Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 346 The Difference Between Man and God
"Actually, we should have thought of this a long time ago."

Bai Wu stared thoughtfully at the centaur trapped in its hallucinations. At this moment, she wasn't speaking normal language, but a special, secret language.

Reincarnators all possess many secrets. For example, their names. In some worlds, their real names might be used by enemies to harm or curse them, so reincarnators are accustomed to giving themselves a code name.

White Mist, Swordsman, Old Nine, and Greedy Wolf are all code names representing their respective characteristics.

To prevent themselves from accidentally revealing their origins or plans to powerful beings, the team members had long ago agreed on a special encryption language.

Using this encrypted language, what they say is completely incomprehensible to others.

As Bai Wu spoke, she turned to look at the other two.

How much do you know about the occult?

The Ninth Brother and the swordsman exchanged a glance, and then each gave their answer.

"I have some understanding of it."

"don't know."

The one who said he had some understanding was Lao Jiu, while the one who bluntly said he didn't understand was the swordsman.

As the team leader, Lao Jiu primarily specializes in combat, but he's also a jack-of-all-trades. The swordsman, on the other hand, is simple; he only cares about becoming powerful and is indifferent to everything else.

Bai Wu was not surprised, so she patiently explained to the two of them.

"What do you think distinguishes humans from gods in mythology?"

Old Nine thought for a moment and then answered.

"Divinity?"

The swordsman gave an uncertain answer.

"Is it something like divine essence or divine fire? Or like incense offerings, or a conceptual deity?"

The two gave their respective opinions.

Bai Wu shook his head.

"To be precise, in most original myths, the biggest difference between humans and gods is immortality."

"In many myths, humans can sometimes be very powerful, like Gilgamesh from the last world. Do you remember him? In the original myth, he was said to possess two-thirds divinity because he had the appearance and power of a god, but not the lifespan of a god. His power was no less than that of a god, but he was still not a god, because even if he was powerful, he would eventually grow old and die."

"The same is true of Greek mythology. Many heroes were very powerful, but they all eventually could not escape the fate of aging and death."

At this moment, Lao Jiu retorted.

"No, I remember Asclepius could grant humans immortality through surgery. And many witches and even blessed individuals could also become immortal. Were they gods too?"

Asclepius, this demigod hero, is still walking on the earth at this moment. In the future, he will become the constellation Ophiuchus and be revered as the god of medicine.

Old Nine didn't know much about magic, but he had some knowledge of some simpler stories.

But the white mist still shook its head.

"Ninth Brother, you've overlooked one thing: these immortals all have flaws."

"You should know the story of the Sibyl, the witch of Kumi, right?"

Old Nine knew the story Bai Wu was telling.

Sybil was a sorceress skilled in prophecy. She had received a promise from Apollo, the god of prophecy, who promised her one thing she desired. Sybil chose immortality.

But Sybil made a colossal mistake. When she asked Apollo for "immortality," she forgot to include one thing—"youth."

Many years passed, and Sybil was still alive. She had grown so old and shrunken that she was unable to move and was a pitiful sight. She was confined to a jar, weeping incessantly day and night.

Later, the ancient Roman poet Virgil claimed that he had seen the witch, who was already seven hundred years old and looked very old.

“Once I saw with my own eyes the witch of Kumi locked in a hanging cage, and the children asked her in Greek, ‘Witch, what do you want?’ She also answered in Greek, ‘I only want death.’”

Then the white mist continued.

"There are many such stories in mythology. Even if someone gains the power of immortality, they often have one flaw or another."

"Or become ugly, with sharp teeth and long nails, and become the forest witch in people's mouths."

"Either he is a slow-aging old monster, or he is blind, has lost limbs, and has become a blind prophet."

"Even if everything appears perfectly fine on the outside, there must be something that holds the hidden vital organs. For example, the heart in a box; once stabbed with a dagger, one will die instantly, just like a lich."

"Even if one were to be so lucky as to steal immortality for a time, one must hide away in anonymity, otherwise one would be punished by the gods and become the object of punishment for blasphemy."

"Immortality is the privilege of gods, and it is the biggest difference between gods and mortals in almost all original myths."

Finally, Bai Wu said, almost with annoyance.

“I should have thought of that. No matter how powerful Hercules is, he is still just a mortal. Mortals are destined to die, and mortals are destined to decay. Even if he can resist the venom of the Hydra, he cannot resist the ultimate fate of mortals.”

After all, it's a different world.

The world of the original mythology differs from many other worlds, where extending lifespan or even achieving immortality is relatively easy. However, in the original mythology, even immense power cannot alter the fundamental nature of life, making the ascension from human to godhood incredibly difficult.

Bai Wu blamed herself for only realizing such a simple thing now.

