Chapter 568: The Secret of Immortality
On the outer side of the world, much time had passed since the last divine war. Kronos was in hiding to heal his wounds, and the Lady of the Night had fully taken charge of the overall situation at Mount Kaya. As a descendant of Artemis, Alsodin lived a very comfortable life.
As the eldest of the Three Sons of Dream, he had multiple wings on his back and walked on four legs. He looked majestic and extraordinary.
His second brother, Alsos, was a giant rock representing the “Dream of Object Forms.”
The two demigods rarely gathered together. They were discussing the Path of Dream when ripples suddenly emanated from the demiplane’s crystal wall. Alsodin didn’t think much of it and appeared directly near the crystal wall, finding that the newcomer was the “stellar creature” he had seen before.
“You’ve actually become a demigod. How long has it been? Is a Star God’s advancement speed this fast?”
Alsodin opened the crystal wall without a second thought, letting Ace in.
Ace followed Alsodin to the palace and started chatting with the two brothers. Strange to say, despite being in a life-and-death struggle over their Paths, they had a very agreeable conversation. If not for the conflict of their Paths, they might have become good friends.
On the inner side of the world, in Byrne City, Ace’s clone was also ready. No longer hiding, he simply spread the dream mist, blending it with Alsop’s dream mist.
Inside Alsodin’s palace, Ace expressed his desire to experience the “Dream of Object Forms” and the “Dream of Beast Forms.” The two demigods intertwined their dream mists, pulling Ace into the dream. Both sides acted almost simultaneously, and coupled with the true spirit link between Ace’s clone and main body, the four of them instantly entered a single dream.
“What’s going on?” Alsop noticed the anomaly. This dream was different from his usual ones; it was similar to the interwoven dream of the three brothers, yet still distinct.
Immediately after, he found his youngest brother, Alsop, standing confused in the wasteland. Running quickly on all fours, Alsodin picked up his brother with his mouth, gathering the three brothers together.
“You two are teasing me again,” Alsop said with a smile, rubbing his head, still not grasping the situation.
“We aren’t teasing you; a certain Holiness is teasing us. Who exactly are you?” shouted the boulder-like Alsos, his voice deep and heavy.
“The Dream of Beast Forms, the Dream of Object Forms, the Dream of Human Forms. You are the Three Sons of Dream, grasping a portion of the dream origin of the Kaya World. Then take a look at what kind of dream this is.”
Ace’s voice rang out from the sky. A dazzling nebula shone above, making the dream increasingly wondrous. The world’s reflection and various undead appeared in the dream. A massive number of humans, beasts, various chemical elements—everything currently discoverable by magic—manifested in this dreamscape.
The entire dream was bizarre and dazzling. The exterior was wrapped in Ace’s starry sky, while the interior was the strange, interwoven dream of the Three Sons of Dream.
The three brothers instantly understood: this was a battle for their Path.
“You are a Star God. You clearly have the Path of Stars, so why compete with us three brothers for the Path of Dream?”
“We’ve been sealed by His dream and cannot contact God Father. What do we do?”
“What else can we do but fight head-on? This is a battle for the Path; we cannot yield!”
All sorts of objects, dream creatures, and humans emerged, clashing with Ace’s dream creations. For a time, the battle reached a stalemate.
Ace’s figure manifested in the starry sky. With a wave of his hand, the weapons on his humans transformed from cold steel—swords, spears, and halberds—into mechanized magical mechs, quickly routing the human army armed with cold weapons.
The variously shaped objects of Alsos disintegrated and transformed under the effects of the elements, turning into an elemental torrent that swallowed his own side.
Alsop’s group of dream creatures could still put up a fight, but when the World-Devouring Bug appeared in the dream, it was too late. Ace unified the power of starlight, briefly reaching a pseudo-True God state. The entire nebula pressed down, shattering the interwoven dream of the Three Sons of Dream.
Alsodin looked as if he had taken a heavy blow. Feeling the collapsing dream and the draining origin, he said in disbelief, “Why? Why is your dream so powerful!”
Like a sovereign, Ace walked up to the three brothers and said calmly, “Because of magic. Because I am closer to the truth of the world.”
The entire dreamscape cheered, seemingly marveling at Ace’s overwhelming victory. Humans in magical mechs, wizards casting various spells, warriors with boiling blood Energy, vampires fighting with blood, torrents formed by dozens of elements, and a terrifying army of countless astral creatures—all were cheering.
