Chapter 684 Who Would Bless Emptiness? (W-Word Big Chapter, End of This Volume)

The mobile cities around the Montasini Mountains had all departed.

Even with another Blazing Spirit powerhouse blocking, the aftermath of the battle between the two could still affect an extremely wide area.

Under Yilowitz's protection, the Imperial Capital, Saint Montasini Fortress, was undamaged, but the surrounding land was overturned and melted, making it almost impossible to travel.

If the knight hadn't directly lifted the city, flying it over the worst terrain, the Imperial Capital would have starved and thirsted to death due to a lack of resources.

In other words, aside from the death of a Sun Emperor, the Asmodei Empire hadn't actually lost anything, especially since the major army groups guarding the frontier were still elite. Theoretically, their combat power still far surpassed that of other forces on the continent.

However, during the seven days and nights of Su Zhou and the Sun Emperor's battle, when the Order of Radiant Light launched an attack on the Empire's northern border, they encountered no resistance at all.

Lacking instructions from the Emperor and the top echelons, and witnessing Professor Svetlye's terrifying, almost divine, strength, the Imperial army had long lost the will to fight, falling into immense chaos… The Order of Radiant Light simply used a group of new recruits to control the warships of the former Third Army Corps, scaring them so much that they abandoned their armor and surrendered.

In an instant, the Empire was thrown into great chaos, with internal strife erupting within many army groups, and various troublemakers and bandits who had been hiding reappearing.

The Asmodei Empire was on the verge of collapse, merely from the loss of an Emperor.

However, this wasn't surprising, as the Sun Emperor had no sons to appoint as heir. His rule was entirely based on the high pressure brought about by his personal strength. His existence was the source of stability and order—though this stability and order were built on the inhuman oppression and discrimination of a portion of the population.

However, these were temporary issues, as Yilowitz came forward to stabilize the situation within the Empire.

Although he wasn't a nobleman, nor a military leader, he was the First Knight, and a Blazing Spirit powerhouse. Everyone in the world knew that he was the pillar of the Empire.

When Yilowitz stood at the forefront, the Empire's tendency toward division was healed, and many factions that were already closer to him formed a small central hub centered around him.

Fantastic? No, this was the reality. The common people supported Yilowitz because he was the only powerhouse in nearly a hundred years who wasn't a nobleman or high official, but cared about the common people and was approachable. He was friends with the Emperor and could influence that iron-blooded, cold Emperor to make good decisions. In storybooks, he was also the likable character of the 'helpless good person'. There were often stories circulating among the people of him acting chivalrously, and some of them weren't even fictional.

And the nobles supported Yilowitz because they understood that if the Empire didn't have such a powerhouse to support it, their rule would be greatly reduced. Not to mention the Order of Radiant Light eyeing them from afar, even internal conflicts would tear them apart.

And after realizing that he possessed enough influence to support the entire Empire, Yilowitz's heart was filled with bitterness.

He once had the ability and opportunity to make changes, but in the end, he didn't choose to use that power.

With great power comes great responsibility, and great power also comes with great rights.

Having the ability but not influencing the world might allow one to retire peacefully, or it might lead to regret.

Who knew the consequences? But at least Yilowitz already knew the taste of bitterness.

The Northern Territory army was collapsing under the offensive led by the Order of Radiant Light, Yanshuang, and the Northern tribes, while the Southern Territory had been completely annihilated by the Blood God Tree, leaving only some villages in the desert at a loss.

And the Heavenly Dragon nobles in the East were too far from the center of the conflict, and they had already softened toward the Order of Radiant Light, so they were still relatively stable.

Including the western mountains, most of which were still in the wilderness, as well as the two great Sunlight Orders, the continent of Aean was now calmer than ever, without any waves.

This was Su Zhou's goal.

The Sun Emperor intended to provoke war because he needed war to bring about death and slaughter, providing countless souls for him to devour—when the Blazing Spirit Torch was fighting Su Zhou, its filling level hadn't even exceeded 5%, with the highest output being 4.67%. Merely using the souls of the demonized to maintain daily operations was indeed enough, but to achieve his goals, he needed the souls of more Transcendents.

The Sun Emperor probably had a plan to transform all the humans on the continent into demonized beings, then collect them and burn them.

After realizing this during the post-war inspection, Su Zhou was shocked not only by the high efficacy of the Blazing Spirit Torch—5% was enough to fight him evenly—but also 100% certain that the design of this strange object could not have been casually researched by the natives of the Aean world.

