CHAPTER 1151: CHAPTER 873: THE TRUE IDENTITY

"No time to clean up?"

In Gu Jinlai’s mind, it was as if something suddenly occurred to him.

He seemed to have seen some information provided by Fire Cloud Palace.

In recent hundreds of millions of years, the probability of the Daoist Ancestor’s cleansing seems to have decreased...

However, the cleansing by the Daoist Ancestor has never had a pattern, with both long and short intervals, so this news did not attract attention from others.

"Why is there no time to clean up?"

"Because they encountered difficulties."

Venerable Xuan Tian did not continue on this topic: "Perhaps this is just my speculation. Once you enter the Cosmic Core, you will see for yourself."

He added: "The power of the Evil Gods comes from the decomposition of external force, but the closer you get to the Cosmic Core, the more it is filled with the interwoven Three Thousand Great Dao, which almost form an entirety. Even strong Evil Gods find it very difficult to decompose them, but you guys are affected less than the Evil Gods."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

He knew this.

It was precisely by using this particular environment that the Great Powers were able to seal the Evil Gods in the Heart of the Cosmic, thereby eradicating the then-numberless Evil God and Divine Spirit group.

Those who are still alive now, without exception, are all powerful individuals who have completed a new round of evolution.

"You can seize the opportunity to escape."

"What about you?"

Gu Jinlai asked.

"Me?"

Venerable Xuan Tian looked in the direction of the Cosmic Core, his eyes filled with calm, ease, and longing: "I want to know what’s in there, what’s at the end of the authority of the Three Thousand Great Dao."

"You will die."

Gu Jinlai said.

"Is there a difference between being devoured by the Void and being annihilated by the Daoist Ancestor’s authority?"

No ripples were stirred in Venerable Xuan Tian’s emotions.

It seemed that death, to him, was just an insignificant thing.

"..."

Gu Jinlai did not know what words to use to persuade Venerable Xuan Tian.

"This is my own choice."

Venerable Xuan Tian said: "If you really feel uneasy... then..."

He paused, with emptiness and loneliness in his eyes.

"Don’t forget me."

He did not fear death.

But he feared being devoured by emptiness, dying unnoticed, forgotten by all.

"If I do not die..."

Gu Jinlai looked at Venerable Xuan Tian, looking intently, as if wanting to memorize every part of him and engrave it into his heart.

After a long time, he solemnly promised: "I will remember your name forever."

"That would be very nice."

Venerable Xuan Tian replied.

His face, which had never really shown any expression, seemed to want to smile.

But since it had been too long since he last smiled, that smile...

appeared awkward.

Neither a smile nor not a smile.

But...

This was already the limit of the emotions he could display now.

...

To placate Yuan Huang, Ancient Desolation, and Firewood, Venerable Xuan Tian directly condensed a part of the information he knew about the Primordial into a beam of blue light.

"Look closely, when the time comes, use partial memory awakening as an excuse to go to the Cosmic Core to observe."

Venerable Xuan Tian said.

Gu Jinlai nodded, digesting the information contained in the blue light.

Though Primordial is the oldest Evil God, Xuanhuang was once his disciple and even cooperated with him, knowing more about him than some of the Human Clan Great Power.

Once Gu Jinlai digested the information related to Primordial, he once again spoke of the dangers at the Cosmic Core.

However, this time he had only just started when Gu Jinlai felt something.

In the distance, Yuan Huang, Ancient Desolation, and Firewood’s patience was wearing thin.

Venerable Xuan Tian also realized this: "Our time is running out. As a Cosmic Oddity that is neither alive nor dead, theoretically, that area would cause you less harm. Besides, the Cosmic Core is constantly changing, my experiences might not be applicable..."

"Wait!?"

Gu Jinlai suddenly interrupted.

From what he had heard from Venerable Xuan Tian, he initially thought he was hallucinating.

"Did you just say... I’m that Cosmic Oddity that is neither alive nor dead!?"

"Yes."

Venerable Xuan Tian replied, somewhat puzzled, looking at him: "Haven’t you already noticed your own anomaly?"

"I..."

Gu Jinlai initially thought that Venerable Xuan Tian was saying that the Cosmic Oddity obtained by Primordial from the Cosmic Core was that Qing Lian.

But now it seems...

It turns out it’s him!?

He is the Cosmic Oddity obtained by Primordial from the Cosmic Core, intended to substitute the Divine Spirit System, possessing the trait of being neither alive nor dead!?

"Am I not... the Primordial Reincarnation Body?"

Gu Jinlai’s voice was somewhat hoarse.

"Yes."

Xuanhuang looked at Gu Jinlai, could it be that he...

Didn’t know?

"Primordial... must be within you, but due to certain special reasons, it has not yet truly been activated, or awakened, so... everyone is waiting! Yuan Huang, Firewood, Ancient Desolation, and other Evil Gods, human Great Powers, alien Great Powers, all alike."

Xuanhuang explained: "And the reason Yuan Huang, Ancient Desolation, and the others brought you here is that they think I have a way to awaken Primordial."

He paused slightly: "And I do have a way to awaken Primordial."

In his hand, the Power of Decomposition belonging to ancient Evil Gods slightly flowed.

