Asai's Arrangement

Light and shadows continuously condensed as immense mythical power formed a body constructed entirely of Wisdom Ability mythical blood.

This body transcended the forms of ghosts and the Lord of Death. It was the source of all Witch Spirit power.

Or rather, the Witch Spirits were merely reflections of this body. The power of transformation between reality and illusion originated from this mythical form.

At this moment, Asai was in God's Form.

He appeared as a short, handsome young man.

Asai planted his cane on the ground. The massive shadow behind him twisted and writhed before finally settling into a neat mirror image aligned with his body.

Hum hum!

The Door of Truth opened completely, and Asai's Path of Wisdom reflected across the sky.

Spirituality, Wisdom, Desire, Knowledge.

The pages representing knowledge sparkled like countless stars, while the branches, trunk, and roots flowed with silver veins.

A voice echoed from above, resonating through the Dream Realm.

"250 million years."

Asai opened his eyes and gazed into the depths of the Dream Realm. There lay the Creator's Domain, and within it, the God-Given Land, homeland of the Trilobite People.

Asai's direct ancestor, King Redlichia, the King of Wisdom, was crowned at the Creator's feet.

He was the first wise being in this world, the first king.

"God Yinsai," Asai murmured to himself, "was the other end of your time truly measured in hundreds of millions of years?"

This timescale completely defied the Trilobite People's imagination and exceeded the expectations of all who had embarked on the path to immortality.

Over 250 million years, Vivien had reincarnated alongside Ruhe Beast Island due to the disappearance of the mythical source. Xiao had entrusted himself to the Ancestral Fish, following countless species through their long evolutionary journey.

And Asai, in his Lord of Death form, had completed cycle after cycle of reincarnation within the Door of Truth.

He had survived the era when mythical power gradually weakened and withered, enduring the years when mythical blood slowly dimmed.

Then, at the moment the Creator returned and ability power shone anew, he truly ascended to become a Demigod.

Before the Door of Truth.

Countless ghosts gazed at Asai, the god they had guarded for generations and still followed in death.

Asai's gaze also fell upon Polik, his former follower who was now the ghost apostle.

He wanted to say something, but so much was already too late.

"Polik," Asai began, "everything you did transcended time. Not even the river of years could erode your will."

"However..."

Asai looked at Polik's rigid expression and posture. After a long pause, he finally asked.

"For this... for a vague wish, an old oath... you dragged everyone into sacrifice right alongside you."

"Was it truly worth it?"

Polik said nothing, only kneeling and lifting his head to look at the youth before the Door of Truth.

His silence was an answer. Everything he had done already proved he believed it was worth it.

But Asai's question seemed to trigger ancient memories within the ghost's form.

Polik's gaze shifted, as if returning to a time long, long ago.

Back then, both Asai and Polik were imprisoned in Anho City's jail.

They had lost everything.

Not just their power, but their family, friends, ideals, and future.

Asai was dragged out for execution, but this act unexpectedly broke the shackles the Little Person in the Bottle had placed on him.

Asai gained Anhofus's former power and returned to the prison to save Polik.

That night, in the darkness, Polik ran wildly through the streets, laughing with mad joy, convinced he had narrowly escaped death.

But at the end of the road, he saw a familiar figure.

From the street shadows, Asai came riding a terrifying bone puppet, like a king of darkness.

The puppet knelt down, bowing.

The terrifying presence and aura emanating from it filled Polik with cold dread, yet it also awakened a deep yearning within him.

Now, countless years later, before the Door of Truth, Ghost Polik lifted his head and spoke to the Divine Being, repeating the words Asai had once asked him.

"After being locked up for so many years, is there anything you still want to do?"

"Or do you just want to survive?"

He spoke slowly, but his words carried the same weight as Asai's had back then.

"If you want to reclaim what was lost, then follow me."

"If all you want is to live," he finished, "then let's part ways here."

Asai's gaze flickered as he too recalled the scene from that night.

