Chapter 1 Yala's Solution

"...Since you, Yala, know the exact second of the apocalypse, then you must have a solution."

Hearing this, Su Zhou calmed down completely, displaying his resilient mental fortitude. He pondered with a grave expression, "And I guess that's why you insisted on forming a contract with me, and why you want me to advance quickly."

"You could say that."

Coiling around in Su Zhou's palm, the snake spirit nodded, not denying Su Zhou's guess. It raised its needle-like tail and pointed it at the silver metal pocket watch, "This thing...hmm."

"You can call it the 'Celestial Calibrator'."

Saying this, Yala still seemed a little wary. It seemed to have some guesses about the silver pocket watch's true name, but didn't dare to say it, "Although I don't know what this thing's essence is, it's undoubtedly related to the Gate of Seals, and it can connect to the various realms behind the Gate of Seals...even, it itself, is a part of the entire 'Great Door'."

Next, the snake spirit directly poured a large amount of information into Su Zhou's mind—there were too many things and proper nouns that couldn't be clearly explained with words in a short time, so direct mental interaction was more efficient.

It wouldn't be strange for an ordinary person to go into shock from receiving so much information in an instant, but Su Zhou's mental strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, so Yala dared to be so direct.

In general, after rolling around on the ground for a while due to a headache, and finally managing to sort out the relevant information, Su Zhou roughly understood the relationship between 'seals', 'spiritual energy recovery', 'other worlds', and the 'chain destruction of all realms'.

—Every crack that spread on the 'Gate of Seals' represented a sealed world.

And in each world, there were sealed Celestial Gods and Evil Gods like Yala.

All the sealed Celestial Gods and Evil Gods should have initially been in the weakest state of lingering will, close to annihilation, but as time passed, they were gradually recovering and reviving. Yala was among the fastest to recover.

The awakening of these Celestial Gods and Evil Gods caused turbulence in the sealed worlds, and the combined turbulence of countless sealed worlds caused cracks to appear in the 'Gate of Seals' that suppressed them, and it began to shatter.

The leakage of spiritual energy from many high-energy other worlds and the phenomenon of world fusion were the source of the current world's spiritual energy recovery, and this excessively violent world fusion would cause multiple world chain collapses, destroying all the sealed worlds and the entire existing universe—and even more.

"Earth...I'll use your human term to refer to this place—this planet is essentially the central node of the entire Gate of Seals. Its complete form can't possibly be this small!"

As it said this, Yala had Su Zhou bring over paper and pen, and then used its tail to wrap around the pen, skillfully starting to draw diagrams and various data analyses. It explained as it drew, "In the material world, your planet may just be a speck of dust in the entire universe, but in the 'spiritual' or 'supernatural' world, this place is the axis of the entire universe, the supreme heaven, the immortal realm, and the pantheon."

On the drawing, the snake spirit drew a very strange structure, like a large mass of cotton wool, and then pointed casually, "This is where Earth is located in the real universe—don't look, it's very small."

But Yala drew a magnetic field distribution map similar to butterfly wings, and finally pointed towards the center, "This is where Earth is located in the spirit world...yes, it's the center."

"'Geocentrism' is undoubtedly the truth in the mysterious supernatural realm. It is the place where all mysteries converge, the source of the final connection of all sealed worlds."

"...Thanks for the compliment." Although Su Zhou understood what Yala meant, he still couldn't accept that his hometown and the land under his feet actually had such a background. He subconsciously complained, "So, if those sealed, last-of-their-lineage Evil Gods escape, they'll subconsciously want to run to us?"

"How are you talking? Not last-of-their-lineage, lingering will!"

Yala frowned, seeming to feel insulted, "In short, those guys are like me, wanting to escape the seal and regain their freedom—and their method is to rely on the recovery of spiritual energy to cultivate their own kin, demons, as keys for resonance.

But they never thought that this act of escaping together would cause everyone to perish together."

At this point, the snake spirit's tone became harsh, and it said sinisterly, "And I've at least gotten half a foot out, ahead of all of them. So, I can't allow these last-of-their-lineage to create a doomsday scenario before I completely escape the seal and regain my power!"

In the end, you're still calling them last-of-their-lineage.

Su Zhou, who was complaining in his heart, didn't say these words out loud.

Temporarily too lazy to think about those overly grand things involving the fate of the entire universe, the 17-year-old high school student who liked beast fights and comparing combat power asked with great interest, "Then Yala, does that mean you're the strongest of all the sealed Evil Gods?"

"Celestial God!"

Yala patiently corrected Su Zhou's frequent misnomers. It put down the pen wrapped around its tail, looking embarrassed...but in the end, the snake spirit reluctantly said, "Although it's embarrassing, it's even more embarrassing to lie to you, a mortal...I am indeed very strong, one of the strongest of all the Celestial Gods, but I'm definitely not the strongest."

"However, even so, even if my descent failed due to the opportunity of the ritual, and I only have a little bit of spirituality left to make a contract with you, it's still much better than those last-of-their-lineage who can't even descend, hahaha!"

Saying this, Yala suddenly laughed heartily, and its entire snake body began to tremble. Whether seeing or hearing it, one could sense endless schadenfreude.

And Su Zhou kept in mind that 'Yala and the other sealed Evil Gods have a very bad relationship'.

