Chapter 293: The Day I Return to the World, All Treacherous Ministers Shall Die

"Inverse position? Oh, you call that state 'inverse position.'" Kleine's lips always curled in a faint smile. "But it's actually a rebirth—at least for me, it's a rebirth."

"For you..." Seeing Qu Yanping blinked, then said: "So your god did indeed enter inverse position, and that Mr. Fool was once a demon god, right?"

After entering the Penglai ruins, he had gathered information about the God of Blind Folly; though only fragmented records and descriptions remained, they revealed this to be an unimaginably terrifying, inexpressible chaotic entity—the source of all things...

That was the ultimate chaos mentioned in ancient legends—the Chaos Wang Ting, who dwelled beyond the universe, had always slumbered; but according to relevant records, when this entity entered the convergence of realms, the gods it created brought endless madness and destruction to countless worlds—a description so despairing it could be felt even through text.

At the time, he had once seen the tombstone of this entity in Eden, yet it also recorded that the birth of the Fool was intimately tied to it; combining this with the "inverse position" information he gained after arriving in the Old World, he deduced a possibility—but dared not confirm it due to various restrictions.

Now, because of some unknown reason, Gu Yue Fang Yuan could not actively contact him; with his own strength grown, he could now determine that the methods Gu Yue Fang Yuan had left within him were solely the Yellow Beam Vine and the Dream Butterfly Gu.

Thus, he could attempt to carve out a path for himself.

"Demon god? How unpleasant—that's not what you were, not the original Azathoth, but merely a different form of life. It never cared for ants on the roadside; only a tiny minority of sentient beings could comprehend its very existence... Enough. Why am I telling you all this?" Gu Yue Fang adjusted the single eyeglass carved from crystal and tapped his cane.

"You must have something you want to tell me, right?"

The conversation between the two lasted only seconds, yet Seeing Qu Yanping's mind felt as if it stood at the center of a bell's toll—briefly slipping into blankness.

Seeing Qu Yanping nodded, no longer as casual as before.

Inside, Seeing Qu Yanping was icy with dread; he touched the single eyeglass beneath his right eye socket, swallowed hard, and forced a weak smile: "No... this isn't a place to speak. Let's go quickly."

If properly harnessed, this corruption could even transform calamity and evil into one's own aberrant entities; Dong Huang accepted this inverse position to gain new power and replenish his Dao path.

Strange things never truly begin—even now, at this level I've reached...

Is this mind-reading again?!

"Mad Knife Eight Waves? I've heard of Mad Knife Su Meng—but who is Mad Knife Eight Waves?" Qu Yanpingyuan narrowed his eyes, fixing Seeing Qu Yanping with a piercing stare: "The reincarnation of a Confucian Sage shouldn't be Ji Zai..."

Huo Zhejie ended his mental blankness and stopped overthinking.

Thud!

"It's not that I don't want to—this thing must have followed you because you once entered an Absolute Void and absorbed its aura..."

Thud!

As those memories gradually surfaced, Seeing Qu Yanping grew even more at ease, as if time had frozen in this second—the air around him solidified, and he could clearly hear his own heartbeat...

Ji Zai... who is that?

Seeing Qu Yanping's lips struggled to move; countless thoughts churned within him, his throat tightened, and the voice from the talisman sounded like countless buzzing insects—annoying, agitated, uneasy.

"Qu brother, I'm glad he's returned to the depths of the Heavenly Court ruins—but it would be better if you had no tails trailing behind you." Qu Yanpingyuan lifted his teacup in the dream, smiling faintly—he casually reminded Seeing Qu Yanping that numerous forces had entered this place alongside him.

Compared to the discomfort of that aberrant object lodged beneath his eye socket, the sudden flood of memories in his mind felt even more unpleasant...

Immortal gods, demons, and monsters fell ceaselessly, yet here it was serene—even if a powerful being detonated or unleashed a technique capable of shattering stars, not a single thread of influence could reach this place.

It seemed the Star God was now acting to expel an entity beyond specifications.

"Same." Seeing Qu Yanping said.

Vast black wings blotted out the sky; amid the fractured, looping worlds, a white dragon descended from nothingness!

Huo Zhejie broke into cold sweat, staring in disbelief at the talisman in his hand.

