Chapter 694 You're All Imposters! (Thanks to Galaanxue for the Silver Alliance, and iLcy月照人 for the Alliance Leader!)

[...Of course we are undoubtedly Twilight Kindred, the Flood. We have cooperated for 370,000 years, how can you still ask such a strange question?]

The voice on the other end of the communication paused for a moment. Although the Nihilarchy Hierarch's voice was still very calm, a hint of displeasure could be heard: [Now it's your turn to answer my question.]

[Flood, why did you actively close the wormhole? Clearly, you and the End joined forces could have suppressed that Zhuzhou body.]

At this moment, the Nihilarchy Hierarch had obviously noticed that the End, Ten Aspects, had fallen silent and no longer replied to its communications, which made it feel quite puzzled and vigilant, but it could not find the reason.

And the Flood's answer was simple and straightforward: [Can't beat it.]

Nihilarchy Hierarch: [...?]

The Flood's subsequent response was equally sharp: [On the contrary, Hierarch, are you really sure that the other party's soul left? If it's just the body, then both the End and I can easily suppress it, but if that guy's soul didn't leave... then, relying on the fact that the other party is also a Lord's Kindred, or even a direct Kindred, I don't think we can easily defeat him. One-on-one, we might even be suppressed instead.]

[When the wormhole opened, I could no longer sense the End's aura. It should have been sealed or repelled. I won't risk my life to complete the mission. That's the 'Fair Contract' we signed.]

Although the Flood's will sounds like some kind of racial subconscious, in reality, it is more like a Creation God incarnated as a world consciousness. It created a brand-new race and an entire ecological niche in the subspace, and transformed it into its own 'cultivation method'.

Human cultivation is to absorb energy, nurture the body and soul to grow stronger, and in turn, enhance the speed of energy absorption. This is the most common cultivation method.

The Flood's cultivation, on the other hand, is to regard every individual of the race it created as a cell, the soul as energy, and the overall civilization strength as cultivation. The subspace Flood race that proliferates in the subspace is its cultivation body. The cultivation and growth of the entire race and world is its cultivation process.

In addition to allowing the subspace Flood to develop naturally, the Flood also has a way to strengthen its cultivation, which is to plunder the souls and technology of other civilizations to strengthen itself.

To this end, it is willing to cooperate with the Nihilarchy Order, under the name of the Lord, to sign a contract.

The Flood plunders, the Nihil destroys.

Many past collaborations have been very smooth. Even if there were occasional failures, they were irrelevant to both parties, simply because the opponent was too strong, or they had bad luck.

But this time was different.

After the Nihilarchy Hierarch ended the communication, the Flood's will couldn't help but fall into contemplation.

[The aura of the Twilight Lord...]

This chorus, composed of billions upon billions of voices, murmured to itself: [Speaking of which, I seem to have sensed a similar aura before.]

[When was that? I vaguely remember that the oldest Nihilarchy Order still retained an aura similar to this.]

[But now...]

The subspace fragment retreated into the depths of the Shining Zone.

It hasn't been ten years since the return of psionic energy. Although the separation between the subspace and the material universe is rapidly dissolving, it still requires a large amount of energy to travel back and forth freely as in the past.

Since there was no mission, the Flood would naturally continue its journey to plunder energy.

And at the other end of spacetime.

Su Zhou in the void could sense that all the Nihilarchy Order wills that had previously locked onto his body were fading away.

They were unsure of Su Zhou's strength, couldn't figure out what trump cards the youth had, and were even more astonished by Su Zhou's ability to directly eliminate or seal the End, Ten Aspects. Therefore, they retreated to wait for further observation.

But in reality, Su Zhou simply made the End, Ten Aspects return to the normal reclusive attitude that a Twilight Kindred should have.

"Shuangyue, Jiuming, and Tang Yuan, take this Twilight Cocoon with you. It will be useful for research in the future."

After giving a command from afar, Su Zhou couldn't help but fall into contemplation while on the road.

--That shouldn't be the case.

He thought to himself, feeling somewhat puzzled: "The Twilight Kindred and Kindred shouldn't be like this."

Su Zhou had seen many Kindred and Kindred of great existences.

Kindred refers to those who, after birth, receive grace due to postnatal reasons, embark on the path of a great existence, and acknowledge its correctness.

Kindred refers to existences that are congenitally influenced by the power of a great existence. The Dao of the great existence is the very foundation of their existence.

