The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

“If I had discovered this fatal problem at the beginning, I might have had the courage to make a choice, but now, I have no choice at all. Those demons who believe in me and sing my praises, Yumeko who has been by my side and taken care of me for so long, and even Alice... I can't give them up.”

"Why? What's the reason? Give me a reason."

"Because I am their god!!"

Suddenly raising her head, Shenqi spoke firmly.

"As their god, how can I abandon my followers?! I must make amends for my mistakes, for I am the god they worship!!"

"...Your level of awareness is in stark contrast to that guy who abandons his important archangel without hesitation when faced with danger. I heard that Sariel is still determined to retake Heaven and demand her wages back from God Jehovah, right?"

After a moment of silence, Shi Bai couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's no wonder she rebelled so readily when faced with a god who could abandon important believers without hesitation."

"Perhaps, she also needs something to strengthen her convictions..."

After a moment of stunned silence, Shen Qi let out a soft sigh.

"A believer of her caliber would essentially consider the god she worships as everything, and would even be willing to die for the god without hesitation. Theoretically, there is virtually no possibility of her betraying him, but unfortunately, the god she worships abandoned her first... Given that everything supporting her has quietly collapsed, her performance has been quite strong."

"No wonder you allowed her to build that Fallen Temple as if she were doing something reckless, you really are..."

Shi Bai shook his head and sighed softly.

"Since it was your own mistake, then you should correct it and try your best to make amends. That's really your character, just like when you risked everything to save Matara Okina... Let me ask you something: what was the price you paid after using the [Treasure Hammer]?"

"........."

"Fine, no one will force you if you don't want to talk about it. After all, it's normal for everyone to have a few secrets."

Leaning back on the sofa, Shi Bai pressed his forehead slightly with his fingers, looking somewhat tired.

“There are some things I can tell you now. You are now qualified to hear those secrets, those deep secrets about the world itself.”

"The world's...secret?"

Shen Qi was slightly taken aback.

"In the endless world, what do you think is the most precious thing? It is secrets, secrets. Secrets are the most precious and the most important thing."

Shi Bai pointed to his head.

Do you want to know how I keep those precious secrets safe?

"what do you mean……"

Suddenly remembering something the other person had said to her in a casual, joking manner a long time ago, Shenqi's expression immediately changed.

"Do you know how to keep a precious secret and absolutely not let anyone else know?"

"Keep it a secret? There must be many ways to do that, right?"

"But this is a secret method that I will never reveal. You can't learn it even if you want to."

"what way?"

"The dead are the best at keeping secrets."

"..."

"That's right. The 13 prisoners I'm holding here are all unknowingly guarding a secret for me, but they have no idea it."

Shi Bai leisurely picked up an apple from the coffee table in front of him.

"Keeping secrets is actually a very tiring thing. I spent a lot of effort to complete this 'Absolute Secrecy Pact'. To ensure absolute security, I even took the initiative to erase my memories of those secrets, and I also made more than one security lock for myself... Do you know why I'm telling you these irrelevant things?"

"why?"

Shen Qi frowned slightly.

"If you want to know a secret, then you must be prepared to protect that secret. If you don't have that preparation, you should stay away from those secrets as soon as possible."

Shi Bai tossed the apple in his hand and spoke calmly.

"Do you know how important those secrets are? The most precious secret, and the one I guard most strictly, would lead to the destruction of hundreds of millions of worlds if it were revealed... I'm not joking."

"If I'm talking about awareness, I think I still have it."

Taking a deep breath, Shen Qi nodded seriously.

"Tell me, what secret do you want to tell me?"

"Although it's not the ultimate secret guarded by those 13 prisoners, the secret I'm about to tell you is equally significant. Are you sure you want to say it here?"

Shi Bai turned his head with a strange expression and glanced at the half-open door to his right. Outside the door, Alice was sitting there swinging her legs, while Mengzi and Yueyejian's figures were faintly visible on the side.

“I think life needs a little ritual. Even if our conversation is unlikely to be heard by a third person other than the two of us, saying it so directly... don’t you think it’s as bizarre as FBI agents discussing a top-secret mission at a roadside food stall?”

"Hmm...you make a lot of sense."

After thinking for a moment, Shenqi nodded in agreement, then casually waved her hand toward the door.

With a muffled bang, the half-open door slammed shut, completely shutting out any prying eyes from outside.

"They've spotted us?"

Outside the door, Tsukiyo turned to look at Yumeko beside her.

"They must have discovered it... Wait, I understand."

"How can she be called the ultimate maid?" After a moment's thought, Yumeko, who had automatically filled in the blanks in her mind, nodded knowingly.

“It’s been so long since we last met. I think Lord Shibai must miss Lord Shenqi very much. So I think it would be better if we didn’t stay here and disturb them… Alice, let’s go somewhere else first.”

"........."

Watching Yumeko and Alice's departing figures, and then turning to look at the tightly closed door in front of her, Tsukiyo suddenly clenched her fists unconsciously.

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P.S.: Good morning, it's almost the end of the month, please help...

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Secret

The Demon Realm, the Palace of Ten Thousand Demons.

"Before I tell you those secrets, I need to ask you a few questions."

Shi Bai turned his gaze from the closed door back to Shen Qi in front of him.

"My first question is, what is your understanding of the world?"