He looked at Polik and slowly repeated the words Polik had said to him back then.

"I am willing to follow you."

"Whatever we do, no matter how mad it may be."

"I am willing."

Before the heavy mythical door, the figures of the two seemed to return to that past moment.

They had nothing then. They were both failures who had crawled out of the mud. They had both once dreamed the wildest dreams.

Asai needed to ask no more questions.

They were companions, both then and now.

He turned around.

Huge waves rose in the sea of knowledge within the Door of Truth as vast amounts of information categorized itself, forming book after book.

The original Temple of Knowledge rapidly expanded, and a City of Knowledge appeared in the center of the sea.

Library after library was constructed, with countless bookshelves sprouting within them.

Innumerable books fell like rain.

They rained down into the City of Knowledge.

The originally chaotic sea of knowledge was instantly organized, no longer disordered and surging. The tides became regular and gentle.

Asai and Ghost Polik appeared above the newly ordered sea of knowledge, standing within the City of Knowledge.

Asai turned to Polik. "I wrote a letter to my mother," he said, "but the Wood Nymph told me she isn't in the Dream Starry Sea."

Ghost Polik, or rather the Door of Truth itself, began rapid calculations, extrapolating the possibilities.

But Asai had already considered them.

"There are only three possibilities."

"Either my mother fell into nightmares and vanished somewhere in the depths of the Dream Starry Sea."

"Or she might have been kept in the mortal realm, bound somehow through ghosts or artifacts."

"Or perhaps someone stole her life dream from the Dream Starry Sea."

Ghost Polik spoke, stating the three possibilities derived from the calculations.

"The probability of the first is..."

But Asai shook his head. He felt it was impossible, guided by his intuition and certainty.

Humans and machines were different, after all.

"My mother was an ordinary woman. Life was hard, but she always found joy amidst the hardship. She was someone who escaped reality through hope."

"If she could dream, she would have the most ordinary, beautiful dream. She'd surely remain lost in that beautiful dream, unwilling to wake."

Here, Asai's voice paused for a moment.

"Just like... me."

After a long silence, he continued.

Asai spoke with absolute certainty. "Her heart was full of light, even though she lived in darkness."

"I'm certain she couldn't have fallen into nightmares."

A slight smile touched Asai's face. "Though her beautiful dreams were probably just counting money, or having endless food."

"Such laughable... such ordinary things."

"But still, it should have been a beautiful dream."

Then, Asai addressed the third possibility, the one he believed was least likely.

"The Dream Starry Sea lies within the Creator's Domain. I don't believe anyone could take my mother's dream from there, right under the Creator's watch."

"It's absolutely impossible."

"So, my mother's life dream likely never entered the Dream Starry Sea in the first place."

Asai looked directly at Polik. "Someone kept my mother in the mortal realm."

His hand tightened on his cane. "She was just an ordinary person. She definitely couldn't have survived on her own."

"Only ghost power or artifacts could have kept her tied to the mortal realm."

Polik voiced the conclusion calculated by the Door of Truth. "Was it the Little Person in the Bottle?"

"Or was it Xiao?"

"If it was the Little Person in the Bottle, then likely only Xiao would know how it was done."

Asai walked toward the temple at the center of the City of Knowledge, his pace gradually quickening.

"Whether it was the Little Person in the Bottle or Xiao, we have to find Xiao first."

"He was the one pulling the strings back then. He pushed the Little Person in the Bottle's desires until they spiraled out of control."

"He forced Vivien and the Temple of Truth into a corner. He used the Little Person in the Bottle to achieve his own goal of godhood. He used me to complete the reincarnation plan, and also used me to kill the Little Person in the Bottle—the only one who held the key to his potential death."

"He knows everything that happened. Even the Little Person in the Bottle's final fate was driven by him."

"He treated everyone as pawns, including himself."

"He split himself into four parts, still pursuing the path to godhood."

"Pursuing some unknown answer and an uncertain future."

Asai's gaze saw through everything, back to that moment in Anho City when he received the Path of Wisdom tablet from Xiao.

