Chapter 1942 - 1941: Killed?

"Do divine beings also need to hide themselves?"

Upon hearing He Ao’s words, the Tuning Master seemed amused, but after a brief pause, he appeared to be deep in thought. He looked down at He Ao and smiled, "Do you have a grudge against this ’Holy Master’?"

"I wouldn’t call it a grudge," He Ao smiled, "We have a life-and-death kind of friendship, and if he sees me, he would definitely be very enthusiastic."

"It seems he really wants to kill you," the Tuning Master smiled while gazing at He Ao, as if guessing his thoughts, "You two have a relationship that won’t rest until one of you is dead."

Hearing this, He Ao slightly lifted his gaze, his blood-covered cheeks smiling, "Saying it like that is boring."

He had just called out to the Holy Master to test the Tuning Master and the God of Machinery.

The Tuning Master seemed truly unaware of the Holy Master’s existence, so, does the God of Machinery know? Was this world created by the joint efforts of the Holy Master and the God of Machinery this time?

Or is it the God of Machinery acting alone?

But could the God of Machinery create a world involving history like this?

Well, perhaps it really is possible.

He Ao obtained the Pages of the Past Book during an event involving the Past Illusions created by the God of Machinery.

The God of Machinery might not have the authority or knowledge himself, but he could achieve these through props with similar powers.

So, is the Holy Master in this world?

He must be!

If the God of Machinery doesn’t know the Holy Master’s existence but uses history-related power, He Ao does not doubt that the Holy Master would certainly sneak in.

Perhaps he already sensed He Ao’s presence, no, judging from that old schemer’s habits, he definitely knows He Ao is here.

This guy must be nearby now! He’s spying on this area, waiting for the Tuning Master to eliminate He Ao, then he will fish in troubled waters.

"Looks like you’ve thought of many things." The Tuning Master looked at He Ao, slightly raised his hand, and slowed the action of tearing apart He Ao’s body, smiling.

"I just suddenly thought it all through," He Ao smiled slightly, "There’s a guy nearby, but he doesn’t dare to show himself."

As long as the Tuning Master is here, the Tuning Master knowing is approximately equivalent to the God of Machinery knowing. If the Holy Master appears at this time, he would completely expose himself before the God of Machinery.

So, even if he desperately needs the Dreamer, he wouldn’t act rashly but would wait for the opportune moment.

"It seems this ’Holy Master’ you speak of," at this moment, the Tuning Master smiled, "is very confident in you; he thinks you can kill me?"

"I have no idea where he gets such confidence," He Ao slightly shook his head, sighed, then smiled, "Although, I also believe in this."

The old schemer of a Holy Master seems definitely unwilling to directly intervene; it looks like I’ll have to rely on myself again.

"So, you fabricated a non-existent divine being," the Tuning Master lowered his head, gazing at He Ao, smiling, "just to buy time? What did you do during this time?"

He slightly raised his hand, and the dense piano strings piercing He Ao’s body instantly tightened, crisscrossing.

A fierce grayish-purple brilliance flickered madly inside He Ao, symbolizing the defensive mechanism being pushed to its limit.

In the void, a melodious tune arose, seeming like the death knell was tolling.

And under this intense struggle, even He Ao furrowed his brows tightly. He raised his head, looking at the Tuning Master, and smiled, "Are you torturing me? Are you trying to avenge that real self?"

"You are becoming less cute," the Tuning Master looked at him and shook his head slightly.

At the moment his voice fell, the strings drew tighter.

"Hiss—ha," He Ao chuckled, gritting his teeth slightly, "You just told me so much knowledge to hold me here, making it easier for you to infiltrate your power into the world and construct these strings spreading from the world’s foundation, right?"

The Tuning Master glanced at him without speaking, but the vibrating strings in the void grew more intense, like a stirring symphony, bit by bit cutting away at He Ao’s life.

And the grayish-purple brilliance enveloping He Ao flickered fiercely at this moment, bearing alternating brightness.

