Chapter 454: Offerings! More Offerings Are Needed!

“Mount Tai Lord… sacrifice!”

Hermes softly repeated the word, lost in thought.

“My identity, in this future path to Dao, is… highly peculiar…”

Path to Dao?

What kind of Dao?

There’s deep meaning here.

Cosmic truth is a path to Dao, weak multiverse is a path to Dao, even infinite multiverse is also a path to Dao!

For an ordinary being, possessing the identity of a future Dao-seeker means passively allowing their future self to scheme across eons, step by step turning their future Dao attainment into the present, collapsing all possibilities into a single outcome, making time and space a loop.

But Hermes is different.

Because he has already attained Dao in the present—this future is utterly locked, and there’s no need for the Mount Tai Lord to laboriously plan his future—

He only needs to plant, in his own past, the karmic cause of his birth, granting himself the slightest thread of destiny to come into being—that’s enough.

All else will be orchestrated by the past [Hermes] for his attainment of Dao.

Then.

In this scenario, what use is the Mount Tai Lord sacrifice?

“Of course there is use!”

Hermes gently extended one hand and drew a circle with his fingers, as if revealing something: “With my infinite power, capable of shattering all impossibility, can I once again forge a [Mount Tai Lord] of infinite multiverse level?”

Currently, the Mount Tai Lord exists in a Schrödinger state—Itachi may say he has attained Dao, or that he has not; this grants considerable maneuverability.

Therefore.

The Mount Tai Lord sacrifice was born from this.

This grand ritual embodies the ladder of ascension for the Mount Tai Lord’s attainment of cosmic truth—weak multiverse—infinite multiverse truth!

Of course, right now, this is merely a prototype, a concept—if relying solely on the future Mount Tai Lord, it would be utterly useless—

After all, the Mount Tai Lord who has not yet truly been born can only guarantee the fact that he [will attain Dao in the future], but cannot guarantee he can exploit loopholes to become a multiverse-tier powerhouse!

Otherwise, wouldn’t every other great being be able to do the same?

That’s naturally impossible.

Even Hermes, this multiverse titan who wields [Infinity], cannot guarantee he can shatter [impossibility and possibility] to birth a peer-level multiverse truth!

“Sacrifice!!!”

Hermes’ gentle, dawn-like eyes, for the first time in long while, glinted with cold indifference; all knowledge he had casually compiled about the Mount Tai Lord flowed through his mind like a river.

Finally.

An incredibly ancient, exquisitely intricate unknown character slowly took shape.

One glance, and the meaning of this ancient, sacred character was instantly understood—this is [Sacrifice]!

Hermes knew that the moment this character manifested, an infinite sea of corpses and blood would descend with unstoppable force.

How could the supreme Mount Tai Lord sacrifice be held without offerings?

Perhaps.

Precisely because of this, the Mount Tai Lord was born in Zhou Tian Di’s timeline—because that realm held sufficient offerings to fuel his true birth.

It was a flood sweeping across infinite voids, the terrifying cosmic calamity known as the Supernatural Tide, rising upon the corpses of endless anomalies and ghost stories—upon this, the Mount Tai Lord sacrifice gained sufficient offerings, thus giving rise to this future.

But…

“Not enough!”

Hermes’ voice was cold as forged metal: “A single cosmic truth means nothing to me. I need infinite multiverse—minimum, a cosmic truth with potential to ascend to infinite multiverse!”

“As a source of the Supernatural Tide, a cosmic calamity, its depth may be profound, sufficient to sustain a Mount Tai Lord of cosmic truth level—but far from enough to elevate him to weak multiverse, let alone infinite multiverse!”

I need… more offerings!

Hermes gazed down upon the Tree Sea infinite multiverse; the multiverse Dao responded to his call. Deep within the multiverse, faint tidal sounds stirred—the supreme power of the multiverse level, the root source of the Tree Sea infinite multiverse, the ultimate force of All and Nothing.

But.

Hermes calmed his thoughts, letting it subside once more.

“The most fundamental power of the multiverse must not be touched.”

Hermes whispered softly—he was Pure Beauty, not destruction, not end. He could take derivative forces born from the multiverse without consequence, but the true root source, tied to the fate of infinite multiverse, must not be disturbed even by a single thread.

Though infinite multiverse, once attained, is eternally attained—even if he consumed all these forces, the Tree Sea infinite multiverse would merely undergo a multiverse-level cycle of rebirth, not annihilation—but multiverse life has no such resilience; they would still die as they must…

Yet if so, to accumulate the multiverse-level resources he needs, the Tree Sea infinite multiverse would require a long time.

According to the lore of the Primordial Chaos multiverse, that would mean an entire era…

But the key issue is, the resources of this era in the Tree Sea infinite multiverse have already been consumed by me, [Pure Beauty]; eight-tenths are invested in [Primordial], half a percent seized by the Star Crown Court—now, the multiverse holds only scraps…

To use these scraps to fuel a Mount Tai Lord of infinite multiverse level?

Don’t even dream of it!

"The Cycle Paradise, the Master God Temple, the Nightmare Space... find a time to take them from Laojun and Lingbao."

Hermes’ gaze grew distant—he was Pure Beauty, he could not act recklessly; the offerings must come from things insufficiently anthropomorphic, insufficiently pure…

Even so, the resource gap remains vast.

Who would have thought—Hermes, the mighty one, would one day be troubled by lack of resources… heh heh…

“So, all is destined.”

A Goryu Ai, a Zhou Tian Di—these two worlds each serve their purpose. So this was Nyaa’s true intent?

As long as he seeks to advance his plan, as long as he tries to exploit loopholes to perfectly birth the Mount Tai Lord, Nyaa’s goal is achieved…

This is the true purpose of the Many-Faced God, Nyarlathotep, the messenger of Azathoth!

In this sense, this Many-Faced God is truly remarkable.

He may not know Hermes’ true goal, but he has somehow understood exactly what Hermes needs—and then…

Used this Pure Beauty to fulfill his own ends!