At the moment of this Evil God Power’s flow, Gu Jinlai distinctly felt the Qing Lian in the depths of his spiritual world become extremely active, seemingly yearning for this Power of Decomposition.

Having already absorbed a large amount of Divine Spirits, he seemed to...

As long as this Power of Decomposition belonging to the ancient Evil Gods is further integrated, he could achieve Perfection and awaken.

A sudden clarity.

At this moment, all the doubts and mysteries in Gu Jinlai’s mind were unravelled.

He finally understood why he, as a reincarnated Great Power, was different from those who came before.

He finally understood why he had never fully awakened even after achieving true Great Power.

He also finally understood why he could never sense even a hint of primordial memory.

"So... Qing Lian, is the true Primordial."

Gu Jinlai murmured to himself.

And he was the cosmic oddity used by the Primordial to carry the power of destruction and birth!

At the same time, he finally understood why his Void Projection Technique possessed such incredible divinity, capable of not only assimilating targets but also erasing divine spirits by following the Divine Will...

This was originally one of the inherent traits of this cosmic oddity.

Not only did he possess a characteristic of neither life nor death, but he could also compensate for deficiencies in the Divine Spirit System.

Or, in a way, he was equivalent to a supreme immortal device of the divine spirit lineage.

However, as the divine spirit path only ascends to the Immortal Venerable Level, he needed to find his own way to unleash the power of this supreme immortal device.

"I have never been the Primordial, naturally, I wouldn’t have any primordial reincarnation memories."

Gu Jinlai murmured in his heart.

He once again felt the Qing Lian in his spiritual world.

Life?

Innate Spirit Root?

These have always existed.

The cultivator’s path to the Great Power stage was complete.

Or rather, when Qing Lian merged with the Taiyi Sword, this supreme immortal device, in the trinity of the Three Saints Realm, the representation of immortality, eternity, and birth in the cultivation system was already in place.

Next, he needed to seize the power of decomposition from the hands of various Evil Gods...

Of course, he could also rely on the assistance of Xuanhuang, the ancient Evil God, to instantly grasp the power of decomposition representing destruction and return in the trinity.

Ultimately...

The primordial rooted in his spiritual world—Qing Lian—would completely refine and devour him as a cosmic oddity, using his neither life nor death nature as a carrier to step into the Three Saints Realm in one breath, evolving a world that embodies destruction, birth, and cycle, or say...

Cosmic!

Thereby advancing to a brand-new realm above the authority of the Three Thousand Tao Ancestors.

A domain never reached by predecessors.

Ushering in a glorious new era for the entire cosmic cultivation system.

...

"It seems you’ve understood."

Venerable Xuan Tian looked at the speechless Gu Jinlai and slowly spoke.

"..."

The truth was revealed.

Yet it was unprecedentedly cruel.

For a moment, Gu Jinlai was at a loss for words.

After a while, he looked up at Venerable Xuan Tian: "So... what exactly am I?"

Venerable Xuan Tian looked at Gu Jinlai.

In his eyes, he saw not emptiness, but confusion.

This feeling...

He was very familiar with it.

"A cosmic oddity? A cultivation vessel? Or... a special life form enlightened by a cosmic oddity?"

He answered.

In the past, when he had not yet awakened, in a state of neither awake nor asleep, he too had been lost in such confusion for a long time.

And his approach was...

"None of this matters,"

Venerable Xuan Tian said: "What matters is what you hope to be."

"What I hope?"

"Yes."

Venerable Xuan Tian said: "Endlessness, eternity, Great Power, Ancient God, God above God? None of that matters. What matters is only you, what you want yourself to be."

He looked intently at Gu Jinlai: "I hope that one day you won’t be engulfed by emptiness, thoroughly fallen into the void until the eternal silence like I was."

Gu Jinlai listened, silently.

After a while, he suddenly said: "I anticipated such a scene and made some mental preparations, but when the matter truly happened, I still found it hard to accept."

After he finished, he slightly bowed to Venerable Xuan Tian: "Thank you for your insight."

"I did not enlighten you; you enlightened yourself."

Venerable Xuan Tian said: "You freed yourself from confusion faster than we both imagined."

"It’s because, as you said, what I’ve always wanted is myself."

Gu Jinlai said.

He thought about his experiences over a short millennium.

From struggling to survive in Qiantian to wandering through Holy Land, Immortal Country, and then fighting for hundreds of years in the New Fire Star Sea...

All of it, was just for his better survival.

Even now, it’s no exception.

"Perhaps someday in the future, I may be swallowed by emptiness in the endless years, but now... all I need to do is be myself!"

Gu Jinlai’s eyes gradually turned cold: "I don’t care what the Primordial intends to do, or what purposes he plans to achieve with me, but... he never gained my permission for any of this, trinity? Even if he asked me directly, my answer would only be one, and that is—I disagree!"

"The existence of a goal..."

Venerable Xuan Tian looked at Gu Jinlai with a trace of envy in his eyes.

He seemed to...

Want to project himself into Gu Jinlai’s life, seeking the meaning in his life.

"This... is great."

However...

He yearned for such a life, pursuing such a meaning, which was not impossible.

Isn’t that what he’s doing now?

"We should go."

Venerable Xuan Tian said calmly: "You handle the Primordial, and as for the Evil Gods, leave them to me."