My portable grandfather refreshes every week

Chapter 335 Zeus, let's use "insult" on it for the sake of the world!

Xue Dinglu then saw the enemy they had encountered, the barbarian they had spoken of.

Beside him was a beast resembling a giant deer, and above his head was a circling bird of prey. At this moment, he was merely looking at Xue Dinglu from a distance, yet the aura and pressure he exuded were extremely strong and powerful.

Near-5th rank, even the giant deer and the giant eagle have near-5th rank strength.

It's very strong, but everything is within people's expectations.

At this moment, Xue Dinglu even had the mood to ask, "Do you know what exactly that contamination originating from the Heroic Spirit Contract is?"

The Golden Emperor looked completely bewildered, while the Mad Viscount pondered for a moment and said, "A kind of soul?"

"More or less, but your research on the soul is still lacking. It seems to be a humanoid race that integrated into the entire Heroic Spirit Summoning system through specific means before the Heroic Spirit Summoning."

"It's not just that they might appear in the contracts of heroic spirits. I even suspect that for humans, they are the ones who enter the contracts to be the ones who drag the humans down, while entering the heroic spirits of the demons, they are responsible for strengthening those heroic spirits, or directly replacing the summoned heroic spirits to enhance the overall strength of the demon side." Xue Dinglu said, sharing his research.

At this moment, both the Golden Emperor and the Mad Viscount were stunned again. They suddenly understood what Xue Dinglu was trying to say and said, "You mean, the reason that barbarian and her pet suddenly became stronger is because they were invaded by that kind of pollution?"

"But for the demons, this invasion of pollution means replacing the original heroic spirits, or perhaps their so-called summoned creatures are actually all controlled by those foreign souls that are like the sources of pollution?" the Mad Viscount added.

"Yes, Yellow Weasel, when you first completed the Great Expedition, did your side have any summoning or clone-type Heroic Spirits?" Xue Dinglu looked at the Golden Emperor.

"Are you asking me?" The weathered middle-aged man didn't know when he had acquired the nickname "Weasel," but he was now certain that Xue Lude was calling him, so he had no choice but to answer, "Yes, the Heroic Spirit Shadow Lady that I once summoned was a clone-type Heroic Spirit. She could instantly create nine phantoms... and each phantom possessed a certain amount of the original's strength and could become a physical entity..."

"Even after my great expedition, the Shadow Lady continued to help me govern the country, gather intelligence, and collect information on tribes across the continent. She also taught people how to live in peace and prosperity, how to reproduce and multiply, and how to increase the population as much as possible..."

At this point, the golden emperor was stunned, and a look of horror appeared in his eyes.

Yes, in fact, the greatest contributor to his successful unification of all the tribes on the continent and the establishment of the empire was his former spirit, the Shadow Lady. She was a very talented and resourceful spirit who was like his teacher, teaching him countless things and unifying the entire empire.

Especially with the help of her clone, she successfully completed the basic framework and planning of the entire empire, which led to a booming population.

When he died, the population of the entire continent had recovered from tens of thousands to nearly a million, and now it has even reached a billion.

Just as the Mad Viscount said, he was a completely unqualified politician, let alone a qualified emperor. To be an emperor, one must achieve far beyond the ordinary, and one must have a great will and a very high vision, seeing the future that ordinary people cannot see.

Does this guy, who could only eat tree roots in the mud when he was a child and treated finding a nest of small insects as if it were a delicacy, really have such vision and political acumen to survive in that hellish environment of the demon realm, where just getting enough to eat was a struggle?
No, the initial structure of the entire empire was basically handled entirely by the Shadow Lady. She single-handedly completed all the work required by the highest-ranking rulers. And by the time she grew old, the Shadow Lady had successfully cultivated a large number of truly talented individuals as her successors.

Moreover, the Shadow Lady is not only her teacher, but also her...

lovers!

Could it be that……

"You mean that the Shadow Lady's clone, like the pet summoned by this barbarian, is being secretly controlled by some kind of monster? Or perhaps, the Shadow Lady herself is one of these monsters?" the Golden Emperor immediately asked.

He even felt that his success, the establishment of his empire, and his entire life were all born from the manipulation of something behind the scenes, and that everything about him was the result of their deliberate guidance.

I felt like a puppet on strings, as if I had become their tool.

Xue Dinglu did not reply. He silently took out the pseudo-Heart of the World and handed it to the Golden Emperor.

