Chapter 1 Gradually Dimming

Beneath the gradually dimming sky, the procession of the formerly guilty continued towards the Central Sanctuary. Torches and points of light illuminated the several-thousand-meter-long line, forming a winding dragon serpent. The Blessed and Clergy from the Central Sanctuary made no attempt to obstruct them. They all gazed at the procession with admiration and remorse.

The formerly guilty people paid them no mind. They would walk themselves to the center of everything in this world, the Central Sanctuary.

Then, they would demand that the gods grant everyone a truly fair and just trial, not only to restore their reputations but also to demand an explanation for the suffering they had endured.

Among them, pirates like Arber were walking step by step towards their execution… But for some reason, the red-haired pirate had remained silent ever since hearing Su Zhou's words.

He followed closely behind the procession, gazing at his hands with a complicated expression before letting out a sneering laugh, directed at himself or perhaps others. Regardless of who it was aimed at, Arber showed no fear of facing death.

In fact, it wasn't just Arber.

The conversation between the Lord of Judgment and the Lord of Fire had shaken everyone who had been listening.

Whether it was the Lord of Judgment's demand for 'innovation' and his exposing of various social ills, or the revelation of his master-disciple relationship with the Lord of Fire, all were incredibly surprising. Even Aemon, the steadfast divine official, couldn't help but turn around to glance at his lord and the Lord of Fire, muttering to himself.

"Although, the Lord has always called the Lord of Fire by name, he never mentioned that he was the Lord of Fire's teacher!"

"So, the Lord and the Lord of Fire have such a relationship? Then what is the relationship between the other Lord of Judgment and you…?"

While Aemon was inwardly gossiping, Ishaar, the black-haired, golden-eyed Blessed, felt a surge of joy after his initial shock.

"So, the Lord of Judgment is actually this powerful?!"

As a peak-level Blessed, Ishaar could easily discern that when the Lord of Judgment and the Lord of Fire clashed a moment ago, his own lord had clearly retreated slightly. It should have been disheartening, but knowing that his lord was isolated and helpless, even planning to sacrifice himself to save the world, the formerly unremarkable Lord of Judgment had suddenly gained such strength.

Good, a great thing!

Thinking this, he couldn't help but look up at the direction the lords had gone together, ascending into the sky. Ishaar murmured, "At least now, with such a powerful reinforcement, the Lord shouldn't be thinking about sacrificing himself…"

At this moment.

Cloud Top.

Back in the high sky, away from everyone's gazes, Su Zhou and Elias' conversation wasn't as serious as it had been on the ground.

"I didn't expect that after all these years, you'd still be like this… If I had known, I should have had you accept the Soul of Fire a little later."

Looking at the gray-haired youth's height and physique, which hadn't changed in hundreds of years, Su Zhou couldn't help but shake his head slightly. "Two or three years later would have been fine. As it is, you really lack any authority."

After a creature merged with the Soul of Fire, it became an elemental spirit, a being in harmony with the world. A thousand years for them was like a few days for humans. Their growth depended entirely on the world itself. Only when the world grew could they grow.

If not for the special mechanism of the Reincarnation World, which reincarnated every thousand years or so, elemental spirits could have lived from the Cretaceous period to the modern era.

However, Elias, standing beside the youth, slowly shook his head in response to Su Zhou's remark, his gaze clear and calm.

[I don't mind this at all. Only with the power of the Soul of Fire could I try to become a truly authoritative lord and lead the people to live in this world after ascending to godhood.]

[Compared to power, appearance is meaningless. Besides, if I wanted to, I could create an avatar that looked much older, but there's no need.]

Although his appearance was that of a young boy, even a bit childish, Elias' mind was already mature and steady, like the millennia-old glaciers of the Arctic, completely different from the young child who had always followed Su Zhou, knowing nothing.

It was precisely because of this that Su Zhou could ask some questions without hesitation.

"Although I pointed out some problems with your precepts and other aspects earlier, Elias, the greatest disaster in this world is indeed elemental imbalance—I know this can't be announced to the public casually, so I waited until now to ask."

Saying this, Su Zhou turned to look at Elias, his eyes filled with curiosity. "In other words, how exactly did those pirates appear? What exactly was the first rebellion all about? What was its origin?"

Su Zhou's questions were always straightforward.