"The Little Person in the Bottle was just Anhofus's failed immortality experiment, a mythical being with the mind of a child."

"It didn't really know what it wanted. It was like a newborn, yet possessed power surpassing almost everything."

"It was a mythical monster. It had no real empathy for the Trilobite People or mortals. It craved freedom and desperately wanted to follow God Yinsai's path."

"Because it sought His recognition, wanted to find its only reason for existing."

Asai had personally ended the Little Person in the Bottle. No one understood it better than him.

"From beginning to end, it was simply the product of a tragedy."

Asai then spoke again of Xiao.

"As for Xiao..."

"He was a student of Lan, the second-generation Sage of Truth. Though he lacked extraordinary talent, he was certainly intelligent."

"He stole Lan's Path of Wisdom experimental data. Then he obtained Anhofus's God's Grace Stone quartering technique and secrets about the Little Person in the Bottle's mythical core."

"Only then did he manage to complete the full Path of Wisdom."

"This path to immortality began generations ago with the Samo family ancestors of the Royal Bloodline."

"Through the work of Anhofus and Lan, it was finally completed in Xiao's hands."

"Though Xiao mostly just integrated the information, piecing it together like a puzzle, he was the first to create a complete Wisdom Myth path."

"That cannot be denied."

Asai stopped at the foot of the Temple of Knowledge.

"He is no ordinary enemy," Asai acknowledged.

Though Asai had his back to Polik, the coldness in his voice remained palpable.

"However, it's time to settle the accounts for everything that happened back then."

"Everything he once gave me, I will personally return."

Polik affirmed Asai's judgment. "Xiao is terrifying!"

"Now he has lost everything from before, with only his spirituality still reincarnating. At least for now, he hasn't recovered his previous power."

"Beyond the Desert of the Fallen Sun lies the gathering place of Xiao's followers."

"If we find his followers, we might locate the Gate of Spirituality."

The Door of Truth could only calculate possibilities, but Asai saw more clearly.

He could grasp the core of things, grasp Xiao's underlying purpose.

"No! We have to go somewhere else, across the ocean."

Asai's gaze pierced through the Dream Realm toward where this era truly began. "Ruhe Beast Island."

"Spirituality is just a trigger. For Xiao, his personality and memories are what matter most."

"Meaning, the Desire Stone and Knowledge Stones."

"He reincarnated his spirituality and threw his wisdom to the Temple of Truth, but his Desire Stone and Knowledge Stones must still be on Ruhe Beast Island. That island surely holds his backup plans."

"Someone like him absolutely wouldn't just reincarnate without safeguards."

"He must have other plans prepared. Even my mother might be part of his scheme. He still wants to manipulate me, even now."

Polik asked, "If Xiao did it, why? What could possibly be his reason?"

"What goal does he hope to achieve?"

The Door of Truth began calculating again.

Asai told Polik, "He fears death."

"No..."

Asai had barely spoken before he corrected himself.

Perhaps "fears death" wasn't quite right. What Xiao feared wasn't death itself.

"He fears failure."

"He fears not becoming a god. He fears his plans coming to nothing in the end."

"If he dies, he cannot complete his goal."

"If he dies, he fails."

As Asai spoke, he gradually deduced Xiao's true underlying purpose.

"He wanted to use my mother as insurance. Insurance that ensures he absolutely cannot die, no matter what happens."

"He has too many enemies. His path to godhood is fraught with danger and unknowns."

Polik stated firmly, "He won't succeed."

"Because you, great God of Knowledge and Truth, have already seen through his plans."

But Asai shook his head. "He has already succeeded."

"He won't die, because I cannot let him die."

"At least, until I find the answers I seek, I cannot permit him to die."

Various emotions flickered in Asai's gaze as possibility after possibility and piece after piece of information sorted themselves in his mind, calculating all of Xiao's potential schemes.

"If it truly was Xiao's doing, I'm certain he has backup plans."

