The Ancient God's Goal

Kashuliwu wanted to trade intelligence for his survival, and Qin Chuan had no objection to that.

The main issue was whether the information was true.

As a subordinate of an Ancient God, it would already be remarkably ethical of Kashuliwu to provide even one-tenth truthful information.

The less scrupulous ones would lie from beginning to end.

If you actually believed them, you would be waiting to get screwed to death.

Composing himself, Qin Chuan nodded. "You talk first. Based on the information you provide, I'll consider whether to spare your life."

Kashuliwu found the scene somewhat familiar.

He seemed to have encountered this situation before, except back then, he had stood on the victor's side, watching the defeated struggle desperately for survival. Now, he was the one trying every possible means to stay alive. It was truly sigh-inducing.

But as a Faceless One under an Ancient God, Kashuliwu had no concept of dignity. Let alone compromising himself, as long as he could survive, he could do even more humiliating things without the slightest psychological burden.

Besides, he had plans of his own.

This mortal's combat power was somewhat absurd, but conversely, if he could win him over or exert some guidance over him, he could instead become an asset to their Ancient God camp.

Who was the prey was still hard to say.

Kashuliwu felt reassured and immediately said, "This world is a gigantic prison. The void is its ceiling, the earth its foundation, and the gods are the pillars that form it. Together, the three create a prison that will devour all living beings and seal off every escape route. Mortal, you are no exception."

It sounded quite intimidating.

Qin Chuan immediately replied, "If this world really is a prison as you say, then I should kill the gods and break it even more."

"That's right." Kashuliwu nodded repeatedly, then began to chuckle in a low voice. "But for lambs, a prison is not merely a restriction. It is also their strongest barrier of protection. Without this prison, the hunters outside would no longer face any obstacles and could act as they pleased. Such as us."

Kashuliwu's tone carried a trace of mockery. "Mortal, the more gods you kill, the freer this prison becomes. But correspondingly, we outside the prison will no longer be hindered. Yet if you stop now, then in essence, you will remain a prisoner. So no matter what you do, it will ultimately be futile. You will merely go from one bad ending to another."

"Is that so?" Qin Chuan nodded thoughtfully and raised his own question. "If that were the only reason, then you should have continued lurking in secret and waiting for an opportunity. Why risk yourselves for a spokesperson? Though this is merely your projection, if it gets destroyed, it will probably still have quite an impact on your true body. With the selfish nature your Ancient God faction has always had, why would you do something so self-sacrificing? So the importance of this spokesperson is probably far from simple."

Kashuliwu stared at Qin Chuan and said meaningfully, "Mortal, your intelligence surprises me. I'll generously tell you more. Spokespersons are nails driven in by the gods, active anchor points. We finally gained a certain foothold in this world, so naturally, we must do our best to preserve it."

Qin Chuan accepted that explanation.

Whether they were apostles, God Chosen, God Children, God's Spokespersons, or even the ordinary believer NPCs found everywhere, all of them could ultimately establish a connection with the gods. Their actions would make the gods' ties to the world even closer.

But things definitely were not that simple.

The Ancient Gods could give Rakshasa One-Blade Cut the title of Deep Sea Spokesperson, so they could give it to other players as well.

This time, Rakshasa One-Blade Cut had called for help and even summoned Kashuliwu, the Faceless Champion. It was a little too grand a mobilization.

To put it bluntly, Rakshasa One-Blade Cut was not worth it.

Even if a hundred Rakshasa One-Blade Cuts were added together, their value would still be far inferior to Kashuliwu's.

Losing the Faceless Champion just to save a dispensable spokesperson was a losing deal no matter how one looked at it.

Thinking back to the previous two cross-region operations, the gods behind those title-holding players had remained completely unmoved. Forget sending down divine projections; not even apostles had appeared.

That showed that title-holding players were only worth so much to the gods.

But that conclusion did not seem to apply to Rakshasa One-Blade Cut.

The Ancient Gods had not only sent reinforcements, they had sent a major one directly.

Qin Chuan turned to look at Rakshasa One-Blade Cut, who had been pinned down by shadows.

What was so unique about this guy that the Ancient Gods valued him so highly?

"Could it be that Rakshasa One-Blade Cut was reborn too?"

The moment that thought surfaced, Qin Chuan laughed at himself.

Judging from Rakshasa One-Blade Cut's performance, if he had been reborn, then he had failed far too badly.

That possibility could be ruled out immediately.

Other than that, it was truly hard to say what Rakshasa One-Blade Cut possessed that would catch the Ancient Gods' attention.

Rakshasa One-Blade Cut grew uncomfortable under Qin Chuan's stare and said with a trace of guilt, "Night Wanderer, what are you looking at? I admit I've fallen into your hands this time, but I won't admit defeat!"

Qin Chuan looked back at Kashuliwu and asked seriously, "Was it really worth going to such lengths to send down a projection for this guy?"

Before Kashuliwu could speak, Rakshasa One-Blade Cut had already started shouting in anger. "Night Wanderer, what do you mean? What do you mean, whether it's worth it? I'm the president of Rakshasa Hall. With one call, hundreds answer! How dare you question me? I refuse to accept this!"

"Enough. Go play somewhere else."

Qin Chuan waved his hand, and the shadows sealed Rakshasa One-Blade Cut's mouth, leaving him unable to utter another word.

After pondering for a moment, Qin Chuan looked at Kashuliwu and said, "Your ultimate target is me, isn't it?"

As he spoke, Qin Chuan observed Kashuliwu's expression.

Not much could be gleaned from that ugly, ferocious face, but Qin Chuan still sharply caught a subtle change.

Even if his earlier deduction was not the final conclusion, at least the direction was correct.

With a rough direction in mind, Qin Chuan continued, "Or rather, the Ancient Gods' target is not entirely me, but the Shadow Power on my body. But that still doesn't explain why you appeared."

"Mortal, take your time guessing." Kashuliwu seemed somewhat pleased with himself. "You will carry this question forever, yet never find the true answer."

As he spoke, a Gate of Void appeared behind Kashuliwu, and his figure began to fade. "This battle with you made one thing clear to me. Under the current rules, we are no match for you. Therefore, I look forward to our next meeting. I hope you can live until then."

Qin Chuan's gaze sharpened. He swung Darkest Hour to cut through space, only to discover that even after slicing the Gate of Void into several pieces, he could not stop Kashuliwu from leaving.

Kashuliwu shook his head. "Mortal, don't waste your effort. I bypassed Apocalypse to send down this projection, and now Apocalypse is repelling me again. With your methods, you cannot stop this process. As I said, I hope you can survive until our next meeting. But by then, how much of your world will remain is hard to say."

Amid his whispers, Kashuliwu vanished completely, leaving with remarkable decisiveness.

Although Kashuliwu had tried to maintain an air of composure, Qin Chuan somehow felt that he had fled in rather a sorry state.