Chapter 280

But the more the shadows overlapped, the more blurred the line between reality and illusion became. If Duo Chenzi's ritual were completed, the history, beliefs, and memories known to the world would likely be completely rewritten.

"This is just too ridiculous!" Elaine groaned, clutching her head. "If there were no Christianity, it wouldn't just be a matter of religion!"

"If Christianity had never existed, medieval Europe wouldn't have been the way it was at all. There wouldn't have been monastic education, and the university system wouldn't have been established with the church as its backbone. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment—all of it would be gone. Even modern science might not have been born! People like Newton, Galileo, and Kepler wouldn't have appeared in history at all!"

"And that's not all! The entire political landscape of Europe would have to be rewritten, and the history of colonialism would have been a completely different script. Not to mention the various political ideologies derived from Enlightenment thought—they might all cease to exist! Whether it's modern capitalism or other theoretical isms, none of them would appear!"

The scene was so chaotic that Elaine's speed of complaining was skyrocketing.

"You can't necessarily say that. Your way of putting it is essentially a form of Christian-centrism," Xue Ning said, frowning.

"The Scientific Revolution, modern society, the development of political thought… perhaps they could have emerged through other paths. Eastern civilization also has a profound accumulation of thought and technology. If there were no Christianity, humanity might have embarked on a completely different path; it wouldn't necessarily be destined to fall behind, and it wouldn't necessarily fail to give birth to science and new systems."

"Besides, you are only thinking from the perspective of a mortal. If viewed from the perspective of a [God], possessing infinite divine power that transcends time, space, and causality, how history is written, modified, or developed is all just a matter of a single thought."

"Productivity, science, magic, order… all of this is nothing more than words on paper, which can be erased and modified at any time, rearranged in a single thought."

The words were grand, but Xue Ning paused, her gaze becoming heavy.

"…Even so, what Master is doing is essentially wiping out the existing two thousand years of history, completely denying the people who already exist, even their 'existence itself.' Forcibly deleting it and starting over is even worse than death."

Her voice carried a hint of imperceptible sorrow. "This is… an even more evil act than the White God, my Lord." "I cannot agree with this approach."

Even so, neither Xue Ning nor Elaine could do anything about this reconstruction of space-time reality. They could only immediately send the intelligence on the situation observed in Rome to Qi Xing.

And now, Qi Xing and Sasa had to face the perpetrator, Duo Chenzi.

"You? Entering the Samsara Disk yourself?" Hearing Sasa's words, even the usually calm and indifferent Duo Chenzi couldn't help but be slightly stunned. A flash of surprise appeared in her eyes, and then she narrowed them slightly. "…Peacock King, I'm not a fool. What kind of trick are you trying to pull?"

"Don't get it wrong, Sheikh Adi. I'm not begging you; I'm suggesting." Sasa turned back and pointed at Qi Xing. "Do you think this man of mine would submit to your way of rewriting cosmic history?"

As a result, before Duo Chenzi could say anything, Qi Xing unceremoniously knocked her on the head first: "I am not your man."

"Ouch—anyway, Sheikh Adi, don't you think I haven't been a proper Creator God? That's why you want to nail me up there, torture me properly, and teach me what human suffering is."

Sasa held her head, which was bleeding continuously, and continued to try to talk to Duo Chenzi. "On this point, I'm afraid Qi Xing shares a common language with you. Why don't we compromise here?"

"You use this Samsara Disk to teach me how to be a proper God. When I return to the throne, I will reorganize the order, become a more responsible God, and transform it into a more ideal world—at least a world that everyone can relatively accept. Don't make things so serious that you have to delete everything and start over."

"In this way, the benefit you get is that [Venerable Leipu] won't punch your head off, and we can still leave room for negotiation between us. What do you think?"

What kind of trick was this? For a moment, it was actually Duo Chenzi who was truly stunned.

At this moment, the way she looked at Sasa was as if she had seen a cat turn into a human and then start eating other cats. The word "confused" wasn't even enough to describe one ten-thousandth of the expression on her face.

Samael—how could Samael say such things? Responsible? Transform it into a world that everyone can at least relatively accept?

"…What did [Venerable Leipu] feed you that broke your brain, White God, my Lord?"

"No, don't talk nonsense. I just started to realize… that I might have really done something wrong." Sasa shook her head, shaking it until it bled, with blood splattered all over her face and body, but her eyes were unexpectedly clear.

"But deleting the whole world and starting over is absolutely not allowed."

"Why? It seems you've said this a long time ago, but you never told me the reason." Duo Chenzi frowned. "…You said you have never deleted the entire universe and started over. Is that true? Is this version of the universe we are in right now actually the only version you originally created?"

