Chapter 1 The Unexpected

To be honest, before stabbing the Godslaying Sword down, Hao Ren had thought of all sorts of unexpected problems. After all, no matter what, he was holding a fierce weapon once used to slaughter gods and Buddhas to perform a craniotomy on someone, and it was the kind of surgery where you stabbed the sword straight into the brain. Telling anyone about this surgery wouldn't make it sound like he was treating someone, but he dared to try it only because the "eldest son" wasn't an ordinary creature, and the Godslaying Sword was no longer a fierce weapon.

But he never expected that his sword would cause Yggdrasil to lose its breath on the spot!

Everyone around was immediately startled, jumping up and down to offer help. Vivian suggested giving the brain core some electricity to see if it could be restarted, Nangong Wuyue suggested sewing up the cortex around the brain core and then casting a few Rejuvenation spells, Galazur suggested immediately freezing the place to prevent the situation from worsening, Nangong Sanba suggested that Hao Ren write a self-criticism now so that he could be more sincere when admitting his mistake to Raven 12345 later. Lily's suggestion was the most refreshing and unconventional: she suggested pinching the philtrum, but Vivian pinned her to the ground and pinched half of her face red…

"Find me the philtrum of this thing!" Vivian glared at Lily with her hands on her hips. "Can't you just stay quietly on the side if you can't think of a good idea!"

However, just as everyone was in a frenzy, a low and powerful "thump" suddenly came from underground in the cave.

Immediately afterward, all the eldest son's tentacles in a state of suspended animation gradually regained their vitality, the runes in the cave began to shine again, the red light of the brain core chamber also turned from dark to bright again, the two interconnected brain cores vibrated, their surfaces quickly regaining their luster, and the small hole pierced by the Godslaying Sword on the Dark Heart healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Hao Ren was overjoyed when he saw this: "Heh! Success!"

Almost at the same time, he felt a powerful consciousness awakening from among the intricate eldest son's tentacles. Everyone present felt a trance, and then Yggdrasil's voice appeared in everyone's mind: "I have finally seen the outside world again—hello everyone."

"Damn, you scared me to death just now, I thought I accidentally stabbed you to death!" Hao Ren exhaled and couldn't help but shout loudly, "Are you okay? Why did you suddenly stop moving just now?"

"Just woke up, a little excited," Yggdrasil replied, "and then I fainted from over-excitement."

Everyone: "…"

"It's normal," Yggdrasil didn't seem to have the concept of "embarrassment", or rather, he didn't think there was anything embarrassing about this situation, "I've been weakening for thousands of years, and suddenly releasing the pressure, my body can't adapt."

"Uh, okay, I understand, I understand," Hao Ren could only nod to show his understanding, as for whether he really understood or not, don't ask, "So what's your situation now? Are you Yggdrasil? What about the other consciousness?"

"I'm here." Almost as soon as Hao Ren finished speaking, a ray of light suddenly appeared in the cave, and an amorphous shadow jumped in the light, a soft voice coming from the shadow.

Hao Ren was startled by the sudden appearance of the light and shadow. He felt that every moment after contacting Yggdrasil, he was refreshing his impression of the "eldest son": "You… you can actually appear in this image? Your soul can run out?"

"Is it difficult?" The light jumped, wandering around the cave, its voice coming from all directions. "When Mother designed us, she allowed us to communicate with all living beings in the world, but not every creature can enter dreams, so communication in dreams is limited. We should also have an image that can act in the real world."

Vivian crossed her arms, nodding as she said, "Interesting… you guys are so good, you all remember what you were born to do, but I don't remember why my mom created me."

"Ahem, let's talk about this later," Hao Ren quickly coughed twice to bring the topic back, "Yggdrasil, are you… are you really healed now? Has the corruption been cleaned up?"

As he spoke, he looked at the dark brain core. The severely diseased organ did not return to the appearance of a healthy brain core as expected after the "Purification Stab". It was still dark, but it seemed a little more energetic now. The originally shriveled and withered skin now had vitality, and the entire brain core was beating slightly.

