Chapter 1953: with translation of chapter title

He understood Gao Tian's doubt.

According to their earlier judgment, as a Star-Destroyer, Qing Kai should be with other Star-Destroyers! If that's true, not only would going to find Qing Kai be suicide for them, but Qing Kai himself might have run into trouble.

A full squad of Star-Destroying Level entities triggers danger from various angles—who knows what could happen!

"No! Impossible! It can't be like that!"

"This logic doesn't make sense, and if that's the case, this mission has no solution! Or the only solution would be to go in and come right out—then how do you explain those who died earlier?!"

Almost simultaneously opposed, two Giant Demon Battle Star River Golden Robes flatly rejected this guess. Not only is it illogical, but Gao Tian's idea also suggests that their civilization's Star-Destroyers are very likely to encounter trouble.

"First of all, the mission cannot possibly have no solution; the system would never leave us with no way out!"

"Furthermore, among the Awakened Ones who entered the mission earlier, there were even Fourth Stage ones—surely at least some of them must have escaped directly, and not just a few! Yet they all died."

"This means the minimum cognition required for this mission certainly isn't that simple. The previous batch likely died during the Pin Kou Huan Fourth Rank stage, and they never managed to piece it together before they died."

After feeling better from vomiting, a giant demon spoke solemnly; piecing together this cognition is his only certain solution and the most reasonable explanation.

"Maybe… perhaps I overthought it."

"So if we follow this line of thinking, could it be that because some knowledge and clues were lost as others died, the final information ended up incomplete? Even if someone pieced together 99% of the information, the remaining 1% died, causing the whole mission to fail."

Gao Tian's eyes showed contemplation as he couldn't help voicing a guess he'd had.

In his view, if there's been any biggest problem with this mission so far, it's probably this.

They were split up, and given their current strength, who knows how many will still be alive when they finally find each other.

The higher the cognition, the faster they die, and the weaker their strength?

In that case...

Perhaps...

Suddenly, Gao Tian instinctively glanced at Zhang Tie, who wore a blank stare at the sky, as if studying the Wu Yun clouds.

(Maybe the one who ends up surviving is Tie Han Han!)

(He'll carry our knowledge all the way to the end!)

"What are you looking at me for?"

"The next mission point isn't far; I just don't know if we'll run into Lin Dui and the others."

"This place seems like a Shang Cheng mall."

Carrying two giant demons, Zhang Tie led the way, giving a suspicious look to the constipated-faced Gao Tian, who wanted to say something but kept hesitating.

"Just spit it out, kid—why are you staring at me?"

Seeing Zhang Tie's carefree, thoughtless expression, Gao Tian let out a wry sigh and finally made up his mind.

For some reason, he felt his earlier idea was absurd, yet it might not be impossible.

(Although Lin Dui has the Chong Qi Neng Li ability, even if they revived us under Tong Xu Ge Zhi conditions, we'd still be moving along the original Shi Xian timeline.)

(This means that if I die on the road, I'll die on the same spot the second and third time too! If we haven't encountered Lin Dui by then, it means all the clues we've gathered can't be passed on to them.)

(Zhang Tie is different—he might be the one most likely to survive to the end and find Lin Dui.)

Taking a deep breath, Gao Tian stopped hesitating and quickly walked two steps at a time to Zhang Tie's side.

"Zhang Tie, I have some things I want to tell you; don't worry about whether you understand them—if you meet Lin Dui, just pass on my words exactly."

"Of course, you also need to bring everything we've figured out along the way to Lin Dui."

"Huh? What's that?"

Before Zhang Tie could even give Gao Tian a bewildered look, not understanding why Gao Tian appeared to be giving his last words.

The next second, Gao Tian spoke quickly:

"Actually, after listening to the Red Robe's words in the exhibition hall just now, I also have some understanding. But it's not mine—it's Chu An, Colonel Chu's! Although it's not exactly the same, I think it's very similar."

"Hold your tongue—Chu Colonel isn't here; I heard this from my earlier conversation with him."

Listening to Gao Tian suddenly mention Chu An, Zhang Tie's eyes widened to near ovals, almost jumping out of fright.

He even thought Chu An had also gotten mixed up in here!

"Alright, go ahead, I'll remember. But first let me say, I don'tget it—don't count on me to understand!"

Gao Tian's sudden serious expression also caught the attention of the rest of the team; several perked up their ears, intending to hear what this low‑civilization Fourth Stage could possibly say.

Although, they didn't hold much hope.

"Exactly! Zhang Tie! Didn't that Red Robe say the value of art lies in completing the truth? Do you still remember the Undying Asura?!"

"That's the monster that loves to slaughter humans and then uses their flesh to create art, right?!"

"Damn!?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhang Tie's eyes widened sharply.

"How could he possibly not remember the Undying Asura? Strictly speaking, he is that monster reborn!"

The impression was so deep that he still recalls Chu An calmly plunging his hand into that "work," then speaking a bunch of gibberish with an appreciative look.

Seeing Zhang Tie remember, Gao Tian didn't waste words and directly repeated Chu An's original statement:

"That scene left a deep impression on me too; later, when Lin Dui wasn't around, Colonel Chu often came to chat with me, and we'd talk about the Undying Asura."

"Colonel Chu once said something that stuck with me: he claimed the Undying Asura is actually a kind of semi‑meme entity, something extremely ancient, possibly a product of humanity's collective consciousness."

"In ignorant ancient times, people liked to create art through religious sacrifices, using human offerings! Even nowadays, many artworks are made from skeletons."

"For example, Tibetan human‑skin parchment, Buddhist relics, the Undying Golden Body. Or in Western religion, the bone church of Czech‑Braga—these are all artistic creations with sacred meaning in both Eastern and Western cultures."

"Colonel Chu said the Undying Asura preserves that consciousness; rather than saying it slaughters humans to cause panic, it's more like it spreads a certain cognition, a certain understanding of life, in its own way."

Gao Tian's eyes showed reminiscence as he spoke, his heart filling with a complex feeling.

"Back then, he completely failed to grasp what Chu An was saying, and even thought Colonel Chu might be a pervert—how could the Undying Asura's creations be considered 'art'?!"

Only now did he suddenly understand exactly what Chu An had meant.

Only now did he finally understand what Chu An was actually saying.

"The flesh-and-blood sculpture created by the Immortal Asura is essentially its understanding of life and death, the world as it sees it. It follows life's desire to explore the essence of the world, trying to express its thoughts—just like a painter, except its brush is white bone and its pigment is flesh and blood...!"