Four-Armed Divine Emperor

External invasions and internal rebellions followed one after another, and the Iskhanfa Center had to face these problems one after another, and its remaining resources were stretched to the limit...

In general, the situation is not just slightly bad, it is extremely bad, and it is bad in large areas.

In the three directions of east, west and north, basically wherever there are land borders, the Alan Empire is facing external pressure, and the Zoroastrians are exhausted. However, as a slave empire that attaches great importance to military glory and external expansion, the Iskhanfa Center headed by Shafasha cannot decisively adopt the method of cutting flesh to stop losses and throw places like Canaan and Antolia to the coveters, shrinking its power to deal with internal challenges first.

Because if they do that, those areas that can barely maintain the situation and are relatively obedient to the central government will probably take the lead in launching a rebellion to "uphold order". As the territories that the Zoroastrians have cultivated for a long time, these areas have too many inextricable connections with the Alan powerful class. There are countless properties, manors, slaves, and workshops of famous imperial families and nobles in these territories. If Iskhanfa wants to shrink his power and throw them out to reduce the burden, then they can follow the example of the eastern border guards and merge with the Samarkand bureaucrats to protect themselves in the west, or simply join the forces of one of the north and south.

This has made the Zoroastrian Empire exhausted by the increasingly severe situation. What is even more surprising is that all this seems to have only started in the past two years.

Before that "disastrous northern expedition," although many had already realized the decline of this ancient empire, Alan was still a major power on the continent. In the west, it was simultaneously confronting the Aegean city-states and their backers, the Kronos Empire; in the north, it was infiltrating the Antolian Seven Shields Alliance; in the south, it was suppressing the warlords who attempted to restore the Golden Dynasty in the Fertile Lands;

To the east, the Indian nations had been paying tribute to Iskhanfa since the Shattering War, and nomadism was a minor problem. Grassland slaves were a major component of the empire's slave market. Through the Holy Sea and the Vast Ocean, trade with the southern Saharan continent and the Eastern Continent was also ongoing, bringing goods and wealth from all over the world to the empire.

At that time, although the empire was showing signs of fatigue and some people were worried about its future, even the wisest minds would never have imagined that within just two years, starting with a war, the Alan Empire would undergo such drastic changes.

134: Honoring the Father’s Gift

While Al was still dedicating his energy to expanding the size of his tribe from millions to tens of millions in his palace city of Constantinople, his outstanding and efficient descendants who had infiltrated the Zoroastrian society had already turned this ancient empire upside down.

There has never been any word circulated about the existence of such a special ethnic group as them, and they will never allow themselves to make any mistakes that may lead to the existence of the ethnic group being "exposed".

Their presence is everywhere, pushing this vast empire towards its end.

And after the end, it is natural that a new life will come.

A new life bestowed by the Father.

Rumors, conspiracies, assassinations, coercion and inducement, bloody massacres, racial issues, class conflicts, ancient blood feuds between noble families... everything, as long as there is a possibility of use, the Four-Armed Man will dig it out from even the most secret and darkest tombs to add fuel to the turmoil.

The chaotic situation made wars more frequent, between the empire and foreign enemies, the center and local areas, provinces and provinces, legions and legions... If those ambitious people caught the attention of the descendants hiding in the dark and got attention, they might be blessed by "heaven's will". It seemed that there were invisible hands composed of the current situation and coincidences pushing them to high positions.

And some excellent staff and subordinates always provide valuable advice and decisions to their servants at critical moments... Of course they will trust the "loyal and capable official" in front of them who is both capable and charming, and whose words, actions, and every move are so convincing. What else can they do?

Behind the curtain, many people who were observed, confirmed to be harmless, and possessed talent were given the qualification to know the "true appearance" of the truth. It was also at this time that they embraced the new life bestowed by the Four-Armed Father and leaped beyond the realm of the living.

Chapter 272

Where.