"I can feel it, it has left my body," Yggdrasil said, "It has completely disappeared, completely dispersed by an external force—I believe your treatment method worked. But those of my diseased organs are probably unable to return to their original state. Although some places can be reborn, the part connected to the brain core is impossible. Ah, it doesn't matter much, I can feel them working normally, although they may look a little strange, but I have completely recovered."

Everyone was relieved, and Hao Ren nodded repeatedly, "That's good, that's good…"

"But I still have a small request," Yggdrasil suddenly said, "It's just a matter of lifting a finger for you."

Hao Ren was curious: "What request?"

"…When can you put my brain back in? It's a little chilly out here."

Everyone: "…"

Nangong Wuyue glanced at the two brain cores still placed outside, and immediately felt that this topic was too damn heavy!

Hao Ren quickly directed the autonomous machines to stuff Yggdrasil's two brain cores back into the tissue cavity. After they were all stuffed in, he used a welding torch to sew up the cut connective tissue. Finally, Nangong Wuyue crawled around the huge organ in the center of the cave for several laps, throwing healing spells until she spat out her tongue, and then she restored all the injuries.

There was no way, Hao Ren had used too much of the special tranquilizer before. Half a ton of god-level potion suppressed even the eldest son's recovery ability. Yggdrasil couldn't heal his surgical wounds, and he was still numb!

After tossing back and forth for another half an hour, everything finally calmed down.

Yggdrasil was still quite weak—in fact, he was so weak that he could hardly perceive where his entire body was. Those tentacles located in Asgard and Vanaheim seemed as distant as if they had disappeared. The accumulated injuries from thousands of years of continuous weakening were very deep. This "World Tree" didn't know how long it would take to fully recover.

But in any case, the source of pollution that caused the weakening had been completely removed. Yggdrasil's condition would not worsen any further, and this eldest son had been confirmed to be rational and able to communicate. Hao Ren felt that everything was going smoothly beyond belief.

"I have been confused, and I don't know many things," Yggdrasil was quite surprised after hearing that he had run half a galaxy in the universe, because he had no impression of it at all, "Most of my energy is focused on dealing with 'corruption', and the guy I created… most of his energy is focused on helping me suppress corruption. We can only vaguely feel what is happening outside."

"Do you know Twilight Capital?"

After confirming that the "treatment" here had been completed, Hao Ren finally raised this urgent issue.

He wanted to investigate Mimir's ship, he wanted to ask about the Godslaying War, he was interested in Yggdrasil's "Rune Body" and the "Great Amnesty" mission mentioned by the other party, but before that, he must first ensure the safety of Twilight Capital: Odin was still waiting on that iron chair.

"Ah, Twilight Capital…" Yggdrasil really knew that place, "The miracle of life, it's amazing that creatures can survive in that environment. To be honest, I have to thank that city. Without it, I wouldn't have lasted this long."

Hao Ren was stunned: "How do you say that?"

"Mother created me and asked me to take care of all living beings in the world. This is my mission," Yggdrasil's voice was calm and steady, completely different from the mania in the Dark Sea, "And that city is one of the reasons that supported me. Although I can only vaguely 'see' it, I know that there is such a sanctuary still existing, and there is such a group of creatures still struggling to survive. I feel that I can't give up yet, because once I am completely corrupted, this last bit of life will be cut off. Sometimes when I can't hold on, I dream. In my dreams, I can slightly hear the creatures in Twilight Capital talking. I can also hear a person named Odin thinking. He seems to be trapped in a chair, persisting like me to protect something. I think since he can persist, I should be able to—so I persisted for so many years, otherwise I should have completely fallen long ago."

Nangong Sanba was very surprised after hearing this: "You didn't know that the Asgardian ecosystem was still alive?!"

Yggdrasil's voice had a hint of helplessness: "Before that melee called 'Ragnarok', my lesions had already worsened to the distal limbs. I couldn't feel the existence of Asgard at all. If you hadn't told me, I would have thought Asgard and Vanaheim had been blown up."