1772

Burururu——

The sound of thunder reverberated across the night sky as the cold rain loudly buffeted the ground.

It felt like this entire world was being drowned by water.

Two people were simply standing next to the pile of corpses as they silently waited.

One of them donned a full set of golden armor with a bright red cloak, his body continuously emanating with a terrific presence.

Unfortunately, he wore a mask so nobody could discern his true face.

The sharp sound of chirping birds could be heard from a distance.

“They’re coming—— you should retreat first, the matter we’re going to discuss isn’t one that you can listen in on” the leader said with a solemn tone.

“Yes sir” the man’s servant bowed respectfully and began to run into the distance.

A few moments later.

A huge gust of wind blew over the corpses.

Two figures were standing a few dozen meters away from the leader.

One was a woman with a pair of grey wings.

The other was a bald man with a piece of cloth over his eyes as he wore clothes similar to that of a monk.

「 We’re here 」the bald man said.

“White Monk, you two shouldn’t have come to meet me in such a hurry” the man in golden armor said.

「 Hah? 」

The grey-winged woman licked her lips and spoke in a seemingly intoxicated tone: 『 All monks’ heads are so slow, it’s been a long time since I had some fun ever since I started to work with him——- maybe we should give it a try… 』

The grey wings covering the woman’s body slightly shifted open to reveal her bare shoulder and collarbone.

The man in golden armor glanced over at her, then proceeded to take out a shield and stepped back into a defensive battle stance.

The shield in his hand suddenly erupted with layers of brilliant light that surrounded him like protective barriers.

Outside the barriers, faint female figures started appearing one by one, sometimes displaying their lustful allure, other times displaying skeletal bodies which howled ferociously.

“And here I thought you wanted to discuss something, turns out you just wanted a fight”

The man in golden armor spoke with a tone laden with killing intent.

His other hand reached behind his back to wield a spear.

Seeing that things were turning sour, the bald monk shouted: 「 Don’t make a scene, fellow envoys! The reason I summoned the two of you here in such a hurry was that I had crucial intel to share, not to fight to the death 」

He then violently slammed the end of his pewter staff that was engraved with runes on the ground.

Bang——-

Waves of invisible fluctuations radiated from the point of impact.

The man in golden armor and the grey-winged woman both took a step back and unsheathed their weapons.

All the supernatural phenomena faded away.

Both of them looked cautiously at the bald monk.

“What exactly is it?” the man in golden armor asked.

「 I’ll make it short, when the Envoy of Corruption and I pursued the Heavenly Emperor, I sensed something out of place during the entire process 」the bald monk explained.

『 Oh? Why didn’t I notice anything? Are you suggesting that I’m weaker than you? 』the grey-winged woman chuckled.

Some supernatural fluctuations began to manifest on her wings.

「 I’m not suggesting anybody is weaker than anyone right now. What I want to say is that you both should trust my abilities when it comes to seeing through the clandestine; both of you should understand that I’m the expert when it comes to such things 」the bald monk replied.

The grey-winged woman stayed silent for a while before asking: 『 What did you notice? Elaborate 』

「 We were pursuing that… Samsara Heavenly Emperor, in order to confirm which Sequence is behind him, but even after so long, nobody could discern his background. On the contrary, he managed to evade our pursuit time and time again, leaving his pursuers with increasingly heavier losses, which made me doubtful 」

「 I was pondering what exactly was special about him, why was it that he keeps on managing to survive 」

「 You both should know the capabilities of my Sequence——- I had specifically investigated all of his actions up to this point and was on the verge of drawing a conclusion—- when an unexpected power interfered with me 」

“What are you suggesting?” the man in golden armor asked with a heavy tone.

「 The Heavenly Emperor——- no matter who he actually is, carries a power that surpasses the Sequences, it was that power that fooled our eyes 」the monk explained.

『 What kind of power was it exactly? 』the grey-winged woman asked in irritation.

「 I only know that he obtained ‘something’ from within the previous Reality Gate, but that ‘something’ is obscuring my senses with its powers—— since I’m already under its effects, it has now become impossible for me to understand it, let alone discern the truth 」the monk explained.

