Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 143
Over a hundred years ago. Human world.
Bo Lu and Liu Shui listened to their teacher’s lecture together.
The teacher was a once popular magician Yun Yao, who retired after his invented magic was misused to harm many people.
Yun Yao had sworn never to touch magic again in his lifetime, until he met Bo Lu and Liu Shui.
Their talent was so exceptional that not passing on his knowledge to them would have been a waste.
Moreover, he saw something extraordinary in them—a powerful energy capable of connecting heaven and earth.
Yun Yao had always felt that the world was enveloped by negative energy, which might lead to its destruction soon.
However, the appearance of Bo Lu and Liu Shui might offer a chance to save the world from complete ruin.
At the end of a lesson, Liu Shui asked Yun Yao, “Teacher, what would be the most powerful god?”
Beside him, Bo Lu added, “Among the three realms, gods are the strongest… and magical texts mention the magical power of the number ‘3’. So, would three gods together be the most powerful?”
Facing his young students, Yun Yao smiled and said, “Gods are indeed much more powerful than humans, but just three gods together aren’t the strongest.”
“The world consists of three realms: heaven, humanity, and earth. Selecting the strongest from each realm and bringing them together, their powers complementing each other, would form the most powerful triad.”
“However, this is just a theory. In my extensive studies of history, I’ve never heard of such a supreme being actually descending to our world. Unless…”
“Unless what?” both Liu Shui and Bo Lu asked eagerly.
Yun Yao, with his hands behind his back, looked out the window at the blue sky. “Unless it’s the end times. When the world is about to be destroyed, to save the three realms… such a supreme being might emerge.”
“It’s the way this world saves itself. Or rather…
“It’s the way permitted by the heavens for a savior to come.”
At the age of five, Bo Lu and Liu Shui became Yun Yao’s students. By the age of eighteen, however, they were forced to part ways.
One day, while studying a difficult spell with Yun Yao, the door opened, and a serious man with a stern face walked in. The students recognized him as Yun Yao’s senior, Feng Yang.
Liu Shui and Bo Lu would forever remember the look Feng Yang gave them when he entered—a look of regret, sadness, and anger, which then turned into a kind of ruthlessness.
Feng Yang didn’t speak to them but called Yun Yao out for a long, secret talk.
After that, Feng Yang took Liu Shui away, leaving Bo Lu to continue studying magic with Yun Yao. The two children, who grew up together, thus went their separate ways.
From then on, Bo Lu’s teacher remained Yun Yao, but Liu Shui’s became Feng Yang.
One stayed in the Kingdom of Words, and the other went to the Land of Silence.
Bo Lu, deeply missing Liu Shui, would seize any opportunity to ask Yun Yao what he and Feng Yang had discussed and why he had to be separated from Liu Shui.
Yun Yao never gave him any answers.
It wasn’t until he was close to death that he decided to tell Bo Lu the truth.
One day, Yun Yao sighed deeply, took Bo Lu’s hand, and said, “You and Liu Shui were both my students, and I didn’t know how to tell you this…”
“Now, having not seen Liu Shui for many years and considering you as my only student… I had to make a choice between you two.”
“Bo Lu, I must tell you now. You must find a way to kill Liu Shui. You must try to kill him, or else you will die.”
Bo Lu was stunned and could hardly believe what he heard. “Teacher, what are you saying?”
Yun Yao then handed him a key. “This is the key to the top floor of the library, which I’ve kept locked and never allowed you to enter before. It contains books on dark magic.”
“I had sworn never to let this magic spread among humans again, but now…”
“I have no choice.”
After another deep sigh, Yun Yao’s gaze deepened as he gripped Bo Lu’s hand tighter, his eyes wide and intense.
“When I first took you and Liu Shui as students, I couldn’t fully see your fate. It was only later, after my senior’s divination skills advanced, that he saw…”
“Anyway, we’ve both confirmed that you and Liu Shui are destined to be each other’s enemies in this lifetime.”
“Either you die by his hand, or he dies by yours. Only one of you can survive!”
“The battle between you and Liu Shui is inevitable for your entire life.”
“You cannot escape it.”
……
Similarly, around the same time, Liu Shui heard his new teacher Feng Yang telling him the same thing.
The King of Words and the Land of Silence were destined for a battle that couldn’t be avoided.
The inevitable clash between Liu Shui and Bo Lu was something they could not escape throughout their lives. This prediction was initially conveyed by their respective teachers.
As their powers grew, they began to see for themselves that their teachers’ words held truth. They sadly realized that what had been foretold wasn’t false.
