Chapter 363

Immortal Realm. Doushao Palace

"Thank you both." Tai Gongwang bowed respectfully.

A gentle breeze scattered the mist high in the sky; heaven and earth grew still and calm. On the steps stood two Daoist acolytes.

Golden Horn Acolyte bowed back and smiled: "No need for such formality, Tai Gong. The Great Elder is waiting inside."

Silver Horn Acolyte sighed: "You've come at just the right time. The Great Elder only just returned after suddenly leaving on a journey not long ago."

Their tone was casual, as if speaking of something utterly ordinary.

Tai Gongwang paused for a moment, unconsciously clenching his hand, then stepped through the door and passed through layers of halls and pavilions.

Following memories from centuries ago, he arrived at a quiet chamber lined with precious vases, filled with the scent of elixirs. In the center, beneath an Eight Trigrams furnace, flames blazed like colorful clouds.

An old man with white hair and long beard gazed at the dimming and brightening vapors within the furnace, his back straight, hands clasped behind him.

Tai Gongwang bowed respectfully, but before he could speak, the Dao De Tianzun turned to face him.

"Jiang Shang."

Tai Gongwang's limbs turned icy cold; his trembling body betrayed fear that spilled uncontrollably from his pupils.

His memory told him this immortal was unmistakably the Dao De Tianzun, the Supreme of the Immortal Realm.

Yet the face's image had, at some point, merged with that of the Yuan Shi Tianzun.

Every facial detail was identical.

Meng Qi's eyes were deep and dark; the flames behind him suddenly leaped, illuminating the chamber. A faint smile curled at his lips:

"You've come."

Tai Gongwang stared at the immortal above for a long time without speaking.

After a moment, he suddenly offered a bitter smile, his arms dropping limply to his sides:

"The Three Pure Ones are one body; one body is the Dao; one qi transforms into the Three Pure Ones."

"I should have realized sooner."

He had suspected it all along, yet still clung to a sliver of hope—that sliver had robbed him of reason, until the cold water of reality slapped his face and he finally calmed down.

"Tianzun… must you really do this?"

"Is it truly the Reverse Position that renders you powerless, or is it…"

"That our world's Three Pure Ones have already been consumed and assimilated?"

Meng Qi said nothing—not because he wished to appear aloof or perform a divine revelation now, but because he genuinely had nothing to say.

What could he do? What could he possibly do?

Should he say at this moment, "Tai Gong, you're attached to appearances"?

How could he possibly explain this impossible situation? Tianzun, at least give others a heads-up before vanishing!

This is impossible. Even if he claimed he was here to take over, no one would believe him. First impressions are terrifying.

"I was rash," Tai Gongwang said, as if accepting his fate, and looked at Meng Qi:

"Please, Tianzun, enlighten me."

No—Miss Kelaien's mouth was the most terrifying thing of all!

Meng Qi silently sighed, yet slowly spoke to Tai Gongwang:

"What you see is not real; what you hear is not false. Through action, you attain proof—how can you be without action?"

"Wuwei is not inaction. It is to follow Heaven, respond to the times, emulate Nature, and align with the Dao—that is wuwei. The one who practices wuwei bears the Dao, harmonizes with great momentum, and finds advantage everywhere."

"Go."

Under Tai Gongwang's gaze, a chaotic auspicious cloud surged above the chamber, pouring down streams of deep, watery light that enclosed and isolated him.

In an instant, when he regained awareness, the Doushao Palace had vanished—everything before him seemed a hallucination.

"Tai Gong! It's bad!" Nezha flew down from the heavens on his Wind-Fire Wheels:

"Biyou Palace is gone!!!"

After Yu Xu Palace and Doushao Palace, Biyou Palace had also disappeared.

As for where it went—he knew perfectly well.

Tai Gongwang let out a long sigh, standing still and gazing around. Jinjiao and Yinjiao were gone too. Clearly, the other side had already cleaned everything up.

"Wuwei…"

"Am I to act according to my own will?"

Warning: Deviation parameter rising! Anomaly forming!

"Again?"

After the first day, Carthage's staff and Servants had grown numb.

Anomalies needed to be purged?

Dozens of new anomalies appeared daily. The White Zunzhe was only one person—how could he possibly purge them? Besides, these anomalies vanished eventually anyway, no matter what. No one knew what the Multiverse Consuming Ones truly intended.

"Worldlines where the Fallen Gods and similar entities reside cannot be entered. A powerful force has formed a barrier."

"Even the Star Sacred Sword cannot pierce it?"

Tenzan Lixiang looked at Emiya Shirou—correctly speaking, at Emiya Shirou, surrounded and guarded by numerous Servants:

"Have you remembered anything useful?"

