Chapter 328: Staking Everything, Burning It All, Deducing Him

Facing everyone's curiosity, Professor Beishan did not keep them in suspense and said outright:

"The Han Dynasty's Yang Xiong, in 'Eulogy for the Empress Dowager,' recorded: 'Sovereign and luminous spirit-ancestor, solely so reverent and good; he sent down this jade scepter, the ceremonial robes are fixed.'"

"Wen Xuan · Zhang Heng: 'Spirit-ancestor, imperial sire, come and look upon us, come and receive our offerings.'"

"History of Song · Treatise on Music, Chapter Fifteen: 'Immortal ancestor, spirit-ancestor, riding Qi, descends to the central palace.'"

"And so on—various ancient texts all mention the Spirit Ancestor. 'Spirit Ancestor' is used as a reverent address for this ancestor; the character 靈 (ling) itself originated from him."

"One can imagine how much the forebears of Huagu revered this one. Even after his deeds were lost, they wove him into their culture and created the character 靈 to remember him."

The crowd was stunned, not having expected Huagu to have such an ancestor.

But what drew even more attention was that the character 靈 originated from the Spirit Ancestor; one could not help but wonder—if a Huagu character represents an ancestor, then what about the other characters?

They pondered each noun, each Chinese character in Huagu's script—strange or familiar.

One must remember that their Japanese script originated from Huagu, so their familiarity with Huagu's characters ran deeper than that of other foreigners.

Where does the character 祭 (sacrifice) come from?

Could it have been created to mourn a sage of Huagu's myths, or of the Primordial Realm, one who shed blood and tears for all living beings?

Where does the character 帝 (Di) come from?

Could it be that this character 帝 was not originally a noun, nor was it used to refer to an emperor or a heavenly sovereign?

In truth, it was because, in an extremely ancient era—such as the Taichu era—there once existed an invincible, overwhelmingly powerful being whose name was 帝. He was so powerful that none could stand against him, lofty and supreme like an imperial emperor, the highest of sovereigns.

This 帝 stood above all, with none above him—at the very least a Supreme Existence, like the First Holy Spirit, an invincible being, the supreme sovereign.

He might even be… the One and Only!

For this reason, later generations used the character 帝 to represent the supreme, the lofty above all, using 帝 to interpret the highest sovereign.

However, 帝 was too powerful; later generations naturally did not dare to use this single character 帝 alone to represent their own status, so they added prefixes to it, such as Yellow Emperor, Heavenly Emperor, Jade Emperor.

Thinking it through carefully, the implications are terrifying.

The crowd hurriedly waved away the speculations in their minds, feeling that if they kept thinking and happened to guess right—guessing some great secret of the Taichu era—they'd be done for in an instant.

Professor Zhongtian exhaled a breath and said in a deep voice:

"The First Holy Spirit is almost certainly the Spirit Ancestor."

Director Saito and the others clearly agreed, nodding one after another.

"Indeed, from what the ancient texts record, and the origins of the First Holy Spirit… my heavens, what is the Supreme Existence about to do?"

A high-ranking official was startled and looked toward the River of Time.

Wave after wave, one world after another, surging and roiling.

The battle between the First Holy Spirit and the Supreme Existences had already entered a white-hot stage.

The Supreme Existence with only half a body left threw caution to the wind, ramming into the First Holy Spirit with his own body. He wanted to kill the First Holy Spirit—even if he couldn't kill him, he would inflict pain, leave wounds, and create an opportunity for the other Supreme Existences to slay him.

Unfortunately.

This Supreme Existence's suicidal strike did not cause the First Holy Spirit any harm at all; it was all blocked.

But the First Holy Spirit's eternally unchanging calm eyes gained a touch of color, a hint of appreciation, like an elder's recognition of a junior.

Recognition of his fearless act—regardless of whether you are an enemy, your willingness to rewrite the future with your blood and body is worth my remembering you.

To be remembered by an invincible being—at the very least this Supreme Existence had not lived his life in vain.

And perhaps it was this Supreme Existence's suicidal madness that ignited the remaining Supreme Existences' frenzied bloodlust.

Or perhaps, knowing the First Holy Spirit was too powerful, the seven Supreme Existences charged upstream together to kill Him, only to be slain or sealed by the First Holy Spirit—slain where slain, sealed where sealed—leaving only two.

Seven couldn't take Him down, let alone just two remaining, and wounded at that.

A roar.

At this moment.

They seemed to have gone mad, filled with a resolve to destroy—nothing could stop them.

"We came here for the sole purpose of slaying Him together. Now that we've come this far, we absolutely cannot give up—at the very least, we must see clearly who He is, who exactly it was that overturned our future!!"

Burning!

Blood, flesh, divine soul, power—even their own Supreme Dao was ignited; even the surrounding void and the River of Time below were set ablaze.

The two Supreme Existences burned everything, gave everything, sacrificed everything.

"Going against the flow of time, I never intended to survive. Looking across the long ages, watching kin and friends age and pass away, my heart died long ago. My only remaining conviction is to find Him, kill Him, and rewrite this destined future—no one can stop me!"

"I hate it! I cultivated immortality, transcended time to achieve the Supreme, and now that I've gone against the flow of time to this point, how can I fail at the last moment?! Burn! My everything! Use my body, my soul, my Supreme Dao to deduce and calculate exactly who He is!"

Resolute. Absolute.

The two Supreme Existences transformed into endless, resplendent flames, determined to burn away everything in the world, to burn through the shackles of the greatest secret of the future and glimpse that secret.

On this stretch of the River of Time, Xiong Xiong's fierce flames surged, rising like dragons.

Void, space, time—all burned; even the Great Dao was ignited, nothing able to withstand these Supreme flames.

The sight was too shocking.

Vast, magnificent—the River of Time stretched immeasurably long, its waters murmuring, swift and surging; the waves it rolled up were epochs, one era after another.

And on one stretch of this River of Time, an additional sea of fire appeared.

A blazing sea of fire, dazzlingly radiant, illuminating the River of Time as if shining upon eternity, illuminating all things in the world. Beneath its brilliant, dazzling flame-light, nothing could escape or evade the light of the flames—nothing could hide.

This river of flames stretched long.

It became a river of fire, surging from here, bursting out through Hangu Pass, pouring into the misty downstream reaches of the River of Time.

Many fell silent.

The two Supreme Existences were staking everything they had, fighting to the death to deduce who that "He" was through the passage of time, fighting to the death to send the message back.

Earth, the Ten Thousand Wilds Realm, and every other realm fell silent.

All beings held their breath; even the air seemed to stop flowing.

All things and all spirits focused their full attention, watching to see if the two supreme beings could deduce that Him.

Crack!

Like a mirror shattering, as if an ancient bronze ghost gate, sealed for eons and bound by countless chains, had opened—the keyhole turning, bronze gears grinding, heavy and deep.

Did it succeed?!

Countless eyes widened, their corners splitting open.

As if cosmic fate had been leaked, the Dao had been spied upon, heaven and earth erupted, the River of Time surged with unprecedented monstrous waves—every part of the River of Time, whether upstream or the severed downstream.

All erupted.

All boiled over.

The two supreme beings burned everything, even this segment of the River of Time ignited—they truly deduced the cosmic mystery, calculated who that Him truly was.

Above the boundless, blazing sea of fire upon the River of Time.

Infinite, countless Dao, principles, and laws intertwined in countless billions—uncountable, incomprehensible.

……