ALL NOVEL 394. Tens of Thousands
The Prophet replied almost before Shen finished speaking. "We can."
The voices came as before, with no emotion or different tone. Yet, the strange connection Shen felt to Void Energy kind-of-almost-but-not-really made him feel something. He took it to mean that the Void could, yes, acquiesce to his request, but it might not be the best choice.
So, he asked, "Can I ask for different things, one after the other, until you've repaid me?"
"You can," the Prophet replied.
"Then, the first thing I want is for you to reveal why you let me know my choice might not be the best option, but in such a roundabout way."
This time, the Void took a moment to reply. Shen didn't think the Void Overmind behind the Prophet had trouble understanding the question or coming up with an answer. It should have to do more with the Prophet's connection to the Void than the subject.
"We did not," the Prophet replied at long last. "The Gardener has infused this universe's Axioms of Life with the Law of Caring Cultivation. It permeates all living beings and has allowed you to glimpse part of this Prophet's thoughts by instinct. That wouldn't happen in other places, but the Gardener is the Law of Caring Cultivation's Enduring Pillar. His proximity strengthens his Ascended Law, allowing the Axioms of Life to pierce through the veil that only Light is normally able to. We have now fully forced this Prophet's mind to sleep as we speak; Reality won't be able to interfere with our conversation. As an apology, the answer to this question was provided at no cost."
Shen tasted the Law of Caring Cultivation's name in his mind. So that's what the Gardener's Path had become. More interestingly, the Gardener still had influence over his Ascended Law; he was an Enduring Pillar, whatever that meant. That influence wasn't small, either, if it had even affected the Void on some level. Shen wanted to know more but wouldn't waste his "credit" with the Void by asking about such a common thing.
His first instinct was to ask what was wrong with his earlier request, but he had a much better question to ask instead.
"What's the best thing I can get from you with the credit remaining after you answer this question?"
Once more, the Void Overmind replied instantly, "Erasal."
That was meaning in that single word. It meant the absolute end of his existence. Ceasing to be at a level so fundamental that Shen couldn't even start to comprehend.
He should've seen that coming; he was talking to the Void, after all.
"I mean from the perspective of someone who believes living and thriving in Reality is closely linked to the best result possible."
"We wouldn't know."
Shen smiled self-deprecatingly. He should also have seen that coming. The Void Overmind that existed on the edge between Reality and Void could think—something the Void should be unable to—but it didn't work exactly like a living being's mind. Some things were beyond it, like putting itself in a living being's place.
Fortunately, he had someone else to ask. "I want to hear this Prophet's honest answer to that question."
There was no visible change in the angel-like man, as there had been none when its mind was forced into deep sleep. Yet, the voice that followed was what Shen would've expected from a young man full of vigor.
"If I your place, I ask two things," he said, his voice emotionless. Shen wasn't sure whether the Prophet spoke Stangue poorly or if the Void Overmind's presence affected his speech. "One, I and my influence leave Myriad Worlds. Two, Void removes Void's blessing from you. You unique opportunity be free and remake yourself. Get rid every connection remains. Gardener owe you, let you free. Void frees you. Waste opportunity not. Die to tribulation better than live with shortcut. Not interfere, or you live incomplete. I swear."
Shen frowned. He didn't feel like he could trust that answer. "How about my soul and mind? Will the Heavens heal them after the tribulation is over?"
The millions of voices replied, "No, but you can survive as yourself if you succeed in the tribulation. That is all we can answer. If we say more, you won't be able to ask for what our Prophet suggested."
His frown deepened. Halting the Void's plans in the Myriad Worlds sounded very unimportant to him. However, it would prevent the Gardener from interfering with him during his tribulation, which the Prophet considered a good thing.
Getting rid of the Void's blessing—or taint—sounded great, though. Shen hadn't known that was possible. He had no idea what that taint actually meant, but he wanted nothing to do with the Void.
