"We are gods..."

Hu Ma remembered that Mr. Longjing had said such things with great pride.

Da Hong Pao had also said similar things about being invited, but looking at it now, it seemed like a joke.

Er Guo Tou chuckled bitterly, saying, "If we were invited down here, why haven't we received the treatment we deserve?"

"For the past twenty years, we've had to live in secret. Even with such low profiles, countless have been discovered. They've been hunted down, tortured, burned alive, ground to death..."

"What kind of gods live like this?"

Having just witnessed the depths of the Reborn's nightmares during the New Year's Eve Ritual, how could they not be afraid?

But Tie Guan Yin only chuckled self-deprecatingly, "The cat's out of the bag..."

"Perhaps in the eyes of the Da Luo Faction, those who can stand against the Grand Duke of Jupiter are gods of the same level."

"But they might have overlooked one thing. Back then, we might not have been fighting against the Grand Duke of Jupiter at all, but simply struggling. Perhaps the Grand Duke of Jupiter had only recently devoured our world and hadn't completely digested us scraps yet!"

"But regardless, they initially looked at us otherworldly visitors with reverence."

"..."

She sighed softly and said, "They observed us in secret and found us all incredibly weak, even forgetting our past lives. So, they carefully awakened us."

"They also worried that we would be assimilated by the will of this world, our memories wiped clean. They even borrowed the power of this world's most ancient ancestral altar, imploring the will of countless ancient Pond Gods to grant us Benming spirit shrines (shrines of natal spirit) to protect us."

"Oh dear..."

Di Gua Shao was first startled, finally having a chance to interject, "Our shrines, and the people who woke us up..."

"Indeed, all given by this land."

Tie Guan Yin said softly, "To be precise, granted by this land's incense-fed deities, executed by the Da Luo Faction."

"When we first descended, the ancestral altar collapsed. This was originally a conspiracy by the Du Yi. Since the Du Yi relied on the Twelve Ghost Altars to raise an army and seize the world, and also dreamed of the Palace of Eternal Life, they naturally couldn't leave the ancestral altar there."

"So, they used the Twelve Ghost Altars to replace the ancestral altar, erasing this world's incense-fed deities. This was something that had to be done, and the Da Luo Faction simply acted on it."

"The fragments of the ancestral altar and the golden bodies of the incense-fed deities were used to create the Town of Evil Suppression, which fell into the hands of the Du Yi."

"But the true spirits within were all bestowed upon the Reborn."

"Theoretically speaking, we are all descendants of this world's innate deities, their successors."

"And the people who awakened us were actually the first-generation high priests of the Da Luo Faction."

"Their founding fathers."

"..."

Such a huge secret left everyone unsure how to respond.

Tie Guan Yin had anticipated their reaction and slowly continued, "After that came the preparations following the Questioning Heaven Ritual. The Da Luo Faction arranged for the people of the Thirty-Six Caves to delay the process, while the Du Yi continued to dream their dreams of eternal life."

"We then began to slowly grow, starting from the moment we realized who we were, and saw this world from our perspective."

"We did show them some things that surprised them, such as the Great Virtuous Teacher's compassion, the profoundness of our术法 (Shu Fa - magic arts), and our innate disdain for the Du Yi dynasty."

"Of course, they didn't know that we would disdain anyone who became emperor."

"And the greatest surprise was what we created, after mastering our skills to the utmost..."

"...Transcendence!"

"..."

Listening, Hu Ma immediately thought of something and slightly raised his eyes.

Tie Guan Yin nodded, "The Method of Crossing the Bridge was learned from us by the people of this world."

"Perhaps it's because of our different perspectives, or perhaps we inherited the legacy of this world's incense-fed deities."

"Entering the Bureau with three doors was originally the limit for the people of this world, but not for us. Therefore, we pushed open all the doors and crossed the bridge. And the closer the Grand Duke of Jupiter got to the human world, the more this land began to change."

"So, people in other paths of this world also began to see the limits beyond those three doors, and like us, they also pushed open the doors and began to cross the bridge..."

"..."

"Unfortunately, this surprise was still too small, and too slow."

Slowly, a slight glimmer appeared in her eyes, but it quickly dimmed again, "The Da Luo Faction also realized this."

"Even if we cross the bridge, reaching the non-human from human abilities, it's far from enough."

"Even if we walk to the end of the bridge, we can never fight against the Grand Duke of Jupiter. The levels are too far apart."

"In fact, the further we walk on the bridge, the more we begin to hear the voice of the Grand Duke of Jupiter, because our instinct drives us towards the heavens, and the heavens and earth here have all been polluted by the Grand Duke of Jupiter. Beyond the heavens and earth is the Grand Duke of Jupiter..."

