Chapter 261

The most terrifying thing has always been humans themselves, with their deep-seated desires.

Is this the scene Samael likes the most?

A world where everyone slaughters, competes, and conflicts with one another for their own desires, driving evolution through pain?

Fortunately, when all is said and done, the strongest who possess the power to truly change the world's destiny are still but a handful at this moment.

First and foremost is that King of Warriors who stepped in to save humanity.

When Lin and Xue Ning failed to completely intercept the meteor shower, he swung that massive golden spear, sweeping the meteors away from the firmament and protecting humanity as a whole.

However, this was only the beginning.

He left his small home in Aomori, took his wife, and rode the pitch-black dragon Nidhogg, soaring to the stormy, raging seas of the South Pacific.

When he slammed his golden spear into the sea, the surging waves split instantly, the seafloor plates disintegrated, and the roaring sound shook the heavens and the earth.

At the bottom of the abyss, ruins that had slumbered for ten thousand years revived; broken halls and interlocking stone stairs rose from the ground under the immense force.

With a thunderous crash, an entire continent was forcibly torn up from the seabed by him!

That was the lost continent that legend says existed ten thousand years in prehistory—[Continent of Mu]!

Like a giant rock surfacing from the sea, it carried ancient halls and broken forests of steles, seeing the light of day once more.

His mount, the black dragon Nidhogg, opened its bloody maw and spat out iron-black roots from the depths of its throat.

Those were the residual roots of the World Tree; they writhed like thousands of dragons and snakes, driving deep into the bedrock of the Continent of Mu.

The King of Warriors reached for his right eye and gouged it out, blood gushing forth like a crimson spring.

He pressed that eyeball into the space between the World Tree roots.

In an instant, the eyeball intertwined and fused with the blood, the roots, and the earth.

The entire continent jolted violently, no longer belonging to the ocean; instead, it broke free from gravity, gradually rising into the sky and slowly flying toward the firmament.

Like a newly born, massive city in the sky.

Television cameras captured this scene, and the internet crashed in an instant.

People witnessed with their own eyes the miraculous scene of myth appearing beneath the sky.

At that moment, the meteorites and the shattering of the moon were no longer just sources of fear.

The crowds forgot their panic and could only stare blankly at the continent floating in the sky.

What truly shocked them was that this world had been rewritten—the return of gods, the descent of legends.

—This was the first new power to step in and divide the world.

[Heaven], a continent floating in the sky, established by the King of Hell (Heliand) with his own hands.

Using some unknown method, he quickly selected millions of believers and common people from all over the world, and these people responded to him with unwavering love and fanaticism.

Every action and every decision of the King of Hell would absolutely impact the world.

And this was merely the beginning.

As if in response to something, various powerful individuals awakened one after another across the world, rising one after another like a chain reaction.

[The Strongest Woman in the World], possessing the world's strongest political and military power, controlled six hundred thousand combatants and five thousand superpowered individuals under her command through iron-fisted politics and unparalleled martial force.

After the moon shattered, she immediately acted to seize the throne of the President of America, taking complete control of the Americas.

Her strength was so immense that no one could rival it.

If it were just personal strength, that would be one thing, but with such deeply rooted and immense influence, it makes one wonder if there is a connection behind her to that reclusive, first-born ancient Demon King?

This is a secret that must be explored in the future…

On the other hand, at the same time, those divine beasts and demigod heroes who once ruled the world in ancient times also began to awaken.

Since Jesus killed the Dark Creator, the power of these remnants of the gods had gradually faded, and the age of Mortals had reigned for two thousand years.

In the past two thousand years, the age of gods had been forgotten.

…But now, they have also begun to return.

The gods, Demon Kings, heroes, and monsters of old have all returned, once again chasing the fate of humanity.

Is this the era of Ragnarok?

Or is it the beginning of the world as it should be, as prophesied in the "Kojiki"?

Is it time for the final war and the apocalypse of the Dharma-ending age? Or is a new age of gods beginning?

The answer would change depending on who you ask.

But regardless, the old era will not return. The new era has already begun.

