Chapter 1064: The Quest Never Ends — I Am [Truth] |
When the heart dies, the light goes out. When the person dies, the path crumbles with them.
The Ritual of Truth was indeed grinding everything down — decomposing every piece of fuel it had marked and cramming it all into that dazzling nebula, stockpiling power in preparation for the next experiment.
Cheng Shi's silhouette began to disintegrate, slowly, steadily — from feet to head, from limbs to features. Before long, all that remained was a single mouth. And somehow, even in that final instant, the corners of those remaining lips curled upward into a smile.
No one in their right mind could find something to smile about at a moment like this. So why was Cheng Shi still smiling?
Because...
Birth!
Don't forget — Hu Xuan had once planted a Pregnancy Rhythm in Cheng Shi's body. As long as Birth was still a player in this divine gambit, he could always be revived through Birth's power — reborn into the world.
So in this final second of life, he was waiting for a miracle. A miracle belonging to Birth. He'd experienced one before, and as the saying went — where there was a first, there would be a second.
The instant those lips were about to evaporate into nothing, a surge of Birth's revival power erupted outward, pushing back against Truth's erosion and reconstituting Cheng Shi's flesh.
But revival had its limits. Once the Pregnancy Rhythm had expended every last drop of its restorative power, the arc of Cheng Shi's smile froze — and in the very next heartbeat, it collapsed downward, morphing from sneering bravado into helpless panic.
Birth could give him a second life, but not a third. Truth's erosion continued unabated. Even after Cheng Shi's eyes reopened, the Pregnancy Rhythm had merely delayed his death by a few more minutes.
"Shit..."
A dying man's last words tend to be profane.
Cheng Shi was losing his mind. He channeled every last scrap of strength in his body and, trembling, managed to snap his fingers — swapping himself back to Hu Xuan's side. His plan was to buy time by planting Pregnancy Rhythms on himself over and over, exploiting the loophole until his Benefactor could spare a hand from the divine gambit to save him.
He also knew Fang Yuan was with Hu Xuan. That loophole-loving Order follower might just find some crack in the rules to keep everyone alive.
And sure enough, Cheng Shi's guess was right. Fang Yuan was indeed keeping the others safe — though his method was rather creative.
When Cheng Shi struggled to his companions' side, he found all five of them completely unharmed, in far better shape than he was.
He was stunned. But what shocked him even more wasn't their condition — it was the utterly absurd scene unfolding before his eyes.
In front of him stood three identical pudgy figures, each tearing pages from the books in their hands and shouting outward: "Experimentation is prohibited in this area!" It was this power of Order that held Truth's erosion at bay and kept their bodies intact.
As for why there were three pudgy figures... that wasn't Fang Yuan's doing. It was Meng Youfang — the God Worship Society president standing behind them, ashen-faced and gritting his teeth through sheer willpower — who had summoned two additional 'Fang Yuans' in a single breath. Only through three combined streams of Order's feeble power were they barely holding off the Ritual of Truth's decomposition.
Behind Meng Youfang stood Chen Yi and Wei Zhi. The two men were staring wide-eyed at Hu Xuan on the ground below them, exchanging baffled looks, utterly at a loss.
Because Hu Xuan was going into labor.
"!!??"
Can you imagine what kind of scene these people had produced? When Cheng Shi laid eyes on this tableau, his brain short-circuited so completely he nearly forgot he was dying.
Hu Xuan's belly was swollen bigger than the blood moon that had hung over Far Dusk Town that night.
'Lady, did you really have to pick THIS moment?!'
'Are babies born during a crisis born with better survival instincts or something?!'
'Come on — Birth isn't exactly known for being in a rush! Who on earth did you inherit that impatience from?!'
The weakened Cheng Shi collapsed to his knees the instant he appeared. Meng Youfang's flagging spirits surged the moment he saw his brother. The words tumbled out before he could think:
"Brother! Truth actually dared to make a move on me! Could He be trying to use my body to reconstruct an entirely new god?!"
"..."
On the other side, Chen Yi's face was iron-gray. "Just hold on a little longer. He won't abandon me."
Fang Yuan's face was drenched in sweat — he couldn't spare the breath to respond. Wei Zhi, however, let his gaze sweep appraisingly over the group before letting out a snort of derision:
"A rabble. Nothing more."
"..."
Cheng Shi clenched his teeth, hauled himself upright, shoved Wei Zhi aside with a muttered "You think you can do better?", and staggered over to Hu Xuan's side before dropping to his knees again. He knew the timing was terrible, but what choice did he have? He was the only Priest present — someone had to deliver the baby.
