Chapter 246: Zygarde And The World-ending Crisis!
Lu Li was now panicking hard. This evil cult leader wouldn’t be planning to sacrifice him, right?
This old wall lamp shouting about the Chosen One and tricking him into being the vanguard to feed the tiger wasn’t impossible either.
The old man remained silent, just walking onward relentlessly.
The two finally arrived beneath the towering Sacred Tree, with coffins becoming more numerous around them.
Lu Li roughly calculated that there were no fewer than ten thousand transparent coffins in this place—a terrifying number.
If all these people were dead, and died under the Sacred Tree, the incarnation of the God of Life, then this matter would seem utterly absurd.
The old man ahead suddenly spoke: “The Oracle once prophesied that the Chosen One could awaken the great Xerneas.”
“What if it can’t be awakened?” Lu Li asked.
The old man smiled without speaking upon hearing this, then pointed to an empty coffin not far away.
That facial expression and tone had already told Lu Li the answer.
If it couldn’t be awakened, that coffin would be his only resting place.
Lu Li: “…”
These ten thousand coffins wouldn’t have come about this way, right?
Lu Li was numb.
This old wall lamp truly harbored ill intentions.
Seeing Lu Li’s face full of tension, the old man chuckled and explained: “You don’t need to be nervous. No one dares to manufacture death in the God of Life’s domain, as that would be the greatest blasphemy against the God of Life.”
Hearing this, Lu Li breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as this old man didn’t want his life, it was fine.
“The people in those coffins you see are all in deep slumber. In your modern terms, they are currently in hibernation,” the old man continued to explain.
Lu Li nodded thoughtfully.
What could now be confirmed was that this old man seemed to have contact with modern society.
“Then who are you?” Lu Li asked.
This was also what Lu Li had always been curious about. The old man before him was too strange, strangely unlike a normal person.
“Me?”
The old man seemed somewhat surprised, a flash of reminiscence in his eyes as he slowly said: “I have many identities. At first, I was the Morning Star of the Star Eternal Tribe, representing the tribe’s future. Later, I was the Star Eternal Tribe’s Emperor Star, wielding supreme authority.”
Star Eternal Tribe.
Hearing this familiar name, Lu Li wasn’t too surprised in his heart.
It was normal for such a powerful tribe to endure across several epochs.
“Now I am the High Priest of the Life Holy Church, priest to the supreme Xerneas Your Excellency, an old undying who has lived who knows how many epochs,” the old man concluded in a tone full of vicissitudes at last.
As a cultivator, nothing was more obsessive than ascending to immortality in life.
After all, he had once thought of seeking Xerneas to beg for eternal life.
“Did you obtain eternal life?” Lu Li asked in surprise.
The old man nodded: “I once personally witnessed the radiance of Xerneas Your Excellency, so I was granted longevity.”
Lu Li thought of that legend.
When the horns on Xerneas’s head flickered with radiance, it would share eternal life.
The old man before him should be the lucky one from that legendary tale.
“Then what about these people?”
Lu Li pointed at those coffins and asked.
The old man said: “Among these people, some are false Chosen Ones, some are my clansmen.”
“This old guy is so ruthless? He doesn’t even spare children from his own tribe?” Lu Li was shocked. He realized he had still underestimated this old guy’s utter depravity.
The crafty High Priest saw through what Lu Li was thinking at a glance.
Concerning his own reputation, the High Priest specially explained: “I know what they pursue, so I left them here. When Xerneas awakens, everyone here will gain eternal life.”
Lu Li: “…”
It could be played like this?
Not knowing when Xerneas would awaken, so just wait indefinitely.
As long as they wait long enough, they would definitely wait for it?
Lu Li had to admit this idea was completely flawless.
If not for his cheat and bond, Lu Li would want to find a coffin here to lie down in.
Just sit and wait for eternal life.
This temptation was too great.
“Don’t worry. If you’re not the true Chosen One, this old man will save a coffin for you,” the High Priest kindly comforted.
Lu Li: “…”
“Then I really have to thank you, old timer,” Lu Li complained, his mouth twitching slightly.
