Collapse Iron: What does it mean to broaden the fate of four people in one sentence?

He didn't really doubt Illusion; the failure of this plan was entirely due to his failure to anticipate "what the Star God himself wanted to do."

But Xingxiao is different. After being hunted down by various forces last time, she already suspected that Huanlong might have some problems.

Now, their plan seems flawless, so why has it failed again?

Guiji stayed with her the whole time, so there was no problem. But Huanlong was assigned to do what she was best at, and she failed again.

What does this show?

This suggests that there might actually be something wrong with this illusion!

Xingxiao felt that he had discovered the truth.

Her voice came from the star core, and it was a few degrees deeper.

"Ghostly Origin, how did you escape?"

The flame of the illusion flickered.

"...The Ten Kings of Hell."

"what?"

"I said—the Ten Kings of Hell!"

Huanlong's voice rose a few decibels.

"I encountered the Ten Kings of Hell in the prison! Ten pairs of eyes! Just watching me! Wherever I ran, they blocked my way! I'm lucky I even came back alive!"

The silent dice paused for a moment.

"The Ten Kings appeared simultaneously in Luofu Prison?"

Why would I lie to you!

Gui Ji remained silent for a moment, then his dice started spinning again, slower than before, as if entering some kind of power-saving mode.

“That’s impossible. The ten kings leaving their thrones at the same time would be tantamount to abandoning the prisons they each guarded. They would never do that for a mere illusion.”

"But I definitely saw it! And they beat me up like this!"

"They should be projections."

Are you sure?

"Uncertain."

The three were silent for a moment.

The arrow of light still hovered behind him, shining slowly and steadily.

Just then, three figures appeared not far away.

A warship appeared in the starry sea, with three people standing on the deck. General Tianji Feixiao was dressed in military uniform, and his long hair was flowing in the star wind.

General Huaiyan, his white beard fluttering slightly in the wind, looked sharp and energetic. General Rongtao Yaoguang held a feather in his hand, twirling it between his fingers as if he were calculating something.

"General Tianji, if I am not mistaken, those are arrows from the Emperor's Bow, aren't they?"

Huaiyan's voice came from the deck, carrying a sense of composure that "although I am old, my eyesight is still good."

Huaiyan and the other two were on their way when they saw the trail of the arrow. At the same time, Jingyuan sent them a message saying that the matter had been resolved.

Solved? How was it solved?

The three of them were full of doubts, but when they saw the arrow, all their doubts disappeared.

With the Emperor Bow Master personally taking action, what problem could possibly be unsolvable?

Fei Xiao nodded, crossed his arms, and looked at Gui Ji and the other two.

"Indeed, it does bear the power of the Emperor's Bow Master."

She turned her head to look at Yao Guang.

"Who are they?"

Yao Guang performed a divination on the spot.

"The Lord of Extermination."

Her voice was very calm.

Fei Xiao's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on his lips.

"I've long wanted to experience the methods of the Great Lord of Annihilation. It seems this time I'll have a chance."

Chapter 274 Instinct and Acquired Meaning

On the square of Changletian, Luofu Immortal Boat, the golden trails were still slowly dissipating in the sky.

The crowd had not yet dispersed; they were still looking up at the vanished beam of light and at the sky that had returned to calm.

Then someone shouted.

"The general is back!"

The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples that spread out in concentric circles.

The crowd surged in that direction, and Jing Yuan's figure appeared at the edge of the square.

His face was a little pale, but he was still standing, still able to walk, and still able to wave to the crowd that was surging over.

"Lord Fu Xuan has returned as well!"

Another voice came from the other side of the crowd.

Fu Xuan followed Jing Yuan's steps, her clothes fluttering in the wind. Her expression remained as serious as ever, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly before she quickly suppressed it.

The square erupted in chaos.

"General! Are you alright?"

"Lord Fu Xuan, you've worked hard!"

"I knew it! I knew the General would be alright!"

Some laughed, some cried, and some released the prayer letters they had been clutching all day. The papers swirled in the wind, landing in the crowd, on the rooftops, and on the branches of the blooming Ruomu trees.

Jing Yuan stood in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by those voices. He smiled and said something, but his words were drowned out by the cheers.

He didn't repeat himself, but simply raised his hand and waved to the crowd.

Lin Si chuckled softly as she watched this scene.

He sat in a golden wheelchair, which was parked under a privet tree at the edge of the square. Petals fell on his white hair and onto the armrests of the wheelchair.

