Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

"He really has gone mad."

The true creator gazed at the distant sky, which was dyed red by the 'First Flame', and his eyes, hidden in the shadows, seemed to carry a hint of mockery.

Adam always thought He was insane because He inherited the negative personality and extreme emotions of the "ancient sun god" before His death. In Adam's eyes, this was the degenerate nature of humanity, and madness was inevitable.

And indeed, this is the best proof of the ramblings heard by followers of the Aurora Society.

The true Creator realized His own madness long ago, but His consciousness remained clear. Therefore, He knew that His madness was only temporary; once His divinity and humanity were united, the madness would become a thing of the past.

However, yin alone cannot grow, nor can yang alone produce.

If He, who only possessed humanity, had already gone mad, how could Adam, who only possessed divinity, be an exception?

Adam was a madman from birth, just like Amon.

They are all purely divine beings, born with only divinity.

In order to maintain his "self" and resist his original will, Amon chose to split himself into countless clones, which formed His "anchor." This approach is unique in the world.

Whether it was Pales Zoroastrian or the ancestors of the Jacob family, they were all angels of the Thief pathway Sequence 1, but none of them formed an anchor point in such a "maverick" way as Amon.

It's not because they don't know the benefits of doing this, but because they are very clear about the harms of doing this!

Admittedly, using clones can indeed create effective and stable anchor points, eliminating the worry of enemy pinpoint attacks on your anchor points, because as long as the original body is alive, countless clones can be recreated.

However, while the anchor point is stable, it also has another consequence: it makes them unable to distinguish between the virtual and the real.

In theory, every angel and god needs an anchor of faith to confront divinity, in order to find and solidify their humanity.

Both 'divinity' and 'faith' are essentially forms of pollution!

If we were to use Freud's theory of personality structure to describe it, then "humanity" is the "ego," while "divinity" and "faith" are both the "superego"—"divinity" is the "superego" that comes from the Creator, while "faith" originates from the believers' "superego" of the perfect image of God.

When either side becomes too powerful, it will cause a shift in "human nature," with the "ego" being worshipped by the "superego," and from then on, "I" will no longer be myself.

Therefore, neither 'divinity' nor 'faith' can directly interact with 'humanity'. Only when the two 'superegos' oppose and cancel each other out can 'humanity' maintain its 'self'.

Therefore, for most beings, their 'divinity,' 'faith,' and 'humanity' coexist yet remain independent and distinct from each other. Only in this way can they avoid the 'ego' being contaminated by the 'superego.'

But Amon's approach was completely different!

For Him, 'divinity' is still the 'superego' that needs to be fought against.

However, 'faith' no longer originates from the believer, but from his own alter ego, that is, from a part of his 'self'. This approach seems plausible because as long as Amon's self-awareness is deep enough, and his alter egos develop the same awareness, he can maintain his 'self' more firmly than others.

In fact, Amon's approach forcibly merged the originally distinct "faith" and "self"—the function of "faith" was no longer to oppose divinity, but merely to shape the "self"!

However, in doing so, "divinity" will be freed from its constraints, and as time goes by, in an increasingly confused self-perception, it will gradually merge with "faith" and "self," and from then on, the two spirits will be completely stitched together and inseparable!

In other words, 'madness' was almost an inevitable end for Amon.

Adam was the same; he would only slowly go mad over time.

This madness became even more apparent after Adam was replaced by the divinity of the 'Ancient Sun God' and became the 'Adam' we know today.

Adam believed himself to be the embodiment of divinity and the symbol of perfection. He thought that he, representing absolute reason, was more suitable to be the dominant consciousness than the real creator. But this was precisely the manifestation of Adam's madness!

Now, Adam's madness has made Him dissatisfied with the status quo, and He has begun to incite the "First Flame" to forcibly destroy the barrier set up by the "Lord of Mysteries" in an attempt to bring back the sealed source matter.

Before the end of the world, the sealed source matter is released ahead of schedule.

This approach is neither good nor bad, but it is absolutely insane!

Adam knew he was powerless to reclaim authority from other paths, unable to control the Chaos Sea, and unwilling to merge with the true Creator so quickly, lest he lose his 'self'. Therefore, Adam's path had come to an end; the dual-path true godhood was His limit, and His power would stagnate from this point onward.