"But didn't Hercules eventually become a god?"

The swordsman was unfamiliar with religious myths and such. He was simply puzzled: if Hercules were to become a god in the future, how would the three of them complete their mission? The Ninth Brother disagreed.

"Swordsmen, even if you die and ascend to godhood, it's still death, and it won't affect our ability to complete the mission."

"Then can't he become a god while still alive?"

Lao Jiu and Bai Wu exchanged a glance and laughed.

The swordsman was bewildered by their laughter, not knowing what he had said wrong.

Bai Wu patiently explained.

"In Greek mythology, the characteristic of a swordsman who ascends to godhood is to shed his mortal nature, and the way to shed his mortal nature is actually equivalent to dying once."

"Hercules was burned by fire, so his mortal half was burned away, and he was able to get rid of his mortal nature and ascend from man to god."

"The same was true of Achilles later. His mother was a sea goddess who knew of the war he would face in the future. She wanted to make him a god when he was young so that he could avoid his fate of death. So she put him on a fire to burn away the mortal blood of his father in him."

"As a result, the fire was discovered by Achilles' father halfway through, and he stopped the act. Therefore, Achilles did not become a god in the end, but only achieved invulnerability through the River Styx."

"Therefore, I can assure you as a legendary mage that as long as Hercules does not die once, he will never become a god."

Bai Wu said confidently.

The swordsman didn't quite understand, but he still agreed with the white mist's explanation. Since even the expert had said so, what could he possibly argue against?

"Then the question is, where do we find a way to make Hercules age?"

Old Nine stroked his chin thoughtfully, then said...
"Perhaps we should turn to the gods of the underworld for help..."

"Are you referring to Hades, Thanatos, Hypnos, or other gods of the underworld?"

The white mist asked.

Old Nine shook his head; he wasn't entirely clear on these matters either.

"I don't know either. We've been trying to avoid those gods. We'll probably have to keep searching for ways to make people age."

As they were talking, Bai Wu lowered his head and asked doubtfully.

"Actually, besides all that, I'm still very curious about something else: what exactly is this Devourer of Worlds god? That centaur said that Hercules has a drop of its blood in his veins. I've never heard of this before, and I have a vague sense of unease about it..."

This world is similar to the Greek mythology that some people know, but there is a huge difference in one inconspicuous place.

The legendary god who devoured the world fought a great battle with Zeus, which once destroyed the previous civilization. The group had some guesses about the identity of this god who devoured the world and was the father of all demons, vaguely feeling that he resembled Typhon from mythology, but they were not entirely sure.

Bai Wu trusted her intuition quite a bit; at her level, there was always a reason for her sudden whims.

But what exactly was overlooked?

The white mist didn't understand.

"Forget it if you can't guess."

Old Nine comforted them, then left with the two of them.

Meanwhile, the centaur remained immersed in the illusion, unable to break free for a long time. Until he suddenly felt a pair of eyes staring at him, he was startled and his mind abruptly broke free from the illusion.

After the scene before him changed, he suddenly found himself standing in front of a handsome and extraordinary man.

The handsome man stared at the centaur with a cold gaze and spoke.

"Centaur, you have revealed something you shouldn't have said; that is a grave offense."

"who are you?"

A strong sense of unease, even despairing fear, welled up within the centaur.

After blinking, the centaur suddenly realized what was happening, and its face showed fear and horror.

“You…Apollo…No, I didn’t say anything, I didn’t say anything…”

He shook his head frantically, trying to defend himself, but it was too late.

Apollo pointed a finger, and the centaur, terrified, tried to turn and run away, but tripped over a pebble in the riverbed and fell heavily into the water. Before he could get up, his body stiffened rapidly.

"Do not……"

Before the desperate words could be finished, the centaur had already transformed into a stone bridge over the river.

Looking at the stone bridge in front of him, Apollo shook his head.

“You could have just stayed here and carried people across the river, but you had to get involved in this kind of thing. Since you used to make a living by carrying people across the river, then just keep doing it.”

In any case, the centaur revealed something important, which is enough to punish him.

As for those three people?

His gaze had already pierced through the three people in the distance, and Apollo had no other thoughts about them.

He realized that his sister had likely helped guide these three people to find the centaur. Artemis, still resentful of the two humiliations he had suffered, naturally sided with his sister as her brother.

But will those three people succeed? Or will this cause other problems?
When Artemis first clashed with Heracles, Apollo had a vague feeling that the conflict, which was forcibly stopped by the king of the gods, would have a profound impact in the future, but he did not yet understand what that profound impact meant.
Could it be because the conflict between his sister and that demigod was not yet over? Or perhaps...

Apollo blinked, a thoughtful expression appearing on his handsome face.

A gust of wind blew by, and the master disappeared from the spot.