Hearing this, Elias was silent for a long time. The youth met his gaze, patiently waiting, not giving up.

After a long time, the boy sighed softly, turning his head away from Su Zhou and slowly opening his mouth. [Actually, these things can all be considered the same thing.]

[The process may be a little long.]

—In the past, three hundred years ago.

Sixty years after obtaining the Soul of Fire, Elias, who had reached the Overlord tier with the Soul of Fire, joined forces with the God of Wind to pass through the nine-layered underground maze and arrive in the void outside the world.

There, they discovered together that the gray fog that had originally enveloped the entire world began to dissipate as they reached the void, and the entire Tartadis world was located in the center of a vast expanse of world ruins.

Distant alien worlds, world dust, required a god to maintain the world's operation…

Elias briefly explained this aspect, and then he discovered that Su Zhou seemed very familiar with the topic, even starting to ponder halfway through.

"The gray fog, is it the Lord of Silence?"

Su Zhou knew very well that the gray fog of Tartadis was the avatar of the Lord of Silence, similar to the Banyan Undying Tree and the Great Dao Tree, but one level higher—hmm, a bit similar to the Primordial Serpent and Yala.

The Tartadis world was born because of the gray fog. This was the truth Su Zhou knew at the end of the last era, and now it seemed that the Lord of Silence not only created this world but had also been protecting it.

And this protection continued until someone could break through the world and leave the void—only then did He withdraw his protection, allowing the protected to work hard on their own.

"I see, that is indeed the style of the Lord of Silence."

Thinking this, Su Zhou was not surprised at all by this phenomenon. Presumably, being far away from other worlds and needing a maintainer, its existence was a 'reincarnation', and whether it was finding the existence of other distant worlds or being strong enough to maintain this world all along, it could be considered 'breaking the reincarnation'.

Thinking of this, Su Zhou nodded to Elias, feeling quite sympathetic. "I understand now—no wonder you're so busy, providing fuel for the flames of the entire world. That's indeed not something you can be distracted from."

In this case, the youth also realized that the current state of the Holy Fire Continent was likely not what Elias had intended. Both the precepts and the Judgment Dragon were created by him and the God of Wind to ensure that someone could maintain order even after they left. As for the specific effects, Elias was simply too busy and couldn't spare the energy to correct them.

If it weren't for himself, Elias would probably have to wait until the God of Wind returned to have the spare time to make corrections.

To this, the Lord of Fire shook his head slightly: [The God of Wind is the one who has really been working hard. At that time, He said that I was still a child and that He was used to striving, so He chose to have Him explore the distant alien worlds.]

Speaking of this, Elias sighed, a hint of regret in his expression: [In short, the God of Wind's avatar is still on the Distant Wind Continent, existing as the spiritual network of the Wind People. If you don't mind, Teacher, we can visit Him together in a while.]

"No problem." Su Zhou nodded seriously, but he didn't forget his original question. "But what about the pirates? How were they born?"

Elias looked at Su Zhou with a somewhat complicated expression, and then at the sky. At this moment, they were at the top of the clouds, the stars interlinked in the gray-blue night sky.

After a while, he slowly said: [The birth of the pirates… stems from my and the Judgment Dragon's dereliction of duty.]

[The origin of everything… they are the creations of 'jealousy'.]

One hundred and thirty-seven years ago.

As Sunset City and a series of other coastal cities were developed, the trade fleets with the Distant Wind Continent also grew larger and larger, and the holy hall fleets specializing in exploration also became larger.

In order to find continents other than the Distant Wind Continent and to explore many valuable islands, a group of clergy, even the Blessed, entered the sea to explore the entire world.

The seven seas that everyone is familiar with today, except for the Jumpy Sea, were all discovered and named by them during that era.

And the most important purpose of this group, besides finding new continents and islands, was to find the existence that was cast into the abyss by the three gods at the beginning of the era, and ultimately transformed into the entire sea, that is, the 'Soul of Water'.

Hearing this, Su Zhou couldn't help but nod slightly—this was exactly his purpose. He, Elias, and the Lord of Wind had discussed throwing the Soul of Water into the sea in order to arouse humanity's curiosity about the ocean.

Exploration, discovery, going to faraway places… all of this was the most important thing for civilization, and the emergence of exploration fleets proved the correctness of Su Zhou's ideas.

