CHAPTER 719: DEADLOCK

The white bull’s steps retreated slightly.

“…That’s it, the reason Silver Lantern is so determined to destroy the world stems from the Gray Fox Inheritance in the Dead City. Perhaps as a child, Silver Lantern accidentally entered the Dead City and managed to come out, but she’s not Raven; she can’t pass through the Fog Gate without a price. The necessary condition to cross the Fog Gate is to fully accept and inherit the final will of the Gray Fox sorcerer.”

“Once she left the Sanctuary, she was destined to face the challenges head-on.”

On the sixteenth level of the Silent Spiral, Igor revealed all the intelligence to Ashe. After listening, Ashe nodded silently but asked an unrelated question, “You actually knew about this back in the Dead City, didn’t you?”

Because you didn’t ask… Igor instinctively wanted to brush it off like that, but seeing the Cult Leader quietly gazing at him, his words turned into a defensive retort, “Are you accusing me?”

“I’m not accusing you; how could I blame you? If Silver Lantern’s purpose in luring us to the Dead City was to let us know the truth, then it should have been her telling us, not your responsibility. Besides, I have many secrets I’m hiding from you, so what right do I have to blame you for keeping things from me?” Ashe said softly, “Though I am selfish, I’m not selfish enough to think everyone should be selfless.”

“I’m just a bit sad.”

“I’m sad just enough to understand your good intentions and realize the problem lies with me. It’s my doubts that prevent me from gaining more of your trust.”

You… Igor couldn’t help but grit his teeth for a moment. Is this the power of the Bard’s Words? It sounds so genuine that even I can’t see through it. Though there’s a smile on his face, it feels like his eyebrows are drooping, like a dog suddenly kicked into the water while walking.

“You’re not me.” Igor looked away, crossing his arms, and said, “Not everyone can remain indifferent to tragedy. Since we’re leaving here, let’s make it a place worth remembering, not just a memory of these irretrievable tragedies.”

“Some tragedies have no solution; they’re a deadlock. Having one more person see the deadlock just means one more person is troubled.”

“Thank you.” Ashe smiled, “Your explanation means a lot to me.”

“I’m not explaining,” Igor said, “just letting you know that you’ve never had my trust. The only person a Con Artist trusts is themselves.”

Ashe smiled slightly and added, “However, there’s one thing you got wrong.”

“Hmm?”

“Since having one more person see the deadlock, it can’t be said there’s no possibility of unraveling it.” Ashe waved his hand, “Alright, I understand. You should go back and help Tamashi. And Gwen, you should go too; I’ll handle Silver Lantern alone.”

“Besides, you’re better at assisting Igor.” Ashe winked at Gwen, “Working with me would be a waste.”

Gwen lowered her head, nodding slightly, hiding the faint blush on her face. Igor turned to leave but suddenly said, “I know what gives you confidence against Silver Lantern, but don’t really think you can handle her. For someone whose heart is as cold as iron, the tenderness brought by a little emotion is truly insignificant.”

Ashe couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward, “I’ve already said, I’m not selfish enough to think others are selfless.”

“I’ve collected intelligence on Silver Lantern’s past and did a psychological profile on her.” Igor continued, “I originally thought her luring us… luring you to the Dead City was hoping you’d understand her, become her companion, or even save her. After all, destroying the world and killing millions is something extremely hard for a normal person to accept, which is why no one has been able to walk out of the Dead City for centuries.”

“Silver Lantern is the only exception, but can the will forcibly instilled in her as a child remain unwavering? Could she have started resisting this mission as an adult, yet unable to completely abandon it, always caught in a struggle, seeing you as a lifeline, hoping you could pull her out of the mire?”

Ashe couldn’t help but nod. After hearing Igor’s analysis, similar thoughts had crossed his mind.

“You’d better not hold such naive fantasies.” Igor said coldly, “If I’m not mistaken, Silver Lantern’s initial intention might indeed have been for you to understand her, but she has always been solitary and doesn’t need your help, so she doesn’t need you to join her.”

“She simply wants you to know how impressive what she’s doing is.”

“What do you mean?” Ashe was somewhat puzzled.

“To put it simply,” Igor said, “she’s proud of her work.”

“She’s actually showing off.”

“I am the World Destruction Procedure.”

The sun shone brightly, the sea breeze blew gently, and Vesser stood barefoot on the beach, crouching to pick up a seashell, glancing at Ashe with eyes that seemed to glow.