For example, Yala. The dragon-snakes and devils are his Kindred. Because they are too successful and famous, he also has the titles of Ancestor of Dragon-Snakes and Source of Devils outside of Chaos.

And the members of the Holy Snake Spirit Litanies, and General Yan Shuang, are his Kindred.

Perfection also has the divine bird lineage as Kindred, and Ming Zhengde and others are Kindred.

Su Zhou hadn't seen the Twilight Kindred, but he guessed that they should exist. They should be races that have absolutely no similarities to humans, and are extremely strange in both thinking and ecology. For example, some life forms that live around the time of the universe's heat death, or gravitational life on dead black dwarf stars.

But there are many Kindred.

Everyone may encounter the worst day of their lives, and everyone may lose what they once firmly believed in, 'the reason to live as a matter of course'. These people are potential Twilight Kindred.

Su Zhou originally thought that the Nihilarchy Order was an organization gathered by that group of Kindred.

Although they have some doomsday cultist tendencies, but hey, what great existence's Kindred doesn't have some mental illness? He was used to seeing self-destructive lunatics.

But now it seems that after Su Zhou really went to the Twilight World Cluster and found the true essence of Twilight power and the corresponding solution, he was stunned to realize that the Nihilarchy Order on his home turf... was not very authentic.

They were even less authentic than him!

What kind of feeling was this? It felt like eating some strange Sichuan spicy crab abroad, and then returning home to learn how to make spicy crab to prepare to compete with the other party to see who was more authentic, only to find that the other party used local sweet pepper sauce and cactus seeds as the spicy crab sauce.

This is also called spicy crab?!

This also counts as a Twilight Kindred?!

The real Twilight Kindred shouldn't be like this at all!

Su Zhou believed that they should be a group of ascetics chasing suffering, and a silent organization giving those defeated by suffering some final blessings and embraces.

Or a reclusive group of autistic people gathering for warmth, where the internal communication channels of the group might not ring even once in a few months.

These guys, who are enthusiastically trying to destroy the world and civilizations every day, have almost reached the top in terms of action ability. Except for the slightly Twilight-obsessed ideology, they are not like it in any way!

Su Zhou felt that he was even more authentic than the Nihilarchy Order--at least he completely understood Nihil, also understood what was right above Nihil, and even more understood the 'love' of waiting for the sake of the passion of all life in the multiverse, even when deeply immersed in Nihil.

According to this statement, it was impossible for others to discover Su Zhou disguising as a Twilight Kindred, nor was it possible for the Nihilarchy Order. They might even praise him for being pious enough.

In other words...

--The Twilight Orthodox Church is in Zhuzhou!

"There must be some hidden secrets behind this."

As he was about to reach the world barrier of Earth's universe, Su Zhou solemnly said to the snake spirit who was also deep in thought: "Yala, do you think it's possible that the masterminds behind the Nihilarchy Order are not true Twilight Kindred?"

"Or, were they twisted in some way by the power of other great existences, so they mutated into this?"

"Just like the Solar Emperor in the Aeon world, who was clearly a Kindred of the Precursors, but was tortured and twisted into a 'monster' for various reasons..."

"...It's not impossible." After a pause, Yala spoke slowly. At this moment, his expression was solemn: "The battle between Twilight and the World Tree, shielding the communication of the Great Dao Tree, were all their doing. If they really did this, then it's not strange that the Nihilarchy Order would be affected."

"But, why?"

He obviously didn't quite understand: "They also have their own Kindred and Kindred, and they also have their own correctness and purpose. If they want to do something, why borrow the name of Twilight?"

Su Zhou also nodded, and shook his head in confusion: "That's right, and there's the Nihilarchy Order's desire for the Final Epoch Seal... Originally, I was thinking that it was to destroy the sealed universe, so that Twilight could escape the great seal and destroy the entire universe and even the multiverse."

"But after the trip to the Aeon world, I saw it very clearly--the great seal cannot restrain Twilight at all. At least the current great seal, full of cracks, cannot restrain it. It's just that Twilight is too lazy to come out of the seal. There's no need for any Kindred to save it. It can walk out anytime, anywhere."

"If that's the case, what do they want the Final Epoch Seal for?"

Su Zhou's confusion was right here.

He wasn't afraid of enemies who were terrible and insidious, but he was afraid of not knowing the enemy's purpose. This feeling was that no matter how he tried, he couldn't figure out what was supposed to be behind the Nihilarchy Order.

