Am I the only one who didn't ascend?

Chapter 589 Answer (End)

Lu Zhiyao's question made Wang Luo dazed for a moment, and this momentary daze was like a flaw revealed in a duel between masters.

Lu Zhiyao naturally caught the flaw and asked with a smile.

"So, when you asked me if I wanted to go back, you actually wanted to refer to my answer to decide your own answer, right?"

Wang Luo raised his head and pondered for a while, then said frankly: "Perhaps subconsciously, this is indeed the case. In the past, I have always been chasing after your figure, and now... Although I have experienced many stories, I still feel that those years of following you around the Lingshan Mountain were the most interesting part of my life."

Lu Zhiyao tilted her head and said, "You know yourself that those memories were just instilled into you by me, right?"

Wang Luo said: "Strictly speaking, the me of today is just the memory instilled by my past self. So, I have never been mysophobic in this regard. And those memories are objectively true, right? Well, at least most of them are true, right?"

Lu Zhiyao smiled bitterly: "Well, most of them are real. I won't use false memories to deceive you... On the contrary, those vivid and real memories are my pride. I am also very pleased that you are attracted by those memories and chase my back instead of treating me as a lunatic with a hole in your brain. However, from the time you woke up to now, you should have lived in the Immortal Alliance for a long time. Isn't there anything in the Immortal Alliance that makes you particularly nostalgic?"

Wang Luo said, "I want to ask you the same question. When you decided to retire to Jianmu and gradually move away from Jiuzhou, were there no people or things on the Jiuzhou continent that were worth your nostalgia?"

Lu Zhiyao was silent for a moment, then said, "How could I not have any regrets? You should have seen a lot of my memories. During the past thousand years in Kyushu, I have certainly been acting as a time traveler, but I have indeed done my best to act like one... But sometimes, you can't have both."

Wang Luo asked, "Why not? To you, all the inability in the world is just an excuse for incompetence. Are you a mediocre person? You said that the Luoshu world needs you more, I understand, but isn't there a way to have the best of both worlds? The Creation Plan is a project that you will find difficult to complete even if you spend the rest of your life, so why bother to devote the rest of your life to it? What's more, when you chose to retire, there should not have been any Luoshu base, let alone the Creation Plan. What drove you away from Jiuzhou at that time?"

Lu Zhiyao was finally stumped by the question. After a long silence, she was suddenly disturbed by a notification on her phone. She couldn't help but smile bitterly: "The canteen chef is angry. Let's go over there and eat first before we talk. It's probably difficult to come to a conclusion on this issue in just a few words."

Wang Luo sighed: "Okay, let's eat first."

-

The small kitchen in the base cafeteria is indeed worthy of its reputation, worthy of the chef's temper and worthy of Lu Zhiyao's early hype.

However, when a person is full of thoughts, no matter how delicious the food is, he often loses his appetite. So, after finishing the meal, Wang Luo quickly returned to the topic.

"So, what is the conclusion that is hard to come to in just a few words?"

Lu Youyou shook her head: "A rare midnight snack is wasted by you... If you are so anxious to find the conclusion, then come with me and witness the truth of the world together."

"The truth?" Wang Luo murmured this slightly incongruous word. Regarding the truth of this world, was there anything unclear in the previous conversation?

No, there are indeed. For example, Lu Zhiyao has always said that Taichu is not a threat, but Taixu is. And eradicating the threat is something only Wang Luo can do... But in such a world structure, is there anything that Lu Zhiyao can't do and only I can do?

With this looming question in mind, Wang Luo followed Lu Zhiyao silently, and accompanied by several Shi Yues, they set out from the cafeteria and came all the way to the core area of ​​the Luoshu base.

Even in the middle of the night, the Luoshu base was still brightly lit, and night shift workers were rushing along the way. And everyone who saw Lu Zhiyao would stop and greet her seriously.

It was not until the group arrived at a large elevator in the middle of the base that led to the depths of the underground that they encountered a slight obstruction. The elevator was guarded by a team of heavily-armored semi-mechanical biochemicals. Even with Lu Zhiyao's status and prestige in the area, it took quite a while to complete all the necessary procedures and let those biochemicals pass.

