"Wherever LAN goes, he's a domineering character!" Kasuda chuckled and handed over all kinds of processed food to LAN one by one, probably because everyone knew in their hearts that LAN's operation was doomed, so they strongly demanded to taste LAN's cooking again, and the commanders were tacitly in agreement not to stop those who knew LAN without permission to leave the team, For they had all heard of the high priest who had alarmed the King of God.
"He is not imposing, but he is a blessing. He can't even refuse to do so!" Emilia said happily, this was the first time since Bulveji's misfortune that she had smiled so sincerely from the bottom of her heart. Facing this girl who was sad all day long, LAN also hoped that she would recover soon, and that was why he did not reject Ossirena's proposal.
Though it was Oselena's suggestion, LAN knew that the one behind it must have been her dear noble knight, for after the last night party, the lovely noble knight had been complaining that he had not tasted LAN's craft properly because of his drunkenness.
LAN was not familiar with Spassy, though the nobleman gave him the impression of being rather upright, even a little too upright, but he felt that his presence with Osirena had contributed to maintaining the girl's generous and kind nature, after all, the nobleman's circle was a big dye VAT of mixed colors, and one could be completely dyed black if not careful.
"I know it's really inappropriate to talk about certain things at this time," said Alex with some distress, "but I still want to hear LAN's opinion."
"Speak up." LAN did not care. He sincerely hoped that after he left, these companions, who were just passers-by but extremely important in his long life, could start their own careers.
"I see the future of Moya." Alex was clearly hesitant, "He turned into a terrible fellow, dark, depraved... I don't know how to describe it, he has become very cruel..."
"Answer me a question, Alex, do you think fate really exists? Also, do you think fate is unchangeable?" LAN looked at him and asked gently.
When it came to Moya, Osirena and the others all showed disdain on their faces. For someone who had abandoned his former companions, he would never be associated with the word "care".
"Fate... I think it should exist, and it should be unchangeable." "The question was rather profound for him," replied Alex, somewhat puzzled.
"My understanding is somewhat different from yours." "Fate is just a general direction, and the gods exist to correct that direction, just as the gods lend their power to humans in times of crisis. If they are not entrusted to humans, they will give other people greater power to fight against them." LAN said the answer he had been thinking about.
"That is to say, fate is not unchangeable." "But can ordinary human beings really change them?" concluded Alex.
"Just find the most crucial point." LAN laughed, "but I can't make it too clear to you."
"Another thing..." This time Alex seemed more hesitant, "Your future, I saw the end of the world!"
"You don't understand the meaning of that doomsday scene, do you?" LAN did not show panic like the others. "When I was born, there was a very powerful being who said that my birth would bring about the collapse of the rule that neither the gods nor the higher beings could prevent, that the world would be out of the hands of the gods and a new ruler would come."
Others may not understand this statement, but Alex understood it very well, for in the dragon's eye, in the doomsday scene he saw LAN was so carefree in it, and the doomsday he saw was the collapse of the gods.
"Don't be so surprised." LAN chuckled faintly, "In fact, the rule has long been out of order, hasn't it? The ancient gods have gradually given up their power to change their destinies. Maybe in a few hundred years or a few thousand years, the gods will cease to exist."
Alex opened his mouth, but did not know what to say, after all, all that was said was too shocking, the disorder of the gods' rule, the destruction of the gods, the new ruler...
"Did I say 'zero is infinite' to you?" LAN looked at Alex's puzzled expression, "Light and darkness, life and death, freedom and bondage... These are all relative, are you not surprised that the gods, knowing their own death, can still accept it calmly?"
"Alex nodded.
"Because they all understand that death is just a new beginning." LAN laughed, so brightly, "like what I'm about to do, that may bring my death, but that is not the end. Maybe the new me will not remember you again, but that will still be me. Long life is not as good as human beings think, when all curiosity and surprises are filled with years, life is like a stagnant pool, not able to stir a ripple, At that time, death becomes a kind of relief."
"But you're still young!" Kashuda seemed unable to accept such an explanation, because LAN was still so small to them that they couldn't understand why such a young child would explore such profound questions.
"It makes no difference." "Perhaps I'll live for a long time after being reborn, and I don't care about death because I want to go beyond it," LAN said.
"Beyond death?" Osirena repeats in puzzlement.
Yes, transcendence, not reincarnation, is the transcendence of having one's life completely in one's own hands. LAN glanced at the sky, and soon it was night.
Orfel handed over the metal magic array he had crafted, which he had studied with Casheuda and the mages of the Magic Society, but had no clue. Although they could make out what the symbols on it meant, they could not understand its function at all. Even more strangely, not a single mage could activate the magic array. So many times he wondered if there was a mistake in making it, or if it was just a mistake in LAN's drawing.
But LAN just took a slight look at the magic circle and confirmed it was correct. He held the 2-centimeter-thick, less than 1-meter-diameter magic circle, and his eyes swept over everyone one by one. It was time to say goodbye, beautiful Osirena, sorrowful Amelia, overly righteous Spassi, Stoic Alice, calm Orfel, wise Casheda... It's a pity that Gasiah isn't there. If he were, how would he describe it? Probably weak and pedantic.
LAN smiled. "Goodbye, friends." That was saying goodbye, he got up and left without waiting for the others to react, fearing that he would be unable to resist giving up his current plan.
No one responded, and they knew in their hearts that LAN would never come back, so they couldn't say "goodbye" because everyone was convinced that they would never meet again.
