The darkness of the void was boundless and unending.
Gu Qing Shan was being carried rapidly through space by an immense force.
Unlike before, there was a lot of noise during this transport.
He could hear many voices, see many visions, and sense the existence of many other living beings.
At one point, he even saw a familiar scene.
It was the scene of him being taken in as Xie Dao Lingâs disciple in Bai Hua Hall.
However, there was a difference in this vision when compared to his memory.
Xie Dao Ling wielded the Earth sword as she leapt off the Throne of Ten Thousand Flowers and faced the Beast Saints.
Everything flashed by in an instant.
As he continued to fly, this vision disappeared.
Gu Qing Shan was speechless for a short moment.
ââ-strange, it was because Shifu had given up on swordsmanship that she handed the Earth sword over to me, so why did she face the enemy while wielding the Earth sword in that vision?
Suddenly, another vision flashed by his eyes.
It was still Bai Hua Hall.
Xie Dao Ling was leaning on her Throne of Ten Thousand Flowers with a faint yellow aura in her hand.
Huang Quan Origin power!
Gu Qing Shanâs heart jumped for a second.
Without much time for him to think, the vision vanished as everything around him returned to darkness.
He continued to rapidly fly through the boundless void.
However, he had understood what those two visions just now meant.
ââthey were two completely different parallel worlds.
At certain instances in an individualâs life, Fate had split off at a forked road, resulting in a different future and path for each person.
Gu Qing Shanâs thoughts rapidly turned and asked: âWhy did you show me all of this? Where are you?â
No one answered him in the void of space.
But very quickly, another vision appeared.
ââit was a battlefield.
Gu Qing Shan could see the glowing cloaked skeleton, as well as numerous other skeletons and other gigantic monsters clad in white flames fighting against many powerful Professionists.
None of those Professionists was weaker compared to Gu Qing Shan, but they all slowly died off one by one in the battle with the white flames monsters.
Behind all the white flames monsters, a waterfall of light that connected heaven and earth slowly swept across the world.
The entire world and all the Professionists were completely destroyed.
All the visions disappeared at once.
The void became plunged in darkness again.
Gu Qing Shan couldnât help but call out again: âWhy are you showing me this? Where are you?â
From the void of space, the strong wind howled intensely, but no voice answered him.
After a long while of silence, the howling wind finally turned into tiny whispers that spoke to him.
âGu Qing Shan... I am currently fighting against an Apocalypse that far surpasses all living beingsâ imagination, so I cannot appear to see youâ
ââ-this was the giant corpseâs voice!
Gu Qing Shan asked: âYou mean that light earlier? That was a true Apocalypse that Reneedol summonedâ
The wind whispers answered him: âThatâs right, Space-Time would no longer deceive it, so I have no other choice but to let one parallel world after another be destroyed to deceive it, hoping that it would leave this Reality Gate as soon as possibleâ
Gu Qing Shan instantly asked: âThe parallel worlds are only a technique? Was it you who cast it?â
âNo, the Parallel World Technique originated deep within the Dusty World. I was not the one who cast it, but the Dusty World is tacitly allowing me to use this technique to deceive the Apocalypseâ the giant corpse replied.
Gu Qing Shan couldnât help but ask: âWhat exactly is this white light Apocalypse? Why did even the Lord of Infinite Origins fall to it, and even you had no choice but resort to deception to draw it away?â
The giant corpse sighed and spoke: âCome, Gu Qing Shan, I will lead you to see the scenery outside the Reality Gateâ
Before he even finished, Gu Qing Shan felt the pulling force on his body growing several times stronger.
Countless images appeared in front of his eyes, speeding through at a ridiculous speed that didnât even give him a chance to see any of the visions on his way.
ââall of them were parallel worlds.
âHow many parallel worlds are you using to deceive the Apocalypse?â Gu Qing Shan couldnât help but call out.
âIâm not sureâ the giant corpse answered in a low voice, âPerhaps only a dozen, perhaps all of themâ
Gu Qing Shan felt a chill run down his spine.
ââif we cannot stop the true Apocalypse, then perhaps all the parallel worlds must be used to resist it!
The giant corpse continued: âIn the near future of this timeline, Reneedol will summon a true Apocalypseââ or you can call it an Unfathomable Apocalypseââ- in reality, the name âUnfathomableâ was coined by me. I purposely let this name drift throughout all the worlds to urge their living beings to ponder the true nature of the Apocalypsesâ
âLike I had said, Space-Time could no longer resist its invasion, so even when youâve travelled back in time, some Apocalyptic elements would still follow you into the past to pursue and kill youâ
Gu Qing Shanâs vision flashed briefly.
All the visions he saw disappeared.
In the darkness, a rapidly expanding mass of drifting sand was enveloped in white light.
The white light was continuously attacking the mass of drifting sand, unceasing, unrelenting, and unending.
His vision zoomed out.
There was a withered leaf outside of the drifting sand, which was drifting in the wind to fall onto the wasteland of a certain planet.
This planet was only a single one among hundreds of millions of stars within this galaxy.
There were still countless worlds outside of the galaxy that couldnât be seen all at once.
And all of this was enveloped in endless white light, subjected to its unending corrosion.
The giant corpse resounded again:
âGu Qing Shan, as you should know, sometimes, an entire world is merely a mass of sand, sometimes a piece of leaf might be the collection of 9000 worlds, and even billions of stars could just be a part of one gigantic world. And the world behind our Reality Gate is hidden among the void of these infinite worldsâ
Gazing upon the world being corroded by white light, Gu Qing Shan was so shaken that he was speechless.
