Chapter 1040: Roles

Lou Yu gasped heavily.

Even though this body of his no longer needed to breathe to maintain its functions, the human instinct deep in Lou Yu’s bones still used this method to soothe the terror and shock in his heart…

Lu Xun stood calmly before him, brushed off his coat, and walked toward the Tian-Shu Realm.

“Lu Xun… where are you going?” the disheveled Lou Yu suddenly spoke up.

“My time is running out.”

Lu Xun looked down at his aging hand, his gaze somewhat complex. “Besides fighting you… I have more important things to do.”

“You…”

Seeing the changes in Lu Xun’s body, Lou Yu’s brows furrowed tightly. He opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately fell silent.

Lou Yu had realized that Lu Xun coming to find him specifically after waking up and forcing him into the depths of the black hole wasn’t to kill him, but to make him realize that “Infinity” is not “Invincibility”…

Someone who is overly confident in themselves cannot be humanity’s “insurance.”

When the Red King spoke with Lu Xun, he used the word “resolve” rather than “kill.” Clearly, Lu Xun wasn’t the only one who believed Lou Yu should live.

“Go on.” Lu Xun tucked his hands back into his coat pockets and walked away calmly. “Don’t forget what I told you just now.”

The earth beneath Lou Yu’s feet was being continuously absorbed, its matter converted into materials to fill his shattered body. His injuries healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a black robe draped over him once more.

He watched Lu Xun’s departing back quietly for a long time before slowly moving, walking in the opposite direction.

The black robe fluttered in the breeze. The slightly restless and arrogant aura he had gained from achieving “Infinity” had been polished away by Lu Xun, and his gaze became calm and restrained once more.

The two figures drifted further and further apart over the broken ruins.

……

“You actually woke up the Sovereign of Tian-Shu?”

The Silver King stared fixedly into the Red King’s eyes. “The Sovereign of Tian-Shu is the head of the Nine Sovereigns. You actually woke him up just for a Lou Yu? Don’t you know that once the Sovereign of Tian-Shu wakes up, his life enters a countdown?”

“Of course I know.” The Red King took a slow, unhurried sip of tea.

“But I said, I woke the Sovereign of Tian-Shu not just because of Lou Yu… but because he will be the one to push this era forward.”

“Push the era? Push it where?”

“I could tell you, but you wouldn’t understand.” The corners of the Red King’s mouth curled into a mocking smile. “Although you are the leader of the Thief God Path and hold all the paths of the gods, no matter how strong you are, you are just a short-sighted thief… Your gaze only looks at yourself, at that ethereal and unreachable Tenth Stage.”

“You cannot see through the grand play of this era.”

The Silver King snorted coldly, not denying his goal, but speaking flatly:

“Everyone has different pursuits; that’s normal. Since I’ve stepped onto this path, I naturally look toward the final point… Human interests, the lives and deaths of others—what do they have to do with me? Only what belongs to me is truly real.”

“Understandable.” The Red King nodded slightly. “But do you think… what is it that truly ‘belongs to you’?”

The Silver King frowned, seemingly not understanding the Red King’s meaning.

“Then let me ask it another way.” The Red King casually picked up a black piece from the table and toyed with it in his hand.

“Do you know the difference between a chess piece and a character?”

“A chess piece is dead; it only has two sides, black and white—either enemy or ally… But a character is alive. It can turn from black to white, or from white to black…”

“Just like the black piece in your hand, Lou Yu… do you think he still belongs to you now?”

The moment the Red King set the piece down, the originally pitch-black piece had turned a shade of gray between black and white. From this moment on, Lou Yu seemed to have completely broken free from the Silver King’s control, becoming an unpredictable existence on the chessboard.

“You see the world as a chessboard, so you can only control the black pieces that belong to you… But if you see the world as a play, then all pieces, whether black or white, enemy or ally, can become ‘characters’ for me to use…”

“You are destined to lose this game, because your pieces are also under my control.”

The Silver King seemed to realize something and gritted his teeth: “You’ve had your eye on Lou Yu for a long time? Everything in the Tian-Shu Realm was within your calculations??”

“It’s not just him that I’ve had my eye on…” The smile at the corners of the Red King’s mouth grew richer. “In this grand play, there is someone else you would never expect, who is also following the script I’ve laid out…”

“……Who?”

The Red King slowly pushed the gray piece toward the Silver King. Faint sounds of slaughter drifted from the stage, echoing in the silent snow…

The Red King looked into the Silver King’s eyes and smiled softly:

“It’s you… Li Laide.”

……

Wu-Ji Realm.

“Hey…”

“Weren’t we told to come and secretly scout the situation?”

“Can someone explain…”

“What the hell is this???”

Several possessors of the Heaven-Reaching Star Positions stood at the edge of the Wu-Ji Realm, looking at the massive gap blasted out by a single gunshot, their faces filled with shock!

Pu Xiazhan rubbed his chin, speaking in disbelief:

“This doesn’t look like the traces of a Calamity attack. Has the Fire-Tamperer’s lair been taken out by someone else first?”

After receiving orders from the Tian-Shu Realm, several possessors of the Heaven-Reaching Star Positions had rushed to Wu-Ji. To transport them across the Gray Realm, the Heaven-Reaching Tower had specifically used some scraps from the Realm Trains, which was why they were slightly late.

But according to the information previously sent by the Wu-Ji Realm, the time for the execution of Heart-6 shouldn’t have arrived yet… The group from the Heaven-Reaching Star Positions thought they would make it in time, but upon arrival, they discovered that the Fire-Tamperer’s lair had already been attacked.

“The current Wu-Ji Realm isn’t just a simple Fire-Tamperer lair; it’s guarded by several demigods and Arbitrator Delegates… None of the major human Realms would dare to act rashly. Who has such guts?”

“Forget who it is, let’s just go in and see.” Tu Tian snorted coldly and walked straight into the Wu-Ji Realm.

The other possessors of the Heaven-Reaching Star Positions exchanged glances and followed behind Tu Tian.

“Stay hidden.” The assassin Cui Ran reminded them at the right moment. “No matter who attacked the Wu-Ji Realm, we must disguise ourselves well. It’s a mess in there right now; it’ll be troublesome if we accidentally get dragged into it.”

As he spoke, Cui Ran opened his domain, and a dozen petals began to drift around them, their figures gradually merging with the environment.

“It has to be you, Cui Ran.” Li Shengmen patted his shoulder and reminded the group again,

“Everyone be cautious. No matter what you see later, don’t run around, and definitely don’t make a sound, understand?”