Chapter 801 The Pain of Correctness (6000, Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

Above the Guixu Heavenly Sphere (Return to Ruin Heavenly Sphere), now thoroughly revived with materialized spirit pattern imprints surfacing on its outer layers, Su Zhou and Lincoln Erda sat facing each other.

Like enlightened sages of old, there were no extravagant halls or decorations. Atop the Dao-Integrating Armament representing truth, the two discussed the Dao.

"Guixu Heavenly Sphere."

As Su Zhou physically touched this Dao-Integrating Armament, a thought stirred within him. He summoned the Prajna Scroll and the Pioneer Space Template dwelling within, using the detection powers granted by these two great existences, combined with his own divine sense, to discern its essence.

Golden radiance and silvery shimmer flickered gently as endless information converged.

The Guixu Heavenly Sphere was indeed a black hole.

Its mass, while significant, didn't reach the level of a Silverstar black hole. However, unlike the massive black holes formed from the collapse of primordial giant stars at the dawn of creation, this black hole bore artificial traces from its birth to its end. When it was still a supergiant star, multiple Dao-Integrating experts had joined forces to inscribe countless Dao rhythms within and without. Layers upon layers of runes intertwined, ensuring that even after it collapsed into a black hole, its event horizon was overlaid with countless overlapping grand formations.

Even the 'ground' Su Zhou and Lincoln Erda were currently sitting on was, in essence, the 'event horizon' of this black hole, compressed by the grand formations. It was solidified spiritual energy that had transformed into a solid with a density surpassing degenerate matter. To the outside world, it appeared as an ordinary black dwarf star.

Beneath this motionless shell lay a rapidly rotating Kerr black hole.

Once such a special black hole was thrown off balance, the Guixu Heavenly Sphere, with its gravitational field bound by Lincoln Erda and his friends, would directly expose its singularity and drag the entire universe spacetime of the World of Creation into its interior.

Like a heavy metal ball placed on a flat net, it would naturally be pressed into a shape resembling a 'well'. At that time, all mortal beings in the World of Creation would pour towards this Heavenly Sphere, falling, and ultimately merging into one.

Until the limit was reached... then, an explosion.

The cosmic Big Bang at the beginning of creation!

"Why do this?"

Without any roundaboutness or pleasantries, Su Zhou directly pointed at the Guixu Heavenly Sphere beneath him and asked, his youthful gaze filled with curiosity. "The Flood Road of other divine systems is more or less based on allowing the existences of their own side to achieve 'Flood,' or at least upholding the 'Dao' of their own side."

"But according to your plan, if everything goes smoothly, then the one who achieves Flood is the cosmic will of the universe born from all the dreams in the Graveyard of All Things, not you or the two Dao-Integrating experts who created the Guixu Heavenly Sphere."

[We don't care about that]

Lincoln Erda replied softly: [Does it matter who the Flood is? Does it matter whose Dao it follows?]

[Since it has already been born and will eventually return to nothingness, what is there to care about? We just can't bear to watch those souls and names be forgotten. As for remembering them, and reviving them, we don't care what their future holds.]

Su Zhou was silent for a moment.

Lincoln Erda's former two friends, it seemed now, were very likely to be Dao-Integrating experts representing the twin trees of the Great Dao World, existence and continuation.

These three people joined forces, a triple boost of the Great Dao's correctness. Indeed, there was no need to care who the Flood that was born was. Whether the other party lived or died, whether they thought it was good to live or wanted to commit suicide, whether they consciously wanted to implement their own Dao or wanted to sleep and wait, all were within their Dao's domain.

They had said everything, both the positive and the negative. Wouldn't those left only be able to shut up?

So they really didn't care about the future.

Seemingly stirred by Su Zhou's words, Lincoln Erda closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly: [Back then, we were independent Dao-Integrating experts, separate from creation.]

[We were indifferent to the various plans of the Circle of Creation. They could do whatever they wanted. We neither supported nor opposed them. We simply quietly observed their actions, waiting for their ultimate gains and results.]

[However, when the Circle of Creation created ten small universes, stimulating the birth of the cosmic will, we, who were only watching, suddenly realized that we couldn't just wait.]

[Just waiting, if we encountered a 'wrong' thing, we wouldn't have time to stop it, or to save it.]

The man with an ordinary face, one that could even be described as 'average', raised his head. If a strong individual who had reached the realm of creation looked carefully, they could see that the face of this Dao-Integrating expert was constantly changing, subtly adjusting, and transforming, always maintaining the impression of being unremarkable.

And if it was Su Zhou, who possessed the Prajna Scroll, he would know very well that Lincoln Erda's face was the face of the Graveyard of All Things.

It was the 'appearance' of all the dream-born creatures in the Graveyard of All Things, mingled together and manifested in the world.

