CHAPTER 240: LAND OF GOD

Acknowledge Carlotta White as the leader?

When they heard Brady speak, all the Impressions present froze, then stared at Carlotta in disbelief.

A person from the future, how could she become their leader?

Sheena sneered coldly, "Brady, I think you’ve lost your mind. Seeing a cute girl, you’d throw aside the arrangements of the gods? Without being the strongest, what right do you have to lead us?"

Lames, ranked fifth in the world, laughed mercilessly, "I might have overestimated you, Brady. You don’t seem so impressive after all."

Almost all the Impressions failed to understand Brady’s words, their expressions growing strange.

Brady, upon hearing this, said nothing more. He simply glanced at Carlotta, leaving the rest to her to handle.

Carlotta, naturally interested in subduing this group of Impressions, stepped forward.

These Impressions had been deliberately left behind by the gods. She believed there was deep significance in this act. Controlling them will help her understand matters related to the gods.

So, facing their gazes, Carlotta smiled slightly and said, "Though I’m from the future, I do have some interest in all of you. Following me won’t be a wrong choice."

Hearing this, the Impressions laughed coldly, none of them paid her any heed.

Carlotta continued, "If anyone objects to me becoming your leader, speak up now. Otherwise, I’ll take your silence as acceptance."

"What an insolent, shameless fool."

Lames, ranked fifth in the world, could no longer tolerate it.

He raised his hand directly, pointing at Carlotta. Instantly, a dazzling ice spear materialized, radiating terrifying cold capable of freezing everything in existence, rapidly closing in on Carlotta’s forehead.

"It seems you truly... don’t accept it at all!"

Carlotta’s smile gradually faded.

She swung her sword fiercely. A blinding sword light surged out, instantly shattering Lames’s ice spear. The sword light didn’t stop, continuing its charge towards Lames. Its extreme sharpness made Lames feel as though his very body would be sliced apart.

His eyes flickered with surprise. He hadn’t expected Carlotta’s attack to be so ferocious. Yet even now, he wasn’t overly concerned. Magic power surged in his hands, and vast waves of time energy emerged.

As someone who walked the path of magic, he excelled in nearly all forms of magic. What he used now was a time-related spell, capable of reversing a person’s time, ideal for repelling incoming attacks.

This ability was terrifying and powerful. Carlotta felt a strong sense of resistance, but she felt it wasn’t insurmountable.

She simply applied a little more force, and the time energy shattered instantly. Then, with unstoppable momentum, she launched another fierce assault, the sword light aiming directly at Lames.

At this moment, Lames was truly shaken.

In the briefest instant, he deployed various magical techniques, attempting to force Carlotta back while beginning to retreat himself.

Yet no matter what he did, the distance between them rapidly closed. In the blink of an eye, Carlotta had reached Lames, and a brilliant sword slash, radiant as a river of stars, crashed down.

Under the stunned gazes of everyone present, Lames, ranked fifth in the world, was actually torn apart by Carlotta’s single sword strike, unable to withstand even one move.

Lames’s body splits in two, then explodes into fragments.

But a fifth mere-ranked being wouldn’t perish so easily.

At a distant open spot, Lames’s body reformed from nothingness, though his condition looked terrible, pale-faced and with a dim, weakened aura, clearly suffering significant injuries.

Lames suddenly raised his head, staring at Carlotta, eyes filled with shock and disbelief. He never expected this person he had looked down upon to possess such terrifying combat power.

The other Impressions also wore expressions of astonishment, completely taken aback by the outcome. They were well aware of Lames’s strength, making this result difficult to accept.

Had Lames’s rank dropped to middle tier Weaver due to age deterioration?

No, everyone quickly dismissed that idea.

Because Carlotta’s displayed rank was even lower, only at the level of an early tier Weaver.

An unknown early tier Weaver defeating Lames, ranked fifth among their peers?

Realizing this, everyone was stunned. Even Sheena, ranked third in the world, was momentarily lost in thought.

She asked herself, if she were at a disadvantage in rank, could she defeat Lames?

Moreover, Carlotta’s victory was too effortless. Not won through a hard-fought battle, but through overwhelming dominance!

At this moment, Sheena began to understand Brady’s decision. Faced with someone so terrifying, how could one possibly compete?

Her throat felt dry. She asked Carlotta, "May I ask, miss, how should we address you?"

Although Brady had mentioned Carlotta’s name earlier, no one had remembered it.

But after this brief clash, no one can ignore Carlotta’s presence anymore.

Carlotta smiled slightly, "Carlotta White."

This time, everyone deeply engraved this name into their memories.

Then Sheena stepped forward seriously, inquiring about Carlotta’s origins.

"Didn’t Brady already say? I’m just someone from the future. If I have any speciality in this future, it’s probably being ranked first in the world."

Carlotta smiled, introducing herself using familiar terminology to their respective worlds.

These "world rankings" referred only to those below the level of Exalted.

Below the Exalted level, Carlotta claimed to be number one in the world and was perfectly accurate.

