Above Destiny

Chapter 547: Did you say thank you?
It was an endless, agonizing ordeal, a frantic race where you couldn't stop if you wanted to win, and the moment you slacked off or gave up, you would lose everything.

It has no end, no limit, and no conclusion.

All that remains is a futile cycle of risking one's life for another.

Repeated again and again, restarted again and again, the entire dream is constantly cycling in the accelerating time, and the struggle between the dragon and the holy god is endless.

Like Sisyphus, he pushes the boulder up the mountain again and again, only to return to the starting point each time. What's terrifying is not the endless torment, but the 'liberation' of turning back to shore.

Liberation is the most terrifying poison.

Just give up.

If you want to stop, you can stop!
They have the option to give up at any time and in any place.

We can rest now, let's wait, what's the point of continuing like this? How long will this cycle last? It's already too long, how much longer? How much longer do we have to endure this? After this second, there's another second, how many more seconds are left?
In the moment of contemplation, such distracting thoughts sprout like weeds, growing endlessly and eroding one's so-called resolve time and time again, much like termites spreading within a dam.

The moment the thought of retreat arises in one's mind, the high wall formed by reason and perseverance will crumble like a broken dam.

Anxiety, like a tidal wave, rises again and again, washing over consciousness and self, without end.

Either endure the torment with unwavering determination, suppressing trivial distractions, or stubbornly reject all interference and persevere to the end.

But some people seem to be enjoying it...

With tireless concentration, even after countless repetitions, they can always find new ways to play from the mundane and empty.

Their fighting spirit and patience are astonishing, and they even have secret weapons that bring endless surprises to their opponents!
They even used their own teammates as test subjects...

Ruins!

This is the essence of the desolate ruins, which is even at the level of a dragon!
Moreover, there's a rival who laid the foundation for the divine and pointed directly at the doomsday theory, to verify their various speculations. Wasting even a second is a sin, so shouldn't they seize this opportunity to work incredibly hard?!

What? Even if it's messed up, it can actually be restored? And you can start over an unlimited number of times?
I'm so happy with your restart!

At first, the Pan Ying Breath was just an appetizer. After testing the waters, Ji Jue became increasingly audacious. While playing the drums, he began to study the theory of the Nine Forms on the spot, as well as the modern revision of purification alchemy and the application and experimentation of necrosis alchemy.

With its dragon body, which is infinitely close to the limits of matter, it began to put its newfound skills to use: Crimson Wings, Fish Gut Claws, Giant Que Scales, Chun Jun Avatar, Zhan Lu Thunder...

While employing various tricks, they also targeted Wen Sheng with underhanded tactics.

And his mouth was never idle either!

After becoming a spirit behind someone, it doesn't even need to spit anymore; it just chatters on and on from beginning to end!

"Well done, Sister Wen!"

"Great! Good shot, cough cough, good chop!"

"Wow, that move, like a gazelle hanging its horns, is so fluid and graceful, its mystery is endless!"

……

Wen Wen finally lost her temper and said, "Ji Jue, shut up! Or I'll give you another meal outside!"

"Okay okay."

Ji Jue sighed regretfully. The plan to reduce Wen Wen's sentence by flattering her had failed, but it didn't matter. After giving Wen Wen a pair of earplugs, he began to criticize Wen Sheng.

"One look at Ding Zhen, and there's no work left!"

"How about we bite a lighter instead!"

"It can only be said that you still have a certain monopoly in the field of embarrassing yourself."

"If you're not a brother, how could you catch that with your face? A clown, a complete clown! What, you're getting anxious? Anxious! Really anxious!"

They mocked, commented, pointed fingers, and even published a ten-win, ten-loss theory on the spot, along with a bonus article titled "My View on Digimon: How Piedmon Was Made."

However, each sentence must be repeated again and again through the flow of spiritual energy.

After Wen Sheng had half his body crushed again, he could no longer bear it and roared back, "Damn it, that's enough, you two bastards!"

"What's wrong? It's been a pair of adulterers from the very beginning..."

Ji Jue jokingly retorted, "You're not envious, are you? This is what it's like to be single your whole life. You must be getting on in years, right? Will you be able to find a partner?"

Wen Sheng snorted coldly, making no attempt to hide his contempt and mockery: "Love between men and women is so insignificant!"

"Then what is great? Your dad?"

Ji Jue became curious and asked a pointed question: "But come to think of it, does your father really like you?"

"I don't think so."

Wen Wen suddenly interjected, delivering a witty remark.

"shut up!!!"

Wen Sheng roared in fury: "I..."

“My father loves me very much, as does my mother, my teachers, my friends, and my family. Don’t you have any?”

Ji Jue interrupted him, sighing with emotion, "Ah, that envious look in your eyes, you wouldn't...?"

boom! ! !
An endless, dark tide rose from the ground and surged towards us!

In an instant, the violent natural disaster spread, like countless blades, dissolving everything in its path.

The crisp sound rang out once again the moment Wen Wen launched her counterattack.

Loop restart. Load save!

Let's go back to the beginning.

Then, the raging tide returned, suppressing them time and again, venting their anger and fury wantonly, yet leaving one feeling...

Furious?
"No way, really? You can't even handle seventy-one times?"

Ji Jue laughed, his manic words still babbling on: "This is nothing! You have to enjoy the process, brother. Don't worry, you'll get used to it sooner or later."

If I do the math, my limit should be around 17,702, which is much lower than Sister Wen's... Once I cross that line, my consciousness and true nature might be completely worn down and collapse.

But that's okay. Before that, I'll create something to replace myself, and then we can continue playing happily. Surprised? Unexpected?

