Chapter 698: The Passing Torch of Civilization!

The friend of that ancient god, an ancient eternal existence of the ninth-tier, met his demise, and the story seemed to end there.

And then? What about the blank period after his demise, up to the present?

For ordinary people, the story had only been told halfway, abruptly stopping. But for the Three Pillars of God, the full scope of the narrative had become completely clear.

The Three Pillars of God's minds worked like supercomputers, their three consciousnesses colliding.

"Two ancient beings whose combat power was almost exaggerated to the extreme, after achieving immortality, could not awaken simultaneously because they had to protect the Dao. It was a pain akin to separation in life and death, an existence divided. This is the curse of immortality."

"A pitiable sorrow."

The voices of the Three Pillars of God remained cold, chilling, even though to them, this story of immortality resonated with loneliness and desolation in every line.

Civilizations are ultimately destined to fall, just like an infant leaving the embrace of the cosmic mother, growing up, maturing, and eventually decaying, dying, withering, or being killed. This is undeniable and irresistible.

However, as the Pillar God civilization, they clearly felt they could resist this to the extreme, because their societal structure and world civilization system would develop in an utterly terrifying manner, approaching the limit to avoid destruction. This was the benefit of the Three Pillars of God deciding fate.

"It was only natural; if only one could ever be awake at a time, then they could be besieged and killed by other ninth-tier beings through numerical superiority."

"The ancient god's friend died in battle, which means that the ancient god will have no protector during his next eternal slumber, and that will be the moment of his demise."

Cold voices resonated in their minds.

"Therefore, the attackers vanished. They went into hiding, unwilling to pay the heavy, almost mutually destructive price of a direct confrontation, choosing instead to await the ancient god's next slumber."

"The reason is simple: killing one means destroying both."

"The time of slumber is the time of death. Thus, the ancient god began to support the next civilization, cultivating a new ninth-tier being."

"This is the only hope for continuing the flame of civilization."

"The Ishdal people were the chosen ones because the ancient god himself was conceived on this most ancient land; it was his homeland. In this original place, symbolizing hope, he therefore wished for another great being as powerful as himself to be born in his homeland!"

The rapid collision of thoughts allowed them to instantly deduce the ancient god's most logical course of action. It would be impossible for such terrifying, ancient ninth-tier beings to idly spend so much effort and resources, out of compassion, to cultivate another ninth-tier. No wonder things were this way now.

As the chosen one, Caroline naturally had vast resources poured into her. In fact, it seemed Caroline now possessed even greater world resources, surpassing the lands of the Ishdal people.

Silence fell over the Arcane Library.

Three hazy black figures, like countless dense black mosquitoes gathered together, surprisingly gave off a subtle, eerie humming sensation.

"What a tragic fate. A race of a great celestial civilization rises and falls, eventually reaching the end of its lifespan. Even immortal beings are no exception. Did you witness the demise of that era?" the Three Pillars of God couldn't help but ask.

Xu Zhi pondered for a moment, then replied with a polite smile, "I was indeed a part of that era. I personally witnessed that earth-shattering battle and was an observer of that period of history."

"As for the next question, I assume I don't need to answer, do I?"

Xu Zhi didn't continue the conversation, saying, "You should understand my stance towards you. And I am not omniscient or omnipotent. As you can see, I am currently just a weak Celestial Emperor."

The Three Pillars of God truly didn't need a second question. Their attitude towards Caroline was more serious than they had imagined. They had previously thought that the ancient god didn't hand over his method of breaking through to the ninth-tier because their relationship wasn't that close. In reality, it was likely because he didn't want her to follow his path, but to forge her own, thus creating a stronger ninth-tier being. An ordinary ninth-tier, following the path of their predecessors, might not possess such power and combat strength!

At the same time, they understood that despite the importance placed on the Holy Sakura Emperor, if they initiated a war, the ancient god would likely not intervene, as they too were potential chosen ones.

"Gentlemen, I have answered your questions, and you have provided answers to mine," Xu Zhi said with a smile, adjusting his fitted arcane robe, adopting the posture of a polite scholar. "So..."

"This has been a delightful exchange."

"We will no longer disturb you."

"As a Celestial Emperor, we trust you will not interfere further."

"A final piece of advice: from now on, it is best to look after your own interests."

"Because war is about to begin."

The Three Pillars of God smiled, then suddenly their bodies exploded, turning into countless fragmented viruses that vanished into the air.

Xu Zhi also put away the arcane book that had shocked the entire world, gazed at the empty room, and finally smiled, "To be able to research the ancient god's method of breakthrough, you are indeed continuing the ancient path. Perhaps you can pass on the torch of civilization."

"Ninth-tier, I'll leave it to you," he smiled.

In the long river of void fate, fragments of blue void screens, like information from countless civilizations, flowed within a rushing river, forming a super-data knowledge stream. Endless transparent ripples surged rapidly, as if in a dimensional space beyond reality, where time held no meaning.

"Then, everything is about to begin."

The three hazy figures on the sacred thrones spoke in low, grand tones. Their voices carried a long, echoing quality, like the massive, complex, mixed consciousness of countless beings. Every word they spoke was like a hazy, chaotic will, through which one could hear the cries of countless animals, humans, and plants—an ineffable vastness.

Their voices symbolized the will of a race. Their actions represented the measures of a race. They themselves were the embodiment of racial destiny; countless beings gathered together constituted fate. Absolutely just, rational, and cold, they were the strong, mixed will of hundreds of millions of beings, driving the prosperity of their race.

