Chapter 253 The Initial Flame (9100, Asking for Monthly Tickets at the Start of the Month~)

Once, eleven hundred years ago, the great scholar Berlain predicted that the world would, within two hundred years, enter the abyss of destruction due to the complete stagnation of the elements.

The sun in the sky would extinguish its light, the soil on the ground would no longer be fertile, the forests in the mountains would gradually wither, the wind would become increasingly dry, and all things between heaven and earth would slowly welcome lifelessness.

And the God of Earth also sensed the world's impending demise—the endless earth element land that sustained the entire world was gradually collapsing, the fertile land was about to wither and heat up, and be burned to ashes by the flames from the earth's core.

This was an almost irreversible dead end, which even the power of the gods could not prevent, and the God of Earth, who was loved by the four nations and believed in by countless earth people, made the final choice after thinking for a hundred days and nights.

And sacrifice.

He chose to use himself as a sacrifice to maintain the fertility of the land for a period of time—just as a corpse would restore fertility to the depleted land, the death of a god would probably extend the life of the world for a while.

—Returning the 'Initial Earth Element' on which he relied to become a god to the world might delay it for a while.

Thinking so, the god killed himself, burying himself under the earth with mysterious rituals.

He succeeded.

So, the world really extended its lifespan for a while…

But it also brought a long period of torment called the 'Millennial Apocalypse' to the earth people.

The interruption of the demonic tide stopped the progress of the apocalypse and made the sacrifice of the God of Earth meaningless. In the long period of spiritual energy depletion for a thousand years, the Earth Era, which lost its god and all near-god powerhouses, all elite tiers, and only had a part of formal professionals, cut off almost all inheritance, and no one even knew why the God of Earth sacrificed himself and why he died.

And during this period, all the earth people were tortured by suffering and even lost all thoughts of resisting the apocalypse, only knowing how to survive in order to hope that the apocalypse would arrive before they died of old age. They also did not know what the God of Earth would think after knowing that his forcibly prolonging the era had actually led to such painful results.

But in any case, at the time of deciding to sacrifice, the god must have been full of determination.

And the place where He chose to sacrifice was the center of the Tarta Dis world, which is also the largest Netherworld Maze in this world today, a huge pit that bears the corpses of the current gods.

With the power of Su Zhou and the Wind God, it did not take much time to reach the center of the world. After several hours, they arrived between these huge mountains and saw the incomparably huge, almost like a scar on the world, tens of kilometers of deep, bottomless abyss.

If a bird wanted to cross this deep pit, it would be unable to find a foothold or air current support, and could only helplessly fall into it.

And that was the entrance to the maze.

Now, the center of the world was completely shrouded in gray mist.

This gray mist did not have any lethality. At Su Zhou's call, many bold fellows in Nesser City had tried many times, but the result was that whether it was ordinary people, transcendents, or the most ordinary mice and insects, all could live freely in the gray mist without being affected in any way.

In other words, it was very likely that it was not the gray mist that brought destruction, but rather wherever the world fell into lifelessness, it would be completely shrouded in gray mist and completely included in the scope of the Netherworld.

And Su Zhou, who regarded the gray mist as the substantial embodiment of the Lonely Lord in this world, could not help but be puzzled.

Su Zhou had also carefully observed the essence of the gray mist with his spiritual eyes—but apart from discovering that it could penetrate all things without reacting with any spiritual energy, he could not find any special features. Even when he asked Yala, Yala did not answer.

Elias, who was being carried by Su Zhou and others, experienced traveling across half a continent at subsonic speed for the first time. Until landing, he was still a little dizzy. He did not know whether he was shocked by the news that the mysterious man was the Wind God, or simply dizzy from flying too fast and wanting to vomit.

But when everyone entered the abyss maze, he quickly regained his composure.

"The feeling here is so familiar, so warm..."

For some reason, this young Grand Duke of Nesser City showed an extremely nostalgic expression as he gradually went deeper into the maze, and he himself did not know what he was nostalgic for.

"It's the God of Earth."

And the Wind God gave the answer. He softly answered Elias's question: "The God of Earth is the symbol of the Earth Era. His existence itself will remind the earth people of the warm and normal world when the world was normal."

The Wind God's tone was also nostalgic, while Su Zhou remained silent.

