"Oh my god."
Perradat hid behind Teest, her mouth never closing. "I've never heard of such a thing!"
Now she knew why Nol insisted on her presence. Teest certainly wouldn't know what it is, but across the entire universe, few species understood the Pillar of the World better than the Floating Cocoon.
With herself present, Teest emitted the aura of the Pillar of the World. With both conditions met, time in the room began to flow rapidly. Nol himself couldn't accept this memory, so he wanted them to act as a third party, to investigate the truth in the nearest place.
Sunlight swept over the room time and again, alternating between orange-red and dazzling gold. Those black and red threads kept drawing on Xu Yue's divine power, hatching a world called "Tahe".
However, Xu Yue's flesh stopped rotting. The mass of flesh in front of them gradually took shape, and its distortion gradually became orderly, turning into a bizarre embryo.
It was tightly wrapped in three pairs of cyan and red wings. Structures like eyeballs peeked through countless cracks, and its whole body emitted a mad and chaotic aura. If not for Star Stealer Sol crazily drawing its divine power, Joy Garden—and even the entire continent—would have been contaminated long ago.
"This form looks a lot like the Pillar of the World." Before Teest could ask, Perradat explained on her own initiative. "But the Pillar of the World is pure white. This thing is more like… To speak blasphemously, it's like a necromantic version of the Pillar of the World."
The difference in their appearance was that between normal humans and liches.
Countless divine corpses were being integrated by the "immortality" power of the Pillar of the World, forcibly mimicking the growth process of the Pillar of the World. Admittedly, Nol couldn't become a Pillar of the World through this means, but he stabilized the physical state very well.
"But his mind is still not secure." Teest murmured, gently touching the hatching monster. The nameless monster filled the room, leaving them only a small corner.
His Nol stabilized the collapse of the body, solving only half of the problem. Teest knew well how chaotic Nol's memories were, and as Nol became stronger, this chaos would only intensify.
Fortunately, time in the room flew by madly, and they would soon see the end.
Teest closed his eyes, relaxing against the monster. And the monster didn't forget to extend its tentacles, gently touching his long hair.
...
The wreckage, known as the "Fragment of the Pillar of the World", lent out its "immortality" power.
It skillfully suppressed countless divine corpses, integrating them together—a method much more refined than Star Stealer Sol's rough stitching. The divine corpses no longer rotted, and the physical pain was greatly reduced.
What stood in front of Xu Yue was the increasing madness.
This is good, he thought dimly. If his consciousness were "normal", he would have been driven mad by the endless torment and imprisonment long ago.
Now he maintained a balance. When Tahe would be perfected, the howls and murmurs in his mind would calm down. Besides his own energy being particularly focused, Nol suspected that Star Stealer Sol also made protections—obviously, Star Stealer Sol didn't want too many problems at the end of "Tahe World".
Xu Yue gnawed at the pitch-black screen, typing lines of bizarre characters that didn't exist in the world. He knew Tahe was becoming more and more perfect. In this endless madness and darkness, that was the only color he could grasp.
It always reminded him of who he was.
…That was good. Now he could think.
For liberation, the divine corpses lent their knowledge to Xu Yue. For observation, the Pillar of the World also lent quite a bit of information. Xu Yue knew this was an extremely dangerous act—the bunch of dangerous knowledge jumped up and down in his head, infecting his nerves.
This was a dangerous bet. It depended on whether he would go mad or use them to find a solution first.
Think.
After the end, Star Stealer Sol would remove the protections given to him and turn to erase him, taking the precious world he created as his own. In this situation, he would definitely fall into complete madness.
Now he was on Earth. Even if he escaped this room, he would bring endless disasters to his compatriots.
Think, think.
Right, at the beginning of creation, he believed that "Tahe World" was a game. The authority of the God of Creation was solidified as the "system", and the system naturally allowed Players from Earth to log in.
That's to say, there was a system-permitted passage between Tahe and Earth.
Indeed, there was a way out. He could use the system to escape to Tahe, but the problem was that his current physical and mental state would also bring a catastrophic impact to the world of Tahe.
Think, think, think.
…Got it.
Soon after, Tahe World was officially completed. That night, a meteor shower full of power fell from the sky, intending to erase the entire Joy Garden neighborhood.
According to the original plan, the collapsing God of Creation and any potential witnesses would die together, without a trace. People of Earth would only regard it as an unfortunate accident, just as it had been the previous three times.
