Chapter 652 I Can Be Anyone (6000)

Shenmu is still alive—without a doubt, this is the best news Su Zhou has received since coming to the Aean World.

Although, for some reason, this news didn't surprise Su Zhou, it even gave him the urge to scratch his head and say, 'As expected?'

But Shenmu is still alive, which proves that the Aean World hasn't reached its most critical juncture yet.

After all, you see, the Wisdom Tree was shaved until only a small branch remained, and its spiritual light was absorbed by the Celestial God Scale, but it was still able to replenish its spiritual energy and revive. Now it's living a very comfortable life in the personal space, and it even has a fertilizer official and little bees. This is enough to prove that the Shenmu lineage has an outrageous vitality.

If Shenmu were really that easy to kill, then how could they represent continuation and existence?

The only thing Su Zhou cares about is that since Shenmu is still alive, according to the perfect deduction of the Prajna Sutra… to what extent does that 'Sun Emperor' need to act like an idiot to destroy the entire world four hundred years later?

Although he thinks he can do it too, it would require so much divine wrath and resentment, and being so unfilial…

"The Holy Sun is Shenmu."

Reaching out and suppressing the burning Shenmu branch that had already merged with the Chuyang Holy Rock, Su Zhou cut off the pillar of light that was erupting with its power, and confined the dazzling miniature Holy Sun in the hall.

Gazing at this cluster of pure vitality, the man couldn't help but exhale: "It is burning, releasing the spiritual energy within it that is enough to shape the world—the reason why source energy is forty times denser than ordinary spiritual energy is because a world Shenmu of at least the Great Heavenly Venerate, a Heavenly Emperor at minimum, burned itself. Its spiritual energy is piled up in this world and contains endless vitality."

"However, life itself does not represent 'good'… Just as bacteria and viruses can kill people, high concentrations of spiritual energy with extremely strong vitality can very easily cause people's souls and bodies to become distorted and demonized. Indeed, it can bring power, but this is essentially still a disease, a disease that is both a blessing and a curse!"

Now, the whole picture is constructed in Su Zhou's mind.

In the distant past, for unknown reasons, the main body of Shenmu was destroyed, and a large part of it was transformed into the Holy Sun in the sky, which was converted into crystalline structures like the Chuyang Holy Rock through burning.

And a small part remained on the surface, still maintaining the original form of the Burning Shenmu.

Judging from the fact that the leaves of the Burning Shenmu are composed of burning vitality spiritual energy, the essential attributes of this Shenmu are fire, light, and life, similar to the Fusang Shenmu. It is very likely that it also nurtured many innate beings similar to the Golden Crow, which are the 'gods' in the mouths of the various races of this world.

The existence of the World Tree itself will make the entire world full of life and vitality, forming a giant ecosystem. Each World Tree stores many seeds of world life, from fairies to demons, from elves to dwarves, from dragons to sirens, from winged people to gnomes… the World Tree has everything.

All things are born from Shenmu, but the gods stole this glory and declared to the various races that life was created by them.

Of course, Su Zhou is not very sure about this, because the gods may also be assistants to the World Tree's creation. Although the main role is still the World Tree, the gods also participated in the creation process… This is also very common. On Earth, the World Tree inheritance given by the Lord of Life Tree mentioned these things.

These are not important, because at the end of the initial Age of Gods, Shenmu withered, disasters appeared, and the Twilight Dragon appeared. The gods fought a great battle with the Twilight Dragon, and although they eventually sealed it with part of the mass of the Terra continent, the gods also perished.

The era of Shenmu and the gods ended.

And the Holy Sun, that is, Shenmu, ushered in its first 'extinction' thousands of years later.

Each time the Holy Sun goes out, it represents the temporary convergence of Shenmu's vitality. Re-burning represents the arrival of another era of civilization.

And the Demon Moon…

"If the Holy Sun is the body of Shenmu."

Raising his head, in the gaze of Fuxiao and Master Suiguang, who were still shocked and hadn't reacted, Su Zhou looked up at the scarlet moonlight filling the sky.

His gaze was solemn: "Then the Demon Moon… I'm afraid it is the spirit of the World Tree!"

"Just as the human soul, as an additive, can drive the burning of the source energy furnace core, the spirit of the World Tree can drive the restlessness of the source energy of the entire world!"

Only the spirit of the World Tree can cause the source energy of the entire world to become active!

Only the spirit of the World Tree can erode all beings in this world that originate from it, without exception!

That moon, just like the original sun has been replaced by the Holy Sun, is no longer the original moon… but the condensation of the remaining soul will of the World Tree.

A huge, unprecedented, incredibly large celestial-level 'mind light body'!