The central grand maze was not difficult to navigate. There were not so many twists and turns. After entering, one only needed to find the huge gap leading downward to reach the next level.

In the middle, there were indeed many powerful magical beasts appearing. They were all kinds of transcendent creatures revived in the Netherworld, and they were all the best of the past eras. However, facing Su Zhou and the Wind God, no matter how insane the magical beasts were, they would be scared into docile cats that could be rubbed obediently.

Along the way, Elias even had the illusion that he was strolling in the suburbs of Nesser City. Those maze magical beasts that appeared from time to time and then lay prostrate on the ground, shivering, were just ordinary citizens who came to say hello, without any lethality at all.

Then, very quickly, on the sixth level of the maze, Su Zhou and the Wind God found their target this time.

A corpse of an incomparably huge giant.

The giant's corpse was nearly three thousand meters long, even larger than the huge Water God, like a real mountain range.

Even though it only had bones left, the pale brown, enormous skeleton seemed to be able to support the entire world just by existing.

This was the true body of the Earth God in the realm of gods at its peak and in its full glory.

His bones were covered with dense elemental inscriptions and flashing earth elemental light. Around him, there were dense forests of earth elemental crystals, and a large number of earth era magical beasts lived around him, which was incompatible with the normal ecology of the sixth level of the maze.

Su Zhou took a part of the Earth God's skeleton and put it into Elias's space ring to accompany the Water God's initial element.

The Earth God's corpse was facing downwards, as if He wanted to explore the depths of the earth, or it was simply a requirement of the ritual.

But in any case, the Earth God's corpse even penetrated three levels of the maze. The sixth, seventh, and eighth levels of the maze were all passed through by His corpse, with His legs, body, arms, and head respectively.

Following the Earth God's skeleton, Su Zhou and others passed through the maze at the fastest speed and arrived at the bottom of the eighth level of the maze where the Earth God's head and outstretched arms were located.

Here, it was also the 'Netherworld' of the Water Era. However, compared to the maze around Nesser City, the eighth level of the Great Maze in the center of the world not only had abundant water vapor, but also a real small underground ocean—in the dark maze sea, there were a large number of blind fish that could survive without light, and there were also a large number of self-luminous deep-sea fish breeding in it.

And in this unique environment, Su Zhou even saw old acquaintances, that is, a large number of sea cucumbers—naturally, the sea cucumbers here did not have the good luck to transform into dragons. They were one of the bottom layers of the food chain and were swallowed by various powerful deep-sea magical beasts as snacks.

Using the Water Aid enhanced by the Water God's evil soul, Su Zhou supported a huge bubble in this maze ocean for the Wind God and Elias to move.

And the seabed of this ocean was the final destination of their trip that the Wind God told Su Zhou.

"Under the Netherworld in the center of the world, that is, the so-called ninth level of the maze, the initial elements of the next era are nurtured. As long as the initial elements possessed by the gods themselves are used to soak them before the end comes, then the next era will become the era of the elements held by the gods themselves."

The Wind God, who had experienced several era changes, stared at the direction pointed by the Earth God's corpse and the outstretched giant hand bone. He sighed softly: "In the previous eras, at this time, there would be at least two gods fighting here in the depths of this maze. Their powerful forces would tear apart the barrier between the eighth and ninth levels, and the turbulent elements would make the elements of the next era appear."

"However, the strength of the gods is inherently comparable, and even if they are slightly weaker, they can definitely perish together. Therefore, all the struggles that have developed to this point in the past have ended with the gods perishing together and the new era being born naturally."

"But this time is different."

Su Zhou said so. The young man took a step forward, and the spiritual power in his body began to rise rapidly. In the next instant, accompanied by the flash of spiritual light, he had once again transformed into a wingless dragon body: "The Water God has been killed by me, and the Earth God has sacrificed himself. According to what you said, the Fire God exploded and died, and the reincarnation of the era cannot enter—and you are the last remaining god. As long as I fail, you will naturally succeed."

"Perhaps, you can become the first victorious god you know?"

"This is not called victory, this is called being given."

And the Wind God also returned to the god's body under a burst of magical light. The violent wind elements swept around him, turning the surrounding seawater into a sea tide, and the materialized vortex air waves stirred around him.

And in the next instant, towards the direction pointed by the Earth God's corpse, Su Zhou and the Wind God both unleashed their most powerful attacks, bombarding that area.

