1789

The river was calm and winding as it continued to flow.

At a relatively secluded location away from the tomb river.

There weren’t any strange creatures here, nor were there any graves, and especially no wandering Apocalypses.

The Star Gazer Deus Machina was hiding here.

The giant mech that was over a few hundred meters in height was standing firmly on the ground, its body parts constantly in operation, almost as if it was ready to fight at a moment’s notice——

But with a closer look, it was actually ready to flee.

『 How is it? 』Li An asked.

“They didn’t give chase” Gu Qing Shan replied.

He was continuously paying close attention to even the smallest movements of the grass in the wilderness to prevent the Heavenly Emperor from getting the jump on them.

Li An commented, still a bit fearful: 『 We finally escaped—– how did he suddenly become so terrifying? 』

“You thought that he was terrifying?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

『 Yeah, he was ridiculously strong, just looking at him from a distance, I already felt a sense of fear in my heart 』Li An answered.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t say anything else and began to fall into thought.

Li An has no idea what happened to the Heavenly Emperor.

And there are certain things that I should just keep to myself instead of telling her, otherwise, it would cause her danger.

For example——-

Through that conversation with the Heavenly Emperor earlier, I’ve confirmed that he at least has one identity within Star Gazer city.

He’s hiding in Star Gazer city!

Now that Star Gazer city is no longer within the Heavenly Emperor’s sight, the battle between two cities can’t help but proceed silently.

Then, what would the Creator Entity behind the Heavenly Emperor do?

If they wanted to find Star Gazer city, they simply had to return to the second identity and they’d instantly find out where Star Gazer city was!

This couldn’t be helped.

Every Chosen Saint that has joined Star Gazer city would be granted a natural compass in their minds that constantly points them towards the direction of the city.

And now, the Creator Entity has decided to stop the exploration altogether and focus all their attention on destroying Star Gazer city!

What methods do I have to deal with that?

Gu Qing Shan thought for a long while until he eventually shook his head.

——–there are countless Chosen Saints who decided to join Star Gazer city.

It’s impossible to discern who could be the Creator Entity.

And what if I did find out who they were?

Gu Qing Shan paused and looked up.

The paper sheet that originated from the Samsara was still hovering in the sky above the city.

Gu Qing Shan used his thoughts to ask the paper sheet:

“I have a question, can the City Lord kick other Chosen Saints out of their city?”

The paper sheet quickly gave a response.

The answer was yes.

This was one of the privileges of being a City Lord.

Gu Qing Shan silently nodded.

If kicking someone out was possible, the most important thing to do right now is to find the Creator Entity among the countless Chosen Saints.

——how should I do that?

Gu Qing Shan fell into thought again.

Not only do I need to find the Creator Entity, but I also need to kick them out of Star Gazer city before they can notice.

Only then would Star Gazer city be completely free of their monitoring.

And I would feel assured to keep exploring the Human realm graves.

But there’s a problem here.

——-how many substitute bodies did the Creator Entity put into Star Gazer city in total?

There are other issues as well.

——-would the envoys of other Sequences feel tempted as well?

Numerous thoughts continuously flowed through Gu Qing Shan’s mind.

There are too many things to worry about.

He finally shook his head and sighed: “Let’s just deal with them one at a time”

『 Deal with what? 』Li An asked.

Gu Qing Shan suddenly turned around and looked straight at her: “I want to focus completely on exploring the great tomb, so I’m going to be passing on my City Lord privileges”

『 Passing it on? Do you have any idea what you’re saying!? 』Li An exclaimed.

“Of course I do”

Gu Qing Shan nodded to affirm her that he had already thought it through.

He looked up at the Samsara paper sheet and loudly said: “Help me make an announcement to all Chosen Saints of the city, I want to pick out a group of seven people who will be governing Star Gazer city together”

Not too long afterwards.

All Chosen Saints who were part of Star Gazer city were informed.