The blood had already covered He Ao’s body, even seeping through the grayish-purple light barrier, staining that barrier with a layer of grayish-purple crimson.

Yet, He Ao’s words did not pause at all. He raised his head, his eyes covered in red staring at the Tuning Master, sneering, "Let me guess, you’ve weakened; your power is far from your true self’s. You can’t instantly implant power into the world’s foundation to command the universe’s forces, so you can only use this method to stall for time, infiltrating power into the world, weaving a net I can’t escape from."

He Ao tilted his eyes, gazing at the Tuning Master, continuing to laugh hoarsely, "You’ve reached the point where you need to do so much to set an absolute lethal trap."

"Hmm," the Tuning Master bowed his head, watching He Ao, "Well said, keep going."

Numerous dense piano strings further descended from the sky, piercing He Ao’s body. At this moment, the grayish-purple brilliance enveloping He Ao’s body shattered, and the surging blood flashed with intense light, uncontrollably gushing from He Ao’s body.

Ordinary weapons and power couldn’t hurt He Ao, not even leaving a mark on him.

But the Tuning Master’s ’strings’ weren’t truly physical strings but some abstract rules confluence, these rules’ power delved into the world, based on this world, drawing power from the world’s foundation, self-augmenting, forming dense ’rule strings.’

In fact, these strings didn’t pierce He Ao’s body from the outside, but spread from within his body.

They spread from the deepest part of He Ao’s body, the deepest part of his soul, slowly disintegrating He Ao’s soul, his flesh, his position.

’Penetration’ was merely the external manifestation of this series of ’disintegration.’

In reality, He Ao had no way to counter these ’strings.’

Just as mortals can’t change the collapse brought by an earthquake, he can’t change the power spreading from the world’s foundation.

These strings, at this moment, have essentially become part of the world’s and universe’s rules, an extension of the universe’s power.

Even if He Ao had the Three Angels, he couldn’t change the rules.

He could hold on till now purely because he had thick blood.

Soul power strong, body power strong too.

And this Tuning Master’s power indeed weakened significantly, far from the true heavily injured Tuning Master He Ao encountered before.

The way he uses the rules isn’t quite like an extension of his limbs, which allowed He Ao to hold on until now.

But this is indeed He Ao’s limit.

Though he can still speak and has intact logic and consciousness.

He can sense, however, that he has reached the brink of both soul and body collapsing.

It’s like a tower of blocks, where removing blocks from the top might need you to take the very last one for the tower to collapse.

But if you take blocks from the bottom, only a few removed can make the entire structure collapse instantly.

And now, the Tuning Master is withdrawing He Ao’s soul pillars from within.

However, having reached this point, He Ao has indeed achieved what he wanted.

The Tuning Master lowered his head, smiled as he gazed at He Ao in front of him, and said with a smile, "Do you have any last words you’d like to say?"

He Ao raised his head, looked at him, grinned, revealing blood-stained white teeth, and smiled, "Your God-Overstepping Talent Sequence has been gone for a long time, hasn’t it?"

The moment he heard this, the Tuning Master’s expression paused.

The Tuning Master lowered his gaze, looked at He Ao, smiled, and said, "Why do you say that?"

Meanwhile, the piano strings floating around suddenly straightened, with brilliant gray light shimmering around them.

"You—ah—" He Ao began to speak, but the intense tearing feeling from the depths of his soul and body interrupted his words, choking his voice halfway.

The dim void was exceptionally silent, with only He Ao’s increasingly heavy breathing rising and falling in the wind.

The entwining piano strings grew tighter, and the pain they caused increased so much that even He Ao involuntarily groaned softly.

Yet his words did not pause; he gritted his teeth and looked at the Tuning Master with a smile, "Are you anxious?!"

This time, the Tuning Master did not speak; the dancing piano strings further tightened, like small saws slowly slicing through He Ao’s flesh.

Yet He Ao’s words did not pause; he gazed at the Tuning Master and continued, "Your power right now doesn’t belong to you, does it? Is that why you’ve become so weak? A02 has the power granted by the God of Machinery, don’t you?"

