Chapter 262: Protagonist and Supporting Characters

After much discussion, you were finally forced to accept the worst outcome, planning to enter the Eternal Primordial Wasteland with the help of Sanhao Xiaoniao, thereby achieving an imperfect perfect ending.

You find your own deadlock laughable: if you can't create Pangu, everyone dies; if you do create Pangu, everyone still dies… so wasn't Pangu created in vain?

Based on current trends, once Pangu devours all the sages, even if He shows great mercy and does nothing harmful to the Eternal Primordial Wasteland, the loss of the sages' replenishment will sooner or later cause the Eternal Primordial Wasteland to wither and perish.

You're just a minor Golden Immortal—what can you possibly do in this boundless calamity?

It's just going with the flow, seeking a decent death—also not a bad ending.

But, you, disheartened and despairing, never imagined that events would unfold so quickly beyond your expectations…

"Are you ready?"

Sanhao Xiaoniao solemnly asked this final group of Asuras before departure.

Everyone, under your leadership, looked resolute: "Ready!"

It's just death—nothing to fear! True Asuras never fear death!

Sanhao Xiaoniao secretly sighed, feeling pity for your ill-fated race, but such is fate—even He can do nothing about it.

Such an ending counts as glorious…

Thinking thus, He waved His hand.

After a long while, all fell silent.

He furrowed His brow and waved His hand again!

Everyone remained silent.

He, unwilling to believe it, waved his hand again!

Everyone looked at each other, hesitated a moment, then the crowd also waved at Him in greeting…

Those on stage waved, as if saying farewell.

Those below waved, as if reluctant to part.

The solemn atmosphere on site suddenly turned awkward, even becoming somewhat comical…

"What are you doing?"

Jiao Ming the Heavenly Dao stood aside watching for a while, utterly confused: "Aren't you supposed to take everyone to the Eternal Primordial Wasteland? Then go ahead and do it!"

"No……"

Sanhao Xiaoniao broke into a sweat, frantically waving his hands: "They seem unable to get out!"

"Unable to get out?"

Jiao Ming the Heavenly Dao furrowed his brow, tried it himself, and immediately discovered something was off: they really can't get out!

But not everyone is unable to get out; from beginning to end, only one person cannot…

That person is you!

The two outland sages exchanged a glance toward your anxious self, then looked at each other: "It seems this plot isn't as simple as they imagined…"

"A very unfortunate piece of news."

Facing you, Sanhao Xiaoniao said in a strange tone: "I'm afraid your storyline hasn't ended yet!"

"We can take everyone else, but you alone cannot go… you still need to accomplish certain things with your own strength…"

"You, you cannot go!"

"Why?"

Upon hearing that answer, you stared speechless: it's not that you're clinging to life out of fear of death, but you don't understand why everyone else can leave while you cannot.

"Probably because of Pangu."

"Or perhaps… because of Him…"

Jiao Ming the Heavenly Dao said ambiguously: "In any case, the Eternal Primordial Wasteland ending is a dead end; you may need to take another path…"

"It's a dead end."

This sudden bad news completely threw off your thoughts and plans: the Eternal Primordial Wasteland should not be the correct route to clear this round!

At least for you, you simply cannot leave Pangu's true form; wanting to go to the Eternal Primordial Wasteland to achieve an ending is unrealistic…

"No! This might not be bad news after all!"

Your sharp mind quickly seized the blind spot: you still have a chance, you still have a chance to achieve an even more perfect ending!

Thus, a glimmer of hope flashed in your eyes.

You immediately pleaded: "Since I can't go, please have the two sages take the other Asuras and send them first to the Eternal Primordial Wasteland!"

"All my lifelong concerns lie with them; if I can secure a good fate for everyone, even my death would be worthwhile!"

Upon hearing your sincere words, all the Asuras burst into tears, declaring they would follow the Xuantian Emperor to fight to the very last moment; the Heavenly Emperor is the core and sun of the Asura clan, they recognize no one but you, and without you they cannot survive!

Yet faced with everyone's loyalty and affection, you showed no sympathy, instead displaying your usual domineering decisiveness: NPCs only need to wait for the protagonist to save them!

You couldn't be bothered to say it; they don't deserve to hear it, let alone refute it!

Amidst the weeping and pleas, you decisively produced the Blood God Son you hadn't used in a long time, then solemnly offered it to Sanhao Xiaoniao: "Everything, please entrust it to the sages."

Your unilateral decisiveness let the two sages witness for the first time what a professional protagonist looks like; they were somewhat shaken, then remarked: "Lao Jiao, take note! This is how the protagonist's power is used!"

Lao Jiao: "I have no objection."

In short, under the mental control of the two outland sages using the Blood God Son, tens of millions of Asura Mysterious Immortals, however reluctant, had no choice but to follow the sages away.

With a gesture from the two sages, the spirit stones and souls scattered throughout the fragmentary realms, along with tens of millions of Mysterious Immortals, all vanished without a trace…

In the vast fragmentary realms, only you… and Jin Bing remained.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

You furrowed your brow and asked him: "Even the pirated Xuans have left, so why…"

"I'm different from them."

Jin Bing, who had been silently restrained under the sages' might, sighed silently: "Other pirated copies, if they went to the Eternal Primordial Wasteland, would have no psychological burden, and even seeing the original would be fine, since they never identified with their own memories and identities." "They are independent and brand-new people, so they can start their new lives without hesitation, changing names, marrying, having children… they've long wanted to break free from the constraints of an identity that isn't theirs!"