Qi Xing could only choose to be a player in the new era, with the world as his chessboard.

With the Mediterranean as the center, he established a safe place here, a place where many people could find a glimmer of hope.

Millions upon millions of people flocked here, because they were homeless, because their original homes were no longer safe.

The one who stepped in to protect them was [Master Leipu].

But soon, he was no longer just [Master Leipu], because simply "Master," just the title of a "Hero," was no longer worthy of him.

In this era intertwined with despair and terror, his image and title gradually changed.

Is the coming era only filled with despair?

The answer would change depending on who you ask. But if you were to ask those under his protection, they would firmly answer:

"Absolutely not."

"Because the coming era is the era of [Venerable Leipu]!"

Volume Six: Thunder █ Hero · Lunar Expedition: 239.5: Just Suffering a Little

Overall, Qi Xing's gains in the Lunar War were truly not insignificant.

An ancient Demon King, along with the Demon King's retainers under his command, were all wiped out this time.

There might still be some disciples and followers of Pajun hidden in the world, but presumably without the [Silver Coin Messenger], the remaining people cannot stir up much trouble.

Including Pajun's [Destruction] silver coin, a total of three [silver coins] fell into Qi Xing's hands. The number of [silver coins] in his possession has now reached an astonishing seven.

Seven!

How many [silver coins] the other two ancient Demon Kings each hold is currently unknown. But without a doubt, Qi Xing has already ascended to become one of the powerful players on the chessboard, capable of influencing the situation; he is an extremely strong individual on par with the Original Four.

This is a complete victory!

But all this victory now seems quite awkward because of a small accident right in front of him…

Sasa, she, has become, a living person.

"Simply unbelievable."

After everyone returned to Labyrinth Island, Elaine helped Qi Xing carefully examine Sasa's current body and couldn't help but marvel:

"The physical body that Satan has obtained now is exactly the same as that of an ordinary mortal girl. Breathing, pulse, blood circulation, body temperature—all are normal."

Xue Ning added from the side, providing her professional knowledge:

"The only difference is that the White God's current body is like an experimental sample just taken from a petri dish, having never undergone daily use. That is why the tissue cells appear fresh and fragile, looking exceptionally delicate."

"This body must have been created by Pajun at the last moment using the Giant Spirit's reconstruction ability."

So that was it; it sounded quite reasonable.

So Qi Xing also nodded. His only question now was:

"Then how exactly do we turn Sasa back?"

Elaine and Xue Ning looked at each other for a while, neither speaking immediately. In the silence, it was finally Xue Ning who answered first: "I'm afraid this will be very difficult."

"Considering that the laws of the Golden Shackles have the highest priority, perhaps we can physically destroy the White God's current shell, so that her soul will be released and return to the throne."

"But the price is that she will likely be permanently imprisoned in the throne from then on, and may even be unable to let her shadow out to roam the human world ever again."

That would be terrible. Qi Xing certainly could not allow this to happen.

Besides, Miss Sasa, aren't you too useless?

Speechless for a moment, he turned his head to look at the evil god loli who was huddled on the bed, looking at a loss like a lop-eared rabbit.

Not to mention that she herself didn't know what to do, even Qi Xing was a bit confused at this moment.

"I actually… became a human… so disgusting…"

And Sasa herself was sinking into severe self-loathing.

Should he comfort her? But even Qi Xing only felt that she had brought this upon herself, and it served her right.

Besides, Lin and Elaine's attitude toward this phenomenon was also: "Isn't this quite good?"

"I don't really understand the feelings of a fallen angel," Lin said indifferently, "but I guess this devil should now be able to understand more personally what a mortal life is like."

Elaine also nodded, deeply agreeing: "Let her feel more of the daily needs of humans—hunger, cold and heat, sleep, fatigue, and all such things. Let her know how much humans suffer on a daily basis, perhaps she can say fewer sarcastic remarks in the future."

Devils are always good at mocking the weakness and susceptibility to corruption of humans, and enjoy watching mortals struggle between desire and pain.