Over the years, the Kingdom of Speech and the Land of Silence would engage in conflict for various reasons. Liu Shui and Bo Lu, understanding each other’s positions, made a mutual decision never to harbor the intent to kill the other.
Stationed at the royal courts of their respective countries, they did everything in their power to appease their kings and quell each dispute to prevent it from escalating into a full-blown war that could threaten the existence of both lands.
Every few years, they would meet. During these meetings, they would share their most formidable techniques without reservation, even teaching each other.
This was their way of showing sincerity—that in their lifetimes, they would never turn their weapons against each other.
However, as time went on, even as they both reached positions of great power, the overwhelming tide of events was beyond their control.
The war between the Kingdom of Words and the Land of Silence was just the beginning.
Betrayal, lies, hatred… Negative emotions swept across the world, plunging it into chaos and leading it towards destruction.
When the world was engulfed in war, Bo Lu and Liu Shui fought alongside their respective armies but never against each other.
In the end, as a great snow covered the royal capital, they fell beside a partially collapsed wall—one with an arrow in his chest, bleeding out, and the other with a large gash across his throat.
Their blood flowed out, staining the snow red, merging on the ground. They exchanged a final look in the snow before closing their eyes.
In their moment of death, smiles graced the lips of both Bo Lu and Liu Shui. The Kingdom of Words and the Land of Silence, along with the world, were ultimately destroyed, but at least they did not meet their ends as enemies, as their teachers or fate had predicted.
However, at that moment, neither of them had considered that what they thought was death was not the end.
After lying on the cold ground for an unknown time, they suddenly woke up and uncontrollably flew into the air. Once they reached a certain height, they stopped mid-air.
Then they realized they were not the only ones drawn to this place by an invisible force. Besides them, four others were also floating in the air.
The six people floating in the air were pulled into a circular formation in groups of three, as if some force was trying to forcefully bring them together.
However, it was as if the progress of the world had suddenly been paused, and the motion of each group of three moving closer to each other stopped, no longer being pulled together.
Suddenly, the words of their teacher from their youth echoed in the ears of Bo Lu and Liu Shui—
The most powerful being in the world would be formed by combining the strongest from the three realms of heaven, humanity, and earth into a trinity.
Such a supreme being would only truly descend at the apocalypse. Before this, there had never been any record of it in the world.
Now, the world had faced its apocalypse.
To save the world, the supreme trinity indeed appeared.
However, what Bo Lu and Liu Shui both thought was: why were there two “beings” for the role of the strongest?
Then an answer appeared directly in their minds.
No one could explain who sent this answer. They could only attribute everything to the will of heaven.
The will of heaven said, “This world has already been destroyed. Its next step is rebirth. The restart of the world requires a supreme being.”
“But even I do not know who the real supreme being of this world is. You need to duel each other. This duel is inevitable… Otherwise, heaven, humanity, and earth will all completely perish.”
At that moment, Liu Shui and Bo Lu understood that even death couldn’t let them escape the fate of being enemies.
Bo Lu looked up at the two people beside him, and strangely, he immediately knew their identities.
One of them was called Vels, from the realm of heaven, and the other was Alayne, from the realm of earth.
At the same time, he could directly hear their thoughts—they all did not wish to duel.
On the other side, Liu Shui’s situation was similar.
He learned that the two people beside him were Miwa from the realm of heaven and Amei from the realm of earth.
Amei and Miwa, likewise, didn’t wish to duel with Alayne and Vels.
Although the six of them in groups of three hadn’t yet truly formed the strongest trinity, it was strange that they could hear each other’s thoughts as if they had already achieved a sort of symbiosis in some sense.
Thus, besides learning each other’s identities, Bo Lu and Liu Shui also learned many other pieces of information—
Just like the realm of humanity, the realm of heaven had fallen into a great war. After the chaos, all gods perished, leaving only Miwa and Vels alive.
The same was true for the realm of earth, with only Alayne and Amei surviving.
The six of them were the only living beings left from the three realms.
Additionally, the reason the historical progress of this world was paused, and the six people hadn’t yet truly formed two “groups of three” as the supreme being was because Vels had forcibly stopped everything using a magical artifact.
At this moment, that artifact was in Vels’ hand. It was a peculiar artifact with three heads but no body.
On the artifact, the three heads faced three directions, all with blue eyes, enveloping the whole world in blue light.
At that instant, Bo Lu and Liu Shui felt a glimmer of hope.
The artifact in Vels’ hand was exactly like the one in legends said to be able to change time.
Then, perhaps they could use this artifact to return to the past and find a way to change history.
