Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery.

Chapter 369 The Cause and Process of the Great Catastrophe

At the Tarot Club, important information about the fall of the "Ancient Sun God" is being traded.

When the other members were still shocked by what the "Hermit" said, "The spirit of the gods is eternal", the "Hermit" told everyone an even more shocking news: the way the "ancient sun god" saved himself was to kill himself.

Klein the Fool, who was hiding behind the gray fog, first thought: Could it be that the "Ancient Sun God" hopes to use a method similar to Russell's and solve his own problems through resurrection?
That's not right. Russell was trying to solve the problem of non-adjacent characteristics in his body and the problem of self-pollution. It was completely different from the situation encountered by the "Ancient Sun God", right?
Priestess Cattleya had a similar thought, and she also wondered: Could this be a common practice among the gods? Using resurrection to improve one's condition.

Then she thought again: None of the five paths, including the "Secret Prayer," seemed to give people the feeling of "exploiting loopholes" similar to the "Lawyer" path. Could the resurrection of the "Ancient Sun God" also cleanse the spiritual remnants of the Beyonder characteristics in the body?

Alger, the "Hanged Man," speculated: So the "Ancient Sun God" killed himself, but during the resurrection process, he was betrayed by the "Angel Kings"?
The other members also had their own guesses, but none of them were to the point.

Justice Audrey suddenly recalled, "Mr. Hermit, I remember you saying before that gods can't commit suicide. Does that mean those at the level 'above the gods' can?"

"That's right. Gods can't commit suicide. The Ancient Sun God also faced this problem," Odysseus replied with a smile. "So He ordered the Dark Angel Sasriel and commissioned the Goddess of Night to form the Redemption Rose."

The other members almost took a breath together and looked at the "Hermit" in shock.

Odysseus did not continue speaking immediately, but gave everyone some time to react.

"Sun" Derrick opened his mouth wide. "It wasn't the betrayal of the Angel Kings, nor was it the seduction of the Night Goddess. The establishment of the Redemption Rose was the will of the Lord! The one who redeemed... The one who redeemed was the "omniscient and omnipotent Lord"!
This intelligence completely exceeded Klein's expectations: The "Ancient Sun God" was truly cruel to him! He had gathered together most of the ruthless people at that time just to kill him!

Magician Fors leaned back in his chair, feeling like he needed to take a moment to recover. "I had previously suspected that the Ancient Sun God had been betrayed by the Angel Kings. Uh... based on the murals, it's possible he had indeed been betrayed. But what was unexpected was that the cause of all this was the Ancient Sun God's poor condition!"
After her initial surprise, Cattleya calmed down before asking the Hermit, "Could it be that this order was issued because the Ancient Sun God was in such poor condition, and not from his heart?"

The other members were stunned for a moment, and they all felt that this was possible.

If your condition is too bad, you will indeed make some decisions that are not from your heart.

Cattleya also had another question. After a brief pause, she asked, "Since the 'Ancient Sun God' is at a level 'above the gods,' why is he troubled by the spiritual remnants of the 'True God' level?"

The other members, including Klein, were stunned again. This was also an idea that seemed unfamiliar to them.

Alger couldn't help but admire the Priestess's clear thinking: "Why didn't I think of that?" Normally, the negative effects of a Level 2 Sealed Artifact can be easily avoided by being one level higher than its counterpart. The Ancient Sun God is one level higher than a deity... at least half a level. Could the residual spirits of the Ancient Gods really cause His condition to deteriorate so much?

Then everyone stood up again and looked at the "hermit", waiting for his explanation.

Odysseus smiled and said, "There are indeed some other reasons. You must have heard of the concept of 'divinity', right?
"After reaching Sequence 4, one possesses a faint sense of divinity. As one continues to ascend, this divinity becomes increasingly apparent. It's said that by the time one becomes an angel, divinity is already a crucial component of their spiritual makeup."

Klein and Cattleya nodded slowly. They had already learned similar information before.

Most of the other members only know the general concept of divinity, but don’t know what divinity means?
Odysseus continued, "Regarding the question of divinity, I have some guesses. I don't know if this idea is correct, but the logic should be fine.

"I speculate that all divinity should come from the 'primordial creator', or in other words, an important component of divinity is the spiritual remnant of the 'primordial'.

"The other part comes from the previous owners of this characteristic.

"Normally, the former should not be active, because according to legend and actual performance, the 'original' should currently be dormant.

"The latter should be able to achieve a certain balance. After all, I've never heard of a god in good condition gradually transforming into the image of an ancient god after becoming a deity.