Suddenly, he noticed that the mass of sand earlier had been erased by the white light.
ââit was completely destroyed by the Apocalypse.
âWhat exactly is this Apocalypse that consists of nothing but white light?â Gu Qing Shan couldnât help himself asking.
The giant corpse replied: âThere are many kinds of Apocalypse, many of which I can deal with, but for living beings, true Unfathomable Apocalypses are like thisâââ
His voice suddenly became cold and restrained:
âThis kind of Apocalypse believes that living beings are nothing but sentient coincidences, and its mission is to erase all coincidences to let the void return to silenceâ
âAs you can see, its power is vast and endless, naturally being capable of destroying all living beingsââ- I donât know who exactly gave it this power, and I canât stand in front of its wayââ because that would be the same as letting myself all into eternal erasureâ
âââThis kind of Unfathomable Apocalypse has surpassed the limits of what living beings can fathom. Simply by existing, it was naturally capable of destroying everythingââ- including me, including you, as well as all living beingsâ
âNo one could resist itâ
Gu Qing Shan immediately asked: âAre there really no solutions at all?â
The giant corpse replied: âThere were originally no solutions at all. Fortunately, you had the Key of Past, as well as the support of the Chrono race, which allowed you to escape from it. At the same time, the glowing skeleton that its clone had manifested into had lost too much power that it was no longer capable of destroying everything or summon the power of its original formâ
Gu Qing Shan silently thought a bit and asked in a heavy tone: âIt also wanted to obtain the frozen corpse, could it want to absorb the frozen corpseâs power to summon its original form outside the Reality Gate?â
âThatâs exactly the case. Once it had regained its power, the parallel worlds that I used to deceive its main body would no longer workâ the giant corpse replied.
Gu Qing Shan looked at the boundless light that was illuminating the darkness of the void.
More and more worlds were being corroded and destroyed by the light, but the light did not grow weaker for even a little bit.
Destroying everything.
For the boundless light, this was a natural and righteous thing to do.
This was the meaning of its existence.
Gu Qing Shan stared blankly at it and muttered to himself: â...The Reality Gate had now been opened, the glowing cloaked skeleton that it manifested into had travelled through time following me, then continued to pursue me and even destroyed the entire Twin Rivers of Life and Deathâ
The giant corpse sighed and continued: âI have no choice but to continuously give up more parallel worlds for it to destroy, using this to temporarily deceive it and stall for timeâ
â...You definitely have a solution to fight itâ Gu Qing Shan suddenly said.
âNo, there is no means of fighting it, but there is one solution that would allow us to not die at its handsâ the giant corpse replied.
âWhat is that solution?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âTo close the Reality Gate and obscure it from its visionâ the giant corpse answered.
âClosing... the Reality Gate?â Gu Qing Shan muttered.
The giant corpse explained: âThatâs right. It only managed to find the Reality Gate through Reneedolâs summoningââ you must understand one thing, the Reality Gate was being hidden among boundless space, so it canât be discovered too easily. Once we have closed the Gate, it is very possible for it to be unable to find us againâ
Gu Qing Shan pondered: âItâs worth a try... but how do we close the Reality Gate?â
âNo one could achieve this, because a Reality Gate can only be opened and closed through the usage of a corresponding Travelerâs Proofâ the giant corpse answered.
Gu Qing Shan realized something and said: âYou mean... the Key of the Past in my hands?â
âThe Key of the Past is only a fragment of the Travelerâs Proof, it wonât be able to close the Reality Gateââ now that we want to close it, we must find the entity that initially forced the Gate openââ we would be able to close the Gate using their powerâ
Gu Qing Shan hesitantly asked: âYou mean...â
âYes, the Reality Gate was hidden deep within the center of the Eternal Abyssââ- a long time ago, it was once destroyed by the frozen corpse, so you will need to awaken that Secret Apocalypse and use its power to close the Gate from the insideâ
The giant corpse sighed and finally said: âPerhaps the overseer of the seal had realized or even had a premonition of this that it slowly turned itself into an Apocalypse, gradually taking over control of the frozen corpse, then turned into the Lord of Infinite Origins, and finally guarded the Eternal Abyss, hiding the Reality Gate within itselfâââ but all of this was its instincts, it did not realize the true reason for its actionsâ
âAre you talking aboutââ Shroud?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âI amâ the giant corpse praised, âIt was certainly impressive, having made all the preparations ahead of time and even hide the frozen corpse away using the six Sealing Tokens, waiting for this exact moment of timeâ
âGo, Gu Qing Shanâ
âHurry and search for all the scattered parts of the frozen corpse, reassemble it and let it awaken once moreâ
âOnly its power would be able to close the Reality Gateâ
âI wonât be able hold on for very longâ
âHurryâââ
Oong!!!
A loud wind-ripping noise resounded in his ears.
Gu Qing Shan was being yanked back to his original location by an irresistible force.
He had gone past countless parallel world images, some of which were still fighting against the light Apocalypse, while some were already completely destroyed.
ââ-after all of these parallel worlds had been destroyed by the Apocalypse and the Reality Gate still hasnât been closed again, then everything would be over.
Gu Qing Shan observed the countless silent parallel world visions.
He continued to fly down.
And down.
And further down, the longer he traveled, the faster he was travelling, but time also felt like it was elongating.
Suddenly, at a certain momentâââ
Inside the inn, Gu Qing Shan abruptly opened his eyes.
âGongzi?â Shannuâs intimate voice sounded next to him.