"Has the future developed far, far beyond our era?"

Sheena said, her expression is complicated.

"Not really. Our world has always been a testing ground for gods. From the beginning, no complete cultivation methods were passed down. The cultivation methods outside are all flawed, making people appear weaker."

Carlotta corrected.

"But you, how are you so powerful?"

Sheena asked, puzzled.

Carlotta smiled slightly, meeting everyone’s gaze as she said, "Only a very few individuals are powerful, say, someone like me? This probably has something to do with talent."

The multitude of Impressions could find no words to respond.

No matter what, after Carlotta made her move, no one could possibly underestimate her anymore.

Even Lames, the fifth-ranked in the world who had just fought, immediately stepped forward to apologize, lowering his voice significantly and begging Carlotta not to hold it against him.

Seeing this, Carlotta didn’t say much. Instead, she asked, "You’ve confirmed that you accept me as your leader, so you must carry out my orders."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"First, tell me what you know."

Carlotta was still very concerned about certain past events.

From Brady, she’d already asked all the questions she could, but hadn’t received satisfactory answers. She picked the others who might know a bit more.

What exactly had happened in that distant past?

But regarding this question, everyone looked completely bewildered, completely at a loss for how to respond.

What had really happened back then?

Each of them was pondering this very question, what had happened to prompt the gods themselves to interfere, imprinting every individual with a memory-fragment?

Sighing helplessly, Sheena said, "For something like this, perhaps only our original bodies would know. When we were born, nothing particularly significant had happened yet."

Often, the highest-ranking individuals were the first to sense when something was missed. By the time the rest learned about it, the event had usually already passed long ago.

Perhaps something had already happened back then, something so serious that even the gods had to deal with it carefully. Yet these people, despite being ranked among the top few beneath the god-like beings, still knew very little.

"Are you really unable to provide any useful information at all?"

Carlotta asked, slightly dissatisfied.

This question made everyone feel awkward. They exchanged glances, momentarily unsure of what to say.

"Well, we can’t say we know nothing."

Sheena suggested a location, pointing toward the very center of the city. "If I recall correctly, one can listen to the gods at the city’s center."

Many others nodded upon hearing this. They too knew that the city’s center was the place to meet the gods.

"But the gods are already extinct."

Carlotta stated.

"Extinct?"

Sheena looked astonished, then frowned, skeptical of this claim.

Their revival hadn’t been long ago. A few who had awakened earlier hadn’t even left the temple. They had never heard of the gods’ extinction.

In their eyes, the gods were omnipotent beings. How could such entities possibly perish?

Carlotta looked at everyone, sighing helplessly.

She had wanted to extract information from them, but now it feels as if she was the one explaining things instead.

She had no choice but to describe the current state of the world. They knew she was from a later era, but had no idea about how the world had changed.

"I’ve been to some of your worlds. They’re completely withered, nothing remains..."

Carlotta spoke slowly.

During this process, everyone’s expressions grew increasingly grave. From Carlotta’s words, they learned the fate of their own worlds, the unbelievable developments, each one felt their hearts churning.

In contrast, Amelia, Selina, and Lea stood silently nearby.

They couldn’t understand anything. It was all in a language they didn’t know.

Even Amelia was slightly overwhelmed. She couldn’t quickly master other languages like Carlotta could, and for now could only try to grasp the situation from the others’ changing expressions.

"Ah, I feel so useless right now," Selina said helplessly.

"Just wait patiently for Carlotta to handle things," Amelia whispered.

She gazed at Carlotta’s face.

Carlotta, focused on her duties, looked incredibly adorable.

At this moment, Carlotta did her best to briefly inform everyone of their respective fates.

No matter who listened, each person’s state became dazed and distracted.

Even Brady, who had previously spoken with Carlotta and knew more than the others, hadn’t known everything. Only now did he learn more, his expression turning equally stunned.

For all of them, the events beyond their revival were too vast, too incredible, deeply shaking their souls.

The world’s destruction, the gods’ fall, these unimaginable events unfolding before they leave their minds unable to settle.

After Carlotta finished speaking, she looked around and saw everyone in a state of shock. It seemed unlikely they’d recover from this depression anytime soon.

"You, come with me," Carlotta called out to Sheena, beckoning her to follow.

"What is it?"

Sheena walked over.

"I plan to visit the city center you mentioned. Even if nothing remains there, I still want to see it for myself," Carlotta said.

Sheena hesitated, then didn’t refuse. Although her heart was turbulent, struggling to accept that her world had withered, she still held herself together.

As the strongest in her own world, and third-ranked across eight worlds, she had strong mental resilience, enough to help her regain her strength.

"Let’s go."

Carlotta turned and called to Amelia and the others.

Amelia and the two immediately followed.

Not long after leaving the temple, Lea excused herself and prepared to leave. She felt that following them served no purpose. Although she could gain new insights, the insights were strange, she couldn’t understand a single word.

So Lea realized: the events happening here were beyond her level of understanding. Staying any longer wouldn’t be appropriate.