Behind the Blazing Spirit Torch, there was definitely the influence and inheritance, or at least the inspiration, of a great being from outside the world.

Su Zhou could fully imagine that the fully charged Blazing Spirit Torch bursting with full power, coupled with the Tower of Babel and the Sun Emperor's own strength, would be enough to burn the entire Holy Sun and even the land, turning it into his fuel. The Sun Emperor could also use it to achieve a level above Blazing Spirit. It wouldn't be difficult to travel to distant places or create a new world. He could do whatever he wanted.

The strength of a Grand Heavenly Venerate level, with the authority of a God Tree, could accomplish these things.

And now that the Sun Emperor had been eliminated, the major forces on the continent had no reason to fight each other. Su Zhou didn't intend to teach them how to deal with the end of the world, but instead let them push forward with their plans as quickly as possible—the kind of nature in the Southern Territory that devoured the lives and flesh of others wouldn't work, but the Southern Territory had already been destroyed.

"I have done all that I should."

After returning to the Radiant Light Spire, Su Zhou spoke frankly to his students and friends in this world, his followers: "Although the Flame-Kindling God Tree is still in its infancy, it is enough to protect the world through the most difficult times. And I have also left behind a legacy. The Northern Legacy Hall ensures that I will always be with you."

"…So, Professor, you are…"

Gasha, who was usually taciturn, couldn't help but speak: "Are you going to leave us?"

Although it sounded sudden, everyone who was relatively familiar with Su Zhou had this feeling.

In fact, Gasha and Loya, the two students who understood 'Svetlye' from the very beginning, had long vaguely guessed that their initial professor and dean had died on that winter night of the Ioanian Mountains calamity.

The one who came back to life was a 'god' who acted with 'justice'.

They guessed a large part correctly, but there was no need to make it clear.

From the beginning, Su Zhou had never concealed the fact that 'he' would eventually leave.

He came here for the Twilight, and after confirming the state of the Aean world, he added another goal: 'To allow the civilization of this world to continue and become better'.

Although the world wasn't so fairy-tale, and killing a Sun Emperor didn't remove all obstacles, there were still many discriminations, malice, and even the 'curse' of nature itself in the world, but the greatest threat had indeed been eliminated.

Su Zhou believed that the people of the Aean world could overcome these difficulties without the obstruction of monsters.

So he could indeed leave.

"Don't worry, Gasha."

Extending his hand and patting the other party's shoulder, instead of ruffling his head, Su Zhou, who regarded the dragonborn teenager as a true adult, said with a smile: "What is leaving is merely my will, but I have never said that I cannot return."

He raised his head, looking at the middle-aged man in the top floor of the spire. Su Zhou looked around at Loya, Dawn, Flint, as well as Funia Cicero and others. He nodded slightly: "Even if I leave for a time, there are still infinite possibilities in the future."

Su Zhou raised his hand, unfolding his palm. In his palm, a phantom egg-shaped light was changing.

This seemingly flawless egg with cracks and gaps contained infinite possibilities. The man showed this phantom, and chuckled: "I have already engraved my Dao into the source energy of this world. It will be with the Flame-Kindling God Tree and will be with this world, illuminating all directions with light."

"I am saying this to you now, and also to this world."

"Once order is subverted, and chaos breeds and spreads—my disciples and friends, once the sentient beings of Aean forget what 'innovation' is and what 'Radiant Light' is, I and my Dao will return again."

Su Zhou's words carried incomparable firmness and conviction. The Legacy Hall in the north was the material manifestation of this Dao. No one would question his will and truth.

In the man's palm, the phantom of the egg shattered. It transformed into dragons and snakes, warships, God Trees, flying birds, and everything else in the world, anything humans could imagine.

The Zhuzhou wasn't any particular race, but rather the personification of a better self in people's imaginations.

Igniting one's own light, illuminating one's own night, and leading to a better future, that was the true meaning of the Radiant Light Zhuzhou.

Concealing the phantom of the Zhuzhou in his hand, Su Zhou turned around.

"As long as there are still people calling, still people expecting, as long as there are still people hoping for a better future… I will be born again and again, and descend again and again."

"I am the miracle of the innocent and weak, and I bestow blessings upon them."

He lifted his foot, left the Radiant Light Spire, and flew into the sky under everyone's gaze.

And he never returned.

Su Zhou didn't really leave the Aean world.

