Chapter 1 Lies and Truth

Humans, or rather, intelligent life, live in lies every moment of every day. Parents, friends, acquaintances, enemies—no one can be completely honest.

It's not just because of the unremarkable notion that 'everyone lies instinctively.' The biggest reason is that intelligent life is constantly deceiving itself.

This perpetual deception is called 'memory.'

Leaving aside other life forms, the human brain is extremely good at filling in the blanks. People with amputated limbs experience phantom pain, and landscapes that cannot be observed in detail can become grander in the imagination. Not to mention the many blind spots in human vision and the blood vessels' network, which are usually ignored by the brain.

The real world is vastly different from the world humans see and understand. The process of observing, analyzing, and approaching the real world can be called 'cultivation' or 'the path to truth.'

But even the immortals and gods who surpass human observation limits and can know the real world are deceived by their memories.

The core of this lies in 'sense of time' and 'recollection.'

Memory is not entirely accurate, let alone recollection. Recollection itself is a re-creation based on a person's subjective consciousness within a week, a deep mental reconstruction. Details, specific events, and even time itself, the motivations for events, are all revised to align with the recollector's desires.

If recollection were completely accurate, wouldn't every recollection be a journey through time?

Aran understood this better than anyone, especially after he saw through his own life, his destiny, and even the many cycles of epochs. After recognizing that the predetermined fate was a 'lie of the gods,' he knew all of this.

The past history, the future prophecies, were all illusory things like dreams. Even his present, the entire world he could see, touch, and understand—wasn't it just a kind of lie created by the gods?

Everything was false, illusory. Everyone, every life, lived in a false dream, deceiving themselves.

If Aran had perceived all of this through his own power, then he might have fallen into the 'Calamity of Emptiness,' either dying and self-destructing because of it, or transcending it to become the holder of the most real and genuine thing in this illusory world, a thing called 'courage.'

However, what led him to know the truth was Zhu Zhou.

A kind of… correct prototype.

—What is correct?

In human language, it can only be forcibly explained as 'an answer that meets actual objective standards,' that conforms to 'a kind of fact, reason, or standard.'

But the problem is, facts aside, reason and standards are set by humans themselves. There are no standards in the universe, not even existence itself is a standard, and facts also need to be observed by non-objective people.

So, in a universe with extraordinary power, 'correct' is actually something that doesn't exist. Cosmic rules can be tampered with, morality can be washed away, standards can be replaced, and ethics are just children's toys. Even without extraordinary power, technological progress can change them.

But here's the problem.

It is because this is a multi-dimensional universe with extraordinary power.

Therefore, 'correct' must exist.

It is a group composed of madmen, extreme mental patients, obsessive-compulsives, masochists, travelers, combat experts, fitness enthusiasts, nitpickers, good people, and autistics—'monsters' in the eyes of ordinary people.

But they are correct, not truly monsters, precisely because they define what is objective, what is standard, what is 'correct,' what 'can bring good results.'

[Go become a better version of yourself.]

Inspired by 'Zhu Zhou,' witnessed the truth after the illusion.

Listening to the encouragement from 'Zhu Zhou,' Aran stood between the ever-changing heaven and earth.

Heaven and earth, time and space, were chaotic and hazy. The firmament revolved in cloudy, sunny, frosty, and snowy cycles. The earth beneath his feet underwent vicissitudes, changing from continent to river, then from river to sea. Eventually, the sea would evaporate, rising again in a vast symphony, transforming into land.

Never had he felt so clearly what a lie was.

The world he existed in, seemingly real and solid, was actually a fragile thing that could have its past, present, and future altered by a few Dao Integration experts fighting. Those lives around him—the merchants, travelers, adventurers, and soldiers—would all disappear because of such changes, as if they had never existed.

They were all lies. The world was, the future was, destiny was—everything was.

But 'correct' was not.

[Becoming a better version of yourself is not a lie.]

He could hear Zhu Zhou's voice. The mere existence of this voice brought unparalleled firmness and peace. It was an ultimate conviction that transcended lies, transcended falsehood, transcended objective facts.

In the face of such will and power, even the boundary between reality and illusion could be easily crossed.

[Innovation]

[Aran, start acting, use your own hands to shape your 'reality' and 'destiny.']