"So I think that most gods should be able to maintain their good condition relatively easily, as long as they don't have any problems left over from their ascension, or problems with the path itself."

Everyone nodded in agreement. After all, there were seven righteous gods in good condition, and only three evil gods who seemed to be in poor condition were relatively active, namely "True Creator", "Original Witch" and "Hidden Sage".

Other "Demon Kings" and "Bound Gods" rarely appear.

Moreover, in extraordinary history, the majority of gods are in good condition. For example, among the "Four Emperors", only the "Blood Emperor" is in a bad condition, while the "Underworld Emperor" is in good condition at the beginning.

The ancient gods cannot be counted here. After all, they became gods in a crazy era, and at that time they might not even have any concept of "good condition".

Of course, the key is that their problems mainly come from the characteristics of "non-adjacent paths", and the problem of spiritual residue is secondary.

Odysseus continued, "I believe there should be some special circumstances regarding spiritual remnants. For example, at the level of the 'Ancient Sun God,' would the 'Original' divinity within him have risen to a point where it requires intense resistance?

"Or is it so serious that if no action is taken, 'Initial' might awaken to a certain extent?"

In fact, the most important thing is not that the "beginning" should wake up, but that the "original" or "God" should wake up.

Odysseus planned to find another opportunity to explain the meaning of "first" and "original" clearly in the future.

Everyone was stunned again, and Klein was the first to react: This speculation was indeed very logical, but it could only be a guess, because other than the "Ancient Sun God" himself, no one knew the troubles faced by beings at this level.

He took a deep breath. What was going on in the Hermit's mind every day? How could he come up with such high-level guesses?

Klein sighed like this because he was not aware that Odysseus had a God's perspective. If he speculated from the "bottom up", it would indeed seem like an impossible task.

But if you understand concepts such as "first" and "original", such questions will not be too difficult to understand.

Even someone as knowledgeable as Cattleya didn't know what to make of it for a moment, while the other members marveled at the awakening of the "primitive creator"! It was terrifying to think about it!

Odysseus paused for a moment, then continued, "With this premise, everything that follows makes sense. The Ancient Sun God doesn't want to kill himself, but rather a certain being awakening within him who wants to replace him!

"So, he quietly established the 'Redemption Rose'. Most of the 'Angel Kings', including those who were very loyal to him, responded to the call and joined it."

Hearing this, Alger took a deep breath, feeling that today's shock had numbed his nerves. If it weren't for the Hermit's analysis, who would have thought that the underlying cause of this incident was like this!
Audrey, the "Justice," thought to herself, "My knowledge is still too limited. After learning about the Redemption Rose, I've made many guesses, but never something like this! Or perhaps, because I have no idea about spiritual remnants, I simply didn't think of this!"
The other members were also lamenting the twists and turns of this matter.

Odysseus waited a few seconds before continuing, "So, within the Giant King's Court, the conspiracy between the Angel Kings and the gods began. Although they were numerous and powerful, they were not confident enough to defeat the Ancient Sun God..."

Everyone looked at the "Sun". They remembered that the "Little Sun" had once shared the story of Silver City exploring the Afternoon Town near the "Giant King's Court".

At that time, I met a strange clergyman who kept saying that the "kings" had begun a conspiracy, and he also suspected that it was the "Goddess of Night" who seduced the "Angel Kings" and made them betray the "Ancient Sun God".

"...I haven't received any specific information about their planning process," Odysseus said, "We've said before that this is 'secret'.

"However, I received astonishing news from the great Lord of Mysteries. The Dark Angel Sasriel is an Angel King who possesses two copies of the Sequence 1 traits of the Mysterious Prayer pathway."

Alger immediately made an association: Was the black baby in the mural referring to the "Dark Angel" Sasriel?
Amidst everyone's confusion, Odysseus continued, "Sasriel is the incarnation of the 'Ancient Sun God'! To be more precise, it's an incarnation primarily formed from His humanity!"

what!
Doppelgänger?

The hall fell silent again. After two or three seconds, Cattleya couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Why does this always go against my... or rather, our expectations? It was just like that just now. The most logical assumption was that the Angel King betrayed the Ancient Sun God, but the Redemption Rose was actually established at the behest of the Ancient Sun God!

This... this is completely beyond the normal thinking!
At this moment, Cattleya was a little envious of the "Hermit," who had access to such advanced knowledge through the "Lord of Mysteries." Only with sufficient advanced knowledge could the "Hermit" make such bold guesses.

