Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1294 If you hear the Tao in the morning, you will die in the evening.
Compared to Yuan Tiansi's original form, Aiwas now appears both sacred and eerie.

As the giant's body cooled in the muddy rain, Aiwass's skin gradually faded to a bloodless, marble-white. Covered in grayish-white mud, his muscles lost their initial grotesque appearance, gaining instead a unique, almost sculptural beauty.

The pitch-black thorns of sin spread and grew all over Aiwas's body, like scattered plant shoots sprouting on barren rocks.

The purest sin thorns continuously emerge from the headless giant's neck, forming a vertical ring like a black hole. Above this vertical ring lies a horizontal, jet-black crown—not composed purely of sin thorns, but rather with a base of a looped "chain of friendship," wrapped entirely with sin thorns.

Above the black hole ring, two sinful thorns spread and changed color, transforming into a pair of enormous white jade-colored antlers.

Once the antlers had fully grown, the homogeneous black hole suddenly collapsed, turning into a messy ball of yarn.

They then melted into a black, gelatinous substance resembling petroleum, forming a jet-black deer-head helmet. The helmet had no openings for the eyes, so it remained impossible to see what was inside or whether there was a real head at all.

Behind Aiwas, six enormous pure white wings emerged.

Large swaths of white feathers drifted down like falling cherry blossoms.

They were soon entangled by the rapidly growing and spreading thorns, like wooden stakes bound by barbed wire, or like grapevines climbing a trellis. The black thorns gradually enveloped these wings completely, until the white feathers were completely submerged, leaving only six huge, tattered, maple-leaf-like thorny wings.

This process of change is quite lengthy.

However, neither the Gray Celestial nor the Geometry Celestial interrupted Aiwass's rebirth. Instead, they waited patiently by the sidelines.

A deer-headed, human-bodied creature, a black crown, wings of thorns, a colossal being as large as marble—

"It's less like Aiwass and more like a 'taboo'."

Gray Sky murmured, "So perfect, so beautiful... Yes, this is a miracle."

He looked at Aiwass with admiration. In a sense, this form of Aiwass was created by Gray Sky Master.

"I am still me."

A strange voice then echoed in the void.

That was Aiwas's response, but his voice was muffled, as if he were speaking with his head buried inside an iron helmet.

From behind him, the sinful thorns continued to surge forth in an endless stream. The sinful thorns transformed from the Great Abyss far exceeded the scale of his foster father's. These sinful thorns were even continuing to generate and spread.

"...Gray astronaut, and Geometry astronaut?"

Aiwas's voice rang out: "Thank you both for your help. I will remember you."

"It doesn't matter."

Gray Sky smiled, transforming back into her girlish form, arms crossed, showing no fear of her impending doom: "Then let's return to the Source River... Or do you need our help to defeat the Crimson Calamity?"

"...I thought you would want to survive."

Aiwas was somewhat surprised.

After all, it's a fact that Gray Celestial saved Geometry Celestial. If Gray Celestial had done nothing, Geometry Celestial, being a fragile mage, would have been taken down by Abyss Celestial's dying blow.

He had even prepared to counter the analytical cannon, otherwise he wouldn't have deployed the White Wings ahead of time.

"I just didn't want him to die at Da Yuan's hands; that would make me seem incompetent."

The girl atop the spider crossed her arms and said with a smile, "I have to show off some of my abilities, right? If I just used the gray hole's properties to help everyone dodge the Abyss's attacks a few times, it would seem a bit ordinary. I have to show the readers some talent, otherwise, who will remember me in the end?"

Aiwas ignored Gray Sky's rambling, half-truthful words.

The Gray Sky Division is the Sky Division that wields the power of lies. Anyone who can believe the Gray Sky Division is truly blessed for life.

However, Aiwass understood what Gray Sky meant: "So you mean... now that it's your talent show, you're leaving, right? Or are you planning to have another round with me?"

"Although I really want to say that if I were to fight again, it would make me seem a bit tactless... unwilling to leave the stage obediently when my scenes are over. Xi Tiansi would definitely hate a supporting character like me who doesn't know how to behave."

Gray Celestial said with a smile, reaching out to Geometry Celestial beside him: "But—how can you be sure Geometry Celestial isn't dead? Is it because you saw it with your own eyes?"
"But... if you don't even believe what I say, why are you willing to believe your own eyes?"

The next moment, the "Geometric Astronomical Bureau" suddenly melted away.

It transformed into four-colored crystals, which coalesced into a strange sword.