Star Gazer city wanted to pick out a group of people to be at the center of its power.

A total of seven people.

And that Gu Qing Shan was preparing to abdicate his seat to focus on exploring the great tomb.

The rules he established were very simple: a fight between all competitors until the final stage.

The strongest seven people would each receive a seat of power and govern Star Gazer city together.

This immediately shook everyone.

Some immediately made their way back without hesitation.

Others had gathered together and started discussing this news.

Some only hesitated briefly before putting the news out of their minds and continued to explore the great tomb.

…

Within the Human realm graves.

Two blade wielders, one tall, one short, suddenly stopped mid-flight.

“Did you hear the news?” the tall person asked.

“Hmph, picking out seven people to govern Star Gazer city together? We don’t need to think too much about that” the shorter person replied.

The tall person agreed: “The mission that the Sequence gave us was to quickly explore the great tomb and awaken the Ultimate Grave; as for taking control of Star Gazer city, that might sound alluring, but then…”

“But since that guy is there, the others might as well just take a shower and go to sleep” the short person followed up.

The tall person shook his head: “I originally thought that this Gu Qing Shan was a smart guy, who knew he’d do something so silly?”

The short person scoffed: “He most likely heard about ‘that’ and is trying to surrender as quickly as possible”

“If that’s the case, he really is smart” the tall person replied.

The two of them exchanged glances and saw the complicated look in the other’s eye.

The Heavenly Emperor killed three Sequence Envoys at the same time.

No one knew how exactly he did it.

In theory, those envoys should have been the top cut of their respective Sequences, each of them alone would not be much weaker compared to a Creator Entity.

Let alone all three of them together.

And yet, all three of them were killed—–

Or rather, they were completely erased without leaving any traces of their existence, not even their soul remained.

The Sequences also stayed silent without saying anything.

This caused everyone else who was hiding to feel incredibly shocked.

No one else dared to try and attack the Heavenly Emperor, only focusing on reaching the final grave as fast as possible.

If Gu Qing Shan had given up on Star Gazer city, someone else would naturally come to take it off his hands.

That would be the Heavenly Emperor.

He is the only other person with a city—–

The Heavenly Palace.

No one would dare to stand against him right now.

Which meant, he would also obtain the second city.

…

20 fighting rings.

Each of them was filled with competitors fighting a chaotic battle.

Every Chosen Saint who wanted a piece of the Star Gazer city ‘cake’ had participated in this competition.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t show himself at all and had allowed these Chosen Saints to fight as they pleased.

He was hiding in the heart of Star Gazer city, silently monitoring the situation outside the city while also observing the battles through 20 sets of detailed life-feed holograms.

“The Creator Entity… is cold, emotionless, arrogant, and hates regular competition between regular living beings”

“But I haven’t caught anything yet”

“They might have not entered any of their substitute bodies yet”

“Only when the last seven people remain will they show up…”

Gu Qing Shan silently fell into thought.

Time slowly passed.

Very quickly, only seven people remained.

Gu Qing Shan looked through the seven portraits and pointed at one of them.

In that portrait, a young man stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

Gu Qing Shan commented: “I’ve been observing him for a while——- this Zhang Yun fellow has consistently displayed indifference in his demeanor; even during battle, he would only ever need one attack to defeat his opponents. Have him come up first”

[Understood] a mechanical voice answered.

…

At another location.

The fighting ring where Zhang Yun was.

A mechanical voice announced:

[Congratulations, you’ve obtained the right to govern Star Gazer city, please step up]

A flight of stairs appeared in front of Zhang Yun.

Zhang Yun curtly looked at the ascending stairs without a single thought in his mind.

During the numerous years up to this point, he had seen too many of these ridiculous selection competitions.

From the looks of it, Gu Qing Shan has already given up on this city.

That’s good news.

After all, I didn’t waste much effort on it, and gaining control over Star Gazer city sooner is better than later.

This way, I’d have two Chosen Saint cities in my hand, and my chances of obtaining the Samsara in the future would also increase.

