Chapter 740 - 462: Awaiting Tomorrow with Confidence

Chapter 740: Chapter 462: Awaiting Tomorrow with Confidence

A man long dead had just appeared before the entire world, plain as day.

As his Authority reconverged, a dazzling light surged from the crown, bathing not only Gaia but the entire planet in its pure radiance. Contamination was cleansed, wounds were healed, withered forests revived, and dry riverbeds once again teemed with the water of life.

The light shone upon all, and all life flourished.

"Noah!"

From the other side of the Gate of Hell, an Abyssal Demigod cried out in terror. A burning fear branded into its very soul resurfaced, and burns that had been dormant for years began to ache once more.

Then, in an instant of silence, a beam of light shot through.

The Abyssal Demigod had no time to react. Its head was melted by the searing light, its soul evaporated in an instant. It had fallen.

The blazing beam continued onward, tearing through the darkness like paper and blasting into the deeper recesses of Hell.

In that world of darkness, an unprecedented light erupted. The radiance expanded in the silence, devouring everything in its path. Just like that, an entire layer of the Abyss met a swift and clean end.

"It seems I can still keep up with the times," Noah said with a smile.

"How can you possibly be alive?!"

An incredulous roar suddenly echoed from the sky. A projection of the Pope from Fallen Paradise descended, his usual composure gone, glaring at Noah with eyes wide with fury.

"It’s quite simple."

Noah formed a blade with his hand and swiped through the air. A flash of golden light slashed through the Pope’s projection, annihilating it. Far away, in the Celestial Kingdom, the Pope’s main body vanished from its spot. The next second, a blade of golden flame cut out from the void, destroying the magnificent Holy Hall in the most direct and brutal way imaginable. Tens of thousands of the Celestial Kingdom’s citizens died in the fiery explosion.

"All I had to do was split my soul, piece by piece, and place the fragments on Players in batches. I had them carry the pieces into a Restricted Area, where I reassembled them. After a few rounds of this, I was able to move the majority of my soul. Though doing so caused me to drop in rank, I had plenty of time to cultivate inside the Restricted Area."

Ever since the Star Association received a warning from the future during the Hong City incident sixty years ago, Noah had been actively preparing for his fated death.

Just as Zhou Chen was inevitably pulled back to the year 174 of the New Calendar by the time machine to experience the Hong City incident, Noah’s death was a fixed point on the timeline—an immovable reef in the river of time. Even with a warning from the future, he absolutely could not alter it, or it would cause major problems for the timeline.

Trying to avoid a fated death was a paradox in itself.

But as the old saying goes, fate is not absolute; there is always one path that escapes its grasp.

There is a glimmer of hope in all things.

After countless survival plans were rejected, someone thought of the Restricted Areas.

Shrouded by the Divine Fog, the Restricted Areas were truly isolated from the rest of the world. Once a person entered a Restricted Area, their fate and timeline in the present world would be completely severed. Neither prophecies nor curses could track them.

It was as if they had transcended this world.

If a person could be sent into a Restricted Area, severing all their myriad connections—including that of fate—and an identical Alchemy Puppet was created to face that fated death in their place, it might be possible to deceive time and everyone else in a perfect substitution.

But there was a critical problem: besides Hermes, no one could freely enter and exit the Restricted Areas. Furthermore, while traversing them, he couldn’t carry things like clones or souls; he had to ensure he was a single consciousness. Otherwise, he would trigger a violent reaction from the Divine Fog, and the consequences would be dire.

Fortunately, one Restricted Area was an exception.

—Zone 009, Gaia.

Noah had entered Gaia once before but had unfortunately been eliminated, failing to clear the game.

So, it was logical that every time Zone 009 opened afterward, Noah would personally descend to bestow blessings upon the Players.

Only a select few knew what was hidden beneath the facade of these blessings.

—Fragments of Noah’s divided soul.

A little bit each time, then a little more... As small amounts accumulated into a large one, he eventually pulled off the grand deception, using the Players to carry most of his soul into Zone 009 for reassembly.

This would inevitably cause him to drop in rank, but with a hundred years passing in the Restricted Area for every one year in the outside world, Noah had more than enough time to recover his standing—and perhaps even advance further.

In fact, nearly a millennium ago, he had secretly ascended to Demigod within Gaia. To remain hidden, he hadn’t even attracted the attention of the Abyssal Incarnation.

Of course, even after becoming a Demigod, Noah couldn’t clear Gaia as a non-Player. This was a limitation of the Rules. So he became a guide for novices, appearing whenever Players arrived to find ones he deemed worthy and offer them his help.

Meanwhile, his body and the remaining soul fragments outside the Restricted Area were repaired using resources provided by the Star Association, and his memories were recorded via an Essence Imprint to ensure they could be fully restored later.

With all arrangements in place, all that was left was to quietly await the day of his death.

To be honest, even though they had anticipated it, neither Noah nor the Star Association had expected so many variables and powerful enemies to appear on the Night of the Sun’s Fall. Not only did two True Gods betray them, but the Abyss Rulers also emerged in full force. Even the Ancient Darkness, slumbering for eternity in the Abyss, had awakened to join the assault.

And this just went to show how much the Abyss feared Noah, how much they feared the Sun.

Just like now. The moment Noah reappeared, the King of Chaos, the Blood Monarch, the Lord of Joy, the treacherous God of Ten Thousand Steels... one by one, the Abyssal Kings sensed it. They violently tore through space, casting shocked and suspicious gazes toward Gaia from the darkness of Hell.

Then, the Abyss erupted in turmoil.

The earth shook and the mountains trembled. Space was abruptly ripped apart as the Blood Monarch and the God of Ten Thousand Steels attempted to force their way into the mortal world!

