Recap
Yan Zhao was stunned for a long time, and asked softly, “Whose soul lamp is extinguished?”
“Did the mission fail?” Yan Zhao smiled reluctantly, “Xi Wang’s soul lamp is extinguished?”
Blood Jade Bracelet: It’s not Xi Wang, it’s the Great Demon King! The Great Demon King is also the son of destiny, if the soul lamp is extinguished, it means he is completely dead…
“Shut up.” Yan Zhao shouted in a low voice, he hated the word “death”.
Yan Zhao half-kneeled on the ground, covering his heart in a daze.
A more violent taste than the original feeling of loss struck, as if he had lost something important forever.
This is his divine body and logically speaking, there should be no pain.
Why is it still… So painful?
Yan Zhao closed his eyes, trying his best to calm down. “What happened after I left?” he asked.
The Blood Jade Bracelet responded, “The Great Demon King purified all the zombies in the world with the Red Lotus Karmic Fire. The zombies weren’t destroyed; they all turned back into humans. He said he would protect this world for you.”
“Purify?” Yan Zhao was taken aback.
He looked at this thriving new world—the zombie army outside the city wall hadn’t been reduced to ashes. Instead, they had all returned to their former human appearances, reunited and hugged their relatives with happy smiles on their faces.
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire, which he had once misunderstood as the culprit that disturbed the vast universe and possessed the power to destroy the heavens and the earth, had saved a doomsday world.
“He said he guarded it for me?”
The Blood Jade Bracelet choked up. “Yes,” it said, “The Great Demon King also left a few words for you…”
Yan Zhao immediately said, “Tell me.”
The Blood Jade Bracelet replied, “The Great Demon King takes one thing from each world and puts it in my space. That is our token of love.”
Yan Zhao was startled. “Our? Token of love?”
When he used Red Gold’s transformed blood jade bracelet to seal Rong Yu, Rong Yu had jokingly said that this bracelet would be regarded as a token of love between them.
At that time, he had only felt that the Demon King was shameless and could say anything frivolous.
What does every world mean? Is it the world where I hunted down Rong Yu? But apart from Red Gold, I clearly didn’t give him anything, even Red Gold was for imprisonment…
Where did the token of love come from?
The more Yan Zhao thought about it, the more ridiculous he felt. He had been so bad to Rong Yu—wronged him, hurt him, hunted him down, punished him, deceived him. He had inflicted all the “five poisons” on him. How could he have the face to ask for forgiveness?
Yan Zhao swept his consciousness into the blood jade bracelet. Sure enough, he found several things in the space—a golden lotus ring, a sachet containing hair, a painting, and that golden crystal nucleus.
…There is also a soul lamp that has been completely extinguished.
After Rong Yu’s soul was extinguished, the soul lamp sealed within his soul was revealed and collected into the space by the blood jade bracelet.
Yan Zhao stared for a long time. Only when he saw this soul lamp did he clearly realize Rong Yu’s disappearance.
He looked away in a panic, focusing on other things.
He gave the golden crystal nucleus, but what are the other things?
Rong Yu once mentioned three names to me: Chu Zhuo, Fu Qianzhi, Gu Minghuai. Could they have been given by those men? Did he have a love affair in each world and collect these tokens of love like collecting stamps?
Given Rongrong’s vindictive nature, is he still angry with me, even in death? Yan Zhao covered his eyes and chuckled twice. He would rather Rong Yu continue to collect stamps, hundreds or thousands of them, as long as he was safe and sound.
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire was born tearless. Similarly, the Red Gold Sun was also unable to cry. Yan Zhao felt his eyes were a little dry, and his heart ached badly, but his body didn’t react at all.
He unfolded the painting and saw a peach blossom tree in full bloom, with a man in black pushing a swing. The young man in red on the swing was smiling happily, and the man in black was staring at the young man’s back with a gentle smile.
This scene seems familiar, like I’ve seen it in a dream.
The Blood Jade Bracelet said, “The Great Demon King also said that he loves you.”
Yan Zhao instantly looked up from the painting. “What?”
He had thought that Rong Yu was cynical and didn’t understand sincerity, but Rong Yu had said he loved him?
The blood jade bracelet hesitated for a moment, but still said, “Yes, he said he loves you, and he knew what sincerity was earlier than you, but…but he was hurt by you.”
Yan Zhao’s breath hitched, and he felt the pain in his heart suddenly intensify. His internal organs felt as if they were being churned together.
