Chapter 1 The Death of the Sun Emperor

The Sun Emperor died the moment dawn shone upon the horizon.

Standing on the ruins of the Tower of Babel, Su Zhou obtained his evil soul, but he didn't devour it like he had done in the past with other 'monsters'.

The reason was simple.

Eating this monster's soul would be the same as incorporating a part of him into his body, allowing him to continue to exist in some way.

Although Su Zhou had eaten many evil souls of villains in the past, essentially turning parts of his former enemies into his own nourishment, allowing their supernatural powers to grow alongside his own—the National Teacher, the Silent One, someone whose name he forgot, Matvey, the White Whale, and Nan Zhengkai, among others, were examples.

But he was unwilling to do so, especially with the Sun Emperor.

However, aside from this slight fastidiousness, Su Zhou had other reasons.

Because he knew very well that even if he ate the Sun Emperor's evil soul, he wouldn't gain any benefits or supernatural powers.

All of Mihail Asmodeus's skills, except for some martial arts techniques, were inferior to his in every way. The only thing Su Zhou couldn't figure out was how he managed to build the Burning Spirit Torch and the Tower of Babel, but this must have been a closely guarded secret researched by the Asmodeus royal family for hundreds of years, unrelated to supernatural techniques, and purely a matter of engineering knowledge.

In this regard, Su Zhou had already been taken advantage of once, being killed by the other party by channeling the light of the Holy Sun. If he couldn't revive, he would have been truly finished.

But how could a Celestial Immortal be killed so easily?

Besides, whether it was the Twilight Factor on his body or the aura of a Great Existence, the density on the Sun Emperor's body was far inferior to anyone else Su Zhou had ever seen.

Whether it was the 'Twilight Dragon' soul enshrined by the Northern Frost Dusk Tribe, or Funiya, who came directly from the Pioneer Space and even sent out a 'beacon', the elemental information on their bodies was far more important than the Sun Emperor's.

Especially the Northern Tribe. This branch of direct descendants and devotees of the Twilight Dragon was directly brought under the governance of the Hope Society. Su Zhou had studied them so thoroughly that he had nearly deciphered all the information related to general Twilight families. Combined with the Twilight Dragon's own soul fragments, he had obtained a great deal of extremely valuable information.

"Through over-the-air updates, my physical body should also have a certain degree of self-protection when facing the Twilight Grand Fleet's pursuit."

Thinking of this, Su Zhou nodded slightly. This was, on the contrary, the greatest gain he had made since coming to the Twilight World. As for the others, it was just eliminating a few monsters because he happened to see injustice.

The last trace of the Sun Emperor that remained in Su Zhou's hand was a bit of authority from the Imperial Will.

Through the structure of this authority, Su Zhou vaguely sensed a strange discomfort.

The structure of the Imperial Will was completely different from that of a general collective will. Although it seemed on the surface to be an artificial collective subconscious of the people of the Empire, in reality, it was a one-sided plundering formation.

When the time was right, everyone in the entire Asmodeus Empire would become the Sun Emperor's food.

"Disgusting..."

"Interesting... Su Zhou, this structure is quite fascinating."

Su Zhou frowned, originally wanting to destroy this structure, but Yala stopped him.

The Snake Spirit's tone carried a hint of undisguised coldness: "The design of this collective will gives me a familiar feeling... Interesting, you might be able to rely on this structure to disguise yourself as a 'monster'... While the Sun Emperor relied on it to disguise himself as a normal person."

"The encounter between Twilight and the World Tree was not a coincidence after all."

Yala was being cryptic, a habit Su Zhou was already used to.

However, speaking of this, he found something very strange.

That was, the Sun Emperor clearly seemed to be the villain of this Twilight World Cluster, but he didn't have much of the Twilight aura.

And he touched on the power of other Great Existences, but never thought of spreading it, merely turning it to his own use.

"Simple, Su Zhou."

At this moment, Yala, who had been pondering and analyzing, reacted and spoke. His tone carried a sense of secluded clarity: "The soul of a monster is naturally different from the soul of a human."

"All power is for oneself, all brilliance blossoms only when one is alive. Death is nothingness, so everything dissipates into nothing."

"Twilight? How could Twilight be a monster? The light of a monster burning in utmost ego is precisely what the nothingness of dusk rejects."

Speaking of this, Yala's tone carried a trace of emotion.

He floated to Su Zhou's shoulder and watched with Su Zhou as the black stardust river transformed from the disintegration of the Sun Emperor's evil soul, unable to resist shaking his head slightly: "Even if the light of righteousness shines throughout the multiverse, in the places where the light does not reach, or where the light is brightest, there will always be people who walk the path of becoming monsters for various reasons."

"Righteousness has won, but it has never been said that wrong has been eliminated... Moreover, Su Zhou."

Hearing Yala's unprecedentedly serious tone, Su Zhou turned his head to look at the scarlet Snake Spirit.

Layers of strange patterns had begun to faintly appear on Yala's body. At first glance, they looked like countless sacred geometries, or like imperceptible scales, which even his Celestial Immortal vision could not clearly see.