Humans were too fragile, and under such destructive power, normal rescue operations would be impossible.
Xu Yue tried hard to maintain his last bit of clarity—he decapitated all his neighbors. Thus, struggling, he held those damaged heads and activated the "test account" leading to Tahe.
It was an administrator account he had secretly reserved in advance.
[Administrator Test Account "Nol" requests login]
[Login successful]
The moment before Joy Garden completely evaporated, that bizarre figure disappeared into the night.
Xu Yue specifically chose a barren wilderness to minimize the impact, and he also raised a fog around him to block the view. His arms were drenched in blood, and his neighbors were gradually dying.
The protection from Star Stealer Sol disappeared. Wave after wave of madness assaulted Xu Yue's mind. He could maintain his clarity for fewer and fewer moments, and he had to execute the next step of his plan before being discovered by Star Stealer Sol…
The bodies of the neighbors were too damaged to log in as Players. So—
[Execute "system custody" for all living beings except me.]
Before Star Stealer Sol could react, the highest administrator authority was still in place. Xu Yue struggled against time, forcefully commanding the system. [Keep until I regain consciousness and restart activity.]
[Custody target comes from Earth. System login check in progress.]
[Target body information incomplete. Only partial permissions can be obtained. Do you want to continue?]
The huge monster, covered in wounds, stretched out countless tentacles, tightly embracing thousands of heads. [Continue.]
The system responded smoothly. [Target body information missing. Currently only support for survival via other biological bodies. Please specify selection scheme.]
[Give them… the bodies with the highest survival rate, under the premise of matching individual personalities…] Xu Yue, with his mind full of madness, insisted on giving the order.
[Custody plan recorded.]
A soft light shone, and Xu Yue's arms were empty. Those heads turned into points of light, dissipating in the clear air of Tahe.
The voices inside his head grew louder. Xu Yue's consciousness was like a raft in a storm. His mind could disintegrate at any moment.
Now came the last part.
[Execute "system custody" for me…] Xu Yue commanded.
[Target power is too strong. Custody failed.]
As expected.
Xu Yue held his breath and concentrated. He separated a small piece of flesh, attaching his frenzied consciousness to it. That flesh had roughly the shape of a person, thin, with a flesh membrane hanging loosely like a robe.
It had twisted hard horns on its head like organs, pitch-black hair winding on the ground, connecting to a vastly large, deformed god behind it.
…The avatar of a god.
Under the dissipation of consciousness, the avatar couldn't even stand. Xu Yue struggled to crawl, turning his body, and bit off the connection at the end of his hair.
In the midst of madness, his forced transfer would surely leave many traces. The discovery of his escape by Star Stealer Sol was only a matter of time. He needed to leave that guy a "target to kill".
Like his so-called "true self".
Giving up the shackles of the flesh, giving up the forcibly piled up power, he wanted to survive.
[Execute "system custody" for me…] Xu Yue tried to prop up his avatar, commanding again.
[Target contains abnormally formatted messages. Unable to custody normally…]
[Do you want to clear the abnormally formatted message content?]
That was the mental corruption from countless divine corpses, the source of his madness.
Xu Yue: [Yes.]
[Excessive abnormal messages. Unable to clear normally. It is recommended to compress and archive. Do you want to continue?]
Very well. All that remained was…
"…please…"
Amidst the fog, Xu Yue's actions suddenly halted. A faint voice rang in Xu Yue's ear—that voice was pitiful and sad.
"Please, I beg of you…"
Who?
Xu Yue struggled to turn his gaze, his eyes passing through the fog and stopping on the shivering figure.
It was a woman, gaunt in appearance, with disheveled hair and wounds all over her feet, looking like a war refugee. This place was rarely visited by people. She was undoubtedly fleeing. Further away, there were a few people in tattered clothes. They huddled in the distance and didn't dare to approach.
Oddly, even though the fog could conceal his form, the aura he emitted was very real. Typically, nearby creatures would only see him as a monster and wouldn't dare to approach.
Xu Yue looked again at the woman not far away.
The woman in front of him had brown hair and golden eyes, possessing the typical characteristics of the Wilder people.
This was the first time Xu Yue encountered a creature he had created with his own hands.
His gaze softened involuntarily, and for a moment, the chaos in his mind cleared.
The woman knelt on the ground, trembling all over. Her forehead nearly touched the ground, and her hands were stretched forward, holding a stained swaddle. In the swaddle, the head of a baby with brown fluffy hair was visible, one arm hanging stiffly.
