CHAPTER 746: 686 PREMEDITATED FOUR

The armor stood silently, its back adorned with a cross-shaped greatsword that resembled wings. On the diamond-shaped helmet, two silver points served as eyes that were now intently fixed on Li Chengyi.

The towering purple-black armor, over two meters tall, compared to the restored original form of Li Chengyi, who was only one meter seventy.

Their gazes locked in an instant.

"You..." Li Chengyi recognized him.

He recognized the other party.

That was the armor from the darkness that had first appeared when he initially activated the Evil Flower...

Once, he thought it might be the Divine Flower Garment he was destined to wear in the future. But later he found out it wasn’t.

And now...

"I never expected... you would be the true ultimate compatible one..." A clear, young male voice like spring water came from within the armor.

"Who are you?!" Li Chengyi thought, and the space-time around him instantly froze.

With the current him, according to the principles of the Yin Canon, he could still manage to briefly freeze space-time.

It was nothing more than stopping all change and flow within a certain range around him.

Even a stronger Saint Position could achieve this. It only required a considerable amount of energy to fight against the innate flow of everything.

"I’m just a failure," the armor replied. "I guessed that you would definitely come back here, to this initial starting point. So, I’ve been waiting here ever since..."

He gently removed his helmet with one hand, revealing a head of bright purple hair as splendid as flowing water and a soft face as gentle and delicate as a woman’s.

His eyes were the same purple-black color, with the imprint of a Mandala flower’s black pattern on his forehead.

"Manjusaka... its Flower Language is death premonition!?" Li Chengyi immediately reacted.

"That’s just a basic Flower Language Ability. The ultimate power is to sever death," the armored man said softly.

"To forcibly interrupt a certain death outcome, then you can have another go, rewriting your inevitable demise."

"!!!" How powerful!

A chill ran through Li Chengyi’s heart.

If he encountered certain death, he could try other possibilities time and time again until he found a solution.

"It’s strong, isn’t it?" the armored man showed a bitter smile. "Regrettably... in the end, I still lost. The fate set by The First Generation offered no other possibilities, no other lifeforce. All the threads of fate converged to one point, and that is... certain death!"

By now, Li Chengyi had also come to understand the other’s identity.

’The Second Generation Flower Emperor!’

"So, my arrival... did you cause it all?" he took a deep breath and asked in a deep voice.

"With the ultimate Flower Language Ability, I sought the last element of uncertainty in the unknown. And then the unknown answered me..." the Second Generation Flower Emperor said softly.

"This is the only way I found after trying countless times with my death interruption ability."

He looked at Li Chengyi.

"And you are the last hope I wished for to break free from everything. It’s just a pity..."

He stepped forward slowly, approached Li Chengyi’s side, and gently pushed open the door.

Click.

The door swung open outwards.

Outside was the blind spot—the underground garage—that Li Chengyi had first entered!

In the dim, square, and empty space, the pale white lights stretched inwards to the dark end.

The black and somewhat reflective floor still showed hazy parking space lines.

Everything in front of him was familiar; it was all that Li Chengyi had seen when he first entered.

"Come in and talk." The Second Generation walked slowly into it.

Li Chengyi paused for a moment, then followed into the blind spot.

The door closed behind them, sealing shut.

The two walked slowly through the underground garage.

"What’s your name?" Li Chengyi suddenly asked.

The Second Generation stopped walking, turned around, and the two stood still about three meters apart.

"Xie Rong," he answered briefly. "A name has become meaningless for us..."

He paused.

"Just like Yong Ling, when I fought with him initially trying to use his name to locate his form, it was to no avail. He could change the power of his true name in an instant.

In just a moment, the mystery contained in a name would be utterly eradicated. Approaching the pinnacle of Omniscience, close to the limit, in any world, in any space-time, they are the topmost powerful beings."

"How about you?" Li Chengyi asked. "Did you also reach Omniscience?"