Suddenly, a voice spoke up from the distance:

“There is no need for you bunch to care about such things, nor try to investigate any other intel”

The wind and rain suddenly ceased.

From the distance, a cluster of colorful heavenly light could be seen rapidly approaching the three of them.

——-it was a dignified man clad in a suit of colorful war armor.

Behind him, a solemn halo displayed the six forms of living beings: heavenly, human, wraith, asura, dead, and beast king; which were respectively represented in their distinct colors.

Clusters of white clouds continuously swirled around his body, a faint heavenly aria was constantly playing around him.

「 It’s him! 」

『 How does he have the courage—– 』

“Let’s cooperate and kill him!”

The three people swiftly took offensive stances.

“There is no need to fight, I came here to tell you all something” the dignified man said.

The man in golden armor shouted: “Heavenly Emperor, you’ve already gained too much benefit during this Samsara Clash for Supremacy; state the Sequence behind you and hand over your Heavenly Emperor position, that is your only chance of survival”

He glanced at the other two as he signaled to them.

The other two swiftly flanked the Heavenly Emperor.

The three of them formed a three-pronged encirclement around him.

As if he didn’t see that, the Heavenly Emperor continued: “Let me reveal a secret first”

『 What secret? 』the grey-winged woman asked.

“You people and the living beings of this realm are all the same, nothing but a bunch of pitiful fools; no one will be able to escape from the prison, even the Sequences and the—— behind the Sequences——–”

The Heavenly Emperor’s voice suddenly vanished.

Gu Qing Shan’s vision was dark as he was lying on the ground, thanks to his senses as a dead person, he could tell that the Heavenly Emperor was still talking.

However, he couldn’t hear anything past the first part.

Lines of bloody red text suddenly popped up in front of his vision as well as inside of his Thought Sea:

[Red alert!]

[The Sequence has placed you under the tightest possible isolation]

[You cannot hear or see the Heavenly Emperor’s secret]

[You are safe!]

Gu Qing Shan was stunned.

I’m safe…

In other words, the secret that the Heavenly Emperor is revealing was a taboo?

What would happen if I did hear it?

Before Gu Qing Shan could ponder this matter any further, three horrified screams echoed throughout the area.

Almost immediately, the man in golden armor, the grey-winged woman, and the bald monk all started fading away into mist before disappearing completely.

Not only did the man in golden armor turn into mist, but even his golden armor was completely erased.

A faint moan of despair could be heard from the golden armor.

——that was the voice of the artifact spirit as it died.

Eventually.

Only the Heavenly Emperor remained standing by himself.

Plish… plish… pliiiiish…

The sound of splashing rain resumed.

Standing under the showering rain, the Heavenly Emperor suddenly started laughing maniacally.

“Ahahahaha, you aren’t even qualified to hear the secret and you dare to come to force me out?”

In the middle of his laughing fit, he suddenly collapsed on his knees and began to breathe heavily.

“Hurry…”

“Come quickly!”

The Heavenly Emperor shouted solemnly.

A figure immediately came flying.

This was the servant who was with the man with the golden armor from earlier!

It turns out that he was on the Heavenly Emperor’s side from the very beginning.

“How may I serve, your majesty?”

The servant knelt down on his knees and respectfully asked.

“The pills… give me the pills…” the Heavenly Emperor struggled to speak the words.

The servant hurriedly took out a pill bottle from his chest and poured out a total of 12 white pills, placing them in front of the Heavenly Emperor.

The Heavenly Emperor grabbed and swallowed all of them whole.

“AARRRGH! It hurts! It hurts so much!”

He screamed in pain and began to roll back and forth on the ground.

After a few moments, he then curled up into a ball as he muttered: “Cold… so cold…”

The servant simply took distance without being concerned with his reaction, instead turning his attention to being cautious of the river.

A long while later.

The Heavenly Emperor’s moans finally stopped.

He stood back up again, now fully regaining his senses.

The servant took that opportunity to return to him and asked in a low voice: “Your majesty, what should we do with these corpses?”