However, this bunch of pure spiritual entities neither feels hunger, nor fatigue, nor sleepiness, nor are they tortured by the flesh, and they don't even have physical desires.

To a large extent, their mocking of these things is a case of "talking without feeling the pain."

If humans also did not possess the pain and desires brought by the body, would they be stronger, more virtuous, and less prone to corruption?

That is probably hard to say… but at least everyone is happy to let the devil get a taste of having a body.

Even Qi Xing himself would find it hard to say that he didn't have a bit of schadenfreude in his heart—wanting to see Sasa suffer a little in this delicate human body.

…Don't get the wrong idea!

It's just suffering a little! It's not about making her eat strange things!

But on the other hand, Qi Xing also had a serious problem he had to face: "Sasa, can you still transform and perform the dual-core drive with me using two [silver coins]?"

This question made Sasa lift her head from the bed and look at Qi Xing very coldly.

It's funny to say, although she had become a mortal, that thorny halo on her head was still there, and it was still spinning round and round.

Although Sasa didn't say anything, Qi Xing immediately realized—someone is feeling depressed and dejected, and you go and ask them if they can still continue working; that is indeed a bit tactless.

It's just that, in Qi Xing's view, it was only becoming a human, what is there to be depressed and dejected about? Devils are so pretentious!

"No. Of course not."

After a moment of silence, Sasa squeezed out an answer with a dark face, "If I use the [silver coin of Illusion], I should be able to transform, but then I won't be able to use other [silver coins]."

This was not good news for Qi Xing.

Sasa no longer being able to transform into the Sasa blade meant that Qi Xing's original combat tactic of driving two [silver coins] simultaneously could not be used for the time being.

Although Sasa could still use the [silver coin of Illusion] to transform, the flexibility would be greatly affected, and Qi Xing could only use the [Truth] silver coin to seek the best combination.

Without Qi Xing needing to say it, the companions here all knew how troublesome this was. For a moment, everyone frowned…

…Only Xue Ning, hearing this, beamed with joy instead: "Oh my, [Master Leipu], what's so difficult about this? Isn't synchronization and fusion simple?"

"The White God has a physical body now. You just need to fuse with her directly!"

Fu♦sion!

This idea was truly simple and easy to understand.

It's just a pity that, except for Xue Ning, no one else seemed very enthusiastic about this idea.

Sasa herself was even scared pale, showing a quite terrified expression: "Me? Fuse with a human? I absolutely don't want that!"

Although Qi Xing could fully understand Sasa's feelings, this reaction still hurt him a little: "No one will force you, you stupid Sasa, what do you take me for?"

But this situation indeed made things a bit troublesome.

Now that Sasa had a physical body, she could no longer crawl around on Qi Xing's head at will like in the past—unless she transformed using the [silver coin of Illusion] first. But then, it wouldn't be as flexible and free as before.

"The air is full of the smell of dust… Do you really want me to breathe this kind of thing? My skin hurts even when it touches fabric…"

And Sasa, at this moment, was still grumbling while curled up on the bed in depression.

She even tried to get out of bed, but as soon as her feet touched the floor, they immediately went weak; she almost fell as soon as she stood up, and only steadied herself by grabbing the bedpost in a panic, her expression immediately becoming even more miserable.

"…I think I finally understand the feelings of Adam and Eve being driven out of the Garden of Eden…"

Qi Xing couldn't help but roll his eyes: Wasn't that also caused by you?

If the dual-core drive on Sasa's side could not be counted on for the time being, Qi Xing would likely have to consider the logic she mentioned earlier, that Qi Xing needs to spend time adapting to the [silver coins] in order to simultaneously activate multiple [silver coins].

Seeing that both Sasa and Qi Xing were not enthusiastic about her plan, Xue Ning was also a bit embarrassed.

Taking this opportunity, Elaine instead gave a secret look to Lin.

The two found a moment to slip out of the room, and subsequently, Elaine took the initiative to say: "Miss Lin, although we have different views on many things, on the point of stopping Qi Xing and the devil from messing around, our positions should be consistent, right?"