"Noble Lord, please…"
"Please save her, my little baby… I will do anything. I can sacrifice everything. Please save her…"
The woman's voice was hoarse, with a sobbing tone, sounding somewhat delirious.
"She was still breathing a short while ago. You are so powerful. There must be something you can do…"
"Save my daughter, please…"
Don't cry, he thought. Perhaps his plan could be slightly altered.
He could see that the baby had stopped breathing not long ago, and her organs hadn't completely died. If he used just a bit of his authority—
[Are you sure?]
The fragment of the Pillar of the World asked without any fluctuation.
[You have already abandoned your true body. To forcefully grant her Player privileges—even incomplete Player privileges—requires the use of my power.]
[According to calculations, continuing to hold my "immortality" power is the wiser choice.]
[Your power is indeed very strong,] Xu Yue responded calmly. [But in the end, you are also one of my "mental corruptions". The risk and benefit of retaining you are equally high. I've thought about it and choosing "maintaining mental stability" isn't a bad idea either.]
[Next, I will completely strip away all threats and try my best to survive. After all, you are immortal. For you, it's just a change of perspective in "recording".]
[Agreed.] Eventually, the fragment gave its response.
Xu Yue moved his body. A tentacle gently pushed away the fog, touching the baby's head.
[Player identity call request received.]
[Applicant confirmed.]
[Sorry, your current power is insufficient. Temporarily unable to use developer privileges.]
Xu Yue calmly continued, [Reapply, additionally grant the target "immortality" power.]
[Exceeding the law power fragment confirmed.]
[The integrity of this power is extremely low, within the operable range.]
[Integrating calculations…]
[As per the highest administrator's request, the target successfully obtained Player Privileges [minimum], eligible for one "resurrection".
※This privilege is granted outside the rules. The individual with this privilege will be anchored by the system.]
[Affected by the "immortality" power, related bloodlines of the target have a chance to inherit "Player Privileges [minimum]" and its characteristics.]
As the system issued one notification after another, a soft halo shone around the baby. Her brown hair turned shiny silver, her stiff arm softened, and she gradually regained color.
The fragment of the Pillar of the World left.
Its power would disperse across the land of Tahe, silently recording everything through the eyes of those it benefitted.
The swaddle moved, and the baby cried out loudly. Her mother clutched the swaddle tightly. "Thank you. Thank you! Please take whatever price. I have no complaints…"
Meanwhile, the baby curiously waved her arms, trying to grasp the fog-wrapped tentacle.
That tentacle gently rubbed the top of the baby's head.
"I hope you… like my world…"
Xu Yue awkwardly spoke in the common language. "The price is… to live well…"
The woman looked up in a daze, just as she had clearly seen the outline in the fog, the scenery before her changed. The barren wilderness turned into a lush meadow, with the Brick Mountains vaguely visible in the distance.
There was no scent of war here.
That was long-distance spatial magic. That was the power of a god. The woman hugged her child tightly, finally bursting into tears.
...
Above the wasteland, Xu Yue was left alone again.
[Execute "system custody" for me. Compress and seal all abnormal messages. Wake me up when you think the system ownership should change.]
Ensuring no other beings were around, Xu Yue issued the command for the third time.
[A "memory seal" will be executed on you. Note, some of your personal memories are corrupted. The corrupted parts will also be sealed.]
[After sealing, you can only retain the minimum attributes. Do you wish to continue?]
[Continue. Also, attach a message to the memory seal—]
As madness approached, Xu Yue issued his final command.
[Never break the seal—!]
The moment his consciousness plunged into darkness, silence completely enveloped his ears.
This isn't the end, Xu Yue thought. This is the beginning.
Just as Star Stealer Sol lowered his guard, content with his corruption of the system, "Xu Yue" would awaken once again. This was his world. He would remember the knowledge that belonged solely to him. He wouldn't give up easily.
He would survive.
The author has something to say:
The truth of the past… Indeed, it was all Nol's scheme（.
Kinky Thoughts:
Ahhhhh the links are all connecting. So, so, so, so good!
Nol gave up his immortality from the Pillar of the World so he could save the baby girl who will eventually pass on the lineage of the Pillar of the World to her descendants.
This is the source of the White Demons—how Teest came to be! How he was resurrected once when he was killed as a child in the Immortal Church! Why the Blanco family worship this "mysterious god" in the painting! It also explains Teest's abnormal emotions (or rather lack of emotions).