[And they really found the location of the Soul of Water.]

Saying this, the Lord of Fire Elias's expression did not show any joy: [Tragedy followed.]

After discovering a huge underwater whirlpool current layer in the Meditation Sea, the Blessed in charge of the exploration fleet confirmed that it was the location of the Soul of Water. He went to the depths of the sea, obtained a 'fragment of the Source Soul of Water', and was happily preparing to use it as evidence to report this situation to the holy hall when suspicion arose.

"This guy must want to take all the credit for himself…"

"It's clearly the merit of the entire fleet, but he's acting like he's the only one…"

"If the Lord bestows grace, or even allows someone to become a new god, it will definitely be this guy."

"A new god…"

These words were spoken by the other crew members of the exploration fleet. Although their jealousy and speculation were not explicitly expressed, they did take root within the fleet like seeds and slowly sprouted.

Although the Blessed felt a little uncomfortable, he didn't really care—because he believed that the Lord was just, and he didn't care whether he could become a new god or not, he just needed to continue serving the Lord.

—Whether the Lord allows me or others to become a new god, I will serve the Lord, whether as a Blessed or as a subordinate god.

He thought so, and led the team back to the continent.

[But the top-secret information that should have been kept secret was leaked along the way.]

Speaking of this, Elias's tone became a little heavier, and he was silent with some sorrow for a while before sighing: [At that time, a large number of the Blessed and clergy on the continent were indifferent to exploring the sea.]

And just after the vast majority of the Central Sanctuary knew about the existence of the Soul of Water, everyone was stunned.

The last remaining elemental soul, the foundation and birth of a new god—the many Blessed and clergy who knew about this were immediately jealous. They were originally unwilling to put any effort into this matter, but now, whether it was the opportunity to become a new god or the theory of trade between the Holy Fire Continent and the Distant Wind Continent, it was all too envious.

So, rumors arose.

—The Blessed who explored wants to monopolize the Soul of Water to become a god, he intends to abandon the gods!

—That guy has ulterior motives, deliberately splitting the Soul of Water, taking the fragments himself, so that even if others get the Soul of Water, they won't be able to become gods!

—This person does not revere the gods, and actually wants to be on par with the gods! He's only back this time to test the gods' attitude!

Many rumors that were simply unfounded and purely speculative arose, and they grew louder and louder, as if they were true.

And there were actually people in this world who would believe these rumors! Even if the rumors were as idiotic as injecting disinfectant to kill viruses in the body, or that wearing masks was useless during the plague, there were actually people who would believe them!

To this, the Blessed was a little flustered, but still firm in his faith.

Because the Lord is a symbol of justice—He would not wrong him.

"But… the gods are not just."

Hearing this, Su Zhou had roughly guessed the final outcome of this event, and he couldn't help but look up at the top of the sky, that is, the distant place in the spirit world where the Judgment Dragon was located.

He murmured, "The God of Judgment is just a tool of mob rule. He is neither just nor fair, and has no wisdom or thought, only knowing how to listen to wishes and then respond to them."

"That is the embodiment of my past mistakes."

The Lord of Fire silently nodded, then sighed and said in a low voice: [So, when I realized something was wrong and my soul returned from outside the world, what I saw was the thunder punishment降下的雷罚 from the Lord of Judgment, and what I heard was that sentence.]

[He said… Lord, why have you forsaken me?!]

Shock, pain, mixed with endless sadness and despair.

The Blessed, confident of his innocence, stood on the judgment台, incredulously seeing the thunder punishment descending from the sky, a punishment formed by the convergence of countless rumors, countless jealousies, and countless denials of will!

Three men make a tiger, falsehood becomes truth, a thousand fingers pointing, death without disease—this was just the world without transcendence. If there was transcendence, then the true will and the gods who punished according to the will could really use rumors and falsehood to destroy honesty and truth!

"Lord, you are not just! I wholeheartedly served you, yet you abandoned and even punished me!"

Therefore, amidst the crisscrossing thunder, the desperate Blessed ate the fragment of the Source Soul of Water. Endless rain clouds accompanied him as he resisted the thunder punishment of the Lord of Judgment, flying all the way towards the sea, and the rain that fell along the way was his tears, followed by continuous terrifying lightning strikes, bringing the flames of betrayal.