It's more like a mace than a short sword. Its four sides are all different colors depending on the angle from which it's viewed, and the colors constantly change.

The giant with the stag's head fell silent for a moment.

He truly couldn't tell whether Geometry was dead or alive.

"...It's like magic."

Aiwass murmured in amazement, "The power to alter reality...?"

It's like placing a crumpled piece of paper in your palm, moving it around a few times, and then asking you where the paper is.

If you choose the left hand, it will be in the right hand; if you choose the right hand, it will be in the left hand. If you grab both hands at the same time, you will end up with neither.

Although Gray Skymaster's words seemed both true and false, Aiwass had roughly guessed what he meant—

Gray Sky Master didn't harbor any explicit hostility towards him. However, he might be itching to fight, or perhaps he was unwilling to leave just like that, or maybe he wanted to accomplish some great feat that required him not to commit suicide.

That's why he waited for Aiwass to hatch from the Abyss Egg and regain his physical body.

Although strictly speaking, this headless giant's body, which is about ten meters tall, is still not Aiwass's true body...

Aiwas merely used the authority of the Sin Beast to manipulate the Sin Thorns, simulating a head for himself that could be used temporarily. Inside the deer-headed helmet were countless Sin Thorns, densely packed together in an almost compressed manner.

However, in terms of strength alone, this body is far more useful than Aiwas's own body.

Although the forbidden power remaining within Aiwass was almost entirely depleted during the battle against the Crimson Calamity, a portion of that forbidden power still remains within him. Moreover, this body is the remnant of the former forbidden power.

In a sense, this might be considered a form of necromancy—if Lingbo Tiansi could obtain this body, he might actually have a chance to piece together most of the true "forbidden" elements.

"Although I don't know whether Geometry is alive or dead..."

The giant slowly raised his hand, aiming it at the spider, which was much smaller than himself.

Behind Aiwas, an extremely large magic circle appeared.

The three concentric rings of platinum, brilliance, and dark gold are generated, and they begin to rotate at high speed as soon as they appear.

Unlike when Aiwas used his own body to activate Paradise Lost.

The power contained within this body was exceptionally abundant, allowing Paradise Lost to not even need to accumulate magic power for a long time.

The three rings accelerated their rotation and overlapped the moment they appeared.

"But Plato would probably want to see the real Paradise Lost."

Aiwas finished speaking.

Countless golden rays of light transformed into sharp blades of light descending from the sky, sweeping towards the Gray Sky Division!

Gray Celestial simply held the four crystal maces that Geometry Celestial had transformed into with both hands, and looked solemnly at the giant with the deer head.

Suddenly, his appearance changed.

Gray Sky Master was no longer the Spider Woman he had been before; instead, he had transformed into a winged being wearing a white robe.

There are men and women, old and young.

Some eyes were lost, others were resolute. Some laughed wildly, others grieved. Some gasped in amazement, others wept with emotion. As Gray Sky Chief gradually raised the crystal mace, his appearance changed continuously, and the frequency of these changes increased rapidly.

Later on, even just lifting an inch would require changing four or five faces.

Just as Gray Sky raised the crystal mace, the bombardment of Paradise Lost arrived!
The colorful rainbow light coalesced into a spherical barrier, enveloping Gray Sky at the last moment!
The four-colored rainbow light canceled out the golden bombardment, and numerous ripples appeared on the bubble-like barrier, which was about to shatter completely in an instant.

It looked precarious.

Even so, the rainbow light still managed to restrain itself as much as possible, forming an extremely thin beam of light.

That's the analytical cannon!

Of course, the power accumulated at this moment is far from enough.

Unlike Paradise Lost, the Analytical Cannon requires a long period of time to accumulate power...

In reality, Gray Sky Chief used the power of lies to barely separate a thread from the facts of the past and bring it to life in the present.

Because that previous attack was used against Yuan Tiansi, and the current Deer-Headed Giant also belongs to Yuan Tiansi in a sense, Gray Tiansi confused the two facts, thus stealing a portion of the power from the Truth.

Under the watchful eyes of Gray Sky and Aiwass, the iridescent glow of the analytical cannon collided with one of the beams from Paradise Lost, resulting in a violent explosion!

When the explosion occurred, even the preservation spell cast by Aiwass was violently distorted.

The petrified city began to recover, as if it were gradually thawing. The petrified and preserved Parthians finally regained their senses and belatedly saw the magic circle of light behind the terrifying giant and the magnificent offensive that resembled divine punishment.