“Ignore them, let’s go”

“Yes, your majesty”

One following behind the other, they quickly flew away from the area.

Another long while later.

Gu Qing Shan crawled back up from the ground.

“Old man, come out”

He tried shouting quietly.

—–no answer.

Gu Qing Shan’s heart felt a bit heavy.

Could the old pixie have heard that secret and was erased by the unknown taboo?

He quickly headed into the grassy area from earlier and tried calling out again: “Old man, come out already!”

Suddenly, the old pixie leapt out from the grass and flew straight onto Gu Qing Shan’s hand.

He clung tightly to Gu Qing Shan’s finger, still shivering nonstop.

“Almost scared me to death… almost scared me to death…”

The old pixie muttered while continuing to shiver.

“Did you hear that secret?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“I don’t have that kind of guts! The most prominent characteristic of the pixie race is our curiosity, so the longer a pixie lives, the better they get at discerning what we can and cannot get involved in” the old pixie explained.

“So you didn’t hear anything?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

“Of course not! Of course not! As soon as that guy opened his mouth, I sensed the power of eradicationsurrounding us——– I immediately knew something was wrong and sealed off all of my senses to fall into a blank state, that’s how I managed to survive!”

The old pixie suddenly jumped up and furiously shouted: “Using that kind of secret to kill people, such cold-bloodedness!”

“Do you know what that secret is about?” Gu Qing Shan tried asking in a low voice.

“Nope! And I never want to find out! We pixies can resurrect even if we die, but if we heard that secret earlier, we would be immediately erased——- that includes any traces of us ever existing in the first place! I don’t want that happening to me!” the old pixie shouted hysterically.

Gu Qing Shan paused briefly and consoled him: “Don’t be scared, that guy actually has a weakness as well. Just take a look, he had to take a bunch of pills after that to finally regain his senses”

The old pixie coldly sneered, then said: “Gu Qing Shan, considering you are the truest ally of our pixie race, I’ll give you an advice—–”

“What’s that?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Definitely! Absolutely! Positively! No matter what! You mustn’t try to mess with that individual!” the old pixie emphasized every word.

“But why? Just because of that secret?” Gu Qing Shan wondered.

“No. Didn’t you say that individual had to eat some pills?” the old pixie asked him in return.

“He did” Gu Qing Shan confirmed.

“When I undid the seals on my senses, I immediately recognized what those 12 pills were” the old pixie commented.

Gu Qing Shan asked right away: “Oh? What were they?”

“They were a kind of medicine that has become lost knowledge since a very long time ago called [The true twelve sufferings of living beings]” the old pixie explained.

“The twelve… suffering?” Gu Qing Shan parroted.

“That’s right, by consuming those 12 pills, one would be able to experience the suffering of being a living being” the old pixie continued.

“And then what?” Gu Qing Shan pursued the issue.

“There is nothing else, that’s all they do” the old pixie said.

Gu Qing Shan fell silent.

If it only provides 12 kinds of suffering… why is it considered a medicine?

The old pixie looked straight at him and explained: “You feel confused, don’t you? If those pills do nothing but cause suffering to the consumer, why are they called a medicine?”

“That’s right, it doesn’t make sense…” Gu Qing Shan muttered.

The old pixie remained silent for a while before he started explaining: “I’ve lived for 300 million years”

Gu Qing Shan looked at him and waited for him to continue.

“Because I am the oldest ancestor of the pixie race, I am still able to retain the passion, curiosity, and greed unique to a pixie…”

“As for [The true twelve suffering of living beings]…”

“They were specifically created for the sake of great entities who had lived for millions or tens of million years”

“Because these great entities had experienced everything there is to experience over and over again, they have thoroughly lost all interest in anything and everything, becoming bored with emotion itself. Even if reality collapsed right in front of their eyes, their emotions would still not fluctuate the slightest bit”

“At the same time, they aren’t willing to die, unwilling to give up the power they hold”

“[The true twelve suffering of living beings] is the medicine to fix this affliction”

“This medicine… will allow them to experience – for a short while – the most basic, most primitive sensations of all living beings”

“It allows them to feel like they are still actually alive”

Burururu——

The sound of thunder reverberated across the night sky as the cold rain loudly buffeted the ground.