"Let's see if your spirit is among them," Xue Dinglu asked casually.

The Golden Emperor was completely stunned. He stared blankly as he carefully examined this inferior treasure, which resembled a small world, and saw nearly ten twisted and terrifying soul shadows within it. These were the sources of contamination hidden in the Heroic Spirit Contract.

The Mad Viscount smuggled these sources of pollution into a small snake and then sealed it away, while Xue Luding was even more ruthless, imprisoning them all in this inferior artifact as if he were a centralized command.

He didn't find anything unusual on the first scan, but when he scanned it a second time, he was shocked to find a familiar figure among them. It was one of the many clones of his former Heroic Spirit, the Shadow Lady!

In other words, just as he suspected, his former heroic spirit, as well as the shadow of his teacher, comrade-in-arms, minister, and lover... was actually just a twisted monster...

She even descended upon this great expedition of summoning heroic spirits more than once, and on more than one occasion, she influenced the course of the entire world from behind the scenes...

It's even possible that it wasn't a woman; it might have played any gender.

As for becoming one's teacher and lover, it may just be one of millions of games.

Thinking of this, the Golden Emperor lowered his head silently, his whole body trembling for no reason.

They are like a hidden hand, controlling everything in the world. The victory of the Great Expedition, the establishment of the Empire, and the Empire where everyone can live smoothly under the sky and the sun are all just a game for them!

The Golden Emperor trembled at the thought, his whole being filled with inexplicable... rage!
He was furious, furious beyond measure. After learning part of the truth about the world, he was even angrier than if he had heard that all people in the world have the same genes or that everyone is infertile.

This shows that everything he has done so far in his life has been useless; his entire life has been nothing more than being someone else's toy.

Xue Dinglu retrieved the pseudo-Heart of the World, and he already knew that the Golden Emperor had discovered an acquaintance within it.

These twisted souls they have always ignored may be the true kin of the Ninth Apostle, and this great expedition may be a kind of amusement for them to study, or it may be a reasonable means for them to feed different corpses to the Divine Tree.

Or perhaps it was just a game they were playing.

Those ghosts, those twisted ghosts capable of corrupting anyone, seemed to always float above the world, influencing the world's major processes every hundred years.

Or perhaps, every century they have parasitized and possessed the souls of the victors, thus quietly infiltrating the empire and advancing it for another century.

In the distance, the figure with the wild beast gradually drew closer.

Xue Ludao tossed aside the pseudo-Heart of the World in his hand and smiled as he looked at the near-5th tier enemy.

If only the real Noble Phantasm [Heart of the World] in the young general's hands were here, Xue Dinglu could absorb all the people on the other side without even having to lift a finger.

This Noble Phantasm was originally intended to deal with Mind Flayers, but it has been used in this battle inexplicably, and it seems to be particularly effective.

The speed of the opposing force increased, and the raptor circling overhead seemed to attack. At near-Tier 5, it instantly reached Xue Dinglu, unleashing a multi-layered sonic boom cloud that completely exceeded everyone's expectations. This speed…

"Whoosh!" A giant hand suddenly appeared from the void, grabbing the raptor that had fallen from the sky.

The sonic boom cloud finally crashed down on their heads. The weakest of them, the Mad Viscount, felt his head buzzing. The air vibrations caused by the sonic boom were unbearable for his body.

Even this near-Tier 5 raptor showed human-like fear and confusion at this moment, wondering why it could be caught even at its speed...

Why would someone possess Apostle-level power?

"Annihilate!"

A cold voice rang out from the space emanating from the massive hand. For some reason, the raptor's pupils suddenly revealed unparalleled fear. It was pulled into that unknown and terrifying space, and there was no more sound.

Only a few feathers remained, indicating that this monster, who had reached the pinnacle of power in the world, had inexplicably vanished into thin air.

At this moment, everyone—from the barbarian opposite them, to the mad viscount and the weasel beside them, and even the people watching through the magic—was horrified by what they saw.

A demigod-level raptor was instantly killed?
No, they weren't instantly killed, but rather dragged into an unknown space by that giant hand. They didn't know what terrifying things were happening in that unknown space, and they just swallowed hard.

"Who exactly are you?" the weasel asked for the first time.

“Guang, you can call me Guang!” Xue Dinglu said with a smile.

……

Upon hearing the name, the person observing this extraordinary expedition from afar suddenly felt that the name sounded very familiar.

It didn't know where it had heard the name before, nor did it know why it had such a bad feeling after hearing it.

