Chapter 387: The ancient god is dead, a new god shall stand!

"The ancient god is dead."

"Call me Kelin."

That majestic and calm voice was like an invisible giant hammer, smashing the statue named "Moke" in Jon's heart.

He first felt a sense of loss, as if the entire year of exploration had lost its meaning.

However, this loss did not last long, and was soon replaced by a fanaticism that swept through his whole body.

The ancient god is dead—

A new god shall stand!

The boundless void did not abandon the Gray Men, but completed the replacement of the old with the new in the dark years, condensing a new legend.

How fortunate!

He was the only witness to this great moment!

Just as he was so excited that he couldn't control himself, that whisper from the underworld echoed clearly in his mind again.

"What is your name."

"Jon! My name is Jon."

Jon called out in his heart, his voice full of joy, just like a lost child finding his home.

"My Lord! Please forgive my negligence! I was just... too excited! We have, we have not heard your voice for too long!"

The voice from the underworld responded to him again, carrying a hint of comfort and approval.

"Jon, that's a good name, you don't have to blame yourself, getting lost is a setback that all toddlers must experience. I am very happy that you found the way home, instead of getting lost in the prosperous material world."

Jon's face was full of excitement and flushing, not knowing what to say for a moment. Just then, that whisper from the underworld continued to ring in his mind.

"Let's stop the pleasantries, now... let me see where you have gone."

"Obey! My Lord!" Jon nodded excitedly, but soon rubbed his hands in embarrassment, continuing, "Forgive your servant's stupidity, how should I guide you, let your gaze touch this lost land?"

"This is easy." Kelin's voice came again, carrying a hint of guidance, "Let the power of the void attach to a holy object that harbors your powerful thoughts. Remember, this thing must be the most precious thing you have."

The most precious thing?

Jon subconsciously looked around his room made of abandoned and dilapidated shacks; there was nothing here except garbage all over the floor and a mattress that smelled of mold.

He scratched his head for a long time, and finally reached out with a trembling hand, gently grasping the metal pendant tied with a leather rope on his chest.

That was his father's only legacy.

In this cold world, he no longer had any relatives.

By comparison, the prophet Kyle, who had once set off a monstrous wave, was much luckier than him, at least he had a younger brother he needed to protect with his life.

"What should I do?" Jon took a deep breath, prepared to sacrifice everything, and responded to the voice from the void with unprecedented determination.

The newborn god gazed at him, his voice as light as a feather falling from the sky.

"Very simple, place it in the center of the ritual magic array. Then call my name, pray to me, and pray for my will to descend on this land."

Just like that?

Jon was surprised in his heart, but did not hesitate.

He gently untied the metal pendant tied with a leather rope on his chest, and solemnly placed it in the center of the simple magic array on the ground.

He knelt on the ground, prayed devoutly, called the name of the god again and again, using that clumsy but incomparably sincere method.

Pure source power began to gather.

As the prayers continued to fall, the simple magic array he drew actually floated a wisp of pale purple mist out of thin air.

That mist seemed to have life, slowly and gently merging into the metal pendant left by his father.

Just then, the voice from the underworld carried a hint of curiosity, ringing in his mind again.

"Speaking of which, what is this thing of yours?"

Jon was stunned for a moment, then answered respectfully.

"This is an amulet my father gave me."

"Where is he?"

Hearing this question, Jon's head drooped slightly, his voice carrying a hint of sadness.

"He... has passed away, ten years ago, at the age of fifty, died of an incurable gill disease."

The god fell into a long silence, seemingly mourning for this tiny soul.

A long time later, the voice came again, the sighing voice carrying a hint of pity for the world.

"... Poor child."

In that long silence, the purple mist finally injected completely into the pendant. And that ordinary metal creation also underwent a slight mutation, the surface began to emit a faint glow, just like a vivid eye.

"The ritual is complete, let us put aside the painful past for now and continue the great cause."

The voice from the underworld restored its previous majesty, just as if that moment of warmth was just Jon's illusion of bathing in divine grace.

"Now, push the door open, go outside, let me see what this world has become after my predecessors left."

"Yes! My Lord."

Jon respectfully took the order.