So, Aran, who had not yet found his own 'correct,' decided to follow this path.

To believe, to believe in 'the correctness of innovation.'

"I am willing to believe."

Thus, the chaotic and ever-changing world calmed down and solidified its appearance because of Aran's heart.

He returned to Moral City, back to the basement of his mansion.

It was like a song. Different people, listening with different moods, could hear a different world… just like this great universe of symphonies that was churning in endless possibilities and time.

But a song is a song, it is right there.

Just as Aran, although he had Su Zhou's power to help him, when he made up his mind to grasp the future with his own hands, his present was fixed.

By himself.

"I see…"

Coming back to his senses, feeling like everything in the past was an illusion, Aran did not hesitate. He closed his eyes, his mind still filled with memories of various possibilities, but these memories were like the tide, quickly fading and disappearing.

It wasn't forgetting, but Aran knew that he would not touch those possibilities.

Under the blessing of innovation, he was about to step into his own destiny, a future determined by him!

And after opening his eyes, Aran was surprised to find that all the materials for building the altar… no, an entire complete altar, was located in front of him at this moment!

It was a spiral pedestal, with a colorless transparent flame burning on it. Although there were no lights in the basement, this transparent flame made the place as bright as day.

The black, pure spiral pedestal seemed to symbolize the spiraling ascent of all things. On top of it was a space where a few people could stand.

That was the place of summoning.

Zhu Zhou's blessing made Aran know all of this. Taking a deep breath, the tall man revealed a smile after calming down.

"If the tragedy I am about to encounter is a kind of fate…"

He whispered to himself, "Then the possibility of change that Zhu Zhou wants to give me may also be a kind of fate."

"But… at least."

"Now, I can choose with my own will."

Although he still couldn't create a third answer out of nothing from the two choices, Aran deeply knew that the change from having no choice to having a choice was the true meaning of 'innovation.'

A correct prototype.

So, now, suppressing his excited heart, he began to follow the guidance, began to chant.

[—Struggler in the ruins and desolation of time—]

It was a language that was not a language, a call like a ballad.

In the 'Jizuo Era,' in the prosperous Moral City, Aran's solemn chanting caused the colorless flames to be dyed with color.

Endless brilliance began to spread from the 'present.' A beam of light that reached the sky burst forth from the underground, instantly penetrating the clouds in the sky, even breaking through the shackles of the earth and sky, directly into the distant high heavens, bursting into the void and chaos!

Wherever the beam of light passed, layers of gear phantoms and great Dao patterns spread.

[—The enlightened one who suddenly realizes and faces all the dripping blood, mistakes, and regrets—]

At the same time—or rather, in the distant past.

In the 'Overture Era,' in the barren dust desert between Upper and Lower Elan, a dead place without any flowing water or green grass, the guards escorting the princess suddenly received a call.

Using sand as an altar, blood as proof, in order to protect his love, the person he wanted to protect, the brave and resolute warrior used his long knife as a sacrifice, calling upon the existence from the distant end of time, before endless history and after an unknown time.

Thus, the pillar of light burst forth.

In an instant, the entire Great Universe of Symphonies shook. Accompanied by the long鸣 (ming) of Zhu Zhou's alarm bell, it could be vaguely seen that in the dark chaos, a winding and ferocious giant dragon was simultaneously fighting enemies existing in different temporal realms, completely unable to take any other action.

But even so, upon seeing this strand of light, the divine dragon still shifted its gaze, diverting its attention to stare at this most devout prayer.

[You actually dare to distract yourself?] A declaration of anger and dissatisfaction could be heard: [Zhu Zhou, do you know that you are alone, unable to defeat us, so you give up? If so, surrender as soon as possible, and we will spare you a way out!]

But Zhu Zhou just shook his head.

"You don't understand anything." He said, "You crave eternity, and that is a wish."

"And I, and these prayers that arise with it, are the calamity of your wishes!"

Afterwards, an even higher song resounded!

[—Rising from the vast and trembling, seeing through the source of all struggles and decay—]

[—Standing on the accumulated poisonous blood, vowing to burn away all the past sorrows with flames, O rebellious warrior—]

'Naruto Era' and 'Final Sound Era.'

