Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2581: Chapter 2576: The Universal Talisman

The path of seeking defeat ends here; from now on I will walk alone, heading deeper into error.

The growth has been astonishing, but the scars are just as many. In theory, the Ah Fei tool at this moment has already reached a Second Phase of Sword Dao that is one hundred percent without deviation, to the point that even his own self has been cut down along with everything else.

But as the culprit behind all this, Fu Qian has no intention of continuing to drive this sword that has already been honed to an impossible sharpness.

It isn’t out of pity either. In other places maybe, but specific to the current situation, the core of this bloody exploitation actually lies in that word before it.

When you’re being squeezed, you have to be able to bleed.

Don’t forget the distinction repeatedly emphasized between tools and tool-people.

The fundamental reason for choosing this tool-person in the first place was to have him, as a relatively independent entity, stir up causality in Fu Qian’s place and be tainted by World Poison.

So combat power was never the primary concern.

Driving a pure tool that doesn’t feel pain—how is that essentially any different from just taking the knife yourself and hacking away?

So in theory, this is already the limit of the Ah Fei tool before him; its value has been burned away without a scrap remaining.

Unfortunately, there’s still a great deal that Fu Qian needs to do.

Of the core nodes of this special research site, only one has been visited so far.

The platform inscribed with the ”Prism,” used to gaze toward Moore—its significance to this place is, in Fu Qian’s eyes, in no way inferior.

And there is an especially important point—creak!

With a single step he jumps back to the sole entrance; Fu Qian casually opens the door and surveys the outside, looking at those streaks of Crystal traces.

Sure enough, it’s as expected: the direction in which the Whale’s tail extends seems to be where the Prism lies as well.

Earlier, the torch pointed the way; now, the Crystal spreads. The Prism’s presence, it must be said, has never been allowed to lose face.

...

The departure is not obstructed in any way, neither by Second Order Ah Fei nor by the True Abandoned Prison King sitting there.

The former doesn’t move at all, merely standing with his sword at the edge of the Crystal Lake, transcendent and detached beyond words, as though he has become a solitary Guard.

The latter, as Fu Qian expected, has not turned into a mere statue.

He still sits where he was, but in that moment Crystals flow across his body, making it look as though he is perfectly bestowing a ceremonial gaze upon the departing Mechanical Abandoned Prison King.

Fu Qian even believes that even if he himself were to step beyond the door, that figure would ”watch” him all the way here as well.

Bonds are not so easily severed; although the Extraordinary Perception obtained briefly before has now been completely withdrawn, returning him once again to an insulated state.

...

To be frank, the changes in the back room are somewhat inconceivable.

As for why Ah Fei’s sword could directly hack out a heap of materials, the earlier analysis has already been made: it is the suspected ultimate authority of the Sword Dao, the ”Extraordinary Building Grand Fission.”

That Power of Destruction, which seems to have already brushed against the most fundamental layer of Extraordinary Power, brings with it direct annihilation of Extraordinary Forms.

And as the God’s Envoy corresponding to the normal Godhood Sequence, and moreover a version free of contamination, is this tool-person Ah Fei at this moment not somewhat similar to classmate Ariel?

Once you substitute in that point—that, like the latter, he can call upon a trace of Divine Power—then things become easy to understand.

But cleaving a Demigod is one thing; what’s exaggerated here is that it’s as though some switch has been thrown, causing even the Creator of Wisdom and the True Abandoned Prison King to all become crystallized.

One must know that even the Fungus Sword Saint, in Fu Qian’s view, wouldn’t be able to cut so neatly.

Fortunately, when combined with another question, Fu Qian finds he actually has an explanation.

Namely: when Demigod Ah Fei fell, the materials that burst out were nothing but Crystals scattered all over the ground. Isn’t this Extraordinary Building a bit too pure?

...

”Weave correctness”—these were the Creator of Wisdom’s own words, his explanation of the authority in his hand.

And he did indeed demonstrate Demigods appearing out of thin air, and even True Gods.

Then here is a very important question: where do the materials for weaving come from?

Having a Demigod appear from nowhere is one thing, but having a Superior Being appear from nowhere—the sheer amount of ”extraordinary materials” required is astronomical. Do they simply materialize from nothing?

Looking at it now, the Crystal seems to be the answer.

As a special form of power, all those Correctors are entirely composed of it.

The intuitive metaphor is this: taking the Mechanical Abandoned Prison King as an erroneous template, you automatically compute the correct version, then print it out using a single material like a 3D printer.

This printing material possesses an almost universally compatible property, with no rejection reaction toward any form.

To some extent, this even explains what happened to the Academy’s Exploration Team back then.

Kaldora personally admitted that Crystal can almost be considered a kind of blessing.

Because anything infected by it appears to benefit greatly; its own form seems to be supplemented and raised in sublimation.

The most direct example is that she later even came to possess Divinity.

And even after her state completely fell to pieces in the end, she still retained one core attribute—that is, the fusion and absorption of all Extraordinary Materials.

Compared with the universally compatible property mentioned earlier, the match is striking.

Nor is this the only example—Thorn Blood.

In the first mission in Shangjing, that special material extracted from corpses, after Nepheli’s meticulous tuning, even allowed a Middle Tier to gain Divinity.

Compared to Kaldora’s example, isn’t it somewhat similar?

Moreover, in later exchanges with the technical staff, Nepheli personally admitted that the core principle was that Thorn Blood, though unclean, can essentially be regarded as a ”high-level life form,” which ”can compensate for Talent gaps in a twisted fashion.”

And the warehouse’s appraisal in contrast was that it is ”a highly condensed form of pollution and error, mistakenly perceived by the ignorant as a higher form of life.”

Not only does this dovetail neatly with Nepheli’s words, but taken together the two also fit Kaldora’s experience—the initial supplementation and sublimation, followed by decay and Fallen corruption.

It can only be said that everything seems to be linking together.

As for how, after this whole chain of analysis, it still appears unexplained why Ah Fei could cut down even the Creator of Wisdom with a single sword?

It’s simple. The core of all this is in fact only one point: ”Crystal is material”—and at this moment, that unmoving Creator of Wisdom also seems to be composed of this same material?

Then what essential difference is there between him and the shattered Sword Saint Ah Fei?

We already found it strange earlier: how is it that the Creator of Wisdom, as an individual in whom you can barely discern any Divinity, nonetheless possesses an authority so close to that of Divine Beings?

Furthermore, the gaze radar made it clear that the truly high Ranking entities there are only the lake beneath his feet and the Whale within it.

Could it be that the power the Creator of Wisdom believes himself to wield has always been an illusion?

That even his very existence, like the Sword Saint Ah Fei, is merely a Crystal 3D-printed product from the lake?

And Ah Fei’s strike merely shattered this vanity, stripping everything back to its true face.