"The world encompasses everything, creates everything, and is the origin of all things."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Shenqi replied.

"This is my understanding of the world itself..."

"Wrong! Utterly wrong!!"

With his hands forming a large X in front of him, Shi Bai interrupted the other person with a serious expression.

"The World was DIO's Stand, possessing the ability to stop time, but it was later shattered by the strongest Stand, Star Platinum. Now, I ask you, what is the World?"

"The world is... a substitute?"

Shen Qi looked completely bewildered.

"Still wrong! Utterly wrong!! The world is a high school girl who seduced Makoto. Now, answer, what is the world?"

"...Was my decision too objective?"

After a brief silence, Shenqi nodded thoughtfully.

"I understand."

"Bingo, as the saying goes, there are 1000 Hamlets in 1000 people's eyes, and the world itself is the same. You were able to understand this so quickly, so it seems that you have a pretty good comprehension."

Shi Bai snapped his fingers.

"The world is the world. You can treat it as a tool, an object, or even a life form of the same level... These things are actually insignificant. If you want the Demon Realm to evolve into a true world, you are missing something essential."

"What's missing?"

"The origin, the origin of the world, this is the most core existence of the world itself."

Having decided to reveal this secret, Shi Bai naturally didn't hesitate to tell Zang Shi the truth, and readily did so.

"The origin of a world is its most important existence, or rather, it is the existence of the world's origin that constitutes the world. The specific manifestations of the [world's origin] are many. Some are hidden among all living beings, becoming intangible and difficult to find or divide. Others are materialized into an object, which grants control over the world. In most worlds, the specific manifestation of the [world's origin] is the former, while a small number have evolved into the second. Perhaps there are also a third, fourth, or even fifth manifestations, but I do not know those for the time being."

"So what the Demon Realm lacks is the [Origin of the World]?"

Upon hearing Shi Bai's words, Shen Qi's eyes immediately lit up.

"Of course, so all the life forms you created are merely defined as objects, whether they are demons, Yumeko, or Alice."

Shi Bai glanced at Shen Qi in front of him, his expression unconvinced.

"The Origin of the World can be considered a very precious commodity in the myriad worlds. The strength of a world is largely determined by the quality of its Origin, and the two complement each other."

How do I obtain the [Origin of the World]?

Shenqi directly asked this most crucial question.

"There are many ways to obtain the [Origin of the World], such as trading, plundering, stealing... and so on. Do you know what the most common way to obtain the Origin of the World is?"

Holding up a finger, Shi Bai wore a strange smile.

"As I mentioned before, I only know of two specific manifestations of a world's [World Origin]. The former accounts for the majority, while the latter is extremely rare and difficult to find. What do you think those plunderers would do to obtain the [World Origin]?"

"Hidden among all living beings..."

As if she had thought of something, Shenqi's face turned slightly pale.

"...Slaughter?"

"That's right, congratulations on getting it right, it is killing."

Shi Bai looked completely calm and composed.

"The most common method is to kill all living beings in that world, and then the world's [origin] will be automatically extracted. It's simple and quick. If you want to save your demons, I also have a super simple method: go kill people."

Shi Bai held up a finger and shook it.

"Whether it's humans, demons, or gods, any sentient being can be included. Let's take ordinary humans as an example. For every hundred humans you kill, you can roughly grant one ordinary demon in the demon realm a true life. Remember, this means real killing; those humans will not have an afterlife. For someone like Yumeko, you would probably only need to kill a hundred or so demons, gods, or humans of equal strength..."

"do not talk!!!"

Shen Qi suddenly interrupted him loudly.

"So, as I said, there are some secrets you are not qualified to know. This is just a rather low-level secret, and it can't compare to those ultimate secrets at all."

Leaning back on the sofa, Shi Bai shook his head slightly.

"If you want to create life yourself, you must plunder the essence from all living beings. I've already put it very bluntly. The world is far larger than you can imagine. In the time we've been talking, countless worlds have been born, destroyed, polluted, corrupted, or merged... But basically, in any given world, at least 99.999999% of the people will never know this in their entire lives."

"...Could you tell me more about the world?"

After a long silence, Shen Qi looked up at him and asked.

"Also, there should be other ways to obtain the source, right?"

"Of course there are. Origins can also be created. Otherwise, how do you think so many worlds were formed? It's just that compared to spending a lot of time on this, plundering is a much simpler and easier method."

Looking at Shen Qi in front of him, Shi Bai suddenly laughed.

"Even you yourself don't realize that you are currently walking on this path. If the Demon Realm continues to develop as it is now, in who knows how many years, the Demon Realm will evolve into a real world, and you yourself will become the [Origin of the World] representing that world!!"

"I myself...am the world?"

Shenqi suddenly paused for a moment.

“This is the third type of situation I’ve never seen before. The first is that the origin is hidden within all living beings in the world. The second is that the origin manifests as objects and hides in some corner of the world. And the third is like you, who becomes the world yourself…”

Shi Bai's words were inexplicably tinged with a hint of emotion.

"This path is long and extremely arduous. If you are not prepared for it, you should give up as soon as possible. If you need the essence of the world, I can help you buy some from a certain store."

"...I made that decision a long time ago."

After a moment of silence, Shenqi exhaled.

"Thank you for clearing up my doubts. I've made up my mind. Now tell me about other things, like what you just said... Is it really possible that there are stores that sell such things?"