It was both heartache and helplessness in his heart; people thought the one who suffered the most back then was the Wise Angel who lost his beloved son, but who knew how the Angel King truly felt?
"All these years, I've been searching for a way to change the tense relations we have now, a way for us to return to the past."
"It's impossible to find," Insect Thirteen said softly, "Once suspicion arises, everything can never go back."
"Those times, we can never return to."
In a calm voice, the Angel King said, "I was too merciful back then. During that upheaval in the court, I should have found out who was behind it all, stopped it in time, and none of this would have reached such an irretrievable point."
"No, there is still a chance," Multi-handed Butterfly suddenly said. "Over the years, I've been seeking a way for us to go back, and I have found that way."
Insect Thirteen's aged eyes carried a trace of hopeful longing, quietly watching Multi-handed Butterfly across from him.
This is impossible.
Because time doesn't reverse.
Yet, Insect Thirteen still had a glimmer of hope; his life was too dramatic.
In the first half of his life, he fought across the world in glory.
The latter half, however, was lived in pain.
"So, I called you here."
"All these years, I've been researching that figure we saw back then, why I suddenly vanished... and now, I finally have the answer."
Multi-handed Butterfly's aged face showed a hint of hope, "I know what that figure truly was!"
"Do you still remember the Divine Trial?"
"These years, I delved into the history back then, all sorts of information."
The first Divine Trial was attended personally by the Amber Swallowtail Butterfly, where the Umbrella of Light spread light everywhere, blinding eyes.
Luckily, the Phoenix Emperor, Innate Saint, with sensitive senses, closed his eyes and managed to grab the Divine Object, completing the trial and brought the Divine Treasure back to his race.
The second trial was even more bizarre!
Although it posed no threat, when approaching the treasure, all surrounding sounds vanished.
Finding it was the hardest part, but once the location was discovered, passing the trial was simple.
The first and second trials were at least not life-threatening, but the third trial began to become terrifying.
Magic Carpet.
Approaching mutations.
Underneath countless piled-up carcasses, inch by inch, using daredevil squads to wrap the object to seal it, barely bringing it back.
"The Divine Trial perhaps becomes harder each time, and this fourth one is even more bizarre."
"Because this time, the treasure holds the Divine Power of [Aging]."
What they spoke of, was the Talent Mushroom [Deep Love is not Long-lived] from recent years.
"Years ago, Die Lvxin of the Butterfly Race led a team personally, searching for many years and finally found the location of the fourth Divine Trial, where all living creatures had died prematurely, turning it into a forbidden land."
"With every flight forward, one aged more, and the army died less than ten yards away."
"And interestingly, throwing a butterfly egg there made it hatch rapidly; the green caterpillar crawled forward ten yards and turned into a cicada pupa, then immediately metamorphosed again, flying another ten yards before dying of old age on the spot."
Listening to this Divine Trial, Insect Thirteen analyzed, "Every trial becomes increasingly odd and difficult."
Multi-handed Butterfly said, "Furthermore, these trials grow more bizarre and harder, maybe someday the trials falling from the sky will threaten the whole world, becoming calamities for entire eras."
Insect Thirteen lowered his voice, "Aren't you worrying too much?"
"What concern is this?"
Multi-handed Butterfly couldn't help but speak up, "Do you know why the Divine Trial appears?"
Insect Thirteen said, "We do not know."
"Then, which god drops these treasures?"
Multi-handed Butterfly continued to ask:
"Where do the treasures appear from?"
"What's the pattern?"
"Why were there no treasures before us?"
"Why only in our era do these trials begin to fall one by one?"
These words made Insect Thirteen feel uneasy.
Indeed.
Why do they appear only now?
What about before?
This is a crucial issue.
"You've been pondering these things?" Insect Thirteen was taken aback.
Multi-handed Butterfly slowly said:
"To find out if the Divine Trials occurred before us, I sent angels to search everywhere."
"Finally, I discovered a monumental secret."
"Why are there no other Divine Trial treasures before us."
"Because I found that throughout civilization's history, there have been numerous extinctions."
He handed a top-secret Silk Book to Insect Thirteen.
Insect Thirteen examined it, noting the different geological layers hiding extinct ancient life forms, life that no longer exists.
Before the era dominated by dinosaurs, clearly, there were multiple instances of mass extinction of species!
Because Liu Jun, to perfect this world, downloaded complete data from the cloud into the Intelligent Brain, geological layers naturally include prehistoric extinction data.
Insect Thirteen reviewed the information, "Could it be drastic environmental changes causing maladaptation, leading to periodic species extinctions?"
"I may not know the past, but I understand the present."
Insect Thirteen continued, "We are witnessing climate changes now; our Butterfly species, born in spring and dying in winter, is also a life cycle, merely expanded."
Multi-handed Butterfly nodded, "I think so too."
"So then..." Insect Thirteen suddenly realized something, his expression gradually becoming stiff.
Multi-handed Butterfly slowly said, "Yes, environmental changes rapidly, but why does it change rapidly? Haven't you realized?"
"What does the Divine Trial ultimately give us?"
"Light! Perhaps one day, it will become the world's Sun God, illuminating the entire world."
"And others? Wind, water, even now the God of Wisdom, God of Longevity, all grasping this world's rapid environmental changes."
"One by one, the deities control the earthly foundations of change."
Insect Thirteen fell silent, the clues leading him to suspect something terrifying.
He murmured to himself:
"I see now! I see now! Were there various Divine Trials in past times?"
"By passing these trials, they became heroes of earth, living epics and myths, growing all the way to become grand figures, opening the glory of an era!"
"And in the end? Why have the gods who passed these Divine Trials gone extinct?"
"Could they have been unable to bear the relentless trials from the gods?" Suddenly, Multi-handed Butterfly spoke.
Insect Thirteen was silent, only answering after a long time, "I do not know."
Multi-handed Butterfly began to have a rapid heartbeat, his voice trembling:
"What is it ultimately? It endowed this world with powers over the environment, descending trials...helping us create, command the environment?"
Now, the Prophet and Late Emperor have been revered as gods.
God of Wisdom, God of Longevity.
And the origin of all granted power, what is it named?
Insect Thirteen smiled, looking at the heavens, "If it has a name, that supreme overseer of epochs, sending treasures time and again should be..."
"Creator God."
With these words finished, they all fell into silence.
Suddenly, Insect Thirteen realized what he needed to do, under what form he needed to reunite with his group of friends.
Cast aside all prejudice, stop pursuing all past faults.
The Angel King suddenly grew a strong desire in one's heart:
——Forget the past, simply gather together, fighting for dreams like in the old days, welcoming life's end, this alone is enough.
He resolved to do something.
Something beneficial to the era, no longer letting down the Butterfly Race gods, something monumental for the entire epoch.
And by this, he would certainly obtain forgiveness.
He suddenly recalled those friends, in the tree hole back then, saying they saw a mysterious and magnificent god:
"According to the cycle, the next Divine Trial is imminent."
"Angels, it's time to gather once more."