In the river, countless destinies were integrated. The Three Pillars of God observed the actions of countless destinies within it, the movements of individual figures like the Daughter of the Forest, Cybertron, Du Xue... Their every move was being watched.

But the future remained unclear. As the gods had discovered, the unpredictable beings descending from other worlds were like butterflies, stirring up storms across the entire timeline. They could no longer see clearly; they no longer possessed absolute control. Although they were doing their best to support and control Cybertron's growth path, guiding the birth of a new era of gods in the future, they might not succeed, because the gods were competing with them. This was a major internal and external crisis.

And as the Pillars of God, existing in the unseen, they could not interfere too much. They had indeed been outmaneuvered by their own subordinate gods.

"How laughable it is to resist one's own fate, to go against the collective interests of a race, and seek profit from it," the Humanoid Pillar of God smiled.

The Plant-type Pillar of God also smiled, its expression utterly serene, its voice like the rustling of countless branches, the mingled whispers of innumerable trees. "Individual lives within a civilization are always like this. They always want their own rights. They always want what they believe they deserve. Those not favored by 'fate' will be dissatisfied with the resources allocated to them. And those favored by 'fate' will then desire even more resources from fate."

The Beast-type Pillar of God sat on the Eternal Throne, its voice like the roars of countless wild beasts, a composite sound of violence, saying: "In their view, everything is an injustice of fate, because these are predetermined futures, futures we have already allocated to them, and thus unjust. Because it is destined, it is unjust. Because it is predestined, it is unjust. However, fate is the most impartial scale. What is called injustice is because there is no absolute fairness in the world to begin with. As the Pillar Gods of destiny for a race, placing suitable, limited resources into the hands of those who can best utilize them, allowing them to become powerhouses at their respective stages, and achieving maximized utilization—that is fairness. From the perspective of individuals in an era, they are right. Hundreds, thousands, or millions of years later, from the perspective of the entire race's destiny, future historians will discover that they were wrong. We advance the civilization of the era; we are the very will of civilization. Time has proven us right. Our civilization's development speed creates miracles almost every moment, performing super-data computations within arcane models, constantly unearthing the mysteries of the universe, having long surpassed the civilization form of the Ishdal people."

The Three Pillars of God continuously communicated, already having joined forces. As absolutely rational Pillar Gods, their initial war between the three tribes was merely for the sake of competing for interests. But when they experienced external invasion and saw a wider world, they knew they no longer needed to plunder resources from each other. Instead, they would join forces to plunder resources externally! This was the best method. The Three Pillars of God always chose the best method, because they were the emotionless destiny of a race.

Thus, the three terrifying computational powers joined forces, resulting in a super-iterative update of the virus.

Suddenly, the Three Pillars of God trembled slightly. "The self that went to find Messiah has returned, bringing knowledge."

Each of the Three Pillars of God was a supercomputer, so busy that they needed to process an infinite amount of racial information every instant, thus possessing countless split consciousnesses. They silently absorbed the knowledge, and after being intensely flooded, suddenly became calm.

"Then, we have completed the final missing link of our doubts. Dual-front warfare begins. Striking at the Six Realms and the Holy Sakura Emperor simultaneously."

"Do they think this is all there is? This is merely the tip of our iceberg. We Three Pillars of God have never used our true strength, our second true form, the Arcane Form, the Prime Pillars of God... If we had waged war against each other with these before, the world would have been destroyed, but... if we wage war externally, there will be no issues. Destroying them is but a jest... Because we are... ninth-tier!!"

In an instant, the Three Pillars of God made their war decision. At the same time, a subtle, inexplicable feeling arose within them.

"That ancient fossilized existence, a witness to civilization, merely a Celestial Emperor... yet possessing the talent of immortality. Is he the remnant of the ancient god's friend who has already fallen?"

Suddenly, they were inexplicably shocked. They recalled that sentence: "I was indeed a part of that era. I personally witnessed that earth-shattering battle and was an observer of that period of history." Now they understood: because he himself was an ancient being from that era, sitting on the most sacred, supreme throne, he was indeed the ancient god's friend from back then, who had governed the entire war, naturally making him a witness to history.

They recalled those words: "Currently, I am just a weak Celestial Emperor." "...To be able to research the ancient god's method of breakthrough, you are indeed continuing the ancient path. Perhaps you can pass on the torch of civilization." "Ninth-tier, I'll leave it to you," that person smiled.

They were shaken. Suddenly, a momentary silence fell over the Pillars of God's space.

At that moment, the great torch of the ancient lava civilization, the destiny of a race, the ode to courage, seemed to be personally handed to them by that existence. It was as if the torch of civilization, with its faint, bright yellow flame flickering on the verge of extinction, was handed to them with a smile by an old man stumbling in his twilight years under the setting sun. It was like an eternal cosmic giant, pushing the immense weight of history forward.

That person... That smiling man!!

Even without emotions, the Three Pillars of God were somewhat speechless. "If speaking in terms of individual life, we should be, perhaps, in tears?"

A ripple suddenly appeared in the Three Pillars of God's eternally cold gaze, which then instinctively turned towards the Arcane Library.

"There are truly a lot of viruses floating in the air in this room," Xu Zhi said, pushing open the window. The strong wind whistled, sweeping all the unclean air out of the room.

"It's another beautiful day."