Corpse Recovery Diver-Chapter 1145 - 208_3
Everyone instinctively turned back, only to see the "Goddess's outstretched hand" piercing through the dome, her white and radiant palm reaching down.
If one only captures this moment, it truly appears to be the descent of the Goddess, an undisputed guide for all beings.
But as you watch a little longer, you realize the Goddess's hand starts to deform, elongating continuously, until it becomes cascading waves of white lava!
The prior scene of the emerald dome being lit by the glow and the graceful silhouette of the Goddess was merely the accumulation and flow of this bizarre lava.
The waves of celestial music turned out to be air currents expanded and compressed by high temperatures, and the Cloud Sea's celestial ladder was mist formed by impurities being melted away.
A massive stream of white lava vertically descended toward the tower.
At the tower's pinnacle, the Faceless Man, with arms spread wide, let out a wretched howl: "No, no, no!"
It wasn't due to the terrifying despair of high temperatures, nor from the failure of ascension, but rather because he finally realized:
It turns out, there was never any ascension!
The Faceless Man could accept the failure to ascend, he could comprehend falling short despite his efforts. Priorly, when he sensed his failure, not only did he teach Li Zhiyuan the skill suitable for scraping the great bell's Luck, but he also voluntarily chose to fade out and commit suicide.
After all, becoming celestial isn't easy, and failure is often the norm.
Before him now, however, this sight unmistakably informed him; from the beginning here, there was no celestial ascent!
There was never an effort, there was never any possibility.
"Hahahaha!!!" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
The white lava first engulfed the top of the tower, and as the Faceless Man was scorched, he laughed aloud:
"Ancestors, why did you deceive me, ancestors, why did you deceive me, you deceived us all!"
The lava swept over the top floor and entered the eleventh floor.
The scholar had returned here, still lying on the bed.
But this time, he seemed aware that the wordless book was no longer in his hand, so one hand propped his head while the other no longer held the book aloft but rested on his thigh, as if in a leisurely pose.
Lava first seeped through the gaps, quickly bursting open more holes, and despite his body being completely engulfed by the lava, the scholar remained motionless.
Tenth floor, ninth floor, eighth floor...
All the dead of the Xuanmen were orderly seated at their desks.
In life, they were powerful and exceptional; in death, their corpses were filled with all kinds of oddities.
But now, they all dissolved within the white lava.
Perhaps everything was meant to return to dust; this was merely a delayed conclusion.
The majestic and mysterious tower continued to melt and collapsed under the impact of the lava.
The white lava was all-pervasive, starting to flow down the purple Lock Chain.
The black-robed man looked up and fell into another frenzy of struggle upon seeing this.
What he awaited was the fruit being stolen by him, the rules dissipating, the tower collapsing—not this current outcome.
The white lava flowed over him, quickly evaporating the remaining corpse energy within him.
"Ahhhh!!!"
He let out a scream of agony.
Due to the rapid disappearance of his corpse energy, the last black stone he condensed with corpse energy on the chessboard also vanished.
It turns out, in this game of chess, he hadn't won.
After the white lava melted the barriers, it began to flood in en masse. The black-robed man looked at the coffins of his family, whom he had killed and relocated, being devoured and burned into nothingness by the lava.
The black-robed man ceased struggling.
He let the lava continuously pierce through his body, allowing his zombie-like form to slowly be annihilated.
At this moment, he finally understood why his ancestor had set such a terrifying restriction within his tomb and why he had buried that book with him.
The restriction was bound to fail eventually, at which time later generations would sense it and safely enter the tomb, see that book, and find this location.
"Hehe, hehehe, hehehehehe!"
The black-robed man's throat continuously emitted laughter.
He never believed celestial ascension could succeed, but he never imagined his ancestor's layout had nothing to do with so-called ascension whatsoever.
From the very start, this was a complete and utter scam.
Constantly luring people in, constantly leading them to slaughter one another; everyone harboring dreams of celestial ascension was akin to voluntary fuel for the pyre, just waiting for that bell to be filled, becoming overburdened and leading to the final incineration!
He also finally understood why his ancestor had to do it.
His family hadn't produced Dragon Kings historically, but those with outstanding talents never ceased, and the family's resilient heritage was in no way inferior to that of traditional Dragon King families.
Even he, despite losing to the one in green attire back then, could suffer defeat repeatedly, only to miraculously recover each time and rise again.
Because, his family constantly had merit supplemented.
Those Dragon King families still needed descendants to traverse Jiang, to prevent the gate from falling.
In contrast, his family had an ancestor who, years ago, laid out this arrangement, perpetually luring celestial-seeking outliers unwelcomed by the Heavenly Dao here for self-elimination, thus acquiring merit.
When fine water flows continuously, today it's filled, and now comes a major influx to completely eradicate their remaining calamities.
This also explains the ancestor's setting of restriction time, allowing the family to find this place through that book—the ancestor wanted his people to come here and receive the last great merit.
But he had come too soon!
He came early by personally killing his whole family, bringing them all here too soon!
At this moment, the black-robed man felt he was the biggest joke in the world.
