Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 597 Return and Settlement

After an unknown amount of time, the empty temple suddenly began to tremble violently.

Then, a point of light suddenly appeared silently, and in the radiance that followed, a figure shrouded in brilliance slowly emerged.

The figure walked to the throne and stood there for a long time. His face was obscured by the light, so nothing could be seen. He just looked and waited quietly.

After a long while, a scorching spark condensed again behind them, instantly expanding into a raging inferno. A tall figure stepped out from it, his entire body also enveloped in fiery red light.

After looking around, he walked to the figure shrouded in light and stood beside him, looking at the throne before him and gazing up at the eight statues.

"I kind of miss it. I stood here once, facing death almost every time, and nearly failed to even get past the highest difficulty level."

The figure shrouded in firelight slowly spoke, its voice echoing within the temple:

"But why come here? The Light is very strict with the Tree of Origin, treating it like a bone in a doghouse, only allowing a wisp of its spirit to be projected here."

They even resorted to such a rudimentary form of communication as mortal prophecy.

"We all come from human beings."

The figure in the light finally spoke, and although it seemed like a rebuttal, his tone carried an indifference:
"Another person has passed the test and obtained the Supreme Avatar."

"I saw."

The person within the fiery red light said nonchalantly:
"The light is like a dog guarding its food, and it's even concealing the specific information. It's a pity that only a projection came; otherwise, it would have been easily defeated by such obstruction!"

"Back then, we joined forces to eliminate the information about the Primal Tree and removed the information that the Primal Tree sent to the Hall of Light. Logically speaking, no one should know about this place."

The World of Seeking Light was once a world that every fourth-order apostle longed for, because it was rumored that there was a supreme trial here that could lead to heaven in one step.

Once you receive an invitation to the World of Seeking Light, you can come here and complete the prerequisite quest challenges.

But everything suddenly disappeared one day, and no news of them could be found. Even the invitation could not be found. During that time, the World of Seeking Light was like a black hole that could devour the lives of countless apostles. One by one, they died.

During this period, Dawn artifacts called 'Avatars' quietly became popular in the halls, and countless apostles were overjoyed, regarding these Dawn artifacts as treasures.

It is indeed a treasure. Its former incarnation was the exclusive domain of the strong. Even the lowest difficulty trial was not something that ordinary apostles could covet. The prerequisite quests alone were enough to stump many people.

But now, everyone can afford to use the avatar!
Even if it's just a simplified version, even if it only has one function, even if it's just a 'false avatar'!
Just like a person walking on the road, having to endure the wind and rain, even giving him a low-speed electric car would be a fundamental change for him.

The avatars immediately became the most important thing for the apostles, and the blockade of the World of Seeking Light was finally loosened a little, but at this time, no one cared about the World of Seeking Light anymore.

Only those self-proclaimed strongmen would think of going to the World of Light to search for it, but the number of Pale Spirits is so small that even the strongmen are unwilling to go, since a decent avatar is not expensive!

Do you think there's something wrong with the people who passed?

The figure enveloped in the firelight burst into laughter, the sound echoing within the temple:

"Even if you get the key, so what? At most you can become a reserve operative. I remember those reserve operatives were like rats, always hiding and never daring to show their faces."

Finally, the figure shrouded in firelight, exuding boundless domineering aura, coldly said:
"As long as we don't perish, everything else is just an ant!"
We have already seized 60% of the authority of light, but it can only hold onto the remaining 40% of the fundamental rules, and it is still gradually shrinking.

It's still too early for the Great Collapse of the Void to happen. By the time it does, we will have already gained at least 7% of the power.

Even the Great Collapse of the Void cannot harm us.

We will be as eternal and immortal as the temple!

The figure inside the fluorescent light chuckled softly:
"Of course I know, but I don't want to give them any chance. What if I suppress them too much and they run to other halls, take over their positions, and drag the other halls into another 'hall destruction war'?"
Even if the palace doesn't perish, don't forget how we rose to power, and how our predecessors fell.

This series of questions silenced the figure within the firelight. After a long while, he finally spoke slowly:
"Then what do you suggest? Apostles belong to the basic rules of the Hall, and the Light sees them even more closely. We simply cannot touch apostles below the ninth rank."

