Chapter 1816: Contradiction

Gu Qing Shan carried several finished dishes to the table with his apron still on.

 

“Whoa, that smells so good!” Xiao Lang exclaimed.

 

“I’ll fluff up the rice!”

 

Liu Li switfly moved to prepare three full bowls of rice on the table.

 

Gu Qing Shan undid his apron before sitting down.

 

“Alright, let’s have a taste” he said.

 

The two girls both nodded and grabbed their chopsticks, picking up one dish after another, unable to stop themselves for even a second.

 

Seeing how they were eating; Gu Qing Shan almost couldn’t help himself from chuckling.

 

—–they have lived impoverished for so long that they can’t help themselves, it’s understandable.

 

He picked up his cup and took a sip, but his expression suddenly twitched.

 

The two girls too placed down their utensils.

 

All of them gazed cautiously at the air.

 

An invisible force had silently descended from the sky as it gathered into a colorful ray of light.

 

That quickly?

 

Gu Qing Shan muttered to himself and spoke: “Xiao Lang, Liu Li, in the case that I have to leave and don’t return after a long while, you two should protect Hell as best as you can. No matter what anyone else says, don’t hand over the authority of Hell to anybody, otherwise, you’d be in danger. Got it?”

 

Both of the girls were confused at his words.

 

Gu Qing Shan’s tone almost felt like he was trying to leave a last will.

 

“Rhode… what exactly is happening?” Xiao Lang couldn’t help herself from asking.

 

“It’s nothing, I’m just taking some precautions” Gu Qing Shan replied.

 

As the colorful ray of light descended, it manifested into a sheet of paper.

 

——a sheet of paper!

 

Gu Qing Shan’s expression became tense.

 

The sheet of paper slowly flew down and unraveled itself in front of him:

 

[Dead person Rhode]

[You have been drafted to participate in a kamikaze mission]

[Three seconds until teleportation]

 

——I can’t even refuse it.

That brutal huh?

 

As he was musing, he felt an immense force wrapping around and directly pulling him away from the room.

 

Xiao Lang and Liu Li were both stunned.

 

“Was that… our Hells Department receiving a task?” Xiao Lang hesitantly asked.

 

“But the situation didn’t seem quite right, I felt an immense sense of danger, it felt like Rhode’s life was at risk” Liu Li commented.

 

Both of them exchanged glances and noticed the worry in the other’s eyes.

 

They were Deities of Hell whose main job was reeling souls and depriving lives; being so accustomed to life and death, they were naturally capable of sensing danger.

 

The two girls placed down their chopsticks with solemn expressions on their faces.

 

“Rhode is… a good person… I mean, he has continued to help us with our difficult situation” Xiao Lang said.

 

“Yeah, I can sense a very familiar power from him, perhaps it’s due to his necromancy powers, or because of something else, but regardless, my intuition is telling me that this uncle is our ally” Liu Li mused.

 

“Oh no!” Xiao Lang suddenly exclaimed.

 

“What happened?” Liu Li hurriedly asked.

 

“Although Rhode is a member of the Hells Department, his Merits are nil, if he dies outside, he wouldn’t be able to return to Hell and would instead head into reincarnation” Xiao Lang replied.

 

Liu Li’s expression changed and exclaimed: “How could such a smart person like him leave such an obvious weakness for himself!?”

 

“That’s true… When he was sunbathing by thee bank of the Forgetting River this morning, I think he also took a stroll to the neighboring river branch as well”

 

“You mean the River of Death?”

 

“Yes, perhaps he’s doing something… but we didn’t realize at all…”

 

“But what if he really hadn’t made any preparations at all?”

 

Both of them went silent.

 

Suddenly, a row of numbers appeared above their respective heads, which continuously shifted.

 

When they looked up, they saw that the numbers hovering above their heads were both astronomical.

 

“Merits?”

 

“Why so much?”

 

Both of them exclaimed.

 

Liu Li took out a lapis-colored glazed lamp and uttered: “Celestial Sphere of Huang Quan, profound divine revelation, forthwith!”

She gazed into the lamp and swiftly explained: “The war situation had turned for the better, resulting in a stabilized front that temporarily won’t falter, so Huang Quan had bestowed us a great deal of Merits as a reward”

 

Xiao Lang muttered: “That’s not right… why did this reward not arrive sooner or later but right at such an opportune moment…”

After pondering for a few moments, she abruptly stood up: “Sister, do you still remember the combination Divine Skill we possess?”

 

“That ultimate Divine Skill? Wait—– you want to save Rhode?”

 

“Yep! Now that we have the protection of Merits, we can reinstate our Deific Authority in the Hall of Reincarnation and regain our strength!”

 

Liu Li was almost panicking: “But we don’t have any of his personal belongings, how are we going to find him?”

 

Xiao Lang waved her hand and displayed an identification badge for Liu Li to see.

 

Liu Li’s expression lit up, she then immediately grabbed Xiao Lang’s hand and said: “Go! Let’s hurry! Even Huang Quan itself is helping us, it seems even Huang Quan doesn’t want Rhode to die like this!”

 

The two girls’ figures flashed and vanished from the room.

…

Heaven and earth were flipped.

 

This place was completely dark and cold.

 

As soon as Gu Qing Shan appeared, he released his inner sight to survey his surroundings.

 

This was an area of outer space with countless planets rooted silently in their spots, completely motionless.

 

The only source of light in this area was sunlight.

 

And the only sun Gu Qing Shan could see was extremely far away.