As long as they found a method and made a change to prevent the world’s destruction and the apocalypse from coming, they wouldn’t end up becoming the supreme being, leading to their destined mutual slaughter!
Vels could directly hear Bo Lu’s thoughts and immediately said, “The human legends about this artifact are mistaken. This artifact can only reveal the past and replay scenes. When you enter it, the people inside can interact with you and even respond, giving you the feeling of being truly in the past.”
“But you have never truly returned to the past. The artifact only plays a segment that can adjust in real-time based on your reactions. It has the function of allowing us to review history and deduce details, but it does not have the ability to change history.”
“Having said that, the greatest function of this artifact is actually just to pause the historical process, fixing us in ‘the present’.”
Hearing this, Bo Lu immediately asked, “Is there really no way to change history?”
The other god named Miwa answered, “History is not unchangeable, but the cost is too great. Using all our power, we have one chance to return to the past. However, we cannot guarantee that after we use all our power to reverse time and return to the past, we will definitely find a way to change the future. After all…”
“After all, ‘the future’ is the collective effect of countless past events. Concerning the future of the realm of heaven, Vels and I cannot directly calculate or foresee. We cannot guarantee success in one try.”
After a moment of silence, Liu Shui seemed to have an idea and said, “I understand. We use the artifact to return to the past to seek possibilities. It doesn’t matter if the artifact cannot change history, as long as we use its projected images to seek methods. Once we find a definitive way to save the world, we can then truly travel through time and space, ensuring success!”
Thus, the progress of history was paused.
The future that was to come never arrived.
Two gods, two humans, and two ghosts chose to return to the “false past” shown by the artifact, seeking a “possibility” to save the world.
As long as they found this “possibility”, they could use all their power to return to the real past, make a real change, and then welcome the future they hoped for.
The eyes of the heads on the artifact emitted red light.
All six people, with their memories temporarily erased, returned to the past.
Of course, before the official “time travel”, they faced a problem—when all six were in the “past” with their memories temporarily erased, no one would be able to operate the artifact.
Vels’ solution was to place a curse on the artifact, such that if anyone among the six died, the artifact would automatically activate and bring them all back to the paused present.
With the minor issue resolved, the six people officially began their journey in the “past” to find answers.
In the time that followed, the six of them were like returning to a movie that could automatically interact with the audience in real-time, observing every detail that led the world to destruction, then calculating and deducing to find the answer they sought.
The six people experienced death over and over again, witnessing loved ones leave time and again.
The countries they defended fell repeatedly.
The people they protected died and came back to life over and over…
Yet they still didn’t find the answer.
All were caught in an endless cycle.
As long as their obsessions weren’t eliminated, they would be trapped in this cycle forever.
In such a situation, whose will could remain as firm as at the beginning?
For example, Bo Lu and Liu Shui eventually decided to kill each other as soon as possible, to trigger the curse that could activate the head artifact and then return to the real “present.”
They finally decided to face the fate that had long been determined.
Perhaps among the countless possible histories, there always exists an optimal solution for saving the world.
But they all couldn’t wait for it.
This life, Bo Lu remembered everything when he met Liu Shui at the city gate.
The crowd slowly approached the east gate. Bo Lu leaned over and saw Liu Shui, who was beside the king of the Land of Silence.
In this endless cycle of reincarnation, he had been entangled with Liu Shui for too long, their years together stretching back to ancient times.
Therefore, this glance was truly a glance of a thousand years.
Liu Shui’s appearance hadn’t changed much; he looked so young, barely in his twenties.
Looking at him like this, Bo Lu tried to recall the time when they first met.
But suddenly, he could neither remember what Liu Shui looked like as a child nor their real first meeting.
Indeed, his teacher was right—the most powerful magic in this world is time.
Even if they could use the artifact to return to the “past” over and over again, seemingly controlling time and space, they could never truly fight against time.
As if sensing something, Liu Shui also looked up at Bo Lu.
One stood on the city gate, and the other stood below it, gazing at each other in this manner.
A cloud slowly passed over the city wall from outside, and its shadow moved from Liu Shui’s face to the depths of Bo Lu’s eyes.
“Liu Shui, I’ve come for you.”
“I’m sorry. All my obsessions and perseverance have ultimately been defeated by time.”
……
At this moment.
Bo Lu, Liu Shui, Miwa, Vels, Amei, and Alayne, for countless times, returned to the real “present”.
This world, forcibly kept in a “paused” state for a long time, finally took a step forward—each group of three moved forward, completely forming two “trinities” of the supreme being.
