Chapter 1941 - 1940: The Path to Godhood

"It seems you’re not quite satisfied with this world?" He Ao looked at him and smiled.

"No, I’m very satisfied. Although this world is like a fine porcelain piece—beautiful yet fragile—at least I’m alive in this world," the Tuning Master raised his head, looked at He Ao, and smiled, "In that real world, you’ve seen me,"

He paused slightly, "Did you kill me?"

"I led it, but it wasn’t me who did it." He Ao looked at him, naturally continuing the conversation, his tone like friends reunited after a long time, seemingly not finding any issue with the topic.

"So it seems you found the truth, and it was the truth that acted," the Tuning Master sighed slightly, "I didn’t expect that after hiding for so many years, I’d ultimately fall into the hands of the truth."

"When you ascended this Talent Sequence," He Ao looked at him and smiled, "your enemies and friends were already determined, weren’t they?"

The usurper gods and divine beings of the same attributes seem to easily develop irreconcilable conflicts.

For instance, the Tuning Master and a good friend, the Dreamer and the Witch of Desire.

"Yes," the Tuning Master glanced at the dim sky and sighed deeply.

He Ao’s words seemed to stir up some of his memories, and he chuckled softly, "But I never expected truth to be this strong; I even dreamed of replacing it."

As he said this, his gaze shifted downward, sweeping over He Ao’s face, and he smiled, "You don’t know the secrets behind this. Although it seems you’ve inferred a few things, they’re all ambiguous situations."

"Indeed," He Ao did not deny, nodding with a smile.

"In fact, the core conflict between usurper gods and divine beings is quite simple," the Tuning Master slightly cleared his throat, looking at He Ao, continuing in a hoarse voice, "Only usurper gods and divine beings of the same path have conflicts. And the reason is straightforward: every divine being ascended from a usurper god, and they fear being replaced by another usurper god,"

He smiled slightly and continued, "So they try their best to eliminate all the usurper gods of the same path and then devour their Talent Sequences to dispel their future worries."

"The Talent Sequences of usurper gods aren’t unique, are they? Since divine beings ascend from usurper gods, as long as there’s a divine path, no new usurper god should be born on that path." He Ao looked at the Tuning Master and smiled.

He Ao had actually begun to believe in what the Tuning Master said since his Dreamer Talent Sequence was stolen from the Witch of Desire.

But this matter seemed to contradict the knowledge he possessed.

If divine beings ascend from usurper gods, according to what Andaville previously said, an angel’s usurper god Talent Sequence is unique, then the sole usurper god Talent Sequence should be within the divine being.

And the Dreamer Talent Sequence stolen from the Witch of Desire had not been digested and remained sealed.

Moreover, when the Witch of Desire killed the Dreamer, she clearly already possessed divine power.

Evidently, the Dreamer and the Witch of Desire seemed not to be of the same path, yet the Witch of Desire harbored a deep enmity towards the Dreamer.

He Ao’s previous speculation was that the Memory Inheritor corresponded to two usurper god Talent Sequences, one being the Dreamer and the other likely the Witch of Desire’s usurper god Talent Sequence, but this again conflicted with the knowledge that a single angel corresponds to only one Talent Sequence.

He Ao even pondered if Andaville had lied.

The ’knowledge’ he currently possessed seemed to possess a strongly inherent contradiction that He Ao couldn’t comprehend.

"Who told you," the Tuning Master smiled, "that there’s only one path to the same divine being?"

He Ao was slightly stunned, his pupils slightly contracting, but there was no change in his facial expression.

"In fact," the Tuning Master did not look at him and continued slowly, "the higher you go in power, the scarcer it becomes; the universe can’t accommodate hundreds of divine beings,"

He glanced at He Ao, "You should know the Talent Sequence periodic table. On that truth-confirmed chart, there are 9 F-level Talent Sequences, differentiating into 27 E-level Talent Sequences, further differentiating into 72 paths leading to angels, but,"

He paused and continued, "there are only 27 divine positions in the entire universe."