Klein sighed, "The Ancient Sun God had his clone kill his original! And it finally succeeded! Haha... Even novels wouldn't dare write that!"

Then he thought again: Could the real name of the "True Creator" be Sasriel?
At this moment, the "little sun"'s heart was filled with shock, and there was no longer any feeling of sadness.

Seeing that everyone had basically recovered from their shock, Odysseus continued, "After learning this crucial information, I have some new guesses:
"It's very likely that very early on, perhaps during the Second Age, the Ancient Sun God wasn't in good shape. To maintain his condition, he designed this clone.

"The general theory is that the 'Ancient Sun God' left behind his divinity to fight against the being that was awakening within him, and used the identity of the 'Dark Angel' to isolate his humanity.

"In this way, the human 'Dark Angel' can continue to provide spiritual strength to the divine part of the 'Ancient Sun God,' while the 'Dark Angel' Sasriel will remain unaffected by the struggle between the divine parts..."

When Alger heard this, he immediately thought to himself: This is the same principle as the watertight compartments on a ship.

"...Also, after learning this information, the plan for 'Redemption Rose' to fight against the 'Ancient Sun God' was formed." Odysseus said:
"When the plan began, the humanity represented by the Dark Angel Sasriel fell into a deep slumber and returned to the body of the Ancient Sun God, helping the Ancient Sun God fight against the spiritual remnants of the awakened being.

"At this time, the other members of 'Redemption Rose' immediately launched an offensive..."

Odysseus took a deep breath and continued, "According to the intelligence I obtained from other channels, the battle situation seems to be going smoothly. The 'Goddess of Night' caused the 'Ancient Sun God' to fall into a short sleep, and the other members immediately demonstrated their strongest abilities.

"In the 'Ruins of the War of Gods' at the end of the Sonia Sea, the rule that one must immediately fall asleep when night falls seems to be related to the attack of the 'Goddess of Night' and the reaction of the 'Ancient Sun God'.

"Also, I heard that within the 'Ruins of the War of Gods', there's an area containing the dream of the 'Ancient Sun God'. It's extremely dangerous there, and no one is allowed to explore it."

At the mention of the "God War Ruins," Klein immediately thought of the power of the gods there. At the time, he couldn't figure out what kind of divine war would involve such complex divine power. Now he understood: the two sides involved in the war were the "Ancient Sun God," who was "above the gods," on one side, and the majority of the gods and the "Angel King" at the time on the other.

It is understandable that the remains left by such a battle would be complex and powerful.

Cattleya asked, "Then...what about the whispers in the 'Ruins of the Gods'? The whispers that drive even demigods crazy."

"That should be a curse from the gods," Odysseus said, "or perhaps a 'whispering' attack of his level used by the 'Ancient Sun God'.

"Those whispers echoed across that sea for thousands of years."

Emlyn the Moon took a deep breath: This is the power of a god... no, it's the power "above the gods"!
Other members also expressed similar sentiments, and suddenly had a deeper understanding of the power of gods and the power "above gods".

Odysseus continued, "When the 'Ancient Sun God' was attacked and defeated by the members of the 'Redemption Rose', the gods temporarily left the battlefield, giving the 'Ancient Sun God' enough time to recover its uniqueness and characteristics.

"At this moment, the 'Pure White Angel', the 'Wind Angel', and the 'Cherubim' suddenly betrayed the 'Ancient Sun God', snatching from Him the uniqueness and Sequence 1 characteristics they each needed."

Alger took a deep breath: Sure enough, it's developing in this direction.

Then he suddenly realized that the "Storm Lord" becoming a god in this way was not surprising. Then he realized that he had already had such thoughts in his subconscious mind for a long time, but now those thoughts were confirmed, so he found this result not surprising.

The other members also seemed to feel relieved. Before this, they had more or less had such a guess.

"Little Sun" Derrick was no longer so sad at this time: So, in the early Fourth Epoch, three of the Seven Gods became gods!

"Justice" Audrey also seemed to realize belatedly: the origins of the Seven Gods are now clear. The "Goddess of Night" was once a subordinate god of the ancient god "Destruction Wolf", and the "Mother Goddess of the Earth" and the "God of War" were once subordinate gods of the "Giant King". These three gods became gods in the late Second Age and have experienced four eras so far.

Furthermore, the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom were all once important subordinates of the Ancient Sun God. At the end of the Third Age, they acquired their uniqueness and characteristics from the Ancient Sun God, becoming deities at the beginning of the Fourth Age.

