Chapter 389: The World Has No Truth (12)

Luosen had been a lord for over ten years, deeply grasping a truth.

That is, when facing someone who is clearly an enemy, no matter their identity or how strong their power, if they are willing to talk calmly with you instead of attacking directly, it shows they currently cannot do anything to you.

Returning to the present situation.

Indeed, this so-called great one, Ciluokaweide, possesses an extraordinarily magnificent soul, yet after I beheaded his follower, he not only did not punish me but, using the follower's skull, sought to make a deal with me, which most likely indicates he is unable to reach me.

Thus, although my heart was filled with a strong sense of insignificance, I did not feel humble, nor did I despair because of it.

Luosen brushed off the dust on his clothes and smiled, replying, 'Exactly how does this transaction work?'

Ciluokaweide glanced around, looking at the blood guards groaning in the ruins.

"Release my followers. As repayment, I will teach you a very practical divine technique."

The other party is likely a powerhouse beyond the 23rd ring, and his divine technique is naturally very powerful, so Luosen felt somewhat moved.

But it cannot be ruled out that the other party is using an information advantage to deceive him.

After thinking, Luosen said, "Why don't you first give a detailed introduction to the divine technique?"

"The divine technique Insightful Thorn condenses an extremely fine yet extremely sharp sub-element thorn, used to probe and adjust the microscopic structure of sub-elements, thereby partially breaking the limitation that prevents mortals from entering the sub-element realm."

As he spoke, a faint scarlet ray shot from the pupil of Akaman's head.

This light, like a gas, quickly traced connections in the air.

After a dozen or so seconds, it actually turned into a thin spellbook titled Insightful Thorn.

"Mortal, you can learn it yourself or teach it to someone capable of learning. I guarantee it will definitely benefit you greatly."

"Of course, given that the sub-element realm is countless times deeper than the deepest ocean on Earth, what exactly you can probe and how deep you can go depends entirely on your own effort."

Luosen's heart raced upon hearing this, for it was exactly the ability he currently lacked most.

He could also understand the principle of this divine technique.

It is like taking a thin needle and, as a blind man feeling an elephant, probing the sub-element world; though far less effective than direct visual observation, it helps him cross the boundary between 'can' and 'cannot'.

What further moved him was that this repetitive probing task was most suitable for Laifu to do.

With Laifu's current computing power, one person's probing ability could match that of a thousand people, and once acquired, it is permanent and never forgotten.

Of course, as the other party said, the sub-element realm is unfathomably deep.

So he also needed to know how deep this so-called Insightful Thorn could reach.

He asked directly.

Ciluokaweide also gave a clear reply: 'If you can reach the 23rd ring and possess outstanding talent, you can reach a depth fifteen orders of magnitude smaller than the size of basic elemental particles.'

"What about the 13th ring?"

"The 13th ring would allow penetration of about five orders of magnitude."

Five orders of magnitude is not much, but it is certainly still useful.

Luosen curiously asked again, 'Just how deep is the sub-element realm?'

"To be honest, I don't know."

"I once thought many constants of spacetime were unchanging, so the sub-element realm should be deeper than the elemental particle scale by 26 orders of magnitude. But I later discovered that there are actually no constants in the world; everything is variable."

"So I can only say, this world has no truth."

"What world you can see depends on the height at which your soul stands."

Regarding these words, Luosen could only grasp a superficial meaning, unable to comprehend the true significance, because his strength was insufficient, far insufficient.

To avoid being tricked by the other party, Luosen said, 'I must first make sure what you give is genuine.'

"Please feel free to inspect."

Luosen picked up a stick, kept the spellbook at a distance, and carefully read the contents on its pages.

After reading halfway, he confirmed it was genuine.

After finishing reading completely, closing his eyes to digest it, he attempted to cast the spell.

After experiencing a dozen or so failures, he succeeded on the twentieth attempt.

Using his soul at the strength of the 13th ring, he condensed a sharp, fine, and sturdy soul Insightful Thorn.

"I have confirmed the effect of the divine technique; it is indeed quite precious knowledge."

"Therefore, I agree to your trade, but with an added condition."

"Please speak."