It felt like this entire world was being drowned by water.

Two people were simply standing next to the pile of corpses as they silently waited.

One of them donned a full set of golden armor with a bright red cloak, his body continuously emanating with a terrific presence.

Unfortunately, he wore a mask so nobody could discern his true face.

The sharp sound of chirping birds could be heard from a distance.

“They’re coming—— you should retreat first, the matter we’re going to discuss isn’t one that you can listen in on” the leader said with a solemn tone.

“Yes sir” the man’s servant bowed respectfully and began to run into the distance.

A few moments later.

A huge gust of wind blew over the corpses.

Two figures were standing a few dozen meters away from the leader.

One was a woman with a pair of grey wings.

The other was a bald man with a piece of cloth over his eyes as he wore clothes similar to that of a monk.

「 We’re here 」the bald man said.

“White Monk, you two shouldn’t have come to meet me in such a hurry” the man in golden armor said.

「 Hah? 」

The grey-winged woman licked her lips and spoke in a seemingly intoxicated tone: 『 All monks’ heads are so slow, it’s been a long time since I had some fun ever since I started to work with him——- maybe we should give it a try… 』

The grey wings covering the woman’s body slightly shifted open to reveal her bare shoulder and collarbone.

The man in golden armor glanced over at her, then proceeded to take out a shield and stepped back into a defensive battle stance.

The shield in his hand suddenly erupted with layers of brilliant light that surrounded him like protective barriers.

Outside the barriers, faint female figures started appearing one by one, sometimes displaying their lustful allure, other times displaying skeletal bodies which howled ferociously.

“And here I thought you wanted to discuss something, turns out you just wanted a fight”

The man in golden armor spoke with a tone laden with killing intent.

His other hand reached behind his back to wield a spear.

Seeing that things were turning sour, the bald monk shouted: 「 Don’t make a scene, fellow envoys! The reason I summoned the two of you here in such a hurry was that I had crucial intel to share, not to fight to the death 」

He then violently slammed the end of his pewter staff that was engraved with runes on the ground.

Bang——-

Waves of invisible fluctuations radiated from the point of impact.

The man in golden armor and the grey-winged woman both took a step back and unsheathed their weapons.

All the supernatural phenomena faded away.

Both of them looked cautiously at the bald monk.

“What exactly is it?” the man in golden armor asked.

「 I’ll make it short, when the Envoy of Corruption and I pursued the Heavenly Emperor, I sensed something out of place during the entire process 」the bald monk explained.

『 Oh? Why didn’t I notice anything? Are you suggesting that I’m weaker than you? 』the grey-winged woman chuckled.

Some supernatural fluctuations began to manifest on her wings.

「 I’m not suggesting anybody is weaker than anyone right now. What I want to say is that you both should trust my abilities when it comes to seeing through the clandestine; both of you should understand that I’m the expert when it comes to such things 」the bald monk replied.

The grey-winged woman stayed silent for a while before asking: 『 What did you notice? Elaborate 』

「 We were pursuing that… Samsara Heavenly Emperor, in order to confirm which Sequence is behind him, but even after so long, nobody could discern his background. On the contrary, he managed to evade our pursuit time and time again, leaving his pursuers with increasingly heavier losses, which made me doubtful 」

「 I was pondering what exactly was special about him, why was it that he keeps on managing to survive 」

「 You both should know the capabilities of my Sequence——- I had specifically investigated all of his actions up to this point and was on the verge of drawing a conclusion—- when an unexpected power interfered with me 」

“What are you suggesting?” the man in golden armor asked with a heavy tone.

「 The Heavenly Emperor——- no matter who he actually is, carries a power that surpasses the Sequences, it was that power that fooled our eyes 」the monk explained.

『 What kind of power was it exactly? 』the grey-winged woman asked in irritation.

「 I only know that he obtained ‘something’ from within the previous Reality Gate, but that ‘something’ is obscuring my senses with its powers—— since I’m already under its effects, it has now become impossible for me to understand it, let alone discern the truth 」the monk explained.