【"But I'm different…"】

【Jin Bing bitterly pointed at himself: back when he was in the Sea of Blood, he had always regarded himself as the Jin Tian Emperor himself, striving to align every aspect with the legendary person's setting.】

【After being completely activated by your sentence "Zhao Si entrusted me with a message," his self-identity became indistinguishable from the authentic Jin Tian Emperor.】

【In a sense, he has been possessed by the Jin Tian Emperor "seizing the body"; he is now Jin Bing!】

【"So, I can't be carefree like other replicas, nor can I break free from the shackles of this identity… I can't face the Jin Tian Emperor, nor can I face my master, my uncle, my junior fellow disciples, Xuan Du and the others…"】

【He is afraid, afraid that his mindset will collapse; to break the self-identity already formed would be tantamount to suicide!】

【"I believe they will tolerate and accept me, but… I cannot accept myself!"】

【Throughout the whole plot, the most desperate person has never been just you bearing too much; there's also him, and he is even more desperate than you: not clearing the level means death, clearing it means suffering worse than death…】

【"So, I hope to follow you all the way to the final moment."】

【Jin Bing said firmly.】

【"If you die, I die too; if you don't die, I will still die… I want to use my last life to help you as much as possible; if I can't help, at least I can witness your success."】

【"I've never been the protagonist, but I want to be the last supporting character beside the protagonist just once!"】

【Seeing his resolute appearance, you know: if you don't agree, he will immediately commit suicide, ending this false life…】

【"Alright, I promise you!"】

【Hearing that, he laughed.】

【"Thank you."】

【The protagonist and the supporting character formed the final alliance!】

【……】

【And in the Heaven Beyond Heaven, the sages gradually discovered: things, perhaps aren't as bad as imagined?】

【The successful condensation of Pangu's true body naturally exceeded everyone's expectations, forcing even the six sages who had already given up to come out and form a team, after all, everyone could accept becoming a quantum state indistinguishable from death, but they could absolutely not accept serving a life sentence in Pangu's brain.】

【And the strength of Pangu's true body actually surpassed expectations: it was lower than expected!】

【Originally everyone was pessimistic, because no matter how you say it, Pangu is the god who opened the heavens; in terms of power, Him one versus nine and a great victory is only natural!】

【But in actual combat, everyone was astonished to discover: this god who opened the heavens seems rather weak…】

【Actually, it's not weak either; with the utmost Pangu divine power boosting Him, He can blast one or two saints, which poses no problem at all.】

【But that's all He can do.】

【The seven sages all attack together, directly surrounding and kicking Him; plus the Dao Zu who arrives last, eight saints can beat Him so badly He can't even crawl up!】

【This gap between ideal and reality leaves everyone feeling a bit dazed: the god who opened the heavens… is that it?】

"Pangu… is that it?"】

Seeing Pangu's true body being surrounded and kicked by the eight saints, Zhao Si couldn't help but scratch his head: "System, your combat power setting has collapsed!"

"A saint occupying only one‑ninth of Pangu's consciousness can actually fight evenly with the whole Pangu true body, and eight saints can thrash Him… this doesn't make sense; is Pangu not that weak?"

【The player's question is good, but this is actually not that Pangu is too weak, but that the saints are too strong.】

"Too strong? What does that mean?"

Zhao Si doesn't understand; even if saints say they can break the heavens, they shouldn't be able to defeat Pangu, right? 【Although saints are merely a part of Pangu's consciousness, occupying only one‑ninth of the total, consciousness… fundamentally has no concept of "quantity"; "quantity" can only describe objective material existence.】

Hmm? After saying that, Zhao Si, who has studied a bit of philosophy, finally gets a vague sense: "You mean… consciousness has no concept of more or less; as long as it has a fraction, it can equal infinity?"

【That's right; in the concept of consciousness, one is two, two is three, three is myriad, so one equals infinity, one is the whole.】

【Therefore, in rank, a saint who occupies one‑ninth of Pangu's consciousness and the whole Pangu true body are of the same level.】

【Without the Pangu divine power that can suppress all "laws," Pangu at best would be evenly matched with a single saint…】

After hearing the system's explanation and adding his own understanding, Zhao Si barely managed to grasp this setting.

But another problem arises:

"If the saints could defeat Pangu, or imprison Him, wouldn't that… directly clear the level?"

The biggest problem in this chapter is that this "anchor point" of the Primordial will spread until it disappears, causing all beings, even if they migrate from the Primordial to the Eternal Primordial, to eventually become a "quantum superposition state."

But now the Primordial has become Pangu, so hasn't that "anchor point" returned?

As long as the "anchor point" is well preserved, the Eternal Primordial can truly exist forever…

Isn't that clearing the level?

Zhao Si pondered:

"If that's possible, then the only difficulty now lies with the protagonist Xue Xuan; as long as the saints find a way to rescue him from within Pangu's body…… or, more extremely, directly imprison Xue Xuan there for life, turning him into 'Prisoner Xue'…… that would also count as immortality…"

【……】

【Although the player and the protagonist are not of the same order of existence, there's no need to treat him as less than human……】

【Moreover, how could this be called a grand ending?】

Zhao Si raised an eyebrow:

"If Pangu can be imprisoned or even defeated, how can it not be called an ending?"

"This anchor point of Pangu won't disappear…"

【Actually…… He will disappear.】

Ah? Zhao Si froze.

【Matter moves, deforms, shatters; Pangu, naturally, will also die……】

……

(End of chapter)