Chapter 144: It Seems the Invincible Me Has Done It Again...

Chen Sheng felt a pervasive petrification sweeping across his entire body, but in the very next instant, this petrification began to recede. At a pace visible to the naked eye, his body, which had turned into a white-jade-like stone form, was reverting to its original flesh and blood.

It was the effect of that flowing water once again.

Chen Sheng was startled.

It was not because of the water's miraculous property, but rather because it reminded him of the scorching, rotting pain in his eyes when he had previously stared directly at Cthulhu. At that time, he had thought it was merely an illusion. But looking back now, it was no illusion at all—his eyes had indeed been rotting away.

So this was what a demigod was?

In that moment, Chen Sheng gained the clearest possible understanding of this core entity within the cosmic civilization chain.

Ordinary living beings did not even possess the qualification to gaze directly upon a demigod!

"What is this water?" Chen Sheng finally asked aloud.

It was the familiar young girl in Chen Sheng's eyes, only this time, her presence made it impossible for him to look at her directly. Hearing his question, she explained, "You can understand this water as the Source of Life, a special product from the Ninth Chain civilization. Submerged in the Source of Life, any injury can be easily healed. The Demigod Emperor Malyan Ke specially brought this out."

"Does this Demigod Emperor happen to be this... benevolent?" Chen Sheng adjusted his phrasing. Because the Source of Life was actively healing him, he did not withdraw his gaze, continuing to look straight at her.

"Benevolent? Not at all. The seat of the Demigod Emperor in the Civilized Capital is a position any demigod is qualified to sit upon. Although the destruction of Earth was largely caused by humanity itself, Malyan Ke, as a Demigod Emperor, must naturally bear a portion of the responsibility. Producing this Source of Life is also a way to shut the mouths of other demigods. Otherwise, once a demigod questioned this matter to the Greater Universe Will, the Greater Universe Will would hold Malyan Ke accountable."

With these words, the stone-skinned girl glanced at Cthulhu beside them: "Hand it over!"

"Hand what over?" Cthulhu's expression shifted. He had already guessed what the stone-skinned girl was referring to, but he still wanted to put up a pretense.

After all, if he could manage to keep it, there was a chance one of his subordinates might ascend to become a demigod.

"Shall I then question Malyan Ke's handling of this matter before the Greater Universe Will?" the stone-skinned girl said flatly.

This directly frightened Cthulhu into submission.

"Don't!"

Cthulhu cried out in a hurry. Knowing full well that he could no longer keep the item, he pointed dejectedly toward Chen Sheng.

In an instant, something emerged within the sealed pipe—a string of extremely complex and eerie symbols.

The stone-skinned girl was very familiar with this string of symbols, because back in that illusory world when Chen Sheng traveled to the Ghost Path realm, he had relied precisely on this string of symbols.

The stone-skinned girl was also quite surprised; she had not expected the "little game-enhancing prop" Cthulhu had given her to be none other than the "Demigod Core" left behind by Malyan Ke.

This was the very last item Malyan Ke had produced to shoulder his share of the responsibility.

Any sentient being within the cosmic civilization chain who obtained the Demigod Core could ascend in a single step and directly become a demigod!

As for Chen Sheng, he naturally had no memory of these symbols whatsoever.

As these symbols poured into his body, Chen Sheng gradually discovered that when he looked at Cthulhu again, the rotting, burning pain in his eyes had completely vanished.

He then looked at the stone-skinned girl; this time, his body did not exhibit any symptoms of petrification.

Crack, crack!

This was the sound of the sealed pipe fracturing under unbearable pressure. With a single step forward, Chen Sheng burst out from the vessel that resembled a cultivation chamber.

Then, remembering something, he hurriedly reached out and grabbed at the empty air.

Instantly, like a thousand rivers flowing into the sea, the dispersed Source of Life condensed back into a sphere and fell into Chen Sheng's palm.

The moment the Source of Life touched his hand, Chen Sheng froze, then instinctively pressed it into his own body.

In an instant, golden light burst forth from Chen Sheng's eyes, resembling two pillars of light sweeping across the cosmos. Finally, the golden light dissipated, and Chen Sheng had completed his very first ascension.

Fine golden patterns intertwined across Chen Sheng's entire body, triggering arcs of golden lightning that continuously spread around him.

Yet this place was extraordinary indeed; even the explosive awakening of a demigod only caused slight, superficial damage to its surroundings.

"A Fourth Chain demigod?" Cthulhu watched Chen Sheng at this moment, the mass of tentacles on his head swaying violently, utterly consumed by unwillingness.

