Chapter 44 Outer Gods (Seeking Monthly Votes)

"Your Majesty, I have not lied."

"Who is there!"

When the ethereal voice echoed in his ear, Xuan Zi felt a sudden jolt of shock. He had not sensed anyone approaching him at all.

Yet he could not detect the presence of a single living soul nearby, as if the voice were merely a phantom of his imagination.

No!

Xuan Zi's expression shifted drastically, filled with alarm.

The voice was not an illusion; it had originated from the depths of his heart.

As if sensing something further, he could not help but turn his head. He saw the lifeless earth suddenly revitalized as a vast wave of emerald green rapidly surged toward them from the distance.

In the very center of this verdant embrace, a figure of peerless beauty was slowly approaching. The voice had emanated from him, yet it resounded within the hearts of everyone present.

He was no mere mortal; he was the savior of all living things.

Such a thought suddenly flashed through Xuan Zi's mind, followed immediately by another thought that startled him deeply: how could he have harbored such a notion so abruptly?

"The Apothecary, it's the Apothecary!"

"The God of Abundance... No... It's... the Aeon of Abundance..."

The former voiced the newcomer's identity, while the latter wore a look of utter bewilderment, unable to understand why this title had sprung to mind the instant they laid eyes on him.

And Xuan Zi addressed him thus.

"A blasphemer."

So read the oracle passed down by the Sea God. Yet Xuan Zi could not feel the slightest trace of blasphemy emanating from this entity; instead, he found him remarkably approachable.

This inevitably caused a fracture in his absolute trust in the divine oracle.

As Lu Chun drew closer, the towering pillar of blood-red light that Xuan Zi had been powerless to shake began to slowly fracture, dissolving into a myriad of drifting splendors.

The ginseng fruit tumbled to the ground, stained with dust, countless wills writhing within its form as they desperately attempted to break free from this prison.

The Emperor of Douling shrieked shrilly, "Apothecary! You lied to me! You lied to me!"

Passing through the crowd that parted to let him pass, Lu Chun smiled and nodded at Xuan Zi, who was staring at him in a daze. He walked straight up to the ginseng fruit, his eyes lowered, brimming with profound compassion, tenderness, and benevolence.

He whispered softly, "Your Majesty, I have not lied."

"I never lie. The ginseng fruit truly grants longevity to mortals."

"When a seed that has gestured long in the earth sprouts, breaks through the soil, and greets the morning sun—that is the longevity of the ginseng fruit."

Quietly gazing down at the groaning ginseng fruit clinging tightly to his leg, Lu Chun said, "But you were far too impatient. I once said that nourishing the ginseng fruit tree with flesh and blood to accelerate its growth would lead to unforeseen consequences."

"Though finding new vitality amidst corruption is indeed a path to longevity, it is fraught with extreme difficulty, requiring passage through layers of excruciating torment to be reborn."

"Clearly, Your Majesty, you could not endure it."

The voice of the Emperor of Douling, which had still been somewhat distinct within the throat of the creature at his feet, gradually faded, replaced by a chaotic cacophony, as if countless souls were warring for control within that single body.

Looking down at what was truly the first ghoul in the literal sense upon the Douluo Continent, Lu Chun's gaze did not waver. His eyes easily pierced through the exterior to witness the countless wailing vengeful spirits within, watching as the mad soul of the Emperor of Douling was torn to shreds by those very spirits.

A generation of mad emperors thus vanished from the world without a trace.

Lu Chun had not lied. Truly.

Neither the past version of himself nor the present one had uttered a falsehood.

The Scripture of Flesh-Ganoderma Longevity Extension was indeed a mystical art capable of granting longevity, and its actual effects far surpassed what Lu Chun had described: consuming the ginseng fruit did not merely grant a millennium of lifespan, but genuine, unadulterated immortality!

The soul of the Emperor of Douling had been utterly scattered, but the countless vengeful spirits residing within had not. They would slaughter and devour one another until a final victor emerged, and he would rely upon this physical vessel to enjoy eternal life!

Perhaps in the future, a brand-new race known as ghouls would also emerge upon the Douluo Continent.

"Rip!"