Zhang Yun kept his hands clasped behind his back and followed the flight of stairs up several floors until he eventually reached a mechanical city square.

Gu Qing Shan was standing at the very center of the city square.

“Welcome, Zhang Yun, from today onwards, you will be one of the seven governors of the city” Gu Qing Shan smiled and said.

“Why did you give up on this city? Did you think you were no match for the Heavenly Palace?” Zhang Yun asked with sarcasm in his voice.

Gu Qing Shan paused briefly before answering with a smile: “That’s right, let us get straight to business. As one of the seven governors, you’ll gain control over 1/7th of Star Gazer city, in order words, you now control a part of this city”

“What do you mean by that?” Zhang Yun frowned and asked.

“Ah, perhaps you didn’t know. Star Gazer city can transform into a giant mech called the Star Gazer Deus Machina, and each of the seven of you will have a part of the complete authority, which corresponds to one specific part of the mech” Gu Qing Shan explained.

“Then, which part do I control?” Zhang Yun asked.

“The head, the two arms and legs, as well as the torso each have an owner already, so the part you’re in charge of is the buttocks!” Gu Qing Shan answered with absolute seriousness.

Zhang Yun didn’t say a word.

The buttocks?

You dare put me in the butt!?

An invisible terrifying presence began to radiate from him.

Gu Qing Shan’s 3D hologram was completely blown away by this presence and vanished.

From the darkness, his voice spoke up: “I recognize this presence, [Overlooking Soul] has also confirmed that he’s a person without any thoughts, kick him out”

Pah—-

Zhang Yun vanished right in front of Gu Qing Shan’s vision.

His identity as a member of Star Gazer city was stripped away, which teleported him to a random location in the great tomb.

Still standing in the heart of Star Gazer city, Gu Qing Shan fell into thought again.

The Creator Entity shouldn’t be someone who casually underestimates others.

If that was the case, he wouldn’t have been able to live for so many years.

Then, the reason he did something like that right in front of me was to feign that I managed to notice, find, and kick him out.

If he did that so that I let my guard down—–

He must have had another substitute body.

Among… the other six.

“Show me the combat footage of the other six” Gu Qing Shan ordered.

[Understood] a mechanical voice answered.

Six screens appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan.

Every battle of the other six winners, from their first to their last, was rapidly displayed for Gu Qing Shan to see.

All six of them had various unique personality characteristics.

Nobody was quite as arrogant as the Creator Entity and looked at the world with half an eye opened.

Even when using [Overlooking Soul] to examine them, no issues could be discerned.

How reassuring.

Gu Qing Shan then shook his head.

—–the fake Heavenly Emperor was originally the same.

It wasn’t until the Creator Entity took over his body that his personality changed significantly and thoroughly became the Creator Entity.

How can I discern that?

Gu Qing Shan suddenly recalled something.

He ordered right away: “Have them all come to meet me, silently remind them to be polite, say that I’m someone who’s very heavy on etiquette”

[Understood] a mechanical voice replied.

A second later.

A mechanical voice spoke to each of the other six at the same time:

[Please follow me to meet the City Lord]

[—–a friendly reminder, he’s someone who’s very heavy on etiquette]

The six of them nodded with understanding.

They quickly arrived at the mechanical city square where Gu Qing Shan stood.

“Greetings, City Lord!” all six of them spoke in unison.

Gu Qing Shan nodded and began explaining: “From today onwards, all of you shall be the governing echelon of Star Gazer city”

Among the six, a muscular man suddenly halted on the spot as his eyes gradually became devoid of emotions.

“Die!”

He spat out a single word before turning into a gust of wind and instantly arriving in front of Gu Qing Shan.

He raised his hand to prepare an attack——

Bang!

Suddenly, the muscular man was sent flying backwards like a tornado.

——–Red Dragon Origin Hex!

“Kick him out”

Gu Qing Shan said.

