111: The Emperor's tears have dried up, even though he hasn't kept his promise to Peach Blossom.

“Yes…”

Humanity Gu Jianghan sighed softly.

On his gentle, jade-like face, there was a perfectly nuanced trace of helplessness and bitterness.

“It seems I am indeed going to lose.”

He said it so matter-of-factly, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself.

However, no sooner had he spoken.

“Pfft…”

He suddenly couldn't help but laugh.

First, a suppressed chuckle, as if mocking his own naivety.

Then, the laughter grew louder, more unrestrained!

“Hahahahahahaha!”

He covered his face, laughing so hard he swayed back and forth, his shoulders trembling violently, so much so that even the chessboard composed of fate began to hum!

In that laughter, there was no despair or unwillingness.

Instead, it was filled with an indescribable, unrestrained delight!

As if what he had lost was not a gamble concerning his own survival.

But an insignificant, childish game like “guess who I am.”

Divinity Gu Jianghan's eternal eyes narrowed slightly.

At this moment, he briefly transformed from a god into a “human.”

The “unease” that had just flashed in his heart became clearer and more intense.

“Are you going back on your word?”

Divinity's voice, for the first time, carried a cold warning.

“You and I are twin-born, both ‘Gu Jianghan.’ ”

“The Original Bet between you and I is a supreme imprint carved upon ‘existence’ itself!”

“Its binding force transcends causality and is superior to all laws.”

“You should know better than I what the consequences of violating it are.”

As he spoke, an invisible yet omnipresent terrifying power suddenly descended!

That power could not be observed, could not be understood.

It was not any known energy, yet it was the source of all “order” and “rules.”

It was the Original Bet itself!

That power, like invisible shackles, sought to completely imprison every thought of Humanity Gu Jianghan, leaving him no possibility of resistance.

However, facing this terrifying constraint that would make any “existence” tremble.

Humanity Gu Jianghan was still laughing.

He slowly lowered the hand covering his face, his eyes, filled with a playful smile, met Divinity Gu Jianghan's gaze.

“Going back on my word? No, no, no.”

He wagged his finger, the smile on his face growing more intriguing.

“Of course I remember, I said in Chapter 92: the stake is the ‘main personality’ of this body!”

“Such an important matter…”

“How could I go back on my word?”

“I just feel that now that this game has progressed so far, the stakes are a bit too small.”

“How about…”

He paused, then said in a tone verging on madness.

“—We play for higher stakes?”

Before he finished speaking!

He actually took the initiative to unreservedly invest his most fundamental authority into the Original Bet as new “chips”!

Boom—!!!

The entire conscious divine kingdom vibrated violently!

Behind Humanity Gu Jianghan, several narrative-level concepts representing his supreme authority emerged!

Authority ① · Narrator's Whisper: The holder can, at critical moments, replace the “story's” “narration” with his own “voice,” thereby influencing the “reader's” judgment.

Authority ② · Final Interpretation Right: The holder can provide the “final definition” for all ambiguous and contradictory “settings” within the “story”!

Authority ③ · Character Autonomy: He can grant any “character” in the “story” true “free will,” allowing them to break free from the “author's” settings, defy the “plot's” arrangements, and make completely unexpected “autonomous choices” at critical moments.

Authority ④ · Empathy Penetration: The holder can transmit a “character's” “emotions” across the “fourth wall” directly to the “readers” outside the “story.” By evoking the “readers'” resonance and lingering feelings, a “collective subconscious” can be gathered, powerful enough to inversely influence the “story's” direction… Seeing this, Divinity Gu Jianghan showed no weakness.

Absolute indifference flashed in his eyes.

He also fully staked his own several supreme authorities, representing “ending” and “order”!

Authority ① · Absolute Silence: The holder can plunge the entire “story” into eternal “silence.” No dialogue, no narration, no thoughts, only a dead “void.”

Authority ② · Logical Closure: He can forcibly incorporate the development of any “story” into an absolutely rigorous and self-consistent “logical closure.” Any “miracles” or “variables” attempting to transcend “logic” will be deemed “bugs” and ruthlessly “fixed.”