"Aren't there still the breeding farms? Let them go find them. They don't necessarily have to hunt him down; they can even lure him in. Once he joins..."

The light and shadow only finished speaking; after a moment's thought, the firelight and human figure nodded:
"Just as you said, I'm leaving."

The flames burned fiercely again, and when they finally died down, they had vanished completely.

The fluorescent figure stood alone in place. He walked forward, looked at the small knight statue standing at the feet of the blurry statue, and gently picked it up. The moment he touched it, the statue rapidly weathered in his hand, eventually turning into a wisp of fine sand that fell away.

The entire temple suddenly began to shake, and even the huge leaf that supported the temple was shaking violently.

The figure sneered, then tossed the sand in its hand away as if it were crumbs to be crushed at will.

"interesting."

A great light shone forth, and his figure gradually disappeared.

As he disappeared, the tremors of the temple subsided, the swaying Tree of Origin ceased to shake, and everything returned to calm.

"You guys are back."

Since telling his story, Old Oss seemed to have aged considerably, entering a state of twilight.

This once-renowned Pale Knight, who suppressed all enemies and was known as the Wrathful Seven Knights, is now just an old worm on its deathbed, who wants to perish along with this once glorious kingdom at the border he has guarded all his life.

Old Os raised his head, and his somewhat cloudy eyes suddenly shone with a different kind of light the moment he saw the little knight.

But gradually, this brilliance faded.

"It's so lifelike. It's a pity the king is already dead."

Li Xia took a few steps forward and sat down in front of him. The surroundings were shrouded in dim light, and the semi-circular room stood silently nearby, as if trying to blend into the surrounding darkness.

The cotton-like spore clusters drifted slowly from the sky, just like a heavy snowfall.

"I have an idea, would you like to hear it?"

Li Xia picked up his teacup and said softly that on the way back, he and the three little ones had discussed for a long time and finally decided that since it was difficult to take the little knight with them, they might as well treat this place as their own clan, just like the Stone Clan.

Although the Stone People are quite devout, even pious believers, their numbers are too small, and even if they try to reproduce, the results are actually not significant. You can't expect two Stone People to quickly give birth to a stone egg; they need to nurture it little by little with their own cores, waiting for the stone embryo to grow.

This process usually takes several years, and it is precisely because each person is hard-won that their selfless aid is so moving.

Insects are different. They have a natural habit of worship and always need something to worship. Moreover, insects reproduce in great numbers and very quickly. The fact that Little Os's family only produces one offspring at a time can only be attributed to a problem with the pale spirit bloodline of their father.

Normally, it's not unusual for insects to reproduce in large numbers, which also implies a large population and a great deal of divine power!
Li Xia currently has an extreme thirst for divine power, since he needs a large amount of divine power every second to merge with his avatar.

After experiencing a world on their own, the Stone Men only accumulated fifty points of divine power, which was enough to sustain the fusion for 0.5 seconds!
Furthermore, the divine power is needed to upgrade the world's level; otherwise, the Star God wouldn't be able to get through, and if he encounters an Old God, there would be no one to help him.
"Ok?"

Old Oss withdrew his gaze from the border scenery, a look of confusion on his face:

"what idea?"

“You love this kingdom. If it disappears, why don’t you rebuild it room by room? The insects won’t die out. There must be other insects.”

The insects come from the primordial tree; as long as the primordial tree exists, the insects will exist.

"And the Pale King once brought dreams that beasts and other creatures could never have imagined, but the kingdom he eventually built had no place for beasts and other creatures."

Why not try to build a greater nation that can encompass the whole world?

As Li Xia continued his narration, Old Oss fell into deep thought. After a long while, he slowly exhaled:

"What you're saying is very tempting. You want that little guy to become the new Pale King?" Li Xia shook his head and said solemnly:

"No, he is who he is, he is the little knight, the little knight who will save the world, but you are right."

Li Xia looked at the dazed little knight:

"He is the king of insects and beasts!"

Everything around them slowly froze, and time stood still at that moment.

