CHAPTER 458: CHAPTER 296: RETROSPECTION! TRUTH! THE OLD DAYS!

On the terrace at the top of the Royal Palace, Lu Yan gazed at the vast sea of stars with an exceptionally grim expression.

The chants of countless believers seemed to merge into the Path of Heaven and Earth, unknown to ordinary people, but to someone of Lu Yan’s position, everything was so clear.

Every syllable of that sacred chant felt like a heavy hammer, fiercely striking his heart, shattering all his previous pride and plans.

The gods return to their places, the gods awaken!

For Lu Yan today, this is definitely not good news; it could even be said to be a disaster!

Everything he meticulously constructed was based on a delicate balance and a gap in information.

The reason the Union could integrate into people’s hearts so smoothly at this stage, compelling Victoria’s nobles to bow their heads, and even causing the powerful Steam Sect to yield, was not only due to the power Lu Yan displayed but also the deterrent of the mysterious and unfathomable Underworld.

It was this deterrence originating from the Underworld and Emperor Fengdu that allowed the Union’s expansion to be unhindered and enabled him to oppress the entire Victoria Kingdom in an almost authoritarian manner, supporting Elizabeth’s rise to power.

Otherwise, with the deep-seated might of the Steam Sect, how could they possibly tolerate an external force taking root and expanding so easily in their core belief area and even meddling in secular royal power?

Lu Yan had no doubt that within the Steam Sect, there were undoubtedly hidden Sequence 2 Hidden Angels possessing incomplete singularity, and even terrifying existences of Sequence 1 Angel King Level.

Hidden Angels, perhaps individually, couldn’t match the Undying King in full form, but as long as they didn’t enter the Underworld Heaven and Earth, they were not something he could easily contend with now.

Especially the Angel King of Sequence 1, truly standing at the peak of the mortal world, just a step away from the throne of the gods.

If such a powerful being truly descended into the Underworld Heaven and Earth, even exhausting the order of the Divine Court and Underworld would be difficult to oppose.

For this reason, Lu Yan had tried all means to create momentum, carefully maintaining this situation, using the information gap and demonstrated partial power to strategically intimidate and reach today’s position.

But now, with the stars returning to their places and the gods reviving, this fundamental rule change in the world was like a giant hand overturning the chessboard, instantly disrupting all his plans.

The true gods behind the Seven Major Gods Church are the genuine singularities of this world.

Their understanding and control of this world far exceed imagination; they can discern the nature of version updates and are likely to easily see through his disguise as an outsider.

Once Lu Yan falls into the eyes of these true deities, his essence as the Unchanging is almost impossible to hide.

For Lu Yan, who bears the essence of the Unchanging, confronting the singularity of this Mysterious version head-on is definitely the situation he least wants to occur.

That would mean complete exposure, potentially inviting the siege of the highest level forces in the entire world.

The initial plan was to proceed gradually, strengthening the Underworld as much as possible, ensuring that Union and Underworld faith could continue after the version update.

But in the face of the awakening gods and those singularities about to turn their gaze toward the mortal world, the power Lu Yan has is simply insufficient.

All the schemes and plans seem pale and powerless before the absolute differences in power and hierarchy.

Lu Yan’s eyes flickered rapidly, his mind running at unprecedented speed, frantically deducing a way to break the predicament.

However, no matter how he deduced it, it seemed to point to a possibility he least wanted to accept, yet one that was extremely realistic.

Stay and resist? It would be like an ant trying to stop a cart.

Continue to disguise? Before the awakening gods and singularities, it would likely be mere self-deception.

Then the only option seems to be...

A thought filled with endless bitterness and humiliation sprouted and spread in his heart like poisonous weeds.

"Escape?"

This isn’t an unfounded idea, but a practical and feasible choice.

In the last Great Collapse version, Lu Yan once assisted the Great Collapse Celestial Dao, thereby unlocking a new privilege, allowing him to initiate a version update in advance and forcibly exit the current version.

As long as he uses this privilege now, no matter how the Mysterious version stars return to their places or how the gods awaken, they cannot cross the chasm of versions to hunt him down.

Lu Yan instinctively wanted to seize this slim chance of survival, but the next moment he abruptly awoke from his desire.

Initiating a version update in advance could indeed save himself, but...what is the cost?

The Mysterious version will not be paused because of one person’s disappearance; it will continue to progress along its set trajectory.

Lu Yan suddenly disappearing would mean that this current seemingly splendid situation would instantly turn into nothing, like a castle built with care on the sand being washed away by the first wave with no trace left.

The revival of the gods will inevitably bring about severe turmoil in the order of the entire Mysterious World.

In such a grand context, without his support from behind the scenes, the Union and the nascent faith in the Underworld would extinguish like a candle in a storm.

And Elizabeth, who has just ascended the throne with his support, but whose foundation is not yet stable, once she loses him as her greatest backing, facing the frantic backlash of old forces, her fate is even more self-evident.

At that time, it’s not even a question of maintaining the current situation; whether she can survive amidst the power struggles and the wrath of the Church is an unknown.

More importantly, Anna, who carries the Underworld Sequence, is the foundation for Lu Yan’s future construction of a complete Divine Court and Underworld system.