Although the Sun Emperor had been dealt with, there was still one major problem in the Aean world—the Twilight Dragon, the embodiment of the First Flame-Kindling God Tree's longing, was one of the most fundamental sources of suffering in this world.

The gods of the past couldn't eliminate the Twilight Dragon, so they could only imprison it in the Sealed Moon. Even so, the Northern tribes could still contact it and obtain power from it.

This time, Su Zhou was going to the Sealed Moon.

If he could reinforce the seal, he would reinforce the seal. If he could completely solve this problem, he would completely solve it.

What the gods of Aean couldn't do, he might be able to do.

However, at the last moment before setting off for the top of the sky, Su Zhou chose to stop in the sky and look down at how the Order of Radiant Light continued to push forward with their plans without his presence.

There were few mobile cities in the Aean continent, or rather, they rarely cooperated for long periods of time. Most of them had their own unique movement patterns, forming their different cultures and the customs of their residents. But in the face of the impending doomsday, with the Holy Sun determined to extinguish, one mobile city after another gathered together under the coordination of the Order of Radiant Light and Yilowitz.

The heavy snow of winter fell, and didn't melt for months. Compared to decades ago, the average temperature of the entire Aean world had dropped by more than three degrees. If this were on Earth, it would be enough to say that an ice age had arrived. Tiny snow crystals floated in the dim sunlight, moving with the icy cold wind on the streets, and with the movement of the crowds, attaching to the thick clothes, and slowly melting only after entering the room.

But that was all. The cold hadn't reached the point where one's breath turned into ice, and the extreme cold of eighty degrees below zero in the Northern Territory hadn't reappeared.

In every corner of the world, bright crystal giant trees were slowly growing, sprouting branches, becoming 'light' enough to illuminate an area.

Many mobile cities formed a circle. At the center of the circle was a new Flame-Kindling God Tree branch. Using this method, the Flame-Kindling God Tree spread throughout the continent in just one month, bringing light and warmth to more than ninety percent of the residents.

And the remaining ten percent were mostly tribal people living in the mountains and islands. Now many fleets of the Order of Radiant Light had been dispatched to transfer these people to various mobile cities. The rescue operation was in full swing.

In the past, Su Zhou used only one day to install a planetary propulsion engine on Fire Dusk Moon. And now, with Su Zhou's secret help, it was obviously reasonable for the Flame-Kindling God Tree to cover all the major cities of the Aean world with God Tree brand protection shields and sun lamps in just over a month.

This was the future that Su Zhou wanted to bring to the Aean world.

A new era called the 'Era of Starlight'.

The Holy Sun was destined to be extinguished. Su Zhou wasn't a Grand Heavenly Venerate, so he naturally couldn't rekindle the sun.

But he could light starlight on the ground, illuminating the kingdoms and cities, allowing civilization to continue in the darkness of the extinguished sun, like the stars in the dark sky.

And when the fully matured Flame-Kindling God Tree absorbed the surplus source energy between heaven and earth to grow and strengthen hundreds of years later, and countless starlight eventually converged, becoming raging flames again, becoming a real sun, the Era of Starlight would end.

And a new, normal era, and a sun that would never extinguish, would be born in the Aean world, which had suffered nearly ten thousand years of hardship.

Watching all of this, Su Zhou nodded slightly.

Then he turned his head and flew towards the Sealed Moon.

The white-haired man flew towards the dark sky. His vision began to stretch continuously. Even the Aean continent, which was wider than Earth, became clear at the edges. A wailing wind came from the thin atmosphere, which was completely different from the surface.

The light of the Magic Moon released scarlet radiance, nurturing a strange charm. The soul of the God Tree was already dead, and there was no intelligence within it. In essence, it was just a mass of 'unowned spiritual essence' condensed to the extreme. Its existence itself could incite the source energy between heaven and earth to become restless, creating many demonization diseases.

And the stars shone, that was the radiance brought by the many worlds in the Twilight World Group. In this world with a round sky and a square earth, each star represented a world at the far end of the void. Following the guidance of the starlight, void travelers could travel through worlds and reach the distant shore.

And in this light, Su Zhou saw the Sealed Moon.

Unlike the shining Magic Moon and Heart Light, the Sealed Moon was dim and lightless. If it weren't for the fact that it was actually a physical entity, forged from a part of the Aean continent, and it reflected some light, then this dead star would be difficult to spot in the dark sky.