It was also at this time that some beliefs that were regarded as niche heresies by the mainstream emerged. After the mages did not care much about religious beliefs and worshipped "God", faith was regarded as a special lifestyle and hobby habit, similar to smoking, drinking and playing ball.

It began to spread quietly among certain classes.

The descendants of Ai'er have always worshipped him as someone more respected than God, and in a sense...it is true.

When those "cultists" who held heretical and blasphemous rituals in secret rooms and offered sacrifices to the Father truly received a "response" from someone and felt the real power, even if they had not yet undergone the blood-endowment ritual and completed the advancement of life, they would worship him mentally and become fanatical believers of the "God of Salvation."

Throughout the ages, extraordinary powers have always been wielded by only a very small number of people.

The Alan Empire has a population of over 100 million and a vast territory. There are only tens of thousands of mages in the country. It is a big question whether there are only 100,000 or 200,000 spellcasters in the world.

Since the rise of the floating city, it has to be said that although the overall quality of the extraordinary people has improved, there will no longer be those "mages" who may only be able to make a fireball in their entire lives, but can be known as spellcasters and run rampant among the people in the countryside - although this situation still occurs now.

But the number has definitely dropped a lot.

The extraordinary power of magic affects the lives of mortals through two ways: destruction and creation. The former mainly comes from wars, while the latter is the numerous potions and magic props produced by the floating city.

But once one is determined to be unable to master the power of magic and is determined to be a "mortal" in terms of identity, it will be impossible for him to master extraordinary powers in his lifetime. This is an iron rule. Even in the past, those powerful spellcasters in ancient times, including every wizard king, showed amazing magical talents since childhood. There has never been a case where someone was useless in middle age and suddenly had an epiphany after coming into contact with magic.

Because in theory, magical elements exist in everything, including the human body itself, but the structure of the species itself determines whether it can absorb and master the power of magical elements; those who are talented but not enough to show the "supernatural powers" that were more common in ancient times will gradually lose their original sensitivity and affinity to magic after adulthood, and completely become "know nothing" mortals.

Chapter 127: Ardabil (56)

The mages were fascinated by this situation. They had explored the connection between magic and life, but they could not crack the mystery no matter what. Some even came up with a horrifying conclusion:

The magic and intelligent life in this world are actually from the ancient civilization of the Il world countless years ago. They may not even be native to the Il world, but are "experiments" created by a transcendent civilization or individual from the multiverse. He or they tried to create a power system, and created a group of "magic puppets" for the purpose of using this power to experiment with the characteristics of magic, just like wizards use ghost elves or magic puppets when doing experiments.

So it's no wonder that, theoretically, intelligent life forms have the potential to accept magical elements and master spellcasting. This is because they themselves were created as experimental subjects to utilize this power called "magic," so they are naturally compatible with it...

This horrifying claim has no evidence and is not believed by the public.

But it is true that such a thing as "age limit" really exists. The descendants of powerful families will be tested on the path to transcendence at a very young age. Generally speaking, they still have a chance until they are around fifteen years old, but once they reach a higher level, there will be no possibility of stepping into the transcendence after the age of eighteen.

Normally, if a child fails the test at around ten years old, the probability of further changes is very small, so members of famous and powerful families will realize this very early:

Should I try to step into the extraordinary and touch the clouds; or should I keep my feet on the ground and entertain or fight in the great arena of the mortal world?

However, after these "pagans" who were still very "insignificant" in the Alan Empire and whose existence was unknown to many despite their great influence, performed some successful rituals, they were able to discover with great surprise:

The gift from the Father is real and true!

They are able to possess supernatural powers and master extraordinary abilities despite being ordinary people and old (over twenty years old)!

For mortals, even if they can only possess the tiniest psychic power and the extraordinary power brought by the thinnest warlock bloodline, it is enough to make them ecstatic and amazed, cry bitterly, worship the father, and offer everything - well, for those believers who are not "firm" enough, obtaining extraordinary power is a way for them to enjoy better.