Surrounded by endless strange demons, in the gap between the nations that only lit up the light to fight against the darkness, a boy with a confused face, somewhat suspiciously in the prison where the girl was imprisoned, used his most cherished short sword to engrave spiral patterns on the ground and whispered.

And in the distant future, the ever-changing, blood-stained mechanical arm was raised, the smooth prosthetic arm flashing with flickering light, and the data electronic flow was overflowing from the wound.

However, another slender hand reached out to support the prosthetic arm, stabilizing it. Then, with a low laugh, the two of them followed the voice of that revelation together, and in the data space that was about to collapse and filled with the nothingness of twilight, they weaved a pattern of eternal upwardness.

Past, future, present.

And the possibility of 'change.'

All the brilliance was reunited in the 'Jizuo Era,' in the basement where Aran was.

The man reached out and touched the contract in front of him, which was burning with full of vitality, broken golden flames, and established a contract with the gravitational force that might respond to his call in the infinitely distant time and space.

He announced.

[From this moment on, let the heavens and the earth shake!]

—Heard it.

In the solar system that has been illuminated by the light of the sacred tree, and the verdant stars illuminate everything, the guide who is leading the civilization to the other side of the starry sky, the guardian who is not easy, he suddenly raised his head and listened carefully.

It seemed that in the vacuum of the universe, the man heard the whistling of the wind.

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

—Heard it.

The god who has begun to develop its realm and is trying to repair the loopholes in the world itself, who has always been firmly fulfilling his duties, encountering difficulties time and time again, but also facing difficulties head-on, He suddenly looked around, and even the crown of the god on his head slipped a little.

But soon, He noticed that the god stared at the other end of the void, and seemed to see a different splendor.

The young god straightened the crown, and he smiled gently.

—Indeed heard it.

The hometown of the dragons, the pearl left by the ancestor, guiding all living beings in the world to move forward, the saint who travels in the void, the former girl, the person who now holds the candle to lead the way, she suddenly closed her eyes, and the core that had not been fully operated for a long time began to beat like a human heart.

She heard her own heartbeat, heard the distant call, heard the voice from the place she yearned for, the voice was grand and vast, just like an eternal poem.

The artificial girl clenched the pendant in front of her chest, her eyes firm, and the corners of her mouth upturned.

—Whether it is the highest sky, or the lowest rift, even those who only exist in memory and the past, who have long been asleep in the dream, can hear this voice.

In the broken golden flames, the king who was saving himself alone, and was also saved by thousands of living beings, he originally walked in the protection of wings and scales, but because he heard the voice, he could never ignore it, he hated the fate that could not be changed again and again, so he had to be at odds with it no matter what.

Therefore, he nodded, he heard it, the emperor who rose from the humble place, the emperor who was respected by the world, he also stretched out his hand to respond to the agreement from the other end of the distant time and space.

"Alone?"

As the brilliance gathered from all directions of the multiverse, Su Zhou's frank laughter could be heard: "The correct one is never alone!"

[Humph]

And a voice of unwillingness and contempt sounded: [They are all weak rays of light, and the most powerful ones are only comparable to a god... How can they change the world, change the fate and destiny that we have woven for countless generations?]

[Zhu Zhou, you are pinning your hopes on these people? I thought you would have some backup, but I never thought that your background would be so weak!]

This voice was almost mocking, but this mockery was indeed for a reason—the fate woven by the four Dao Integration God Kings, this Zhu Zhou did not invite the other four Dao Integration to crack it, but only called some demigod heroes, ordinary god-level existences?

This is really puzzling and incomprehensible to the gods.

But Su Zhou didn't care at all.

Zhu Zhou Multiverse Void War God Dragon Form 7.29C version, is fighting with the Four Pillar Gods at this moment, he laughed loudly: "Wait, arrogant gods."

"Just watch the world!"

"I believe that no matter how unbearable and tough the fate woven by you is, in the face of my close friends who respond to the call, it is just something that will eventually decay, be broken and smashed!"

The battle between Zhu Zhou and the gods seemed to last until the end of eternity.

Above the sky, dark clouds still covered the vast land.

But four rays of light gathered and entered four eras respectively.

Mars has already ignited.

Su Zhou firmly believed that he would win.

The rest is just waiting.

Wait with hope.