The violent breath that gathered wind, thunder, water, and fire even vaporized all the surrounding deep-sea seawater, and the wind spear that was enough to penetrate all things in the world also stirred up endless giant waves and ocean currents even in the water. These two forces simultaneously bombarded that piece of land, and this force even triggered the remaining power of the Earth God—accompanied by a heavy wave coming from the Earth God's corpse, and then gathering at his fingertips, three completely different forces collided with each other, and then exploded with a bang.

The eighth level of the Netherworld Maze, and also the road to the ninth level, was thus opened up.

If Su Zhou's water element power is regarded as an extension of the Water God, then this time, perhaps it is the three major elements of wind, water, and earth that have all gathered, except for the elements that the 'Fire Era' may represent, which the next era may give birth to... The power of the past eras has thus joined forces in a peculiar way.

Looking at the layer that had been blasted out, leading to the next layer, that is, the 'ninth level maze' that no one had ever reached before, Su Zhou's eyes were deep. In his heart, there was also a feeling of tension and anticipation.

"If the 'erosion degree' in the Heavenly God Scale represents the degree of erosion of the sealed world by the great existence."

"Then in the past, the God Tree World only had more than 20%, and the God Tree did not grow to its full form. The power of the Great Dao Tree not only did not erode that world, but almost got beaten back by the local natives. Even without my help, it would probably only be a matter of time to defeat the Demon Emperor."

"But the erosion degree of the Lonely Lord World has 79.84%, nearly 80%—and if the gray mist and the maze, or this entire era cycle, are regarded as the Lonely Lord's incarnation, then he is almost about to completely control this sealed world, thereby breaking out of the seal!"

And this was also the point that puzzled Su Zhou—if the Lonely Lord was as active as the Great Dao Tree, then with his erosion degree of the world, if he really had any materialized incarnation, it would definitely be towering in the center of the world like the Banyan Undying Tree.

But in reality, he did nothing. Su Zhou did not see any obvious changes that the Lonely Lord had made to this world. He just silently watched, and even searched the entire world, but could not find a physical body.

This was not an exaggeration—with the speed of Su Zhou and the Wind God, it would not take a few days to patrol the entire world. If the Lonely Lord really had any obvious physical body, then with their keen observation, it would be impossible not to discover it—in fact, they really found a few scattered human settlements in the corners, and then brought all those thousands of people back to Nesser City.

Apart from that, all other humans have entered the maze, that is, the Netherworld, to seek survival.

Since there was no trace of the Lonely Lord in the outside world, then if he really existed, the only possibility was in the maze, and the most likely one was the central grand maze where the Earth God's corpse was located.

"Regardless of whether he has a physical body or not, anyway, as long as I express the idea of wanting to change this world and end this cycle, then he will definitely appear and stop me, right."

Thinking so, Su Zhou and the Wind God looked at each other, and the two of them, carrying Elias, passed through the huge gap and headed to the ninth level of the maze.

But unfortunately, there was no trace of the Lonely Lord's incarnation found here.

He did nothing.

The ninth level of the maze was a huge lava zone.

The golden-red magma flowed slowly like an ocean in the vast underground depths, surging, and from time to time, a few lava bubbles burst, releasing unimaginable heat while splashing sparks.

The water maze on the eighth level was inevitably affected by it, and the seabed hot springs were heated.

Even in the underground maze of Nesser City, the temperature was gradually rising, and the entrances and exits of the seventh and eighth levels of the maze were originally underground hot springs. Thinking of this, Su Zhou could not help but have a guess—are the mazes all over the world connected in some way? That's why they appear so evenly and have such similar shapes.

At this time, the water flow of the eighth level maze was pouring into the ninth level lava sea through the entrance and exit jointly blasted by Su Zhou and the Wind God. The moment it touched the magma, it was vaporized, and the high-heat white mist-like water vapor immediately turned into twisted air waves, enveloping the area where the two layers of the maze intersected. For the safety of Elias, Su Zhou and the Wind God quickly left that area.

And just after they left that area, accompanied by a series of earth-shattering roars, the Earth God's corpse also began to slowly slide into the ninth level maze—having lost the earth that supported his corpse, how could his enormous weight be supported by the mere hollowed-out soil layer? So the two people and one god present saw that the thousands of meters long giant god body was submerged in the magma, and the majestic earth element that condensed the power of the gods was also completely incorporated into the flames, gradually transforming into flying fire elements.