"It's all in vain!"

Wen Sheng scoffed: "It's just a death throes. Whether it's tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of times, it doesn't matter. What's the point of your suffering anyway?"

"It's useful, brother, of course it is."

Ji Jue remained calm, as if whistling, and playfully reminded, "Besides, have you noticed that my proportion in the entire dream world is getting larger and larger?"

In a moment of shock, Wen Sheng vanished into thin air amidst the dragon's breath.

But in that instant, he couldn't help but turn around and look down at the endlessly surging sea of ​​souls... and then he realized that the size of the sea of ​​souls had visibly expanded.
expand?

How could it possibly expand?!
The total number of souls is constant, and no new souls are born in dreams. So where does this ever-growing sea of ​​suffering come from?!
Finally, he discovered that beneath the endless brilliance and ripples lay a faint gray hidden beneath the rainbow!

Like a virus, it parasitizes the sea of ​​the soul, gradually growing and expanding silently.

Bit by bit, it extracts the spiritual essence and joy from the sea of ​​suffering, expanding its own total amount... It ravages itself again and again in cycles and restarts, becoming more and more intense!

That was the real threat hidden in the shadows, concealed beneath the guise of the Supreme Goodness System.

——【Paradise】!
Paradise is the land of suffering; paradise is everywhere.

Under the interference of Chun Jun's soul reflection, the seeds of the past sprouted and grew once again from endless dreams and fantasies, and even, in turn, eroded the dreams.

All the richness and vibrancy were erased, turning into dull and monotonous ashes.

All the fantasies and dreams, under the subversion of Paradise, became unchanged, exactly the same.

No matter how brilliant the inspiration or how wild the fantasy, it is no longer needed.

Under the forceful erosion, one soul after another, immersed in dreams, fell into deeper and deeper abyss.

Wherever the soul's reflection passed, all dreams were sown with seeds like a virus. In countless tiny bubbles, those who should have dominated the dreams were all lying in cold life support pods, their faces immersed in an eternal sleep from which they could not awaken, soaked in nutrient solution.

Mountains and oceans vanished, the land flattened out, all transformed into steel, and enormous chimneys rose from the ground, the endless burning producing thick smoke that turned into dark clouds, shrouding everything.

Amidst thunder and lightning, one steel construct after another wanders endlessly in the desolate dreamscape…

Just like what Ji Jue did in the border prison, this monotonous scene spread throughout the sea of ​​suffering, rapidly assimilating everything around it.

View all dreams as incubating vesicles, and turn all souls into sources of nourishment. While maintaining the integrity of the soul, squeeze out spiritual essence, imprint the self, and then create batch after batch of creative spirits.

Endless production, endless expansion, in the meaningless cycle and fantasy of day after day, those tiny spirits of creation ushered in one iteration and update after another.

Until, completely, they usurped the nest!
Only such bizarre dreams can allow them to grow endlessly.

An endless cycle and restart is the best breeding ground.

From the very beginning, the machine did not even have a self. Gradually, it developed under the nourishment of its own nature. Through repeated trials and errors or by chance, the ever-evolving spirit of creation finally sparked the first faint spark of intelligence in the collision between spiritual matter and steel, thus breaking through the distinction between existence and non-existence!
Those individual beings, whose level of intelligence is even less than that of ants, are less than even the smallest insects, and are utterly incapable of offering any faith or creating any value.

But they merely exist, constantly consuming the true nature within the sea of ​​suffering, rapidly driving out good with bad, and hindering the development of illusions.

When the vast array of creative spirits merged into one under Chun Jun's guidance, it transformed into an all-pervasive plague within the dream world.

From the infinite gathering of the whole, in the paradise, from the infinite sparks of wisdom, the most faithful believers of the Creator are born, a chaotic swarm of insects that prays and dedicates their faith at all times—the Lord of the Flies!
"Listen, how melodious it is!"

Ji Jue laughed, "The sound of gears rubbing together is like heavenly music, and the pumping and running of the engine is the most beautiful rhythm and prayer."

From this perspective, the dreams you create aren't so boring after all, are they?

【Snapped】!
The phantom of the pocket watch reappears, everything flows backward, forcibly returning everything to its origin.

Let's start over!

But in each recurrence, the Lord of the Flies' rampage not only failed to lessen, but instead intensified! The rate of expansion was accelerating...

Stifle illusions, sever faith, and seal off one's true nature, repeatedly polluting and alienating the sea of ​​the soul.

In the endless repetition and iteration, in the end, the experience becomes richer and richer, the efficiency becomes more and more exaggerated, and the speed becomes more and more amazing!
It continues until the forty-first cycle, at which point the limit is finally reached.

11 minutes and 31 seconds!
Within the sealed-off realms of Elysium and Border Prison, where time cannot be accelerated, after each restart, once eleven minutes and thirty-one seconds have elapsed, the Fly King's corruption will completely shake the stability of the entire Dream, bringing the Holy God's structure to the brink of collapse... and then, another futile restart.

The holy god who once poisoned dreams has now actually become the savior of all souls!
To ensure the integrity and stability of the dream, the cycle repeats again and again...

To save all living beings from Ji Jue's suffering, fire, water, and nightmares!

"To be honest, I'm not good at treating illnesses and saving lives. In comparison, using poison to fight poison is my forte. As long as the goal is achieved, the means don't really matter, right?"

Ji Jue's mocking voice rang in my ears, echoing continuously: "Look, thanks to me, you finally look a bit like a savior now, Your Majesty!"

Why can't you even say thank you?

(End of this chapter)