When Visad saw the Mother God statue, he was stunned. He instantly recognized her; he would never mistake her.
First was Gilbert.
Then Stella.
Visad had personally witnessed both of them receive Mei's favor, each more powerful than the last—especially Stella, whose power could be called a miracle.
After having experienced so much, Visad's mindset had undergone a change. Having received the Saintess Stella's redemption, he decided to follow her and directly assist her in her compassionate acts of charity to the best of his ability.
Stella's speech and actions naturally influenced him over time. If the Saintess he respected so much could be so selfless, how could he have the audacity to demand a boon from the god for himself?
It was far too arrogant.
Visad realized this, and the baseness in his heart gradually receded. From then on, he completely detached himself from the rebel army and no longer felt conflicted.
Deep down, he grew increasingly curious about Mei. This god walking among mortals was very unique, at least, she was the only god Visad had ever seen in the mortal world.
That divinity was very strong.
Yet she didn't lack humanity.
Thereafter,
Stella frequently blessed Visad and the other followers in the cathedral, wishing them good health, unyielding spirit, and the strength to overcome all obstacles.
She never prayed to Mother God for personal gain, considering it an act of insatiable greed. After completing her blessings, she simply offered sincere thanks for Mother God's favor.
Most of her time was spent healing and helping those in the lower strata. Visad had more than once suggested to Stella that they engage in some preaching and recruitment of followers, but Stella always refused.
Visad didn't understand.
"Saintess, why?"
Stella's answer left Visad in shock for a long time.
"Religion is personal faith. If someone is moved by Mother God, they will naturally believe in her. We don't need to force it. If we promise people that they can have their wishes fulfilled and bathe in divine favor by believing in Mother God, that's a lie and a profanity against Mother God."
"I have received Mother God's favor, and believing in her is natural. But Mother God might not care about other followers. Instead of letting them waste their time on faith that might not yield a return, it's better for them to have more energy for production, which truly creates happiness for them."
Stella had been to many places and seen various situations under the Church's rule. She didn't know if Alaya existed, but the commoners believing in Alaya didn't live any better for it.
If you wanted to produce more food and more cloth, you had to let people focus on their work and create a more stable environment for them. This was the only way to improve their lives.
"..."
Visad had a profound realization. The Saintess's understanding and wisdom seemed to be growing alongside her thirst for knowledge. Her words struck a chord with him.
The Saintess was denying the current state of religion.
Moreover,
Her understanding and perception of the lower strata opened a new door for Visad. His curiosity had never been so intense. He felt Stella could answer many of the doubts in his mind.
As time passed, Stella continued to serve Mother God daily, her faith in her growing stronger.
...
Until one day,
In the cathedral,
Bright sunlight shone through the skylights onto Stella, making her look holy. She offered heartfelt blessings to the followers who believed in Mother God and were with her.
"May you all be far from illness and have your loved ones by your side. May your faith be firm and your confusion overcome..."
In her words,
An indescribable power was quietly released. Stella's blessings manifested as reality, descending upon everyone in the cathedral like a rain of grace.
Unconsciously, Stella's faith in Mother God reached its peak. Her intense emotions caused her subjective power to break through to a new realm at this moment.
Tier 2!
With Stella's breakthrough, the Subjective Aspect also quietly advanced to Tier 2.
Visad was the first to sense this anomaly; he was closest to Stella. When the blessing descended, his thoughts and mind felt unprecedented clarity and agility.
Furthermore,
He also felt a power rapidly surging within his body, driven by his subconscious and intense willpower, and released in some form.
HUM—
An invisible force radiated, and Visad opened his eyes.
He had awakened his subjective power.
In the form of telekinesis!
...
Ālaya Dimension.
Sosion couldn't help but frown.
"What is going on?"
Within his observational range, after Gilbert, Stella was the second to receive this type of power. To be honest, he couldn't understand the essence of this power.
Could emotions and feelings reach some extreme and lead to a breakthrough?
This was just too absurd!
The only certainty was that the source of Gilbert's and Stella's power must come from the same person. Sosion finally felt a sense of crisis.
The Graham Kingdom and the Alaya Church had grown large, but whether they could face this irrational power against the Mother God Cult was uncertain.
He naturally assumed this was his opponent's intention: the Mother God Cult planned to launch a religious war to seize the Alaya Church's achievements. Sosion wouldn't let that happen.
Thinking this,
Sosion's eyes flashed with depth.
"Our first confrontation..."