The holy hall was riddled with holes, and countless bewildered and bewildered divine officials had no idea what had happened or why it had become like this.

And that was the beginning of the rebellion.

Within a year, a large number of divine officials began to question the covenant and the justice of the gods. They also fled to the sea one after another, and the Central Sanctuary also revised history during this period, covering up the truth and completely erasing this group of people and the earliest Blessed.

This was the truth of that rebellion.

[It was me who let them down.]

Elias, walking slowly in the clouds, stopped, his tone incredibly complex: [If I had come back sooner, if the Judgment Dragon's method of judgment had been more detailed and clear, if I had made divine pronouncements sooner, if I had realized that jealousy was a natural instinct of human beings that could not be eliminated by the covenant… too many ifs, this thing should never have happened.]

[When Yulra desperately chose to flee to the sea, I couldn't stop him and could only let him leave…]

"I see, so he was able to hold on until the seaside, until the thunder punishment dissipated."

Su Zhou understood Elias's feelings at that time… He was, after all, a good person, how could he have realized the harm caused by the pirates in the future at that time, and then出手去擊殺 kill Yulra, who he had clearly wronged?

And the departure of many divine officials afterwards was also the same. They no longer believed that the gods were just, and what face did Elias have to stop them from leaving?

And by the time Yulra died from the thunder punishment injuries and the pirates completely rioted, becoming a major harm, he was already unable to go to the sea to suppress them, even if he did, it would greatly damage the Central Sanctuary.

[I am indeed incompetent.]

Saying this, Elias had no intention of concealing anything. He said it directly, albeit in a disappointed tone: [This is my responsibility.]

And Su Zhou could not comfort him.

—The Judgment Dragon is a dragon of humanity created with the Soul of Earth as its base, the incarnation of the collective subconscious.

However, the collective subconscious of human beings is originally a rabble.

It is blind and ignorant, and easily influenced by others. Rumors can easily spread among them, and trying to refute the rumors may not be able to overcome some incredible rumors.

Because of the Lord of Fire's unwillingness, the first group of sea people appeared, and then, more and more people who had suffered injustice and criminals came to the sea—they were the prototypes of the pirates.

And after a while, immigrants belonging to the Wind People also joined, but the Wind People did not have a suppression campaign against these immigrants, so these Wind People just quietly lived on the islands, and occasionally traded some sea-unique materials with the other Wind People on the mainland.

After listening to the whole process, Su Zhou once again affirmed that 'the Judgment Dragon's punishment process is sick', and also completely understood the current situation of the Tartadis world.

What the Blessed Yulra encountered was essentially no different from what Old Chuck encountered.

Because of the elemental imbalance, the divine official Edmund found an opportunity to set a trap, causing Old Chuck to fall into the trap and be judged guilty.

Because the world needed Elias to maintain it, the rumors of the people had a chance to allow Yulra to be judged by the Lord of Judgment, and thus be judged guilty.

The changes in the world caused an imbalance in order, and because of the imperfection of laws and regulations, the innocent were judged guilty, and the good were wronged.

[And the pirates' goal, I guess, is like this.]

Although he felt guilty and helpless, Elias understood that the current pirates were different from the first pirates in the past. These sea demons now were all genuine antisocial personalities, true villains, and He was very clear about their purpose: [To obtain the Soul of Water and become a new god, this is undoubtedly their goal—recently, the pirates have been collecting fragments of the Source Soul of Water. They probably want to use this kind of奇物(qíwù - rare and unusual object) to make themselves have a physique that adapts to the Soul of Water, and this is indeed correct.]

[In addition, they probably also want to use the Soul of Water as leverage to destroy the current elemental cycle—the current world is extremely stable because of the four-element cycle set by you, Teacher, and the power of the four great elemental souls is essentially the same. If they want to defeat me and the God of Wind, they must break this balance.]

[They want to use the power of the godhood ascension ritual to resonate with the heaven and earth, creating a large-scale elemental conversion out of thin air, so that the deep sea era, also known as the water era, will descend, and the endless floods will submerge the mainland.]

Speaking of this, the Lord of Fire's face was serious: [At that time, the four elements will be unified, and the power of the Soul of Water may not only be at the god-tier level, even surpassing the gods would not be surprising!]