Chapter 788: Million

A ship...

Hearing this keyword, Tang Zhao seemed to understand what he was talking about all at once.

One can only say that sometimes there are astonishing coincidences between civilizations. Even though they are not on the same plane or in the same universe, the choices made at critical moments are similar, and even the metaphors are identical by coincidence.

That old Heavenly Demon sighed with some emotion, actually sighing right in front of his enemies: "I don't know when you discovered it, but it certainly hasn't been long, so you must be unwilling to give up now, still wanting to find a way to break the deadlock or even win the war, wanting to save everyone. But it's useless; it's impossible to do. You don't know, we received the divine oracle hundreds of years ago."

Really?

Tang Zhao was somewhat surprised. One must know that if Gaoyuan Marquis does not reverse time, just seeing through time to see one month ahead would significantly weaken her lifespan advantage. Can someone really issue a divine oracle for hundreds of years into the future?

That must truly be a god, right?

However, issuing a divine oracle but having no solution, leaving the believers to wander and even despair—it seems that even that god has a limit.

Or perhaps, the god simply does not care?

The old Heavenly Demon continued: "The divine oracle from hundreds of years ago told us that the world was going to be destroyed, only at that time there was only a vague divine sense. As time passed, the divine oracle became clearer and clearer. We prepared to save ourselves according to the oracle, but the more we prepared, the more desperate we became, because every path was completely useless."

Kun Sword suddenly said: "So, your invasion of our world is also a so-called means of salvation, right?"

The old Heavenly Demon said: "Of course. But at first, it was just an accident. In fact, the collision between your world and ours happened almost a few years after we received the divine oracle. At that time, we thought you were the ones coming to destroy the world. But later, after fighting, we found that wasn't the case."

His tone was rather subtle, and Tang Zhao understood his meaning a bit: With you being this weak, are you even worthy of destroying the world?

The old Heavenly Demon continued: "But we discovered that your world is not bad, even better than our world, and your people are also good... So we had a saying: your world was sent by God to save us. We must seize the opportunity to jump to your world. Although our original world will be destroyed, we can obtain a new life in yours."

Tang Zhao raised his eyebrows: Isn't this just a dove occupying a magpie's nest? What kind of Three-Body behavior is this? And "our people are good"... you mean easy to deal with, right?

"Originally, we thought that since it was a world bestowed by God, it should be easy to obtain. We didn't expect that once the war started, although we had the upper hand, your side never fell, and even grew stronger the more you fought, unknowingly turning the disadvantage around. And the friction between the worlds became more and more severe; the world really seemed to be on the verge of destruction. So there were two more theories: one was that this was God's test—as long as we were united and overcame the difficulties before us, victory would eventually belong to us. The other was that this was actually the source of the world's destruction mentioned in the divine oracle. It wasn't visible at first, but it gradually manifested; the world was already beyond saving. Everyone could only wait for death in accordance with the divine oracle."

The old Heavenly Demon said: "In fact, over these years, the pessimistic faction has had the upper hand. The world is beyond saving; the idea of abandoning two broken worlds and building a ship to be reborn in a new world has gained more and more support."

Tang Zhao thought to himself: This kind of ark idea is really quite conventional. Never mind your hundreds of years of preparation; I only notified the Sun Court of the world's destruction this morning, and by the afternoon, Liuliu Dianxia had already come up with this method.

Kun Sword said: "You have been preparing for so many years, the ship should have been built long ago, right? Isn't everything ready? Why come looking for us again?"

The old Heavenly Demon said: "For one thing, a ship is never truly ready. We estimated that there were still decades before our worlds perished together, and there was no feeling of the Qianxian collapsing, so we always wanted to use the remaining time to build a larger ship to carry more people. Who knew that the real trigger for destruction was not you, but other evil guests? Now everyone is stunned. To rush onto the ship, I'm afraid we can only board an imperfect one; it's easy to sail out, but it won't last long."

Kun Sword said: "Then you are looking for us because..."

The old Heavenly Demon said: "To last long enough, the important thing is to make the ship a world unto itself. And I know your power is particularly good at creating worlds." He pointed to the surroundings, clearly referring to Kun Sword's Tianwaitian.

"We are good at creating worlds? How could creating a world be easy? Don't you also have Small Worlds? Although the forms of power manifestation are different, when power reaches its end, it leads to the same destination by different paths. Self-contained worlds—you can do that too, right?"

The old Heavenly Demon said: "That is completely different. Your world belongs to yourselves, while our world belongs to God. Each Small World has its own god, and we only obtain power by serving God. But you are essentially your own gods."

Kun Sword smiled slightly. This sentence could be considered a compliment to their Human World. It sounded quite nice.

However, the old Heavenly Demon continued: "Our God is far more powerful than the power you have figured out yourselves. If it weren't for the conflicts between the gods that prevented us from uniting earlier, you would absolutely not have been able to hold on until now."

