Witch Redemption

"Ok?"

"No, it's nothing," Yu Hui, with his black hair, moved slightly closer to Li Lan, a mischievous smile playing on his lips as always. "Sit down first, let's talk while we play."

He took out a deck of playing cards that Li Lan had specially made for them. "All in?"

"Blackjack, leave the shuffling to me." Li Lan just loves probability games, the kind that don't require much brainpower.

"Tsk, you're still as boring as ever. But I like your attitude. Life should be made up of luck."

Despite the years apart, their friendship remains unchanged. This is the harmonious relationship between Li Lan and these two creators. They are not master and servant, but rather close friends who treat each other as equals.

Even if their verbal attitudes are indifferent, their hearts are full of affection.

"Shub, I have a few questions I'd like to ask..."

"I need payment, you understand?"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

It really hasn't changed; they've already started haggling?

Chapter 4 The Future of the Dark Kingdom

Under Yu Hui's questioning, Li Lan began to recount her experiences on her way to the Abyss Rift.

Whether it was the battle with the Empire's witches on the southern border of the Kingdom of Pilar, or the numerous difficulties encountered later in the Abyss Rift, there was no concealment.

After listening to the whole story, Yu Hui with black hair slowly asked, "Are you sure that the one who wants to deal with you is the Chaos Creator?"

"There should be no mistake. The dragonborn named Jackt didn't lie, and the dragonborn didn't die. What was killed was just a demigod-level avatar." Li Lan recalled the situation back then, and the more she thought about it, the more suspicious things seemed.

Is the Chaos Creator a vengeful and vengeful true god? Can the Chaos Creator also foresee anyone's future? Does the Chaos Creator know that Li Lan has returned to Kobe City? What is the Chaos Creator's purpose in cooperating with so many powerful nations?

A multitude of questions filled Li Lan's mind, but these were troubles at the god-level, and there was little point in thinking about them any further.

Hei-fa Yu-hui remained silent for a long time, exchanging glances with Leviathan several times during which it was unclear what he was thinking or what he was plotting.

Only after the two ancient creators reached a consensus did the black-haired Yu Hui answer Li Lan's questions one by one. "To the true god, what are humans? What are witches? They are nothing but ants, not even ants. Your offense to Him will not make Him angry. On the contrary, it may excite Him."

"what?"

Black-haired Yu Hui wanted to say that some ancient creators also had collecting habits, possessiveness, and the desire to cause trouble, and the Chaos Creator was precisely the best among the creators.

However, there was no point in telling Li Lan these things at this stage, so Hei Fa Yu Hui didn't say much more in the end.

“There is one thing you don’t need to worry about: apart from Tulzcha, the entity that controls this world, no creator can predict the future, including me. I suspect that the Chaos Creator had already foreseen your general movements through Tulzcha long before I reached an agreement with him.”

Prophecy is not omnipotent, nor is it 100% accurate; it is merely a vague outline. If the first prophecy goes wrong, subsequent prophecies will become invalid, and a new divination must be performed.

“You mean…” Li Lan was extremely surprised.

"The prophecy of the Chaos Creator is just a smokescreen. He never intended to deal with you from the beginning, but rather tried to make all the prophecies come true!" Black-haired Yu Hui's words were astonishing. The Chaos Creator wasn't actually targeting Li Lan?

"So, the imperial army that surrounded me, the witch, and even that god-level being later on, were all traps set by the Chaos Creator?"

“Yes,” Yu Hui, with his black hair, seemed to recall a defeat from ancient times, his expression somewhat sullen. “As for the extent of His prophecy about you, I can’t guarantee it, but I have a way to invalidate His subsequent prophecies. How exactly to do it… keep it a secret.”

Tsk, I wonder where this guy learned to act cute.

"Furthermore, the Chaos Creator is an even more troublesome being than us. In the ancient mythological era, this guy dared to be an enemy of the entire world and all the creator avatars, let alone now. His cooperation with many superpowers is nothing more than exploitation."

Black-haired Yu Hui added, "You don't need to worry for now. The world will be peaceful for a long time. Neither those superpowers nor the Chaos Creator will attack you or the Dark Kingdom for the time being."

"What's the reason?" Li Lan never expected that the question she had been wanting to ask would be revealed by the black-haired Yu Hui.

"Because the prophesied day is still about ninety years away, and the closer we get to the final moment, the more chaotic the world will become. Calculating the time, it's currently the year 10013 in the new calendar. Starting in 10015, the Crimson Moon Flood will become a terrifying phenomenon that occurs every night, indiscriminately attacking any small or medium-sized nation until the world's destruction. Along with this will come a dramatic increase in monsters and the resurrection of many ancient gods. At that time..."

This world will become a true purgatory!

In order to prepare for such a purgatory, the false gods of any country will now concentrate their efforts on prevention and avoid large-scale battles.

Of course, there are always exceptions. If the threat from the Dark Kingdom does not reach a certain level, then many major powers will definitely unite and eliminate the Dark Kingdom in advance.