If not for the last part, he would've ignored the suggestion. The Prophet believed it was better to die in the tribulation than get rid of it. Shen's life would be incomplete if he stopped midway through. Although Shen had heard no tales of any tribulation stopping midway through—without killing the cultivator, that is—he knew tribulations strengthened those who survived them. It made sense to do as the Prophet had suggested.
However, as much sense as it made, there were other things Shen wanted. The Prophet wasn't Shen. He couldn't know what was truly the best for him—as the beginning of the answer suggested; "If I were you."
Another interesting thing he noticed was that E'livia had been wrong. She had thought this was a new Prophet, but if the creature had enough influence over that world for it to be relevant to the Gardener, it should've been around for a long time.
Instead of agreeing to the suggestion, Shen asked, "Do I have enough credit for you to kill the Gardener for me?"
Shen's logic was straightforward: the Gardener had infected him. His Law of Caring Cultivation had tugged Shen's connection to the Void, which Shen didn't even fully feel. A sense he barely had had been manipulated.
Theoretically, that had been for his own good. Shen didn't care. He hated being directly manipulated the most, and he couldn't accept something like that from a hypocrite who forbade politics in his World Tree.
Moreover, the manipulation meant Shen couldn't trust his senses; thus, he couldn't trust anything the Void told him. He wouldn't be confident of making any deal until the Gardener was gone. He still had to try the one deal that would let him get rid of the Gardener, though.
"Yes," the Void replied.
That was very telling. Whatever Shen had done was valuable enough for him to ask for an S-rank to be killed. The Void might be lying by mistake; it might believe it had the power to kill an S-rank but lack it.
"Do it," Shen commanded.
Reality shook for a moment, then returned to normal.
"It's done," the Void Overmind said. "What else, Herald Shen?"
Shen's frown returned. "Do I still have credit after you killed an S-rank?"
"Yes. Killing the Gardener is easy. We can kill him again tens of thousands of times to repay you. Do you want that?"
"Wait, what?!"
The Gardener sat on a stone, fishing with a simple bamboo rod on a lake in the middle of grassy plains. His gaze ignored the A-rank fish on the water; he was staring at many other things. One of the matters he paid attention to required his sight to travel distances that no amount of space could bridge and pierce the protections of the leaf where the boy was.
He smiled at the boy's last request as he followed his line of thought through his soul ripples. That one had a good head on his shoulders. His soul was infected by different forces, and he sought to remove at least one of them.
The Heavens were part of Reality itself, so removing their influence from his Path came after removing any other influence. The Void's taint was relatively harmless until it was time to Ascend one's Law, so he had time to deal with that—if he was even aware of it. That left the Gardener's "influence" to be removed, as the boy saw it to be.
The Gardener was glad his little Alliance still trained some people well. That's what the Alliance had been created for. Only then could they—
His line of thought stopped when the Void materialized inside him and consumed the entire world he was in.
He returned to life a moment later in the exact same spot. Enduring Pillars like him could be killed. It hurt a lot, but he would return to life as long as his Law persisted in Reality. Only another Ascended Law could permanently get rid of him—that was the ultimate gap between Destiny Realization and Law Defining cultivators, or A-ranks and S-ranks, as the Alliance called it. The Void might also destroy him with some focused attacks, but those wouldn't be able to reach this place.
The Void knew he could return, but the boy didn't, so he hadn't asked for the Gardener to be permanently removed.
Good for the boy; if that had been the request, he would've died before he could even think of continuing his conversation with the Void Overmind. Good for the Gardener, too; Shen's request was even better for the Gardener than the thing the Prophet had suggested. If the Prophet had left the Myriad Worlds and brought its influence with it, it could have used those resources in another place. But now, the Gardener looked at his Myriad Worlds and located the billions of surprisingly deep and well-hidden Void Insertion Points that were used for the Void to reach him there.
The Prophet's plans were impressive but lacking. Even the Void shouldn't know the depths of the World Tree's Roots. Even if the Prophet's schemes had been completed, they wouldn't have caused more than medium damage.
