"Lin Jue, to be honest, this outcome exceeded my expectations. Both He and I thought you would be the one to win this game in the end."
On a ridgeline near the summit of the snow mountain, the pale sky blended into the silvery glacier, gradually making it impossible to distinguish heaven from earth. Lu Li sat across from Fu Jue. Though he wore only a thin long coat, its brown hem fluttering wildly in the freezing wind, he showed no sign of feeling cold. A calm, gentle smile rested on his face.
Fu Jue—or rather, Lin Jue—sat with his knees drawn up and tilted his face slightly upward. His silver-white eyes behind his lenses reflected Lu Li's face. "Are you saying this on your own behalf, or on behalf of the Ancestral God?"
"You already know the answer, so why ask?" Lu Li smiled faintly. "Human memories are negligible against the billions of years lived by gods. The knowledge and images glimpsed in passing, poured into a mortal's fragile soul, become a burden too great to bear. From the moment you abandoned me in the Sea of Hopelessness, I became the Sea God's vessel.
"This was not my intention. While I soaked in seawater, while invisible tentacles filled every opening in my body, I used every method in my memories for resisting divine contamination, trying to wrest control of my body from the Sea God's will. Unfortunately, I failed. But now that I think about it, this outcome is not so bad. At least I am no longer a pawn that can be discarded at any time."
The young man's smile had remained unchanged from beginning to end—gentle, sincere, and earnest, as though he were recounting a heartwarming story. Yet the eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses were hollow and