A mist of blood exploded before his eyes as that physical body, in a frenzy of violent struggle, uncontrollably bit into Lu Chun's leg. Its sharp teeth sank deep, tearing away an entire chunk of flesh.

Its upper and lower rows of teeth chewed wildly. Even though its consciousness remained chaotic, the instinct of a ghoul had been fully ignited, driving its craving for flesh and blood to the absolute extreme—especially the flesh and blood of Lu Chun before it, a single bite of which had already rendered it addicted!

"Awoo!"

Amidst the shocked gazes of Xuan Zi and the others, Lu Chun neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the creature to continue gnawing until bare white bone was soon exposed.

Not a trace of pain crossed Lu Chun's face, as though the limb being devoured did not belong to him at all. With a gentle expression, he merely asked, "Is it very painful?"

"I have already borne the sorrows of ten thousand souls; bearing the resentment of hundreds of thousands more is hardly out of the question."

A delicate, snowy finger pressed against the creature's brow. The ferocious and frantic expression froze instantly, and starlight-like crimson lights were peeled away from its spiritual world by Lu Chun.

Anger, sorrow, resentment, madness... The negative emotions of over a hundred thousand souls converged within Lu Chun's palm, and with a reverse of his wrist, he condensed them into a scarlet fruit.

Parting his lips slightly, he swallowed it directly.

In an instant, an indescribable darkness assailed his heart. The agony and despair suffered by those vengeful spirits before their deaths permeated his mind, surging violently within his soul!

A trace of pitch-black light flickered within his dark green pupils, and an irresistible urge toward self-destruction welled up within him.

So painful, so painful, so painful! Kill, kill, kill! Die, die, die, ahhhhh!

The moment this thought took root, a profound transformation descended upon him.

His beautiful countenance began to age visibly to the naked eye. His creamy white hair grew withered and dry, dark yellow age spots bloomed upon his skin, and an unmistakable stench emanated from his body.

It was akin to a plant in the prime of its youth, full of vitality, suddenly plunging into its twilight years, on the verge of withering and perishing.

Amidst endless suffering, Lu Chun's will was plunging toward the abyss of darkness, his physical form radiating an aura of utter stillness and extinction.

Witnessing this scene, Xuan Zi was filled with doubt and apprehension. He could not comprehend why Lu Chun had suddenly transformed into such a state. As he watched those features age abruptly, an unusual sorrow unexpectedly welled up within his heart, even though their relationship ought naturally to have been one of mortal enemies.

It was precisely this inexplicable sorrow that caused him to hesitate. His conscious mind told him this was the absolute best opportunity to strike, yet his instincts actively suppressed the thought.

Just as he remained mired in hesitation, another transformation occurred in Lu Chun. The signs of aging abruptly ceased, beginning instead to reverse toward his original appearance, though before long, the aging process resumed once more.

Such a condition left onlookers dumbfounded and utterly perplexed.

At this moment, he seemed suspended between the dual states of life and death, the boundary between existence and extinction blurring upon his person.

And Lu Chun was indeed struggling within that very liminal space.

As he sank deeper into the abyss amidst infinite negative emotions, a sudden, fragile ray of light darted forth from the darkness, lingering gently around him.

A plea echoed softly in his ear.

"I want to live... I don't want to die..."

These words caused his dimming eyes to flicker. Following that, even more rays of light soared forth, banishing the boundless darkness!

"Old man, let's go for a walk."

"Mom, we'll always be together, right?"

"A-Yang, marry me, will you?"

All manner of hopeful words filled with the desperate desire to survive resounded in his ears. Accompanied by them, the will to live burning within Lu Chun's heart was encouraged, and he began to struggle fiercely upward.

In a hazy trance, the sound of a footstep ascending a flight of stairs rang out!

"Step!"

Second step of ascension—Prajna! Achieved!

Meanwhile, in the outside world.

A sliver of radiance appeared on the horizon; the dark night had passed, and the world was about to usher in the dawn.

Yet the sky once more churned with dark clouds, converging into a swirling vortex where bolts of lightning slithered like serpents, accompanied by a voice that shook the cosmos.

"Outer God! How dare you act so presumptuously!"