The Gardener didn't blame the boy for his choice. The Tribulation of Remaking made him even more ignorant than the boy was known for being during his life. Too young, that one; too inexperienced.
The Void Insertion Points... His people could take care of it. The little girl was confused, but she had a loyal heart that would be useful to help everyone in the Myriad Worlds. She could be honed by destroying some Void Phenomena.
The Gardener smiled. That was if she didn't give her heart to the dashing young hero who was about to save her life. He hoped she would. He loved a good love story.
The hero... The Gardener supposed he owed the boy a little help after he revealed the Void's plans in the Myriad Worlds, even by coincidence. That would allow the Gardener to counter some of the methods the Void had used. Also, it would be too wasteful to let Shen die like that after the Gardener worked so hard to help him survive and hide him from the Primordials.
The Gardener wouldn't help too much, though. He wasn't willing to pay the price for the boy.
He pondered his options and concluded the best thing he could do for Shen now was to prevent him from making a deal until he survived the Tribulation—if he did. The Prophet had been right about that; surviving it would greatly benefit Shen. The boy would be in a better position to ask for something after it was done—including being able to understand that being affected by an Ascended Law was not the same as being purposefully influenced by the Law's Enduring Pillar! The Prophet had been sneaky with that bit of misdirection—which, to be honest, was one of the reasons the Gardener decided to deal with this matter by permanently getting rid of the little bastard.
He Willed it, and the creature ceased to exist forever.
A golden Lightning Bolt as thick as a sun appeared in the skies out of nowhere and fell on him. He had just interfered with Shen's tribulation for the first time by directly saving the boy. The Heavens weren't happy about that.
The Heavenly Lightning never struck him, as his Law eroded it long before it reached him. The lightning bolt was but a warning. He was a Law Elevation cultivator, thus somewhat liked by the Heavens.
The Heavens would be serious the next time, though. He would still survive, but at great cost—which he wasn't willing to pay for the boy. This was a one-time thing. The boy would receive considerably less help than every other C-rank in the Myriad Worlds. The Gardener interfered to save those at least three times, as long as they were relatively good people. He wouldn't have the Little Ones in his garden die without assisting a little.
With his "debt" to Shen repaid, the Gardener sent a few commands to his sect to act against the Void Insertion Points and returned to fishing.
One moment, the Prophet revealed B-rank power and came for Shen. The next, pure Life materialized everywhere around them. It was so bountiful that it started healing Shen's soul. It was only a tiny bit but still unimaginable for him.
It proved an S-rank was involved.
The Prophet didn't fare well. Grass instantly appeared on the ground, as if it had always been there, and then instantly became a massive grassy hand that enveloped the creature. It closed firmly, clenching with the Prophet in the middle, then faded away. The grass and all the Life in the area also faded away.
When Shen could once more see the place where the Prophet had been, the creature was gone.
Shen saw everything happen, but somehow, it took less than an instant. The very Laws of Reality he could feel became weak in that region. Whoever had done that had forced Reality itself to behave in a way it shouldn't, and it came with a cost for the local Axioms, though they were rapidly recovering.
Shen shuddered in fright. That had to have been the Gardener. He had counter-attacked the Void Prophet after getting killed. Shen doubted the creature could return to the Void, considering an S-rank had been involved in killing it. It should be gone for good.
He really hoped the Gardener hadn't been paying that much attention and knew Shen had asked for the Void to kill him.
He waited, tense, for a few moments. Nothing happened. He still didn't sigh in relief, though. Instead, he would show proactivity in the slim chance that it might help him not get obliterated if the Gardener ever found out about his involvement in his murder.
He still had no idea why an S-rank could be killed thousands of times and "survive," but he did his best not to even think about it in case the Gardener was looking that way.
Shen started poking E'livia's face so she would wake up and, hopefully, tell him she could get rid of that Void Energy now that the Void Prophet was gone. Shen really wanted the merit for that.