If he had kept that Demigod Core, he was confident he could have nurtured a Fifth Chain demigod!

Yet fusing the Demigod Core with Chen Sheng felt like a terrible waste of a divine treasure in his eyes. After all, at the peak of human technological civilization on Earth, humanity had only reached the Third Chain.

Had it not been for the inherent limitations of a human body, an earth-shattering divine artifact like the Source of Life would not have merely broken a single chain of civilization limits for Chen Sheng.

Chen Sheng's sensations right now were naturally vastly different from before.

The most obvious change was that when he looked at Cthulhu, he could now vaguely perceive a massive, shadowy behemoth looming behind the entity.

That should be Cthulhu's true form.

However, when he looked at the stone-skinned girl, he was simply unaffected by her presence, just as before.

In that instant, Chen Sheng understood why Cthulhu treated her with such deference, even bordering on nervousness and fear—it turned out this young girl's strength far surpassed Cthulhu's.

Yes, a young girl.

Even though the stone-skinned girl before him was likely older than him by countless years, it did not hinder Chen Sheng from viewing her as Yu Youxin, the little girl from his memories.

Moreover, Chen Sheng felt that she probably thought of him in the same way.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have deliberately left information behind for him to escape, nor would she have helped him so profoundly after his consciousness re-aggregated.

Without her, Chen Sheng felt that even if he eventually discovered these truths, it would likely have been a very long time later. And by that time, even if the Demigod Emperor Malyan Ke knew and acknowledged it, it would at most result in Cthulhu offering him a slight compensation.

After all, he was merely an ordinary being, and one without a surviving civilization or race at that.

Whereas Cthulhu was a demigod!

Involuntarily, the look Chen Sheng cast toward Cthulhu grew dangerous, a murderous intent abruptly surfacing without warning.

Yet a mere hundredth of a second later, Chen Sheng suddenly calmed down.

That thought was far too dangerous!

Why on earth did he just have the urge to wipe Cthulhu out?

Could it be that he hadn't fully recovered from his previous experience of consciousness re-aggregation?

Chen Sheng's thoughts raced, and he concluded that it was most likely because, upon becoming a demigod, his body had attained an unprecedented level of strength, causing an involuntary swell of psychological arrogance.

Yes, that must be it—it was definitely not some brutal, instinctual reaction.

Some apocalyptic super-villain? This must just be Cthulhu, an alien entity, failing to comprehend the situation properly!

At that moment, Cthulhu also noticed Chen Sheng's gaze. As a demigod, and a Seventh Chain one at that, he immediately sensed the oddity in Chen Sheng's look.

Although Cthulhu had used the pretext of resurrecting Chen Sheng to net quite a few benefits for himself, the Demigod Emperor Malyan Ke of the Civilized Capital had not chosen Cthulhu to oversee this matter at random.

To resurrect Chen Sheng and re-aggregate his consciousness, Cthulhu had poured immense effort into understanding human civilization.

Thus, he asked, "Your gaze keeps shifting, yet your internal logic contradicts itself. In human civilization, isn't this called self-deception?"

Chen Sheng: "..."

Why did this octopus-man react so quickly? And how did he guess his psychological activity?

Just as Chen Sheng began to suspect that Cthulhu possessed telepathy, the stone-skinned girl prepared to leave. Seeing this, Chen Sheng followed after her.

After all, he truly had nowhere else to go.

Besides, he wasn't even sure whether he should believe Cthulhu's words. Between the two, following the person who was more familiar and had actually helped him was the obvious choice.

However, seeing Chen Sheng about to leave, Cthulhu hurriedly called out to him: "Hey, apocalyptic super-villain, don't rush off just yet!"

Pretending not to hear, Chen Sheng continued following the stone-skinned girl out.

Only as he walked outside did he realize that this place was not the laboratory he had imagined, nor were there towering skyscrapers; it was merely a very crude stone city. Although the city was fully equipped with necessities, the overall aesthetic felt inexplicably discordant.

Because it looked remarkably like an ancient human city from the depths of Chen Sheng's memories.

How bizarre was this!

He was someone who had died countless years ago, whose consciousness had been re-aggregated and resurrected, yet this place looked so crude?

And based on what he had seen before entering that mysterious aperture, a great many "people" had clearly entered that illusory world to play!

So where were those "people"?

Where had all those "people" gone? Why was this place so desolate, with not a soul in sight?

Chen Sheng was deeply perplexed.

