Chapter 747: Antigonus Awakens

"No, no, can't, no—she's mine, she's mine."

Amid a series of almost sobbing sounds, his body began to change: coarse, hard short hair grew tightly against his skin; his skin lost the luster of a living person, like a dried tree stump; his eyes became large and protruding; his mouth split to the ears, resembling a horror‑like rag doll.

During this process, he recited a revered name over and over as if in a dream: "Great supreme Mother Tree, eternal Roarer, source of curses, the god of lost mind."

Above the gray mist, Ke Lai En's inspiration suddenly warned him that something bad was brewing, a disaster spreading toward him.

"Can't see clearly, but it's dangerous."

Murmuring to himself, Ke Lai En tossed a crudely cut paper figure into the illusory star representing "the Recluse" Jia De Li Ya.

After doing this, he separated some of the spirit insects, then began to follow his intuition to locate the root of the problem.

Soon, his gaze locked onto the now‑monster Da Lei Er; a silvery‑white lightning spontaneously floated into the inn's room.

Amid the crackling electric sound, the Da Lei Er turned into a terrifying, twisted rag doll and quickly blackened, shattering.

"I hadn't noticed any problem with him while above the gray mist—who intervened?"

While murmuring, the scene he saw above the gray mist suddenly froze; the entire Utopia's spirit was mutating, seeming to become layer upon layer of barriers, sealing every person and every secret pair. Then the surroundings suddenly boiled, thick black liquid oozed from the void, spreading outward, climbing upward to corrode the void, disrupting the overlap of reality and the spirit realm, and limiting Ke Lai En's vision above the gray mist.

"There are spirit insects here amounting to more than a third of my own; I must retrieve some, otherwise my condition will deteriorate severely, even lose control."

"Once I leave the gray mist, what awaits me will inevitably be the blows that Cha La Tu and the True Creator have already prepared."

During Ke Lai En's inner struggle, the spirit insects of Utopia severed contact one by one; his condition began to slip uncontrollably, and slick, transparent tendrils emerged from beneath his clothes, flailing wildly around.

Ke Lai En sighed, calmly reached forward, borrowing spirit and condition from his past self so as not to lose control instantly.

He then focused on the deep‑red star representing "the Recluse" Jia De Li Ya, extending spirit until it touched that deep‑red star.

Still lingering in the captain's cabin of the "Future" ship on the inter‑sea, Jia De Li Ya suddenly saw a dense gray mist surge, revealing a majestic figure seated deep within the mist, as if overlooking the whole world.

Before she could think or ask, streams of golden water abruptly appeared within the gray mist, coalescing into a chaotic, twisted human silhouette.

The Lamp God met Ke Lai En's gaze across the gray mist; its figure swiftly moved forward, crossing the mist's barrier, appearing before Ke Lai En:

"It seems you are more eager than I imagined; your condition looks poor. If you hadn't borrowed power from your past self and grafted the condition, you would already be out of control."

"Speak, what wish do you desire, and what can you offer?"

Ke Lai En laughed lightly, unhurried, and calmly said:

"Heh, I need two wishes; in exchange, I will send you back to the starry sky before the apocalypse arrives, how about that?"

"Of course, these two wishes cannot both count toward me and Beiernadai."

As he spoke, he blocked part of Jia De Li Ya's senses, preventing her from perceiving his communication with the Lamp God; she could only see a vague light‑shadow of his negotiation with the deity.

The Lamp God paid no mind to Ke Lai En's actions; after he finished, it refused without hesitation:

"I refuse; this condition is not equivalent to my two wishes. Now you need my help, and with the apocalypse coming, I can certainly return to the starry sky."

"But by then you will have lost the advantage; you may not retrieve the authority and traits lost here, and might even become prey of the remaining old ones."

"And I can promise to send you back to the starry sky before the apocalypse; constrained by the wishing lamp, I am now your only viable partner."

"Help me, and you are merely opposing the former 'Lord of the Mysteries', and you will lose nothing."

Ke Lai En recited his pre‑planned phrasing word by word, then leaned back in the high‑backed chair, leisurely awaiting the Lamp God's reply, not at all worried about rejection, just as he had said—the Lamp God had no other partners.

After a brief silence, the Lamp God sneered and said:

"Unfortunately, with the aid of that 'Erudite', I have already infected a 'Hand of Order'."