Where exactly have I heard this name before? Where? Where exactly?
The old man, whose entire mouth and chin were covered in tentacles, wandered around frantically, driven mad by sudden anxiety and fear.

"No, there's a problem, there's a problem, that person is the problem... Divine Tree, fruit, finish the ritual quickly, I need the fruit, I need the fruit..." He stared hysterically at the progress, and also at...

At this moment, the divine tree supports this entire world, which is like a divine realm!
On the divine tree, a green fruit slowly formed, as if it only needed a little bit of nourishment to ripen smoothly.

Just one more thing, just one more thing, and I will be able to eat the fruit and become the next one...

The Ninth Apostle!

……

A ferocious beast attacked.

Clearly, the barbarian on the other side couldn't sit still. His giant deer suddenly charged forward, its momentum accelerating in a very short time. Not only that, the barbarian began to rapidly set up spells.

His blood dripped onto the earth, and the original volcanic ash gradually transformed into real beasts through the erosion of his blood. Each of these beasts possessed near-level 5 power, or was infinitely close to level 5, and they no longer bothered to act.

It's as if they're saying right on their faces, "We're the ones who are cheating, we're the masters of this world!"
And subtly, they too felt a sense of unease. The source of this unease lay with Xue Dinglu; at that moment, they moved.

A horde of wild beasts surged forth, and the raging giant deer seemed poised to crush Xue Dinglu with its antlers over a speed bump. But suddenly, the giant hand struck again, this time with its right hand.

"Annihilate!"

The giant deer was instantly controlled by the giant hand and then pulled into the consciousness space.

Xue's law loosened a certain seal on Zeus, which was Zeus's great hand.

As for what will happen to these two beasts, which seem to be controlled by unknown souls, once they fall into Zeus's hands?

Xue Dalu dared not look; he probably needed to play a classic old song, "YMCA," in his consciousness space to make it seem more formal.

Then, more wild beasts attacked him, but Xue remained silent, the large hand behind him accepting all comers.

Sometimes it's a strong man's arm, sometimes a monstrous hand, sometimes a hand holding a trident, and sometimes, a woman's slender hand...

In an instant, these arms could grab the monster and drag it into that unknown, uncharted space. Faintly, at the moment of their attack, the Mad Viscount and the Weasel beside them could hear a shrill cry, and a series of…

"Annihilate!"

Even at this moment, the Golden Emperor once again hallucinated that behind Xue Lude were four large men with very little clothing. Each of them was only covered by a piece of cloth to cover their vital parts, and their appearance seemed to be accompanied by exciting music and unique secret weapons.

Even the so-called "demigods" crumbled instantly under their insults.

At that moment, after five wild beasts were caught in a row, the barbarian froze, cold sweat instantly covering his forehead, and he was completely gripped by fear.

Because through that faint soul link, he could vaguely sense what his "comrades" were experiencing at this moment...

hell!

"Don't lift it! Don't lift it!"

"Goo, save me! Lord, save me! Ee..."

"Kill me, gulp... kill me..."

"Don't go in there, quack!"

The piercing wails, transmitted through the link, made him realize that in such a short time, his companions, with whom he had played tens of thousands of games, could now only express fear and the pain of being humiliated.

It's even the kind of humiliation that one would rather die than endure!
Cold sweat beaded on the barbarian's forehead. In the next instant, his aura suddenly weakened, and the foreign soul instantly detached from his body and fled.

We must escape! We must escape from here! We must escape back to the Lord…

No sooner had the soul departed than a large hand suddenly grabbed it. The soul saw a strong and powerful old man whose pupils seemed to be filled with lightning, and whose lips were curled into a salty smile.

"No, no! No... gulp..."

This unknown soul was also completely captured, falling into it and disappearing without a trace.

Xue Lude separated the consciousness space, leaving only a small area for them to have fun. In an instant, he tossed the pseudo-world heart in his hand, and the next moment, all the twisted souls in the pseudo-world heart were released by him.

Those twisted souls tried to escape in an instant, but soon, several large hands excitedly and frantically grabbed at them, and one by one, the souls were pulled into the space of consciousness, a place unknown to anyone, which became their final destination.

The Golden Emperor went up to look at the barbarian who had fallen to the ground and found that he was merely a newly ascended legendary-level hero.

But just now, this newly legendary-level guy summoned several beasts that were close to or even reached the quasi-5th rank, and even his own strength reached the quasi-5th rank.