It was as if they were discussing not the fate of Senlo, but the patterns on the seashell.

Ashe pondered, “You’ve become the Dream Master of the Senlo Kingdom… Does that mean the responsibility of maintaining the Senlo Kingdom falls on you?”

“Yes.”

“But…” Ashe chose his words carefully, “It was always the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo maintaining the Senlo Kingdom before. Can you really… handle this task, Silver Lantern?”

“Of course not.”

Vesser shook her head with a smile, continuing to walk along the beach. Ashe followed, walking beside her. At this moment, Vesser’s Square Cicada suddenly appeared, and Ashe’s Round Cicada also emerged, both Four-winged Spirits from the same source, curiously observing the strange cicada opposite them.

“I’ve now inherited a small part of the Senlo Kingdom,” Vesser gestured a small space with her thumb and forefinger, then thought for a moment and made it even smaller, “I’ve already affected reality-perhaps some fringe Oasis is withering, a river is drying up, or a wasteland is stirring up a storm.”

“The Dream I can maintain is as large as the dream phantom you witnessed in the Distant Sky Domain. And the size of the Senlo Kingdom is far beyond countless dream phantoms. Moreover, after thousands of years of development, the Senlo Kingdom has many ‘affixes’ that require the Dream Master to maintain.”

“Don’t be fooled by the current desolation of the Senlo Kingdom; that’s already the result of the Chasm Sovereign’s efforts. Once it’s in my hands, everything will turn to dust, bursting like bubbles.”

“Here.” Vesser pointed to the beach, “This is the place closest to reality. The Chasm Sovereign of Senlo started from here, gradually constructing the Senlo Kingdom with Dreams. Have you ever stacked blocks? The method the Chasm Sovereign used to construct Dreams is somewhat similar to stacking blocks, building higher and higher. Then they removed the foundational blocks, which are the first to seventeenth levels of the Silent Spiral, to prevent ordinary people from reaching the lower level.”

“But isn’t that a castle in the air?” Ashe asked.

“It is a castle in the air, but as long as the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo supports it, the castle in the air can be as stable as the ground.” Vesser said, “But if the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo dies, the Senlo Kingdom without a foundation will collapse instantly. I don’t know what will happen, but a building without a foundation collapsing seems to have no other possibility than becoming ruins.”

“The Chasm Sovereign of Senlo was not unprepared. Under normal circumstances, the Kingdom of Senlo would not have so many Demi-Gods. Typically, sixteen cults compete against each other, just one short of seventeen, and the Chasm Sovereign consciously suppresses the number of Demi-Gods. Only when the Sovereign loses control over the Kingdom does the number of Demi-Gods surge… Currently, there should be around thirty Demi-Gods in the wasteland.”

“Then, the people of Senlo just need to fill the Silent Spiral with Demi-Gods to serve as a foundation and stabilize the Kingdom.”

Ashe asked, “Can this prevent the final Doomsday?”

“No,” Vesser shook her head, kicking the sand forcefully, “This is to welcome the Doomsday.”

“It’s like pulling the plug from a water tank, and then the water flows into the sewer through the pipes.” Vesser looked at Ashe, “The Silent Spiral is both the foundation and the conduit.”

A chill swept through Ashe’s heart: Mortals cannot bear the Senlo Dream, yet the Chasm Sovereign is eager to hand the Senlo Dream over to Silver Lantern; the Silent Spiral is the path to inherit the Senlo Dream, and also the road to Doomsday…

“…When will this plug be pulled?”

“It can be pulled at any time, for example, I can pull a small piece right now.” Vesser spread her hands, “Then the Senlo Dream will begin to collapse, and all beings will flow into the Silent Spiral, falling downwards until they reach our eternal resting place-the Virtual Realm.”

“Moreover, when I fully inherit the Senlo Dream, the plug will completely shatter.” Vesser smiled, “The so-called plug is the ‘force that maintains the existence of the Senlo Kingdom.’ I don’t know how the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo achieved this, but it probably requires the power of a deity to accomplish such a divine intervention, which is beyond my capability.”

“That’s why I said, I am the World Destruction Procedure.” She scooped up the sand, letting it slip through her fingers and scatter in the wind, “When I enter Into Dreams, all beings return to the cradle to sleep.”

Vesser suddenly looked at Ashe, “You should know by now, right?”