"Does each E-level Talent Sequence correspond to a divine position?" He Ao started to understand, "All paths leading to angels stemming from this E-level Talent Sequence ultimately lead to a single divine being?"

"The universe’s power structure isn’t like branching trees, but a pyramid," the Tuning Master sighed slightly, "truth is the ultimate divine being for the angels’ paths corresponding to ’scholars,’ these three angel paths correspond to three usurper gods,

"I previously speculated that the original usurper god Talent Sequence of truth was likely of the Eye of the World path, ’Talent Sequence 306: Seeker,’ besides this, the three paths also have the usurper god corresponding to the Alien Creature path, ’Talent Sequence 308: Creator,’ who was devoured by truth in ancient times,"

He sighed slightly as he spoke, "I was lucky. The Talent Sequence of ’Tuning Master’ was always hidden in a secret place. You don’t know how excited I was when I obtained this Talent Sequence. I once thought I’d reach the world’s top, free to roam the universe afterward,"

He sighed lightly, "Who knew that what followed was a flight that could be counted in billions of years? No matter where I hid, without much peace, truth would eventually come to find me. Sometimes I think, being a usurper god is not as comfortable as being an angel,"

He looked at He Ao and smiled, "Angels are already the top existence in the universe. You find a remote planet and tell the primitives there that you’re the creator; they will believe you. You find a developed stellar civilization and become a distinguished guest, enjoying power and an endless life."

He withdrew his gaze, "But if you want to go higher, then you’ll always have to face the threat of death, wandering like a stray dog."

"There’s nothing to be done about this," He Ao sighed lightly, "One must always make some choices; giving up is effective, but also leaves you powerless when disasters strike; one can’t keep running away forever."

The Tuning Master raised his eyes, looking at He Ao, and laughed softly, "It seems you still want to continue down this path?"

"I’ve never regretted my choices," He Ao smiled as he looked at him, "But what about you? Are you not afraid the God of Machinery will blame you for telling me all this knowledge?"

He Ao had realized that knowing and not knowing high-level knowledge is indeed difficult to disguise, because this knowledge can’t be deduced by the previous logic at all.

"If you die here today," the Tuning Master smiled, looking at He Ao, "then whether I tell you or not makes no difference."

"What if I leave here alive?" He Ao looked at him.

"Then that’s actually a good thing," the Tuning Master smiled, "The Talent Sequences on you are of the Secret Wizard and Memory Inheritor? You were born on this planet, and I have a premonition that as you move forward, you’ll inevitably encounter truth. I’m very much looking forward to what will happen when you confront truth; it will certainly be interesting."

"Not necessarily," He Ao said slowly, "Truth is my closest friend; whatever happens, it always supports me."

Upon hearing this, the Tuning Master paused for a moment as if his brain had stalled. He looked at He Ao, tilted his head slightly, and after a while said slowly, "You’re the first person I’ve met who claims to be able to befriend truth."

"That’s why it’s beneficial to meet more people," He Ao smiled.

The Tuning Master stopped and gazed at He Ao. After a brief pause, he laughed heartily, "With that thick skin of yours, once you grow up, you’ll certainly give the Truth a headache."

He laughed for a while, then lowered his head, gazing at He Ao, "Your body structure tells me you’re only eighteen,"

He sighed deeply, "So young."

As soon as his words fell, the world around them unfolded in an instant.

The dim sky, the desolate earth, the endless world, all in that moment, turned into distorted light and shadow.

Countless fine lines intersected and overlapped between the light and shadow, like strings stretching across the heavens and earth.

"See, I speak the truth, yet you only think I’m thick-skinned," He Ao shrugged, as if nothing around him had happened.

The Tuning Master’s expression stiffened, and after a while, he sighed softly, "You, kid, have something."

"So," He Ao looked at him, gently raising his fingertip to grasp the void, "what exactly is hidden in this world that the God of Machinery desires so much?"

"I really can’t tell you that," the Tuning Master shook his head, his gaze fixed on He Ao, and the countless ’strings’ around him trembled for a moment.

Ding—

As if the first note of a vibrant melody had been struck, making the entire world tremble.