Regarding this point, the black-haired Yu Hui did not say it explicitly, but asked a question, "Servant, for you right now, is revenge the thing you most want to do?"

“No,” Li Lan wanted revenge, but he knew that the current situation did not allow him to do so. His priority was to protect the lives of all his compatriots and the growth of the Dark Kingdom. This power would need time to grow, and he himself did not know how long that time would take. “I know my limits. There are two things I want to do now. One is to go to the British Empire and bring back the slime and the Star Maid. The second is that I want to stop the witch summoning. I cannot allow these great powers to continue to summon more witches.”

“Since your primary concern isn’t revenge, why not take this opportunity to travel to the British Empire as an envoy of the Dark Kingdom?” Black-haired Yu Hui made a startling suggestion, one that instantly enraged Li Lan to the point of being unable to accept it.

However, as an adult, Li Lan was not unable to control her emotions. She only felt a slight surge of passion before quickly cooling down.

"My dear aunt, you're not joking, are you?"

"Haha, your expression is much better than I expected," the black-haired Yu Hui praised, feeling that this servant was truly amazing. He had originally thought that this guy would be blinded by anger, but he hadn't. "If you want to take revenge immediately, then take the other witches and head straight for the British Empire. It will take some time for the false gods there to descend to earth. With your current strength, you can completely destroy most of the intelligent beings and territory of the empire before those false gods descend."

Such revenge cannot shake the foundation of the empire. The true false gods behind it all reside in the Heavenly Realm, a place that Li Lan and his companions cannot currently reach.

Furthermore, once this is done, the empire's false gods will swiftly retaliate by launching a "nuclear bombing" to destroy all inferior beings in the Dark Kingdom, and then engage in a true final battle with the Dark Kingdom's god-level beings.

Given the Empire's resources, annihilating the Dark Kingdom in a scorched-earth scenario would be no problem. The question is whether the Empire is willing to pay the price.

Black-haired Yu Hui hadn't yet mentioned the most terrifying point: based on ancient experience, the Chaos Creator, this delighted troublemaker, had very likely revealed to these superpowers the true "method of killing gods" to deal with the Creator's avatars.

In other words, even with the help of three avatars of the Creator, if these witches dare to retaliate now, they are most likely to suffer a complete defeat.

They might be able to kill all beings below the god level in the empire, and even some of the true gods would die. However, the price they would have to pay would be extremely heavy, and it is highly likely that Li Lan would be the only one left alive in the end.

If they were to fall into the hands of the Chaos Creator, their fate would be worse than death.

"According to the rules of war, it's soldier against soldier, general against general, right? Would killing someone of a higher rank violate the rules?"

Li Lan found it all rather strange and also sensed that there was something more to what Hei Fa Yu Hui was saying.

“Before, you were just an individual. If someone wanted to kill you, they only needed to send out their entire force, using any despicable means to achieve their goal. However, you are no longer an individual. You have chosen to build a force, to stand at the same level and on the same footing, to use force to fight force, and that's when the rules came into play.”

Fighting alone cannot destroy the foundation of a great empire. What Black-haired Feather Radiance told Li Lan—that they had destroyed most of the empire's intelligent beings and territory—actually overestimated Li Lan and his group's combat capabilities. Besides those high-ranking, almost isolated false gods, the empire still possessed many unknown trump cards, such as sealed artifacts.

If things really get out of hand, it will only put Li Lan and his group at a disadvantage. Precisely because they are at a disadvantage, Hei Fa Yu Hui's words were subtly implying that Li Lan should not act impulsively.

Secondly, in wars between forces, if all established rules are abandoned, it becomes a matter of attacking each other's backyards, eliminating the lower-level cannon fodder of both sides with annihilation-style strikes, and finally, a life-or-death struggle between gods.

"You mean, wars between forces really do follow certain rules?"

Li Lan herself found it absurd, extremely absurd.

"Yes! Because god-level beings are a deterrent force. Do you understand what this means? Only when your faction has a certain deterrent force will the two sides that declare war have a tacit rule: first, ants below the level of demigods will fight each other, then demigods will fight each other, and gods will never fight each other unless it is a true moment of life and death for the country."

If we don't even have a god-like being capable of destroying the world, then what do we have to challenge the empire? How do we expect the empire to follow the rules of war?

According to Li Lan's understanding, the god-level existence in this world is equivalent to a "nuclear bomb." The so-called "nuclear bomb" would never be used lightly in war, but rather as a so-called "protective umbrella for power."

Black-haired Yu Hui now gave Li Lan two choices: one was to give up the Dark Kingdom, which meant he would lose all his worries and could directly retaliate against the Empire at any time.

The second option is to not abandon the Dark Kingdom and preserve the existing power. In that case, he can only temporarily put aside his hatred and continue to develop. If war is involved, then all the god-level beings should refrain from taking action and let the "cannon fodder" below fight to the death.

How can we get both sides to follow this rule? The answer is that the Dark Kingdom must demonstrate its true strength, letting all the major powers in the world know that they can take action against the Dark Kingdom and destroy it overnight. However, with each destruction, they will also have to pay the same price.