"Purpose..."

But suddenly, upon hearing this, the snake spirit's tail twitched, and he showed a rather shocked expression: "Wait, no! Twilight, like the Divine Tree, belongs to the two extremes of correctness. All correctness is related to the Divine Tree and Twilight."

"Could it be that these guys want to replicate the past battle between the great and the monsters in this multiverse?!"

Since Su Zhou's growth, Yala had not concealed much information about the inner workings of great existences from Su Zhou.

But even so, the snake spirit's guess shocked Su Zhou. He turned his head as quickly as possible and looked at Yala on his shoulder: "What did you say?"

"A guess."

Yala murmured in a low voice, lowering his head, his eyes solemn: "You already know that before the Twilight subjugation war, there was the 'War of the Great and the Monsters'--after that, all the monsters were sealed outside the axis, and could no longer interfere with anything."

"Since they only exist for themselves, then let them exist on their own, and not be allowed to have any connection with any 'other thing'--that seal is far more powerful than the great seal that seals us, because it is the suppression jointly set by all the great existences. Even after the subsequent war of correctness began, we did not forget to maintain it daily."

Su Zhou nodded slightly. He understood very well, after all, the internal war of correctness was, to put it bluntly, a party dispute within one camp. It was as if Perfection and Chaos sounded like mortal enemies. After the fight, they might even have a cup of tea and make sarcastic remarks at each other.

The so-called great seal sounded very cruel, but for the eternal ones, it was just a long-term confinement that required 'waiting' to get out.

You see, the Divine Tree and Twilight didn't take the great seal seriously at all. They even felt that this place was a rare place of tranquility, a good place to rest and sleep.

"The battle with the monsters established 'correctness'."

And at this moment, Yala was guessing. The snake spirit coiled around Su Zhou's neck, his head hanging next to Su Zhou's ear. He said seriously: "The great existences sealed here are, to some extent, 'incorrect'."

"I suspect that some great existences want to verify, or do something even bigger and more unpredictable... therefore, they want to cultivate 'monsters', and then use them as comparative coordinates to re-establish 'correctness'!"

"Um..."

Su Zhou frowned. He didn't quite understand the relationship between the great existences and the monsters, but he could barely understand the logic: "Indeed..."

"But is it useful?"

"You'll only know if you do it." The snake spirit replied, returning to his original lazy look: "In short, I also think that the Nihilarchy Order may not be a true Twilight Kindred organization, or rather, it is a Kindred organization that has been distorted to a considerable extent."

"Twilight is just waiting, but its influence can radiate throughout the sealed multiverse. Other great existences are probably just using this, so they chose the Twilight Kindred."

This guess still had many doubts and unknowns, but it could barely be self-consistent.

Su Zhou thought for a while, then shook his head and put it in the depths of his mind.

It was too early to think about these things now.

Now, in front of him, was the world barrier of Earth's universe.

On the huge world barrier, exuding silver light and covered with countless vertical and horizontal cracks, there were faint light patterns similar to the runes on the Celestial Scale.

Gazing at these huge patterns and cracks, Su Zhou couldn't help but slow down his serious pace. He was silent for a while, and then smiled softly.

"Let's go home first--the matter of the Nihilarchy Order can always be figured out."

Saying this, he fell.

Together with the light of the Celestial Scale, he fell back to his hometown.

At the same time, Earth's universe.

At the edge of the Milky Way, inside the Zhuzhou body that had returned to its Death Star form.

Shao Shuangyue, limp and covered in sweat, was趴 (pā, leaning) on the table in the conference room, while Tang Yuan, who was next to her, temporarily replaced the pilot and controlled the Death Star, dragging the Twilight Cocoon, which was still too big even after shrinking, along the edge of the starry sky.

And Jiu Ming was on the side, with a helpless expression, holding a teapot, pouring water for the girl who was almost exhausted.

"Hehe, hehe."

But Shao Shuangyue had a silly smile on her face at the moment. Even though she was so tired that she was about to explode, the girl's eyes were full of joy.

Why?

Because there were many rewards!

[Completed mission: Defeat Nihil Annihilation Envoy·End, Ten Aspects]

[Immortal - Rebirth Creator]

[You have obtained one SS-level opening permission, exploration points,]

[Optional exploration mission: Investigate the source of the great existence aura behind End·Ten Aspects]

[Current progress 2%, reward points 7000]

[Note: Because the decisive blow was aided by external forces, it is not possible to obtain all rewards]

Although she didn't get the full 3S-level reward and 250,000 exploration points, getting more than two-thirds of it was completely beyond Shao Shuangyue's expectations.