The river was calm and winding as it continued to flow.

At a relatively secluded location away from the tomb river.

There weren’t any strange creatures here, nor were there any graves, and especially no wandering Apocalypses.

The Star Gazer Deus Machina was hiding here.

The giant mech that was over a few hundred meters in height was standing firmly on the ground, its body parts constantly in operation, almost as if it was ready to fight at a moment’s notice——

But with a closer look, it was actually ready to flee.

『 How is it? 』Li An asked.

“They didn’t give chase” Gu Qing Shan replied.

He was continuously paying close attention to even the smallest movements of the grass in the wilderness to prevent the Heavenly Emperor from getting the jump on them.

Li An commented, still a bit fearful: 『 We finally escaped—– how did he suddenly become so terrifying? 』

“You thought that he was terrifying?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

『 Yeah, he was ridiculously strong, just looking at him from a distance, I already felt a sense of fear in my heart 』Li An answered.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t say anything else and began to fall into thought.

Li An has no idea what happened to the Heavenly Emperor.

And there are certain things that I should just keep to myself instead of telling her, otherwise, it would cause her danger.

For example——-

Through that conversation with the Heavenly Emperor earlier, I’ve confirmed that he at least has one identity within Star Gazer city.

He’s hiding in Star Gazer city!

Now that Star Gazer city is no longer within the Heavenly Emperor’s sight, the battle between two cities can’t help but proceed silently.

Then, what would the Creator Entity behind the Heavenly Emperor do?

If they wanted to find Star Gazer city, they simply had to return to the second identity and they’d instantly find out where Star Gazer city was!

This couldn’t be helped.

Every Chosen Saint that has joined Star Gazer city would be granted a natural compass in their minds that constantly points them towards the direction of the city.

And now, the Creator Entity has decided to stop the exploration altogether and focus all their attention on destroying Star Gazer city!

What methods do I have to deal with that?

Gu Qing Shan thought for a long while until he eventually shook his head.

——–there are countless Chosen Saints who decided to join Star Gazer city.

It’s impossible to discern who could be the Creator Entity.

And what if I did find out who they were?

Gu Qing Shan paused and looked up.

The paper sheet that originated from the Samsara was still hovering in the sky above the city.

Gu Qing Shan used his thoughts to ask the paper sheet:

“I have a question, can the City Lord kick other Chosen Saints out of their city?”

The paper sheet quickly gave a response.

The answer was yes.

This was one of the privileges of being a City Lord.

Gu Qing Shan silently nodded.

If kicking someone out was possible, the most important thing to do right now is to find the Creator Entity among the countless Chosen Saints.

——how should I do that?

Gu Qing Shan fell into thought again.

Not only do I need to find the Creator Entity, but I also need to kick them out of Star Gazer city before they can notice.

Only then would Star Gazer city be completely free of their monitoring.

And I would feel assured to keep exploring the Human realm graves.

But there’s a problem here.

——-how many substitute bodies did the Creator Entity put into Star Gazer city in total?

There are other issues as well.

——-would the envoys of other Sequences feel tempted as well?

Numerous thoughts continuously flowed through Gu Qing Shan’s mind.

There are too many things to worry about.

He finally shook his head and sighed: “Let’s just deal with them one at a time”

『 Deal with what? 』Li An asked.

Gu Qing Shan suddenly turned around and looked straight at her: “I want to focus completely on exploring the great tomb, so I’m going to be passing on my City Lord privileges”

『 Passing it on? Do you have any idea what you’re saying!? 』Li An exclaimed.

“Of course I do”

Gu Qing Shan nodded to affirm her that he had already thought it through.

He looked up at the Samsara paper sheet and loudly said: “Help me make an announcement to all Chosen Saints of the city, I want to pick out a group of seven people who will be governing Star Gazer city together”

Not too long afterwards.

All Chosen Saints who were part of Star Gazer city were informed.

Star Gazer city wanted to pick out a group of people to be at the center of its power.