"In fact, even if I find the answers I seek, I still might not be able to kill him."

But at the same time, Asai suddenly laughed.

"However, in this world, there are many fates more terrible than death."

Polik suddenly asked Asai, "Wasn't he afraid?"

"Didn't he realize that doing this might lead to a truly tragic end?"

"Making so many enemies, paying such a terrible price, all to pursue a goal that was still completely unknown back then."

Though Asai had never directly confronted Xiao, he understood this enemy well. He felt he knew what the other was thinking.

He could even close his eyes and vividly picture Xiao standing before him.

Xiao was so similar to the former Anhofus, but Xiao operated with even fewer limits.

He was like a machine relentlessly pursuing its designated purpose.

"For Xiao, as long as he can achieve his goal, he will stop at nothing."

"Even if that end proves more terrible than death, that's the price he's willing to pay."

"Even if there's only a sliver of a chance, he will abandon everything else to chase it."

Polik, or rather the Door of Truth, seemed stuck, speechless.

He couldn't understand it either.

What kind of person could this be?

Asai leaned on his cane, head held high, as he walked step by step toward the Temple of Knowledge.

"But this works out perfectly."

"Death is too easy a release. Eternal peace doesn't belong to someone like Xiao."

"I will ensure he is forever unable to achieve his goals, yet also forever unable to die."

"That is the future waiting for him."

As he spoke the last word, he stood before the great doors of the Temple of Knowledge.

A smile played at Asai's lips, but undeniable hatred flickered deep within his eyes.

"Xiao, let us reincarnate together in this eternal nightmare!"

However, as he spoke these words, Asai's expression suddenly froze.

A powerful sense of déjà vu washed over him.

Why did this feel so familiar?

This exact feeling?

Suddenly, he remembered words the Little Person in the Bottle had once spoken.

When that newly born Evil God stood atop Sacred Mountain, facing Anhofus who created it, it had said:

"Anhofus, come!"

"Let us drink this poison wine of immortality together."

Asai stood stunned for a moment, his eyes growing distant.

He abruptly turned his head to look back at Polik.

Polik had followed Asai up and was now gazing at the brilliant flowers emerging from the temple's left wall.

Inside was a beautiful rainbow-colored flowering tree, now in full bloom.

Polik noticed Asai turn and looked back at him.

"Is something wrong, my God?"

Asai shook his head slowly. "Nothing."

He offered no explanation as he walked into the temple.

As the God of Knowledge and Truth, he pursued truth and did not believe in concepts like fate.

But in that fleeting moment, he seemed to truly witness fate cycling through its inevitable repetitions.

In the City of Knowledge.

The entire city was meticulously divided into different sections, each storing distinct categories of books and knowledge. Each section was further subdivided into individual libraries, and then down to individual bookshelves.

Drifting in the outer sea of knowledge were countless pieces of information that couldn't strictly be called knowledge. Yet these fragments were not entirely useless either, sometimes proving invaluable at crucial moments.

Asai now, much like Duma before him, was searching for a way to open the gates of Ruhe Beast Island.

When the Avel people departed Ruhe Beast Island, the Door of Truth's power had not yet recovered, let alone regained any significant intelligence.

Therefore, no contingencies had been left behind then, and now they needed to make new arrangements.

In the temple.

Asai stood in the corridor beside the main temple hall, able to see the vibrant Rainbow Tree outside through the window.

He held a book that emanated a soft light.

This was a Book of the Witch Spirit.

It already had various divine techniques recorded within and Pages of Truth meticulously prepared.

If someone with the right talent obtained this book, although they couldn't directly become a Third-Rank Ability User, the path to becoming one would open before them, clear of barriers.

Polik stood beside Asai and informed him.

"Though we left no specific arrangements when we departed, there are still some Avel survivors on the island. Among them are followers who worship you as their god."

"They remember your grace, remember how you..."

Asai interrupted gently, "Xiuborn saved them."

Polik replied respectfully, "But you gave Xiuborn the power, allowing them to change their fate."

