Time passed, and several more days went by.
With a single strike from Zhao Cheng, he crushed the gray butterfly. As the Log refreshed, Zhao Cheng chose to open the Treasure Chest.
Log: You have collected Mysterious Fragments (Creation) x1296. Fragments merging. Log: In the era of the Saint Witches, the Witch Civilization established a trial known as the Eternal Trial. Countless witches traveled through the eternal light of spacetime, following fate's guidance as they searched for fragments and pieced together miracles. Whoever gathered all 1,296 fragments would become the heir to the Saint Witches. Yet in truth, there were only 1,295 fragments... Log: You have lost Mysterious Fragments (Creation) x1296. You have obtained Crown of the Supreme Saint (Immortality) x1. (Note: It is Immortality, and also uniqueness. Across the multiverse of space and time, only one may exist at any given time. Extraordinary mysteries lie within.)
Over a month ago, Zhao Cheng could already have cleared this instance. But because he was still missing some fragments, he had delayed until now.
Zhao Cheng took out the crown. Though it was called a crown, its outward form was actually a crystalline, translucent butterfly.
Its wings fluttered, and as they beat, colors rippled through their crystal clarity, carrying a faint trace of Starfire's essence.
Of course, only a faint trace.
As Zhao Cheng gazed at the butterfly in his palm, he truly and deeply understood for the first time what Immortality was, and what uniqueness meant.
Earth would grow old, Heaven would turn barren; even the universe had a day of destruction, and spacetime a moment of collapse. Even high-dimensional lifeforms, though untouched by the scouring of spacetime's light, would ultimately come to an end.
Longevity and immortality were not the same thing.
Of