"No wonder every scroll of strong people in this world can comprehend the exquisite tribulation method of the mind light body… because the answer is in the sky. As long as you gaze at the Demon Moon, those with talent can naturally comprehend the mysteries within!"

At this time, Su Zhou didn't know whether to admire or sigh.

Yes, the Demon Moon has indeed created countless demonized people and killed many people suffering from demonization sickness.

But it is also inheritance, a carrier of mysteries engraved in the sky that anyone can see equally!

The man only slightly thought, and could feel the beauty of this design.

The Holy Sun provides spiritual energy for the entire world, the Demon Moon bestows inheritance upon all living beings, the light of the Demon Moon activates spiritual energy, low-intensity demonization sickness…

No, if it is low-intensity, then it is not a disease, but a 'heavenly blessing' that allows people to practice smoothly and automatically enter the door!

It will lead more and more people to start practicing, comprehend cultivation methods, and develop civilization.

Everyone is equal. They are all children of the World Tree. As long as they look up, they can achieve success.

If the burning of the Holy Sun had not lost control, if the erosion of source energy was not so terrible, if the spiritual energy remained in a normal state… then the Aean World would be such a good paradise on earth!

Unfortunately, there are no ifs.

A perfect design does not exist, because for various reasons, the Aean World is full of suffering, and the earth is full of despair and cries of pain. As long as Su Zhou closes his eyes, he can listen to the sad whispers floating in this world.

"...It shouldn't be like this."

Slowly walking forward, Su Zhou stepped into the dazzling light cluster, he murmured: "If this is the appearance the Aean World should have had, and everything now is just an out-of-control structure… then I will reverse it and transform it back into reality!"

"No, I want to make it better, even better than what the Burning Shenmu originally designed!"

The light cluster formed by the fusion of the Chuyang Holy Rock and the Burning Shenmu began to gradually shrink.

The huge semi-transparent crystal pillar dissolved like a liquid, collapsing into a pure source energy mist that floated in the sky, and then was swallowed and absorbed by the small Shenmu branch, turning into profound and complex light patterns.

Immediately afterward, under the guidance of the Shenmu imprint held by Su Zhou, this incomplete Shenmu, after replenishing a large amount of spirituality and source energy from its main body, began to restore its original form, just like the Wisdom Tree of the past.

An 'egg' that is about half a meter in diameter and slightly oval.

A 'Burning Seed' with crystalline patterns all over, with faint flames burning on it!

"...Shenmu revives, transforming back into a seed."

Holding this Shenmu seed in his hand, Su Zhou didn't actually think about anything at first.

He just complained to Yala in his heart: "Yala, do you, Perfection, and Shenmu really not have something going on?"

"The molting and rebirth of the Undying Blood, the Nirvana reincarnation of Perfection, the eternal existence of Shenmu's power… and snakes and birds are both eggs, and the seeds of the World Tree also look like eggs. By rounding up, are you actually a family?"

"Get lost, get lost, get lost!"

Obviously, Su Zhou's professional skills have improved, and a single sentence can make Yala furious.

At this moment, the snake spirit's head shook into an eight-headed serpent, and its tail rotated like an electric fan: "You're the one who's a family with them, only you, the original body who's a broken egg, is a family with those guys!"

The Candle Dragon · Primordial Form is indeed an egg, and it also has a crack.

"But this is really a coincidence. Your regeneration abilities and rebirth abilities are similar, and there are many overlaps and similarities."

Su Zhou didn't care. He had reasons and evidence, and reasonable analysis: "As everyone knows, dragons and birds are naturally one family, and trees are long and are also dragons. There are bird nests in the trees, and they are also divine birds. Reasonable argumentation can lead to…"

"Stop talking nonsense, do you call this analysis? Then I can argue for a while and drag the Silent Lord and Destiny into kinship!"

Yala shook his head. He knew what Su Zhou meant, so he shook his head and said unhappily: "The fundamental divine powers bestowed upon the dependents by the Great Existence will inevitably have one that guarantees 'survival'. This is normal, because only by living can one seek one's own path and verify the correct path."

"And Shenmu is even more outrageous. The World Tree's 'Eternal Branch', 'World-Evolving Leaf', and 'Everlasting Root' all three supreme inheritances are all survival abilities. Many times you are tired of killing, and your hands, head, waist, and legs ache from logging, but Shenmu can still revive, and after reviving, it can continue to fight vigorously for three hundred rounds."

"The Great Dao Tree is not bad either. Two of the 'Dao-Transmitting Fruit', 'Dao-Enlightenment Bud', and 'Immortal Flower' are related to inheritance and continuation. The strongest in the heavens in terms of survival ability are their lineage. You can see them in any gutter corner or multiverse desperate situation."