Soon, the other party's voice drew Su Zhou out of this observation and made him think.

Yala solemnly said: "I suspect that this Aean World's 'Sun Emperor' did not embark on this path on his own."

"Oh?" This made him raise his eyebrows slightly: "Indeed? Was there a problem with that structure before?"

"That's right, although I can't temporarily distinguish which old friend it is, it definitely wasn't bestowed by Twilight or the World Tree – the Sun Emperor may feel that this was his own stroke of genius, and he does indeed have the aptitude for it, but this aptitude has been distorted in subtle ways, or rather, he has been 'granted' completely different elements."

The Snake Spirit's words were intriguing: "Establishing virtue, establishing words, establishing merit, all three are immortal, but the details vary greatly. As long as there is a little guidance, leading people down the wrong path is not a problem at all, right?"

It must be said that Yala's words revealed many possibilities.

"This is indeed interesting, Yala."

Su Zhou frowned tightly. He found a ruin to sit down on in the Babel Tower ruins that had been burned to the ground by karma fire, not caring that it was all covered in ash.

The battle with the Sun Emperor wasn't long, nor was it short. After briefly fighting wits and courage with the other party, dying and being resurrected, and then continuously killing the other party for seven days and nights, even a Celestial Immortal would want to rest for a while after a full-force death battle with someone of the same level.

After a moment of silence, he solemnly said: "Are you saying that someone... some Great Existence is trying to use the essential conflict between Twilight and the World Tree to create 'monsters'? The Sun Emperor is their test subject?"

Yala wanted to say something, and Su Zhou naturally understood.

If 'Righteousness' is being able to simultaneously resist Twilight and Existence, being independently oneself.

Then a monster is a nihilistic existence independent of all continuity, with only itself.

Therefore, according to Yala's statement, the reason why the 'Great Path Tree' representing continuity is separated from the World Tree representing 'Existence' is not a coincidence, but part of this conspiracy.

The purpose is to most conveniently create 'monsters'.

"Actually, I have also considered similar possibilities."

After thinking for a while, Su Zhou sighed. He raised his head and looked up at the gradually rising Holy Sun.

Although the Holy Sunlight was dimming day by day, it was still enough to illuminate the Aean World.

Under the sunlight, he calmly said: "When Aharonov and Iloviz explained the truth of the Imperial Will to me... I understood that this former trio would either become true saints or true monsters."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Yala couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. He asked with great curiosity, "Why do you guess so?"

"It's very simple."

Su Zhou lowered his gaze from the Holy Sun. He sat on the ruins of the Tower of Babel, that is, the high point of the Montasini Mountains, overlooking the distant shadows of many mobile cities and the billions of living beings living within them: "Because the collective will of humanity is dualistic – either one of us or the enemy; either a good person or a bad person."

"Good people cannot have flaws, and bad people cannot have advantages. If a bad person does good deeds, he becomes a good person, and if a good person does bad deeds, he becomes a bad person. If you hate someone, you have to step on their advantages, and if you like someone, you can't let others mention their flaws."

"The collective will is such a thing. It is the collective of humanity, and as long as it is a human organization, it will gradually disintegrate innately, and it needs to be constantly self-purified and repaired. Otherwise, it will continuously increase like entropy until the end of heat death."

Su Zhou has the Heart of Mushin, the Union of All Thoughts, and supernatural powers involving the soul and mind such as the Demon Lord of Devouring Evil. Although he can't say 'No one understands the collective will better than me!', he does understand this aspect better than ordinary transcendents.

When Mihail, Iloviz, and Aharonov created the Imperial Will in the past, they only thought of using the Imperial Will to carry the nearly infinite source power of the Burning Spirit Realm.

The Imperial Will connected them with everyone in the Empire, and at that time, they were not arrogant enough to want to overwhelm the collective thoughts of the entire Empire with their own will... Therefore, it was also easy to be influenced by the entire Imperial Will in reverse.

If they were instinctively tainted, then the discrimination and evil hidden in the hearts of the people of the Empire, the selfishness belonging to every human being, the desire to pursue power and survival, would converge on one person and become their instinct.

But if they instinctively resisted, like Iloviz, who rejected both power and struggle, and was not even a bit selfish, with a goodness in his heart that was too pure... A knight who once pacified all directions and didn't hesitate to kill has become almost indifferent to the world.

"Yala, I am 100% sure that in the past, the three people who once adventured on this Aean land were definitely not like they are now. Good and evil cannot encompass them, and they are definitely not characters that can be described as simply black and white."

Su Zhou said calmly, his gaze deep: "This is not to defend or excuse anyone, but to state the facts. Humans change, everyone has their own life, but a former 'wise ruler' falling into a monster must have its reasons, and it is definitely not just his inner despair."

"Because the world is destroyed, a strong person who can advance to the Burning Spirit will despair and fall into a monster? If the Sun Emperor were really so fragile, he would have committed suicide long ago."

"Behind this, there must be something more than just things limited to the Aean World pushing it."

Su Zhou's tone was firm.

Any ideal, wish, or even righteousness will eventually be distorted by human nature and reality.