"Yes, but I was just a puppet of Yong Ling." Xie Rong said with a bitter smile, "He once used the Source of Evil to design the Royal Castle System, extracting the power from among the Twelve Divine Flower Positions to converge into Divine Flower Garments and ascend to the highest position.

But the same Source of Evil that enabled him also led to his downfall. The force hidden within the Source of Evil was not just all that was known. It also encompassed the unknown domains."

"So he failed because of the Source of Evil?" This was the first time Li Chengyi had heard such secrets.

At this moment, his mind was highly focused, and his Flower Language Ability was activated, ensuring that the other party had no lies.

Even if there were lies, he would be able to tell instantly.

"There’s no need to be so wary, I’ve been long gone for many years. The rebirth ability of my consciousness, its origin was plundered by Yong Ling, and now it’s like a flickering candle in the wind, ready to extinguish at any moment," Xie Rong seemed to sense something, glancing at him.

"Why did the Source of Evil cause Yong Ling to fail?" Li Chengyi asked, not paying attention to the other’s explanation.

"I don’t know," Xie Rong shook his head slightly. "All I know is that to counter the threat of the Source of Evil, Yong Ling wrapped the Royal Castle System around it and forcibly separated it. And the Source of Evil has a very special characteristic: with its host’s continual use, it gradually becomes purified. I speculated that when Yong Ling acquired the Source of Evil, it was the purified version, enabling him to use it to build the Royal Castle System with the Twelve Divine Flower Positions."

"Afterwards, the Source of Evil became turbid, presenting the opposite power, threatening Yong Ling. So, he had to strip it off and throw it out again, letting it seek a new consciousness to inhabit and purify once more."

"What does the purification process look like?" Li Chengyi frowned, seemingly thinking of something.

"You’re right..." Xie Rong nodded, a hint of appreciation showing. "Just as you said."

"From initially being pulled by the blind spot to later being repelled entirely by the Black Sea, constantly thrusting you into crisis after crisis, these are all caused by the Source of Evil. Moreover, the danger posed by the Source of Evil isn’t fixed but is proportional to the level of your strength. In other words, the stronger you are, the greater the danger you face. Of course... you’re much better now, a lot of evil has been purified. It goes without saying, Yong Ling must be coming soon..."

He sighed, then continued.

"And the method to purify, in fact, is to release this malice, to reverse your fate and cause, forcing you into a life-or-death situation... And there’s still the most lethal point."

"What is it?"

"A heteromorphic consciousness entity."

Li Chengyi furrowed his brows, not quite grasping the meaning.

"How is this lethal? Being heteromorphic or not is just a relative concept."

"Yes, but the lethal aspect of the Source of Evil lies in completely heteromorphizing an individual, making them heteromorphic relative to the entire Black Sea. It causes you to be rejected by all existence. No matter how hard you try, the Black Sea will instinctively repel you, trying to kill you."

Li Chengyi remained silent.

He remembered... it seemed that he wasn’t originally from this place... In that case, he was inherently heteromorphic...

Then this lethal ability...

Seemingly seeing his train of thought, Xie Rong slightly shook his head, continuing.

"Essentially, until death, I never fully understood the nature of the Source of Evil. Perhaps Yong Ling understands it better than I do. You may also have more opportunities to investigate, but for now, what I need to tell you is, without any accidents, Yong Ling will be here soon."

"Then what is your purpose? You’ve been waiting for me here, waiting throughout past history. What for?" Li Chengyi asked solemnly.

"I’m... waiting for an opportunity..." Xie Rong revealed a light smile.

"An opportunity for what?" Li Chengyi squinted his eyes.

The conflicts between the Second Generation and the First Generation were merely one-sided stories from the others, which he naturally wouldn’t take at face value. However, the Flower Language Ability indicated that not a single word spoken by the other party was a lie.

"Yong Ling has left half of his Omniscient power with you. Moreover, he thinks that I have completely and utterly failed. But... If he could study the Source of Evil and construct a system of the Twelve Divine Flower Positions, although I might not be as naturally gifted as him, I could still emulate and replicate a system."