Apart from the immortal gods, everyone below the god level must die!

Li Lan was in a real headache. It wasn't that he didn't understand what Hei Fa Yu Hui was saying, but he just found it hard to accept for the moment.

One person can settle scores at any time, but now there is an ever-growing force. What should be done?

"Shub, what do you think are the chances of me successfully taking revenge? Or rather, how many years will it take?"

Want to hear the truth?

"The truth!"

"Zero, let alone eliminating all the empires that are hostile to you, the British Empire, which is the closest to here, is currently beyond the Dark Kingdom's capacity to contend with. If you want to destroy the British Empire, my suggestion is not to do it yourself, but to use someone else to do it. As for what kind of person to use, at least fifty years from now. Fifty years from now, those old guys should wake up."

As soon as Hei Fa Yu Hui heard about the Chaos Creator's movements, he knew that this troublemaker had prepared a big gift for all the Creators.

How can we not make good use of this great gift?

More importantly, the Dark Kingdom has too few god-level beings, so it can only continue to keep a low profile.

“I understand. If I can endure for ten years, I don’t mind enduring for another fifty. As for the envoy you mentioned, I’d like to hear what’s going on.” Li Lan carried a heavy burden of bitter hatred. Because he carried so much, he couldn’t afford to make even the slightest mistake, nor could he allow hatred to cloud his judgment.

Before crushing the British Empire, Li Lan wanted to crush Ann Grenas even more. Only by eliminating this most disgusting hidden danger could he have the mind to deal with the Empire and all the major powers in the world.

"Of course, it is to return to the British Empire once again. And this time, the return is not for killing, but to demonstrate your strength and the true trump card of the Dark Kingdom, so as to prevent many great powers from uniting to strangle you."

"Black-haired Yu Hui said very seriously."

"Um, you just heard what Violet said...?"

"I heard everything. And after returning here half a year ago, I learned about the current situation from that lovely guy Lachesis. As for how to deal with this trouble, unfortunately, we are too noble to take action. Besides, we have important matters to attend to, so we can only wait for you errand runners."

Hei-fa Yu-hui can be really vain at times, and it's hard to tell whether he's telling the truth or not; his attitude is just like playing with life.

"Specifically, after tomorrow's banquet, you can speak with Lachesis in person. The first batch of envoys will be sent by you and Lorina. Lana and Della will be sent later, as a gift still needs some time to prepare."

More importantly, these two creators who wanted to cause trouble were missing a crucial ritual material, which was on Lana's person.

Hei-fa Yu-hui didn't explicitly say this, but exchanged glances with Leviathan throughout, each harboring their own secrets.

Li Lan couldn't see through the two creators' wicked intentions. After discussing it for a while, they officially made a decision. Indeed, if they really wanted to prioritize the overall situation, they would need some time to be patient.

"Alright, let's settle on this for now. We'll wait for Lachesis to make the details. I do need to make a trip to the British Empire. I'm really worried about the slime."

Now, all Li Lan can do is pray that after arriving in the British Empire, she won't let hatred cloud her judgment and cause her to do anything outrageous.

"Oh, right, servant, there's one more gift I'd like to give you."

Black-haired Yu Hui grabbed Leviathan with one hand, then rummaged in the small "groove" on the latter's chest. "Um, where's your fishtail?"

The latter resisted while muttering, "Waist! Waist!"

Spring was in full bloom, but Li Lan could only turn her gaze away, pretending not to see anything, and muttered to herself, "Are these two flirting on purpose?"

"Okay! Found it!"

Black-haired Yu Hui took out a large number of items from Leviathan's "detachable and portable fish tail". The first item was thirty pitch-black glass balls, each about the size of a thumb, filled with a pitch-black wriggling liquid, giving off a bizarre illusion of mental pollution.

"What is this?" Li Lan thought it was a divine spark, but the black-haired Yu Hui shook his head.

"What do you think I was doing in the Northern Ice Plains? Was I looking for ways to make you witches stronger? Isn't your biggest problem level? After following you for so many years, even if we two old fogies are stupid, we can't not see just how amazing your bodies are."

Black-haired Yu Hui pushed the pure white box containing the glass ball in front of Li Lan. "The process of a witch's upgrade is actually a slow unlocking of the shackles within her body, allowing her spirit to gradually adapt to evolution. Although it's safe, the progress is too slow. Moreover, the things that unlock the shackles within you are actually related to the physical matter of our creator. The way to obtain them is basically through demons or creatures that have been tainted by divinity."

"Collecting this substance is extremely difficult. I went through countless hardships with Lorina and Della... In short, just a tiny piece of this item is enough to completely unlock the shackles of any witch, instantly reaching the maximum level and becoming a god-level being! But!"

Black-haired Yu Hui winked, meaning, you know, it will get out of control, it will enter a complete "deification" state.

"I understand now. Without sufficient willpower, it's impossible to persevere?"

These two creators knew all of Li Lan's underwear, probably because they realized that Li Lan possessed the magical skill of "soul soothing," which is why they dared to risk giving him such a thing.