Asai handed the Book of the Witch Spirit to Polik. "Then you choose."

Polik accepted the book with utmost reverence. He then went with several other ghosts to the Rainbow Tree.

Following the proper ritual, they chanted the names of the divine messengers.

Strictly speaking, with the Rainbow Tree present, this step wasn't entirely necessary.

But Polik and the others performed it nonetheless, to show respect for the divine messengers.

The more powerful a being, the more they tended to value such formalities.

"Messengers of the Divine Beings!"

"Please deliver this sacred item to Ruhe Beast Island, to the follower who worships Truth and Knowledge."

Finally, Polik placed the Book of the Witch Spirit carefully into the tree hollow.

With a brilliant flash of light, the book would traverse the vast ocean to reach Ruhe Beast Island.

Only then did Polik return to Asai's side to report that the task was complete.

"The person we chose will surely accomplish the goal."

Asai replied calmly, "Success isn't necessary. His existence alone is enough for now."

"Right now, we just need a pair of eyes, an entrance into Ruhe Beast Island."

"He is my follower. If his path and goals ultimately align with ours, he will naturally want to join us."

Polik looked at Asai and asked softly, "My God, if she is still there... perhaps we could revive her."

This "she" was naturally Asai's mother.

A flicker of hope sparked in Asai's eyes, only to fade almost instantly.

"If she truly is still there," he said quietly, "she cannot possibly be who she once was."

Northwest of Ruhe Beast Island.

In the western region of the wasteland, near the ocean, lay a small village.

The climate here was somewhat cold, often touched by snow and ice drifting down from the nearby frozen plateau. The villagers mostly survived by fishing, managing to barely scrape by.

The houses in this village were primarily built of packed earth, covered with simple wooden roofs.

In such a barren region, even wood was a valuable commodity.

The villagers were all migrants from other places, some coming from the northern jungles, others refugees displaced from the Herdsman's Plain.

"Mmph!"

A young man with clear Avel features suddenly stirred in his sleep, tossing and turning restlessly in his bed.

He dreamed he was walking forward, endlessly it seemed, until he saw a great, luminous flowering tree.

Something glowed brightly inside the tree's hollow trunk.

Then he woke up.

The next day at dawn, the young man couldn't shake the feeling that something was different.

That dream had felt incredibly real, far too vivid and beautiful to be something someone like him could simply imagine.

And that colorful flowering tree... it somewhat resembled the legendary Rainbow Tree from old stories, the one nymphs supposedly used to deliver messages.

"Could it be real?" he wondered aloud.

"Could there really be nymphs? Did someone actually ask nymphs to send me a message?"

The young man caught nothing while fishing today. He walked home lost in thought, his mind still dwelling on the strange dream, when he suddenly reached a familiar fork in the road.

Looking at the fork, it struck him with a sense of recognition.

In his dream, he had also come to this very fork and taken the less-traveled path.

Following a sudden instinct, he ventured off into the wasteland.

He walked further and further.

The sky gradually grew dark.

Finally, at the foot of a desolate hill, he truly found it, the Rainbow Tree from his dream.

Beneath the emerging starlit night, the tree radiated a brilliantly colorful, almost dreamlike light.

"Could this really be... a Rainbow Tree?" he whispered, astonished.

He rushed forward, excitedly circling the magnificent Rainbow Tree several times, his heart pounding.

Finally, overcome with awe, he prostrated himself repeatedly on the ground, thanking the nymphs and the Divine Being his family had worshipped for countless generations.

At last, he carefully reached his hand into the swirling vortex within the tree hollow and truly retrieved something tangible.

It was a mysterious book.

The moment his fingers closed around the book, he somehow knew its name, as if the book itself was telling him.

"Book of the Witch Spirit?"

At that exact instant, a glowing mark appeared briefly on the back of his hand, the symbol of the God of Knowledge and Truth.

After appearing, the mark vanished in the blink of an eye.

It was proof of his selection as a Divine Blessed One.