"Ha~ Ah~"

Now that the general has returned, he no longer needs to carry out the remaining cleanup work.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

After that arrow was shot, he felt as if his whole body had been hollowed out, and exhaustion seeped out from the cracks in his bones.

He silently pushed his wheelchair away from the crowd and headed towards the Shence Mansion.

Behind me came cheers and laughter, growing fainter and fainter as they faded into the distance.

The people were naturally happy, after all, their "belief" did have an effect.

He recalled the feeling of standing up just now; his legs were still trembling, but they were supporting his weight.

For a moment, he thought he was really healed, then he sat back down, as if someone gently patted his shoulder and said, "It's not time yet."

But he remembered that feeling, the feeling of standing.

This gave him some ideas about a "treatment plan" for his legs.

The situation last time was not much different from this time; it could be said that a large amount of "willpower" had gathered in his area.

His legs were due to nothingness, balance, or some other reason.

Does that mean that "a great deal of meaning in existence" can counteract nothingness?

Saying "confrontation" might not be accurate; it should be "delay."

The core logic of the Void Star God IX is "everything returns to nothingness," dissolving all definitions, meanings, and foundations of existence.

The value, obsessions, goals, self-awareness, and reasons for existence of all things will be erased by the power of nothingness.

But is it really that simple?

All meaning in existence is something created and added by the beings themselves after birth, while nothingness is one of the fundamental laws of the universe, inherently possessing the right to deny all added meaning.

No matter how much meaning it has, it is ultimately a product that can be dissolved.

Therefore, this method can only "delay" the symptoms, not "cure" them.

So he could only stand up briefly.

"So, the way to treat my legs is 'I think, therefore I am'?"

He murmured to himself, as if talking to himself, or as if discussing something with someone.

In fact, it is not complicated to fight against nihilism. It is a state of transcendence that "needs meaning to exist": I exist without reason, without goal, and without obsession.

My existence itself does not depend on any additional meaning.

Nothingness can only dissolve "acquired meaning," and it has no way of dealing with that kind of "meaningless yet still stable pure existence."

This state perfectly counters nothingness.

He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head.

"No, I think, therefore I am still using the act of 'thinking' to prove 'my existence,' there is still a logical dependency relationship, existence relies on thinking to prove it."

He murmured softly.

"I think, therefore I am" should be seen as a transitional stage in the fight against nothingness. It cannot achieve transcendence of meaning.

His wheelchair stopped at the door of the Shence Mansion study. He looked at the half-open door but didn't rush in.

Regarding the two points of 'thinking' and 'meaning of existence', he thought of something else.

'When humans think, Aha laughs.'

'The Lord of Joy ascended the high branches of existence, and He saw the stars as cold and abhorrent, and the meaning of all things relegated to nothingness, until He glimpsed a child falling to the ground crying, as if utterly wronged, and He could not help but burst into laughter.'

He sighed and pushed his wheelchair over the threshold.

"Aha's value is still too high. Even though He has no face."

A child's crying is an 'instinct', and instincts do not need any meaning to exist to exist; they arise before any meaning.

If one can achieve 'unity of knowledge and action' with one's instincts, then won't nihilism crumble?

"Wouldn't that make you a star god?"

Lin Si was stunned.

Star deities are the embodiment of destiny, and destiny is the underlying logic of the universe's rules.

Only the Star God can completely detach himself from all subjective and attached meanings, acting purely on rules and instincts.

There is no contradiction of "consciousness versus instinct" in the Star God.

His consciousness, body, power, and basic instincts are all the same thing.

For the Star God, it is instinct itself, a natural unity of knowledge and action, and will never be disconnected.

All 'acquired meanings' are meanings understood by life itself, such as people's understanding of the logic of abundant destiny as 'altruism'.

Altruism is a concept understood by life, not an instinct of pharmacists.

The pharmacist's instinct is to never refuse people's requests; His destiny has been broadened to altruism, and He has not refused.

Destiny is the fundamental law of the universe. Once it is born, it will continue forever. Even if the star god who controls it falls, destiny will not disappear.

So, if that's the case, then the Star Gods can be 'replaced'.

IX holds the destiny of nothingness. He denies all meaning throughout his life, but the great path of nothingness itself is eternally and steadily 'existing'.

What is the only means in the universe to 'replace' a star god?

It is 'replacement', not 'swallowing up fate', nor 'the fall of a star god'.