He slowly stood up, reached out with his thin and powerful hand, and pushed open the dilapidated door panel made of rusty iron.

At the same time, on the other side of the void, the Kelin Tower, the picture in the void lens changed drastically with Jon's movements.

The original dark and narrow room was replaced by a vast sky, and the incoming light almost blinded those who looked directly at it.

Through the pendant on Jon's chest, Luo Yan, Moke, Miller, and all the teaching assistants present saw the world behind the 178th Void for the first time.

And soon, everyone was shocked by the scene before them!

It was a bizarre world, with skyscrapers towering into the clouds like lighthouses. Colorful rainbows overlapped each other, cutting the sky into narrow gaps, and dividing the ground into bottomless canyons and abysses.

The gray mist seemed to never dissipate, scattering the neon flickering on the giant advertising boards in the air into patches of blurred light spots.

Gray Men in raincoats walked through the shadows behind the bright and beautiful, like raindrops falling into puddles in the alley.

Those raindrops were busy and numb, like foraging ants.

"Saint Xisi is above..." Miller muttered to himself subconsciously, deeply shocked by the scene before him.

From the perspective of visual impact, the miracles of the 440th Void were simply not worth mentioning compared to this!

Moke was even more shocked, he widened his eyes and said in a lost voice: "This... how many Mage Towers did they build?"

Luo Yan smiled in his heart.

That was no Mage Tower, and what they studied was not the mystery of source magic, but another equally profound thing.

However, he didn't explain much, just cast his gaze back to Jon behind the void, signaling Miller to continue conveying his will.

"I didn't expect this world to change so much."

With the chanting of the Mages, the voice from the underworld turned into spiritual ripples through the void, ringing in Jon's mind again.

"Tell me, my child... how long have we been separated?"

After Jon heard it, he immediately responded respectfully, his voice carrying a hint of melancholy about the changes of the sun and moon.

"Ninety-nine years, my Lord... just one year short, we have been separated for a century."

"Ninety-nine years, that's really long enough."

From the underworld, that majestic and calm voice came again, the melancholy voice carrying a hint of approval from an elder to a junior.

"It seems you haven't wasted your time in this century, you used this time to create such beautiful works."

Beautiful?

Hearing this word, Jon's expression twisted instantly because of anger and jealousy. He lowered his head, trying to hide the expression that had nowhere to hide.

"My Lord, please forgive me for not agreeing with your point of view..." He almost squeezed this sentence out from between his teeth, full of resentment for this world, "There is probably no uglier work in this universe than this!"

Once the words were out, he immediately regretted it, and then a fear deep into his bone marrow gripped him... he actually dared to defy the god in the void?!

However, to his surprise, the divine punishment he expected did not descend.

That great existence just gazed at him lovingly, responding to his "naughtiness" in a tone like a father.

"Is that so? It seems you are not satisfied with this work."

This gentle response touched the softness in Jon's heart.

Perhaps because he lost his father early, he was particularly eager for that feeling of being cared for, even if he came from the boundless darkness.

"No one will like it, my Lord..." His voice trembled, his attitude turned back to humility, even more humble than before, "Except for those who truly possess them, or think they possess them!"

The voice in the void was silent.

He swallowed a mouthful of bitter saliva, looked at the high-rise buildings in the distance, and muttered in his heart.

"When I was still a company employee, I once felt incomparably proud to be able to work in that towering, glowing tower. My job was to design door-opening ads for refrigerator doors; although people didn't know me, they would see my work every time they opened the door. Every day I woke up, I felt my life had meaning. And... this job brought me a considerable income, allowing me to live a decent life and use better prosthetic bodies."

"Until one day, I got sick, and they kicked me out of there without mercy, and I realized how stupid my 'thought' was. That tower didn't belong to me for a second, and even the prosthetic body on me wasn't mine. And the work I was once proud of wasn't liked by people either, until recently I used my own product... that damn thing actually had to be stared at for thirty seconds to unlock, but I paid the electricity bill!"

He put down all his disguises and strength, pouring all his grievances and unwillingness to the only god willing to listen to him.