The Tuning Master looked at He Ao and shook his head slightly, sighing, "You’re not only unlikable now, but also annoying."

"So, was your Talent Sequence taken by the God of Machinery for something?" He Ao looked at him, raspily speaking, "You seem to be not doing well with your boss."

The Tuning Master raised his head slightly, glanced at He Ao, "Are you trying to get information from me to figure out what this world truly is doing?"

He shook his head slightly, "You’re close to death but still obsessing over these things, not good—on the path to death, there’s no peace. Of course, you won’t be heading toward death; your soul will shatter here, serving as nourishment for my Lord’s plan."

"So, your Talent Sequence was indeed taken by the God of Machinery?" He Ao raised his eyebrows slightly, "You’re despicable, relying on the God of Machinery to retain your Talent Sequence, only to have it taken away by the God of Machinery,"

He softly sighed, "I know why you suddenly said being an Angel is fine, you were comforting yourself, doing psychological massages for your future."

The Tuning Master glanced at He Ao once more, then slightly raised his hand again.

The already taut piano strings trembled violently at this instant, carrying a crisp sound.

He Ao’s body froze, but soon he endured the pain, still gazing at the Tuning Master with some ridicule.

The Tuning Master looked at him and calmly said, "You should know best where my Talent Sequence has gone."

He Ao hesitated slightly.

Then he lifted his head, looking at the Tuning Master, "In Truth’s possession?"

He slightly furrowed his brows, "But isn’t the version of you in this world not dead?"

"This world is not the real world," the Tuning Master glanced at He Ao, "If my Talent Sequence were scattered elsewhere, my Lord could help establish contact, allowing me full power in this world. But my Talent Sequence was taken by Truth,"

He paused, gazing at He Ao, raspily speaking, "Divine Beings are unique in the universe."

At that moment, He Ao realized, gazing at the Tuning Master, contemplating, "So you’re saying, once something enters a Divine Being’s hand, even if you twist reality and create a world where the item hasn’t reached the Divine Being, it won’t exist even there—not even as a fake? Are Divine Beings unique across all timelines and world lines?"

He Ao was taken aback slightly, "Are Divine Beings that powerful?"

Upon hearing this, the Tuning Master paused, then shook his head with a laugh, "You should truly ascend to be a Usurper God; only Usurper Gods on this world understand the horror of Divine Beings best. As an Angel, you’re still far from Divine Beings; you can’t even comprehend the power of Divine Beings, but alas,"

He shook his head, gently clasping his hand, "You have no chance to become a Usurper God."

In that instant, the endless piano strings were pulled open, shredding He Ao’s body.

In that split second, only the gray-purple radiance remained between heaven and earth.

"You know," confronting this scene, the Tuning Master’s face remained calm. He slightly raised his hand, layers upon layers of light converged in the sky, constructing arrays engraved with complex runes.

These arrays interconnected, outlining radiant brilliance.

The Tuning Master’s hand pressed down slightly, his tone maintaining the usual composure, "The effectiveness of the Undying Lotus actually has a hidden logic, which is the soul of the user must maintain contact with the Undying Lotus."

With his words, bursts of light shot from the array, dazzling brilliance spreading over the firmament.

Some kind of invisible link, or rather, certain special links, were severed at this moment.

"Oh?" The Tuning Master slightly raised his eyebrows, his stable voice carrying some surprise, "You didn’t use the Undying Lotus? You didn’t get the Undying Lotus from the real me,"

He paused slightly, "Or did you use the Undying Lotus and haven’t recovered yet? Such a little one who loves adventure—you remind me of my younger self,"

He shook his head slightly, palms closed, the surrounding brilliant light compacted into a ball, like an illuminated sun shining on the firmament, illuminating both earth and sky.

The weak, stable voice sighed slightly, "If so, then your path leads only to death."

The brilliant light gradually veiled everything around.

"Oh?" A young, slightly immature voice sounded by his ear, "Really?"