The blood jade bracelet observed him with worry. It remembered the discrepancy in timelines between the Great Demon King and the Lord God. Those individuals from the previous worlds were all past incarnations of the Lord God himself. Additionally, the Great Demon King had mentioned enduring nine hundred and seventy-two cycles of reincarnation. This crucial information needed to be conveyed to the Lord God immediately, especially given their encounter in the 6666th world.
The Blood Jade Bracelet attempted to communicate: “Lord God, those individuals in the initial worlds were all—beep— “
The Blood Jade Bracelet: “? ? ?”
Yan Zhao looked over, inquiring, “What were they?”
The Blood Jade Bracelet struggled to respond: “They were all—beep— “
What’s happening? Why can’t I speak?
The blood jade bracelet continued with urgency: “And beep——”
The Blood Jade Bracelet: “…”
Damn it! Why can’t I say it?!
The blood jade bracelet experimented, discovering it could express other things. However, whenever it attempted to reveal information about the initial worlds or the Great Demon King’s nine hundred and seventy-two year wait for the Lord God, it was silenced. A mysterious force seemed to be preventing it from speaking.
How is this possible? I am the Lord God’s natal artifact. We should be able to communicate directly through thoughts, yet even my thoughts are being blocked!
Who could possess such power?
The Blood Jade Bracelet: “Lord God, please access my memory directly…”
Yan Zhao shared this intention. He needed to understand why Rong Yu’s soul lamp had been extinguished. Purifying the 5627th world shouldn’t have caused Rong Yu such severe harm, let alone complete annihilation. Perhaps something had gone awry in the previous worlds… However, when Yan Zhao’s consciousness connected with the blood jade bracelet, he encountered only a hazy fog.
He couldn’t perceive Rong Yu’s experiences in those initial worlds.
“What’s happening? I can’t see anything,” Yan Zhao frowned.
The blood jade bracelet shook, indicating its inability to speak.
Yan Zhao’s eyes darkened. He returned to the Myriad Gods Realm with the blood jade bracelet.
_
The life and death of the Son of Destiny are closely linked to the survival of their world. When the Son of Destiny’s fate takes a negative turn, their initially bright and enduring soul lamp dims, and its wick shortens, symbolizing a loss of luck and lifespan. If the Son of Destiny dies unexpectedly, their soul lamp can continue to burn for a time, as long as their soul remains intact. However, the flame will be significantly diminished and shortened. The day the candle’s light is extinguished marks the scattering of the Son of Destiny’s soul and the complete destruction of their world.
The Space-Time Administration can freeze a world on the brink of collapse and manipulate time to send envoys to resolve the crisis. The period between the dimming of the Son of Destiny’s soul lamp and its extinction is the window of opportunity for the divine envoy to intervene. If this time is exceeded without remedy, the soul lamp will be extinguished, and the world will be beyond saving.
Even the Lord God cannot restore a completely collapsed world, let alone resurrect a Son of Destiny whose soul lamp has been extinguished. Their power is limited to averting disaster; they cannot reverse death. If they possessed such absolute power, the Lord God would not dare to indulge in slumber for eons.
Many things, once lost, cannot be regained.
In other words, Yan Zhao could not use time manipulation to resurrect Rong Yu, whose soul lamp had been completely extinguished.
Yan Zhao refused to accept this. He had only just grasped the essence of love and was now experiencing the agony of loss. Moreover, he didn’t even know the cause of Rong Yu’s death.
For a mortal Son of Destiny, after a natural lifespan of old age, illness, and death, the last embers of their burning soul lamp ignite the next soul lamp. This ensures the birth of a new Son of Destiny in the world, continuing its luck and maintaining its operation.
Rong Yu, however, was different. He was an immortal demon king. Under normal circumstances, his soul lamp would burn eternally, hot and bright, its flame never dimming, its wick never shortening. He was destined to be the sole Son of Destiny in the 6666th world for all eternity.
But he broke free. The separation of the Son of Destiny from their world meant a loss of luck. The 6666th world, teetering on the edge of collapse, was frozen by Yan Zhao. If Rong Yu did not return or died, this world would remain frozen indefinitely.
Once thawed, it would inevitably collapse and perish.
Yan Zhao returned to the Myriad Gods Realm and accessed the past records of the 6666th world.
He sought to determine when Rong Yu’s soul lamp began to dim and how long it took to extinguish. Despite his relentless pursuit of Rong Yu, he had never noticed any signs of decline.
Did it begin when Rong Yu rejected the Celestial princess, deviating from his destined path?