Releasing the source at this time would only benefit those who seek other means.

Because among all the source substances, only the 'Chaos Sea' shares the same origin as Adam, and the 'Chaos Sea' is in the hands of the true creator, if Adam were to forcibly contain other 'source substances,' loss of control would be inevitable.

Unlike Adam, however, the significance of these source substances is entirely different for other beings. Once they obtain the corresponding source substances, they truly possess the ticket to ascend to the Old Ones. Given the right price, it's not impossible to ascend to the Old Ones before the end times!

Ultimately, the release of these primal substances is merely benefiting others; what good can it do for Adam?

Admittedly, the "Lord of Steam" and the "Primordial Witch" would have the opportunity to ascend to the Old Ones once they obtained the Source, and both of them are Adam's staunch allies, so they would definitely stand on His side. But so what?

Adam could not control all the released source matter. While the Lord of Steam and the Primal Witch could ascend to the Old Ones through the Wilderness of Knowledge and the City of Calamity, the Goddess of Night, the Mother of the Earth, and even the Black Emperor also had the opportunity!

Even in the best-case scenario of two against three, Adam would still be at a disadvantage.

unless--

"The Shadow World?"

The eyes behind the veil of shadow flickered slightly. Adam had cooperated with the great serpent from the abyss more than once, and the serpent represented the 'Abyss' pathway. Although the uniqueness of the 'Bound Ones' pathway, adjacent to the 'Abyss,' was in the hands of the Ember, the great serpent could never ascend to the Old Ones through it in this lifetime.

But this did not prevent the giant serpent from using it to control the source matter, or even devour it.

And so, the only remaining source material is the Key of Light...

The shadowy curtain that seemed poised to expand across the entire land abandoned by the gods suddenly paused, and the true creator stopped what he was doing.

He had intended to stop the First Flame, but now it seems unlikely.

The true creator turned his gaze to Urelius, his eyes filled with profound meaning.

Of all twenty-two pathways, the 'Mother' and 'Moon' are the most special, because neither of these pathways comes directly from the Creator, but rather from the Fallen Mother Goddess. The same is true for the 'Mother Nest,' one of the nine primal substances. It was once a part of the primal substance possessed by the Fallen Mother Goddess, but it was torn apart and attracted by the Creator's resurrection, and that's how it came to descend into this world.

Of course, since the source material has the ability to complete itself, although the source material of the 'Fallen Mother Goddess' was once incomplete, it has now been completed, and she is still a genuine Old One. The 'Mother Nest' that was separated can also create an Old One, and the two are now on equal footing.

Therefore, once the "Earth Mother Goddess" became the Old One, she even hoped to compete with the Fallen Mother Goddess for the power symbolizing the "Pillar".

For the fallen Mother Goddess, in order to reclaim the symbol of the 'pillar', she must also reunite with the Mother Nest, which is why she covets this world.

However, if we set aside the 'Mother Nest' and its corresponding 'Mother' and 'Moon' pathways, as well as the pillar pathways corresponding to the 'Source Castle' and the 'Chaos Sea', the most unique of the remaining six source substances is undoubtedly the 'Key of Light'.

All other source materials correspond to at least two pathways, and only by accommodating both pathways can they become the Old One.

But the Key of Light is different; it has only one corresponding path: the Wheel of Fortune.

This means that as long as someone can become Sequence 0 of the 'Wheel of Fate' pathway, they can directly accommodate the 'Key of Light' and become part of the Old Ones!

Beside the true Creator, the 'Angel of Fate' Urelius possesses two Sequence 1 extraordinary traits from the 'Wheel of Fate' pathway. If He can successfully hunt the other Mercury Serpent, He has a chance to ascend to Sequence 0 and become a true Outer Greatness!

In this respect, the path of Ouroboros is easier than that of any other being.

Of course, this is on the premise that He can obtain the Key of Light.

To obtain the Key of Light, the seal set by the Lord of Mysteries must be broken.

Given this prerequisite, the true Creator naturally had no reason to prevent the First Flame.