Xie Rong said with a smile.

"He believes that I’ve failed miserably and lost everything... But... I still have my own hidden trump card.

When he comes to reclaim the half of the power within you, perhaps I can give him a huge surprise..."

"I hope what you’re saying is true," Li Chengyi said calmly.

"I have no need to deceive you. I’ve been fallen for countless years, now only a wisp of incomplete thoughts remains, all to avenge Yong Ling’s world-destroying grievance of the past," Xie Rong said earnestly.

He scrutinized Li Chengyi carefully.

"Does your body contain the Eternal Life Taboo System?"

"Yes," Li Chengyi responded without surprise, for the other was once at the pinnacle of Quan Li. It was natural to have such strength.

"Would you like my assistance?" Xie Rong smiled, "Interesting... Eternal Vitality was a broken path left by the Colossal Beast, Asladuni, based on the concept of infinite variables, a definitive unrestricted life enhancement path."

"Wait... are you saying... broken?" Li Chengyi was taken aback.

"Indeed. I once conversed with a wisp of Asladuni’s residual consciousness. At that time, it had not completely merged into the unknown, still retaining a trace of rationality," Xie Rong nodded.

"Eternal Vitality on the surface refers to life’s chances, but actually, the hidden concept is that all things live, all things are eternal, and so is vitality."

He turned to the side, his gaze seemingly piercing through the garage to the endless Black Sea outside.

"In this world, if we discuss the existence and its changes, what isn’t living on?"

Li Chengyi, upon hearing this, felt a haze of thoughts welling up in his mind.

"That would mean to look upon everything as if it had life? Isn’t that the essence of the path to reality? If everything in the dimension is the thing itself, then this dimension...!!"

He suddenly became conscious of the revelation, showing an expression of shock.

"Yes... Therefore, the so-called Eternal Vitality," Xie Rong nodded, "is reality itself, based on existence as a dimension."

In that moment, Li Chengyi suddenly thought of the legend of the Colossal Beast, Asladuni.

’All that is of the world, every worldly entity, is but a dream Asladuni unconsciously creates while it slumbers...’

If a dimension uses the existence of all things as its measurement, then this dimension might encompass all other foundational concepts of scale.

Because no concept can escape the foundation of existence.

In understanding this fundamental moment, the ocean-like vast consciousness power in Li Chengyi’s mind, at that moment, underwent earth-shattering changes.

The consciousness powers that had already merged with the dimension underwent a cognitive upheaval, instantly triggering the Lifeforce Dimension to also undergo dramatic changes.

"The Colossal Beast slumbers, and you are still missing the final piece of the puzzle..." Xie Rong, looking at Li Chengyi who stood motionless, caught in the midst of the consciousness storm, sighed.

Eternal Vitality was essentially the incomplete path left by the Colossal Beast that had achieved Omniscience and transcended boundaries.

Therefore, to pursue Omniscience through this incomplete path was practically hopeless.

Unless Li Chengyi could right now completely annihilate and collapse the Colossal Beast. To retrieve its remaining fragments.

But, that was fundamentally impossible...

"What?!?"

Suddenly, Xie Rong’s expression sharpened, as if he had realized something.

His eyes became extremely piercing, like blades, firmly fixated on Li Chengyi.

"Is this... the Source of Evil?!"

The Source of Evil was compensating for the missing parts of the Eternal Vitality?!

How is that possible?!?

Xie Rong was utterly perplexed.

Why would the Source of Evil help the Third Generation, and actively complete the Eternal Vitality??

Although the Source of Evil inherently possessed the ability to complete conceptual mechanisms, whether it was he or the First Generation who attempted to use it, they did so with utmost caution. A slight misstep could result in a huge danger, instantly devouring half of one’s body and will, and the utilization time also came with great restrictions.

But now... the Source of Evil was actually acting... actively helping the Third Generation?! To complete the system???