 

A humanoid creature whose body was several times greater than the sun itself was enveloped in a beautiful nebula, obscuring both their facial features and visage.

 

It gently reached out a grey claw towards the sun——

 

—-grabbed it, then put it into its mouth.

 

There was now one less source of light in outer space.

 

Gu Qing Shan observed this with an expression of absolute awe.

 

Any star possessed boundless karma and possibilities, one could even say that it is the condensed spirit and culmination of the Laws of Reality, capable of rearing all things and living beings.

 

And yet that nebula monster just used a star as nourishment.

 

As he was observing this, a sheet of paper floated in front of him.

 

———a Samsara sheet of paper.

 

It wrote:

 

[You must stay here and stop the nebula being]

[Persist for one hour]

[Reward: 1 point of Merit]

[Attention: Fleeing or being unable to complete the task will result in the direct submergence into the Forgetting River and reincarnation]

 

As soon as Gu Qing Shan finished reading it, the paper sheet suddenly emitted a powerful force.

 

The humanoid nebula monster instantly noticed him.

 

After seeing that, the paper sheet slowly faded away.

 

Gu Qing Shan was stunned.

 

One hour?

I’d already be extraordinary if I could stop it for even one minute.

——not only did you assign me a deathtrap of a task, you even made sure to attract the monster’s attention, just to make sure that I will die?

Sure enough, after tearing away the façade, the Samsara doesn’t even try to act partial anymore.

 

The monster slowly transformed into a smaller form until it was around the same size as Gu Qing Shan.

 

Still clad in a cloak of stars, it flew towards Gu Qing Shan.

 

Gu Qing Shan sighed.

 

This entity can most likely consume an entire Creator Entity or Sequence Envoy with a single gulp.

I’m definitely no match for it.

Then——-

Guess I’ll just die.

It’s a good thing I already made some preparations.

In reality, there is another location other than the Forgetting River that dead people can return to.

The River of Death!

It’s the afterlife realm of the Twin Rivers of Life and Death world system, and since I’m the Death God, it makes perfect sense for me to return to the River of Death after I die.

If I’m inside the River of Death, even the Samsara shouldn’t be able to chase me into the Forgetting River of reincarnation.

 

As he was thinking that, the humanoid monster slowly approached and stopped a short distance in front of Gu Qing Shan.

 

Its entire body was pale, its extremities and body as a whole were very similar to that of humans, but without any gender characteristics. There also wasn’t a head above its shoulder, only intermittently overflowing starlight.

 

Distorted sounds slowly emitted from within the starlight before it became comprehensible as human language:

 

『 To send such an insignificant insect here to prevent me from heading towards the battlefield… 』

 

Gu Qing Shan immediately waved his hands: “Yep, I’m just an insect in this vast void that accidentally arrived in front of you, I don’t want to even try and fight you—— please just go ahead!”

 

The monster appeared surprised.

 

It didn’t attack.

 

But the starlight continuously condensed itself until it finally turned into a human head.

 

However, the head’s orifices were still continuously radiating starlight, making it impossible to mistake them for a normal human.

 

『 Pitiful being, you are not worthy of being my opponent… I shall use you to feed my army instead… 』

 

The monster reached one finger forward.

 

A single world then rapidly began to expand from the tip of that finger, attempting to sweep Gu Qing Shan inside.

 

Gu Qing Shan could already see the horde of monsters that filled his entire vision of that world.

 

The ground was littered with piles of bare white bones, cleanly scraped of every last piece of scrap.

 

Gu Qing Shan reflexively closed his hand into a grip, but then stopped himself.

 

I can indeed use the Delimitation Divine Sword to engage the [All-Encompassing Sword Realm] to avoid their World Technique.

But there are too many uncertainties here.

I can’t guarantee whether or not the Samsara is observing this from the shadows, nor do I know if this monster would be interested in the Delimitation Divine Sword.

—–the Delimitation Divine Sword is still a sword from the Boundless Void that possesses immense capabilities, it’s only temporarily weakened.

And you know what they say about laymen carrying gold.

 

Gu Qing Shan’s thoughts continuously turned, but right as he was about to make a definite decision, lines of bloody red text manifested in front of his vision:

 

[You’ve turned the losing tide of war for Huang Quan as a whole, thus receiving the protection of Huang Quan’s Merits]

[A great deal of Merits have been condensed onto your body, manifesting a single-use Realm-class reward]

[You’ve received the gift of Huang Quan: Instant return]

[Regardless of the dangerous situation you’re in, you can instantly return to the realm of Huang Quan, usable once]

 

Gu Qing Shan was stunned.

 

What?

Huang Quan wanted to kill me earlier, but now it wants to save me?

Isn’t that contradicting itself?

Unless…?

 

Countless thoughts flashed through Gu Qing Shan’s mind, but the world in the monster’s finger had already enveloped and pulled Gu Qing Shan in.

 

At that moment, no one could be sure what Gu Qing Shan had been able to confirm or thought through.

 

He abruptly uttered a terrible scream:

 

“No! You can’t kill me!”

 

He tried to struggle and flee, but to no avail.

 

Very quickly, he was fully enveloped by that world.

 

The nebular monster scoffed disinterestedly and no longer paid attention to the insignificant being.

 

『 I need to seize… my time… 』

 

The monster muttered to itself before manifesting two large clouds of nebula that manifested into a pair of bird wings.

 

With a single flap, it was headed towards the dark outer space.