No one was willing to listen to his complaints, because they were also struggling in this dirty gray fog, and only by falling into the trap of another pitiful person could they get a breather.

Except for Kelin.

He lovingly accommodated everything about him, listening to him pour out his pain, this feeling... was as if he were truly his father.

And at this moment, on the other side of the void, Moke heard the strange vocabulary transmitted through spiritual resonance, his face showing a blank expression.

Refrigerator?

Advertising?

What is that?

However, he was confused, but didn't think deeply.

Behind the void, some inexplicable concepts always came, and these belonged to "noise" that could not be correctly understood and translated.

The Academy's Mages couldn't always dig out useful things from behind the void, after all, the prerequisite for the void channel to exchange information was "resonance."

Just don't know why...

Listening to this alien's complaints, Moke always had a strong sense of deja vu.

Suddenly he came back to his senses.

So that's it—

Refrigerator and advertising, are the meaning of the void!

Stare for thirty seconds to unlock the void!

He was shocked by this discovery.

And Miller on the side hurriedly recorded these two concepts he didn't understand on his notepad, faithfully fulfilling the duty of a teaching assistant.

Among everyone present, only Luo Yan knew everything.

His face carried a heartwarming smile, just like a true god, looking at the helpless child, whispering in a voice of pity.

"I understand, you long to change all this. Not just your own destiny, but the destiny of all Gray Men."

The whisper that rang like a morning bell and evening drum rang in the depths of his consciousness, Jon felt like a baby who had just woken up from a dream, opening those ignorant eyes for the first time.

So that's it—

He once was confused about why he wanted to pursue the whispers of the ancient god, but now all the fog was blown away by the wind blowing from the void.

Not because of the incurable disease.

Nor because of the loan he couldn't repay.

He wanted to change the destiny of all Gray Men!

And only by changing the destiny of all Gray Men could he save himself!

The flames of life reignited in those dim pupils, no longer the turbidity of emptiness and confusion, nor the muddle-headedness and living in a fool's paradise.

He clenched his fists, and with an unprecedentedly hot and intense voice, issued the shout from the depths of his soul.

"That's right! I long to change all this!"

However, the flames dimmed again, seemingly extinguished by the coldness of reality.

"But... they are too powerful." Jon's voice carried a hint of despair, low and hoarse, "They have rifles, tanks, roaring aircraft, and cold prosthetic armor... and they also control the media. It's not that no one has resisted before, but they are destroyed in an instant, regardless of their flesh or voice."

Inside the Kelin Tower, Moke understood less and less what the Gray Man was saying.

He even couldn't help but start thinking that the bizarre world behind the void was more like an "ancient god" full of forbidden knowledge.

If only they could get that knowledge over here.

They didn't have source power, but they seemed to have mastered other powers. Just as he had seen, they used methods other than source power to let the flames of stars descend on the ground.

However, what was interesting was that Prince Kelin didn't seem to be troubled by the wisdom of the "ancient god."

He had a peculiar talent, able to peel the cocoon from just a few clues, and make accurate and correct inferences, thereby allowing the conversation to continue.

Everything strange didn't seem strange in his eyes.

"That's because the time has not come."

The god gazed at Jon lovingly, he couldn't see the gaze, but he could clearly feel the care across the boundless void.

"You were a member of the 'company' when you were young, weren't you? Even mastered the ads on the refrigerator. I guess that's also a kind of media, although it's just the tip of the iceberg. You have to admit, you didn't hate it very much at that time, and even loved it deeply."

"You mean... people don't hate the company?"

Jon couldn't accept this fact, but couldn't deny it. He could lie to himself, but couldn't deceive the loving father.

The god said gently.

"Yes. People didn't hate Moke from the beginning either, they liked the new and tired of the old, which was a matter of later."

Moke glanced at Kelin, his expression a bit awkward, but finding that the latter's expression didn't change at all, he could only withdraw that subtle gaze.

Indeed.

Prince Kelin's words didn't have any problems.

Kyle didn't defeat "Iron Hand" with two fists, and the bit of transcendent power he bestowed was just an embellishment on the grand battlefield.

Hearing these words, Jon's mood was a bit frustrated. He was silent for a long time before asking in a cautious tone.