After a long journey, the faces of the six people showed some weariness, but unlike when they first gathered here, their gazes had now all become very calm.
At this moment, they had made a unified decision—
They would not use all their power to return to the past. They would preserve their power and then make a complete, real conclusion.
The duel between the two supreme beings was about to begin.
As the duel commenced, players hovering in mid-air were urged by the system to make a decision.
[After the two supreme beings begin their duel, players must take action.]
[They must decide the winner within 30 minutes.]
[If both supreme beings are still alive after 30 minutes, the heavens will decree the end of the world, and the finale will be irreversible.]
Upon seeing this message, players within the game wore grim expressions.
Outside the game, the gamblers couldn’t hide their excitement.
[What’s the meaning of this setting? If the two supreme beings survive simultaneously, are they too powerful, possibly defying the heavens, so the heavenly will only allow one to exist?]
[Damn, this is cheating. So, the system means if players don’t help, they’ll also die from the apocalypse in 30 minutes!]
[Players can’t afford not to help, but helping is problematic too. Once they decide to assist one side, the other will surely attack them! That 137, although powerful, has had all his attributes significantly reduced, right?]
[Agree. Look at the panels of those two supreme beings… Their attributes are insanely high, not to mention non-humans like Alayne and Vels. Just Bo Lu alone has ten times the HP of 137! How can we fight?]
[This is ridiculous, the bosses this time are the “supreme beings” who can save the world. What’s even the point of playing?]
What the gamblers pondered over was also what the in-game players considered.
He Xiaowei, usually the most jovial, had a serious look and remained silent for a long time, hurriedly grabbing another Magic Carpet as its power began to wane.
Gao Shan had already returned to Zhou Qian’s Rib of God while Yun Xiangrong glared at the white bone in Zhou Qian’s hand, clutching her flute tightly, and focused on the two strongest.
Yin Jiujiu was pulling out all the mana and health potions from her pack to ensure they were ready for immediate use during the battle.
As for Zhou Qian, he could feel Qi Liuxing’s chest beginning to heave again.
Apparently unable to hold back any longer, Qi Liuxing coughed violently but then suppressed it, covering his mouth to muffle the coughs.
After recovering a bit, Zhou Qian retracted his hand, quickly found clothes from his pack for Qi Liuxing, and then took out another Magic Carpet.
Just as he was about to assist Qi Liuxing onto the nearby carpet, Zhou Qian noticed something odd.
Qi Liuxing was missing two toes on his right foot, probably because the golden feathers hadn’t managed to repair everything in time. After Qi Liuxing tried walking a few steps, Zhou Qian noticed he was limping slightly, probably because his right foot was a bit shorter.
Holding his arm, Zhou Qian said, “Wait, the instance isn’t over yet. Maybe the feathers will still work. Let me get another one to treat you.”
Qi Liuxing shook his head in response.
“Xiao Qi?” Zhou Qian frowned.
“This small issue won’t affect my moves,” Qi Liuxing said.
Zhou Qian looked at him sternly. “So?”
Qi Liuxing replied, “So, I want to keep this imperfection. Lest one day… I forget this lesson.”
After saying this, Qi Liuxing stepped onto the nearby Magic Carpet.
Zhou Qian turned his head to look at him, about to say something, but ultimately noticed Qi Liuxing’s reddened eyes.
However, he quickly lowered his head, and his bangs covered his eyes, making it hard for Zhou Qian to discern.
Taking a deep breath, Qi Liuxing gripped his long sword tightly.
“Qian Ge, thank you for saving me. From now on, I trust no one but you.” Qi Liuxing’s tone was definitive and deeper than ever before.
Looking up at Zhou Qian, the redness in his eyes had faded, and his pupils became deep and unfathomable. “Just this matter of my foot; don’t persuade me anymore. Let’s fight.”
Not far away, the battle between the two Supremes had indeed started!
Alayne’s red lotus was the first to strike the opposition.
The other trio instantly disappeared from their spot, reappearing a hundred meters away.
Even so, Amei’s side lost 5% of their health.
Then, with a screech, a golden bird circled and flapped its wings, and Amei’s side’s health was instantly restored!
Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes and was about to speak when he felt the dragon beneath him stir.
The next moment, Zhou Qian was thrown onto the nearby Magic Carpet.
“Zhou Ge?” Zhou Qian clenched the Rib of God and called out to Bai Zhou.
The deep blue dragon slid forward, then positioned itself in front of all players.
Bai Zhou’s cold and unquestionable voice directly resonated in all players’ minds—
“Everyone, retreat behind me.”
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