“You are leaving?”
The shop was collapsing, and everything within it was turning into nothingness. Even though Xia De knew this god was about to fall into slumber, such a swift departure still caught him off guard.
“Where are you going?”
He stood rooted, asking, with only the floor beneath his feet remaining as it was. The demise of everything was not accompanied by any strange phenomena; everything simply departed. This was the straightforward end.
“The land of nothingness and slumber.”
The god said.
This was a metaphorical expression, and Xia De did not delve too deeply into it:
“How should I find your final work? Are there any clues?”
Everything around him faded like a discolored photograph, gradually returning to black and gray. Only Xia De remained unaffected, an Outsider not belonging to this point in time, protected by the power of time.
“There’s no need to search deliberately; you will definitely encounter the god's gift box I left behind.”
The god said.
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
He smiled at Xia De, the colors on his body fading quickly along with the colors of the shop. His figure gradually became transparent, heading towards its end along with the toy shop.
He looked at his hands and shook his head helplessly:
“all things are impermanent, this is reality; you don’t need to be sad.”
“Will we meet again?”
Xia De asked. The Innocent Creator had helped him a lot, and if possible, he hoped to meet the god again at a point in time where he existed.
“Of course, child from the future. When a major event occurs in the future, all Old Gods in slumber will awaken. Don’t ask me what it is; I cannot say.”
The god said, but his voice seemed to come from a great distance. He was truly leaving.
This information matched Miss Annette’s understanding of the whispering chapters, and at the current point in time, the whispering chapters should not have appeared yet.
“Then, will we meet again in the sixth epoch or even more distant epochs?”
“It won’t be more distant; we will definitely meet again in the sixth epoch.”
The figure grew fainter and fainter.
Xia De blinked:
“Why? Will the major event you mentioned definitely happen in the sixth epoch?”
The god also blinked at him, and as a smile appeared, he gave a surprising answer:
“Because there won’t be a seventh epoch or even more distant epochs.”
The colors of the transparent figure scattered into black and gray light particles, and the interior of the toy shop was collapsing; everything was heading towards its end. After the toy shop scene dissipated, what was revealed behind it was a vast, starry sea.
“Child of the future, this world is more complex than you imagine, and the truth will make you sad. If you do not wish to live this life ignorant as a mortal, then I can give you a suggestion as my final gift.”
“Please speak.”
The transparent body snapped his fingers, and the blurry shop was reduced to its basic framework. Xia De and the god stood above that void, which resembled a starry sea.
The ethereal forms of thirteen cards appeared before the two of them, rotating around their respective central axes, allowing Xia De to clearly see their front and back.
These were thirteen Founding series rhode cards, or rather, all things are impermanent cards.
“all things are impermanent; these are secret treasures left behind by the Old God before his fall. They can bring you luck, and at the same time…”
The god was about to depart with his mortal body, and only Xia De could witness this scene.
“These cards also have deeper meanings. Go and collect them, child; you must collect them. When the final moment arrives, even if you face the worst situation, these cards will guide you to the final salvation. They are… the last resort.”
The walls and ceiling of the toy shop completely vanished, leaving only the area beneath Xia De’s feet and the area beneath the saint’s feet, surrounded by darkness and scattered points of light. Xia De looked into the depths of the darkness, and in that moment of dizziness, he seemed to see something terrifying, yet also seemed to see nothing at all.
“Thank you.”
He bowed slightly to the departing god to express his sincerest gratitude. The latter shook his head, opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
His figure faded, he waved his hand, and he departed.
At the same time, a bell chimed. The bell reverberated in his ears, then seemed to break through the boundaries of time and space, announcing to all continuous time and space the departure of another Old God.
He had truly departed.
As the bell echoed, Xia De’s eyes seemed to see ripples spreading into the void, and a series of fragmented sounds appeared in his ears. While trying to understand these sounds, Xia De felt his head almost explode for a moment; they were overlapping, echoing sentences, and he only barely managed to hear and remember one of them:
“The maker of toys always yearns to create innocence.”
The power in this sentence nearly made Xia De faint. But at the same time, he actually found a strange sense of familiarity in it:
“This is… this feeling… what is this?”
Although only barely remembered, the voice kept echoing in his ears. In repetition after repetition, Xia De and she together provided the answer:
“Sublimation Words!”
“Sublimation Words.”
The sentence that appeared with the fall of the Old God was extremely similar to the feeling of the power Dr. Schneider had once used. Although Xia De only caught one sentence, it was clear that those he did not remember were also similar phrases.
Thinking of this, deeper contemplation of the Ring術士 system and even the time and space of the sixth epoch made him tremble all over:
“The special items used by Ring術士 are relics, and the method of sublimation they use is the god’s last words. What exactly is going on with this world?”
The bell continued to reverberate, each strong Vibration making Xia De’s scalp tingle. He suddenly looked up at the darkness ahead, where a transparent giant tree had appeared at some point.
The tree seemed to connect heaven and earth, and also seemed to support heaven and earth. Its roots were developed, its canopy lush, and the patterns on its transparent trunk seemed to record the story of an entire civilization.
From the equally transparent canopy, two green leaves spiraled down towards Xia De below.