"Fire, wind, water, earth. And then converted into fire again... This is the law of natural reincarnation and element operation..."

Staring at this scene, Elias murmured in a low voice: "The depths of the earth are nurturing flames, and the temperature is getting higher and higher, so the surface soil is dry, the fertile land turns into ash, and the clouds also disappear—and because the elements are out of balance, they show stagnation... The world is thus destroyed, but it will also be reborn."

Even though this earth person teenager was afraid and worried, he still tried his best to stare at the moment when the body of his god in this era gradually turned into the nutrients of the next era. His tone was full of confusion: "Can we really survive in the next era, Mr. Su..."

"I came here for this, believe me."

Su Zhou's simple answer suppressed the fear in Elias's heart. He recalled Su Zhou's actions in this world and immediately felt a sense of security rising for some reason.

Su Zhou and others continued to set off, searching for the core of the ninth level maze.

This was not difficult to find, because it was so obvious and so undisguised.

Dong—dong—dong—

In the ninth level maze, in the place where the energy fluctuation was the largest, Su Zhou and the Wind God, and even Elias, who only had the strength of the Awakening Stage, heard an enormous 'leaping' sound, almost like the heartbeat of the world.

And in this place where all things return to death, where the corpses of gods are buried, and also in this place where all things begin, the furnace embryo where the new world is born.

Su Zhou saw the 'Initial Flame'.

That was a group with a radius of several kilometers, like a living being, constantly leaping, jumping, driving the entire ninth level maze, all the magma seas constantly moving and operating 'heart', a group presenting a spherical shape, like the sun, releasing dazzling light that made people unable to look directly at it, releasing its own light and heat flames to everything around it.

That was the 'Initial Fire Element' that would be the master of the next era after the end of the Earth Era and would recreate the new world.

Although the initial fire element looked like it had life, it was actually a pure and blazing firelight. It did not resist contact with outsiders, nor did it have the power to protect itself like other natural gods.

This endless power of the element was just like waiting to be picked up by someone, to be transformed by someone, to be used and absorbed by someone, just like that, defenselessly staying in the center of the ninth level magma sea.

It was no wonder that the gods of the past generations who saw the core of the next era element were so eager to obtain it—this was undoubtedly something that could determine the fate of the next world!

Elias could even hear that the Wind God's breathing was much heavier, his eyes became hot, and even a little dangerous.

But Su Zhou took the lead to fly forward—this scene made the Wind God calm down, and let Him and Elias quietly watch Su Zhou perform.

"He doesn't have his own initial element power... I don't need to worry."

Elias could even hear the Wind God's voice, which he didn't know whether he was talking to himself or to others.

But Su Zhou stopped, he turned his head, and somewhat inexplicably said to the Wind God: "What are you doing stopping there? Come over quickly, the next thing needs your help!"

And the Wind God's body was stunned, and then, he exhaled, and then took Elias over.

The huge fire heart gave people the feeling of not being hot at all. Whether it was Su Zhou, the Wind God, or the gray-eyed teenager with the lowest strength, what they felt was a burst of vitality, a burning and harmonious flame. This seemed to be the fire that condensed all the life power of the previous world. Just shining on it made the three people present feel comfortable, and all the dark wounds in their bodies were expelled.

Elias even felt that the injuries in his body caused by reversing the elemental great array were slowly recovering—although Su Zhou saved him with his own blood, it was more like Su Zhou used his huge vitality to forcibly extend Elias's life for decades than to say that he had healed the injury... And now, under the illumination of the initial flame, he could feel that his own vitality was slowly returning.

And at this time, he also heard Su Zhou's voice.

"The era reincarnation of the Tarta Dis world, in the final analysis, is the creation of the world by a single element, which then derives other elements, resulting in elemental imbalance—it is born deformed and cannot last for a long time. Therefore, it needs to be repeatedly destroyed and reborn, and the power of the major elements is reincarnated to maintain balance."

"And the gods of the past generations, as powerful beings who benefited from the birth of a single element, are also the gods who protect the lives born from the creation of those single elements. Even if they get the opportunity to transform the world, they will only rudely convert everything into the elemental attributes they possess, and create a single-element world again."