Authority ③ · Setting Erasure: He can completely “erase” a certain “setting” from the “story's” underlying logic. For example, erasing the setting of “death” to grant everyone “eternal life”; or erasing the setting of “hope” to plunge the entire world into eternal “despair.”

Authority ④ · Gaze of the Fourth Wall: He can clearly “see” the “readers” who are “reading” outside the “story.” And use this “gaze” to strengthen the “story's” “stability,” preventing any “character” or “plot” from exhibiting “OOC” (setting collapse) behavior.

The eight narrative-level supreme authorities confronted and clashed with each other within the conscious divine kingdom!

The Original Bet, after absorbing this immense power, became unprecedentedly firm! And also unprecedentedly dangerous!

Now, as long as one side wins, they will become the ‘main personality’ of this body!

“Very good.”

Humanity Gu Jianghan nodded in satisfaction, as if he had done something insignificant.

Then, he did something else that Divinity found even more incomprehensible.

He stretched out a hand and lightly tapped the void.

The Fallen Immortal Path setting collection, personally created by Divinity Gu Jianghan, appeared before him.

“Since we're playing for higher stakes, the settings of this ‘world’ should also be more ‘rigorous,’ shouldn't they?”

As he spoke, he used his fingertip to add a new “chapter” to the end of the setting collection.

—Sixth Realm: Conceptual Calamity

—Corresponding Conventional System: Tier 10

—Cultivation Method: Calamity-conceptualization, divine soul melting into evil laws. A cultivator in this realm, their very existence is the concretization of an ‘evil’ concept.

They no longer ‘spread’ calamity; they ‘are’ calamity. Wherever their authority extends, ‘greed’ becomes the instinct of breathing, ‘jealousy’ becomes the only emotion of reverence. Most of the exalted ‘Mother Gods’ in the Temple of All Evils are in this realm.

—Seventh Realm: Dao Fruit of the End

—Corresponding Conventional System: Tier 12

—Cultivation Method: All evils return to one, all laws return to stillness. This realm can no longer be described as ‘cultivation.’ When an existence bears all the ‘evil’ in this world and devours all the ‘negativity,’ then he will become the ‘end’ of everything.

His will is ‘the End’ itself. He will personally draw the most perfect ‘period’ for this world full of pain and sin.

After writing all this.

Humanity Gu Jianghan contentedly blew on the non-existent “ink” on his fingertips.

“Alright, this way, the ‘story's’ logic forms a closed loop.”

“That Gu Yanci, who was possessed by the Lord of the End, now has more ‘reasonable’ reasons and power to destroy the world.”

“How about it, aren't I very thoughtful?”

He looked up at Divinity Gu Jianghan, revealing a smile so bright it was almost dazzling.

Divinity Gu Jianghan fell silent once more.

His “divine heart,” constructed of absolute “reason” and “logic,” at this moment, produced a flicker of emotion called “confusion.”

He didn't understand.

He couldn't comprehend.

What was the meaning of Humanity Gu Jianghan's actions?

Perfecting the Fallen Immortal Path, making the power ceiling of this world higher and more terrifying.

Wasn't this indirectly increasing Divinity Gu Jianghan's chances of winning?

Wasn't this tantamount to making himself lose faster and die more thoroughly?

What exactly did he want to do?

God was “wary” of the unknown, God was “flustered” by variables, God was… “afraid”… In the Human Realm, Blackrock City.

On the ruins of the altar.

Chen Yuan silently held Ye Ningxue's body, which had already begun to grow cold.

The sunlight spilled over him, but brought no warmth.

His world had already plunged into eternal darkness the moment the girl in his arms closed her eyes.

In his mind, uncontrollably, the memory he had sealed away for a hundred thousand years began to replay… “Chen Yuan…”

Under the blood-red setting sun, a blood-soaked man lay amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, gasping for breath.

He was Chen Yuan's closest friend, and also the human race's most valiant general, Ye Xiao.