At a rough glance, Su Zhou could see that the surface of the Sealed Moon was actually quite smooth. The reason it appeared dim and lightless was simply because the smooth surface was covered with dense, complex formations that were almost overlapping to the extreme. These formations not only didn't reflect light, but also absorbed light, drawing energy from the moon and stars as a source of power.

"…That is, divinity?"

After sensing for a while, Su Zhou couldn't help but raise his head, and he looked at the Sealed Moon from afar, his gaze solemn.

Just now, he had sensed an aura from the seal of the Sealed Moon that was similar to that of the four Elemental Gods of the Cycle World, but it was a bit more complex than that aura, and not pure enough.

But it was far stronger than those pure elements.

Pure doubts would have no result. Su Zhou shook his head, and then accelerated forward. There was no atmosphere in this high altitude, it was a vacuum. Su Zhou accelerated, advancing at three hundred times the speed of sound, generally closing the distance between himself and the Magic Moon.

Soon, he arrived at the orbit of this Sealed Moon, which was slightly smaller than the Earth's moon.

Here, he could appraise the structure of the entire Sealed Moon from a more detailed perspective.

This was a rocky celestial body with a diameter of about three thousand kilometers. Its surface was a vitreous enamel-like stone material that was almost completely smooth, and it flowed with complex rune arrays that hadn't been extinguished even once in an estimated eighty thousand years.

On the surface of this celestial body, the light formed by the flow of energy rose up, like flames swirling around it, and the phantom rune contracts formed the main body of each great formation, standing on every corner of the celestial body.

The sealing structure of the Sealed Moon was unexpectedly simple.

Su Zhou could see at a glance that in essence, this was a chain-set seal that used a part of the Aean world's continent as a base, and then constructed with the essence of the gods' own lives.

The power of each god was a part of the seal. If one couldn't simultaneously crack the power essence of all the gods, and simultaneously defeat their combined power, one would be sealed within it.

And half of the power of the sealed being breaking through the seal would be converted by the seal formation, partially absorbed, and partially dissipated.

In fact, this structure couldn't be considered simple, but for Su Zhou, this kind of Matryoshka doll-like chain seal was a bit too familiar.

"Looks like…"

He murmured: "Looks like, a bit like the Great Seal."

Under the vitreous shell of the Sealed Moon was a crystal-like energy crystal structure, the texture of which was very similar to the space solidified by the Great Seal in the Ice Condensing Void, completely restricting any action of the sealed object.

And the fact that the gods united with their own lives to seal the Twilight Dragon was vaguely similar to the Twilight Extermination War.

Of course, it was actually different.

The Twilight Dragon was sealed unilaterally, with the gods working together.

And in the Great Seal, the Twilight was only a part of the seal, and the Great Beings were entangled with each other.

"But the structure does have some similarities…"

The Snake Spirit reappeared, and He and Su Zhou looked at the Sealed Moon together, their gazes solemn: "Perhaps, at that time, the planning had already begun?"

"Those guys must not have been very strong at that time, but they wasted their influence in this kind of place, influencing them to construct this kind of seal to seal the Twilight… But, perhaps they were also taking advantage of this kind of thing to simulate part of the ring structure of the Great Seal…"

The Snake Spirit's guess was indeed possible. Su Zhou also felt that the entire Aean world, and even all the original world fragments of the Twilight, would have a certain influence from the Great Beings.

But more importantly, Su Zhou realized the source of the Sealed Moon's power.

"This is actually a seal based on bloodline affinity?!"

After realizing this, even Su Zhou couldn't help but be shocked: "'Power of Existence'—the gods set the source of the seal's power on their descendants and created races!"

"As long as the bloodlines they created still exist in the Aean world, then this seal will last forever!"

This type of seal wasn't uncommon, and could even be said to be very common. Many sealing families appeared in this way, and it was also the most common and stable seal in the general sense.

As long as the family being entrusted wasn't destroyed, the seal would be almost indestructible, and Su Zhou wouldn't be able to destroy this seal without exterminating the sentient beings of the Aean world.

However, the powerful source of the gods' seal was that all the different gods were respectively embedded, providing extremely great, all-around resistance to the seal.

As long as one of the gods' created bloodlines disappeared, or was exterminated, then the power that the god could provide would disappear, and the seal would naturally collapse in a chain reaction.

And in the current Aean world, were there really all the races that remained from the time of creation?