"In short, when I was pushed back into the seal by the 'Celestial Calibrator', I vaguely figured out a bit about its essence and usage."

After laughing, the snake spirit returned to the original topic. It turned its head and looked at Su Zhou seriously, "For example, the 'Celestial Calibrator' is like a repeater that can mobilize the power of the seal. As long as we hold it, we can inject spiritual power and travel to the worlds on the other side of the seal. Then, we can use the various rare spiritual objects and materials in those worlds to accelerate your growth and my recovery."

Seeing Su Zhou's serious and eager expression, seemingly wanting to ask something, Yala predicted the future and directly answered in advance, "You don't have to worry about not knowing what the worlds behind the Gate of Seals are like, because there's a basic law in the multiverse—information exchange."

"Even if there are no spatial-temporal rifts connecting each world, there will always be information exchange...In fact, many creative inspirations in various worlds, whether it's poetry, novels, games, or even religion and culture, all come partly from information from other worlds—and in your world, there must be some movies, games, or novels and operas that reflect the worlds behind the Gate of Seals.

And you're definitely familiar with the demons born from these worlds—in your world, there are works projected from their world's information. Go and see these works, and you'll know what those worlds are roughly like."

At this point, Yala finally revealed its ultimate goal, "Demons are the keys for other worlds to invade your world, and vice versa. Su Zhou, as long as you use the aura of those demons as a guide, the Celestial Calibrator can take you to the source world of those demons."

"And after entering those worlds, you may be able to seal, or even completely kill the lingering will of those Evil Gods—in this way, the fusion between worlds will slow down, and even strengthen your world while ensuring the recovery of spiritual energy, making the doomsday countdown longer."

"As for why I'm telling you all this."

Saying this in the mental world, Yala climbed onto the silent Su Zhou's hand again, and came to the young man's shoulder. It smiled softly, "I can only be considered half out now, and I don't have any power at all."

"Perhaps in hundreds of thousands of years, I can slowly accumulate enough power to return to the world in my complete form. But the realms will be destroyed in fifteen years, where do I have the time to slowly recover? So I must cultivate a person, make him stronger quickly, and have him go and kill those Evil Gods who just won't rest in peace, extend the doomsday countdown, and by the way, let me recover as soon as possible, so as not to really perish together at that time."

The snake spirit's words were very straightforward. As Su Zhou had requested before, it basically didn't beat around the bush, but told all the information it knew.

Then, it handed over the choice to the other party, smiling as it watched Su Zhou make his choice.

After being silent for a while, Su Zhou stared at the Celestial Calibrator in his hand. His expression was serious at first, but in the end, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly into a smile, and then it grew bigger and bigger, turning into a genuine smile.

"How do I use it, Yala?"

The young man's smile was like bright sunshine, and he said happily, "Can I go to other worlds now? Just for a while, I won't stay too long!"

"...You're not afraid at all."

After being silent for a while, the snake spirit sighed at Su Zhou's thick nerves, and then shook its head, "As for using the Celestial Calibrator? It's still early. You haven't 'awakened' yet, you can only be considered 'spiritually opened'. You can't even activate it, let alone use its few small functions, how could you possibly use it to travel through worlds?"

Mortal, Spiritually Opened, Awakened, Transcendent.

This was the division of the initial cultivation levels that Su Zhou had received from Yala's information.

At this time, he was at the Spiritually Opened level—he had come into contact with supernatural power, but couldn't control it freely. For example, the Yin-Yang eyes that could only see spirits under certain circumstances, approaching or reaching the limits of humans, but only that, were all examples of this.

Su Zhou knew very well that only by Awakening could he surpass the limits of humans, reach the realm of superhumans, and truly be said to possess supernatural power, transcending the mortal level.

And Yala was obviously clearer than Su Zhou. It lightly sucked a little of the young man's blood, and then commented, "Your foundation is already very solid, but even so, you must cultivate my lineage's supreme cultivation method to reach the 'Awakened' level, so that you can have the most basic power to use the 'Celestial Calibrator'."

"Of course, I still don't recommend you to open it as soon as you successfully Awaken, because every sealed world is extremely dangerous, with the lingering will of Evil Gods existing...Su Zhou, don't underestimate any world that has been sealed. The strangeness and power within it are far beyond human imagination."

"I'm not in a hurry, after all, there are still fifteen years."

Su Zhou narrowed his eyes. Compared to the shock and solemnity he felt when he first learned that the world was about to be destroyed, he could now show a natural smile, "Then how can I Awaken?"

"The spiritual energy contained in the four 'Heavenly Dragon Eye Pearls' has actually met the basic cultivation conditions."

Yala also smiled. It could sense the motivation and curiosity that was gradually burning in Su Zhou's heart, "But that's just the basics. If you want to advance perfectly, that's not enough—although my cultivation method doesn't have the saying that if you don't lay a solid foundation in the early stages, you won't be able to achieve perfection and supremacy in the later stages, do you want to spend thousands or tens of thousands of years, or even more time, to make up for a problem that can be solved in a few days, at most a month or two?"

Su Zhou didn't answer at all. His words were as concise as 'Who is the enemy? Where are they? How many to kill?'

"What else do I need to prepare?"

"Gems, gold, silver, mercury, and various scattered materials."

And the snake spirit also replied simply, "Of course, there's also the most important material."

"A 'Demon Core'."