A total of seven people.

And that Gu Qing Shan was preparing to abdicate his seat to focus on exploring the great tomb.

The rules he established were very simple: a fight between all competitors until the final stage.

The strongest seven people would each receive a seat of power and govern Star Gazer city together.

This immediately shook everyone.

Some immediately made their way back without hesitation.

Others had gathered together and started discussing this news.

Some only hesitated briefly before putting the news out of their minds and continued to explore the great tomb.

…

Within the Human realm graves.

Two blade wielders, one tall, one short, suddenly stopped mid-flight.

“Did you hear the news?” the tall person asked.

“Hmph, picking out seven people to govern Star Gazer city together? We don’t need to think too much about that” the shorter person replied.

The tall person agreed: “The mission that the Sequence gave us was to quickly explore the great tomb and awaken the Ultimate Grave; as for taking control of Star Gazer city, that might sound alluring, but then…”

“But since that guy is there, the others might as well just take a shower and go to sleep” the short person followed up.

The tall person shook his head: “I originally thought that this Gu Qing Shan was a smart guy, who knew he’d do something so silly?”

The short person scoffed: “He most likely heard about ‘that’ and is trying to surrender as quickly as possible”

“If that’s the case, he really is smart” the tall person replied.

The two of them exchanged glances and saw the complicated look in the other’s eye.

The Heavenly Emperor killed three Sequence Envoys at the same time.

No one knew how exactly he did it.

In theory, those envoys should have been the top cut of their respective Sequences, each of them alone would not be much weaker compared to a Creator Entity.

Let alone all three of them together.

And yet, all three of them were killed—–

Or rather, they were completely erased without leaving any traces of their existence, not even their soul remained.

The Sequences also stayed silent without saying anything.

This caused everyone else who was hiding to feel incredibly shocked.

No one else dared to try and attack the Heavenly Emperor, only focusing on reaching the final grave as fast as possible.

If Gu Qing Shan had given up on Star Gazer city, someone else would naturally come to take it off his hands.

That would be the Heavenly Emperor.

He is the only other person with a city—–

The Heavenly Palace.

No one would dare to stand against him right now.

Which meant, he would also obtain the second city.

…

20 fighting rings.

Each of them was filled with competitors fighting a chaotic battle.

Every Chosen Saint who wanted a piece of the Star Gazer city ‘cake’ had participated in this competition.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t show himself at all and had allowed these Chosen Saints to fight as they pleased.

He was hiding in the heart of Star Gazer city, silently monitoring the situation outside the city while also observing the battles through 20 sets of detailed life-feed holograms.

“The Creator Entity… is cold, emotionless, arrogant, and hates regular competition between regular living beings”

“But I haven’t caught anything yet”

“They might have not entered any of their substitute bodies yet”

“Only when the last seven people remain will they show up…”

Gu Qing Shan silently fell into thought.

Time slowly passed.

Very quickly, only seven people remained.

Gu Qing Shan looked through the seven portraits and pointed at one of them.

In that portrait, a young man stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

Gu Qing Shan commented: “I’ve been observing him for a while——- this Zhang Yun fellow has consistently displayed indifference in his demeanor; even during battle, he would only ever need one attack to defeat his opponents. Have him come up first”

[Understood] a mechanical voice answered.

…

At another location.

The fighting ring where Zhang Yun was.

A mechanical voice announced:

[Congratulations, you’ve obtained the right to govern Star Gazer city, please step up]

A flight of stairs appeared in front of Zhang Yun.

Zhang Yun curtly looked at the ascending stairs without a single thought in his mind.

During the numerous years up to this point, he had seen too many of these ridiculous selection competitions.

From the looks of it, Gu Qing Shan has already given up on this city.

That’s good news.

After all, I didn’t waste much effort on it, and gaining control over Star Gazer city sooner is better than later.

This way, I’d have two Chosen Saint cities in my hand, and my chances of obtaining the Samsara in the future would also increase.