But Rong Yu had left the 6666th world. His fate was no longer bound by its laws, and his soul lamp should no longer be affected.
Was it when he was struck by Yan Zhao’s sword?
No… The sword had missed. There was no mortal danger, and it couldn’t have harmed the Demon King’s essence.
When did it happen?
Yan Zhao hoped to find the answer in the past records of the 6666th world but found the images frozen and unresponsive.
Yan Zhao lowered his eyes and said softly, “Law, you’re obstructing me.”
Silence descended upon the Myriad Gods Realm.
“I know it’s you,” Yan Zhao said coldly. “Only you have the power to block the connection between me and Red Gold, preventing me from accessing the past of that world. What are you doing?”
After a long pause, an ancient sigh echoed through the Myriad Gods Realm.
“You have come to understand love.”
Yan Zhao admitted, “Yes. So what?”
“You are the Lord God. You love all beings. You cannot have preferences.” The Law of God spoke.
“I love him. That doesn’t prevent me from protecting the universe.” Yan Zhao retorted.
“You want to bring him back to the Myriad Gods Realm.” The Law of God stated. “For your own selfish desire, you would keep the 6666th world frozen indefinitely. Is this your idea of protection?”
Yan Zhao was silent.
When Yan Zhao mistakenly believed Rong Yu had committed a grave offense, killing the Demon King seemed like the only option to uphold the law. However, this would have condemned the 6666th world to eternal darkness. In that moment of hesitation, Yan Zhao showed favoritism for the first time by sparing Rong Yu’s life.
Later, when the truth came to light and Yan Zhao realized Rong Yu’s innocence, he should have returned the Demon King to the 6666th world, allowing him to reunite with the Celestial princess and save their world. Instead, Yan Zhao prioritized his own desire to have Rong Yu in the Myriad Gods Realm, forsaking the billions of inhabitants of the 6666th world. This marked the second instance of his favoritism.
The Demon King, once perceived as a harbinger of destruction, dedicated his life to protecting the Lord God. In a stark contrast, the Lord God, tasked with safeguarding the world, abandoned his responsibilities for the sake of the Demon King.
Yan Zhao, recognizing his selfishness and the perversion of his duties, felt unworthy of his position as the Lord of All Gods.
He confronted the Law of God, questioning its lack of empathy. “You are the law, devoid of feelings, but the gods who enforce it are not,” Yan Zhao argued. “Must I give up on him to save a world? He was wronged and suffered because of me. We shared intimacy, and he chose to flee to escape his fate. Now, I want to send him back to that torment? Isn’t that heartless?”
“If universal love demands cruelty towards him, if protecting all things requires sacrificing him,” Yan Zhao declared calmly, “then you are right. I do favor him. I am unwilling to let him go. I cannot allow it. I am no longer fit to be the Lord of All Gods. I resign.”
The Law of God, enraged, retorted, “You think you can assume and relinquish the mantle of Lord of All Gods on a whim?!”
Only a deity possessing the power of a Lord God could fulfill such a crucial role. The mighty gods who were expected to ascend to this realm had all perished in the battle for the throne. Only Yan Zhao and Qi Ye remained, and Qi Ye had relinquished his godhood. Li Jin, the fallen god who gained power through unlawful means, was never considered by the Law of God, and he was now dead. In the vast universe, Yan Zhao stood alone as the chosen one. Who could replace him if he resigned?
“It’s not that I have no choice; it’s that you have none,” Yan Zhao stated calmly. “Law, tell me how to save him. Otherwise, I will slumber for eternity and never concern myself with the affairs of the world again.”
The Law of God’s voice trembled with fury. “You dare threaten me— “
Love, it seemed, was indeed a troublesome force. This workaholic Lord God was now threatening a strike!
In a cold voice, the Law of God declared, “His soul lamp has been extinguished. There is no way to recover.”
“Why has it been extinguished?” Yan Zhao demanded. “You won’t let me access the past of the 6666th world. What are you hiding from me?”
The Law of God simply responded, “No comment.”
Yan Zhao’s eyes turned icy. The law forbade him from having personal feelings; it clearly didn’t want Rong Yu to be resurrected.
“Can I resurrect him by giving him Li Jin’s godhood?” Yan Zhao asked desperately, grasping at straws. “If not, I’ll give him my own. Qi Ye saved the Snow God this way. I can do the same— “
“They are both gods; they can share godhood,” the Law of God retorted impatiently. “You want to give godhood to a demon? Do you want him to explode and die? Besides, the Snow God’s soul was intact. The Demon King’s soul lamp is extinguished. They cannot be compared.”
