddess's greatest achievement was creating all living beings, and what she was most proud of was the countless creatures she created. The most vicious thing the evil Eternal Being did was to make the Goddess's own creations attack their mother."

Hao Ren suddenly understood: "He wanted the Creator Goddess to have self-doubt?!"

"That's right, self-doubt. Ordinary self-doubt is not terrible, but if it's a god's self-doubt before death, it's fatal. Once the Creator Goddess begins to question her life's efforts, or even more seriously, hates the creatures she created, even just a little bit of hatred will weaken her divine power and leave an opportunity for the enemy. The evil Eternal Being's initial goal was this: to have the creations of the gods attack the gods, thereby creating self-contradiction. Once the god no longer believes in herself, then her miracles will disappear like a chain reaction."

Hao Ren felt his breathing suddenly become rapid. He looked around and saw that everywhere were creatures created by the Creator Goddess herself, and even those Godslayer traitors had a place here. Four words flashed through his mind: Ultimate Absolution.

Izhaks took a deep breath, his tone low: "That Eternal Being's plan was all good, except for one thing: the Goddess never wavered or doubted herself from beginning to end. She used the last bit of strength in her life to forgive all the murderers."

"That's right, she never regretted creating these children. Most mortals are stupid, their minds wavering, and their bodies weak. They are occasionally kind, but can be very evil with a little temptation. Give them a sword, and they might even turn around and stab their own mother—but they are ultimately created by the mother, whether good or bad, they are all the mother's treasures. Before the Godslayer event broke out, the Mother had already foreseen everything that was going to happen, but at that time she was already powerless to reverse the situation, and there was no way to pull the Godslayers out of depravity, so she could only try to reduce the damage of the disaster as much as possible. Ultimate Absolution is just one of her many efforts, but currently, it seems to be the only one that has worked."

Hao Ren asked curiously: "Sending life to this universe was to preserve the 'spark' needed for Ultimate Absolution?"

"That's right. The god is dead, so the mortals under the god's protection have lost their protection. Even if that evil Eternal Being is inconvenient to move, he has plenty of time to exterminate the mortal worlds one by one. By that time, all the traces left by the Goddess will still disappear. To prevent this from happening, the Mother opened the door of the Reality Wall and sent some of her creations to this world."

"The hand of the demon cannot reach this world, and as long as 'Ultimate Absolution' continues, the throne of the true god will not be usurped, and the evil soul in the depths of the universe will never be able to seize the world's authority. He will be suppressed for a long, long time."

Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged a look, thoughtfully: "But it seems that this Ultimate Absolution still has problems."

"The various races that crossed over to the surface world have been decreasing. More than half of these sparks have gone out by now," Nangong Sanba took a breath, "…It's innate hostility and hunting instincts!"

"But the phenomenon of innate hostility only appeared because the 'original sin' was produced by the divine blood that flowed out after the Godslaying," Hao Ren felt that things were getting more and more complicated, "This 'original sin' should…"

"Although there is no clear evidence, I suspect that the hand of that demon is indeed involved," Bai Xiaobai interrupted Hao Ren, "The Mother forgave all sinners at the last moment. There was no resentment in her remaining power, but why would her blood retain original sin? There is no doubt that the phenomenon of innate hostility is, in effect, undermining the Mother's 'Ultimate Absolution' ritual, because its essence is completely contrary to the Mother's wishes, so the true source of this thing is very suspicious."

Hao Ren raised an eyebrow: "You know all the truth, and you even know about the innate hostility that occurred on this planet."

"But 'Yggdrasil' was corrupted and sealed from the inside from the very beginning, and couldn't even communicate with the outside world."

"Theoretically, Mimir should also know the truth."

"But he lost his memory like other mortal races—as a demigod, he actually lost his memory."

"So it's very clear," Hao Ren spread his hands, "The 'people' who know the truth are either silenced or have their memories erased, the objects of Ultimate Absolution either go crazy or are killed by civil war. Everything is hindering the Creator Goddess's plan. The awesomeness of that mastermind is beyond our imagination, he is intervening everywhere and messing things up at every level."

The atmosphere suddenly became a bit serious, until Izhaks broke the silence: "But no matter what, Ultimate Absolution has not been completely destroyed. This is thanks to Hao Ren's efforts. Now the phenomenon of innate hostility has been lifted, and at least some of the sparks are still alive."

Bai Xiaobai's figure swayed slightly: "That's right, Ultimate Absolution is still in progress, but in reality, the situation is far less optimistic than you say, because the most important link in carrying out this task was destroyed a long time ago."