He didn't count Gilbert's incident; Graham VII's death hadn't shaken Sosion's arrangements in the Graham Kingdom. In a kingdom where divine right was supreme, royal authority wasn't paramount, but the Alaya Church could not be shaken.
This meant he had to confront the Mother God Cult.
"I hope you don't disappoint me."
Sosion was truly too intrigued by this opponent. He had consistently failed to trace their identity and location; they were truly mysterious to the extreme.
Just then,
BOOM!
The earth shook, stars shifted, and a terrifyingly powerful force instantly swept through the world. All things cowered, everyone lay dormant.
Sosion's face changed dramatically.
"What is happening?!"
In the cosmos, two deep, dark glints appeared. A colossal beast, its body surrounded by star systems, sprawled across the universe. Its eyes shone, and its claws held a galaxy comparable to the Milky Way.
Tier 7!
A true Tier 7 cosmic entity!
Its aura stirred waves in the sea of energy, and its vast, ancient fluctuations contained power enough to destroy the entire universe.
"Found you, the Primordial!!"
The shift of the stars put a burden on cosmic space, nearly bringing it to the brink of collapse. The beast's gaze fell on a certain planet within the galaxy in its grasp.
Mei looked towards the cosmos, calm and composed.
"The leader of the seventy-two Demon Gods from two thousand years in the future, even knowing you'll be buried in dead years, you still dare to act so... courageous."
Across two thousand years of time,
Seth, hailed as the leader of the seventy-two Demon Gods, finally pulled back the mists of history and age to see the greatest mystery hidden at the very core.
"Demon God, the Primordial!"
RUMBLE!
Thunder roared in the sky, an overwhelming pressure nearly collapsing the cosmic void. The earth trembled, and the planet groaned in despair.
The True Star Beast manifested, unexpectedly taking a humanoid form: a gentleman in a tailcoat, wearing glasses, refined and courteous.
Mei was clearly aware of his origins, past and future. The possibilities of space and time were all under her observation—including Seth's Root and essence.
Seth.
The leader of the seventy-two Demon Gods from two thousand years in the future, a legendary existence possessing Tier 7 power. Most importantly, he didn't come from a high-tier battlefield.
He originated from this unremarkable planet.
Mei saw through to Seth's Root.
He was one of the existences achieved by the Subjective Aspect two thousand years in the future, hailed by the mystical world as the leader and origin of the seventy-two Demon Gods.
But!
Seth didn't accept that assertion.
"Demon God, Primordial!"
Seth looked down at Mei with extreme arrogance, utterly fearless. "Let me see how strong the greatest mystery and the origin of the seventy-two Demon Gods truly is! Only by defeating you can I ascend to the peak of the Demon Gods and break through to a higher realm!"
As a Demon God gestated by the Subjective Aspect, Seth keenly perceived that the source of this power was a higher-order existence.
But as a Demon God, his arrogance didn't allow for cowardice. Either defeat the Origin, seize its power, and truly reach the peak of the Demon Gods, or be buried in the sands of time.
There was no retreat or survival.
The cross-time encounter between these two was one of the crucial points in shaping the future. Mei allowed Seth to trace her location.
Otherwise, Seth would never have found her.
Coincidentally, she was a bit bored lately.
She readily accepted.
"As you wish."
At this moment, Seth's immense power shook the universe, bringing it to the brink of collapse. His surging fighting spirit revealed his inner turmoil.
Give it his all.
Hold nothing back.
Defeat the Primordial!!
Seth extended his hand.
BOOM!
The sea of energy churned with massive waves, and conceptual-level power drew in everything in the universe, aiming directly for Mei's Root to eliminate her.
"Let me see how you'll resist my 'All Concepts'!"
Against this, Mei stood firm, only casting a single glance.
CRACK!
Spacetime shattered like glass, also erasing all of Seth's "All Concepts." Seth's pupils contracted, and he saw Mei extend her hand towards him.
BOOM!
Spacetime collapsed, engulfing Seth, revealing a bottomless, deep hole. The disturbance in reality was too great; she decided to change the battlefield.
...
In the Ālaya dimension, "This planet is groaning?"
Sosion's expression grew grimmer. He tried to use the Ālaya dimension's power to sense the situation in reality, but was blocked by a higher-order power.
He couldn't peek into it at all.
"Could it be someone from a high-tier battlefield intervening? No, they can't enter a low-tier one. It seems someone used a high-tier item or equipment, which makes things difficult..."
With the Ālaya dimension's power, Sosion believed himself invincible in the Tier 3 battlefield, but his influence on reality was quite limited.