As the elevator slowly descended amid the rumbling sound, Lu Zhiyao said with great interest, "How do you feel about those biochemical bodies? They are elite individual combat units that I personally designed and supervised. Their combat power is more than three times stronger than that of Xiao Shiyue beside you, but the cost is 20% lower."

Wang Luo was a little impatient and helpless: "Isn't this the Tiger Lord Armor you copied?"

Lu Zhiyao laughed and said, "Moving the essence of the design of the Jiuzhou Continent to the Luoshu World, where the laws of heaven and earth are completely different, this kind of plagiarism is precisely the most meaningful innovation. Besides, the designers of the Tiger Lord Armor will not come to the Luoshu World to ask me for copyright fees. Moreover, even if they come, there is no way they can reproduce their designs here... In the end, why don't you just say that Senior Sister is awesome? Really, the little guy has grown up and is not as cute as before."

Wang Luo shook his head: "Senior Sister, are you nervous? Is that why you use these jokes to ease the atmosphere?"

Lu Zhiyao's laughter gradually subsided: "Little Wang Luo, you are indeed becoming less and less cute. Yes, I am a little nervous, because there are some things that even I don't want to see too much..."

As he was talking, the elevator finally stopped with a muffled sound, and the heavy gate in front slowly opened, revealing a metal corridor that looked eerie under the cold light.

Walking in this long corridor, the sound of people's footsteps, combined with the gradually fading echoes, made the atmosphere even colder. The accompanying Shi Yue clone also said nothing, as if his mind had been taken away.

"Starting from this level, only a very small number of people have the power to preserve their memories of what they have seen and heard. Xiao Shiyue's cognition has been locked. After they go up, they will automatically forget everything here."

Wang Luo asked: "What about me?"

Lu Zhiyao smiled as she walked: "The new clone Wang Luo No. 1 will naturally forget everything, at least that's what I convinced those imitation Tiger Lord armors. But the procedures were a bit hasty after all, and the old men will inevitably find fault with me afterwards... It just so happens that I am too lazy to argue with them in the parliament, so I will find an opportunity to lure them out and catch them all in one fell swoop, which will give me at least two years of relief."

The light-hearted jokes were increasingly unable to conceal Lu Zhiyao's inner turmoil. Just as her heartbeat became clearer, the long corridor finally came to an end.

There was another heavy gate ahead, which opened very slowly, as if giving the visitor a final chance to regret.

But Lu Zhiyao finally breathed a sigh of relief, calmed down, and slipped sideways into the gate before it was fully opened.

Wang Luo frowned and followed.

But behind the door was a pleasant grassy hill with warm sunshine. A large tree with lush branches and leaves stood in the middle of the hill, blocking the sunlight from somewhere above. As the tree canopy swayed, a stone tablet under the tree cast a mottled shadow, as if thousands of mysterious words were floating.

However, when he looked closely, there was no word on the stone tablet. It was pure white without any dust. However, the moment Wang Luo saw it, he felt like he was struck by lightning. Countless indescribable emotions like turbulent waves surged in his mind.

Lu Zhiyao walked slowly forward with a gentle smile, reaching out and gently touching the stone tablet.

"The first truth you want is right in front of you. This is the final destination of a traveler who has been away from home for a thousand years."

Wang Luo opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't utter a word.

"Don't be so nervous. I'm still alive and will probably be able to live for another 200 years... But even so, every time I see my burial place, I still feel uncomfortable."

Wang Luo slowly walked to the stone tablet, looked at the shadow of the tree on it, and found that even the voice in his heart had gone out. He only heard Lu Zhiyao say: "I have no regrets in my life. Even if I have experienced painful setbacks and failures, I can always hold my head high and move forward, telling myself that if I win in the end, I will naturally have the last laugh... However, such a life cannot answer one question: What should I do after the end? A journey of a thousand years is too long for me."