If the two Dao-Integrating experts who transformed their bodies and Daos into the skeleton and flesh of the Graveyard of All Things were the torso of the Graveyard of All Things... then Lincoln Erda was the head of the Graveyard of All Things.

If he were to be killed, the Graveyard of All Things would naturally collapse. All the dreams would break free and turn into reality, turning into a cosmic disaster called 'Nightmare', another type of final tribulation.

A prison without a jailer would naturally end up like this.

And he sensed Su Zhou's observation, but he didn't care.

The Warden of the In-Between gazed up at the cosmic starry sky, his expression calm as if he were talking about something unrelated to himself: [So we acted.]

[At that time, it was already too late. The great battle between the Circle of Creation and the cosmic will shattered most of the observable universe. Countless innocent beings had already dissipated, and the remnants of the gods' souls drifted in the broken universe, like the flickering light of fireflies swaying in the stormy night.]

[I originally planned to enter nirvana, transforming my body into a twilight cradle to carry these scattered souls of all beings.]

[But they said I couldn't do it—I could only carry and embrace those souls, but I couldn't give them a future.]

--Let us do it. Our power can maintain the activity of these souls, allowing them to exist and continue forever.

--When the time is right, Lincoln Erda, you will create a brand new universe, allowing these beings who should not have died to be resurrected and continue their lives once more.

--You can do it, or rather, no one other than you can do it.

--Lincoln Erda, although we all think you're a hopelessly stupid rock, it's precisely because you're a rock that won't change for millions of years that you can carry the dreams of hundreds of millions of beings without changing your own Dao.

--So you are our friend.

Closing his eyes, even now, the Warden of the In-Between could still recall his friends' whispers at that time.

Yes, only he could do it. Only he, this stubborn and inflexible rock, could relentlessly erase those bright dreams and suppress all dark nightmares without any guilt.

Everything was for the future, for the 'correct' realization.

At this moment, Lincoln Erda stretched out his hand.

A strange halo swirled around his two fingers, like a sword's aura lingering on a sharp blade.

He waved it, his two fingers sweeping across the starry sky, but Su Zhou could sense that an invisible, intangible power of annihilation, like the sharpest blade, shattered all gazes directed towards this place—whether it was the gaze of Dao-Integrating experts or the prying of Dao-Integrating Armaments, everything returned to nothingness, unseen and unheard.

[What is that old geezer doing?]

[He said he would fight, but then he didn't. Is Lincoln Erda playing with us?]

[Boring.]

For a moment, he could hear the cold snorts and complaints of several Dao-Integrating experts.

Obviously, they were observing everything in this universe at all times. Nothing could escape their ears and eyes.

But this was not unavoidable. Even Su Zhou had many ways to avoid it, let alone a Dao-Integrator?

It was just that he didn't care, so he used the simplest method to shatter and warn.

After doing all this, Lincoln Erda sighed: [They transformed themselves into dreams, guiding the dreams of hundreds of millions of beings to continue, and remembering the name of every dream, to prevent them from dissipating and being forgotten.]

[Although they are weaker than me, they are better at saving the world than I am. In this regard, I am ashamed of myself.]

"I see..."

Raising his head, Su Zhou looked at the countless dreams in the Graveyard of All Things.

Dreams, of course, require someone to dream them to exist.

The remnants of gods' souls, the souls of all beings, were already dead... Even if they dreamed, it was impossible for them to be so vivid, so full of life, so much like 'reality'.

—A Heavenly Immortal can dream a dream, a perfect dream that surpasses reality, allowing themselves to sink into it and forget the outside world. They dream of themselves.

—A Heavenly Venerate can dream a dream. Their dreams can overflow to the outside world, nurturing the laws of the Great Dao and creating divine powers and magical weapons. This is creation, and it is also the Lord of Life. They dream of all beings.

—And Dao-Integrating experts can also dream. Their dreams can turn the virtual into reality, can create things out of thin air, can change the universe, create life, races, stars, and even 'worlds' with just their thoughts. They dream of reality.

Su Zhou lowered his head and looked at Lincoln Erda again.

And, behind him, the vague figures of two looming figures emerged.

Three Dao-Integrating experts were dreaming.

The Graveyard of All Things was wrapped in their dreams, maintained by their Daos, so it could be more real than reality, so it could develop civilizations, comprehend the Great Dao, and cultivate divine powers in dreams.

Even illusory dreams, manifested in the World of Creation, were Machine Gods, or even Divine Sovereign Lords in the realm of creation.

An entire civilization?

No, far more than that.

Nothingness, existence, continuation.

The phrase 【Return to the Void and Unite with the Dao】finally had a more detailed interpretation at this moment.

That was the appearance of the Dao-Integrating realm, reaching its peak.

--Their 'One' was the cornerstone of all kinds of Great Daos.

Therefore, Su Zhou nodded: "I understand."

