The moment that vast, complete aura erupted from the Sacred Codex of Reincarnation, the Water God's mind went blank with a buzz.
He stumbled and nearly fell out of the sky.
He stared at Evergreen sitting cross-legged on the ground, then at the scripture floating before his knees, utterly transformed. His mouth hung wide enough to fit a fist, but he couldn't get a word out.
The scripture was no longer simply black and white.
The black of death and the white of life were perfectly joined by a mysterious gray outline. The three colors flowed slowly like living things, forming a new balance that was steadier and far more unfathomable.
Its aura was neither pure vitality nor the stillness of death.
It was an all-encompassing "completeness."
As if it were telling you: life was part of it, death was part of it, and so was the silence between life and death.
It was the very order of the world.
The Water God tried to probe Evergreen's condition with his Divine Sense. But the instant it approached, it vanished like a stream flowing into the sea without raising so much as a ripple.
"What... what the fuck..."
The Water God's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. Everything he thought he knew was being ground into the dirt.
What was going on?
Had Old Xu really swallowed that bead of law that could poison a god?
And instead of dying, he'd gotten stronger?
That made no scientific sense!
But gods existed now. Science had probably given up long ago.
While the Water God questioned everything, Evergreen slowly opened his eyes.
What kind of eyes were they?
His left eye shone with radiant Holy Light, as though it held the first dawn of a newborn universe.
His right eye was a