Countless lights and shadows converged in that instant, transforming into a dazzling splendor, and the fine strings fell from the Firmament like raindrops.

A grayish-purple radiance spread from He Ao’s body in an instant, unfolding into a resplendent array shield, enveloping him.

But the dense strands did not land on the shield; instead, they passed through the radiant array as if through air.

Buzz—

In just a moment, countless strings pierced through He Ao’s body, delving into his flesh and soul.

"Although this world is fragile, it’s still very solid compared to us," the Tuning Master lowered his head, gazing at He Ao, "Do you regret your choice now?"

But He Ao merely lifted his gaze, looking at the Tuning Master with some curiosity, "Have you become weaker? Is it a problem with this world?"

The Tuning Master looked at him, paused slightly, and shook his head gently, "Now, with that character, you’re not adorable at all."

Those strings that pierced through He Ao’s body suddenly tightened and intertwined.

A multitude of blood burst forth from He Ao’s body in an instant, with countless grayish-purple radiance lighting up simultaneously. The grayish-purple array surrounding He Ao’s body contracted abruptly, pouring into his body.

This radiance and array acted like an invisible barrier, directly covering He Ao’s body, instantly suppressing the spilling blood, maintaining the stability of his body.

Under the cover of these arrays, He Ao barely maintained the stability of his body and soul.

This Tuning Master’s deadly moves came without any prior warning.

If he hadn’t reacted quickly, in that very instant, his body and soul would have been torn apart.

The elder is still the elder, ruthless and merciless.

At this moment, those strings were still trembling within his body. Any slight lapse would cause them to tear his flesh and soul apart, erasing him from this world in an instant.

However, the Tuning Master did seem to have become weaker, not in terms of relative strength compared to He Ao.

But because this world’s Tuning Master was indeed not as strong as the real world’s Tuning Master.

He Ao lifted his gaze, looking towards the sky, shouting loudly, "Holy Master! Are you still not taking action?"

In that instant, the Tuning Master’s movements halted instead, lifting his gaze to look at He Ao, and he spoke slowly, "Who is the Holy Master?"

He Ao looked down at the Tuning Master, paused slightly, and asked with some curiosity, "You don’t know the Holy Master? Aren’t you an older Usurper God? Didn’t the Holy Master say he was very famous?"

"I am actually not particularly an old Usurper God," the Tuning Master smiled, "In the too ancient era, there were very few Divine Beings. I was promoted at that time and was killed by the Truth on the same day. In more ancient times, there must have been older heroic figures."

He looked at He Ao, "’Holy Master’ is not a proper noun. There are many people in the universe referred to as Holy Master. In some ancient civilizations, this is a title for some highly respected Wizards. I cannot confirm which ’Holy Master’ you are referring to."

"A Divine Being," He Ao replied without hesitation, "A Divine Being with similar attributes to the Truth and the God of Machinery."

Upon hearing this, the Tuning Master was momentarily stunned again, lifting his gaze to observe He Ao, and his eyes slightly narrowed, "Talent Sequence 2: Student, corresponds to three E-level Talent Sequences, which means it corresponds to three Divine Paths, namely ’Magic Apprentice’, ’Craftsman’, ’Scholar’, with the Craftsman path occupied by my master, and the Scholar path occupied by the Truth."

His tone paused slightly, "Are you saying he is a Divine Being of the Magic Apprentice path? But as far as I know, there’s no Divine Being on the Magic Apprentice path."

He lowered his gaze to He Ao, smiling, "Moreover, ’Secret Wizard’ is also an Angel following the Magic Apprentice path, meaning he is the Divine Being on your path. Are you sure you haven’t been deceived?"

At this moment, He Ao’s mind paused for a moment.

’Holy Master’ is a Divine Being that follows the Secret Wizard path? Which means the Holy Master is the direct Divine Being on this path?

The Tuning Master thought there was no Divine Being on this path? Was the Machinery unaware? Or did the Machinery not know?

As thoughts rapidly flipped through his mind, He Ao raised his head, looking at the Tuning Master, and smiled, "It’s also possible He is a Divine Being adept at hiding, isn’t it?"