"Wang Luo, I'm dead. The cause of death is the simplest limit of life. Although I was fortunate enough to ascend to heaven and cleanse my marrow with immortal spirits in the old immortal calendar era, the time was too short after all. After the battle of Dinghuang, my cultivation fell to the mortal realm, which destroyed my immortal foundation and greatly reduced my life. Therefore, it was my limit to persist until Xiaoluer took over. Ha, in fact, you should know that although I have done many earth-shaking things, I have never been good at cultivation. When the master picked me up from the crack, several uncles still disliked me. Later, I exhausted my thoughts and took shortcuts, and finally I had a cultivation that was worthy of the title of the chief, but in the long history of Lingshan, it was not surprising... Congenital deficiency, this is a defect that I have spent my whole life to overcome, but overcoming defects does not mean that they do not exist. Little Wang Luo, when Old Song handed you to me, he actually hoped that I could use your natural Taoist body to fulfill my dream of cultivation."

Wang Luo responded with a hoarse voice: "Unfortunately, this dream is destined to be unfulfilled. There is no fairyland now."

Lu Zhiyao said, "What does it matter? At least before the catastrophe came, the process of cultivating the innate Dao body was still very happy, and that's enough. As for after the catastrophe, the Heavenly Dao was transformed into the laws of the Immortal Alliance through my hands. When it comes to creating the heaven and establishing the Dao, even the Chicheng Immortal Ancestor is not as good as me. So, there is no need to feel sorry for me. It's just that no matter how wonderful the journey is, it will come to an end."

Wang Luo nodded silently.

"So, in response to your original question, I won't go back, because that's no longer my place. I am now just a legend in an illusion, a phantom like a flower in the mirror and a moon in the water. Of course, even so, if I really want to exert influence on the outside world through Luoshu, there is always a way. Just like after I retired, I can still talk to Xiaoluer, and even as long as I pay a little price, I can briefly show my holiness in front of people. But that's not what I should do. The dead should die seriously. And the legends in the illusion should be limited to legends. When the crack opened, I gained a thousand years of life on the Kyushu continent, and now, I should live my own life seriously."

Wang Luo seldom heard Lu Zhiyao speak in such a serious tone, so he had no choice but to adjust his mood and respond with doubly seriousness.

"I see."

"Well, that's good to know. So, don't think about chasing my figure, because your life is still very long... Or, if you really want to chase my figure, just learn from me and live your long life to the last moment, and then come to me. In terms of the relationship between the virtual and real worlds, the time axis is never strictly corresponding, so maybe when you finally return to the Luoshu world after thousands or tens of thousands of years of travel, I will just come home from the base with dirty clothes to spend the weekend, and then be scolded by my mother and urged to get married by my father."

Wang Luo couldn't help laughing when he heard this. After laughing, he asked again: "By the way, does this tree have any special imagery?"

Lu Zhiyao looked up at the swaying treetops and asked, "What do you think?"

Wang Luo then thought about it seriously, frowned, and whispered: "Tianzun?"

"Haha, you are indeed worthy of your guess. That's right, this tree is the main body of Taixu Tianzun in the main world of No. 18, and it is also the core of the Luoshu world. The entire Luoshu base is built around the Taixu tree, and it is also through the branches and leaves of this tree that we can quickly and easily influence other worlds..."

"This tree stands next to your tombstone, which means..."

Lu Zhiyao said, "Well, it's just as you thought. After I buried myself here, branches naturally sprouted next to the stone tablet. Then I suddenly locked onto the Heavenly Venerable of this world... However, I don't want to overly bind myself to the concept of Heavenly Venerable. After all, I am me and the tree is the tree. So you just need to know about this matter, and there's no need to delve into it."

Wang Luo nodded again: "Then what does the troublesome thing that Senior Sister wants me to deal with, the so-called Taixu restlessness, mean?"