This was indeed the fact. Even the Wind God did not change this idea now. This was the nature that existed in all life and civilizations, and it was an impossible instinct to change.

——But what the Lonely Lord loved was the existence that transcended self-nature and instinct and broke the cycle.

Since the existence of this world could not do this, then let me do it.

"If there is an existence that gets the opportunity to touch the core of the next era element, but does not rudely transform it into a single-element core, but transforms it into a multi-element balanced core... Then, can the world it creates maintain stability and exist for a long time?"

Saying so, Su Zhou opened the space ring from Elias and took out part of the Earth God's corpse and the Water God's initial element core.

Then, he looked at the Wind God on the side.

The Wind God raised his head and stared deeply at Su Zhou. He already understood what Su Zhou wanted to do. He found it difficult to explain what his mood was now... Fear, fear, or panic?

And what was he fearing and fearing, what was he terrified of?

"You are afraid of the unknown, afraid of the unpredictable future."

And Su Zhou calmly spoke out the thoughts deep in the Wind God's heart: "You are thinking, 'If we gather the four major elements now, what will happen to the new world in the future, what will it become?'"

"You are still thinking, since we already have a single-element world that can be created and maintained stably for tens of thousands of years, why take the risk and create a brand new, unknown world?"

"You fear everything unpredictable, fear leaving your comfort zone... Of course, I understand your fear. After all, you bear your people on your shoulders. If you are a cold and ruthless god, like the fire god of the previous era, who would not hesitate to absorb the light and heat of all his people in order to break the era cycle, he would never be afraid. Your fear is because of love, because of responsibility."

——But Wind God, isn't what you least want to see is the 'Yesterday's Reappearance'-like cycle?

"Yes..."

The Wind God murmured: "If I let my people repeat the era of falling, I would rather die than... But, Su Zhou, what kind of fruit will our actions bear? No one has ever done such a thing in the endless cycles of the past..."

"It's always better than everything cycling through the end and rebirth."

In the end, Su Zhou didn't know either, he admitted it generously: "It is precisely because no one has ever done it, no one has ever thought about it, that there is value in experimenting—if intelligent life only does what it knows, only repeats what it knows the results of, then it will be stagnant forever."

"In my world, people often joke that 'humans are just tape recorders', and even inferior tape recorders that cannot completely record the content of the recording—but precisely because it is a tape recorder that will record different things from before, and think of different results from before, so the ideas will be opened up, and wisdom will be meaningful—precisely because it is an inferior tape recorder, and not a perfect tape recorder, so civilization will progress."

"The same is true for reincarnation. If it is always yesterday's reappearance, then the same pain must be experienced again and again. Before trying a new choice, no one knows whether it represents happiness or pain, but like crabs, someone always has to be the first to eat crabs—so why can't it be me?"

——This desire to explore the unknown is the quality that a sound civilization should possess!

Saying so, Su Zhou turned his head. He no longer looked at the silent Wind God, but stared at the fire heart in front of him.

"I want to guide the power of this fire element heart, to mix you, the Earth God and the Water God's power, to create a huge, four-element version of the 'Five Spirits Colorful Scale'."

"Or rather, an absolutely balanced, composite element core that can be converted at any time."

The reason for the doomsday is because a single element is transformed into another element, causing drastic ecological changes. Although it is said that a complete world is destined to have at least four major elements complete, there are too many single-attribute elements in the reincarnation world of Tarta Dis. Each of its rotations will cause devastating results.

But, if from the beginning, the world has a complete, balanced four major elements... Then, even if the dominant element rotates and the era changes, it will never cause a doomsday situation. At most, it is similar to the ice age cycle on Earth. The previous generation of civilization and creatures will always have the opportunity to continue to survive.

"Reincarnation can be broken. Even if this era cannot be perfect, then the next era can continue to improve. This long-term self-revision and progress, self-sublimation and advancement, and that heart to explore the unknown are the fundamental meaning of civilization!"

Thinking so, Su Zhou had already reached out his hand to touch the huge initial flame.

At this time, he remembered his conversation with Yala a few days ago.

"I need knowledge about transforming the world core, Yala, this should not be difficult. Those things that the gods can do, there is no reason why I can't do it."

Su Zhou said so, his tone as firm as a rock.