If it were a high-tier item with immense destructive power, he would indeed find it difficult to handle.
Sosion fell into deep thought, completely unaware of the approaching danger. In the next moment, the stability of the Ālaya dimension was shattered. Almost instantly, the entire Ālaya dimension collapsed.
As if a ripple first appeared on a water surface, then rapidly expanded across the entire lake, the boiling sea of energy instantly destroyed the Ālaya dimension.
Sosion didn't even have time to react before being trapped within a fragment of the Ālaya dimension, drifting helplessly as the dimension repaired itself.
His soul shuddered, utterly terrified.
SPLURT!
Despite the Ālaya dimension being destroyed, the residual energy sweep still severely injured Sosion. His face was pale, and his body was covered in cracks and bleeding.
"What is happening?!!"
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Within the many dimensions independent of reality but coexisting with it, a figure continuously tore through each dimension, like a fallen immortal struck down from heaven, infinitely descending towards lower dimensions.
"So this is the disparity..."
Seth's body was like crumbling porcelain, filled with cracks, emanating intense, vast energy. "All Concepts" couldn't resist; a single glance had caused its complete collapse and his fall into other dimensions.
What unimaginable power. Truly the origin of the Demon Gods!
But! So what!
As the leader of the seventy-two Demon Gods, his power wasn't limited to reality. Even within this infinite dimension, he was the absolute ruler!
"I haven't lost yet!"
Seth roared, grasping all the dimensions he passed through, attempting to use this power to influence reality and decide victory or defeat with Mei.
However, against an existence beyond comprehension, Seth's resistance was meaningless. He had no idea how his all-out attack and counter-strike appeared to Mei.
From a higher perspective, dimensions beyond reality were layered, then rapidly de-dimensioned. Seth thought he controlled these dimensions, but in reality, he was merely struggling within a cage.
Endless dimensions were layered and condensed into a cage, reverting to their original state. First falling to 2D, then 1D, becoming an infinitely thin line in Mei's hand.
The disparity was even greater than the destructive power Seth perceived.
Mei gave the thin line a gentle tug, and it snapped. All of Seth's resistance within it came to an abrupt end, his body violently shattering.
His expression was one of astonishment, unable to comprehend his defeat. He had believed that no matter what, he could have had a proper battle with Mei, even if outmatched, even if he lost.
He never expected he wouldn't even understand how he lost.
"So this is the power of the Demon God's Origin..."
Then, Seth's Root completely collapsed.
Mei then gathered the shattered Seth Root into her hands. Following the River of Time, she casually cast these Root fragments two thousand years into the future.
The cause-and-effect of Seth being hailed as the leader and origin of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods completed its closed-loop convergence. Without his Root, the other Demon Gods could hardly be born.
Then,
Mei vanished.
In the Ālaya dimension, Sosion was still trapped and drifting within a fragment. He wouldn't die, but for now, he couldn't return to reality. Fortunately, he could still observe reality.
But because the Ālaya dimension was shattered beyond repair, his current observational range was extremely limited, basically unable to detect situations outside the Graham Kingdom.
Not losing his life in this incident could only be called good luck for Sosion. However, he truly didn't understand what had happened to lead to this situation.
The entire Ālaya dimension had been crushed. He truly couldn't imagine how immense the destructive power required to do that must be.
Seth's descent was too monumental a disturbance. It wasn't just a matter of the Tier 3 battlefield; his Tier 7 power fluctuations were felt throughout the entire universe.
The threat came quickly and vanished just as fast.
Before the powerhouses of the high-tier battlefields could trace the source of this power, Seth's Root was shattered by Mei, leaving it untraceable.
High-tier entities ultimately could only vaguely determine Seth's general location. In the universe, various Tier 7 cosmic entities cast their gaze down, beginning to pursue Seth's traces.
As an All Concepts entity, the power Seth displayed could not be ignored. His appearance could very likely influence the entire Tier 7 battlefield's landscape.
...
Two divine halos flashed, revealing two people within. Dressed in Daoist robes and controlling the halos, they were Goldeght and Hang the True Man, who had once entered the Great Wilderness world.
Both were from Hyperdimensional Space's Raitei Legion. In the Great Wilderness world, they had both served under the Immeasurable Celestial Venerable, their strength considered extremely high even within Tier 7.
Unfortunately, they had fallen in the Apotheosis battle, both dying in the Heavenly Court. Their strength had plummeted and had yet to recover. Fortunately, they had met again, and together, they could still hold their own in the Tier 7 battlefield.