When a grand ceremony is held to worship the Father in exchange for power that mortals cannot grasp, no mortal can remain rational—even if there is, the orthodox four-armed people who lead and supervise the ceremony will not allow it.

Except for those with a burnt brain, no one would think that such a secretive heretical cult and the power gained in exchange for obviously improper sacrifices could be allowed by the floating city.

But Ai'er changed his mindset and no longer simply expanded his tribe in a snowball-like manner through unlimited blood conversion. Instead, he joined the form of religious union to assist the growth of his tribe, which was also a helpless move.

135: The Unifier, the Great Group, the Great Unity

In two long

Chapter 273

More than a hundred chapters (crossed out)——After more than five years of journey in another world.

Ai'er finally knew the source of his power and the origin of his golden finger.

And the secret of why he traveled through time and space and came to this world.

[You are the Vanguard of the Swarm! Champion of the Lords! Commander of the Stars! You are the Lord of the Legion, the Father of the Clans! In the name of the One, you offer a feast to the remnants of the stars!]

He had originally obtained this information along with his warlock and bloodline talent, but it was only now that he understood the meaning of it.

The Great Swarm, the Unifier, the Great Devourer, the Supreme Will... There are many names for this existence. It was once a civilization that was so powerful that even Ai'er could not describe it with words or simple language. Or it could not be accurately described by "civilization".

He is the greatness born from the stars, and in a sense, has become the "stars" themselves. Throughout infinite time and space, and across dimensions, His presence, His tentacles, and His influence are everywhere...

The great group, the One, He, or They, out of greed or natural instinct, seek to include everything, the existence of all things, even existence itself, into Their own, a vast, pan-conscious cluster that spans multiple existences;

Just like Ai'er is to the world of Il, the Four-Armed Bloodline he brings will continuously incorporate the intelligent life of the entire world into one bloodline, turning the world of Il into the world of the Four-Armed and the world of Ai'er, and the Unifier does so in the endless multiverse. This is also the origin of those intelligent beings who know of his existence or who have managed to temporarily delay the arrival of the "Time of Unification" as the "Great Devourer" of him.

They more like represent a concept, according to Al's understanding, which is:

One equals millions, and millions equal one.

An ultimate "great unification" that would bring tears to the eyes of the First Emperor, a domineering "only" that encompasses even natural concepts such as the ebb and flow of the tide and the birth and destruction of stars.

But even such a powerful being could not defeat the nature that gave birth to it, and so the Unifier was ultimately shattered. For a civilization or a country, this description is usually used to describe division and civil strife, but for the Great Devourer, its "shattering" is in a sense quite understandable:

Physical.

The former Great Devourer and Unifier was broken into many parts, most of which have been annihilated, but the rest are scattered in different spaces, dimensions, and even different timelines in the same world. At the level of Unifier, they are already immortal, just like the fallen gods in the DND system, as long as they still have believers and influence on the mortal world, they have the possibility of "rebirth".

His fragments are scattered across the infinite expanse of time and space. They have chosen, or more appropriately,

They just happened to merge with some carriers that could be influenced by them, and brought some of the power of the Unifier to these carriers.

When Al knew all this, he was horrified and thought of this situation. When he traveled through time, he had recalled the impression at that time: when he was wrapped in something like an "egg", he was accepting the transformation of the fragments of the Unifier.

And at the time he was undergoing transformation, he, the existence of "El", had actually died once.

At that moment, the old him was destroyed by the fragments of the Unifier who existed in the past, present, and future, in higher dimensions, and in infinite time and space, just like what El and his descendants did to those descendants who were "reborn with blood". El was the first person in the entire El world to be "reborn with blood". After the fusion and transformation of the fragments, the old El, the pure mortal, was already dead.