Now, with the information he knew, the young man had a general understanding of the first final tribulation that occurred in the World of Creation in the past.

At that time, the World of Creation should have had the idea that 'if they could defeat the cosmic will, someone among them could achieve Flood, then they could naturally revive all the dead and repair all the damage', and they made a desperate gamble.

Indeed, if it were Flood, let alone repairing a universe, if they wanted to create something that could affect many worlds, it would at least be the prototype of a multiverse. Let alone broken souls, even if everything returned to nothingness, they could forcibly drag out souls that no longer existed from nothingness.

However, they—Lincoln Erda and his friends—obviously didn't believe that the Circle of Creation could succeed at that time, nor did they believe that the other party could become Flood.

In fact, that was indeed the case. The Dao Lord of the Circle of Creation perished together with the cosmic will, and no one rescued or helped all the dead, gradually dissipating in the desperate dark vacuum, like snowflakes quietly melting in the night.

And while the ten divine systems that split from the Circle of Creation continued to fight among themselves after the war.

Lincoln Erda and his two friends created the Graveyard of All Things. They used their own flesh and blood as materials to create a graveyard, and used their own souls as coffins to house all the dead.

They might have already died, but they still existed, until now.

[Dao Friend]

Opening his eyes, Lincoln Erda stared at Su Zhou, who was sitting cross-legged in front of him: [I know that you are not yet Dao-Integrating, nor do you know how to become Flood.]

[However, you have an extremely rich and pure aura of nothingness on your body. This is a realm that I, who could not wait and came into being, can no longer touch.]

Saying so, he said calmly: [Therefore, Primordial Candle Dragon, I want to ask you a question.]

So, after Su Zhou silently nodded, indicating 'okay'.

Lincoln Erda and the young man looked at each other.

He said extremely seriously: [Was I wrong?]

[Did I, who chose not to wait, completely deviate from the Dao of Nothingness?]

Lincoln Erda didn't ask if 'creating the Graveyard of All Things' was wrong.

Obviously, in his heart, this was more correct than anything else. He would doubt anything, but he would not doubt this.

However, as a Dao-Integrator, as a cultivator pursuing correctness, he began to suspect whether he had already deviated from the original goal.

So he wanted an answer.

An answer that he himself could not confirm.

"What mistake have you made?"

Without any hesitation, Su Zhou immediately answered Lincoln Erda: "Not only are you not wrong, but you are simply great."

"To dedicate oneself to help the world is the greatest implementation. Although you didn't succeed in sacrificing yourself at the beginning, you dared to take on the Daos of your two friends, bearing their and all beings' wishes until now, which is more difficult than simple dedication and simple sacrifice."

The young man's eyes were clear, his tone firm and unwavering, without the slightest hesitation: "Lincoln Erda, I originally thought that you were like those self-proclaimed Twilight Envoys, because you were distorted, because you couldn't explain the reason why you stopped waiting."

"But now it seems that you are very clear about the results of everything you have done, and the purpose of doing it, and you can also bear the responsibility of choosing and implementing everything... Everything you say and do is correct for you, so what mistake is there to speak of?"

[You still have something to say—and I also know that this is not nothingness.]

Although Su Zhou gave what was probably the highest level of evaluation he had ever given, Lincoln Erda shook his head slightly: [Speak directly, Primordial Candle Dragon. I have been cultivating for millions of years without being able to move forward. Even if you criticize and rebuke me, if you can point out even the slightest mistake, so that I can achieve it, how could I be angry and dissatisfied?]

[Not to mention me, even that most arrogant Dueska, if you can really give him a path to the Flood realm with 100% certainty, he will definitely worship you as a teacher and enshrine your statue in the Hall of Creation.]

[I have already given up waiting, so how can I be right?]

Very obviously.

He had already defaulted that he was wrong, just hoping to wait for a verdict.

That way, he could let go.

But if he gave a verdict just because he asked for it, wouldn't Su Zhou lose face?

"Why do you think you are wrong?"

Leaning forward, narrowing his eyes.

Su Zhou said solemnly: "Why do you have to think that 'waiting' is correct?"

"Why do you have to think that 'deliberately waiting' is 'nothingness'?"

"Lincoln Erda, has someone told you that 'nothingness' is to stand idly by, to not respond to things you don't like, to not praise things you like, to be like a stone, not caring if others beat you, and not running away when the sky falls and the earth cracks?"

"That's not nothingness, that's being an idiot."

Saying so, Su Zhou laughed, shaking his head slightly, as if he was lamenting that even a Dao-Integrating expert could misunderstand such an obvious truth.

"What do you think 'correctness' is? It's just something that a group of incredibly strong guys came up with based on their own subjective judgment. It's just that some people think that their correctness is really not wrong, so they acknowledge it."