The High Priest smiled, with an expression of calmly accepting it.
Lu Li asked: “What if I don’t want eternal life? Can I still go back?”
The High Priest smiled but did not answer.
But the meaning was self-evident.
Before Xerneas awakened, no one could leave this secret realm.
Lu Li: “…”
Lu Li was now thinking if he activated all his teleportation talismans at once, could he forcefully break out of the secret realm and escape.
With the mindset that he was already here anyway, Lu Li decided to give it a try.
Even if he couldn’t leave then, he had to pluck a piece of “tree bark”—after all, that should count as a divine item too.
“What should I do?”
Lu Li pretended to be nervous and asked.
The old man said: “Go touch the Sacred Tree. If you are truly the Chosen One, Xerneas will be awakened by you.”
Lu Li nodded, then steeled himself and went to the roots of the towering Sacred Tree.
After taking a deep breath, Lu Li slowly extended his hand.
After his right hand on the land touched Xerneas, the entire world was instantly paused.
Even Lu Li himself was similarly paused.
In Xerneas’s mind world.
“Knock knock knock!”
“X Deer! Stop sleeping, an old friend came to visit.”
The slumbering Xerneas slowly opened its eyes.
Xerneas had not fully awakened; only its consciousness had awakened for now.
“Terapagos? Why did you come to my place?” Xerneas asked in surprise.
“Never mind that,” Terapagos refused to answer the question.
“Wait.”
Xerneas looked in surprise at Terapagos before it.
“What’s the deal with your state?” Xerneas asked in surprise.
Terapagos was even more embarrassed.
This Xerneas was too bad at conversation.
Terapagos, complaining endlessly in its heart, said with a dark face: “Never mind that either. It’s too much trouble to explain.”
“Alright.”
Xerneas nodded. It wasn’t a deity with strong curiosity to begin with. Since Terapagos didn’t want to answer, it naturally wouldn’t press further.
“So what is the purpose of your visit?” Xerneas asked.
“Yveltal is about to sleep at your doorstep. To avoid increasing the workload for those two blockheads, I came specifically to remind you,” Terapagos explained.
Xerneas asked puzzledly: “Isn’t Yveltal in a secret realm on another continent? How did it come to my side?”
It actually had no conflict with Yveltal.
The reason they didn’t get along was entirely due to the issue of their respective authority and divine duty.
Moreover, Yveltal wasn’t some evil god eager for destruction events. The reason every awakening caused widespread death was entirely due to Yveltal’s authority and divine duty.
This world was too fragile, fragile enough that these top divine beasts could bring massive disaster to the world just by taking a breath.
Yveltal absorbed life and released death, withering all things in its path—this sounded very evil.
But Xerneas was actually the same.
Xerneas absorbed death and released vitality, with all things thriving in its path, but nothing could be overdone. Once it exceeded that limit, the destruction brought would absolutely not be inferior to withering all things.
So whenever one of them awakened, the other had to awaken as well, allowing the world to reach a new balance.
At such times, it was necessary to trouble another god.
Zygarde, the God of Order.
The only deity among all top divine beasts that didn’t need to hibernate.
The reason Zygarde didn’t need to hibernate was because it had exploited a world bug.
Terapagos explained: “You don’t need to worry. Through our efforts, this world has become much sturdier. As long as you two don’t fight, the world won’t collapse.”
Xerneas nodded and replied reassuringly: “It seems quite a few things happened in this world while I was hibernating.”
“Tell me about Yveltal,” Xerneas said.
“Since the origin of laws accumulated on you isn’t much yet, how about you two awaken and vent first? Then each return home?” Terapagos suggested.
A flicker of contemplation crossed Xerneas’s face.
Actually, their hibernation was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause for this world.
Because during their hibernation, the authority and laws were still operating, so their hibernation could be said to be accumulating power.
This was equivalent to concentrating all destructive power and erupting it at one point.
The benefit was that the Time-Space Twin Gods didn’t need to patch the world for it; the downside was that every time these two awakened, the world had to be reorganized—a massive project.
Xerneas said: “I need to ask Zygarde’s opinion on this matter.”
“I approve.”
A mechanical voice rang out.
