TN: Siming refers to an ancient Chinese deity who governed the fate of all humans, not directly, but through fine adjustments. There have been various translations of this deityâs name, such as Master of Fate, Controller of Fate, Deified Judge of Life, Arbiter of Fate, Director of Allotted Life Spans, and Director of Destinies.
âââ
Kill the Myriad Deities.
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Gu Qing Shan calmed back down.
Since he had decided on this, there was no need to consider other strategies, he only needed to continue thinking with this as the basis.
Of course, there were also many issues within this.
For example, exactly what kind of organization was the Pantheon?
Why would they choose to descend at the advent of the Apocalypse?
Who exactly is inside Reneedolâs body right now?
How should I kill her so that the three Great Laws of Reality wouldnât reconstitute themselves?
Gu Qing Shan put the bottle down next to him and leaned on a nearby tree.
Issues are only issues when you think of them as such, I can simply tackle them one by one.
What I need to do now is to collect information.
Gu Qing Shanâs gaze turned to the void of space to read the glowing text:
[In two minutes and one second, the Apocalypse will descend!]
The Apocalypse is coming.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly spoke telepathically to Shroud:
âShroud, donât turn towards me, Iâm speaking with you privately right now. Are you currently the Overlord of Radiance?â
Sure enough, Shroud didnât turn towards him and simply replied: âYou can say that, but my capabilities are quite limited, I wouldnât be able to do a lotâ
âCan you act as an Overlord to form a covenant with mortals?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âI can, but Iâm currently still very weak, Iâm not sure if anyone would be willing to form one with meâ Shroud wryly laughed.
âItâs because youâre still weak that you need someone to help you, and I think Epta is quite suitable for the jobâ Gu Qing Shan said.
âEpta?â Shroud asked.
âThatâs right, Radiance and healing are very closely related to one another, so if she forms a covenant with you, she would be able to increase the potency of her healing. The next time we run into battle, she might even become our final insuranceâ
Gu Qing Shan continued: âFurthermore, the previous Overlord of Radiance only had you as their only covenant bearer, if you later become a true Overlord and have every expert in the world form a covenant with you...â
Gu Qing Shan didnât continue.
Shroud pondered: âItâs worth a shotâ
âGreat, but if anyone asks, donât tell them itâs my ideaâ Gu Qing Shan said.
âWhy not?â
âBecause that would appear like I pay a specific kind of attention to her, that would only cause misunderstandingsâ
âAh, thatâs true. Even I thought that you liked her before you say thatââ alright, Iâll say that it was my ideaâ
Gu Qing Shan stopped talking.
There was less than a minute left.
He walked behind a tree to look for Scarlet.
Scarlet was sitting crouched on the ground while wiping her tears.
Gu Qing Shan also crouched in front of her and smiled: âHow are you feeling? Scared by Atleyâs words?â
Scarlet shook her head.
âThen why did you cry?â Gu Qing Shan asked again.
âIâm now the walking avatar of Death on the mortal realm, so Iâm afraid that Iâll carelessly kill those who are innocentâââ
Scarlet dejectedly said: âTheir family members would surely feel sorrowful, and I would blame myself forever because of itâ
Gu Qing Shan was surprised, his gaze slowly becoming gentle.
âScarletâ
âHm?â
âWhen you kill people, just come with me, Iâll make sure that you wonât kill wronglyâ Gu Qing Shan told her.
âAre you sure?â Scarlet doubtfully asked.
âI can guarantee itâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âBut then, who gave you the right to decide who deserves to live or die?â Scarlet looked straight into his eyes and asked.
âI naturally donât have the right to determine anyoneâs life or death, but I have experience. I can tell regular people from devils in peopleâs skinâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âThen, you only kill devils?â Scarlet asked.
âThatâs rightâ Gu Qing Shan didnât dodge Scarletâs gaze and faced her head-on: âWhen I act, it will be at the moment when the devil must die, you can simply act with meâ
âWould that be considered to be both of us sustaining the Overlord of Death?â
âIt willâ
Scarlet tilted her head for a bit in thought, then said: âVery well, then Iâll be with you from now onâ
Perhaps feeling those words to be a bit suggestive, she blushed and added:
âWhen killing peopleâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded.
Lines of glowing text were quickly scrolling across the War God UI:
[3]
[2]
[1]
[The Apocalypse had descended]
[Prepare yourselves well]
At the same time, the entire world noticed it.
