Chapter 770
Chapter 770 - 756: Perspective
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11 min read
The Black Holy Grail Holder was a third-tier Warlord (Soldier) that Lu Ping’an "downloaded" from Chris. However, from the very beginning, Lu Ping’an sensed that something was wrong.
"....This strength, it’s overflowing. As soon as I succeed in attaining this position, I will have two strategic-level Silver Decree-level abilities. No matter how you look at it, this is like a fourth-fifth tier Soldier profession."
If there’s any error in the estimation of strength, the "Silver Lower Professional Ability" label from the Life Bank blatantly shows the discrepancies.
Big Cat used the "Path of the Evil Gods" to explain, but Lu Ping’an also had an Evil Gods-type profession (Heavy Armor Warrior) and had received Divine Grace too.
Normally, the bottle matches the class of wine. Why would a Cursed-level profession or item have a higher ability? It even leaped up by a whole tier....
Lu Ping’an went to ask Fang Wen and found out that a normal "Black Holy Grail" only has the abilities of "Black Holy Grail (Bronze Superior)", War Declaration (Bronze Superior), and "Body Martyrdom (Bronze Superior Professional Ability)" ... This is the normal strength of a third-tier profession.
Moreover, the power and range were not as strong as Lu Ping’an’s.
"...This looks like a fifth-tier Black Knight, capable of being the core of a legion battle." Fang Wen was somewhat puzzled, but thinking about it being Lu Ping’an, it didn’t seem so strange anymore.
"There might be a problem with me."
The power of the Black Holy Grail made Lu Ping’an realize that perhaps it was not the profession itself that was problematic, but himself as the holder of this profession.
When he focused on the "Black Holy Grail" itself, he found this ability strangely familiar...
"...’Black Holy Grail’ should be the same as the ’Mother Goddess Statue,’ a ’Life Collector’..."
An inspiration flashed in Lu Ping’an’s mind, and he knew that this might be the answer.
After all, the Black Knight is of the Death system, but at the same time, it is also of the Life system, utilizing the Power of Death/Life.
The black cup continuously absorbs and collects the lives, souls, and spirits of the fallen on the battlefield and condenses them into the "materialized" Black Holy Water.
That final cup of "Black Holy Water," containing the "lives" of at least several thousand professionals, had that extraordinary strength.
That scene, inexplicably, reminded Lu Ping’an of the night when he and Big Cat first met.
"...That tree, that huge tree made up of countless flesh, was Big Cat’s Mother Goddess Statue, her proof of enlightenment..."
Afterwards, Lu Ping’an recalled the ritual. He knew that if the ritual went smoothly, lives would constantly die in the Arena. Then, the weak and the dead would be hung on the tree, becoming a part of the "Mother Goddess."
How similar this was to the Black Holy Grail, which also "collected lives," and then...
"At the end of the ritual, when proving that her ’rules’ were the ’laws of the world,’ Chris would fuse with the statue of the Mother Goddess and complete Ascension..."
At that moment, Lu Ping’an suddenly understood.
"...She uses life as a stepping stone, as a kind of resource, as a kind of... currency!"
Somehow, it was inevitable for Lu Ping’an and Big Cat to meet. His "courtyard" was Big Cat’s legacy, naturally carrying her accumulation.
Lu Ping’an, inheriting Big Cat’s "existence," happened to encounter her own "rules" and unleashed power beyond his tier.
So, he became genuinely interested in the "Mother Goddess cult" at that time.
He knew that this was Big Cat’s creation of "her own god" based on the "source."
Facing Lu Ping’an’s inquiry, Chris’s beautiful face turned grim.
For the first time, she didn’t want to preach at all, let alone talk about her ideals and life...
"I am not your... nourishment!"
Her calm words, filled with anger from the heart, showed that, in her eyes, Lu Ping’an had gone too far.
Lu Ping’an was still smiling, seemingly unfazed.
He had many ways to "persuade" Big Cat, such as saying "I’ll go find Fang Wen," using intimidation and rewards (sweets and whips) like in the past, or simply exchanging interests. But in the end, what he said was...
"...Your path has been determined to be a dead end."
Chris’s face became even uglier because the most annoying thing was always the truth.
The failure of the ritual of Ascension was not accidental. She had long surpassed the normal "caution" and "accumulation" needed for Ascension. Her success rate was at least 95%... So, her failure was likely inevitable.
"Did I choose the wrong path, and there’s no hope ahead?" Chris, who had been reviewing her past in the solitude of night, couldn’t help but feel a little pained and questioned herself.
Ascending means proving to the world that their "rules" can pass as the "world’s laws." However, if the answer was negative from the start, then no matter how hard they try, it would be useless.
A wrong formula stays wrong even after a million verifications.
It’s true that all roads lead to Rome, but people who build and walk those roads have their limits. Due to geographical limitations, some paths could only be built halfway, and some people could only reach halfway through.
While Big Cat might merely doubt whether her path was walkable, Lu Ping’an was almost certain...
"...If this path were viable, there would be no reason for the world to let me come over."
One could say that Lu Ping’an vaguely suspected that it was Damao’s ritual of Ascension that led to his own "transmigration"... The whole world was hindering her success in Ascension.