Without a doubt, all of this was clearly within Adam's calculations.

Adam knew the true Creator well, and the true Creator knew Adam well in return.

After all, no matter what, they were once the same person.

Just as the true creator hesitated, the situation of the gray fog became increasingly dire.

The 'ash fog' scorched by the initial fire grew increasingly thin, and cracks appeared on its surface. These cracks were initially just scattered 'scratches,' but as time went on, more and more cracks covered the surface of the ash fog, as dense as a spider web.

The gray fog, like a mirror, was collapsing under the pressure of the cracks, as if it would shatter completely at any moment.

Beneath the gray fog, one small hill after another rose up, like fish struggling to break free of the plastic confinement in a fish tank sealed with plastic.

Boo!

Finally, a small fish broke through the plastic seal.

A large hole was torn open on the surface of the gray fog, and a rushing sound of water came out, as if the water of the Milky Way was pouring out.

The True Creator gazed intently into the hole, where a deep, dark, colorless, and unreal stream of water, imbued with an aura of eternal stillness, flowed forth. Though separated by a vast distance, the True Creator seemed to see death, eternal sleep, His end, His limit…

Although the 'river water' sloped down, it did not fall to the ground, but suddenly disappeared in the air and flowed into the depths of the spirit world.

That was not a real river, but the River of Eternal Darkness, one of the nine primal substances.

The river water is not a river in the literal sense, but rather an abstract concept and symbol.

The true creator was not surprised by the escape of the "River of Eternal Darkness," because although the "Lord of Mysteries" was powerful, He was ultimately not the creator.

As time goes by, the seal on the Western Continent is gradually weakening.

Those source substances, whether instinctively or consciously, utilize their uniqueness and high-sequence extraordinary characteristics within their symbolic range to indirectly erode them and influence the outside world. Among them, the earliest to infiltrate with power was the "River of Eternal Darkness," which had already formed a tributary in the outside world through Greygardy as early as the Second Epoch.

In the Fourth Epoch, more Source Matter began to appear on the northern and southern continents and the islands of the five seas, such as in the City of Calamity and the Shadow World...

Of course, these source substances are of too high a rank to be as active as the 'Hidden Sages'. Their instincts are more due to the tendency to 'aggregate' than to the fact that they themselves have developed self-awareness.

Now, once it escapes with the help of external forces, the source essence will travel to the area where the power once permeated it through "aggregation" and merge with its branches.

The River of Eternal Darkness was the first, followed by the 'Mother Nest', the 'Wilderness of Knowledge'...

The true Creator watched all this silently, for He knew that this was only the beginning, and it was too late to stop it now.

He watched silently as one after another of the source matter broke free from the shackles of the gray mist and gained their freedom.

There was neither an attempt to stop it nor an attempt to seize it—these primordial substances were of a higher rank than Him, and unless He forcibly used the power of the Chaos Sea, it would be impossible to stop them. Using the Chaos Sea to intercept the primordial substances would come at the cost of them being potentially devoured by the Chaos Sea, a price the True Creator did not want to bear, so He intended to do nothing.

Meanwhile, although the gray mist instinctively filled the gaps and prevented the escape of these source substances, it was ultimately to no avail.

Because by the time those gaps are filled, the source matter has already escaped, like a bird soaring into the blue sky or a fish entering the sea, no longer bound by any constraints.

Ultimately, the fog barrier was restored to its original state.

However, it is not as thick as it used to be; instead, it is much thinner.

The true Creator, separated by a vast distance, could even vaguely see the other side of the scene through the gray fog in certain areas—on the other side, large crowds stood at the edge of the gray fog, looking at the desolate world on the other side with either worry or excitement.

Above the sky, the "First Flame" had disappeared, but the sky remained bright, and the "Sun" still hung high in the sky.

Because when the 'First Flame' ignites the gray mist, the 'darkness' and 'lightning' that shroud the world are also ignited at the same time.

As the ash fog thinned with continued burning, the darkness and lightning were reduced to ashes, and bright sunlight streamed down upon this land shrouded in darkness for millennia. Perhaps in a few more years, the Forsaken Land will once again become the Eastern Continent!

This was an unexpected surprise.