Having come this far, Natsume did not stand on ceremony.
He accepted this "great gift" just as readily.
After all, whether he chose to oppose [King Zhenruo] later or to flee, this vast amount of resources would be of tremendous help.
It was exactly what they lacked most at this stage.
Natsume: "Thank you."
The Lord of White Heron City sighed faintly.
"No need to be polite."
"In truth, having suffered such a crushing defeat, I am the one who should be apologizing most."
"I failed Kuraokami's trust in me..."
Natsume did not know what to say to that.
To preserve one's love for hundreds of thousands of years—the feelings between the Lord of White Heron City and the goddess Kuraokami had surely been pure beyond measure.
Any further praise or consolation would have felt like defiling that love.
Compared to them, that fellow Obito was as immature as a stumbling infant.
"This mark of mine should be fading soon."
"At the very end, is there anything else you wish to ask?"
Natsume pondered for a moment.
In the end, he asked:
"Has the path of [Intelligence Ascension] truly been blocked off?"
This was also what concerned Natsume most at present.
If he wanted to win this final confrontation against the [Otsutsuki Clan], there were only two things Natsume could do.
Either: disrupt the grand plans of [King Zhenruo] and [Xushiki].
Or: ascend to the rank of a [True God] himself and stand against them as an equal.
The former would be no easy task.
He had to stop [King Zhenruo], while also preventing [Xushiki] from succeeding.
Missing either one would spell utter disaster for his side.
That effectively doubled the difficulty!
And the latter would not be easy either.
[Intelligence Ascension]: a problem that had stymied the [Otsutsuki Clan]