Each of the objects that the fragments of the Unifiers merged with can theoretically be regarded as a young Unifier who has started over. They will eventually develop into a huge clan and embark on a path of billions of Unifiers, the path that the former "Great Devourer" has taken, fighting and killing in the vast world over a long period of time. As long as the number of "young Unifiers" is large enough, and there are enough time and worlds as "nutrients", then someone will eventually walk back and stand at the height of the former Unifiers.

At that moment, the "Returner", an existence whose specific outline has not yet been outlined in Al's mind and which is far beyond his cognition, will also be "reborn" at that moment, or even before His birth.

But this is not the rebirth or resurrection in fantasy novels, but a concept, a very complex one. When Al tried to understand it, he was not only not alert and awed, but felt a sense of melancholy and sadness, as if he had no confidence and no absolute possibility to reach that moment and witness the greatness of that moment and the glory of the journey. He felt regret and inferiority, a greatness beyond existence itself.

The wall breaker talent he has begun to activate is the channel for the El race to enter other worlds. According to the information he knows, the future may be very short, maybe a few years or decades based on the current concept of time, or it may be thousands or tens of thousands of years. In any case, he will always meet other sub-bodies that have integrated the fragments of the Unifier and the tribes they have established. They may go to war, or communicate, or remain silent, but they will definitely meet, they will definitely come into contact, and eventually, in some way, all the fragments, all the sub-bodies, will be integrated into one, becoming a new "Unifier tribe."

they

Chapter 274

The nutrients drawn from different worlds and the advantages learned and improved from different species will be inherited and carried forward by the winners of the ethnic merger.

The vastness of the world is so unimaginable. Perhaps even those who once returned to the world are just a wave in the ocean. As the uncrowned kings of the world of Il, the White Tower wizards threw themselves into it so recklessly after coming into contact with the world outside the stars, leaving behind their home world where they could have developed better. Perhaps it was because they were obsessed with its "infinite" charm.

All the ethnic groups established by the descendants of the independent unifiers will eventually be unified in the long dimension. Ai'er may be the unifier chosen in the end, the new unifier, or the unified one. However, the annexation between ethnic groups is not a life-and-death struggle, and it may not even involve killing. Even if he fails in this long and unpredictable game, he and his descendants will be preserved and join the group of winners.

It was a kind of "great unity" that Aiel could understand but could not describe. His old ideas were nothing more than the consciousness of a swarm or hive, but the Unified One was not like that. It was a transcendent concept that mortals could not understand, "collective and individual," "unity and independence"...

136: Billions for Me

Every descendant of El, every four-armed being even newly conceived, will contribute a bit of strength to their supreme father, and as time goes by, as their own strength grows, the power they can provide to El will continue to increase.

With the expansion of the tribe, with nearly ten million descendants and servants, even if El did nothing, his psychic power had reached a level that was difficult to estimate even for the extraordinary people.

Psionics, a crucial legacy of the Ones, is the power to distort reality with one's will.

It is an incomparable transcendent power for the indigenous world of El, which has just - from the perspective of astral civilization, has not even officially reached the threshold of "entering the stars". Even though the spellcaster academic descendants under El have been tirelessly studying the mysteries of power for the tribe, hoping to understand its secrets and its essence, so as to better assist the expansion of the tribe, but after such a long time and investment, they cannot even understand the principle of its existence.

Chapter 127: Ardabil (57)

The Unifier, who unites all things into one, can, in the few fragments of memories of past existence that Al glimpsed, reverse the time of an entire dimension with just a thought, detonate or extinguish billions of stars in a brilliant star map... and this is only the tip of the iceberg of the Unifier's power at a level that Al cannot comprehend.

At the same time, this is also a predetermined path that Al will take.

[Heart of the Clan], the extraordinary ascension of billions returning to one.

As the tribe expands, the power of the descendants continues to feed back to El, the genetic father, and at the same time, it is accompanied by the "faith" they provide. Their enthusiasm and infinite fanaticism and infinite worship of their father will allow El to "enlighten" himself in the long process.