Not to mention anything else, just talking about fairies, if it weren't for the fact that there was still a Dawn, fairies would basically have been exterminated from the Aean continent, right?

Thinking like this, Su Zhou, who was frowning and racking his brains, suddenly widened his eyes.

He suddenly thought of a fact, a fact that he had paid attention to at the beginning, and then never thought about again.

"The races on the Aean continent…"

The man murmured to himself, his eyes showing surprise and realization: "They are all mixed-bloods!"

He turned around, lowered his head, and looked down at the entire Aean continent from the moon.

On the dark continent, starlight was scattered everywhere, illuminating every mobile city cluster, warming this world that was about to fall into the dark Era of Starlight.

And in this world, the 'Myriad Races' still existed, with no one missing.

Su Zhou gazed at all of this with considerable emotion. He vaguely understood another kind of immortality from it… In the Aean world, he could see Winged People, Dwarves, Elves, Demons, Fairies, and everything he knew, and even the lives he didn't know.

The power of the God Tree was in their bloodlines and souls, in the endless source energy. The wills of the gods coexisted with them. Even if they had forgotten, the fact hadn't changed—the sentient beings of Aean now, in the future, and forever, were children of the God Tree, descendants of the gods.

Mixed-blood of all races might be a nightmare for some pure bloodline theorists, but who could define the meaning of mixed-blood?

A child was a mixed-blood of his parents, born of love. When the child's eyes were like his father's, the horns were like his mother's, the teeth were like his father's, and the hair was like his mother's, how could this be explained by mixed-blood?

The existence of life, and the continuation of bloodlines… All of this in itself was the meaning.

Even if it was unbearable, even if it was fear, even if one had fallen into a trap where everything was meaningless for survival…

When facing their descendants, the gods finally mastered another kind of correctness without being taught.

Being complemented by 'existence', not supporting each other, wouldn't be considered complete correctness.

"'Continuation and inheritance'… Did they finally understand?"

Murmuring softly, Su Zhou shook his head slightly: "Unfortunately, it's too late. It's indeed a bit difficult for eternal gods to understand this, but if they could have understood earlier, you wouldn't have killed the creator out of fear."

"The myriad sentient beings of Aean wouldn't have fallen to such a state, and suffered eighty thousand years of destruction and disaster."

The God Tree's actions to have the gods return their power might not have killed them, but they would have been afraid.

Yes, they could not be afraid, and could quietly wait for the ending, but if life was only like this, only waiting, instead of trying to make choices, even if it was a wrong choice… then it wouldn't be life.

Su Zhou silently and slowly descended, and he came to the surface of the Sealed Moon.

Then, the man bent down, he extended his hand, and touched the seal.

Trying to communicate with the 'Twilight Dragon' inside the seal.

The seal was very stable, and wouldn't break. The reason why the Northern tribes could communicate with the Twilight Dragon was mainly due to the influence of the direct bloodline of God Tree - Gods - Descendants of the Gods. And the Aean races outside the Northern tribes were mostly created beings, not directly conceived descendants.

Although there was also karma, this karma was obviously more direct.

However, Su Zhou still wanted to completely and thoroughly solve this great hidden danger of the Aean world—after all, the future growth of the new Flame-Kindling God Tree would inevitably involve the thoughts of this old God Tree, right?

So, he tried to communicate.

At the moment of extending his hand, accompanied by the surging of spiritual power that was unique to Su Zhou, different from the spiritual energy of the Aean world, he surged out and penetrated the inside of the moon along the veins of the seal, directly touching the Twilight Dragon that was located at the very center of the entire seal, and sealed by countless gods' lives.

A twisted phantom, a dim yellow light.

After that, Su Zhou saw the reflection of the entire Aean world.

And a thought that was extremely faint, but still watched over and gazed at the entire world.

At the very center of this seal, a long sigh came.

【Have you come, visitor from outside the world.】

This voice was ice-cold and biting, like a cold wind that had risen from an absolutely dark area without any light, and was still swept by jet-black ice dust, further intensifying the biting cold of Aean's high sky.

The instant he heard this voice, Su Zhou couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly, because this voice obviously had its own will, and was resolutely different from the 'unconscious' natural disaster that he had imagined, and that the previous generations of civilization and gods had said.

【You have brought new life to this world, and you have found me… Outsider, do you want to completely destroy me, or bring new life to me as well?】

This ice-cold sigh was gentle in tone, but its existence itself, even the aftershocks of the voice, made people unable to stop the deathly silence in their hearts, as if they were about to fall into silence.