However, Su Zhou believes that the so-called heroes or demon kings are those who can adhere to their beliefs and must achieve their goals no matter what difficulties and obstacles they encounter.

The birth of the Sun Emperor proves that Mihail's capacity is not enough to become a 'hero' or a 'demon king'.

But at least he was also a wise ruler in the past, a man worthy of Iloviz and Aharonov's pursuit. He shouldn't have fallen so directly and exaggeratedly.

Of course, Su Zhou also doesn't think that it is possible to avoid the appearance of the Sun Emperor, Mihail's fall.

After a mistake occurs, people always feel that the mistake could have been avoided, but in reality it is impossible, because the objective conditions are here. It is too idealistic to deduce a world full of malice with the best possibilities.

In this Twilight World Cluster, which is obviously problematic and influenced by other lurking Great Existences, and a strong person whose heart was originally problematic and flawed.

The birth of a 'monster' is inevitable.

"...What is their purpose?"

After being silent for a long while, Su Zhou couldn't help but sigh: "What good is it for these Great Existences to create monsters, their former enemies?"

"The war between the Great and the Monsters has been going on for a long time."

Yala also fell into deep thought.

The Snake Spirit hovered over Su Zhou's head, its tail sweeping slightly at the back of his neck: "And the War of Righteousness, if I haven't miscalculated, was actually mostly over at the moment we were sealed. When we wake up, it's probably almost at the end."

"Su Zhou, I never shy away from raising this point – our being sealed essentially shows that our 'Righteousness' is flawed."

Su Zhou could hear that Yala's voice above his head had become low. He could sense Yala's solemnity: "I have always admitted this, but there are indeed some guys who are unwilling to admit it. They think they were just ganged up on – those guys, Transcendence and Miracle, forming gangs and beating people up is indeed not authentic, so they think that losing to that group of guys doesn't mean that they are not righteous, that they have flaws."

Speaking of this, the Snake Spirit changed the subject and quickly transitioned away from it: "In short, Su Zhou, you can understand, right? Sealing the multiverse is essentially a land of opportunity."

Su Zhou nodded slightly. Although he wanted to retort with a 'Weren't monsters also ganged up on by you guys in the past?', he still hummed in agreement: "Of course I understand. If I didn't understand in the past, now that I've transmigrated to so many worlds, I definitely understand better than anyone else."

"I have been able to quickly become stronger precisely because of these opportunities."

Sealing the multiverse, although dangerous, is a great place for those who want to achieve something.

The power of many Great Existences gathers in one place, countless dependents and families, supreme inheritances that even several multiverses in the past could not find, are now distributed in clusters in every corner of the multiverse, and can be obtained as long as the conditions are met.

Infinite opportunities, countless chances, more than several hundred times the 'opportunities to become stronger' than other 'normal' multiverses is not an exaggeration at all.

There is even a lucky person like Su Zhou, who accidentally made an agreement with a Great Existence.

——Where would you get such an opportunity in other multiverses?

Of course, this also means that the conflicts and contradictions in the sealed multiverse are far greater than those in other multiverses.

Yala could of course know whether Su Zhou's understanding was true or false, so he chuckled softly: "To achieve some plan, to do some experiment, the sealed multiverse is the most suitable."

"Those 'righteous' ones who would have objected and made trouble in the past are now all unlucky guys who have been sealed. Their power has overflowed into the void, spreading throughout the multiverse, unguarded and unsupervised. Apart from needing to deal with the checks and balances of the Great Seal, they will not have the slightest obstruction."

"Indeed." Su Zhou also had to nod: "Even I have easily obtained the related inheritances of the Lonely Master and the Divine Tree."

"I think these powers, if they were in the original multiverse, would at least be obtainable by the strongest group."

"It's not that difficult." Yala wagged his tail: "With your aptitude, it's not considered exceeding or lucky, at most it can only be said to be one step ahead."

"As for those old friends."

The Snake Spirit sneered at this moment. He raised his head, staring at the void, his gaze cold: "Su Zhou, to break open the chains of righteousness intertwined with each other, you need a uniquely egoistic and erroneous monster, or a righteousness that can carry everything... Those guys have chosen a different path from me."

"Su Zhou, Twilight is not the end, it's just the beginning. These guys want to break free from the chains and use the seal itself to do something. Although I don't know what they want to do yet, I think it definitely won't be anything good."

"It's also strange to say, in the past, although Twilight had autism, it wasn't as excessive as it is now... We caused trouble in His territory, He would definitely react, otherwise He wouldn't have fought with the Siamese twins of the Divine Tree..."

Speaking of this, Yala's tone also became a little strange: "Now it seems, how is He even more autistic than in the past?"

"Why is this again?"

"Who knows?"

Su Zhou stood up, his rest was over: "As for this not being the end... of course I understand."

Just as Twilight is not the end, the death of the Sun Emperor is not the end either.

The Aean World is still waiting for him to do more, to implement the righteousness unique to 'Zhuzhou'.

Compared to destruction and slaughter, maintaining order is more difficult and more important.