At this moment, Yala looked at the Burning Seed in Su Zhou's hand through his eyes, and he shook his head slightly: "It's a pity, the previous Shenmu branch should have contained a part of the 'Eternal Branch' inheritance, and that's why it can be used as a stand-in to survive disasters with just a little processing, and with a little carving, it is the most powerful tribulation magic weapon."

"The Holy Sun in the sky should be the main body of the Eternal Branch, so the Chuyang Holy Rock, the fragment of the sun, can merge with the Burning Branch and become the seed in your hand—you may be able to obtain some related inheritance from it, but it's actually not necessary."

The snake spirit gave a small complaint here: "After all, you are a little too ghostly excellent. You obviously have Undying Blood, but you haven't died once so far. Not to mention that you have also practiced the Undying Soul and the Shenmu method of the Great Dao Tree, and you have the blessing of Perfection. You are already so hard to die, adding an Eternal Branch will not improve it much."

"Good fellow!" Su Zhou couldn't help but complain: "There's no such thing as too many survival passives, isn't multi-stage transformation what you taught me! And you can only go all out if you know you're immortal!"

"But I didn't teach you to learn so many supreme inheritances about survival! Are you stacking Buffs here?"

At this point, Yala was too lazy to say more. His phantom floated above Su Zhou's head and looked around the world: "In short, I suspect that the World-Evolving Leaf has already transformed into all living beings in this Aean World."

"As for the Everlasting Root, it must exist somewhere on this continent. Even if the world is destroyed, it may not be destroyed. There are many examples in the multiverse where the root of a Shenmu floats in the void to other worlds. It looks like it has died long ago, but it will immediately revive as soon as it takes root, and as soon as it revives, it will immediately transform the entire world's ecology."

"Wait." Hearing this, Su Zhou, who was originally enjoying it, suddenly became vigilant: "The way you say it, doesn't Shenmu sound like a plague? It's basically an ecological crisis?"

"It takes root as soon as it lands, and then transforms the world… Doesn't it feel too much like an invasive species?"

"Otherwise?"

Yala sneered. He shrunk back into Su Zhou's soul space and said lazily: "Isn't life a plague? Whether it's viruses, bacteria, tribes of beasts, human civilization… ultimately, they are all slaves of 'existence'. To live, to exist, they can do anything, they will do anything."

"Su Zhou, the Great Dao Tree has also told you, right? 'Existence' is certainly the truth, and a life that plunders the existence of other lives for its own existence is also a 'very reasonable' thing!"

"For 'existence and continuation', only the one who survives is correct! The world that cannot defeat the invasion of Shenmu, the world that tames Shenmu and transforms it into its own use, deserves to be devoured and transformed by Shenmu, becoming part of its ecology!"

Su Zhou frowned.

The one who survives is correct?

No, it shouldn't be like this… There should be something more important than 'existence'… But on the other hand, even the belief that one can dedicate one's life to, the correctness that death must practice, is also to 'continue' something, a spirit, for people to inherit.

Death is just to ignite the spark, and the spark continues.

"...As expected of an impeccable combination of Great Existences, no matter how you think about it, you can't get around it."

Shaking his head, Su Zhou stopped thinking about these aspects.

After all, he has encountered so many Great Existences, how could he not understand that these guys all have their own logic?

It is impossible to refute them in their logic. They are all truly correct.

So, he lowered his head.

At this moment, the Burning Seed held by Su Zhou was releasing rounds of translucent halos. It was just like a hot heart, constantly beating in Su Zhou's arms, as if it was ready to take root and sprout, and 'be born' again at any moment.

Also having part of Shenmu's bloodline, Su Zhou could sense that there was no self-will in this Burning Seed. It was pure white and flawless, a blank slate. Except for some information inherently inherited from Shenmu, it was simply a brand new life, a brand new Shenmu.

In a sense, it is the child of the Burning Shenmu that created the Aean World, the continuation of life.

"Everyone."

Gazing at the seed in his hand for a long time, Su Zhou suddenly opened his mouth and said to Fuxiao and Suiguang, who had been speechless for a long time and didn't know what to say: "Is there any place nearby that is suitable as a base?"

[Base… base?]

Gazing at the seed in Su Zhou's arms, even with a machine body, Master Suiguang felt that his gears and source energy furnace core were heating up, burning, just like when he still had flesh and blood… This strong phantom limb movement made the alchemy master dazed.

Su Zhou's words awakened him, but after hearing the other party's words, Suiguang became even more at a loss: [There is one, there used to be a mountain city in the nearby Misty Mountains, but it was abandoned because of the war between the Eastern Sea nobles and the Northern Barbarians. Because reconstruction is too difficult, it has not been restored now.]