LAN doesn't mind at all what they do, the future is unknown. He has always been so convinced.
Using the magic circle as an aircraft, LAN stood on it and set off as if from the depths of the marsh. He had no time to say goodbye to more people. Along the way, he wrote a few short notes, tied them to the night owls, and told them not to come back after delivering this letter. These night owls were originally the role of carrier pigeons in the demon world, in the human world, They have easily reached the top of the food chain, so there is no need to worry about the letters not being delivered at all.
During the flight, the power that was scattered around LAN was absorbed by the magic array. The deeper they went into the marsh, the brighter the light of the magic array became, of course, it had nothing to do with the position; it was just that LAN had been with the magic array long enough.
When the first priest of the Undead, who had the contract of time, appeared before LAN, the magic array beneath his feet was shattering into fine powder, while LAN, who was standing on it, was completely transformed.
Time seemed to reverse, and LAN was completely transformed into what he looked like when he was in his early teens.
"Ye An, the favorite of the gods, I am the first high priest of the Undead, the undead sorcerer Cook who has signed the covenant of time with Lord Moloco. Flovi." This is the ritual of the extreme confirmation of demigods or gods meeting each other. Demigods are the gods, the covenants of the ancient gods, and the neutral ones, except for the managers and the ancient gods, and the gods are naturally the ancient gods and managers of the gods.
LAN hesitated for a moment because his current status was very special. "Ye An, High Priest Flovi, I am the drifting neutral one, Huangyue LAN." In the end, he decided to use his original identity, because when he was created, he was not marked with any administrator or ancient deity, which meant he did not belong to anyone or god, so the adjective before neutral was "drifting".
Cook looked at the child before him with admiration. He had received a prophecy from his covenant god that his endless life would end because of this drifting neutral before him, but he did not regret it. He had lived long enough. This time, if it were not for the other five priests, he might still be sleeping in the depths of the marsh, though dissatisfied with the deeds of those five fellows, But he was looking forward to being able to die.
LAN showed no sign of nervousness. He was well aware of the consequences of what he was about to do, but he was not worried at all. Instead, he was very composed.
"I admire your courage." As LAN's fingertips gradually lit up, Cook suddenly said, "I am determined to die, but I do not have the courage to end my own life with my own hands, like this war, if I act, then the undead will surely win, but I will die."
"Surely win?" LAN smiled faintly, "Nothing in this world is certain. As I know, Lord Lilith has two contract of time, and Lord Moloco has only one. Can you be sure they are not on this land?"
Cook was clearly stunned by LAN's question for a moment, because he had never thought that two time contractors of the same deity would appear on a certain star. Because a time contractor of an ancient deity was basically equivalent to the deity's spokesperson. When the two spokespersons had different opinions, it would mean the division of the deity's power.
But Cook also knew that this rule could not be applied to the last two contracts of Lilith, Su Jingtian and Zuo Canglang, because they were like Lilith's light and shadow, coexisting in such opposition and harmony.
It's incredible.
"You should know the consequences of disrupting order, right?" Cook suddenly felt a bit flustered, but this flustered time lacked LAN's composure.
"I'll kill you, and I'll die myself, because I'm the one who disrupts order, and I must bear the consequences of the collapse of order, don't I?" The starlight on his fingertips did not dim in the slightest. LAN appeared indifferent, and this indifference was the source of his opponent's fear.
Panic, then fear.
"Know that you and I are currently representing different orders." Cook didn't quite understand why he was suddenly afraid of death. No, he wasn't afraid of death. He was afraid that he wouldn't really die.
Upper-level managers interfering in the affairs of lower-level rulers will lead to the collapse of the "covenant of order", and lower-level rulers will be eliminated if they attempt to challenge the authority of upper-level managers, while order remains.
So Cook doesn't know if LAN can really kill him. The class division of the gods is very strange. The covenants are demigods, but they must abide by the "covenant of order" rather than the "bondage of the gods".
There is an extremely obvious disparity in strength between the lower ones and the higher ones. For managers, the ancient deities are as fragile as infants; For the ancient deity, it would take ten high contracts to have a chance to fight him or her, and they must cooperate properly; For the contrarian, the gods of each plane are like brute forces, while the contrarian is a martial artist of great skill.
So Cook wondered if the young man on the opposite side really had the power to break the contract that was made and even the gods couldn't break.
"Are you afraid I won't kill you?" LAN's tone was as relaxed as his smile, "You won't feel any pain, believe me, just as you feel time standing still when you make a contract, you will feel time passing very quickly, and then you will die peacefully like a normal person."
The starlight between them suddenly turned into a kind of illusory transparency, yet still bright.
"Can you tell me why you are doing this?" Cook had already sensed the power that could destroy the contract in that light spot, and he had been looking forward to this moment for far too long.
"To go beyond the line between life and death." LAN replied, and sent the tiny starlight into Cook's body without any hindrance. "Now that death has been achieved, whether by breaking the order or by using the power of the artifact in human form, I am doomed to die. All I need to explore next is where the boundary lies."
Cook laughed from the bottom of his heart, "I wish you success.
The two people remained silent, admiring this rare scene. Their bodies emitted specks of starlight. These bright rays drifted with the wind and air currents, flying towards higher places.
Collapse.
The collapse of order.
And the breakdown of the body.
The various colors of light in the sky descended along the trail of the scattered light spots, and after a moment, they shrank back, but among them was a red light that had not been there before.