Luosen pointed to Gilles, who had been crushed into a meat patty by his own weight in the building ruins, saying, 'I am a person who keeps his word; I said I would help this friend I happened to meet lift the evil god's curse. So, once he recovers, he will get a chance to choose.'

Ciluokaweide indicated agreement with a blink: 'Okay.'

After saying that, the scarlet light on Akaman's head gradually faded, and the strong sense of oppression brought by that magnificent will also gradually weakened until it disappeared.

The true god named Ciluokaweide left.

Akaman blinked, looking eagerly at Luosen: 'Luoge Knight, it's your turn to keep the promise.'

Luosen had no intention of breaking his promise, because he had already figured out the power of these evil god's followers and knew they posed no threat to him.

He stepped forward, picked up Akaman's head, reattached it to the headless body, and then placed a mass spell on it, giving it dozens of times its own weight.

This weight would not naturally kill Akaman, but it was enough to trap him in place, unable to move.

He then went to Gilles's 'meat patty,' removed his thousandfold self-weight, and the patty immediately began to wriggle continuously, gradually returning to a normal human body.

Soon after, Akaman's head grew back onto his body, and Gilles also returned to being a normal ordinary person, standing up from the ground.

He looked at Luosen with a face full of guilt: 'Sorry, Lord Luoge, I just completely lost control of my movements.'

Luosen smiled: 'No need to blame yourself; I know.'

He then moved several stones weighing over a hundred jin each, pressing them onto the scarlet ruby staff on the ground, and gave the stones three thousand times their own weight, which is currently his limit.

The stones firmly pressed the staff down to prevent Akaman from regaining control of it.

For such a divine artifact, Luosen had no way to claim it for himself, not even touching it.

translation...

After all lines, output a names list:

After finishing all this, Luosen returned to Akeman's front, hehe laughing.

Just as Akeman felt the situation was turning bad, he spoke.

"Blood mage, I have agreed to your master's deal, and I am also a person who keeps his word, so I will surely spare you and your blood guards' lives."

Akeman nodded repeatedly: "Lord Luoge, you are truly extremely wise."

Luosen then looked at Gilles and asked: "Gilles, have you heard of the great one Ciluokaweide?"

Gilles lightly nodded: "I have heard of it; it is a not-so-famous evil god. In our world, it is called the Blood Drinker."

Luosen then said: "The situation is that you have received the Blood Drinker's eternal life blessing, of course, though I personally feel it's more like a curse." "The Blood Drinker agrees to give you a chance to choose; so, do you choose to return to being an ordinary person, or maintain the status quo?"

Gilles showed a hint of hesitation on his face.

He had previously been eager to get rid of the curse because he didn't understand the situation, but now that he understands, he is somewhat reluctant to let it go.

Although it is an evil god's blessing, it is still a blessing, granting him extremely great power and also the great benefit of immortality; although there are some drawbacks, reality is never perfect.

More importantly, this evil god seems not to forbid him from liking men.

Seeing him hesitate, Luosen also did not force: "Gilles, your life belongs only to yourself. You may choose whatever path you like; I will not interfere in any way."

These words greatly eased Gilles's concerns; he gritted his teeth and said: "Then let's maintain the status quo."

Luosen shrugged: "Since that's the case, then I wish you good luck."

Everyone has his own path; he neither can nor wants to manage it.

He then turned his head to Akeman: "I can sense that you are a very learned person, and I am very curious about your world."

"Tell me in detail about your world's situation; once you finish, I will return that staff to you."

Akeman had no choice.

He is a smart person; he has already discovered a loophole in his master's deal.

The master only said to let the other party spare his life, but did not forbid the other party from torturing him; and because they have immortal physiques, they are especially resistant to torture.

If he does not cooperate with the other party, and the other party begins to torture him, then the so-called eternal life blessing will immediately become an eternal life curse.

Thus, he immediately nodded: "Ask any questions you like; I will answer to the best of my ability."

"I want to know, does your world have many gods?"

"Yes, many; there are nearly a hundred gods with titles, and without titles there are even more, possibly as many as five hundred."

"Do these gods all have power above the 23rd ring?"

"Of course."

Luosen suddenly somewhat understood why Antoine Ji felt the Eternal Empire was meaningless.

He had painstakingly reached only the 23rd ring, yet another world exists with so many beings surpassing the 23rd ring; not feeling despair would be strange.

