Chapter 215 - 25: Before the Birth of the Celestial God
’I’m married, and my wife is a Great Demon? What kind of dream am I having?’
For Duke Qinghui, marriage wasn’t a serious affair. As a Lord, Westheid was always prepared to sell his eligibility for a political marriage at a good price.
’If the rumors claimed that even Duke Qinghui’s ass was omnipotent, then a real marriage couldn’t be much worse, right?’
Reiya, Mivana, and the others didn’t have any particular attachment to marriage either. It could only be said that thanks to the horrifying genetic Ascension and breeding programs of the Mortal World’s nobility, marriage had long lost any semblance of sanctity.
But that didn’t mean Westheid was truly indifferent. At the end of the day, it was still a contract.
And Duke Qinghui happened to be a man who kept his oaths.
’Damn it, how did I get married without even knowing it?’
Westheid asked, his face expressionless, "So, we’re husband and wife?"
"Husband and wife? What’s that?"
Hearing this, Wan Qi’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She tilted her head and said,
"We’re partners! And battle partners, too."
Wan Qi pulled Westheid to his feet. The small hand that emerged from her slightly oversized sleeve was surprisingly strong.
"Alright, no time for jokes. We worked hard to earn this vacation in the rear, so we have to make the most of it. Let’s go, we should try to see everything."
And so, Westheid was forced to go shopping with Wan Qi.
This neon-lit city looked extremely modern, with its clean, flat roads, skyscrapers reaching into the clouds, dazzling arrays of shops, and the melodious, soothing music drifting from a central clock tower. It seemed to be a metropolis of pure indulgence and glamour.
However, that wasn’t the case.
Westheid carefully observed the passing crowd. Regardless of age or gender, none of them looked like they were enjoying the glitz and glamour.
On the contrary, they hurried along with brisk steps, and the sorrow and gloom in their eyes gave Westheid a sense of déjà vu.
It was the look of people who had just experienced the ravages of war.
"A nation of soldiers, is it...?"
"Hmm?"
Wan Qi turned to look at the pensive Westheid and said,
"West, why are you stating the obvious? This is a city in the rear. Of course it’s for rotation and rest."
Westheid glanced at the news playing on a large screen. It was all unfamiliar.
"What year is it?"
"It’s the 637th year since the founding of Xuli. The founding celebration just passed a little while ago. Why?"
"Xuli..."
Westheid searched his memories. Despite his vast knowledge, he couldn’t find any nation with that name.
There was only one possibility, then. This was the Mortal World before the Venerable Master of the Azure Heaven’s Ascension—a precursor civilization completely unrecorded in later eras.
’If the Master of Extinction is truly the Celestial God’s Shadow of the Venerable Master of the Azure Heaven, then could the girl currently holding my hand be the future...’
Wan Qi looked at Westheid with concern. "West, you must be dizzy from hunger. That makes sense. We’ve been walking around since morning and haven’t had a proper meal yet."
’A meal? I don’t need to eat.’
Those at the Hero Tier could draw energy directly from the void long ago. For him, eating was now a form of social activity and pleasure.
Westheid was about to say so when he suddenly felt a pang of hunger in his stomach.
GROWL...
’Wait, where’s my power?’
’It was only then that Westheid realized he had become incredibly weak. It was one thing for his personal Shadow-Born to be missing—after all, he was practically inside the Shadow-Born right now—but how could all his power be gone? Did they nerf my Tier?’
’For a hardcore power-gamer, you can mess with my life, but you absolutely cannot mess with my power!’
He was so angry he immediately opened his status panel to check.
[Westheid Qinghui]
[Tier: Hero (Tier Five)]
[Human (Purity Forest Bloodline)]
[Talents: [Bright Radiance Manifested in the World], [Withered Glory Sun], [Dragon Soul Furnace], [Half-Beast Heart], [Evil Magic Vein]...]
All his attributes were present and accounted for. There were no issues.
’Wait... It seems my Tier hasn’t been nerfed.’
Westheid frowned, realizing something wasn’t right, and lowered his head in thought.
"Let’s go, let’s go! I know a really good place nearby. They use natural ingredients. It’s a bit expensive, but we’ve saved up a lot of points, so we can afford to splurge."
Full of energy, Wan Qi pulled Westheid along, heading straight for an open-air restaurant.
The gray-haired girl scanned her bracelet at the entrance, and a voice immediately sounded.
"High-tier Cultivator Wan Qi, welcome."
Wan Qi found a vacant round table and sat down, her fingertip lightly touching the screen on the tabletop.
"West, what do you want to eat?"
However, just as the girl finished her question, Westheid slammed his fist on the table and shot to his feet.
"How could I have forgotten?!"
After a period of thought, Westheid understood the reason he had lost his power.
In the current Mortal World, Celestial Gods did not exist.
The Mortal World before the birth of the Celestial Gods and the Mortal World after were completely incomparable. Without the Domains of the Celestial Gods to suppress Chaos, Chaos would erode the Mortal World unchecked. The specific manifestation of this was the comprehensive decline and fall of the Extraordinary System.
This was because the Extraordinary Path itself was carved out by the Celestial Gods. Without them, it was nearly impossible for the Extraordinary Path to draw upon sufficient Power of Order.
No wonder Westheid felt hungry. He hadn’t reached the level of Transcendence, where he could directly convert the Power of Chaos into the Extraordinary Power of Order. He still needed a Path to perform the conversion.
"We... West?"
Wan Qi’s beautiful, crimson eyes widened as she stared at the suddenly agitated Westheid.
Westheid quickly sat back down. "Sorry, I got a little excited. It’s nothing, everything’s fine now."
The gray-haired, red-eyed girl wasn’t annoyed. Instead, she let out a small laugh and said,
"This is kind of nostalgic. I remember you were just like this when I first found you. Have you lost your memory again?"
’The beginning? Amnesia?’
’Speaking of which, why does it feel like I’ve skipped a bunch of episodes?’
’Master of Extinction! You’re holding back parts of the memory you’re showing me, aren’t you?!’
"I suppose I have lost my memory," Westheid said calmly.
Although he didn’t know why the Master of Extinction had both created this Secret Realm of her memories and allowed him to move around freely within it, now that he had appeared in her memories, Westheid mostly understood her intentions.
’Perhaps... she wanted to see how many different choices the current me would make compared to the Westheid in her memories.’
Wan Qi closed her eyes, rested her head in her hands, and smiled.
"Then I’ll just have to teach you many things all over again."
The girl’s smile was sweet—very sweet. It was a bright smile, free of any impurities, and it made even Westheid feel a little warm.
Just as Westheid was about to continue his conversation with Wan Qi, the melodious music that enveloped the city suddenly stopped, replaced by the sound of a blaring alarm.
"Attention! Attention!"
"We interrupt this broadcast with an urgent battle report."
"The front lines have been hit by a Chaos Shock! Fortresses 32, 34, 25, and 27 have fallen!"
"All defense units from adjacent fortresses are to end their leave immediately. I repeat, end your leave immediately and return to your posts!"