"Then... now, has the time come?"

His heart was full of fear, afraid of getting a "no" answer from that supreme existence.

This is the tragedy of mortals.

He was just a snail on a pendulum, spending his whole life only able to climb the cold pointer under his feet.

His short life couldn't wait too long, destined only to be a fly dancing in the summer, never waiting for the wither in winter.

Fortunately—

God loves him.

"Of course."

"The fact that you can hear my voice is the best proof."

Looking at those eyes full of hope, the voice from the underworld carried an unquestionable majesty, descending the first oracle after His return.

"Mortals have lifespans, and mortal kingdoms are no exception. Just like your father was fifty years, and your kingdom is ninety-nine years."

"The liquidation has arrived."

"And I will bestow upon you the tools to execute the liquidation."

What to do next is already very clear.

Injecting basic knowledge of the source magic school behind the void was almost as easy as textbook exercises for the Academy's Mages.

Luo Yan, while instructing the "God's Envoy" on the other side of the void, asked him to help those poor people who were also struggling in the slums, accumulate more "source power" for the "holy object" he wore on his chest, and develop them into believers of the "Spirit of the Universe" sect.

That pendant was like the "system" of this God's Envoy, but it didn't frequently issue tasks to him.

The "source power" accumulated on his chest would serve as his power, and Kelin allowed him to borrow the authority belonging to the god from the void!

On the other side, Luo Yan gave instructions to Miller beside him.

"Use our existing source power to heal our 'God's Envoy.' Then, teach him the basic methods of guiding and using source power..."

Just like they did when guiding the Pope in the 440th Void.

The Mages of the Kelin Tower would enter his dreams, and when he was sleeping, meditating, transmit messages from another universe...

In the end, Luo Yan, in the capacity of "Kelin," left the last order to the God's Envoy who was feeling the new power in his body.

Or rather, guidance.

The voice was like a morning bell and evening drum, echoing in the depths of Jon's soul.

"... The collapse of a building often starts from the most inconspicuous corner. You need to unite those poor people like you, find those persecuted transcendent beings, tell them the ancient god is dead, a new god shall stand, and establish a spiritual resonance with them as close as ours."

"If you want to get salvation, you can't just save yourself."

"You have to start from the smallest things, start helping from the people around you, and light the torch in their hearts..."

"You also need to tell them that there is no savior in this world, and every one of you is a savior."

The weak source power gradually exhausted, and the clear picture on the void lens was locked by a gray mist again.

To establish a stable connection again, it is necessary to wait for the seed they just planted to take root and sprout on the ruins of rebirth, and wait for the believers of the Spirit of the Universe sect to use their piety to make this almost dried-up "holy pool" full again.

Although subsequent progress remains to be observed, the faces of Miller and the group of teaching assistants all showed the joy of success.

In their view, their mentor had already taken the first step toward the door of success with them.

If the 178th Void could reproduce the phased results of the 440th Void, then the prestige of the "scientific" school would undoubtedly reach an unprecedented new height in this Great Sage Tower!

Moke was even more filled with emotion.

Looking at the Prince who had been at ease from beginning to end, his face showed an expression of complete conviction for the first time.

He was truly convinced!

"Your operation... really opened my eyes." Moke praised sincerely, and then asked the biggest confusion in his heart, "It's just that I have a question. What is the difference between what you are doing now and what I did back then?"

Although he didn't make it very clear, the implication was obvious—

Isn't this newly selected Jon just another mouse in the gutter? Putting this guy on the throne, wouldn't it repeat Kyle's mistakes?

Luo Yan smiled faintly, looking at Moke, who was confused, and pointed out the key.

"The difference is that I didn't put this chess piece in the King's position."

Moke was stunned, subconsciously asking.

"Then... where are you going to put him?"

Luo Yan said casually.

"Of course, satisfy his wish."

"Wish?"

"Didn't you hear it?"

Without going to appreciate the stunned expression on Moke's face, Luo Yan waved his hand to signal Miller to finish work and go to dinner, and then said leisurely.

"He wants to let his useless flesh and blood burn once more before his soul returns to the divine kingdom."

"He will die first."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 388 =====