Suddenly, a voice spoke up from the distance:

“There is no need for you bunch to care about such things, nor try to investigate any other intel”

The wind and rain suddenly ceased.

From the distance, a cluster of colorful heavenly light could be seen rapidly approaching the three of them.

——-it was a dignified man clad in a suit of colorful war armor.

Behind him, a solemn halo displayed the six forms of living beings: heavenly, human, wraith, asura, dead, and beast king; which were respectively represented in their distinct colors.

Clusters of white clouds continuously swirled around his body, a faint heavenly aria was constantly playing around him.

「 It’s him! 」

『 How does he have the courage—– 』

“Let’s cooperate and kill him!”

The three people swiftly took offensive stances.

“There is no need to fight, I came here to tell you all something” the dignified man said.

The man in golden armor shouted: “Heavenly Emperor, you’ve already gained too much benefit during this Samsara Clash for Supremacy; state the Sequence behind you and hand over your Heavenly Emperor position, that is your only chance of survival”

He glanced at the other two as he signaled to them.

The other two swiftly flanked the Heavenly Emperor.

The three of them formed a three-pronged encirclement around him.

As if he didn’t see that, the Heavenly Emperor continued: “Let me reveal a secret first”

『 What secret? 』the grey-winged woman asked.

“You people and the living beings of this realm are all the same, nothing but a bunch of pitiful fools; no one will be able to escape from the prison, even the Sequences and the—— behind the Sequences——–”

The Heavenly Emperor’s voice suddenly vanished.

Gu Qing Shan’s vision was dark as he was lying on the ground, thanks to his senses as a dead person, he could tell that the Heavenly Emperor was still talking.

However, he couldn’t hear anything past the first part.

Lines of bloody red text suddenly popped up in front of his vision as well as inside of his Thought Sea:

[Red alert!]

[The Sequence has placed you under the tightest possible isolation]

[You cannot hear or see the Heavenly Emperor’s secret]

[You are safe!]

Gu Qing Shan was stunned.

I’m safe…

In other words, the secret that the Heavenly Emperor is revealing was a taboo?

What would happen if I did hear it?

Before Gu Qing Shan could ponder this matter any further, three horrified screams echoed throughout the area.

Almost immediately, the man in golden armor, the grey-winged woman, and the bald monk all started fading away into mist before disappearing completely.

Not only did the man in golden armor turn into mist, but even his golden armor was completely erased.

A faint moan of despair could be heard from the golden armor.

——that was the voice of the artifact spirit as it died.

Eventually.

Only the Heavenly Emperor remained standing by himself.

Plish… plish… pliiiiish…

The sound of splashing rain resumed.

Standing under the showering rain, the Heavenly Emperor suddenly started laughing maniacally.

“Ahahahaha, you aren’t even qualified to hear the secret and you dare to come to force me out?”

In the middle of his laughing fit, he suddenly collapsed on his knees and began to breathe heavily.

“Hurry…”

“Come quickly!”

The Heavenly Emperor shouted solemnly.

A figure immediately came flying.

This was the servant who was with the man with the golden armor from earlier!

It turns out that he was on the Heavenly Emperor’s side from the very beginning.

“How may I serve, your majesty?”

The servant knelt down on his knees and respectfully asked.

“The pills… give me the pills…” the Heavenly Emperor struggled to speak the words.

The servant hurriedly took out a pill bottle from his chest and poured out a total of 12 white pills, placing them in front of the Heavenly Emperor.

The Heavenly Emperor grabbed and swallowed all of them whole.

“AARRRGH! It hurts! It hurts so much!”

He screamed in pain and began to roll back and forth on the ground.

After a few moments, he then curled up into a ball as he muttered: “Cold… so cold…”

The servant simply took distance without being concerned with his reaction, instead turning his attention to being cautious of the river.

A long while later.

The Heavenly Emperor’s moans finally stopped.

He stood back up again, now fully regaining his senses.

The servant took that opportunity to return to him and asked in a low voice: “Your majesty, what should we do with these corpses?”