Everyone present, except for Kun Sword, sneered together.

The old Heavenly Demon continued: "If we only had one or two gods, you would have been defeated long ago. It is a pity we have so many gods. Furthermore, gods care more about the Shenguo than their believers. When we leave our homeland, the gods probably won't follow us, and we cannot force them. At that time, although our children will still possess power, some special abilities will likely be out of reach. This is when we need you."

He spoke very rudely, as if being able to use the Sword Guests of the Human World was a blessing for this side.

However, thinking about it carefully, the fact that the Heavenly Demons took the initiative to come, first sharing internal information and then exposing their own shortcomings by admitting that the Human World's power is stronger at certain times, was in itself a form of showing weakness.

It seems they really need the power of the Human World.

Or perhaps they have ulterior motives and want to trick them into coming in to kill them.

Kun Sword said calmly: "You have a request of us, I already know. However, I have no request of you. This kind of cooperation sees no future, so why continue to talk?"

The old Heavenly Demon said: "Is that so? You only have a few months to build a ship; even if you can build it, how many people can it carry? A thousand? Ten thousand? Just the relatives of you high-level figures probably won't be enough to go around, and those young geniuses will have to be sacrificed with pain. Do you know how many people our ship can carry?"

He held up a finger: "One million!"

Tang Zhao was shaken upon hearing this.

"One million, comfortably. And this is while our natural construction is still imperfect. If you also contribute to building a complete environment, it won't be difficult to carry another million people."

"How many people in the world are worth saving? If you and I each bring out one million people, we will basically have rounded up all the young talents, and we can even carry some who aren't so young. By then, even if we old bones are gone, there will be no regrets."

"If you agree, you can send people to visit the ship tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow you can start modifying the inner cabins. The sooner you start, the more people you can save. If you drag your feet and hesitate, tens of thousands of people will die every day."

He raised his head and asked: "How about it?"

Kun Sword was silent for a moment and said: "This is not something I can decide alone. You go back first; if there is news, I will let you know."

The old Heavenly Demon also knew that Kun Sword could not decide such a big matter alone, so he stood up and said: "The same words: for every day you hesitate, tens of thousands of juniors will die because of you. Take care of yourselves." After saying this, he walked away swaggeringly.

He left, and the few people on the high platform remained silent. Kun Sword was thinking, and Tang Zhao was also lost in thought.

"Xiao Tang."

"Your Majesty?"

"What do you think about what he just said?"

Tang Zhao pondered and said: "It would certainly be good to be able to save one million people. I'm just afraid that since they are so proactive and don't even mention conditions, they might be hiding malicious intentions."

Guiyuanshi said: "Indeed. How could I not know the despicable and cunning nature of the Heavenly Demons? Although it is indeed a critical moment and they may be forced to unite with us, it would be too naive to say they have immediately opened their hearts and are cooperating sincerely."

"As for not being able to see where their malicious intentions lie for the moment, there is nothing to be done about that. They have been preparing for hundreds of years, and we have only been preparing for a few days? This information is completely asymmetrical, and when reflected in cooperation, it is easy to be at a disadvantage. Especially since boarding their ship is equivalent to stepping onto their home turf, with our lives held in their hands—who knows what the final outcome will be?"

Tang Zhao said: "According to his statement, once we set sail, the Heavenly Demons won't be able to use their divine power, while we can still use our swords, so we should be stronger than them."

"That's just what he said." Kun Sword looked at the water surface, where the white-haired old woman was still fiddling with the water, the coins in the water sinking and floating. "Who knows what backdoors are on their ship? Or, how do we know there are no gods on the ship? In an extreme situation, perhaps they will even 'discard the people and keep the swords'."

Tang Zhao felt a chill: "Discard the people... and keep the swords?"

Kun Sword said: "Who told us that our swords were only external objects to begin with?"

Moreover, if the Sword Guest dies, the sword can be completely inherited, which makes the possibility of killing to seize the sword. Anyway, constructing the environment inside the ship does not require people, only swords.

However, Kun Sword sighed to himself: "Yet, because of the fear of risk, should we abandon the plan to save one million people?"

Tang Zhao could see Kun Sword's struggle. This decision was very difficult to make, and the responsibility to be borne was great, but the Sword Saints could not shirk it.

He thought for a moment and said: "Actually, as far as I am concerned, rather than thinking about one million people, it is better to find a way to save everyone."

Kun Sword nodded and said: "Your ambition is commendable."

Seeing his expression, Tang Zhao knew that he thought he was just speaking with the impulsiveness of a child. Just as he was about to seriously explain his intention for coming today, suddenly he heard a "pop" sound. The water surface beside them suddenly broke, and several coins were thrown out, landing on the ground with a crisp sound.

The old woman who had been silent all along suddenly grinned and said loudly: "There is hope, there is hope!"