"What do you want me to remember?!" Emiya Shirou threw the empty bottle to the ground: "Even if you made me drink the waters of the River Styx, it would only damage my Spirit Core!"

A healing Servant nearby immediately used a Noble Phantasm to repair his damaged Spirit Core.

To save the world, Emiya Shirou had half-heartedly obeyed these people, ingesting every kind of spirit medicine—but so far, aside from occasional glimpses of bizarre, abstract visions or slipping into negative states, there had been no progress whatsoever.

Da Vinci: "Could it be that the main consciousness has already awakened, leaving only fragmented remnants accessible to other individuals?"

At this moment, Ishatarin and other Cosmic Servants rushed into the control room, followed by the expressionless Tai Gongwang.

"Lixiang," Ishatarin's face was flushed with urgency and joy: "My spiritual foundation restriction has been lifted!"

"Can you still hold on?" Lu Mingfei looked at Weigong Shilang with concern; his complexion didn't look good.

A series of false timelines, opened by alchemy, were drawing nourishment from the main trunk and continuously overlapping with the true timeline where Weigong Shilang resided.

Meanwhile, Song Zhenlin was cooperating with Yi Leina nearby to search the world cluster, attempting to create a door to the Parallel World via smuggling.

"I understand the logic," Weigong Shilang processed the recurring images of summoning Servants:

"But can they stop constantly reenacting the Moon's famous paintings? I'm a modern person—I've used the internet in other worlds."

Aside from my own initial summoning, the others could've participated in different ways, yet everyone chose to appear in the warehouse.

Again and again.

When these hundreds of memories piled together, they delivered a powerful shock to Weigong Shilang's spirit.

Okay, the Ultraman mask and Kamen Rider I can accept—but what the hell is the Creation Engine? Where did you even get it?

And where in the world is there a summoning ritual that calls forth seven people?!

Haven't you noticed the guy in the blue spandex over there is already stunned?!

Weigong Shilang rubbed his brow, absorbing the final memory—when, on the World Tree at the center of the sand table, a branch about to snap sprouted hundreds of threads at its fracture, stitching itself together like surgical sutures.

These are the if-timelines derived and modified from the point before Weigong Shilang received the chat group; they have now been fully recovered, and after the matrix is dissolved, the future will converge into a single point.

"Not enough. And we should start dealing with the Great Holy Grail," Meng Qi said, smiling as he looked at the returning group:

"This is the first time I've ever played so big—I took the Three Pure Ones' sacred grounds with me. Will I ever be able to explain this later?"

He wasn't worried that Tai Gongwang would go to the Heavenly Emperor for help; first, this was an internal matter of the Three Pure Ones, and second—

There's a Lord Haotian in the movie.

I suspect Tai Gong has already developed psychological trauma from this.

"Don't worry, it'll only get bigger," Kleine chuckled casually.

Is this guy a little off?

"I couldn't find White Zunzhe Bai after I returned," Song Shuhang's figure materialized as he logged into the game with King Dou Dou:

"But White Zunzhe Bai left a message saying he'd be back in at most a day—I'm waiting for him in my own world, and I left the game helmet at the villa."

"When White Zunzhe Bai returns, he'll probably log in himself."

White Zunzhe Bai, due to a misunderstanding, said he was going back to prepare wedding gifts for Dada Liya and Weigong Shilang, but apparently went to some Mystical Realm to look for something? There's no signal over there.

"Looks like White Zunzhe Bai won't make it for this first beta wave," Su Lin walked up to Song Shuhang and pulled out the backend controller:

"It's fine, Shuhang—let's go clear a dungeon together first."

"Alright, Senior Su Lin," Song Shuhang replied promptly, completely unaware his logout function had been disabled.

"Alright, we can begin," Song Zhenlin reminded.

"The Second Method can indeed enable travel between Parallel Worlds, but right now I can only project images—I can't even transport people."

The Jewel Sword projected a scene.

On an open field, bone-made Dragon Tooth Soldiers clashed with an army wielding various cold weapons; flames spread everywhere, and the radiance of Noble Phantasms flared intermittently.

"No problem—I'll create a temporary door," Yi Leina smiled. "Though it won't last long. And weren't you saying you needed to guard against the Suppressors and the Servant Universe's people breaking into this world?"

"Leave it to me," Meng Qi nodded.

"I'm counting on you, Song Zhenlin," Weigong Shilang said solemnly.

"I understand," Song Zhenlin glanced at these over-spec entities; honestly, it was hard not to suspect Chaldea's version was true—but—

Who else could you believe, when this idiot made a promise?

Meng Qi flung open the gates of Yu Xu Palace. Song Zhenlin, seeing this, projected the observed Parallel World onto the sky outside.