'Besides, it's not like this is my first time.'
He looked at Hu Xuan, who was so wracked with pain she was on the verge of blacking out, and his brow furrowed. He realized this birth might not be as simple as he'd assumed.
For a Life Sage who was perpetually in a state of gestation, what kind of delivery could possibly cause her this much difficulty? Unless — was she about to ascend?
Was the true Eternal Sun about to be born?
A jolt of electricity shot through Cheng Shi. He instantly drew his scalpel.
'This baby is a game-changer! This baby HAS to be born!'
'Everyone's survival might be riding on this one delivery!'
But Truth's erosion had truly sapped every ounce of his strength. He held the scalpel against Hu Xuan's distended belly and waved it back and forth without managing to leave so much as a scratch. In the end, Wei Zhi snatched the scalpel from his hand, huffed with mild contempt, and said:
"I'll do it. Where do I cut?"
Cheng Shi's eyelids were growing heavier by the second. He tore off his mask, hit everyone — himself included — with a burst of shared-blessing healing, then pointed at Hu Xuan's belly and said:
"Cut hard. As long as you get it open, that's good technique.
The Cheng Method of Delivery values one thing above all — going with the flow."
The words had barely left his mouth when — shhk — Chen Yi drove his dagger into Hu Xuan's belly from the side.
An instant later, Hu Xuan was gone.
Chen Yi had exiled her into the past. All that remained was the 'fetus,' still wrapped in its amniotic membrane, suspended in midair for a heartbeat before it — and all the amniotic fluid — splashed down beside Cheng Shi.
'What the — you...'
Cheng Shi was about to curse, but his eyes were immediately drawn to the newborn. Because this 'boy's' body was... more than a little too well-developed. Why was he so tall?
Wait — hold on!!!
Why was it a grown man?!
Where's my Sage?!
...
Elsewhere.
Everything Cheng Shi was experiencing, the gods were experiencing too.
Fate had set His mind on dragging the entire universe to its doom, leaving every god present no choice but to set aside their grievances and work together to prop up the fragile cosmos.
Only Truth remained motionless, watching Fate's machinations with pages lazily turning — still perfectly composed.
From all appearances, He didn't fear the universe's collapse. No — the brisk, almost cheerful tempo of those turning pages suggested He was looking forward to whatever came of Fate's wayward path.
Deceit studied Truth with an inscrutable gaze, eyes dark and unreadable.
Behind Him, Folly let out a snicker and shook His head:
"One foolish act ends, and another begins.
Truth's experiment is about to start. So tell me, Deceit — how do you plan to shut the gods' mouths?"
"?" Deceit glanced back at Folly and returned the snicker with one of His own. "I'll mince you into filling, stuff you into dumplings, and cram them down their throats. Does that method of shutting mouths satisfy you?"
With that, Deceit abandoned His share of holding up the universe entirely and lunged straight at Folly.
Folly's eyes narrowed, and He vanished on the spot. The universe, suddenly bereft of two gods' support, lurched downward with a sickening drop, cracks spreading across it like a spiderweb. It teetered on the brink of plunging into the Void — total annihilation.
And at that very moment — inside the Trial, knowing none of this, acting purely out of self-preservation — Cheng Shi activated Time Has Path.
Every god steeled themselves, ready to invoke their Authority and summon the Convention to collectively save the world. But then Fate suddenly stopped — as though the madness had simply... passed — and released His grip on destruction.
He steered the divergent path back onto the proper road, no longer dragging the universe down with Him.
For a long moment, the gods stared at one another, expressions as varied as their natures.
And at that same instant, unable to endure the turmoil any longer, Birth extended a single thread of divine power toward the Trial and spoke:
"Child — live —
Birth — continues —"
The gods followed Birth's gaze, finally piercing through Truth's obstruction to see everything unfolding in the Trial. Their collective brows knitted. Deceit, spotting that the Clown was still alive, rolled His eyes and promptly 'translated' Birth's words for Truth:
"Hey, Bookworm — did you catch that? The Boss says let my follower go, or She'll keep smacking you around."
"..."
That was most certainly not what Birth had meant. But the gods understood Her intent was to protect Her child, so they turned their eyes to Truth — waiting to see how this second god of the Civilization path, who had caused such an upheaval, intended to bring this to a close.
The Starlight Canon's pages flipped faster. Truth smiled casually:
"Relax. The Trial is about to end. Their preliminary experiment was a success.
What comes next... is for me to take over."
"!!!"
The instant those words fell, the Void itself changed color.
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