Su Zhou shook his head, he broke free from this feeling, and then solemnly replied: "I originally thought of completely destroying you… But if you aren't an 'unconscious' natural disaster or a 'monster', then I can make an oath to help you gain new life with all my strength."

Twilight's眷属, must be killed? (眷属 is hard to translate here, so I'm just leaving it as pinyin)

There was no such principle.

As long as they could communicate, as long as they weren't as incomprehensible as the Cult of Emptiness, and single-mindedly wanted to oppose intelligent life and civilization, then Su Zhou wouldn't mind helping the other party change their method of existence.

After all, Su Zhou liked a sentence that Perfect had once said very much: If even the Twilight can't be saved, then how can it be considered perfect?

If even the Twilight can't be innovated, then how can innovation be said to be correct?

It was just a pity that the Twilight Dragon, who was imprisoned in the seal, didn't have this kind of thought.

Su Zhou could only hear a indifferent voice.

【Innovation… So what?】

This voice wasn't sarcasm, it was just a simple question. This former will of the God Tree, now the remnant thoughts of the Twilight, whispered to itself: 【Innovation is meaningless to those things that have already been lost, to the past that has already passed away.】

【In the end, for me, everything in Aean is meaningless… Even destruction is like this. When those children sealed me with their lives, I didn't even want to unleash destruction and natural disasters, and I regained my senses.】

This voice, the Twilight Dragon, the thoughts of the God Tree, laughed almost self-deprecatingly: 【They can't repay the sins of killing me, those rebellious children are already dead, everything is already in the past, everything is already meaningless.】

【It's no longer possible to return to the past, it's no longer possible to return to the past time… Those who have left can't return, and those who have experienced can't be erased.】

Su Zhou could sense that the Twilight Dragon's thoughts were real and complete.

That was exactly what He truly thought, without the slightest bit of concealment.

In response to this, even the Dragon of Myriad Ages Innovation could only remain silent.

Innovation was, after all, something that faced the future.

Once time had passed, then it couldn't be undone. After betrayal, the happy days of the past could no longer return.

Just like now, even if the God Tree didn't mind, and could forgive, could the gods forget?

They couldn't go back, they could never go back to the past. That's why the Twilight Dragon lamented, and that's why He, who had lost everything, felt that the current time was emptiness.

Not only that.

Su Zhou closed his eyes, and recalled the words that Lord of Silence had once said.

——From the perspective of a powerhouse who transcends time, this is also the same.

Even if a powerhouse who could reverse time twisted time and restored everything in the Aean world to its original state.

But what was the meaning of repeated, long, long time?

Rather, if time could be traveled through at will, and history could be changed at will, then for those who could travel through time, wouldn't those who couldn't travel through time, and couldn't flow through time, also be the ultimate emptiness?

The object of revenge had already perished, and what existed in the Aean world were just some ordinary races who didn't know the truth, and didn't know why this was so.

The Twilight Dragon, in the final analysis, was the thought of the God Tree, so how could He take his anger out on them?

It was just that if there were races who suffered, and wanted to destroy everything, then He, who was prayed to and begged, wouldn't mind lending his power.

Su Zhou could understand the other party, and couldn't refute the other party's words.

However, Su Zhou always looked to the future.

"What you said is all correct."

He said softly: "I can't force you to build a bond with the humans of the current Aean world—you have already thrown yourself into the embrace of the Twilight, and I won't interfere or force you with the correctness you have chosen."

"However, Twilight Dragon, or rather, Flame-Kindling God Tree."

"Even meaningless things, I will do."

The driving force to move forward even in the face of emptiness, and the heart to persevere even in the face of a non-existent ending, were the foundation of correctness.

Su Zhou firmly believed in such a principle.

"If you have anger and curses, then bestow them upon me, I will bear all of this—and in exchange, I will bless you, and the future of the Aean world."

He said as such, without thinking.

Silence.

Silence descended on the Sealed Moon, leaving only the faint light of the divine runes flickering on the surface of this celestial body.

【What… Arrogant. Outsider, who do you think you are, and why can you represent sentient beings to bear my malice?】

"Who am I?"

And Su Zhou replied with a smile: "What do you think I am? Is it this living body? Or is it the foreign soul that wanders in this body and above the land?"

"No, Twilight Dragon, I am thought, I am faith, and I am inheritance."

