Turning Point, Holy Sword unsheathed (II)

Though he had known the outcome for a long time, for some reason, the Time Hero still stood up in a daze.

He walked onto the stone platform again, placing his hand on the sword hilt.

It was the height of summer, and the abundant water source of the Lake of Truth, coupled with the ample nutrients provided by the giant trees on the island in the lake, resulted in many small animals besides humans—the chirping of cicadas, the flapping of birds' wings, and the splashing of fish and shrimp.

These sounds, mixed with the sound of the breeze blowing through the water and the rustling of grass, constantly entered the Time Hero's ears, but at this moment, they stagnated.

The entire World seemed to be covered with a gray filter.

The Time Hero looked around in surprise, only to discover that the five vine chairs that should have been filled with other heroes were now all occupied by hunched-over old men.

"." After a moment of silence, the Time Hero broke the silence: "Who are you?"

Hearing this, only the old man closest to the left side of the tree cave slowly raised his head, his eyes showing a hint of fatigue.

"Me?" The old man's voice was a little hoarse, but the Time Hero felt like he had heard it somewhere before.

"My name is Zhang Xiu."

The Time Hero's pupils shrank suddenly; this was his name in his previous life.

"They." The old man who called himself Zhang Xiu looked around: "Are all Zhang Xiu... You are too."

"You are me from the future?" Zhang Xiu had experienced the information age in his previous life and quickly reacted to the situation: "Is it because of my profession, Time Manipulator? That's not right; my skill should only be able to delete a period of time."

After Zhang Xiu came to this World, he obtained the profession of Time Manipulator. The skill that came with the profession was Time Editing, which could delete a period of time not exceeding five seconds, similar to the ability of the Red King Stand in the anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

This was an outrageous cheat skill. Although Zhang Xiu's surface strength was not as strong as Chu Ke's among the five heroes, Zhang Xiu believed that he could surpass Chu Ke with this cheat-like ability, as long as he had enough time.

After all, time-based abilities were considered the strongest T0 series.

"We are not you from the future. On the contrary, we are you from the past..." The elderly Zhang Xiu raised a finger: "Since you are me, then you should also know a theory called the Poincaré Recurrence Theorem."

Without waiting for Zhang Xiu to answer, the elderly Zhang Xiu began to speak on his own: "In this World, above the gods, there is actually a higher existence—the source of the gods, the Heavenly Dao: the Great Unified Consciousness. Next, I will refer to it as the Unified Body."

"Here, I introduce a brand-new concept: the lifespan of the World. The matter in the World has been constant since the World was formed. If a World absorbs matter from the outside, it will automatically discharge an equal amount of matter in exchange. However, the space of the World is constantly expanding. Therefore, in infinite time, the World will inevitably expand to a state where matter is sparsely distributed in space. This is when the lifespan of the World ends."

"Therefore, the Unified Body will initiate the destruction of the World before this happens, resetting the World in advance. At this point, a cycle ends and enters the next cycle."

"The events that occur in each cycle are fixed... That's how it should be, until an exception appeared."

The elderly Zhang Xiu spread out his hands, and surging magic power formed a portrait. Zhang Xiu looked at it, and it depicted the Hero of the East, Chu Ke.

The next moment, the elderly Zhang Xiu said something shocking: "The Hero of the East should not have been him, but a high school student from Earth."

"The normal plot should have been that high school student becoming the chosen true hero and drawing the Holy Sword."

"Then, the remaining four of us would have followed him to kill the new generation of Demon King, who was promoted from the original Demon King's cadre, War."

"But for some reason, this person named Chu Ke replaced the high school student who should have been the hero in one cycle and became the Hero of the East."

"Therefore, at this Node in time, the entire World ushered in its first major turning point—the Hero's Sword, which should have been drawn by a hero with a Heart of Salvation, was drawn by Chu Ke, this imposter."

"And this fake hero, for some reason, possessed power far beyond the Unified Body, preventing the Unified Body's world-destroying ritual. From then on, the World will inevitably fall into the countdown to Death."

"Fortunately, at the last moment, the Unified Body approached me, or rather, us. It integrated all of its authority into our Time Manipulator's skills, causing a real qualitative change in our skills—we can directly delete the time of the World and forcibly enter the next cycle."

"Although this ability can only be used five times, fortunately, we can leave a segment of consciousness in the important Nodes of the next cycle, which is the me you see now. In this way, we are equivalent to having five chances to rewind and reverse this ending, defeating Chu Ke before he grows to be invincible."

"However, Chu Ke's growth rate is simply unprecedented. If I remember correctly, his stats should have grown to over a thousand by now, reaching the level of the previous Demon King."

"After drawing the Holy Sword, he has truly entered an invincible path of growth, and no one will be able to stop him!"

"Fortunately, after learning everything, you should truly possess the Heart of Salvation. Now, you should be able to draw that Holy Sword."

The elderly Zhang Xiu slowly walked up to Zhang Xiu, his wrinkled hand gently placed on Zhang Xiu's shoulder, his tone heavy with a hint of disbelief: "To strengthen your Heart of Salvation, I must also tell you a shocking secret that I only discovered a long time later."

The elderly Zhang Xiu's body began to turn into specks of light and gradually dissipate. He opened his mouth and said, "Actually, Chu Ke's true identity is..."

"Is the Demon King, I know that?" Zhang Xiu interrupted him, and under the wide-eyed gaze of the elderly Zhang Xiu, he said, "Didn't his main body tell me in the Multiverse Chat Group?"

"Wait?" The elderly Zhang Xiu's calm expression, which he had maintained until now, finally broke down, and he said with a bewildered expression, "Main body? What the hell is the Multiverse Chat Group?"

"Oh? You don't know? The Multiverse Chat Group is..." Zhang Xiu was about to explain when he saw the elderly Zhang Xiu's head slowly disintegrate, turning into specks of light and dissipating, leaving only a sentence in the air.

"Fuck! It's over ————"

Zhang Xiu slowly swallowed a mouthful of saliva, silently mourning for his older self for three seconds.

Coming back to his senses, his expression was solemn.

Has this World finally gone mad? The true Savior Hero is going to help the Unified Body destroy the World, while Chu Ke, the Demon King, is going to stop the World from being destroyed? And, of all people, it has to be Chu Ke!? This is like you going on stage to fight in WWE, and choosing a Tello as your opponent among a group of Tysons! This space gradually collapsed with the departure of the elderly Zhang Xiu, and the familiar World returned again.

Zhang Xiu was still holding the Hero's Sword's hilt in his hand, and he exerted a little force.

[Ting-]