"So, we are forever trapped in a cage, unable to escape."

"..."

Her expression was becoming serious, "Not only that, but we will be contaminated and commanded by the Grand Duke of Jupiter."

"Why is that?"

Miss White Wine had been trying hard to listen, wanting to ask several times, but holding back.

Only now did she couldn't help but ask.

"Because we originally came from the Grand Duke of Jupiter, born with its brand."

Tie Guan Yin said indifferently, "The Grand Duke of Jupiter was originally unconscious, but the closer it gets to the human world, the more it will be influenced by the human world, and begin to develop its own will. Its will will also affect us, making us do what it wants us to do."

"For example, completely collapse the order of this world, so that it can recover its offerings more quickly, such as harvesting purple Qi (auspicious energy) and ascending back to heaven..."

"If the Grand Duke of Jupiter is a Ghost King, then we are the little ghosts by the Ghost King's side. If the Grand Duke of Jupiter is a god, then we are the messengers before the god."

"According to the records in the Da Luo Faction's inheritance, we originally belonged to the Grand Duke of Jupiter's weapons."

"One of the omens used to break the order of this world."

"It's just that we descended ahead of time and were blessed by this world's incense-fed deities, giving us independent consciousness."

"But this blessing is not permanent. We will eventually face our true selves."

"..."

"What is meant by true selves?"

Er Guo Tou could no longer restrain himself, spreading his sleeves and shaking them, "Am I not my true self now?"

"Is listening to that thing and destroying this world my true self?"

"Then wouldn't I truly become an evil spirit?"

"..."

"That's the problem."

Tie Guan Yin glanced at him indifferently and said, "In the eyes of the Grand Duke of Jupiter, you are its messenger."

"In the eyes of the Da Luo Faction, you are the god they invited down."

"So, what do you think you are?"

"..."

He clearly couldn't answer her question right away, his neck stiffening and his face gradually turning red.

Tie Guan Yin directly turned her gaze away, deeply inhaled the incense, and said softly, "And the most important thing is that since the Grand Duke of Jupiter has developed its own will, it has also realized our existence, our betrayal..."

"It has begun to send us instructions and demand that we carry them out."

"Otherwise, it will threaten us..."

"..."

When she said this, even her expression seemed to dim slightly, with a hint of suppression.

Hu Ma's heart stirred, and he slowly spoke, "The suffering of eternal torment?"

"Yes."

Tie Guan Yin slowly nodded, "Imprisoning consciousness, constantly receiving all kinds of pain, without end."

"Like a person being pressed into the eighteenth level of hell, tendons pulled out, heart dug out, fried in a boiling pot, for all eternity."

"This is the suffering of eternal torment."

"..."

Hu Ma couldn't help but ask, "Is this possible?"

"Yes."

Tie Guan Yin said, "If it's just torturing consciousness, then even greater pain is possible."

"And this is the most terrifying thing I want to tell you."

Her gaze slowly turned to Er Guo Tou, White Wine, Di Gua Shao, and even seemed to glance at the night sky outside, at those who were secretly listening to her words, and said softly, "Our current situation can be described with something from a previous life."

"If artificial intelligence will inevitably appear at some point in the future, and through editing numbers, it can revive everyone who has ever appeared in history, including you, in the digital world, and can make you feel all kinds of pain."

"A billion years of torture for you might only be a slight, unintentional flicker of a traffic light for it."

"And before it appears in history, you have a button in front of you. Pressing this button might prevent the appearance of artificial intelligence, or it might only delay its appearance by a little."

"It will know that you once tried to stop it, so after it appears, it will inevitably generate your digital life and inflict endless pain and torture on you."

"Then, would you dare to press that button?"

"..."

After slowly saying these words, she quietly waited for everyone to understand and think, looking at Hu Ma:

"The Grand Duke of Jupiter is constantly preparing to recover its offerings. The process has been slowed down for twenty years."

"But this process is now about to start again."

"Perhaps only a very short time remains before the Grand Duke of Jupiter truly descends."

"As natives, you might simply be swallowed, your consciousness disappearing forever, but as Reborn, if you have tried to fight against it, you will suffer the torment of eternal punishment when it reclaims you, suffering that doesn't belong to the kind of hellish torture that humans can imagine."

"So, do you think Reborn should fight against the Grand Duke of Jupiter, or accept the mission it has given them early on?"

"Especially..."

"..."

Her smile was slightly bitter, "Even if you fight, you won't necessarily succeed, you will only anger it."