He said calmly, without a trace of arrogance, but only stating the facts that had already occurred: "I am the immortal and indestructible immortal god, the Zhuzhou who protects the world—I am of course qualified to represent the sentient beings I have already protected, and bear your malice."

【Haha, an interesting fellow.】

Until the end, the Twilight Dragon could only whisper to himself in this way, his tone with a trace of imperceptible emotion: 【What is the meaning of anger and curses? I have already perished, what remains is only longing.】

【You also know that longing is only longing, it's neither a soul nor a true spirit, let alone a life. I'm just a phenomenon that exists because of strength. How can a phenomenon curse an existing person?】

【It's just… as expected.】

He was silent for a while, and then laughed: 【Since that's the case, then you bless me.】

【Zhuzhou who claims to be the innovation, bless emptiness.】

【Compared to hating emptiness, cursing emptiness, being angry at emptiness, and despairing at emptiness, as expected, 'blessing' emptiness is even more meaninglessly poignant.】

And Su Zhou wasn't angry at all because of these slightly sarcastic words.

The man closed his eyes, and the hand that was tightly attached to the Sealed Moon was even more neatly closed, his expression solemn and reverent.

He whispered: "I wish, I wish the sentient beings of the Aean world, I wish them the ability to choose their own path forward, I wish them the ability to be firm in their wishes. I wish this world that everyone will walk on their own path, walking forward with hope and longing, following the light in their hearts."

"Emptiness, I bless your existence. Because of you, all things in the world will seek courage from meaningless emptiness. Even if they go through hardships, they will not change."

"I wish you long life. Because you are an unchangeable correctness, a dilemma filled with curses and blessings. Facing you, all things will gain faith from outside of their own existence. Even death can't wear it away."

"I wish, and make an oath—myriad beings, as long as there is still the light of Zhuzhou in the world, then the dimness of the Twilight will never descend."

The man opened his eyes, in the solemn eyes that looked at the Sealed Moon, there was also a trace of soft light,

Su Zhou blessed all sentient beings—all existence was the same, whether wrong or correct.

Just like the Great Beings, tolerant and incomprehensible, loving all things in an indescribable way.

His voice of blessing echoed on the Sealed Moon, causing the divine runes left by the gods to tremble.

At first, the Twilight Dragon was still silent—silent because of shock.

He had thought that it was a taunt, an incomprehensible request. Even if this visitor could do it, it was impossible for it to be sincere—who would bless emptiness? Just like who would deny beauty.

But Su Zhou's intention to bless was so sincere. He didn't lie, nor did he bother to hide it. This man was just saying what he wanted to say in his heart, without even adding rhetoric.

But soon, He understood, and understood the true meaning of this blessing.

【Haha… Hahahaha!】

So, the thoughts that remained of the God Tree, the Twilight Dragon, laughed loudly. He laughed wantonly, as if even tears could be brought out: 【You actually, you actually are willing to admit all of this… Yes, I should have understood long ago, how could an arrogant 'hero' like you easily deny emptiness?】

【What a long time… After my own demise, who else would bless me? Who else would truly embrace me? Apart from that Great One… This is the first time… I have heard it, such a sincere blessing…】

What was a hero? Recognizing the true meaning of life, the essence of existence, and the truth of emptiness, and still sticking to one's own correctness, and loving 'life', that was a hero.

Su Zhou was such a person. He blessed all of this, understood and knew the correctness of emptiness, but still adhered to his own faith.

And the God Tree…

The God Tree that created all things, loved all things equally.

But would all sentient beings love the God Tree with equal love?

Reverence was always the furthest distance. And who would bless the happiness of their creator?

At this moment, above the continent of the Aean world, the light of the God Tree blotted out the sky, and all the newly born Flame-Kindling God Trees began to shine brightly, because an unusual force was rising from the depths of the earth, emerging from those ancient roots that formed the foundation of the world, and passing on to them.

Even in the void, it could be clearly seen that within the Twilight World Group, a ray of light had lit up.

Not the Twilight, not the World Tree, but the light of Zhuzhou.

The laughter gradually stopped.

The Twilight Dragon's voice gradually lowered.

【I'm tired.】He said as such: 【Thank you, Zhuzhou of Radiant Light, I want to sleep.】

【Perhaps it's ten thousand years, perhaps it's one hundred thousand years, perhaps it's one million years, and even forever and ever—or the day when those children discover me and unseal me.】

【But now, I want to sleep.】

"Have a