Jiang Taixu, hearing Su Lin's voice transmission, lifted the seal on the Everlasting Furnace at the corresponding location.

Yi Leina formed a triangle with her hands; a complex four-dimensional spatial structure appeared within it. At the instant the dimensional magic opened a portal, Meng Qi's will shifted—and Yu Xu Palace, that ancient, towering structure, surged forward at an unimaginable speed.

A crisp crack echoed.

In Song Zhenlin's disbelieving gaze, Yu Xu Palace

became lodged in the dimensional barrier of the Parallel World.

Song Zhenlin's lips parted slightly; she stared, dumbfounded.

So that's how you solve it?!

"Come to think of it, White Zunzhe Bao seems to be in this world—I have a memory from watching anime," Su Lin picked up the Azure Jade Yu Xu Sword and walked out with the group; flames burned the night crimson:

"Should I go ask him for help?"

"He's probably already fled," Meng Qi flicked his sleeve as he walked, adjusting his robes: "Besides, we'll be seen as an evil faction like this."

"Of course we will, Lord Yuan Shi Tian Mo," Kleine snapped his fingers, manifesting a set of clothing beside Weigong Shilang:

"Since we're already like this, I might as well throw in some movie references, right, White Zunzhe Jian Sect?"

"I just came home for a vacation—why did things end up like this?" Weigong Shilang looked at his movie costume and the extra long hair, resigned:

"Mr. Kleine, I'm reflecting on my own problems—please tone it down a bit."

Suddenly, he turned to Song Zhenlin and smiled:

"Song Zhenlin, want to go take a look? The Parallel World."

Song Zhenlin's eyes widened slightly; something flashed in her mind, and a faint blush rose on her fair face. "Ah, since you put it that way—"

"I bet he'll get cut down with a cleaver eventually."

"I bet a sleeve-hidden cosmos—he won't."

"Hmph. Men."

"Hmph. Men."

"Hmph. Men."

"Three women make a play—quite brilliant."

Weigong Shilang's face flushed at these words, but before he could speak, a dark shadow appeared behind Tohsaka Rin through spatial transfer, gazing at Weigong Shilang and Tohsaka Rin.

"A cultivator must always remain alert to their surroundings—this is Han's humble opinion."

"Someone's about to suffer misfortune—I won't say who."

The smaller shadow gradually regained its color and flung itself onto Tohsaka Rin.

"Rin, you sneaky little cat!"

Shishigou stared blankly at the sky, where above the massive golden spiral, a new "intruder" had appeared.

"Whose Servant's Noble Phantasm is this?!"

On this battlefield of 【Red】 and 【Black】, a Noble Phantasm far grander, more ancient, and more majestic than Semiramis's "Hanging Gardens of Vanity" emerged.

Kiritsugu Emiya and Semiramis, through their familiars' transmitted images, had their attention drawn to this unexpected intruder.

"Jade Void Palace?!" Kiritsugu Emiya, seeing the three ancient characters above the immortal palace's gate, faintly recognized their meaning, recalled the Holy Grail's revealed common knowledge within his mind, and muttered involuntarily:

"Impossible."

"Impossible!"

"There are no Eastern Servants in this Holy Grail War!!!"

The ancient stone gate burst open with a thunderous crash, and dozens of angels clad in crimson armor flew out, standing on either side holding swords, spears, axes, and halberds.

Ten figures emerged one after another, hovering in midair and gazing down upon all things upon the earth.

At the forefront, a figure whose face could not be discerned flew to the very center of the battlefield, staring at the black giant ravaging the land, transforming all life into Eden.

Meanwhile, Joan of Arc, who had been leading others against the Noble Phantasm of the founder of Cabalistic magic, Avrion, suddenly saw countless images flash through her mind.

"Fallen."

Even Joan of Arc, who had faced the fifteen-meter giant without fear, now showed fear and panic on her face.

"God?!"

In the sky, across every corner of the world, light elements responded to the deity's command, beginning to weave radiant miracles.

He extended his hand; as his divine realm manifested behind him, his right index finger pointed at the giant:

"Let there be light."

The torrent of light engulfed the entire planet, like the sun and earth merging, severing darkness in pure white, returning all to the primordial state of creation.

Divine grace overflowed; sacred voices echoed.

"Is it you...?"

Kiritsugu Emiya collapsed to the ground, his pupils nearly dilated.

"White Zunzhe!" Semiramis cried out—not because she was shocked by the descent of this myth, but because beside Kiritsugu Emiya stood a young Daoist.

He appeared without sound, undetectable by perception; only his figure existed within sight.

"I am Yuanshi."

The young Daoist looked at the Great Holy Grail behind them and said:

"This object has a connection with me—please, both of you..."

"... relinquish it."

Today's first wedding...

(End of Chapter)