Yan Zhao’s golden eyes drooped slightly. “There must be a way.”
Observing Yan Zhao’s distress, the Law of God realized that if this continued, the Lord God might refuse to work for eons, leading to inevitable mistakes.
It seemed better to offer a solution, even a futile one, to make him give up hope completely.
“His soul lamp is extinguished because his heart is filled with despair and hatred,” the Law of God said, seemingly offering a compromise. “To revive him, you must eliminate this hatred. Even then, the chances of his soul lamp rekindling are less than one in a billion.”
Yan Zhao’s eyes widened. “Heart filled with despair?”
The Law of God will not lie; what it says must be true.
He… Is his heart truly filled with despair?
Thinking of the harm and misunderstandings he caused, even concealing his identity in the last world… And that first glance, Rong Yu’s desperate eyes beneath his sword.
What reason did Rong Yu have not to hate him? In the end, perhaps he didn’t hate him anymore, but his heart had simply died.
It’s all my fault…
“How can I make him let go of his hatred?” Yan Zhao’s voice tightened. “I’ll go back to the punishment worlds he experienced before and let him punish me, okay? For every time I hurt him, can he have his revenge?”
He could travel to any point in time and see Rong Yu in the past, but this didn’t mean resurrection. If he brought Rong Yu from the past to the present, Rong Yu would disappear immediately.
From now on, Rong Yu would never exist again; Rong Yu would only live in the past.
Unless Rong Yu, in the past, could let go of his hatred, the soul lamp had a chance to rekindle from the ashes.
But the probability of the soul lamp reviving was minuscule; he was likely engaging in a futile endeavor.
No matter how slim the hope, this was the only chance.
The Law of God remained silent. It knew Yan Zhao wouldn’t relinquish this hope, however faint, and would undoubtedly try.
But it’s useless; it’s all in vain.
The Law of God does not lie, but it conceals some truths.
It has a complete perspective of the law and knows that the timelines between Yan Zhao and Rong Yu are different. Rong Yu did die once, after waiting nine hundred and seventy-two years for the Lord God’s sword. At that time, his soul lamp was already flickering, and he was severely injured again due to despair. But in the later punishment world, he took revenge on Yan Zhao every time, gradually realized the timeline, and his hatred dissipated. His soul lamp brightened again.
However, the brightness was far from sufficient for the Demon King, whose essence was already damaged. He couldn’t hold on in the doomsday world and vanished like smoke.
Yan Zhao’s return to the past punishment worlds, allowing Rong Yu to vent his anger and resolve his hatred, only slightly extended the burning time of Rong Yu’s soul lamp. The timelines of this god and demon were vastly different, but they ultimately led to the same outcome: the extinguishing of Rong Yu’s soul lamp.
The method the Law of God provided was never feasible. Yan Zhao had just experienced love’s sweetness but didn’t understand the bitterness of hatred. When he was bruised and battered by Rong Yu in the punishment worlds and failed to save him, he would naturally be completely disillusioned with love, realizing its pain and futility. He would then return to being the Lord of All Gods who loves all beings impartially.
That was the outcome the Law of God desired.
Currently, Yan Zhao was unaware of this. He decided to seal his memory and power, journey to the punishment worlds Rong Yu had experienced with Red Gold, and return to Rong Yu’s past.
Red Gold was bound by the law and couldn’t reveal information about the initial worlds, leaving Yan Zhao to deduce things on his own. He possessed the Red Gold Sun Ring, while Rong Yu, in the past, had the Blood Jade Bracelet. The Red Gold Sun Ring was essentially the Blood Jade Bracelet; they could naturally sense each other. Yan Zhao could use this connection to determine which world and time point he should return to in order to meet Rong Yu.
Yan Zhao had never divided the artifact into two. When the Blood Jade Bracelet saw the Red Gold ring on the Lord God, it assumed it was its own clone, unaware it was its future self.
With Red Gold present, Yan Zhao believed Rong Yu would be able to recognize his identity as the Lord God. He sealed his memory and power, intending to surrender himself, devoid of knowledge, to Rong Yu for any form of retribution.
The Law of God observed coldly: “If you descend to find him, who will govern the Myriad Gods Realm?”
Yan Zhao had already made arrangements: “Isn’t there still a portion of Li Jin’s godhood? Rongrong can’t use it, so splitting it in half will give Qi Ye and the Snow God one godhood each, providing you with two more main gods. Summon them to take over.”
___
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