I Will Teach You How to Hunt Gods

Chapter 616 170: Initial Sequence

"And the truth is indeed so."

"Do you know, Miss Wu Ming, although a Tier Four Apprentice Death God is called a 'Demigod', it cannot shake off the 'Demi' label, not even at Tier Five or Tier Six."

"Only 'seven' tiers, only when an Apprentice Death God reaches the seventh tier, can they remove any descriptive words and become a true..."

"Deity."

Shen Ye paused slightly, a trace of longing also appeared in his eyes.

Obviously, he was once one who pursued the 'divine position', wanting to become a Tier Seven Death God to completely shake off the words 'Apprentice' and 'Demi'.

Yun You was also surprised.

A Tier Seven Death God being called a True God is indeed interesting.

However, from the information she currently possesses, it seems that the difficulty from Tier Six to Tier Seven far exceeds the sum of the previous six tiers.

But on reflection, this seemed reasonable.

Since a Tier Seven Death God is called a True God, there must be a vast gap between them and ordinary mortals.

If everyone could become Tier Seven, then this realm wouldn't deserve to be called the realm of a deity.

After a moment of thought, Yun You nodded slightly, indicating for Shen Ye to continue.

"However, although there is so much intelligence in the world about the seventh tier, in reality, neither Earth nor other known planets have produced a genuine Tier Seven Apprentice Death God for hundreds of years."

Shen Ye sighed and said softly, "Over a century of time, countless heroes have been stuck at the bottleneck from Tier Six to Tier Seven. Even if they spent their whole lives and tried countless methods, they couldn't break through."

"It's like a wall you can't see or touch, standing right in front of you, yet no matter what you do, you can't break it or even fathom its principle."

"So, what mortals don't know is that, in the modern Death God Realm, the seventh tier has for a long time been regarded as a 'nonexistent' false realm... no one has ever been able to break through to this realm. Those legendary Tier Seven powerhouses of the past are believed to have been recorded inaccurately; they were essentially just a group of Tier Six powerhouses, but their strength was so great that they were mistakenly identified as 'Tier Seven'."

"This notion lasted until... sixty years ago."

"We don't know the specifics of what happened that year, but the result was exhilarating."

"The gate for Apprentice Death Gods to reach Tier Seven was opened; we finally found out why Tier Six couldn't break through to Tier Seven!"

As he spoke, Shen Ye was visibly excited. When he first heard this news, he was so exhilarated he couldn't sleep for three days and three nights, though he still had a long way to the seventh tier. Even with countless opportunities, it would take him at least several decades to have a slim chance of reaching Tier Six.

But so what? Every genius has the ambition to summit, and Shen Ye was no exception.

A true genius fears not challenges or adversity, but a lack of paths to traverse.

So Yun You was somewhat astonished, figuring she could also be considered a genius.

She rubbed her hands and couldn't help but ask, "So what's the reason?"

"We lack a certain substance."

Shen Ye did not tease, directly revealing the answer.

"Or, more precisely, the world itself lacks a certain substance."

"Like something out of a cultivation movie, to break through from Tier Six to Tier Seven, an Apprentice Death God needs to absorb a crucial substance. As long as this substance exists, even those with mediocre talent can still break through to Tier Seven."

"But the problem is, this substance, although theoretically existent, is pathetically scant in the world. Whether you can find it or not is entirely a matter of luck..."

"And this substance is referred to by some in the know as..."

"The Initial Sequence."

"..."

"Crack~"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Shen Ye's viscera inexplicably split open as if an invisible force was tearing at his organs, and atop the cracks, a layer of black, needle-like radiance slowly floated, continuously hindering the healing of the wounds.

"Puh..."

From physiological discomfort, he spat out another mouthful of blood. Though he hadn't died immediately, such injuries were beyond rescue, even if he were rushed to an emergency room.

Because the wounds were constantly expanding, inflicting further harm on Shen Ye.

His life was now on a countdown.

Upon seeing this, Yun You's pupils contracted for a moment, but she quickly reacted.

This was likely the 'limitation' Shen Ye spoke of.

He had mentioned before that the intelligence about the 'Initial Sequence' was stored in his brain but had been cursed in advance. Once he spoke of it, the power of the curse would take his life.

For this reason, he would only willingly reveal the answer after being defeated.

"The Initial Sequence... but what does it refer to?"

Yun You eagerly pursued the question, fearing that Shen Ye might perish due to the curse, taking the secret forever to the grave.

Fortunately, what she feared did not occur.

Although the curse's power was potent, in this Great Colosseum beyond the world, it was somewhat weakened and couldn't kill him outright.

Therefore, he could at least live for a few more hours, which was enough time to reveal all the secrets.

"It's actually quite simple."

Shen Ye used all his strength to barely lift a single finger.

And on that broken fingertip, the Three-Phase Diagram of the Death God Sequence slowly appeared.

Scythe, Rose, Book.

A diagram Yun You had seen countless times.

"The so-called Initial Sequence actually refers to the Sequence owned by these three predecessors of the Death God."

"Do you know what each of them represents?"

Shen Ye grinned slightly and began explaining one by one.

"The Rose represents [the Eternal Rose Garden], said to be a Saint with a Special Sequence—the Saint Sequence, dedicated his life to achieving peace, attempting to save everyone in this world. However, he ultimately perished due to humanity's deep-seated malice, and even his corpse couldn't rest in peace, being split into pieces scattered across the land..."

"The Book represents a highly knowledgeable woman, legend has it she was a companion of the Saint, nearly omniscient and omnipotent. There was nothing in the world she didn't know, and all of the world's problems she could solve."

"She too briefly stood at the summit, but later vanished due to some unknown reason, no longer walking among the world. As time passed, Apprentice Death Gods and people gradually forgot her existence, even forgetting her title and Sequence entirely."

"As for the Scythe..."

Shen Ye paused slightly, his expression becoming unprecedentedly serious and earnest.

"His name and Sequence remain unknown to us due to the passage of time, but his title persists, known simply as—the Sovereign."

"He had many titles, but none of them matter because he was once the most powerful person in the world."

"These Sequences of the three predecessors are the Initial Sequence, and the energy they left in the world is the key for Tier Six Apprentice Death Gods to break through to Tier Seven, the Initial Sequence Energy."

"And the reason Miss Wu Ming's hometown was attacked is fundamentally because... we need to obtain that portion of Initial Sequence Energy."

At these words, Yun You felt as if her heart had been hit by a heavy hammer, unable to regain her senses for a long time.

The power of the Initial Sequence... the material that could transform a Tier Six Death God into a Tier Seven True God was concealed in her hometown? That small town where the upper class rarely set foot?

This... how could it be...?

Moreover, if they wanted to take the Initial Sequence, they could just go and take it. Who would stop them? Who even had the ability to oppose?

This didn't make any sense!

"You don't understand, Miss Wu Ming."

Shen Ye evidently saw the anger buried in Yun You's heart, shaking his head with a bitter smile.

"If possible, we don't wish to kill anyone either."

"But... the way the Initial Sequence is 'stored' isn't what you imagine. There's no way to remove it undamaged without harming you all."

"Killing, and then gathering the force, is our only option."