The last "God of Steam and Machinery" became a god in the middle and late Quaternary period.

Audrey breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly smiled: I actually know so much secret information!

Odysseus continued, "I also obtained some intelligence, which showed that the 'Sage' also participated in this battle. He originally wanted to stop the three 'Angel Kings', but seemed to be blocked by the power of a suspected Outer God.

"The ultimate result of this divine war was that the uniqueness and Sequence 1 properties of the three paths to the Ancient Sun were taken away by three Angel Kings.

"This interrupted the resurrection process of the 'Ancient Sun God' and disrupted His resurrection plan."

In the hall today, silence seems to be the protagonist.

After a second or two, Magician Fors sighed, "The gods the Hermit spoke of are very different from the gods I imagine." The gods the Hermit spoke of were once weak and had used despicable means to become the gods they are today.

Other members had similar thoughts and expressed their feelings in their hearts one after another: If this were my first time attending a Tarot Club, I would definitely point at the tip of the Hermit's nose and curse him for blasphemy!
Then Klein suddenly thought: The Hermit didn't explicitly say that the "Ancient Sun God" had fallen!

He was about to ask a question when Odysseus continued, "Everyone, I know what you're thinking. Do you think the superstructure of the Extraordinary Realm is very gloomy, and that the images of the gods are not as beautiful as you originally imagined?"

After a moment of silence, everyone did not nod, but their silence indicated that Odysseus had expressed their inner thoughts.

Odysseus said, "Everyone, I don't know if you remember the concept I mentioned earlier. After becoming a Beyonder, you must be mentally prepared to accept that you may be hunted down at any time, and that your Beyonder characteristics may become someone else's wealth."

Everyone was stunned again, especially Alger and Cattleya, who seemed to recall a rather dark experience.

Odysseus continued, “The so-called ‘Path of God’ is a struggle with fierce competition.

"We've discussed this before. In order to suppress competition, the Orthodox Church didn't even disclose the 'Acting Method,' causing many Beyonders to die in vain."

He paused and continued, "In my opinion, although the 'Pure White Angel' and the 'Wind Angel' have followed the 'Ancient Sun God' for a long time, they should also be very clear that the chances of becoming gods are very few.

"Especially in their situation, if the 'Ancient Sun God' were to complete the resurrection process, they wouldn't have the possibility of becoming gods for a very long time to come.

"I don't know which of the three of them took the first step, but I can guess that they were in complete sync on this matter, carrying out this action together without even discussing it."

After hearing this, everyone fell silent. They knew very well that the "Hermit" was not trying to excuse the three gods, but was just describing the facts.

Derrick pondered for a moment, then, as if mustering up the courage, said, "But...but they can't become gods by betraying others. That would be...that would be too despicable."

The other members didn't say anything, because they didn't think that whether they chose to support "Little Sun" or oppose "Little Sun" was the correct answer.

Even "Justice" Audrey felt that what the three "Angel Kings" did was definitely wrong, but she felt in her heart that she did not think they were evil.

At this time, Odysseus asked "Little Sun" Derrick, "If... I mean if, if Silver City found a way to the outside world, but it meant sacrificing your Silver City Chief and everyone you cherish, do you think it's worth it?"

Derrick said almost reflexively, "It's worth it!"

Because the education they received since childhood was to restore the light to Silver City at all costs!

In such a depressing living environment, personal gains and losses, and life, are insignificant.

It is precisely because of this determination that the City of Silver has persisted in the darkness for thousands of years!
Odysseus then asked: "Do you think this is moral?"

Derrick was slightly stunned, and seemed to understand the meaning of "Hermit".

Odysseus spread his hands and said, "I just want to say that we are also extraordinary people, and we also face cruel and fierce competition.

"In this kind of competition, it's good enough that we can stick to our principles. People with 'moral cleanliness' are destined to be eliminated quickly.

“So, there’s no need for any of us to criticize the methods the gods used to achieve godhood, because when we were in their position, we wouldn’t necessarily do better than them.

"This isn't about discrediting yourself, it's about facing your own desires and acknowledging your desires."

Everyone was silent again.

Soon "Justice" Audrey thought: No wonder the "Hermit" has been in such good condition, it turns out that he has such a strong heart.

She knew very well that most people could not face themselves.

Cattleya sighed: This makes me think of some philosophical questions, such as sacrificing one person to save two people, is this moral?