El will carry the will of countless descendants, forming a substantial unity. At that time, he alone will be the entire clan. Any dead descendant can be "resurrected in the body" at any time in the clan heart named "El" and the pan-consciousness fusion. His thinking is completely transcendental from the mortal world. All descendants have become El's clones, and all descendants have become El.

He will become a "supreme will" that will not hesitate, will not make mistakes, and will not have any selfish desires. For every choice and every problem faced by every offspring, he can deduce it with unparalleled efficiency, and in an instant he can deduce almost all its directions and choose the one that is most beneficial to the tribe.

Think about it, Ai'er used tens of thousands of his descendants to shake the Alan empire into pieces, but if he had reached the level of supreme will, perhaps only one person would be needed to practice his, their will's agent, even if it was just an insignificant mortal, to destroy an empire in the continuous "best choice" butterfly effect.

This is an extraordinary road. Once you take this road, the floating city, the great wizard, and those "indigenous strongmen" that Ai'er once deeply feared will be nothing but dry bones in the tomb. Facing the "master" who will not make mistakes, their ultimate fate is only destruction or assimilation into the greatness, and this process will be very, very fast.

This is the great path that the Returners have walked.

.........

But then, Al, he wouldn't be him anymore.

Everything is for the ethnic group, and the ethnic group is everything.

Did he devour the tribe and transform himself into the tribe; or did he merge the wills of his descendants and become a huge "master brain"?

Anyway, it was a little hard for Al to accept the thought that he had incorporated the consciousness and thinking of millions of his descendants and servants, such as Misha, Caesar, Cyrus, etc., into his own "intracranial network", forming a huge unified consciousness aggregate and merging with his descendants.

After that, would Al still be Al? Would he still be him?

Although El had already "died" in a sense when he was fused with the fragments of the Unifier, the current El has also experienced a new life, but he is still lustful, enjoys pleasure, is curious about things, and does COS... It's no different from the past.

Integrating oneself with the group is powerful and great, and may be the most effective way, but that is also

Chapter 275

It's not him anymore.

Therefore, if he does not walk on this talent tree located on the main trunk, which is the one that the Returners have walked on, or the [Heart of the Tribe] that the Returners created with their own experiences, then there is only another one that is suitable for him.

The talent tree is undoubtedly the largest, most advanced and most promising of the three legacies brought by the fragments of the Unifier: genetic bloodline, psychic power, and talent tree.

It once contained countless worlds and countless beings into one. Their powers and talents were condensed into one, which was equivalent to a treasure house forged by integrating the talents and specialties of countless races, strong people, and civilizations. However, it needs to be discovered by the heirs themselves.

Many of these things are not mastered by the Returner because he has no need for them. The top-level masters of all professions will not care about some of the plots and route choices during the Novice Village period, but these things have been preserved as his inheritance, waiting for later generations to take them out and use them.

In fact, the opening plug-ins including his Four-Armed Man bloodline were all fragments "extracted" from this infinite treasure. His warlock template, [Dragon Might·Command Beast] and [Flame Sun Flare] with the so-called "Settra Bloodline" mark were all like this. At that time, Al was still confused about how he was related to this Settra man?

[Heart of the Clan] is equivalent to the main storyline. Unlike other side quests, it is not as colorful. In fact, it only has two paths to choose from:

One is the transcendental path of the mastermind and pan-consciousness collection where billions of things return to one, and it is also the path of the Returners; the other is the path that the former Returners did not get involved in, but preserved it, giving the heirs another choice.

The prerequisite for choosing the talent of the tribe's heart is that the tribe has reached a certain size, and the descendants' power to repay their father has become stronger and stronger, and at the same time, the "faith" has also increased.

The descendants are all extremely loyal to Ai'er. Even if they have obtained Ai'er's open "authority", the most common thing they appear is undoubtedly:

loyalty!

ethnic groups!

Supreme Father!