Zygarde Cell Form joined the “chat group.”
Upon seeing Zygarde, Terapagos shouted in a tone of as expected: “Zygarde, you sneaky guy are indeed here.”
“I am everywhere.”
Zygarde replied coolly.
“It’s the rational core controlling the cells, huh. What a buzzkill,” Terapagos muttered, pursing its mouth.
Zygarde coolly retorted: “Gods do not need emotion. You are the heretics!”
Xerneas hesitated somewhat and asked: “Yveltal is in the real world. If I release my aura and cause it to awaken, will it harm the lives in the real world?”
“The withering of a few lives does not disrupt the world’s balance,” Zygarde replied indifferently, not caring at all about those few unfortunate lives.
The kind Xerneas looked troubled at Terapagos, hoping Terapagos could offer some advice.
Did Terapagos have a way?
The answer was of course no!
After all, it was currently in normal form. If it were stellar form, it could completely shield Yveltal’s legendary aura then.
Before Terapagos could speak, Zygarde nearby took the initiative to open fire.
“Terapagos, your previous actions severely disrupted this world’s balance and order. You need to explain!”
Terapagos: “…”
“That was an accident,” Terapagos explained somewhat embarrassedly.
After all, it was its trouble that made others work overtime. Zygarde coming to question it was completely justified.
Xerneas also looked at Terapagos in some surprise: “Terapagos, I remember you were creating stars in the universe. Did you do something big again during my hibernation?”
In a sense, Terapagos was actually the current creator of Blue Star, because the original world had long turned into fragment secret realms.
Zygarde had only questioned it and didn’t pursue further.
After all, Zygarde was currently in rational state. What was done was done; settling accounts afterward was pointless.
Its questioning was just to warn Terapagos.
Terapagos had been too active lately, even somewhat neglecting its duties.
Zygarde emphasized: “Arceus is missing, possibly not even in this universe anymore. Terapagos is in this state now too. If Blue Star shatters, it can’t be remade, so Yveltal must awaken now.”
For this world, Blue Star was somewhat like the center of the universe, or the sea god needle.
Whether the lives on Blue Star died or not wasn’t important; what mattered was that Blue Star had to remain.
Though the Time-Space Twin Gods could rewind time, creating planets still relied on Terapagos.
Terapagos nodded in strong agreement.
It was too weak now; Blue Star absolutely could not shatter at this time, or the Time-Space Twin Gods would suffer greatly.
Hearing of Arceus’s disappearance, Xerneas also realized the severity of the matter.
With Arceus missing and Terapagos now in weakened state, if Blue Star shattered again, the Time-Space Twin Gods would have to pay a heavy price to rewind time and space.
At that point, the Time-Space Twin Gods might even revert to the origin of laws. If the Time-Space Twin Gods reverted to the origin of laws, this world’s evolutionary process would pause as a result.
They had toiled for countless ages for this world to reach its current strength. If the world regressed because of this, what would their efforts amount to?
Thinking of this, the previous pity vanished from Xerneas’s eyes.
“I understand. I will awaken and awaken Yveltal too, but on Yveltal’s side…”
Zygarde said: “I’ll notify Yveltal’s side.”
“Then it’s happily decided. Don’t worry, during my weakened state, I will interfere with this world to guarantee it won’t shatter,” Terapagos guaranteed, seizing the chance.
“Guarantee? What will you guarantee with?” Zygarde questioned coldly: “With those two ignorant Cyclizar? Or with your cowardly divine envoy?”
Terapagos: “…”
Big bro, don’t hit the face when beating someone!
Go ahead and be arrogant now. Wait till your grandpa I raise a little Arceus, and I’ll show you true cruelty!
Terapagos, complaining endlessly in its heart, ultimately didn’t blow up.
No choice; it was too weak now and really couldn’t take on the other side.
“Divine envoy? What a long-forgotten term.”
A flash of reminiscence passed through Xerneas’s eyes nearby.
In ancient times, it too had once had favored races.
Humans were clever and inventive.
Xerneas had once greatly favored this race too, but as human civilization progressed and more evil was born, it no longer favored this race.