"In this case, the causal relationship between you and this world, and the causal relationship with the Lonely Lord, will be tightly bound."

Yala said so. It did not dissuade him, but just said the consequences of doing so: "Are you really going to do this, Su Zhou?"

"Does saving a world not require paying a price?"

Su Zhou said so: "The gods of this world dare not pay the price for the sake of their people. They bear too much. In that case, it's okay for me to pay—of course, in return, this world belongs to me. It's as if I have no profit to make."

"In that case, you have already considered it and made a choice." The snake spirit hovered on Su Zhou's shoulder, and it smiled indifferently: "Then I will tell you."

——Just at the moment when Su Zhou touched the heart of the flame.

The power of the Water God and the corpse of the Earth God that surrounded him all merged into the huge flame heart in accordance with his will.

Although it seemed that the difference in their size was almost like dust and mountains, as these two forces that also belonged to the initial elements merged into the defenseless flame core, faint blue and earth-brown lights began to light up inside the entire huge fireball.

Before the new world began to be born, the core of the new era was originally a blank blueprint that could be changed at will. If the elemental stagnation of the outside world was that the speed of elemental transformation was dozens or hundreds of times slower than normal, then here, the speed of elemental transformation was dozens or hundreds of times faster than normal.

"Will this wanton change of the origin of the new world make this world better or worse?"

Following closely behind Su Zhou, the Wind God stretched out his hand and injected his own wind element power into it. He murmured in a low voice: "Can we really be sure of all this?"

"If everything is destined and can be determined, then what is the point of working hard and striving?"

"I understand your suffering, because you need to shoulder everything for your people, so you dare not make a choice. No matter what choice you make, it is those few choices that are least likely to be wrong."

Su Zhou did not turn around to look at Him. He turned his back to the Wind God, modifying the initial data of the world under Yala's guidance. The young man said calmly: "But the choices that will not go wrong cannot interrupt the cycle. I don't know what the Lonely Lord's thoughts are, but ordinary humanity and ordinary civilization can never meet his standards."

Saying so, he laughed, because the huge flame heart was being changed by him without any resistance, and Su Zhou was also using this huge power to shape an unprecedented super-giant spiritual energy organ, a world-scale 'Five Spirits Colorful Scale' at will!

In the process of shaping, his understanding of this powerful spiritual energy organ became more and more profound, and he understood it more and more clearly. Even the mythical bird Peacock, which created it, probably did not have a stronger understanding of this aspect than Su Zhou, because it could not have such a thing that could arbitrarily use the four major founding initial elements to create this spiritual energy organ!

——Afraid of the price of exploring the unknown?

It doesn't matter, I will pay for you. Even if I have to face the Lonely Lord, that is my business.

Because mistakes must be corrected, this chaos, this mistake, this cycle that will bring suffering to the innocent, I must end it.

It's nothing, it's just my obsessive-compulsive disorder. I can't stand this dark world, I can't stand this world without hope.

Su Zhou's will was as firm as iron.

The Wind God was silent, watching all this, and Elias, who was watching the huge flame heart and watching it begin to transform into four spiritual light colors with his own eyes, was also speechless.

Because, they saw some kind of light from Su Zhou.

That was a pure light, not good, nor evil, just a simple, something that belonged to human beings, it could even be said to be stubborn.

"Everyone has their own justice and correctness in their hearts."

"Because everyone's position is different, and everyone's logic is different."

"I am a very self-centered person. I will listen to other people's ideas, but I won't care about them. I can understand other people's positions, but I won't change them. Because of this, I am Su Zhou, and that's why I am standing here, trying to save this world as an outsider."

"It's for you, but not completely for you. The most important thing is for what 'I think' is the right thing."

Controlling the modification and structural transformation of the world core with his own power.

Su Zhou tried his best to maintain the balance of the four major elements, maintaining the smooth elemental cycle and rotation between them.

In this process, his mind was vaguely attracted by this cycle, which was enough to create an entire world, and then gradually, he delved into it and glimpsed its essence.

And at this moment, the light and shadow changed, and everything seemed to flash like floating light and fleeting shadows.

Su Zhou saw the beginning of this cycle world.

First update, I should be able to finish this copy today.

It's not speeding up... Okay, it's speeding up a bit, but there's really not much content behind the outline...