Though the question seemed abrupt, Ashe understood, “Igor deduced the truth of the Dead City and told me everything just now. He described you as: You know a future disaster is imminent, and you have a magical knife. Those you kill will live a happy life in another world, so in that world, you are a hero, but in reality, you are just a murderous maniac.”

“Although I know Igor was considering your feelings, I quite like his description.” Vesser smiled, “But in reality, there’s no such good fortune-there won’t be any happy life, nor will anyone consider me a hero, and the term ‘murderous maniac’ is too mild for me.”

“Given that, you should understand by now.”

Vesser stopped and looked at Ashe, “It’s not just me, not just the Gray Fox sorcerers. Destroying the Senlo Dream and dragging everyone into hell was the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s wish all along.”

“The Senlo Dream is simply too vast, too complex. For centuries, countless sorcerers have added to the Senlo Dream, building it higher day by day… The ‘Sanctuary,’ ‘Twin System,’ and ‘Kaleidoscope’ behind the gray fox heritage represent hundreds or even thousands of special affixes… Such a complex and massive system is maintained by only one person, the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo, like a single person supporting an entire mountain range.”

“Probably no other Divine Sovereign could perfectly take over this system. Now that the Sovereign is gravely injured and near death, this system, which requires His maintenance, has become an unbearable burden, further accelerating His demise.”

“That’s why the Gray Fox sorcerers left that Inheritance in the ‘Sanctuary’ of the Dead City. In the moment of their extinction, thousands of sorcerers jointly deduced the root of the disaster, but they did not find a way to save the Kingdom; instead, they heard the plea of the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo.”

“So, when I arrived at the eighteenth level, I received the Senlo Inheritance.”

“I was two hundred years late,” Vesser said, “The Chasm Sovereign of Senlo has been waiting for me.”

Ashe suddenly recalled Igor’s words: Some tragedies have no solution; they are dead knots.

At first, Ashe thought the World Destruction was merely Vesser’s unilateral decision; later, he discovered it was the will left by the Gray Fox sorcerers; now, he realized even the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo wished to abandon this decaying Kingdom.

For ordinary people of Senlo, this was undoubtedly a catastrophic disaster; they did nothing wrong, yet they were born into a Kingdom doomed to perish.

But can it be said to be the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo’s fault? From the Fire Cat, Bluebird, and Gray Fox Divine Era, it was clear that His initial intention in constructing this ‘Dream Kingdom’ was good. It was because the Sovereign integrated His dream into reality that the sorcerers of Senlo could build such a magnificent civilization. Even now, all people of Senlo still benefit from the Sovereign’s grace-the ‘Infant Incubator’ where Senlo people are born clearly only works in the Senlo Kingdom, not to mention the Sovereign still maintains the operation of the Kingdom.

Moreover, the Sovereign was also forced by circumstances; if He were not gravely injured and near death, the Senlo Kingdom would have long entered the fifth divine era, possibly even a prosperous era of material abundance.

Even Silver Lantern was the same; if she hadn’t come to the eighteenth level of the Silent Spiral to become the Dream Master, in the future, when the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo perished, the wasteland Dream would collapse, and the negative energy from the Sovereign’s death would wash over the Kingdom, turning all living beings into Green Beasts, plunging all beings into an eternal dark age of suffering.

Everyone tried their best, but they could only choose between a bad ending and a worse one; there was no perfect solution.

Ashe suddenly remembered something-he was brought into the Senlo wasteland as the First Gospel!

He was not the First Gospel, so he always thought he was summoned to fight against the Four Pillars Cult. But now it seems, the Four Pillars Cult is at most a festering wound, while the heart of the Senlo Kingdom is about to stop beating.

If he were truly the First Gospel, he might easily uncover the truth and understand the root of the Senlo wasteland’s problems. This means he was summoned to the Senlo wasteland not to assist the Tribulation Fire Chapel, nor to fight the Four Pillars Cult, but…

“However, it’s not too late now,” he murmured softly.

“So.” Vesser walked up to him, slightly raising her head to look at him. At such a close distance, her eyes held no trace of shyness or other emotions, only clear determination, “Will you still try to stop me?”

“I was never here to stop you,” Ashe said, “I am here to untie this dead knot.”

He raised his hand, and a strange spirit appeared in his palm. The spirit looked like a blank card, with a pair of transparent cicada wings, flapping so rapidly they were almost invisible.

“This is the Void Gate Spirit,” he said.