She suddenly smiled: "Looking back now, these thoughts are really ridiculous, or perhaps when I was thinking about these issues, I had already fallen into a "moral trap." But the "hermit" seemed to have no such concerns at all. Such open-mindedness requires courage, because before that, you must first realize that sometimes I can be a despicable person, and I am not as kind and righteous as I think I am.

Klein suddenly recalled some Taoist ideas he had previously encountered.

"Okay, let's stop discussing this issue here." Odysseus continued, "Let's get back to the topic we were discussing earlier.

"The resurrection process of the 'Ancient Sun God' was forced to terminate, and the uniqueness of the three pathways and the characteristics of Sequence 1 were robbed.

"Under these circumstances, He urgently reclaimed the uniqueness and Sequence 1 characteristics of the 'Secret Prayer' pathway, combining them with His humanity to form a deity, the 'True Creator'."

what?
Is this how the true creator came about?

This once again exceeded the expectations of the other members!
It even shocked everyone to some extent. There is no doubt that the "Ancient Sun God" was the righteous god of the Third Age, but because of him, an evil god was born!
Then, the members thought of many details one after another.

Cattleya frowned. No wonder the Hermit once said that the True Creator, to a certain extent, inherited most of the legacy of the Ancient Sun God. And he actually "inherited" it this way!

Klein also recalled some of the things the Hermit hadn't explained clearly during their previous exchange of information about the Fourth Epoch, such as why Solomon had always received support from the True Creator. Because Solomon was originally a subordinate of the Ancient Sun God, after becoming the Black Emperor, he would undoubtedly receive support from his former employer.

There are many such clues, such as why Mr. "Men" initially stood firmly on the side of the Solomon Empire? Because Mr. "Men" was also a subordinate of the "Ancient Sun God" in the Third Age.

The reason why the "King of Hell" always chooses to ally with the Solomon Empire is because the "Ancient Sun God" defeated the "Phoenix Ancestor" in the Second Age. He most likely has the unique path to the "God of Death" in his hands, which is exactly what the "King of Hell" needs.

Besides Klein, the other members also thought of some details about the Fourth Epoch, such as how the "Red Angel" Medici and the "Angel of Destiny" Ouroboros had never left the "Redemption Rose" and chose to be loyal to the "True Creator." It turned out that they were continuing to be loyal to the "Ancient Sun God."

As everyone's thoughts raced, Derrick, the Sun, became confused for a moment. He simply asked, "Mr. Hermit, does the 'Almighty Lord' really fall?"

Let’s say he has fallen, what is the “true creator”?
To say that He has not fallen, He indeed no longer exists.

Odysseus countered with, "Can you accept becoming a devout believer of the True Creator, falling from grace? After causing some damage to the City of Silver, you're forced to leave. Finally, through devout worship, seek the Kingdom of the True Creator?"

Derrick almost didn't think twice: "No."

Odysseus smiled and said, "Then the 'Lord' you believe in has fallen!"

Derrick took a deep breath and suddenly felt like he had figured it out.

Klein sighed. Fortunately, "Hermit" was a member with clear thinking and good expression. If this matter had not been explained clearly, "Little Sun" would have been stuck in a long-term dilemma, and it might even have affected his condition.

Just as the other members were sighing that this method of "persuasion" was very effective, Odysseus continued, "The fall of the 'Ancient Sun God' had a huge impact on this world.

"When the 'Ancient Sun God' first fell, it's very likely that all living things in the world were affected and impacted to a certain extent.

"In the eastern continent of our world, the laws of nature almost completely collapsed in a very short period of time. It subsequently became a place where no sunlight could reach. This would require the uniqueness and corresponding properties of the 'Sun' pathway to return to that region."

Derrick immediately asked, "Mr. Hermit, is this possible?"

Odysseus did not answer the question directly. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, "Currently, the five paths that the Ancient Sun God once mastered are respectively with the True Creator, the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Lord of Storms, the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, and the Angel of Imagination.

"In my opinion, it would be very difficult for the 'Ancient Sun God' to reclaim these unique features and characteristics.

"Although the three gods, including the Eternal Blazing Sun, have certain conflicts with each other, they may join forces when threatened. They formed an alliance in the Fourth Epoch.

"Other gods wouldn't necessarily want the return of the 'Ancient Sun God' who is higher than them."

Derrick fell silent. He knew full well that the resistance to the return of the "Almighty Lord" was immense.

Odysseus took a deep breath and said, "The above is all the content of this transaction."

The hall fell into silence. Everyone digested the information for a while as usual, and then made some associations before entering the communication session of this Tarot Club.

(End of this chapter)