She was not an insatiable wolf, and she was very clear about her own weight. It was especially, especially profitable to be able to take advantage of her older brother!

You must know that since becoming a Pioneer, all the reward points Shao Shuangyue had obtained were about the same as the reward for this mission alone, and she had even fewer opening permissions.

These opening permissions and exploration points were enough to directly instill and cultivate a peak Commander, directly approaching the Earth Immortal!

"Although it's a bit of a pity that I won't be able to use Brother Zhou's Zhuzhou body in the future... but a double S-level opening permission can completely be exchanged for a super powerful battle machine!"

"Even if I choose self-modification, I can completely improve my physical combat power to the point where it's comparable to when I was driving the Strife Ender!"

After finishing her silly smile, Shao Shuangyue was still in a good mood.

Having money was a great feeling. Now, she was simply itching to return to the Pioneer Space to buy and buy in a big way, and to go on a shopping spree without any budget or planning!

As for Jiu Ming on the side... he was also secretly happy.

As a teammate, and one of the contributors to this battle, he also received an S-level opening permission and 100,000 exploration points. This was completely unexpected wealth, enough for him to prepare all the rituals and materials for breaking through to the Earth Immortal, and more than once.

Although the battle with End, Ten Aspects was indeed thrilling, if the Zhuzhou body was not powerful enough, and Su Zhou had indeed arranged many backup plans, they would probably all have failed here.

But danger comes with rewards, and this kind of reward was indeed worth such a risk.

"Strange..."

Tang Yuan, who had started controlling the Death Star again, made a rather unexpected sound: "Why have the pursuing Twilight fleets all disappeared?"

"Have they hidden themselves, or have they really all retreated?"

After two years of being chased, being ambushed had become a habit. Noticing that it seemed that no one was spying on the Death Star anymore, Tang Yuan was more or less unaccustomed to it: "Hey, generally speaking, we should be ambushed at this time, so that the Death Star can have a meal, and then after the Death Star has finished eating, we can just rest and have dinner..."

He was actually treating the Twilight fleet's attacks as meal reminders.

And at this moment, cyan-purple spiritual light emerged out of thin air from the cosmic space, and then fell like a meteor.

"This is?!"

Everyone noticed this. Even Shao Shuangyue, whose body was limp, forcibly controlled her spiritual power and moved herself to the vicinity of the porthole to look outside the Death Star.

In the universe, a long stream of light emerged from beyond the sky, fell, and finally connected with the gray-black Death Star.

Afterwards, nearly materialized spiritual power filled all the grooves on the outer layer of the Death Star like flowing water, shining brightly.

Inside the Death Star, everyone sensed an unparalleled powerful pressure. It surpassed the soul power of End, Ten Aspects before. It was firm but gentle, not as aggressive as a spirit god, and carried a nearly curse-like malice.

Click, click.

Continuous sounds of metal friction and module operation rang out. On the surface of the Death Star, countless metal armor layers were flying and moving, reorganizing into a more suitable and harmonious appearance.

The nine ether dragons curled up under the carapace first shrank in their nests, trembling, but soon, they became mesmerized, because among these densely packed rune armors, there seemed to be inheritances and knowledge that could be learned and used to sublimate their own state of mind being displayed.

Thunderous vibrations came. As the true owner of this body took up residence in it, a huge psionic wave created flashes similar to stars in the cosmic space, illuminating the surrounding darkness, causing everyone to hold their breath.

Holy light filled the entire territory.

And this sacred and solemn scene continued until a puzzled voice sounded.

[What's going on?]

Su Zhou's voice, with sacred and solemn thunder: [Why is my body seven or eight sizes fatter?!]

[Damn, I felt something was wrong when I possessed it before, my warship form has actually completely turned into a ball?!]

[Tang Yuan, what's going on?!]

Thanks to Galaanxue for the Silver Alliance!

Thanks to iLcy月照人 for the Alliance Leader!

There have been so many friends who have given rewards recently that my author assistant has exploded, not to mention Qidian. I really can't thank you all one by one. When I have time, I'll write more extra stories as a reward!

As for recently... hey, I'm saving up some manuscripts for the New Year, taking care of my body, and I'll resume updating with large chapters!