Ace’s dream origin slowly absorbed the origin of the Three Sons of Dream. A dazzling, colorful Divine Foundation emerged and merged with Ace’s true spirit. Like a gale sweeping away scattered clouds, his dream devoured the brothers’ shattered dream, transforming it into a starry universe remarkably similar to the inner side of the world.
The earth’s core sat at the center, surrounded by stars. The demiplanes of Alsodin and Alsos collapsed. Ace’s Dream Realm demiplane projected outward, hovering between the two broken demiplanes and slowly absorbing them.
“Who is it! Who is so shameless as to plunder my sons’ origin?!”
A dark and burly True God, carrying endless fury, leaped out from Mount Kaya and flew near the shattered space. Right at this moment, a figure suddenly appeared behind Him and threw a beam of light, blocking His path.
“God of Sleep, Byrne. By the order of the Mother Goddess, Lady of the Night Artemis, you are to proceed immediately to the Mother Goddess’s quasi-plane without delay.”
The newcomer was exceptionally handsome, dressed in a white robe. It was the God of Arithmetic, Thoth.
“Thoth, I am very busy right now. My children are in danger!”
Thoth waved his hand dismissively. “This is the will of the Mother Goddess. The battle for the dream domain has received Her permission. Furthermore, your children’s lives are not in danger. Now, come with me to the Mother Goddess’s quasi-plane immediately.”
Hearing that their lives were not in danger, Byrn felt slightly relieved. He still wanted to argue, but Thoth shook the token of the Lady of the Night, inlaid with a moon mark. Involuntarily, Byrne followed Thoth to meet the acting ruler of Mount Kaya, the Lady of the Night, Artemis.
The Lady of the Night was shrouded in the long veil of the dark night. After greeting her respectfully, the God of Sleep, Byrne, couldn’t help but ask, “Mother Goddess, you treat that Ace too well. He wanted the dream domain, so you gave it to him. You treat him much better than your own descendants. This is unfair.”
Artemis laughed and said gently and calmly, “Then what do you consider fair? I gave the Three Sons of Dream and Ace an equal chance to compete. Your sons’ understanding of dreams couldn’t match His, so they naturally lost. Preserving their lives is already extremely fortunate. This is an era of great contention, and Ace is the pivot that will change fate!”
The God of Sleep remained dissatisfied. “Why does He get to be the pivot?”
The Lady of the Night’s voice was no longer gentle, carrying a stern tone. “Your gaze can only see the mist, while mine can see fate. That is the reason. This matter ends here. You will stay quietly in my quasi-plane for a while.”
With that, the light and shadows of the night intertwined with the moonlight as Artemis flicked her sleeves and left.
Thoth shook his head and turned to leave as well, leaving the God of Sleep, Byrne, alone in the palace, unable to leave.
“In all of Kaya, who understands fate better than the Mother Goddess? The Lady of the Night is also one of the few who can glimpse into the future.”
In the Dream Realm, the Three Sons of Dream were tied to pillars by Ace. Until he advanced to True God, Ace could not let them go. Although there was no personal grudge, competing for the Path and seizing the position of the True God of Dreams was in itself the greatest grudge.
Until the dust settled, Ace was very cautious.
His Nebula Noble Phantasm had reverted into an extremely high-energy point, temporarily sealed by Ace. The entire Dream Realm turned into a state of primordial chaos. Ace’s dream and manifested origin were communicating with the dream domain within the Great Source. It was a calling, and also a resonance.
In the dream domain within the Great Source, countless rule-level runes floated about. Ace’s true spirit appeared here, hungrily copying all these wondrous runes—or rather, the rules themselves. His accumulation was sufficient, and his power was constantly rising.
The power of the Great Source obtained from the Wizard World found its use at this moment, being consumed rapidly. The Great Source of the Kaya World seemed to be calling out to Ace, urging Him to engrave His Path into the dream domain of the Great Source.
Ace didn’t immediately respond to this calling. He was sensing the changes, trying hard to adapt.
As if it were an illusion, Ace saw his own past, from the moment he crossed over to this world, drawn into a mother’s womb, and began to grow.
Getting a fever at age seven, recalling most of his past life’s memories, then secretly saving money, apprenticing under Peter, discovering the formula for the Potion of Wisdom… The journey he had taken was surprisingly clear.
“This is not just simple recollection!”
Ace noticed the difference. He seemed to be able to merge into any moment. His own history, any point in time—he could integrate into it.