“…Promise me… let her… live…”

“Let her live in a world without gods, without war, where she can… laugh freely…”

Ye Xiao used his last ounce of strength to push a crying baby girl, terrified, still in swaddling clothes, into Chen Yuan's arms.

“Her name is… Ningxue… Ye Ningxue…”

“I hope… she can be as pure… and happy… as snow…”

After saying this, the man's wide-eyed tiger eyes forever lost their luster.

Chen Yuan held the soft infant and let out a heart-wrenching roar!

He wielded his sword, cut through nine layers of demonic formations, and slayed that Demon Lord, along with the hundred thousand demon soldiers behind him!

In that battle, he went mad with killing… From then on, a little shadow named “Ningxue” became a constant presence by his side.

He, a battle-hardened general who couldn't even take care of himself, awkwardly began to learn how to be a “father.”

He would break into a sweat, anxious, because he couldn't mix the formula properly.

He would be at a loss when little Ningxue cried in the middle of the night.

And when little Ningxue, for the first time, sweetly called out “Master…” his heart, which had long been as firm as a rock, melted like an iceberg.

He taught her to read, taught her to practice swordsmanship.

He would save all the spiritual fruits awarded for military merits for her as snacks.

On her birthday, he would secretly sneak out of the military camp, traversing half the imperial city, just to buy her a string of candied hawthorns, her favorite… His memories became clearer.

A hundred thousand years ago, in the “Human Emperor's City,” built from the bones of countless ancestors.

She, who had grown into a graceful young woman, was blushing as she presented him with a longsword she had forged after seven days and seven nights of work.

“Master, Master, this sword was forged for you by me from extraterrestrial meteorite iron. Will you give it a name?”

Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, and her delicate face and tender hands were still stained with soot and scars from the forging.

“Hmm.”

Chen Yuan took the longsword and lightly swung it.

The sword's hum was clear and melodious, like a dragon's roar or a phoenix's cry.

The sword body was entirely snow-white, without excessive ornamentation, and still carried the residual warmth of the girl's body.

“You are not allowed to do such foolish things again.”

He reprimanded her with a stern face.

“You possess a Natural Dao Body; your hands should be used to wield a sword and slay demons, not for such rough work.”

“Oh…”

The girl lowered her head, feeling wronged.

Chen Yuan looked at her expression, and his heart softened. He couldn't help but reach out and ruffle her hair.

“The sword is very good.”

“From now on, it shall be called ‘Ningyuan.’ ”

The girl suddenly looked up, her previously dim eyes once again sparkling with starlight.

“Ningyuan… Ning from Ningxue, Yuan from Chen Yuan…”

She murmured softly, her blush spreading all the way to her earlobes… “Master, smile a little, you look best when you smile.”

“Master, I heard the peach blossoms are blooming down the mountain, shall we go see them?”

“Master, you didn't eat well again today!”

“Master…”

“Master…”

Fragments of memory, like a tide, continuously pounded Chen Yuan's already scarred heart.

The scene finally froze on the “War Against Heaven” that stained the nine heavens with blood.

He led the last elites of the human race to attack the Divine Court.

But suffered a disastrous defeat before a clone of the Lord of the End.

Just as those hideous evil gods were about to wipe him out.

A figure he knew all too well, without hesitation, stood in front of him.

“Master…”

“—Live!”

Boom—!!!

The blinding light produced by that self-detonation became his eternal nightmare, lingering for a hundred thousand years… “I'm sorry…”

“Ningxue…”

“I, once again…”

“—Broke my promise…”

Two lines of bloody tears slowly streamed from Chen Yuan's hollow eyes.

He had failed to protect her.

He had failed his sworn friend's trust.

He was the most incompetent, most failed Master in this world… He slowly closed his eyes.

He wished to embrace her and walk together into eternal silence.

However, at this very moment.

Sword River Fish, the author who was supposed to write “Ye Ningxue's death, the Lord of the End breaking the ‘Gods Do Not Descend to the Mortal Realm’ rule, and the Human Realm heading towards destruction,” was bleeding from his nose and mouth, collapsed in front of his computer desk…