Xiao Tian was in a daze. Yan Xiao's words bore down on him like a cross too heavy to carry. "Well, does that mean the gods actually don't exist at all? A joke?" His voice was tinged with trepidation, the sort of hesitation that comes from fear of the response.
Yan Xiao's expression was inscrutable, his gaze unfathomable, like an abyss without light. "That's not necessarily the case," he said slowly, his voice steady but holding an undeniable intensity. "Maybe you did not listen carefully or you simply do not understand. Listen again — there are forces older than time itself. Forces that were here long before the first breath of creation. It was those forces that made everything happen. But does that mean the only ones? Do they represent the beginning and the end? No. Even if they were, how did they materialize? Or did they just pop into existence? No thing, no energy, no entity is without roots. They must have come from somewhere.. . or something."
His eyes narrowed when he took a step closer to Xiao Tian. "The universe is not so small, that it could be shut up in twenty orbs only. Doesn't that sound absurd to you? Does it not seem… unnatural?"
The rapid pulse of Xiao Tian's heart. There that unsettled him, sent a deep chill through his veins about Yan Xiao's words. "But what we saw… wasn't that all a reconstruction of your memories?"
Yan Xiao smiled a little, but there was no amusement in his eyes. "Perhaps. This system — this construct — is based on what is already recorded. And as you are well aware, data can write… and be rewritten. Memories can be changed as well. What we saw may not have been the whole truth — who can say? It is possible… no, it is likely… that what we witnessed was just a carefully orchestrated illusion, a story intended to dictate our view. So, if the gods are just a figment… or something more than that, is anyone's guess."
A strange sense of anxiety washed over Xiao Tian. The bedrock of his entire belief system was being plucked.
"But there is one thing that I think is crystal clear," Yan Xiao said, his voice weighted with conviction. "Human beings and those beings have one thing in common — we bury or forget whatever endangers our very existence. We rewrite history, recast reality, bend the truth into something less awful. And now, as the past stirs again, something long obscured is coming into the light.'"
A shiver ran down Xiao Tian's spine. His instincts told him this was no mere philosophical discussion. This was a warning. "So you're saying… truth is coming back to the surface?
There was something unreadable in Yan Xiao's eyes as he nodded. "And we… we now inhabit the bodies of two important people. You, Yan Xiao, rank Tianyu Dizun — and you may be titled as such, yet have the qualification of a Shenyu Zuzai. If they find out we're not who they think we are … they'll murder us in cold blood."
Xiao Tian stepped with a muted brake as he half gasped, half gulped. The gravity of the situation was settling in. "But if we're in their bodies … where are their souls?"
Yan Xiao's eyes darkened. "The actual Yan Xiao… one time, on a mission, found something — a pendant. It would seem by all accounts just another one, but the closer he looked, the more he noticed something tucked away in it — a letter."
Yan Xiao's voice lowered, sounding almost hypnotic. He spoke the words not as a declaration, but as a chilling, cryptic riddle:
"When silence sings the loudest notes of war, when peace is a golden lie, wrapped in gold,
You will walk in the shadow of doom, in daylight, cast but not known.
And then, to stop all from unraveling,
A spirit displaced, tethered in flight,
Will rise from wretched flesh,
"To shatter the fetters of fate."
It was the kind of thing they say in movies just before they get butchered in the night... Every time Xiao Tian tried to hold them, they always slipped away from his hand.
The voice of Yan Xiao gradually disappeared until a thick and suffocating silence reigned. A silence heavier than sound, pressing in on Xiao Tian's very bones.
"That" — Yan Xiao paused, his voice now soft — "is why we survived when we entered these bodies. And that… is why destiny is always in our trail."
Xiao Tian took a deep breath, his head filled with creativity. "So… can they kill us?"
It was a dark, humorless laugh from Yan Xiao. "Do you think beings capable of shattering entire universes would have difficulty erasing a single soul?" Never underestimate them. They are not being governed by the rules we used to know. They have power that is beyond reason, beyond logic. They can wipe out not just a life, but a life's being. If they decide to unmake you, it will be as if you were never born."
A profound unease lifted in Xiao Tian's chest, curling like a snake ready to strike. "So then… was any of all this just a setup?"
Yan Xiao smirked, though there was no warmth in his gaze. "Now you understand. This was merely a test. A test to determine if you are worthy." His voice fell, reaching a near whisper. "The real battle… begins now. Everything you've been through, all the fight, all the struggle, all the pain, was just preparation. If you do not play your part convincingly… you will die. Quickly."
He stepped away, his outline perforating and falling apart like specks of dust swept by an arrant gust. But just before he faded entirely, that voice rang out again, its pitch both a threat and an assurance.
"We'll meet again. Stay vigilant. Trust no one. And remember my final words."
And with that, he was gone.
And in the very next moment, Xiao Tian returned to the competition arena. Time, which had been froz
en, continued on its path as if nothing had occurred.
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