These pasts were very peculiar, like a river with its direction firmly fixed. The state of advancing to a True God didn’t seem to be a further elevation of the essence of body and soul. In fact, the body and soul had already reached a state of immortality; as long as they weren’t killed, they wouldn’t die.
But this fixation was entirely different. The rule power of dreams and the power of the Great Source were intertwining. All of Ace’s pasts, all his pasts in the Kaya World, were being fixed.
But He was still unsatisfied, because Ace had left the Kaya World, and more than once. He wanted to fix those pasts as well. Consuming a massive amount of Source Power, Ace pierced through the astral layers. Dream-like power traveled along a domain that even deities could not easily perceive, fixing Ace’s pasts in the Astral Plane one by one. Such consumption was immense. Ace utilized his privilege as the Controller of the Wizard World to expend a vast amount of world essence.
Like freezing a river backwards to its source, Ace’s past, from the moment of his transmigration and birth to the present, had completely unified into one, stable and immutable.
In a daze, Ace seemed to see countless different selves from the past, different possibilities, completely unifying in this instant. All the pasts became a single line. Although the future still held countless possibilities, the past was already determined, with no possibility of alteration.
The mysterious domain he was in solidified and folded this past, turning it into a dream-colored fruit. The Kaya Great Source was calling, seemingly wanting Ace to place this fruit within the Great Source.
Ace wasn’t in a hurry. His bottleneck had already been broken during this process, becoming a genuine Level 5 existence. His mental imagery world was turning upside down. The deepest foundational layer was also calling, seemingly expecting Ace to place the fruit within it.
“As long as the Fruit of History is unbroken, the True God is immortal. If a True God’s Fruit of History is destroyed and the traces of their past erased, it can also thoroughly kill the True God, but this is extremely difficult. Should I hide the fruit at the foundational layer of my mental imagery, placing it in the projected sub-plane, or should I turn it into a mark and engrave it on the rule layer of the Great Source?”
Ace’s eyes flickered. Handing the Fruit of History to the Great Source also meant being thoroughly bound to the world. Hiding it deep within his mental imagery offered relative freedom, but the safety of the fruit definitely couldn’t compare to the Great Source. He hesitated for a few seconds and ultimately placed the fruit of his self-history deep within his mental imagery.
This was an Ocean of Rules, sublimated from the past Ocean of Runes. It was a summary of Ace’s Path. Each rule seemed to bear the marks of time, and the Rune High Tower had already collapsed, seemingly waiting for Ace to rebuild it.
At this moment, Ace achieved complete enlightenment. He swam in this Ocean of Rules, placing the Fruit of History in its depths, and whispered, “So that’s how it is.”
He looked around, taking the Ocean of Rules into an inconceivable domain. An ancient scroll emerged, recording Ace’s words:
“A point in the geometric sense has no dimensions. It is only imagined as a marker of position existing within a system. A second point can be used to mark a position. The two form a finite size; connected, they are a line segment, which is a one-dimensional space.
“The so-called one dimension has only length, with no width or depth.
“If another line segment is connected to this line segment, we have length and width, which is a two-dimensional space.
“By extension, three-dimensional space has length, width, and depth. So what is the so-called four-dimensional space?
“Our lives… the ‘me’ at this moment is equivalent to a point serving as a marker. The ‘me’ from the previous moment is another point. Connecting these two points is the fourth dimension, which is time.
“A so-called True God is actually someone who can briefly reach four-dimensional space and twist past time into a fruit, thereby permanently fixing their past and achieving immortality in the third dimension.
“This process can be analogized using two-dimensional space: twisting a two-dimensional rectangular plane by 180 degrees, then connecting it into a loop and gluing the two ends together.
“This loop possesses a magical property: it has only a single-sided surface. It can be called a Möbius strip.
“If a two-dimensional lifeform existed, it would only need to walk along this loop to directly traverse the entire surface of this loop.
“In four-dimensional space, the so-called process of becoming a god is the same. My past is like a two-dimensional strip. The process of becoming a god is twisting this past time into a ‘fruit,’ achieving fixation, so it can never be altered on the three-dimensional level.
“If one wants to destroy a True God, they can only go to the four-dimensional level to destroy Their Fruit of History. This is the essence of a deity’s immortality.
“Deities achieve a brief dimensional ascension. Although they cannot permanently become four-dimensional existences, they already have the ability to enter four-dimensional space and twist their own pasts. Deities are pseudo-four-dimensional lifeforms!”
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