Ke Lai En was stunned; he hadn't expected this twist, and grew a bit nervous—now the Lamp God possessed the power to interfere with the outside world, giving it grounds to refuse him.

The Lamp God scoffed, looking at Ke Lai En calmly and seriously, and said: "Heh, you're nervous? Compared to that old mystery, you're still too young, but precisely because of that, I chose to cooperate with you."

"We each swear by our respective 'source essence', guaranteeing the other will fulfill the promise; although at our level one can always break a contract, that would damage the 'source essence' and be unprofitable."

"Can." Ke Lai En's lamp head replied.

Then, witnessed by both, they each swore by their own "source essence" and signed the contract.

Exhaling, Ke Lai En looked at the Lamp God and voiced his first wish: "Restore my condition to its peak."

The Lamp God said nothing, reached into the void before him and gave a slight tug, then calmly said: "Your wish has been granted."

Ke Lai En nodded; he felt abundant spirit within his body and the spirit insects returning.

After gauging his condition, he turned to the Lamp God and uttered his second wish: "Let the spirit realm manifest a region corresponding to my Utopia; this should be within your power."

"No problem." the Lamp God chuckled, and on its golden silhouette twisted one chaotic vortex after another.

Simultaneously, in the spirit realm, a brightly colored town suddenly appeared, and figures resembling puppets swayed through the spirit city, seeming both real and illusory.

"Your wish has been fulfilled; don't forget your promise."

"I hope you can escape from the heir of the God; he is not a good partner."

The Lamp God's figure turned into golden water flow, retreating beneath the gray mist, and its words gradually faded until disappearing.

"The heir of the God" should refer to the "True Creator"; no wonder I hadn't noticed the outsider's problem at the time—his normalcy was all imagined.

He let out a long sigh, shook his head and lamented: "I don't know what traps await outside; I hope the Great Emperor and his allies can exert some effort, intercept a bit longer, at least let me reclaim Cha La Tu's traits."

Muttering to himself, he shattered the black cloak draped on him, turning it into pure traits; the nine spirit‑realm specialties he had already obtained from the Seven Lights of the spirit realm and a glass bottle spontaneously flew out of the clutter, swirling around him, rapidly merging into a complete sequential magic elixir.

The transparent glass bottle held a substance that seemed dark as night sea, light as air, rippling with tiny waves.

Without any hesitation, Ke Lai En tipped his head back and drank the prepared magic elixir.

In the palace hall atop the Hohnachis Mountains, those stealing Antigonus's traits and halting A Meng's clones of Reckton acted in perfect unison, pausing briefly.

Entrapped in deep sleep, Antigonus showed a faint sign of awakening; its resisting instinct surged, transparent slick tendrils frantically flailed, shattering one A Meng clone after another.

All doors and windows of the palace simultaneously reflected brilliant starlight, shaping into a strangely styled key, linked with the illusory abstract star realm.

Waves of illusory, massive information flooded in through the doors and windows, condensing into colorless beams that purposefully struck each A Meng, overwhelming their brains with a torrent of useless knowledge.

Almost simultaneously, a deep, dark sea emerged around them; each droplet of water acted like a ray of light, representing a fragment of consciousness, a seal.

Countless souls intertwined into a maze, intercepting the surging information flood, dispersing it into the deepest parts of the mind, into each drop of the collective subconscious sea.

A profound darkness fell silently, enveloping everything, exuding an indescribable deathly stillness and decay.

"Let there be light!"

A somewhat familiar voice echoed in the interaction between each soul and its subconscious sea.

Bright, piercing sunlight suddenly descended, illuminating every corner around, making the surroundings completely devoid of any darkness, leaving no shadow, not allowing anything hidden to exist in a Lightless Realm; the Goddess of Night tried to exert influence, but failed under the interference of the True Creator.

At this moment, an A Meng suddenly broke into a grin, and before its laughter could even be uttered, it directly fell into a silent slumber.

At the same time, Antigonus, who had fallen into eternal slumber, woke up, woke up!

The surrounding spacetime suddenly twisted, light became dim, the region where this palace was located was completely cut off from the outside world; even information could not interact.

In the hall, only the awakened Antigonus, a group of A Meng in various guises, and Lei Ke Dun remained.

(End of chapter)