This “infinite” attack, capable of piercing the world and dissolving everything… actually exploded and canceled each other out, just like the clash between Aiwass and Fallen Angels’ Paradise Lost!

—This means one thing.

Although the analytical cannon is an imitation of Paradise Lost, it has come incredibly close to the real Paradise Lost when it confronts it!
"……what."

In that instant, Aiwass and Gray Sky seemed to hear a satisfied sigh.

That was a sigh from the Geometry Bureau.

The "ultimate spell" that these mages replicated in pursuit of their dreams, to restore their glory, and to explore the truth... had already lost its meaning when it was created.

—Because the person who could use Paradise Lost is no longer here.

Aiwass suddenly fell into a strange hallucination—

He knew it was an illusion cast upon him by Gray Sky Master. However, Aiwass did not resist, but quietly accepted the illusion and became immersed in it.

He saw a flock of fledgling birds hurriedly leaving the collapsed tower.

These winged beings had never left their homeland since birth. They were simply a group of scholars living atop a high tower.

Images flashed before Aiwass's eyes—

He saw some mages surrounding Lucifer, who was taller than them, intimately sensing his emotions and knowledge.
He saw some monks curiously touching a snake wearing a monocle, earnestly recording something in their childish language;
He saw the young monks begin to engage in heated discussions with each other using words;
He saw the tower collapse, and the dusty and disheveled mages walking bewildered and disheveled across the somewhat desolate land, wiping away tears and complaining about something, before being comforted by an elder in the crowd.
He saw the mages helping each other, watched them rebuild the tower, and saw them reconstruct civilization...

Watching them encourage each other, watching them argue, watching them fail repeatedly and then rise from those failures.

He saw the elderly monk had passed away, and others were mourning for them, and he seemed to see his own future reflected in them;

He watched as the curious boys and girls of yesteryear grew into mature young adults, then into composed middle-aged people, and finally into old age. And some of the monks who were already middle-aged or elderly had already passed away.

Finally, the mages developed the analytical cannon.

They were incredibly excited!

They roared with joy, embraced each other, spread their wings, and soared into the sky. Just as they had returned to when they had first left the Tower of Babel—

However, the intense sorrow quickly overwhelmed the ecstasy of success.

—Because they are no longer able to prove their theories.

Lucifer, whom they respected and loved, failed to ascend, and the Fallen Ones who split off have fallen, transforming their kind into hideous demons; the King of the Scaled, whom they also worshipped, was the mastermind behind all this conspiracy, and has now also ascended to godhood, entering the dream realm beyond their reach.

The two people who taught them to grow up are now gone.

The mages who left the Tower of Babel back then were all just young children.

They proved the great truth from another perspective, surpassing their former kin. They matured and became stronger.

But they can never go back to the way things were.

If this were applied to other races... when they become middle-aged, newborns will start appearing around them; when they grow old, a new generation of young people will emerge.

However, the mage race came to an end here.

With the fall of Taiyi's glory, the Winged Ones could no longer be born.

One elderly person after another passed away.

The mage tower gradually fell into disrepair.

Until the last, elderly winged being meticulously cleaned the entire mage tower. He neatly arranged all the knowledge and history, categorized them, bid farewell to the tombs bearing names, and stood before the supreme host, Plato.

He also died and turned into a skeleton.

After a long time.

The elves, returning as pilgrims, entered the now-desolate mage tower with curiosity and caution.

The elves of that time were still dressed in animal skins and carried bows and arrows.

When the first elves emerged from the mage tower, they had already become the inheritors of the past.

—This is the beginning of the Elven civilization.

The vision of the past, the truth that cannot be proven.

Today, it is finally completed.

"By analyzing the four elements, it may be possible to rebuild a new spell system."

In Aiwass's mind, a young and energetic voice rang out: "Even recreating a spell on the scale of Paradise Lost is not impossible!"

That's why the winged ones originally gathered here.

—The proof is complete.

Although this analytical cannon shot was only one shot, only one beam.

Other beams of light emitted from Paradise Lost bent autonomously like missiles, engulfing Gray Sky and tearing it apart in an instant.

However, this tiny, seemingly insignificant ray of rainbow light was enough to prove that all their efforts were not in vain.

The new spell system has reached the end of the old system.

The path to new spells is far from over.

Therefore, their path is the right one!
And now, the world, just as their research has shown, is on the right track—

This is the spirit of monks—a spirit of eternal fervor and unwavering sincerity in their pursuit of truth.

(End of this chapter)