Chapter 740: The One Who Ascends

"Witness the 'Zhongyan Zhidi'..."

Zhang Shan also smiled bitterly. "Chu Tianqiu, after all, I've been through two cycles with you, but I didn't know about your 'Hui Xiang'. Isn't that lying?"

"No matter whether you believe me or not," Chu Tianqiu replied seriously, "I haven't lied to anyone, and I haven't killed anyone. From the beginning, I've been trying to understand this place. Once I fully grasped all the information, I decided to liberate it. That's been my motivation all along, and it hasn't changed."

"So, your purpose in liberating this place... is to become 'Shen'?" Zhang Shan asked.

"What else?" Chu Tianqiu answered with a hint of sadness. "There's no way out of this place. From the moment we entered, we were all destined to stay here forever."

The people standing nearby changed their expressions as they heard Chu Tianqiu's words.

This place... there's no way out?

"Then what do you mean by 'liberation'?" Zhang Shan asked.

Chu Tianqiu pondered for a moment before responding, "Since we're about to start cooperating formally, I suppose I should let you know about this."

After saying that, he glanced at Han Yimo and Zhao Yisheng, as well as Lao Lu and Xiao Yanjing behind Zhang Shan.

"Once I've said this, you four can decide whether to stay or go. I've done enough for you already—it's time to stop."

No one agreed or disagreed; they simply looked at him with various expressions.

"Once I become the 'Shen' of this place, the entire 'Zhongyan Zhidi' will lose its purpose, and there will be no need for any of you to be revived," Chu Tianqiu said bluntly. "In other words, once the deed is done, all will perish—everyone stops cycling, and this place will turn into complete ruins."

Everyone's expressions shifted upon hearing this.

Xiao Yanjing's gaze gradually turned stern. He adjusted his glasses and said, "Mr. Chu, with all due respect, that means... we're making you our 'Shen', but at the cost of our own destruction?"

"It's not just destruction," Chu Tianqiu replied. "I hope you all give everything for me—whether it's your eyes or your hearts. After you've exhausted all you can give and die in battle, only your shattered corpses will remain here to turn to dust."

Chu Tianqiu's words plunged everyone into a long silence.

"But why?" Xiao Yanjing asked once he recovered. "Why are you so certain we'll help you become 'Shen' and then die ourselves?"

"Because that's your only option," Chu Tianqiu said, holding up one finger. "This place needs someone to become 'Shen' to resolve everything, but each of you only has one type of divine power. You're far from being an all-powerful 'Shen'."

"That reason doesn't seem sufficient," Xiao Yanjing pressed. "Even if you explain all this... will we just give up willingly? Many people with terminal illnesses know there's no cure, but they don't give up treatment right away. It's the same principle."

Chu Tianqiu nodded. "You're right. Let me put it another way."

Everyone watched him in silence.

"Every person you see around you has been wandering here for seventy years—over twenty-five thousand days, more than two thousand five hundred cycles. Yet in all that time, no one has ever escaped. Even the 'Taotuo Zhi Ren de Bijie' I had was just a lie to deceive you. If no one breaks this cycle, we'll be trapped in eternal reincarnation here. We'll repeatedly lose our memories and start over joyfully, day after day, year after year."

"Although what you're saying makes sense..." Xiao Yanjing said, "we've always lived like this, haven't we? Even if it's 'seventy years' as you say, to us it's only a few days. We haven't suffered the torment of 'longevity' like you have, so we can't make the same decision."

"Yes, that's exactly the problem," Chu Tianqiu nodded. "It's the core issue of the entire 'Zhongyan Zhidi'. No one here can truly unite because memories aren't shared. It all depends on a powerful 'Hui Xiang Zhe' to lead the others. But the stronger the 'Hui Xiang Zhe', the more unhinged they become, and the harder it is to lead everyone. It's an unsolvable paradox."

"You're right," Zhang Shan agreed, nodding. "Normal people won't follow a madman."

Chu Tianqiu nodded in response. "But even without memories, are you willing to keep cycling here? What if it's not just seventy years? What if you have to stay for hundreds or thousands of years...? How long are you prepared to wait? Until the outside world is completely destroyed, while you remain here in 'eternal life'?"

Even Xiao Yanjing, who was usually the most clear-headed, began to hesitate.

"And there's one more crucial point," Chu Tianqiu added. "What if I lose my memory too?"

"You...?"

"Now, two people are about to reach the peak of 'Zhongyan Zhidi'," Chu Tianqiu said, holding up two fingers. "One is me, and the other is Qi Xia. But I have to tell you the truth: whoever of us two succeeds will only be a fleeting moment. In this place, once someone reaches the peak, it will alarm the higher powers. They'll intervene personally to punish us. This has happened repeatedly over the past few decades, without exception."

Xiao Yanjing swallowed hard and asked, "Alarm the higher powers... what will happen?"

"They'll reshuffle everything here," Chu Tianqiu explained. "No matter how powerful the 'Hui Xiang Zhe' or how formidable the 'Sheng Xiao', they're like toys in front of those two. In other words, even if one of us stands high now, we're on the brink of falling. If you don't seize this wind to spread your wings, the next opportunity might take another seventy years."

"After the reshuffle... will everyone lose their memories?" Zhang Shan asked.

"Yes, at least ninety-nine percent will," Chu Tianqiu said. "But does that matter? Even if only half lose their memories, the information gaps and memory breaks among all 'participants' will already exist. Those who retain memories and those who don't won't be able to communicate effectively or trust each other, making it infinitely harder to reach the peak. To you, this might seem like an opportunity that appears after just two or three cycles, but Qi Xia and I have been operating for years."

"But I still don't understand," Zhang Shan said. "You mentioned you have a useless 'Hui Xiang', but how exactly are you using others' abilities...?"

Chu Tianqiu chuckled lightly. "Perhaps it's just fate's favor. My 'Hui Xiang' can't activate any abilities, but it allows me to borrow others'. I don't even know if that's good luck or not."