The mountains, the grassy meadows, the deserts, the wilderness, the cities, the towns, countries, even the World of Laws, the insects, the birds, the wild animals, humans, all sentient creatures including the Law Behemoths saw the unnatural phenomenon in the sky.
âWhat is that?â Shroud loudly called out.
Only to see the sky suddenly going dark as numerous stars manifested in the sky.
These stars gave off a blinding frigid glow.
Following that, strands of indigo threads manifested out of thin air, connecting those millions of stars together to form a vast net.
A blank and emotionless voice resounded in everyoneâs minds:
[Everyone, the legendary game had finally managed to sneak over to arrive in front of you]
[Welcome everyone to experiencing the Apocalypse: Siming!]
[To commemorate the descent of the Apocalypse, let us begin the very first round of our game]
[Anyone can be first, each of you must describe a connection between yourself and all things, or with any living beings, then be recognized by the game]
[The first round is about to begin, you will need to prove at least two kinds of connection between yourselves, no repetitions]
[Those who succeed, congratulations on winning the right to prolong your lives]
[For those who cannot prove even two connections...]
[They will be ended!]
[The gameââ-]
[Shall now begin!]
The starlight glowed brightly like the middle of the day, illuminating every living being.
Everyone felt stunned.
Immediately after that, everyone felt a deep sense of fear from their very hearts.
This fear had surpassed even Death itself; it was suffocating enough to make anyone instinctively grasp at any chance of survival.
And so.
Those who were quick to react swiftly followed the instructions of the voice.
Like Gu Qing Shanâââ
He had witnessed many Apocalypse already, so he immediately called out: âRegardless of now or the future, Shroud and I are good brothers!â
An indigo thread manifested out of nowhere to connect him and Shroud.
âHurry!â Gu Qing Shan urged.
Shroud immediately continued: âScarlet and I are disciples of the same realmâ
An indigo thread connected him and Scarlet.
Scarlet also realized what was happening and spoke: âEpta and I are also disciples of the same realmâ
They were connected as well.
Having seen three examples, Epta also realized what was going on.
She hurriedly turned to Atley: âAtley and I are also disciples of the same realmâ
A short moment later.
No indigo thread had manifested.
No connections were formed!
Shroud exclaimed in shock: âThatâs impossible! Why!?â
Atleyâs expression also changed.
He turned to Shroud, then at Gu Qing Shan, then at Scarlet, his expression clearly filled with despair.
Suddenly, he shouted: âI am friends with Rhodeâ
No indigo threads formed either.
A second later, their vicinity abruptly turned dark.
Two columns of red light abruptly enveloped Epta and Atley.
Epta was stunned, but before she even said a word, she had melted into the red column of light.
Atley abruptly unleashed a massive green glow and shouted angrily: âNO! I AM THE MASTER OF THE WIND, THE WIND DEITY, HOW COULD I BEââââ
The red glow gradually became darker, now appearing like fresh blood.
Atleyâs flesh melted within the column of light, leaving only his skeleton remainingââ
Even while he only had his skeleton left, he was still madly struggling to resist this light.
But it was useless.
A moment later.
Both his body and soul had disappeared without a trace.
Gu Qing Shan, Shroud, and Scarlet were all stunned.
A frigid and emotionless voice resounded by their ears:
[Two living beings had been ended]
[The game shall continue]
[Please complete your second connection within ten seconds, or you will be ended]
Gu Qing Shan suddenly slapped his own face, forcing himself to calm down.
Atleyâs soul had been substituted, so he naturally didnât fulfil Eptaâs connection.
Thatâs why both of them had died!
Gu Qing Shan quickly continued: âThe Law of Death I wield, as well as the Law of Radiance Shroud wields, are both the most special ones within this world, we are Professionists of the same levelâ
The second thread appeared to connect him and Shroud.
Shroud turned to Scarlet, thought for a bit, then loudly declared: âThe Law of Radiance I wield, as well as the Law of Death Scarlet wields, are both the most special ones within this world, we are Professionists of the same levelâ
Another thread appeared to connect him and Scarlet.
Scarlet swiftly followed: âThe Law of Death I wield, as well as the Law of Death Rhode wields, are both the most special ones within this world, we are Professionists of the same levelâ
The frigid voice resounded again:
[The game is over]
[Youâve completed the simplest introductory game]
[Please continue to live for now]
[You may live for another twelve hours]
After that, the voice disappeared.
Only the three of them remained blankly in the wilderness.
A few moments later.
Scarletâs legs went limp as she collapsed on her bottom, her tears silently flowed out.
âEpta...â she called out.
No one answered her.