At the same time, the Gate of Heaven materialized and swung open. A swarm of Conquering Angels from Fallen Paradise poured out, wielding burning spears. They filled the sky, bathing in a holy radiance, like a sacred legion marching to Hell to vanquish Demons.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sky was clear, yet a surging tide of thunderbolts crashed down from above. Millions of lightning bolts filled the heavens, casting a tyrannical glow. Tens of thousands of Conquering Angels were reduced to ash under the Authority of a God. Two bolts of lightning, powerful enough to tear through anything, struck down. The deafening, soaring peals of thunder overlapped, merging into a colossal roar that shook heaven and earth.

The Blood Monarch and the God of Ten Thousand Steels were halted in their tracks by the thunderbolts. Then, from a frontline outpost in the Abyss, the War God raised his blade and slashed toward the distant depths.

Layer after layer of the Abyss collapsed, pierced by the unparalleled edge. In an instant, two streaks of sword light crossed countless abyssal planes and struck the two Abyssal Kings, leaving deep, visible wounds.

"The Night of the Sun’s Fall will not be repeated."

The War God spoke impassively, his voice echoing through both the Abyss and the mortal world.

"Noah must die!" the Blood Monarch bellowed, activating his Authority from across the void. He conjured a gigantic hand of blood that blotted out the sky and swatted down at Noah.

A bright moonlight shone, transforming into thousands of cold, sharp glints that riddled the bloody hand with holes before completely engulfing it.

A serene figure in a moon-white dress appeared, a bright, clear moon behind her back radiating a cold luminescence.

The Silent Moon had arrived in person!

"Sound the Doomsday Horn! To war!"

the Blood Monarch commanded. Immediately, the somber blast of a horn echoed throughout Hell.

With no other warning, merely the confirmation that Noah was not dead, a brutal war of terrifying scale was about to begin.

In the deepest layer of the Abyss, the horn’s call reverberated. In the darkness, a colossal being stirred.

"Hurry up," the Silent Moon sent a telepathic message to Noah.

"Understood."

Noah smiled. Within the radiance of his crown, the ethereal Ascension Ladder appeared. He was already standing before the gate of the Divine Forbidden Area.

He only needed to push open that gate of pure light to step into the Divine Forbidden Realm!

The Abyssal Kings obviously did not want to see this happen. Even the King of Chaos, who had been severely injured not long ago, tore through space, attempting to descend upon the mortal world. A figure wreathed in Holy Light also appeared within the Gate of Heaven, but it did not rashly step out, observing from a distance instead.

Suddenly, from the direction of the Gate of Hell, a monstrous wave of lightning swept over and engulfed the King of Chaos. The torn-open Gate of Hell quickly sealed itself. The same happened to the Lord of Joy, who was swept away by the world-ending thunderbolts and vanished.

The God of Storms had made his move, dragging them into the battlefield!

At this moment, five Gods and the Star Association had all launched their counterattack. The mortal world and the Abyss were plunged into a suffocating stillness under the clash of Divine Power.

Behind Noah, Tang Ling stood up. A massive amount of high-temperature steam vented from the seams of her mechanical body as she underwent her final transformation and evolution.

Her soul stepped onto the ethereal Ascension Ladder, advancing toward the Divine Forbidden Area.

Her soul took a step, planting a foot on the first stair of Ascension to Divinity. But when her other foot landed, she was instantly standing at the very end of the Ascension Ladder. Before her was a tightly shut mechanical gate made of steel, springs, and gears, radiating a solemn, sacred aura.

Ascending to the heavens in a single step!

Tang Ling didn’t try to push open the gate to the Divine Forbidden Area. Attempting Ascension to Divinity right after gaining a soul was far too unrealistic; she needed time to adapt to having one.

[Demigod Level Authority of the Sun Realm detected. Essence Fluctuation analysis complete. Identity confirmed: Sun King Noah.]

[Adaptive Evolution Array activating. Analyzing...]

[Analysis complete. Skill learned—Lightspeed.]

[Abyssal Demigod fluctuation detected 340 kilometers away. Preparing to engage...]

The speed of light in air is approximately 299,550,000 m/s. In a mere fraction of a second, Tang Ling arrived at the battlefield. She threw her Steel Fist, a straightforward punch that shattered the figure radiating an immense, calamitous aura.

"I am Godslaying Weapon Tang Ling, now back online."

·

"...Unbelievable. Why did this escalate into a Divine War?"

Inside the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace, Zhou Chen was dumbfounded. In just a few seconds, True Gods and Abyssal Kings had been popping up one after another. Even Noah, who was supposed to be six feet under, had jumped out of his coffin to say he wasn’t dead. The situation had spiraled out of control, racing toward the worst possible outcome!

’Can’t you all go fight somewhere else? What did Gaia ever do to you?’

Zhou Chen could clearly feel Gaia trembling, on the verge of collapsing under the pressure of the terrifying auras.

Fortunately, the Star Association opened an Any Door in time, teleporting several of Gaia’s cities—land, people, and all—to safety, thus preventing any casualties.

"Time is short. Let’s hurry up and settle the score between us."

Zhou Chen raised the Sword of Ten Thousand Kings. Accompanied by a passionate, stirring melody, thousands of points of light began to rise from the Gaia Land.

Like the brilliance of a new dawn.

These were the heroes who had fallen over the long ages. Their lingering obsessions and soul fragments, buried deep within the soil of Gaia, were now being awakened by the Authority of the King of Gaia.

"Oh, heroic souls of the past, lend me your power."

Zhou Chen declared solemnly, "I will lead you to fulfill your long-cherished wish."