Chapter 768: Chapter 599: The Sa Reason
Beneath their feet flowed the gentle Flowing Gold River, and behind them was the Fangyuan Cicada licking a milk cap.
Sotis, not harming others ans not being able to survive.
“You haven’t even opened the Gate of Truth,” Weiser said. “You’re the only Mage who hasn’t released the Flowing Gold River.”
“As long as we die, the Flowing Gold River will completely cease to flow, and you’ll also have a chance to escape.”
“Not even those Legendary Mages could seal their own Gates of Truth,” Ash’s voice was sowhat hoarse. “What makes think I can avoid harm?”
“But you just haven’t opened the Gate of Truth; I have seen it.”
“Don’t you doubt your own eyes? Every Mage has a Gate of Truth, and becoming a Divine Fire Seed triggers a Resonance with the Void Realm, making it impossible to close the Gate—”
“I cannot be wrong,” Weiser stated. “I have always been watching you.”
Weiser knew that Ash had no Gate of Truth, which actually stemd from a casual conversation in the Void Realm, where Ash had once scoffed at himself for being a Holy Sanctuary Mage without even having an autonomous Technique Spirit capable of opening the Gate of Truth.
However, she hadn’t lied.
Ash turned his head to look at her. She calmly t Ash’s gaze, her eyes shimring peculiarly behind the fox mask.
“Do you want to deny this fact first, to lower my guard, and then find an opportunity to act? There’s no need for that,” she said. “I’m not like you. If I knew I was stepping into eternity, I wouldn’t insist on dragging others along with . I must make the final journey alone.”
“The outco now is simply whether you live or we all perish. Since you still want to indulge in illusions, what can’t I satisfy for you?”
Ash lowered his eyelids, mocking, “I don’t recall Silver Lamp being any sort of good person. Is it because you’re about to die that your conscience has finally kicked in?”
“How could that be,” Weiser was unoffended. “If it were soone else, I would certainly kill them first to prevent them from wanting to kill , and then hold out until the last mont, waiting for an unknown Miracle.”
“Only for you, I can satisfy all your demands.” She splashed through the Flowing Gold River, step by step, towards a nonexistent endpoint.
“Why? Am I not the Avenger who has been relentlessly pursuing you?”
“Yes, Avenger.” Weiser seed to recall sothing. “Then choose your preferred way to die. Would you like to swiftly end my life without pain, or slowly torture to death? To suffocate, disembowel, decapitate, or dismber? Although this setting is certainly not ideal for execution, if you want soone to suffer, you always manage. In terms of Cruelty, every Mage is a genius.”
She grabbed Ash’s hand and shoved it toward the hilt of the sword: “Co on, avenge your fate, avenge your justice. Do you want to give up resisting completely, or do you need to struggle a bit to satisfy your desires—”
“Stop it, I’m not you!”
Ash forcefully jerked his hand away, Weiser staggered and almost fell, but was promptly steadied by the swift Ash.
“I don’t torture others,” Weiser’s voice actually held a hint of amusent. “I always make those I kill think it’s just an illusion before they wake up.”
“…How many people have you killed?”
“If we’re talking about direct action, actually not that many. But if we include annihilating other sects, destroying City surfaces by nightfall, plotting ongoing deadly fights among enemy sects, and the indirect ways like the Dragon Blood cultivation system…” Weiser spoke calmly. “Hundreds of thousands, at least.”
Sensing the sudden increase in strength in the other’s hand, Weiser glanced sidelong at him, the corners of her mouth curving slightly beneath her mask. She knew this was where she should tell a lie, appear pitiful—that was the best move. But for so reason, she just wanted to brazenly expose herself like this, completely unlike her typical self.
Even before acquiring the Illusion Technique Spirit, she had learned to conceal herself, revealing only her intelligence, kindness, friendliness, and thoughtfulness, among many lovely aspects, as if she was without fault. After gaining the Illusion Technique Spirit, she even hid her own na, and before she defected from the tribulation Divine Sect, all living souls were captivated by her beautiful first impressions, as though she were a spotless lotus.
But confronted with Ash, she couldn’t wait to pull out those entangled roots buried underground, place them into the light—she didn’t know what she was expecting, but she just hoped that Ash would take a look.
Ash fell silent. They stopped talking, draining their last bit of energy to trek through the Flowing Gold River. Though there was no conversation, Weiser felt as if she could sense Ash’s thoughts through body heat—before reaching the slope, he would make a decision.
The closer they got to the end, the greater the Flowing Gold River’s resistance beca, the lesser their movents. Each drop of Flowing Gold River seed like the strike of a huge bell, resounding through their souls, shattering their thoughts.
What was worse, they already knew that reaching the slope wouldn’t bring it to an end. The temptation of a lost endpoint mounted a fiercer test of their wills, every cell urging them to quickly surrender, to go with the flow of history, to accept their Fate.
Yet Weiser beca more steady as they proceeded. Although she had nearly been swept away earlier, since then, she remained unaffected by the Flowing Gold River.