"Yes." Despite being covered in wounds and blood, Sasa's answer was exceptionally crisp and clean. "I have only created the world once. No reloading, no starting over."

At this, even Duo Chenzi couldn't help but be shaken. This was too strange.

If it were because she was particularly confident, believing she could clear the game in one life without needing to reload and start over, that would be one thing.

However, even Duo Chenzi knew that Sasa had failed many times. Ever since the primitive tribes ran around wearing meat armor, she kept sending Giant Spirits to destroy tribe after tribe, nation after nation, and even failed civilizations and entire continents, driving them into the seabed. So-called Great Floods, Atlantis, and the like were all examples of this.

Since she could countless times use "wiping out part of humanity" to start over, why was she unwilling to "reset time and space"? Was it lack of ability? Or was she afraid that doing so would attract interference from the [Descender]? Actually, none of these were the case. No matter how poor her ability was, Sasa would always be able to reset the settings according to the original data. Before Jesus actually came, Sasa hadn't expected that anyone could enter her home base at all.

The real answer was actually very simple, very pure.

"This world and humanity were all created by me. If a part fails, I can still say this is normal, not my complete failure. The failure of past humans can serve as the cornerstone for future New Humans."

Sasa crossed her arms, a disheveled posture, but with a rare, serious expression. "But if I delete the entire universe and start over, wouldn't that be equivalent to announcing my own complete defeat? With absolutely no excuses?"

"That's not a correction; it means that I, the Creator, am a failure at the root."

…So that was the reason. Duo Chenzi was completely speechless. Sure enough, nothing good comes out of a dog's mouth. She actually had a one-thousandth of a second where she suspected that perhaps Samael really had some very noble reason. And it was just this?

"…One more thing, if time and space are not reset, history remains, and past deaths can still be said to be the foundation for future life, just like fallen leaves decaying to sprout new buds."

—Unexpectedly, Sasa changed the subject, slightly lifting her head. Blood trickled down her cheek but didn't obscure the mocking smile she revealed. "But if everything is wiped away, history and death become completely meaningless, and things that once existed truly disappear completely, which is worse than death."

"There's always next time, right? There's the next time after that, right? And the world after that, isn't there? I am an omnipotent God, and I can continue endlessly, can't I? As long as I feel the situation is difficult to solve, I can just overturn the chessboard and start over. 'There's always a next time. This isn't my battlefield,' like that."

"Constantly cycling through this failure that only I know about—that's not called correction; it's just deceiving myself."

Blood stained Sasa's face red, but her eyes still shone with an almost arrogant pride: even if she was riddled with holes, she would never tolerate herself using "deleting saves and starting over" to cover up her own failure. Because failure is failure.

For Samael, who had been obsessed with success and failure since she was still in Heaven and in the Upper Realm, racking her brains to scheme against fallen angels just to improve herself, "whether one has the shame to face one's own failure" was probably a line she would never compromise on.

For a moment, Duo Chenzi, holding the [Samsara] silver coin, was speechless. To her, these words were like an ugly caricature.

Instead, Qi Xing, who was carrying Sasa on his back, couldn't help but laugh. Well said, devil. Knowing shame is akin to courage; based on this alone, Qi Xing decided that it was worth it for him to accompany her on this journey.

"…Do you think that after mocking me like this, I might still cooperate with you?" Finally, a trace of annoyance began to appear on Duo Chenzi's face. "And White God, my Lord, you seem to have misunderstood one thing. I'll just say it straight—although I admit you are our Creator, our God of Creation, I never said that you should continue to hold the reins of the world in the future."

"God just needs to shut up and sit properly on the throne. Let us humans decide the human world. Why are you interfering?"

It seemed the negotiation had broken down. Qi Xing had expected this result all along anyway.

Sasa said she wanted to talk to Duo Chenzi, but in reality, she still had thorns in her mouth and was hissing; what a silly cat. But this was good, this was fine. Anyway, this stupid devil only needed such an attempt, to take the first step. With this first step, if there was more time, perhaps she could grow… perhaps she could understand what exactly she was lacking.

Taking Sasa down from his back, Qi Xing finally used the [Dominion] silver coin to cast a healing on her and stuffed the Silver Coin of [Illusion] into her hand.

"This trick again? It's useless." Duo Chenzi sneered. "The ritual is still continuing; the White God cannot synchronize with you, [Venerable Leipu]."

"Who said I wanted to synchronize with her to make it a two-on-one?" Qi Xing retorted, and took out the [Death] silver coin.