This is simply a fantasy.

But that's exactly what happened. The monster was indeed possessed by something, and even the beasts it summoned were in a possessed state.

This is why their strength improved by leaps and bounds, reaching the near-5th level in just a few minutes.

Similarly, those who corrupted the souls of their human hosts through contracts also control the souls of the demonic spirits!

The Golden Emperor thought again of his former teacher and lover, the Shadow Lady…

He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his fists.

"Buzz!"

The surging fist completely killed the barbarian, and with that, the demon's heroic spirits were wiped out.

At this moment, the Great Expedition had ended, and a will that seemed to influence everyone appeared in the sky above the entire world.

Both the Mad Viscount and the Golden Emperor were looking up at the sky. This emperor, in particular, was seeing the will of that "god" for the second time. The last time, he faced this god with utmost piety.

But now, seeing the "god" who appeared after the end of this great expedition again, he felt no awe whatsoever.

Xue Luding sensed this so-called "god," the one that appeared after the completion of the Great Expedition, but now he made a surprising discovery.

This thing isn't a member of the Ninth Apostle's retinue or some strange native god; it's more like...

World consciousness!

Yes, world consciousness, but not true world consciousness. Yet it gives Xue's Law a similar feeling, as if it were a machine possessing the authority and ability of world consciousness.
Forgive Xue's use of this adjective, but he has had in-depth exchanges and connections with various world consciousnesses more than once. The so-called world consciousness is the embodiment of the authority of the entire planet.

If a world lacks sentient beings capable of thought, then the embodiment of planetary authority also lacks the capacity for thought. In such a case, they are not "world consciousness," but merely a dead star.

However, since there are living beings in this world, "world consciousness" only has authority, not consciousness itself.

Sure enough, the consciousness of this world had long been killed. Perhaps it was when the Ninth Apostle ascended, or perhaps it was after the Ninth Apostle ascended that the consciousness of this world was completely replaced and killed by him.

In order to replace the world's consciousness and gain greater power, the apostle devised a method similar to that of Zeus, the creator of the world: to completely overhaul the world's creatures.

Zeus's blood transfusion failed, and he was utterly destroyed by Xue's Law, but the Ninth Apostle succeeded. The transfused beings were directly connected to him, and this place would not allow them to give birth to new world consciousness.

However, the price was that after the Ninth Apostle died, these creatures were completely deprived of their reproductive rights and were effectively extinct.

If nothing unexpected happens, in just a few decades, the world will be left with only the elderly. Hundreds of years later, there will be very few living people left in the world. Even those who survive will be nothing more than undead monsters desperately trying to prolong their lives.

The right to reproduce is one of the most important rights in the world. If it is completely deprived, the whole world will be on the verge of death.

Hundreds of years is but a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of things, and it is also merely the world's final struggle.

And so Zeus was born!

In this world where the right to reproduce has been lost, the man who represents extreme desire and procreation, the man who best represents reproduction in all of human history, has descended into this world.

Just as water flows downhill, through the connection point of Schrödinger's Law, these reproductive entities from Earth can arrive smoothly.

This is actually more like an instinctive self-salvation attempt, even when the world's consciousness is dead, by finding an external evil god.

Zeus, the god of courage and strength; Typhon, the god of life and evolution; Poseidon, the god of strategy and boldness; Aphrodite, the goddess of love and pleasure…

Although they are all evil gods and alien monsters, they are able to breed new races in this world that are not contaminated by the separation of the Ninth Apostle's reproductive rights!

Once a certain number of new races have accumulated, perhaps the consciousness of this dead world will gradually be reborn, giving birth to a completely new consciousness.

At the same time, it is also possible that power will be completely usurped by foreign monsters, just like the former Ninth Apostle.

But things couldn't get any worse.

Of course, the consciousness of this world has long lost this consciousness, and there is no such thing as death. It simply bestows blessings upon the victors of the Great Expedition based on instinct, like a mechanical machine, like a rigid machine programmed by someone.

Looking at the mechanical world authority in the sky, this is the root of the entire world's great expedition.

Its current name is "Judgment Authority," and it is also a controlled, dead world consciousness.

Then there is only one answer!

Xue Dinglu immediately smiled and issued the most heinous, evil, despicable, shameless, and vile order in history!

"Zeus, I command you, for the sake of the world, for the sake of seizing power over this dead world, to insult the Judgment Body!"

(End of this chapter)