"...Perhaps she didn’t take the wrong path, but for the whole world, no one can go through this path."
If there was really no hope and leaving it alone wouldn’t result in Ascension’s success, Damao’s exceptional "treatment" could only mean that she had probably stepped on a landmine...Especially after Lu Ping’an learned the true nature of the Mother Goddess cult, that was a near certainty.
Indeed, Lu Ping’an already knew, but now he chose to question Chris, hoping...
"...You should have realized that with ’me’ around, you cannot succeed in Ascension. And I was originally not in this world, hindering your Ascension is the whole world..."
Some things can’t be hidden, especially from those who are always close by.
Lu Ping’an expressed sincerity. He wasn’t holding onto Damao’s pain, but since Damao had been destined to be unable to reach her own endpoint and Lu Ping’an was forced to start from her endpoint, he needed Damao’s utmost cooperation to prevent the same fate.
At least, he needed to know where exactly Damao’s path went wrong, and which part of it was not tolerated by the world.
"Do you think I don’t understand..." In Chris’s words, there was hatred. Towards fate? The gods? The world?
At least Lu Ping’an knew that the hatred was not towards himself.
"I know your intentions, but... I’m not your nutrition." Still the same words and the same refusal.
She had already seen through everything but still chose to refuse.
Lu Ping’an touched his chin, knowing that words alone were not enough.
"...You must have been waiting all along, waiting for this courtyard to grow into a true Divine Kingdom, waiting for you, the AI, to regain a physical body and even regain life..."
Now, it was Damao’s turn to be utterly shocked.
"...How could you know the knowledge of deities, how could you know the way the courtyard evolves, I bypassed all..."
"I bought it with money, the library has it." Lu Ping’an laughed a little. Actually, even if he didn’t read those "materials", he still had a rough guess.
Chris was almost choked and when she turned around, she found out that it was "herself" who had leaked the information.
"Don’t worry, I can promise not to unplug you prematurely... When I reach the height you were at, I’ll give you another chance."
"...Are you planning to use me as your counterwind for Ascension!? How audacious! How..." In an instant, Chris understood and became furious.
This time, however, she guessed wrong.
Lu Ping’an smiled and shook his head, looking at her with eyes full of pity and sympathy, as if looking at a "child".
"Ascension... Is that the end you can imagine? Don’t you want to look higher? Do you regard deities as your ultimate goal? Hehe, it’s just the principle of a world... Look at those divine bones. Millions of years ago, it might have been more powerful than any deity, but it still ended up buried in its own world, becoming our ’materials’."
The young man looked at Chris as if his blind eyes could see through everything. Those unfocused pupils seemed to see through her and gaze into the future.
"Don’t you want to see if your ’life’ pursuit has really reached its limit? Can I, who inherited your ’life’, complete it? To what extent will our principle evolve in the end?"
"Before, I thought we were completely different, but sometimes I find that we are actually the same. Looking back now, maybe both are right... I am the complement to you, and you are mine. Don’t you want to know how far we can go in the end? Is the Twelve-Pillar the ultimate? Not necessarily. Those ’origins’ are far more powerful than them."
"You are limited to this world, confined to the slow death of a polluted world. Don’t you want to see the pure world of technology, where there is no origin? Your past, your thoughts, your horizons have restrained you, and you haven’t even thought about it..."
"The more you fear and flee, the more stifling you will be living, making your life meaningless...Haven’t you realized that you have long become the slave of your own ’pursuit’? When you’re still focused on that divine position, everything is destined. Even if you succeed in Ascension, can you get what you want... freedom and eternal life? If so, then perhaps a giant snail shell suits you better."
Lu Ping’an was calm, and his simple and direct words plunged Chris into panic.
The divine seat? It might be the goal, but what this coward in front of him was really after was, in fact, nothing more than a safe haven, a Noah’s Ark away from death.
"You!" She was so angry she stammered, trying to say something, but was directly pushed back by Lu Ping’an’s light and breezy words.
"If you want to deny it... Tell me, have you thought about what you want to do after you succeed in Ascension? Not the cliche Winner-Takes-All, but have you thought about using the power of a deity for something?"
You abandon everything to pursue power, and then what? What are you going to do with that power? It wouldn’t be as simple as just getting it, would it? That would be too stupid.
At this moment, those lifeless eyes seemed to see through everything.
Even Chris, who was once a Quasi-God, closed her eyes helplessly after looking directly into his eyes.
Lu Ping’an was right. She was right, she hadn’t thought about it. She only wanted to succeed in Ascension and escape the endless Doomsday and end.
"Kerdalais, stop staring at that small seat of gods. It’s too uninteresting. You and I might have become gladiators of the arena due to fate, but if your body is bound by fate, it’s too miserable to have your will as a puppet of fate as well."
"What kind of person you want to be, where you want to go, it depends on your own choices... Get out of it, don’t always focus on your past failures and that nearly missed seat of the divine. That’s too shortsighted."
Lu Ping’an reached out his hand with a rare sincerity etched on his face.
"...I need your help. In exchange, I, Lu Ping’an, will not only give you the safety and freedom you’ve always dreamed of, but also..."
The young man smiled and made a promise of a lifetime.
"...I will take you further."
— End of Chapter 770 —