At that moment, the stone-skinned girl walking ahead suddenly began to fade into an illusory state, and her voice drifted back to him: "I haven't truly come here; I merely arrived through a dream. When Cthulhu lies, he cannot look you straight in the eye—that is a punishment from past transgressions. Anything he says to you while looking you directly in the eye, you can believe."

As her voice trailed off, the stone-skinned girl vanished completely.

Chen Sheng came to a halt.

He pondered for a moment the fact that a demigod could even dream, before freezing slightly and muttering, "Do all of you possess telepathy?"

At that moment, Chen Sheng heard footsteps behind him. Turning his head, he saw Cthulhu, who had abruptly caught up to him.

The mass of tentacles on Cthulhu's head was swaying incessantly.

"She arrived here through a dream; no one knows where her true body is located. Although she only came in a dream, her status and standing are far too high, allowing her to forcibly manifest in the dream-realm and even condense a divine physical body," Cthulhu explained, his eyes filled with awe.

"Do demigods dream?" Chen Sheng locked eyes with the octopus-man.

"Of course they do. But when a demigod begins to dream, it usually signifies that their true form has suffered extremely severe injuries. For instance, her..." Cthulhu knew Chen Sheng wanted to understand the stone-skinned girl, and her display of partiality made him faintly sense that the two might have crossed paths in that illusory world. Thus, he willingly catered to Chen Sheng's curiosity.

"She is the daughter of the Stone-skinned Emperor, and they are one of the few father-daughter pairs who are both demigods. But this also meant that, due to their homologous divine powers, they were bound to fight to the death sooner or later. And indeed, that is what happened. When the Stone-skinned race, which once dominated the universe, reached the peak of its civilization, it suddenly began a rapid decline, and the entire clan fractured. Because the Stone-skinned Emperor was severely wounded, the group was left without a leader. As for her, she forgot her true name, and her true body's burial place remains unknown—only a single strand of consciousness continues to wander endlessly through the universe."

"Some Demigod Emperors speculate that she might have died long ago, without even realizing it herself. Her true form's divine power was likely plundered by someone using Ghost Path techniques, which is why she is in this state."

"However, you needn't worry about her. Her standing is extraordinarily high; had it not been for a lack of divine power, she would have long since become a Demigod Emperor. Therefore, even if her true form is dead, no existing demigod can do anything to that lingering strand of consciousness." Cthulhu glanced at Chen Sheng and added this final remark.

"Do demigods kill even their own biological daughters for the sake of divine power?" Chen Sheng furrowed his brow.

"You can't fathom it because humanity is reduced to just you alone. If human civilization were still around, and there happened to be another demigod among you, you would understand what that feeling is like. And if that demigod happened to be your blood-related sibling, or your parent or child, your mind would already be entirely consumed by the urge to kill them," Cthulhu said with the tone of one who had "seen it all."

Chen Sheng pondered this. At the moment, he was entirely out of options. In this vast universe, even though he was now a demigod and a Fourth Chain one at that—meaning he wasn't at the very bottom of the demigod hierarchy—he still felt utterly lost and helpless.

This caused him to subconsciously reach out and grab at the empty air.

For Chen Sheng was missing his "starter equipment"!

Recalling the days when he possessed his supreme treasure—whenever he found someone displeasing to the eye, he would simply slip it over their neck, a feeling of absolute satisfaction—where was it now?

And yet...

As Chen Sheng reminisced about his "false memories," he froze in surprise.

For he saw a shadow materialize in his palm, and within that shadow, a crude hangman's noose came into view.

A mere glance at it filled his heart with a profound sense of passing time.

Chen Sheng fell into a stunned silence.

"..."

His great treasure had actually been summoned?

Yet very quickly, Chen Sheng understood what was happening, and a wave of shock rippled through his heart.

Was this the power of a demigod?

Turning the illusory into reality? Terrifying beyond measure!

Just as Chen Sheng was about to explain to Cthulhu that he had merely conjured this gadget out of boredom rather than experiencing a relapse of middle-school syndrome, he noticed that Cthulhu acted as if he saw nothing at all.

This made Chen Sheng slightly suspicious.

Was Cthulhu too powerful, choosing to ignore it directly?

Or perhaps...

Chen Sheng looked toward the stone city, and then, the hangman's noose stirred.

In a single instant, the entire stone city collapsed.

Because the hangman's noose had drained away every trace of time belonging to the stone city, causing its instantaneous destruction.

The disappearance of the city shocked Cthulhu instantly, the tentacles on his head flailing wildly: "Why is a conceptual weapon attacking this place? Were we caught in the crossfire?"