"I roughly know your current condition—don't worry. In Eastern terms, you're a man who clearly distinguishes between grudges and kindness..."

Seeing Qu Yanping felt he had uncovered a hidden truth: the ancient cataclysm arose because of this reason.

The dream shattered abruptly; Seeing Qu Yanping returned to reality. Eight full days had passed since he became trapped within the infinite loop of the Heavenly Court ruins' mechanism. Han Li and Gao Sheng had vanished. Only he and the monster remained.

"You..." Seeing Qu Yanping felt immense pressure—he had merely intended to communicate with a representative of the Yuzhe Sect, yet now faced a being beyond any realm.

This meant his initiative had undergone a drastic shift; before such a being, he had no room for concealment whatsoever—but then, matters concerning Yuan Shi Tianzun would be fully exposed. What then would become of him? He dared not think further.

"He actually encountered that thing..."

"Mad Knife Eight Waves is the reincarnation of a Confucian Sage! Then what is the thing now replacing Mad Knife Eight Waves?!" Seeing Qu Yanping asked in a low voice: "That Daoist Priest clad in blood-red robes, like a ghost! You and I are now trapped together in this mechanism, unable to escape!"

"You should thank him too, Master Qu. Had he not appeared and led you toward the ancient sword tomb above, this slumbering dream might still continue indefinitely."

Ji Zai?!

In the sky, fragments of angelic light blazed like flames, coiling around the broken blade, rising upward like a spiral lance; a white meteor streaked across the heavens, its long tail illuminating the world and the chaotic battlefield with dreadful gloom.

Was he wondering whether this figure had descended upon Gu Yue Fang in a manifested form?

"Heh, Qu brother, you probably don't realize how chaotic the current situation has become—it surpasses any of my previous ones."

Gu Yue Fang did not finish his sentence; he merely sipped his tea and smiled as he watched Seeing Qu Yanping.

As if enduring torment, two utterly distinct memories surfaced in his mind's periphery—words rolled in his throat, impossible to utter...

Before him stood a woman Seeing Qu Yanping recognized—just one glance, Huo Zhejie was utterly captivated by her beauty: Da Lingye.

And through the single eyeglass carved from crystal, his right eye saw...

"Kleine, can you hear me? Where have you gone? Whether you return Ye Fan or explore the world ahead—this opportunity cannot be missed!"

"Huo Zhejie, we've found a hidden passage—hurry over." Ji Zai's voice came through the talisman to his ears.

Seeing Qu Yanping opened his eyes from sleep; the sudden severing of his long-absent connection with Qu Yanpingyuan unsettled him—but when he awoke, he saw Ji Zai standing beside him atop a bronze dragon head, staring blankly at him.

A vast melody, carrying an ancient lament, rose from every corner of the world—archaic script, solemnly proclaiming the King's arrival—

A young man's voice rang out; in Seeing Qu Yanping's perception, a frail, elderly figure clad in a tattered Daoist robe suddenly appeared before him.

Qu Yanpingyuan displayed clear apprehension toward this thing—and judging by his expression, he too had been affected at first.

He seemed to understand why, in ancient times, despite the great ones possessing methods to resist inverse position corruption, it still became the norm, infecting one powerful being after another.

"Kleine, what's wrong..." In the overlapping images, the woman spoke softly; the copper coins on her mask clinked: "Is something wrong with your face?"

"Don't move—we still have plenty of time." Gu Yue Fang snapped his fingers and produced two white porcelain teacups, pouring richly fragrant black tea: "Is black tea all you want?"

The righteous path could not wield this power, yet demons and devils could—so over countless struggles, every world became tainted by this inverse position.

"What is this..." Huo Zhejie asked in a hoarse voice: "What exactly is this thing inside?!"

"By the way, I just noticed you seem to have encountered a bit of trouble." A figure suddenly appeared—this time, the "Fool" did not appear as Gu Yue Fang, but as Dorn Tengtai: "Take this, put it on—something troublesome has latched onto you."

Seeing Qu Yanping said nothing, sitting across from Qu Yanpingyuan; he sipped the dream's enlightenment tea—the tea's aftertaste slightly calmed him, yet he remained anxious and uneasy.