Li Xia's perspective was rapidly ascending. In the boundless void, a gigantic tree swayed gently before him—this was the Tree of Origin.

The prompts from the Hall of Light kept refreshing before my eyes:

The executioner has completed the highest trial.

The executioner has already caused significant changes to the world of Seeking Light.

Settlement will be processed soon.

Li Xia and the two little ones were all invigorated; the more hints they gave, the higher the reward!

The scene before me suddenly jolted and began to dive down again. It was time to see the ending CG. However, generally speaking, the ending CG of the original world doesn't follow the same pattern as the derivative world.

City of Tears
The light drizzle still enveloped the city, and the once dimly lit streets were once again illuminated.

The fine raindrops refracted exceptionally beautiful colors under the lights.

Although there were very few insects in the City of Tears at the moment, Old Oss still insisted on replacing the green crystals on the streetlights.

In the words of old Os, "Where there is light, there is hope; the insects' pursuit of light will never cease."

The old knight was once again filled with boundless fighting spirit. He found three other companions guarding the border of the Hive and persuaded them to join the grand plan of 'making the Hive Kingdom great again'.

The three knights then contacted the beast, the spider, and the wasp, respectively.

And so this city of tears finally regained a little bit of life; at least, it didn't look so desolate anymore.

But all of this seemed to have nothing to do with the little knight.

The little guy, now hailed as the new king, sat on the terrace, looking at the photograph in front of him.

That was a photo of Li Xia and the three little ones. In the photo, she looked tiny, with the black cat draped over her shoulder, the big dog sticking out its tongue, and a dog circling in mid-air.

The little knight stared at the photo, then flipped it over. On the back of the photo was Li Xia's signature, as well as three claws of different shapes.

And a line of smaller print: "We will meet again."

The little knight looked at it for a long time, then picked up the wooden sculpture, which was almost identical to the one in the photo.

It clumsily picked up the carving knife and crookedly carved its first word on the base.

"partner"

"This guy"

I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the final frame. The image of the little knight holding the photo and the statue, even after many separations, always had one that touched my heart.

The little knight was dazed; his world was small, consisting only of Li Xia and his three sworn brothers.

That trip together was its most unforgettable memory.

"See you soon."

Li Xia patted the three boys, who were clearly saddened. They had only just become sworn brothers, and now they were already parting with their 'fourth brother,' which was indeed quite painful for them.

[The settlement for this derivative world will be processed shortly, please wait.]

The prompting from the Hall of Light helped them break free from that 'faint sadness'.

They focused intently on the settlement.

[Executioner, begin calculating the rewards for this derivative world]

[Entering the World: Seeking the World of Light]

World Difficulty: D—S? (Normal—Hell?)

Global environment: 1.22 times standard gravity

[Number of tasks completed: Main quest *3]

Main Quest: Deep Green Crystal, Pale Container, Tears of Regret

[Task Completion Status: Perfect]

Special Execution Mission: Slay the Pale King

[Task Completion Status: Perfect]

Special Main Quest: The Trial of the Primal Tree

[Mission Completion Status: Highest Difficulty]

Overall Rating: SS

[Settlement Evaluation Rewards: 10 Attribute Points, 25 Merit Points, 100000 Hall Points]

[Special Punishment Mission Rewards: 5 Attribute Points, 3 Time-Space Silver Coins]

[Main Quest Evaluation Rewards: 15 Attribute Points, 3 Time-Space Silver Coins, 200000 Hall Points, 30 Merit Points]

[Guild Skill: Shared Destiny LV.max activated (Increases the rate of skill point acquisition for followers/pets/servants by an additional 30%)]

[Guild Skill: Extra Settlement LV.max activated, you gain 2 Guild Skill Points]

[Guild Skill: Time-Space Collector LV1 activated, you have gained 1 Time-Space Coin]

[Statistical Apostle World Rewards]

[You have gained the following in this world: 30 attribute points, 6 Time-Space Silver Coins, 55 merit points, 300000 Hall Points. Materials, equipment, and consumables are not included in the statistics.]

[Executioner, this settlement is now complete.]

Welcome back to the Hall of Light!

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

(End of this chapter)