Her will was like an uncarved jade, the more the years washed and carved her, the brighter and more intense her gaze beca.
Ash was already feeling strained. Yet, Weiser kept pulling him forward. He looked at the Silver Lamp’s silhouette, as if seeing a madman capable of standing up to history’s wheel.
Placed in the Gray Fox Era, she would have stood alongside those legends, becoming a Human Saint who explored the limits. Situated in the Senluo Wasteland, she would have erged from millions of Believers to beco the Silver Lamp, Lord of Mirrors, who overturned the world.
She had no remorse for hurting so many people; her rebellious will ant that if she survived, she would continue to embody her philosophy, step by step towards the destruction she envisioned.
She died, the Flowing Gold River would stop flowing.
She died, the story would end right there.
Splash.
Droplets of golden water splashed onto the slope and then slid away.
Ti has no end, but every journey has its destination. Weiser, leading Ash, finally arrived at the slope.
This was their end point.
She stopped, suddenly turned around, and grabbed Ash’s sweet words and a hidden dagger, swiftly pulling it out. Throughout the process, she stared at Ash, as if expecting sothing.
However, Ash just calmly looked at her. For them, who knew each other inside and out, the blade could no longer affect their battle.
Weiser, finding it boring, handed the blade back to him with a reverse grip. Intentional or not, the tip of the sword was aid precisely at her throat; if Ash just grabbed it and thrust, she wouldn’t be able to react quickly enough, even with her speed.
Ash held the hilt and did not move, then suddenly asked, “Didn’t I just lose a bet to you and owe you a favor? Why didn’t you use it here?”
“Using it here would be far too wasteful,” Weiser said with a smile.
Then when do you intend to use it?
Ash suddenly recalled Igula. When leaving the Blood Moon through the Void Realm passage, Igula had also not used his wish to make Ash save him; to this day, Ash still owed Igula a favor.
You people…
He sighed inwardly and sheathed his sword.
“Even if the Flowing Gold River stops, the Fangyuan Cicada won’t vanish,” he said. “It has already awakened its hunting instincts, and when there’s only left in the passageway, do you think it will be satisfied and let go?”
Ultimately, their true threat wasn’t the Flowing Gold River but the Fangyuan Cicada. Just like howork won’t leap up and punch you; it’s your parents and teachers who will scold you.
Solving the problem of the Flowing Gold River and not the Fangyuan Cicada would be like rely changing the cicada’s dining venue, but it would still eat what it wants to eat.
However, this reason only proved it was ‘possible’ not to kill Silver Lamp.
Silver Lamp said nothing but watched him quietly. Ash turned his head away, not looking at her, and asked through gritted teeth, “Am I wrong?”
“You’re very correct,” Silver Lamp said softly, chuckling. “You asked earlier why I was willing to grant your request, right?”
“I think it’s for the sa reason you just chose not to stab .” She moved closer to Ash, as if wishing to see him more clearly, “It’s all motivated by the sa reason.”
Ash ignored her and turned to look at the Fangyuan Cicada behind them.
They were moving slowly, so the cicada had almost finished its imdiate prey.
Dozens of legends from the Gray Fox Era, their nas sufficient to represent the entire era. Yet here, they were rely enough to satisfy the Fangyuan Cicada’s appetite for a re few dozen minutes.
Although the rush of the Flowing Gold River’s waters incessantly eroded his thoughts, at least they weren’t struggling upstream anymore; Ash finally had spare capacity to ponder how to resolve this desperate situation.
They couldn’t defeat it; within the Flowing Gold River, the Fangyuan Cicada was almost like a Divine Being controlling ti.
Nor could they escape. Putting aside whether they could return to the Cicada Transformation Chamber, reaching it ant passing through the Fangyuan Cicada. However, the cicada seed to have the ability to turn nearby people into yogurt. The legends that flowed downstream earlier—none of them who attempted to bypass the cicada to reach the chamber had managed; they automatically stopped right before the Fangyuan Cicada’s mouth.
No matter how they thought about it, at this mont, they were at a dead end. Ash recalled the items from Aurora’s Mage’s Handbook he had seen, but couldn’t think of anything useful—mainly because under the Technique Spirit’s ban, he couldn’t use Mage thods…
“Speaking of which,” Ash suddenly said, “is the Fangyuan Cicada a Technique Spirit or a Great Skill right now?”
“It doesn’t have to be one or the other,” Weiser said. “As the most peculiar existence, it retains the characteristics of a Great Skill while also possessing the casting qualities of a Technique Spirit.”
“My point is, since it’s a Technique Spirit, and we are Mages…” Ash mused, “Is there a possibility we could control it?”
But as soon as he finished speaking, he shook his head, negating the possibility. “To control a Technique Spirit, one must at least co into contact with it. But even if we approach it, we would beco its prey.”
However, Weiser seed thoughtful as she eyed the feeding Fangyuan Cicada. She lightly scratched Ash’s palm, as if spreading her own hesitation.
Ash did not ask and waited for a mont before Weiser slowly said, “I might have a way.”
“You should rember, my blood… it isn’t red, is it?”
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