"And your Graveyard of All Things has been acknowledged from the beginning—acknowledged by the other two Dao-Integrating experts, acknowledged by all the dream souls in the Graveyard of All Things, and many people in the World of Creation are willing to acknowledge it."

Saying so, the young man looked around the surrounding starry sky.

He looked at the many Twilight Envoys who were staying by the side, not daring to get close or leave, and nodded calmly: "Even if others don't acknowledge it, I will acknowledge it."

"Lincoln Erda, you are right."

Unreservedly agreeing with the other party's Dao, even if the logic of this statement violated common sense.

Su Zhou stood up, and at this moment he looked down at the slightly astonished Lincoln Erda, pointing out the other party's true mistake: "Everything is permitted, everything is empty. This sentence is a line from a game in my hometown, but truth is inherent in all things, and it is not wrong to say it now."

"Nothingness has never been about not letting you do anything. On the contrary, it allows you to do anything."

"But you know very well that whatever you do, no matter how great your achievements are at one time, in the final end, there is an inevitable destination called 'nothingness'."

At this moment, the young man stretched out his right hand.

He clenched it into a fist, seemingly just closing his palm.

At this moment, Su Zhou held a hand seal.

Then, light was born from nothingness.

A wisp of dim yellow light, from the cracks in the young man's clenched fingers, lit up, illuminating the void, and shining on the heavens.

In the Graveyard of All Things, countless dreams were illuminated by this light.

This was one of the supreme divine powers of the Nothingness system.

【Beginning of Bright Void】

The power of emptiness and destruction was rotating.

It was precisely because he knew that even eternal and immortal experts had to enter the Dao and perish, transform into the Dao and leave, abandoning all things.

Therefore, the vows made by 'people' now, the determination to do, the correctness to be fulfilled, had true meaning!

"It is because people die, people fear death, and people are unwilling to die that a person's choice to sacrifice himself for the sake of more people seems noble, admirable, and makes one feel ashamed."

"It is because everything is nothingness, fearing nothingness, and rejecting nothingness that the oath made by the great existences, to use themselves as coordinates and base the eternal and correct Dao for all beings to implement, will be the supreme 'correctness' and 'love'."

Su Zhou closed his eyes.

At this moment, not only in his hand, but also around the young man's body, a circle of dim halos lit up.

It was not derived from twilight, but from the depths of Su Zhou's heart, a light that flowed out.

This light was empty and silent, exploring was meaningless, sensing was meaningless, touching was meaningless, and even thinking was meaningless. Even if a Dao-Integrating expert used the supreme divine power interwoven with many suns to explore, they would not be able to sense anything.

However, in the midst of this dim yellow halo flowing and transforming, something was vaguely being conceived and born.

In the next moment, Su Zhou opened his eyes.

It was like two blazing suns appeared, causing a burning passion and surging gale to sweep across the entire Graveyard of All Things in an instant.

In just a few moments, the long light of twilight transformed into the most vast and bright light, like daylight.

【Innovation】

"You are right."

At this moment, Su Zhou was in the same place.

But his gaze seemed to be gazing at Lincoln Erda in the extremely distant beyond.

Among them, there seemed to be another existence from the extremely distant, endless space-time beyond, coexisting with Su Zhou, gazing at the Warden of the In-Between, who also had his eyes wide open and gazed upwards.

"But."

His voice rang out, like a great bell: "Sacrifice is a shortcut."

"You and your friends sacrificed yourselves in exchange for the continuation of the lives of the dead, giving them a second chance—then if this second final tribulation evolves into a situation where all things perish and the ten divine systems perish together with the second-generation cosmic will, can you die a second time?"

He could see the ordinary man clenching his fists.

But the young man still didn't stop speaking.

"Sacrificing oneself is too noble. No one can accuse you of being wrong, but you yourselves cannot forgive yourselves, cannot forgive yourselves for your second inability."

"You crave, you need, you want—you want to become stronger, to become better!"

Saying so, Su Zhou stepped forward, approaching Lincoln Erda.

His voice was still clear: "Don't rejoice. I didn't say you were wrong."

"Suffer, because you are correct."

"So you must do better, you must fulfill all the vows you made for yourself. You must build roads, you must pave the future, you must light torches, hold up the light, lead all those who come later to set foot, and 'believe' that at the end of this endless road is correctness!"

Without belief, everything is nothingness.

No one could believe in himself more than Su Zhou.

Therefore, the young man bent down and extended his hand to the man.

"And I can help you, and you can help me."

The unique youthfulness, that vigorous fighting spirit that would never be extinguished, was burning all the observing gods, as well as the souls of all beings in the dream.

The cyan-purple flames were burning fiercely, and a voice came from within.

"Warden of the In-Between, Lincoln Erda, help me integrate with the Dao."

"I will definitely create a more beautiful and more correct universe with you!"

Not finished writing yet... Big chapter tomorrow! Seeking monthly tickets!