Thus, Lea bid farewell and left.

Selina, however, didn’t want to leave just yet. She knew the unfolding events were extremely important and wished to participate and understand them firsthand.

This was a decision made due to differences in status. She felt it was necessary for her to know more.

Carlotta didn’t force anyone away, and so led the group onward.

"Actually, Gaoh might really have appeared inside the temple."

On the way, Sheena suddenly said this out of nowhere.

"Why bring him up again?" Carlotta asked.

Sheena carefully chose her words. "Because I think, if he’s still around, you’ll eventually have to face him."

"You’ve seen my strength," Carlotta said simply, though the meaning was clear.

"Your strength is indeed shocking, but it might not be enough to defeat Gaoh. Although Gaoh’s rank isn’t greatly different from mine or Brady’s, that slight difference represents an enormous gap."

Sheena said seriously.

"Big difference? How big could it possibly be?"

Carlotta wasn’t particularly worried.

Sheena thought for a moment and said, "Previously, whatever you could accomplish, Gaoh can do as well."

But such a statement still wasn’t enough to determine who between Carlotta and Gaoh was stronger.

Carlotta faintly smiled, "Then who will you choose to side with? Previously, you’ve all already chosen me as your leader."

Sheena didn’t hesitate at all in answering this question, replying straightforwardly, "Whoever is stronger, I’ll recognize as leader."

She told Carlotta not to get angry over this, because until Gaoh proved himself stronger, she will continue to recognize Carlotta as leader.

Carlotta waved her hand, "I don’t need to get angry. That so-called number one in the world, Gaoh, there’s no way he can prove himself stronger than me. That’s an inevitable fact."

What number one in the world? She wasn’t worried at all.

Seeing Carlotta’s confident expression, Sheena’s eyes couldn’t help but flicker slightly. She recalled when she’d seen Gaoh before, wasn’t the number one in the world just as arrogant and self-assured?

Could it be that to become such a terrifying existence, one must first possess absolute confidence?

For a moment, Sheena drifted into thought.

Along the way, they also encounter people from another world led by Sarman Ferguson. When Sarman saw Sheena, her expression became exceptionally excited. But upon noticing that Sheena was walking alongside Carlotta, an awkward look inevitably appeared on Sarman’s face.

"Lady Sheena."

Sarman stepped forward.

Clearly, she knew Sheena. Many of the people following her also came forward to pay their respects to Sheena.

As the third-ranked number one in the world and third overall across all worlds, Sheena’s reputation was enough to shake every inch of land where living beings exist.

Sheena gave a slight nod, "We’ve met before, haven’t we?"

"Yes."

Sarman quickly mentioned a particular scene, saying she’d had the honor of conversing with Sheena there before.

Sheena had no memory of this at all. She vaguely felt that the person in front of her looked somewhat familiar, she could definitely confirm they’d met, but the memory wasn’t deep.

"Lord Sheena, why are you traveling together?"

Sarman asked, her expression strange.

"You know each other?"

Sheena asked in surprise.

"We’ve previously had... well, some degree of interaction."

Sarman thought for a moment, only able to describe it this way.

Sheena didn’t press further, simply saying, "Your appearance is timely. There should still be many Impression Entities within this city. Gather everyone and wait at the temple in the northern part of the city."

Sarman was stunned, cautiously asking, "Excuse me, what exactly is an Impression Entity?"

This question caused Sheena to pause momentarily. Then she realized, only a few people at the temple would know about such matters. Most others didn’t know they were merely Impression Entities, probably believing themselves to be the originals.

When the god originally created the Impression Entities, only a select few could be informed of the truth, because ensuring these Impression Entities survived through long ages wasn’t easy. It was impossible to watch over everyone.

Sheena could only say, "I misspoke. What I meant was, gather everyone participating in the competition."

Sarman still hesitated, "But everyone entered this city as competitors, naturally, they’re opponents to each other. Why would they willingly assemble to await orders? Even if... even if it’s a command from you, my lord, probably not many would be willing to obey."

Sheena naturally understood this logic.

After thinking, she inspired Sarman to gather only those willing to assemble, and to disregard those unwilling.

"I understand."

Sarman could only nod.

At this moment, Carlotta also asked, "The High Priestess... uh, the one traveling with you, where did she go?"

She was naturally referring to the High Priestess.

Sarman knew Carlotta was acquainted with the High Priestess and didn’t dare be careless, replying, "That honorable one discovered something earlier and left on her own."

Carlotta nodded.

"Who are you talking about?"

Sheena asked.

"This... is an unimportant person."

Sarman didn’t elaborate.

Because before departing, the High Priestess had implicated her not to reveal her presence.

She already knew the High Priestess’s identity and origins, knew exactly how terrifying an existence she was. Although she didn’t understand why she appeared here, that wasn’t something she should ponder.

She only needed to follow the instructions of that honorable one, that was sufficient.

Sheena didn’t think much of it and didn’t ask further.