[Professor Swietly, why are you asking this?]

Suiguang's voice was quite puzzled, but soon, he reacted and looked shocked: [Wait, could it be… you want to?!]

"Yes."

Su Zhou nodded. The Mindless Heart could hear the heart of the alchemy master in front of him: "My power is enough to destroy the Disobedient Evildoers, but if I want to change the world and reshape order, what I need is not destruction, slaughter, and destruction, but education, popularization, and inheritance."

Holding the Shenmu seed in his arms, Su Zhou walked to the porthole. He looked at the mountains and dense forests whizzing past the sides of the Chuyang ship and said in a deep voice: "The Aean World is sick, very sick. I am not a doctor, and I cannot cure this disease. I can only light a fire, burn all the ugliness, and then fill it with good things… That is what I want to do."

"Just like the wanderers we met on the road before, there are many homeless demonized people on this land. They have lost their homes and everything because of the war, and can only wander in the wilderness… Someone needs to lead them out of their predicament. Why can't it be us? All the oppressed people in this world are our companions. Leading them to transform the world is our next goal."

Turning his head, the man gazed at Master Suiguang, who had already clenched his fists, and the silent silver fairy, he asked sincerely and earnestly: "Are you willing to help me?"

"...Professor Swietly, I have a question."

Raising her hand, stopping Suiguang's immediate response, the silver fairy Fuxiao took a deep breath. Her silver eyes flickered with inexplicable light, which was an extremely complex memory belonging to several cycles of reincarnation.

Closing her eyes and then opening them again, Fuxiao's voice was as calm as the Xuanbing Lake that had not changed for thousands of years: "You have a way to solve the problem of the Holy Sun's extinction, right?"

"Yes." Su Zhou nodded and said seriously: "I have."

"You have a way to prevent the era from ending and for civilization to continue, right?"

"Yes, I have."

Then there was silence.

Fuxiao stared at Su Zhou's calm face, which had no confidence, no pride, only a deep expression called 'taken for granted'.

That was the 'belief' that one believed oneself to be correct, so there was no need for any extra emotions to assist.

"...I have been playing with the children in the society recently… They like the environment of the Chuyang ship very much and like to adventure inside."

After a moment, the silver fairy slowly opened her mouth. Her tone was slow and clear: "They often tell me about Professor Swietly's past, about the orphanage and the current civilization of the Aean continent, so that I can better understand this era."

"So."

She looked at Su Zhou with extremely complex eyes, almost murmuring to herself: "Who exactly are you?"

"You can't be Professor Swietly. He is just an ordinary mortal professor, full of love, deeply involved in responsibilities, occasionally getting angry because of the clumsy hands of his apprentices, but feeling heartache and self-blame for scaring the children… He is indeed very similar to you. He has justice in his heart and has his own principles and morality."

"You can never be him, because no matter how perfect he is in the eyes of the children, he is just a mortal who doesn't even know if what he is doing is right!"

Fuxiao's tone trembled. She finally asked the question that had been suspected for a long time in her heart. This question had been rooted in the silver fairy's heart since she noticed Su Zhou's strength. If she didn't get an answer, she would have no way to believe the man in front of her, who was strong and righteous, but didn't know his true nature.

And Su Zhou just smiled and watched the silver fairy.

"Without a doubt, I am Professor Swietly."

He answered calmly, with a self-evident firmness in his tone: "He is me, and I am not completely him. I inherited his beliefs and love, and am his continuation in the Aean world. I am his existence, even more so than his own existence."

"Silver fairy with doubts, forget the simple cognition in your heart, I can be anyone, but what remains unchanged is the essence."

Su Zhou stepped forward and extended his hand to the silver fairy and Master Suiguang.

This hand was old, thick, with distinct joints, and clear muscles and blood vessels, powerful and warm.

The man lowered his eyes and said softly: "No matter who I am in your eyes, whether it is Swietly, Su Zhou, the Original Candle Dragon, the God of Judgment, the Dragon of Eternal Innovation… you can call me whatever you want, but only this point remains unchanged."

"I want to change this world and make it better."

He extended an invitation.

And the silver fairy gazed at Su Zhou's eyes.

In those scarlet eyes, what burned was a flame that had never been extinguished.

In front of that flame, even the light of the Burning Seed seemed dim.

So she and Suiguang stretched out their hands together. Three hands, an elf's, a machine's, and a human's, overlapped.

The contract was concluded.

Ten days later.

The news of the Shining Hope Society's base being opened in the eastern mountains spread throughout the entire Aean continent.

Establish a mountain gate, open a great religion, educate all living beings. Jpg