“Ignore them, let’s go”

“Yes, your majesty”

One following behind the other, they quickly flew away from the area.

Another long while later.

Gu Qing Shan crawled back up from the ground.

“Old man, come out”

He tried shouting quietly.

—–no answer.

Gu Qing Shan’s heart felt a bit heavy.

Could the old pixie have heard that secret and was erased by the unknown taboo?

He quickly headed into the grassy area from earlier and tried calling out again: “Old man, come out already!”

Suddenly, the old pixie leapt out from the grass and flew straight onto Gu Qing Shan’s hand.

He clung tightly to Gu Qing Shan’s finger, still shivering nonstop.

“Almost scared me to death… almost scared me to death…”

The old pixie muttered while continuing to shiver.

“Did you hear that secret?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“I don’t have that kind of guts! The most prominent characteristic of the pixie race is our curiosity, so the longer a pixie lives, the better they get at discerning what we can and cannot get involved in” the old pixie explained.

“So you didn’t hear anything?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

“Of course not! Of course not! As soon as that guy opened his mouth, I sensed the power of eradicationsurrounding us——– I immediately knew something was wrong and sealed off all of my senses to fall into a blank state, that’s how I managed to survive!”

The old pixie suddenly jumped up and furiously shouted: “Using that kind of secret to kill people, such cold-bloodedness!”

“Do you know what that secret is about?” Gu Qing Shan tried asking in a low voice.

“Nope! And I never want to find out! We pixies can resurrect even if we die, but if we heard that secret earlier, we would be immediately erased——- that includes any traces of us ever existing in the first place! I don’t want that happening to me!” the old pixie shouted hysterically.

Gu Qing Shan paused briefly and consoled him: “Don’t be scared, that guy actually has a weakness as well. Just take a look, he had to take a bunch of pills after that to finally regain his senses”

The old pixie coldly sneered, then said: “Gu Qing Shan, considering you are the truest ally of our pixie race, I’ll give you an advice—–”

“What’s that?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Definitely! Absolutely! Positively! No matter what! You mustn’t try to mess with that individual!” the old pixie emphasized every word.

“But why? Just because of that secret?” Gu Qing Shan wondered.

“No. Didn’t you say that individual had to eat some pills?” the old pixie asked him in return.

“He did” Gu Qing Shan confirmed.

“When I undid the seals on my senses, I immediately recognized what those 12 pills were” the old pixie commented.

Gu Qing Shan asked right away: “Oh? What were they?”

“They were a kind of medicine that has become lost knowledge since a very long time ago called [The true twelve sufferings of living beings]” the old pixie explained.

“The twelve… suffering?” Gu Qing Shan parroted.

“That’s right, by consuming those 12 pills, one would be able to experience the suffering of being a living being” the old pixie continued.

“And then what?” Gu Qing Shan pursued the issue.

“There is nothing else, that’s all they do” the old pixie said.

Gu Qing Shan fell silent.

If it only provides 12 kinds of suffering… why is it considered a medicine?

The old pixie looked straight at him and explained: “You feel confused, don’t you? If those pills do nothing but cause suffering to the consumer, why are they called a medicine?”

“That’s right, it doesn’t make sense…” Gu Qing Shan muttered.

The old pixie remained silent for a while before he started explaining: “I’ve lived for 300 million years”

Gu Qing Shan looked at him and waited for him to continue.

“Because I am the oldest ancestor of the pixie race, I am still able to retain the passion, curiosity, and greed unique to a pixie…”

“As for [The true twelve suffering of living beings]…”

“They were specifically created for the sake of great entities who had lived for millions or tens of million years”

“Because these great entities had experienced everything there is to experience over and over again, they have thoroughly lost all interest in anything and everything, becoming bored with emotion itself. Even if reality collapsed right in front of their eyes, their emotions would still not fluctuate the slightest bit”

“At the same time, they aren’t willing to die, unwilling to give up the power they hold”

“[The true twelve suffering of living beings] is the medicine to fix this affliction”

“This medicine… will allow them to experience – for a short while – the most basic, most primitive sensations of all living beings”

“It allows them to feel like they are still actually alive”