A Body Broken for the Abyss, a Head Severed to Weep the Heavens

A long time passed.

Only then did the clamor subside.

The water's surface also returned to calm.

The old woman turned her head, gazing at her brother who had little time left to live, and murmured again, "Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng—even that great man, so close to the gods, so brilliant and ambitious—he too clearly understood that humans are such weak and pitiful creatures. He poured the nation's strength into researching new methods, all to change humanity's frailty."

"And all of that was destined to be slow, but he clearly overlooked another way to rapidly break through human limits." Zhong Qingyu, sailing along with the giant ship, suddenly spotted a massive shadow below.

It was a Giant Octopus, severely injured, its nine human heads already missing without a trace. Without the wisdom of human heads, it had become nothing more than a thorough beast.

"Having mastered countless sea routes and secretly investigated for so many years, I've finally found you!"

The old woman's eyes were filled with longing. "It's hard to imagine just how terrifying that fellow must be, to have wounded you to this extent."

"Since we can't swallow our pride, and our bodies age toward death, why not simply replace the part below the neck with a new body? Then the problem is solved, isn't it?"

She revealed a yearning smile, gazing at that vast deep-sea shadow.

"Young, strong, gentle, supple—what a perfect body this is! This is the most beautiful creation in the Mortal World that I've always craved. It's the glory and greatness rooted deep in my blood!"

"Only with such a perfect woman, with a body this flawless below the head, could I be worthy of the gods, right?" She recalled the story of the god's birth proclaimed by Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng.

The moment the god descended into the Mortal World, he was different.

He was born in an ordinary mountain village of this world, with strange phenomena—a phantom embraced him as he came into the world.

"That phantom that held me was no demon, but a god from heaven."

"This is."

"The God-Given Tear Mole. I was born in heaven, descended to earth, sacred and holy in this world."

"Above and below the heavens, I alone am supreme!"

How majestic!

How dignified and overbearing!!

Her aged face showed immense longing and desire.

Only by seizing such a vast and majestic body now could she be worthy of that sacred and holy existence born of the heavens!

"Abandon humanity's ugliness, and choose this most beautiful form," she whispered softly.

Beside her, her brother lay on a sickbed. On the verge of death, his face was filled with immense terror.

His sister intended to cut off her own head and graft it onto that terrifying figure—the Lord of the Oceans.

Because she knew well that the current Qi Consumers all possessed powerful heads but had mortal bodies that decayed. So she would sever her own head and trade it for a body far stronger and more fearsome.

The human species, after all, had its limits.

"Yes, your eyes too—they long to have it, don't they?"

The old woman seemed to read the trembling in her brother's gaze and murmured, "Because you're about to die of old age. I won't allow myself to lose you, my last kin. I've studied for countless years, all for this moment."

Her brother's terror deepened.

The old man lying on the sickbed whimpered pitifully, even shedding tears.

"Don't cry. I know you're afraid of death. Your life is fading, your body rotting away—that's why I brought you out to sea."

The old woman showed a gentle expression, calmly wiping the corners of the old man's eyes, and said softly, "An old book once wrote: 'Do not let your eyes run dry; hold back your streaming tears. When eyes dry up and bones show, heaven and earth are merciless in the end.'"

"Don't you understand yet? My last kin, my foolish brother—heaven and earth are merciless. Crying is useless. You can only fight for your fate yourself."

She looked at the octopus, her eyes filled with longing and memory, and continued, "I know—you must feel the same as I did. The first time we saw it back then, we felt a powerful pull toward it."

"Those writhing tentacles, that gracefully swaying form."

"We both longed so desperately for its soft, moist, sensual tentacles to wrap around us and ravish us, to savor that supreme joy and delight."

"It is the shape I love."

"Come, fight me. Become a part of me!"

The old woman's lips curled, a battle flame burning in her eyes, and she suddenly burst into wild laughter: "I will join my brother to continue the age to come and build a new kingdom!"

Boom!

A terrifying battle erupted.

The giant crab brought Zhu Zhengwei here. Watching from afar, he felt rather unsettled. "Your Eldest Brother is still severely injured, and she's attacking him?"

He only felt that this world was somewhat terrifying.

If there were no immortality, humans on the verge of death might carry regret and fierce unwillingness, but in the end, they would choose to accept death honestly.

But what if true "hope" for immortality had appeared in human history?

Humans would go mad!

And in human history, before any true god had ever appeared, humans were already superstitious and worshipful to that degree—building shrines and temples, burning incense and bowing to Buddha, all kinds of superstition. What would happen if a true god actually appeared?

Humans would go even madder!

Unlike Earth's five-thousand-year civilization, this seemingly identical feudal society, with its similar development trajectory, might give rise to a completely different course of history!

Because of this burning desire for immortality, this pursuit of divinity, humanity would inevitably begin chasing ever more impossible powers, giving birth to all manner of great terrors.

Zhu Zhengwei suddenly had a thought:

What was happening before him would not be an isolated case!

Unlike the history of Earth's civilization, this world already possessed the supernatural, with Qi permeating heaven and earth.

In the vast, long, and magnificent history of civilization yet to come, there would be all kinds of humans, experts, and beings, fervently worshipping "deities" in different ways, pursuing immortality by any means necessary!

This would be a very real problem.

Of course, at this moment, Zhu Zhengwei was not yet prepared to accept such fervent fanatics. To put it bluntly, eating a giant octopus was fine, but when it came to this kind of human-animal issue... ugly, he declined.

Zhu Zhengwei put down his telescope and quickly sailed away. If he went over there, wouldn't a huge disaster happen?

Let the fellow disciple die, not the poor Taoist.

If he didn't use his GM powers, he would be taken away directly. If he did use them, it simply wouldn't be worth it—the cost was too great, shaking the very foundations of the world.

He turned his head and said to the Black Bronze Cloud Crab God with an upright expression:

"Life and death are fated, riches and honors depend on heaven. Everything is destiny, everything is heavenly providence. The gods never interfere in the choices of mortals."

"This is a human with the temperament of a hero, full of boldness and courage. Back then, she witnessed your birth alongside me. Perhaps she is also the hope for your race's rise."

Zhu Zhengwei sailed far away. To prevent being discovered, he raised his hand, and a vast mist covered the view.

"This is history, the will of fate."

With a calm expression, he sat in his boat and disappeared into the thick fog, laughing aloud:

"To sacrifice the body and repay the deep sea, to break the head and weep to the sky. To give up the self and enter the fish, who says the lifespan is exhausted?"

Gurgle, gurgle.

The Black Bronze Cloud Crab God showed a confused expression. At this moment, with his simple mind, he did not understand why this string of nonsense meant he wouldn't save Eldest Brother.

It was only many years later that this lofty and great Ocean Deity would repeatedly recount this very scene to his subordinates, speaking with the utmost reverence:

"At the time, I did not understand. I only felt greatly shaken."

"But when I recall it now, a thousand years later, and I chew over and over on that true god's poem from that day—'To give up the self and enter the fish, who says the lifespan is exhausted?'—I feel only the magnificent, epic flavor of mortals' pursuit of immortality!"

"As expected of the supreme and great, the all-seeing ancient god of old."