Zhang Yun kept his hands clasped behind his back and followed the flight of stairs up several floors until he eventually reached a mechanical city square.

Gu Qing Shan was standing at the very center of the city square.

“Welcome, Zhang Yun, from today onwards, you will be one of the seven governors of the city” Gu Qing Shan smiled and said.

“Why did you give up on this city? Did you think you were no match for the Heavenly Palace?” Zhang Yun asked with sarcasm in his voice.

Gu Qing Shan paused briefly before answering with a smile: “That’s right, let us get straight to business. As one of the seven governors, you’ll gain control over 1/7th of Star Gazer city, in order words, you now control a part of this city”

“What do you mean by that?” Zhang Yun frowned and asked.

“Ah, perhaps you didn’t know. Star Gazer city can transform into a giant mech called the Star Gazer Deus Machina, and each of the seven of you will have a part of the complete authority, which corresponds to one specific part of the mech” Gu Qing Shan explained.

“Then, which part do I control?” Zhang Yun asked.

“The head, the two arms and legs, as well as the torso each have an owner already, so the part you’re in charge of is the buttocks!” Gu Qing Shan answered with absolute seriousness.

Zhang Yun didn’t say a word.

The buttocks?

You dare put me in the butt!?

An invisible terrifying presence began to radiate from him.

Gu Qing Shan’s 3D hologram was completely blown away by this presence and vanished.

From the darkness, his voice spoke up: “I recognize this presence, [Overlooking Soul] has also confirmed that he’s a person without any thoughts, kick him out”

Pah—-

Zhang Yun vanished right in front of Gu Qing Shan’s vision.

His identity as a member of Star Gazer city was stripped away, which teleported him to a random location in the great tomb.

Still standing in the heart of Star Gazer city, Gu Qing Shan fell into thought again.

The Creator Entity shouldn’t be someone who casually underestimates others.

If that was the case, he wouldn’t have been able to live for so many years.

Then, the reason he did something like that right in front of me was to feign that I managed to notice, find, and kick him out.

If he did that so that I let my guard down—–

He must have had another substitute body.

Among… the other six.

“Show me the combat footage of the other six” Gu Qing Shan ordered.

[Understood] a mechanical voice answered.

Six screens appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan.

Every battle of the other six winners, from their first to their last, was rapidly displayed for Gu Qing Shan to see.

All six of them had various unique personality characteristics.

Nobody was quite as arrogant as the Creator Entity and looked at the world with half an eye opened.

Even when using [Overlooking Soul] to examine them, no issues could be discerned.

How reassuring.

Gu Qing Shan then shook his head.

—–the fake Heavenly Emperor was originally the same.

It wasn’t until the Creator Entity took over his body that his personality changed significantly and thoroughly became the Creator Entity.

How can I discern that?

Gu Qing Shan suddenly recalled something.

He ordered right away: “Have them all come to meet me, silently remind them to be polite, say that I’m someone who’s very heavy on etiquette”

[Understood] a mechanical voice replied.

A second later.

A mechanical voice spoke to each of the other six at the same time:

[Please follow me to meet the City Lord]

[—–a friendly reminder, he’s someone who’s very heavy on etiquette]

The six of them nodded with understanding.

They quickly arrived at the mechanical city square where Gu Qing Shan stood.

“Greetings, City Lord!” all six of them spoke in unison.

Gu Qing Shan nodded and began explaining: “From today onwards, all of you shall be the governing echelon of Star Gazer city”

Among the six, a muscular man suddenly halted on the spot as his eyes gradually became devoid of emotions.

“Die!”

He spat out a single word before turning into a gust of wind and instantly arriving in front of Gu Qing Shan.

He raised his hand to prepare an attack——

Bang!

Suddenly, the muscular man was sent flying backwards like a tornado.

——–Red Dragon Origin Hex!

“Kick him out”

Gu Qing Shan said.