Before Duo Chenzi could react, Sasa had already grasped the Silver Coin of [Illusion], and her figure vanished into thin air—who knows when, she had already transformed into a stream of light and rushed straight toward the Samsara Disk!

"Don't even think about it." Duo Chenzi immediately unfurled the sleeves of her Taoist robe against the wind, intending to use the supernatural technique of "Universe in the Sleeve" to trap Sasa—but would Qi Xing just watch her move?

He single-handedly activated the [World] and [Death] silver coins, once again forcibly transforming into the White Knight with the skull mask, and with a flying sword strike, he had already pinned Duo Chenzi's sleeve!

"…What on earth are you trying to do?" Taking advantage of this moment, Sasa had already lunged into the [Samsara Disk], leaving Duo Chenzi not even knowing whether to be shocked or confused—what on earth was this?!

"None of your business. Just borrowing some time from you." Qi Xing was already smiling. "Before she comes out, you can just stay outside and play with me."

Volume 7: Age of Apocalypse in the Dharma-Ending Era: 257: Refined into Gold a Thousand Times

Sasa transformed into a stream of light and escaped straight into the [Samsara Disk], her figure disappearing into the depths of that endless light and shadow in the blink of an eye. Her whereabouts were unknown.

Even without Qi Xing's interference, Duo Chenzi didn't know for a moment whether she should continue to stop her—theoretically, it was impossible for Sasa to interfere with the [Samsara Disk]. Rushing in like this would only accelerate her own suffering, equivalent to handing her own neck under the blade, voluntarily going to endure a thousand lifetimes of misery. At least theoretically, that should be the case.

…But watching a duck jump into her pot with green onions on its back, even the most confident person would wonder if their pot might be overturned by a trick and smashed open. …So, would Duo Chenzi worry about this? No, she wouldn't!

Seeing Sasa fly into the Samsara Disk, Duo Chenzi was only stunned for a moment, then sneered: "Walking right into the trap."

She didn't doubt at all that the supreme magic ritual she designed would be cracked by Samael. She wasn't worried about such a thing happening at all! This was Samael, the blind and foolish Creator, an expert at shooting herself in the foot, with a notorious track record. How could she possibly crack her secret ritual just by pulling a stunt this time? A joke!

And what about her, Duo Chenzi? She had reincarnated five times, experienced thousands of years of human wisdom and blood and fire, and gained insight into various truths. In every lifetime, she had tempered herself to be stronger and smarter, smarter than Samael by who knows how much!

If she didn't have this kind of confidence and arrogance, she wouldn't be worthy of calling herself "Duo Chenzi," nor would she be worthy of sitting on the high towers of the small immortal realm of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces, becoming an ancient demon king! —Therefore, theoretically, even if Qi Xing turned around and ran away now, Duo Chenzi wouldn't run into the [Samsara Disk] to drag Sasa back out.

Unfortunately, Qi Xing wouldn't do that after all. This was the first time he had independently activated the [Dominion] and [Death] silver coins at the same time without Sasa's help, transforming into the knight wearing bone armor. His name was "Death," and Hades followed him, having the authority to kill a quarter of humanity with sword, famine, plague, and the beasts of the earth. The Pale Rider of the Apocalypse.

When Sasa was there, she could turn into a great sword or a great blade; when Qi Xing transformed alone, the default mythical weapon was a great scythe. The great scythe wasn't easy to handle, so Qi Xing simply grabbed it and forcefully broke it into a long blade with a clanging sound. Even Duo Chenzi was somewhat surprised to see this: "You can do that too?"

"Of course I can. You didn't know that the [Dominion] silver coin is actually [The World]?" Qi Xing toyed with the silver coin and grinned. "It seems that no matter which [Silver Coin Messenger] it is, Sasa doesn't tell them too many settings."

—Remember before, Sasa once told Qi Xing that the [Dominion] silver coin and the [Death] silver coin worked very well together. At that time, Sasa had argued with him for a long time about the reasons. But now it seems that at least half of it was nonsense.

Dominion, control, indeed have a symbolic connection with [Death]. But since the [silver coin] is essentially just a Kabbalistic concept imitating Tarot cards, material that Sasa stole from the Upper Realm database, and not a mystery she invented herself… then the rest is really just mythological semiotics, and the archetypal meanings it carries.

Since Qi Xing embraced the [Death] card as the representative of his combat image, he had to understand this: the Skeleton Knight was not only used to eliminate his enemies, but also to lead him through fundamental changes. Death is an irreversible change. There might be rebirth after death, but rebirth is by no means a simple repetition. Reincarnation might exist, but reincarnation cannot be repeating the same things over and over again—death is change.