Apotheosis

Lorena had always presented a strong front, and she seldom appeared sad in front of her husband and her son.

However, in front of her father, all of her grievances over the years came rushing to the surface.

She sobbingly related to Chiyou what had happened in the divine land, from the divine land setting out to the fact that Zen inherited the original will.

When she had finished narrating the story, a hint of grief colored Chiyou's usually indifferent voice. "Back then, I released the divine land to fly without anyone's knowledge. I didn't think that it would bring you such suffering..."

Lorena shook her head. "Father, it is not your fault... but why didn't you use your soul fragment to control the divine land? If you had done so, it would have given our Nine Li race an advantage."

This question had been bothering Lorena, and even Mike was puzzled when she told him about it.

It would not have been difficult for Chiyou to split his soul. Besides, he could train a soul fragment to guard the divine land so that the ordinary masters at the Other Shore Realm could not attack it.

Chiyou gave a faint smile. "That's because they have the means to track down all of my soul fragments. Therefore, if I placed my soul fragment in the divine land, then I would have exposed its location. In that case, I'm afraid that the divine land couldn't have remained hidden up to this point..."

"But Father, are you perhaps... right now..." A certain suspicion filled Lorena.

Chiyou shook his head. "No, I am not a soul remnant; this presence is a trace of my will created through a special method. I can only last for a short time, so I'll disappear soon. That's why I was so eager to see you."

"Is this our last chance to meet?" The thought made Lorena even sadder.

For a powerful being like Chiyou, a strand of soul remnant meant a chance for resurrection. Lorena did not expect that her father was not even a soul remnant right now.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Chiyou replied sagely and shook his head again.

At his ambiguous answer, Lorena was filled with determination. "What should we do, then? I will never give up as long as there's hope, no matter how small it is!"

Chiyou went silent again.

That glimmer of hope

erse with No. 9527 alone, not letting Zen overhear any of it.

Less than three minutes later, Chiyou shot a meaningful look at Zen and suddenly let out a sigh.

This sigh reverberated in the air. In an instant, the entire Chiyou statue and the weapons held in his five hands eroded, disintegrated into sand, and collapsed. Only the Soaring Snake Sword remained.

As expected, Chiyou's will disappeared completely.

Just like he told his daughter, his apparition was not a soul remnant, so it only lasted for a short time. This was his final arrangement.

After the statue collapsed, the Soaring Snake Sword had no owner once again, and the Wooden Puppet Soldiers under the small bridge were reactivated.

Zen's reaction was instantaneous. He snapped up the Soaring Snake Sword in his hand to avoid the Wooden Puppet Soldiers' riot.

"Buzz..."

No. 9527 swung a green track through the air and entered Zen's chest.

"What did my grandfather tell you?" Zen demanded.

He was dying of curiosity to find out about the agreement between Chiyou and No. 9527.

Unexpectedly, No. 9527 just grinned and refused to say a word to Zen. "Anyway, your fate is in my hands. From now on, you need to listen to my orders!"

Zen rolled his eyes and retreated from the bridge.

At this point, Lorena was leaning against Mike's shoulder, her eyes red with grief. When she saw Chiyou's statue crumble, she knew that her father had finally left. Even so, she was content to see him for the last time.