Xia De reached out and caught them, and then a thick white fog suddenly surged in this void, and a huge force pulled him backward, returning to the time point of the sixth epoch.
He walked backward out of the door leading to the basement, almost tripping and falling.
He stared blankly at the two leaves in his hand for a moment, then looked down at his feet, where Mia was stealthily trying to pry open a paper bag with her claws. Unfortunately, Xia De had only been gone for three seconds, not enough time for the cat to get those disgusting things out.
“Meow~”
Seeing Xia De appear, she immediately ran towards the stairs as if fleeing for her life, seemingly worried about being scolded by Xia De.
A whisper sounded in his ear:
“Outsider, you have returned to the present time.”
“A message from the Old God ‘Father of Infinite Trees’:”
“Infinite time protects you.”
“Oh, tonight’s events were even more exciting than this morning’s~”
He stared blankly at the gaslight outside the first-floor window, recalling the immense information gained from this “journey” in his mind, one by one. The shock had not yet subsided, and the fact of the benevolent god’s departure made him slightly melancholic.
“So, what about Ling Rune and Miracle?”
It took him a long time to remember this, then he looked at the two leaves in his hand:
“It couldn’t be just this, could it? The Father of Infinite Trees’ method of giving rewards is leaves… that seems reasonable.”
“Meow~”
Mia peered down from the stairs, wondering why Xia De wasn’t chasing her.
The Witch Council’s secret, the instruction to collect the cards, the god’s last words and Sublimation Words, and the gift he left for Xia De.
In just ten minutes, the complex and diverse information he gained was more than the sum of what Xia De had acquired in two weeks in this world.
He returned from the first floor to the second, washed up briefly, then took the two green leaves into the second-floor study. Standing by the window, he looked at the Moonlight and pondered for a long time before his thoughts became clear.
The secrets of the Witch Council and the secrets of Sublimation Words were beyond his reach as a One-Ring術士. The witches of the fifth epoch bore curses to gain power, and the Ring術士 of the sixth epoch sublimated themselves with the last words of the slumbering gods. These were almost directly connected to the secrets of the world itself.
All he could do for now was to note these things down and wait for the next time he received more clues. After all, he was just a One-Ring術士.
The secret of Sublimation Words was now completely revealed. When the doctor used Sublimation Words, the sense of power decay was similar to the sense of decay on the saint who was about to fall, which now had an explanation. This matter must point to the truth of this world, to the fundamental reason for the emergence of the Ring術士 mystical system. Coupled with the god saying “there will be no seventh epoch,” this gave Xia De a very bad guess.
Stepping through the Time Corridor into past times was currently Xia De’s best way to explore secrets. The Outsider believed he could piece together the truth step by step.
As for searching for all thirteen Founding series rhode cards, Xia De had vaguely had this idea ever since Miss Annette mentioned “all things are impermanent.” Since the god said he needed to collect them, that they would be the final salvation, Xia De was naturally willing to turn the idea into action.
But acquiring all thirteen Founding series cards was not just a matter of money, but also luck. This would be a daunting task, very daunting.
“As for the gift he left for me… Haha, what the god left for me was still a god's gift box. That’s too simple.”
Xia De gently patted Mia’s soft little head. Mia stood on the windowsill, looking up and purring contentedly.
He sighed deeply, as if exhaling all his troubles:
“Although some clues that appeared only once are hard to find, at least I still remember them. The Witch Council indeed holds incredible secrets. Do you remember, when I first met Miss Jialinna, she mentioned the age of the god's gift box’s appearance (Note)?”
“Autumn of fifth epoch 1068.”
She whispered in his ear, the time point perfectly coinciding.
The study was bright, while outside the window was night, making the window act almost like a glass mirror. If not for the window not reflecting anyone behind him, Xia De would have truly thought the woman was leaning close and whispering in his ear.
He reached into his pocket; the time key representing the autumn of 1068 had already turned to dust.
The last work created by the Old God The Innocent Creator was the sage-level relic god's gift box. He was right; Xia De was destined to encounter this item.
And even more miraculously, he already knew the exact location of that sage-level relic.
“The Silver-Eyed One Miss Bei Ya Si is looking for is hidden with that relic in the underground ruins…”
He looked out at the Moonlight with a hint of melancholy:
“I originally wanted to avoid acting with Miss Bei Ya Si. After all, I’m only a One-Ring, and shouldn’t get involved in such dangerous things. But now it seems, at least this time, I have no choice but to go with her.”
“No, you have the right to refuse that gift.”
She whispered in his ear, her soft voice giving Xia De the illusion of warm air caressing his ear.
“Impossible. There’s a high probability of divinity in the box. Compared to confronting an evil god to snatch power, facing the Silver-Eyed One is as simple as facing an ant. If I shrink from even this, what am I thinking about the Twelve Divinities Sublimation path? Besides…”
Xia De’s expression was reflected in the window glass. On the first night after Queen Diana’s assassination, Tobesk City under the Moonlight was quiet and peaceful, and Xia De’s mood gradually calmed down. He said to his reflection in the glass:
“This is my gift, mine. I must get it.”