Goldeght stopped.
Gazing at the cosmos ahead.
"This is roughly the place."
Hang frowned.
"Further ahead is the low-tier battlefield. We can't enter or interfere. Could it be that a high-tier powerhouse has appeared in the low-tier battlefield?"
"Only that possibility."
"A pity."
They had hoped to find an ally, but it seemed a dragon had emerged in the low-tier battlefield. If the opponent didn't enter the high-tier battlefield, they truly had no way to deal with it.
Goldeght extended his hand, striking a beam of red light and sacrificing a painting. Within the painting, scenic mountains and clear waters were depicted, reflecting the vast River of Time and the ten thousand generations of time.
Looking towards the future, he saw several powerful figures standing above the River of Time, gazing at the cosmic stars, facing Goldeght from afar.
Many of the auras within were extremely unfamiliar.
Goldeght's expression was one of astonishment. He immediately sacrificed a bronze mirror, illuminating the true forms and origins of those powerful existences, all of whom originated from the low-tier battlefield.
Something was wrong!
Goldeght's gaze was grave. "No, something must have happened in the low-tier battlefield. Normally, a low-tier battlefield shouldn't produce so many Tier 6s and Tier 7s. Especially in just two thousand years—there must be a big problem here!"
He sensed danger.
A 99% chance someone was setting a trap!
Ever since their failure in the Apotheosis, Goldeght and Hang had become hyper-vigilant, unwilling to take risks if anything seemed slightly off.
They feared repeating history.
This wasn't the Apotheosis, where they could leave a remnant soul to serve the Heavenly Court. If they failed this time, it would be a true death.
Hang's face tensed, and he felt a desire to retreat. The two exchanged looks.
"What do you think?"
"Avoid the eye of the storm!"
"My thoughts exactly!"
Feeling uneasy, they made a swift decision to stop contending with others. This time, they would avoid, flee, and hide as much as possible.
Dominating the battlefield had nothing to do with them anymore. Others would handle the Main Mission; they only prayed for the big guys to spare them.
...
"Haha."
Mei was amused.
These two were clever now, truly traumatized by the schemes in the Great Wilderness. The first time they almost fell to Doan's Crimson Spear, the second time they were defeated in the Apotheosis.
Both times, they were caught in the arrangements of Mei and other Celestial Venerables, unwittingly becoming cannon fodder. This time, they learned; sensing something amiss, they decisively fled.
Amused, she shook her head, opening the interface. The Subjective Aspect, following Stella's breakthrough, had reached Tier 2, and the second upgrade task was complete.
[Upgrade Task 2·Completed]
[Acquired: Transfinite Fusion 1]
[Transfinite Fusion uses: 1]
Mei already had an idea for the second Transfinite Fusion. She retrieved two scarecrow-like items from her Personal Spatial Storage.
——
[Item: True · Source Annihilation]
[Type: Item · One-Time Use]
[Description: Write a name on the scarecrow to inflict the finality of Source Annihilation. Ignores all defenses, revival, and death-substitute effects, bringing true death. Cannot be resisted by anything below Tier 8.]
——
[Item: True · Death Substitute]
[Type: Item · One-Time Use]
[Description: Automatically activated when the wielder faces true death. Possesses a specific counter-resistance to Source Annihilation. Cannot be countered by anything below Tier 8.]
——
The previous fusion of [Limit Break] and [Super Burst] yielded [Vermillion Crown], a perfect and extremely powerful result.
The most logical and efficient approach would be to continue fusing based on [Vermillion Crown]. That was Mei's idea. But before that, she wanted to prepare more powerful fusion materials.
She was curious about the result of fusing [True · Source Annihilation] and [True · Death Substitute]. Would it be a perfect item for both offense and defense?
Or would it, like All Concepts and Counter-Conceptual, merge and ascend to a higher level?
Suddenly,
BOOM!
[Transfinite Fusion · Commencing]
The two scarecrows in Mei's hand transformed into beams of light and instantly merged. The super-level offensive and defensive power targeting the Root broke out of its cocoon and transformed.
[Transfinite Fusion · Completed]
The light receded.
An ancient stone slab fell into Mei's hand.
[Acquired: Root Distortion]
——
[Item: Root Distortion]
[Type: Item]
[Description: Distorts all known information at the Root level, including but not limited to matter, memory, history, causality, and level. Cannot be resisted by anything below or equal Tier 9.]
——