"It's very simple. The plan for Taixu and Taichu to perish together was not designed randomly, and the principle behind it was not to lie or deceive people. In the past, most of Taixu Tianzun's consciousness was contained in the Luoshu and circulated in the world of ninety-nine pages. Only a small part was left outside for people to control. It was essentially like a sleepwalking state. Therefore, Tianzun's heartlessness and ruthlessness were only due to his deep sleep, not his incompleteness after death. Now that Taichu has invaded the Luoshu, it has aroused Taixu's counterattack instinct... Then the real Taixu Tianzun will wake up completely, and what you have to do is to send the awakened Tianzun to a long sleep and don't let it cause trouble again."

Wang Luo frowned when he heard this: "Will that be..."

"It won't affect anything. It's better to say that the consciousness of the Heavenly Venerable that was lost outside the Luoshu was originally a helpless act when I established the Immortal Alliance to fight against the Desolation. It is a difficult and complicated problem left over from history. Now, it's time to clear up the chronic disease. Now that I think about it, the root cause of the heavenly calamity is that Chi Cheng failed to strictly abide by the division of the immortal world and the human world that he had set. Not only did the mortals repeatedly steal the opportunity to ascend, but the influence of the immortal world on the mortal world was also not uncommon. Lingshan is the most typical case. Therefore, I really don't want to make the same mistake. Let the Luoshu world stay on the fictional side. The next time the rift opens, at least we have to wait until the creation plan."

Wang Luo asked again: "However, with the current strength of the Immortal Alliance, they may not need me to suppress the restless Taixu."

Lu Zhiyao smiled: "How could we not need it? You are the most top-notch expert in illusion warfare in the Immortal Alliance in recent years. You have single-handedly killed countless clones of Taichu. Although Taixu is only at low health now, the situation of the Immortal Alliance will definitely be different with or without you."

"That may not be the case. In fact, apart from me, other masters also..."

"Well, I'll give you a way out, so just leave. Do you have to force me to say that you're not welcome here before you leave?"

Wang Luo suddenly burst out laughing: "Indeed, I was a little ignorant just now."

Lu Zhiyao took a step forward and held Wang Luo's cheek with her hands.

"Don't make it sound so sad... If you really want to stay, then stay. I certainly welcome you to stay. But let's get back to the previous question. Do you really want to stay here?"

Wang Luo fell silent, and silence was the best answer.

"Then, let's stay apart for a while. When you have traveled in the human world for a long enough time, come back to find me. Ha, it would be difficult for me to complete the creation plan in my lifetime. With your help, the situation may be very different. However, it is not the you now... Go and continue to travel around the Nine Provinces, collect all the wonderful ideas of the geniuses in the world, and then bring back the Luoshu, and start the great innovation with me..."

As he was speaking, Wang Luo suddenly felt a breeze blowing by his side, making the branches and leaves of the big tree rustle, covering up Lu Zhiyao's gentle words. The scene around him also gradually blurred in the wind.

This is the core of the Luoshu world. Following the branches of the trees, you can travel to various places in Luoshu...naturally, this also includes outside Luoshu.

Different from the strong feeling of falling when he descended to the world before, at this moment, Wang Luo seemed to be in a gust of air, accelerating upwards, and then accelerating again... Gravity continued to accumulate on him until he seemed to feel a cold and hard wall above his head.

boom!
After a silent loud noise, the wall broke into pieces under the impact, and Wang Luo felt as if he had experienced a complete ascension. However, the scenery after ascension was not the magnificent fairyland, but the familiar Rongcheng Stone Street... and familiar faces full of concern.

"Wang Luo, are you okay?"

The person closest to her is Lu Youyou, and beside her are Mo Yu, Han Ying, Shi Yue, Yulong Jun, Qingyuan Jun... and even Song Hui, who thought he was going to die but somehow survived... as well as many people who are struggling to wake up from the illusion of the ruins.

It was obvious that Taichu's ability to turn the virtual into the real had been broken, and the chaos in Rongcheng Workshop was coming to an end. The conversation with Senior Sister Lu Zhiyao a moment ago seemed like a lifetime ago.

But Wang Luo knew that everything in the fiction had actually happened, and his own journey had just begun.

Then he turned around and gave a sincere smile to his old friends from Kyushu.

"Of course it's okay."

After a pause, he said again.

"It's just that I ascended once."

(End of the book)

(End of this chapter)