Luosen then asked: "So, do these gods have strengths and weaknesses, right?"

"That's right."

"What standard is used to distinguish them?"

Akeman showed a hint of embarrassment on his face: "To be honest, as a mortal I do not know the internal standard."

"We generally distinguish the strength of gods by the size of the mortal area they control, the number of mortal followers, and the strength of the nations built by those mortal followers."

"So, is your master strong?"

Akeman's face grew more troubled; after a moment of hesitation he said: "My master is a newly emerged god, but the mortal realm is already crowded with gods, making it hard for a new god to find a foothold. Therefore, my master chose to come to this new world to seek followers."

"In fact, it is not only my master who does this; many other new gods are also doing the same."

Luosen was somewhat puzzled: "Why are gods obsessed with spreading faith in the mortal realm?"

"In the main plane, followers can provide faith power to gods, but the amount of faith power is not large, seemingly far insufficient to support gods' great power."

"Er... I'm not entirely clear either; probably it's because gods need mortals' offerings."

"It is clear that Akeman truly does not know; this is also completely understandable, after all this counts as a core secret of the gods."

Luosen thought for a moment, then asked: "So, how do gods come into being?"

"To be honest, I am not clear either. But through some vague rumors and myths, it can be roughly divided into two kinds."

"One is innate gods. The other is mortals who receive the favor of the preceding gods, and after being granted their favor, ascend to godhood."

Luosen was very curious and couldn't help asking: "Then whose power is greater?"

"In most cases it is the former, but there are also exceptions."

Akeman softly said: "The most famous example is the twin war gods, the 'Ailuowei sisters'."

"This pair of sisters are acquired gods, having ascended to godhood under the patronage of the war god Axiuyi'er. But the war god is a deity with an extremely fierce and fickle temperament; he soon regretted his patronage and intended to reclaim the sisters' divine power."

"Because of a series of accidental events, in the end the sisters not only were not deprived of their divine power, but they also successfully defeated the war god, absorbed his power, took over the vast majority of his mortal followers, and in one fell swoop became among the strongest in the divine realm."

Luosen found it interesting: "Well then, is your master an innate god?"

"I am not sure, Mr. Luoge; I can freely answer questions unrelated to my master, but I must maintain respect toward my master."

Luosen did not press further; he immediately changed the topic: "Then, in your world, is there only one mortal realm?"

"Yes, only one, but it is extremely vast, at least two thousand times wider than here!"

"This half-plane measures over 3000 kilometers; at two thousand times, that would be over 600,000 kilometers of vast territory—even light would take two seconds to cross it, not only more spacious than the half-plane, but also far more spacious than the ordinary planes of his world."

"Then, in mortal cultivation, can one cultivate all the way to the 23rd ring?"

Akeman blinked: "Isn't that a matter of course?"

Luosen also blinked, then immediately pressed: "Has the ring always been the 23rd ring?"

"It has always been the 23rd ring since ancient times; it has never changed, and it certainly will not change in the future."

"'Well, truly a fortunate world.' Luosen secretly sighed."

He then asked: "So, how did you let Gilles cross over to this world?"

Through the divine art bestowed by my master, of course, I only know how to use the divine art, and I don't know its principles.

Luosen nodded to show understanding.

Next, he asked many detailed questions, and Akaman answered as best he could.

After the exchange, Luosen gained a fairly detailed understanding of the other world.

Feeling that the questioning was about done and the effect of the mass spell was also about to end, Luosen turned and said farewell to Giles: "Well then, goodbye to both of you."

Without waiting for Giles's response, he also said to Akaman: "Giles is my friend; I hope you treat him well."

Akaman assured repeatedly: "Surely, surely."

After receiving the response, Luosen's mind trembled slightly, and his figure drifted away like a phantom, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

In the manor ruins, Akaman and Giles looked at each other.

After a long while, Akaman asked: "Buddy, where did you find such a good helper?"

Giles looked bewildered: "I don't know; he sought me out on his own."

Akaman could tell at a glance that Giles wasn't lying, and couldn't help but remark: "Oh, you really are a lucky fellow."

Immediately, he also felt some worry: "The Dawn Crown has gained another strong competitor; truly a headache."

(End of chapter)