He pressed down on the white top hat; the figure vanished into thin air. The golden chain of order could not lock onto its target and dissolved into fragments.

Qu Yanpingyuan's words cut off abruptly; I frowned, pressing my left index finger hard against the back of my head, then said with sudden insight:

But I hadn't realized how many of the Yuzhe Sect's entities were merely avatars,...

The other's skin resembled a withered tree, their face pale as paper, exuding a bluish-gray aura of death; most terrifying were the hands exposed beneath their blood-red Dao robe—devoid of flesh and blood, as if entirely hollowed out.

"What is he saying?" Qu Yanpingyuan looked puzzled, his ink-dark eyes still as a still well: "I don't understand his meaning."

"I should thank the Emperor, though—once, Azathoth was a blind, foolish god devoid of intellect and soul, an embodiment of the universe, driven only by instinct, surrounded by countless deities born from His spawn." Hu Zhejie spoke with a tone of nostalgia.

"Then that's fine." Gu Yuefang nodded. "It's not exactly an incarnation—he's not guessing randomly. You are the Fool. The Fool is you. Much of the Yuzhe Sect's existence are your avatars, used to experience different lives."

'Can the Reversed even grant rationality to an entity of this level?'

"I never imagined they'd implanted the Reversed into your slumbering core, granting you chaotic thought and reason. I even gave you Eden as a cradle to nurture your rationality—you were supposed to awaken and thank me properly, but you perished too soon. What a pity." Gu Yuefang sighed with nostalgia, then smiled at Hu Zhejie.

"If you can, then don't become Yang Jian. In exchange, I will protect you, make you my devotee, and let you return to your own world with my grace."

No sooner had Hu Zhejie finished speaking than golden chains of order emerged from deep within the flesh and earth.

"This concerns grand schemes, Fang Yuan. Won't you lend a hand?" Hu Zhejie hoped for the other's aid; these past days, I'd grown increasingly uneasy about his condition—he kept staring at me with strange eyes.

I threw down a single eyepiece carved from crystal, then it vanished without a trace.

"Gu Yuefang is me. Xia Luoke is me. Merlin Hermes is also me."

Ji Zai?!

Where has Kuang Dao Bala gone?!

Boom!

Qu Dao you stood frozen, feet nailed to the spot; he whirled his head around—his left eye's vision was grotesquely abnormal: the other was covered in wounds, as if just escaped from a great battle, his face young and handsome, his smile radiant.

"Miss Kelaien?"

"Back then, I merely had a premonition, so I gave him this biography of Huangshan Zhenjun. I never imagined it would trigger such upheaval before this world—sometimes, omniscience isn't a good thing. It makes life too monotonous, too dull."

"On the day I return to this world, all traitors shall die!"

"You must hurry to the first layer of the world sealed by the Eight Generations of Bronze Coffins. During that time, keep as much distance from me as possible."

"Its origins and affiliated world cannot be verified—even I have only heard rumors of such things."

"I cannot divine who is plotting—they've hidden themselves. Forcing you to speak out might cause worse trouble. Hmm... but the answer could still be deduced."

'A troublesome object?' Qu Dao you stared at the single eyepiece in his hand, steeled himself, used the Eye of the Heavenly God to examine it, then carefully placed it over his right eye socket.

Qu Dao you felt a chill crawl up his spine under the other's gaze; he shifted his eyes away—but the moment he did, he froze. The entire world trembled, and the trembling never ceased.

"So he was here all along."

"How cruel. Well, I'll stop here. Until next we meet."

"Don't worry—at least for now, he won't be harmed. And...

Qu Dao you looked exhausted; only after the other left did he finally exhale in relief. Dealing with such an entity was utterly draining.

A woman clad in a blood-red Dao robe, wearing a copper coin mask, stood where Ji Zai had been. On her back were two long swords; her eyes held only numbness and coldness.

"Now the Fool has his own preferences, experiencing different lives. To be honest, I despise this life—I hate tea that's too sweet. What about you?"

Should I answer?!

This was a possibility he could never have imagined. According to the other's words, the Fool was Him, Azathoth was Him—but wasn't He just an ordinary ancient scholar of the Yuzhe Sect?!