Traveler of the River of Time and Space

Chapter 598 65: Ascension Trap

Gao Ge and Mao Ge likely acquired their divinity around that time.

However, the Benevolent Father—Nagash, one of the Four Evil Gods, did not perish. The Four Evil Gods of this Crystal Wall Element are somewhat different from the deities of other Crystal Wall Elements. They are more like conceptual gods, known by different names across various civilizations. They are not the ascent of any particular life form but rather the embodiment of desires and ideas. Even if their descended bodies are slain, they can resurrect after a short time.

But these issues are actually minor.

The thing that truly made Su Ziyu feel a chill was something else entirely. The empire's former Spiritual Ascension. He realized it was a terrifying trap!

Or rather.

The Spiritual Ascension tech tree obtained by the Ancient Lost Empire was itself a dreadful bait!

The empire's Spiritual Ascension led to four contracts within the Void Realm. These contracts were the "Whisper of the Void," the "Desire for Tools," the "Life's Weaving," and the "World Devourer." In addition, there was a legendary contract known as the "End of Reincarnation," which the Ancient Lost Empire marked as absolutely forbidden to sign because it was said to summon great horrors from beyond this universe.

Racial Ascension certainly demands a price.

Whether it's Spiritual Ascension, Mechanical Ascension, or Genetic Ascension, each pathway of ascension comes with certain costs. Only by successfully overcoming the negative buffs of the ascension can a race truly achieve a significant leap.

The Void Contract the empire signed back then was the "Whisper of the Void."

Su Ziyu was previously unaware of this contract's content, but after connecting to the Void Gate, he learned some details from that year's contract.

The contract's content was simple. The existence within the Void Realm that drafted the contract offered to teach the empire's Spiritualists the secret knowledge of mind whispers, helping them explore the ultimate mysteries of Spiritual Energy. This empowerment grants every empire Spiritualist an innate powerful spiritual talent, boosting their research into Spiritual Energy and making it easy to influence others through Spiritual Energy. During Heaven's War, the Aida Spirit Race possessed similar talents. Their people were born as powerful spiritualists, and newly born infants at the empire's ascension had the same trait.

But as a cost, the existence within the Void Realm required "only that we agree to allow them into our consciousness."

The empire eventually signed this contract.

At the completion of the contract, a certain void mark was left on the Void Gate of this planet, and from this mark, Su Ziyu sensed an Evil God aura similar to the Benevolent Father—Nagash.

Soon after the "Whisper of the Void" was signed, deadly mind whispers erupted on this planet, and then the empire's noble class began to rapidly corrupt, with the emperor suffering the most severe corruption. He went completely insane and became a moving calamity.

An interesting point.

The reason Su Ziyu was targeted by the Evil God is because he killed the empire's former insane emperor, who had become an ancient monstrous moving calamity.

This is no coincidence.

It wasn't that the energy emanated from activating his Divine Format attracted the Evil God in the void; rather, the Evil God in the void had long since eroded and corrupted this place, leaving behind a pawn, an eye. When Su Ziyu erased this pawn's eye, the Evil God in the void swiftly activated a certain ability to lock onto the Space-Time Monitor System, which further triggered the warning mechanisms of the Space-Time Monitor System, leading to the activation of the 'Hourglass of Time,' and sending a distress signal to the unfathomable 'Space-Time Hub,' summoning the unknown Space-Time Guardian and Time Dragon.

This should be some kind of pre-configured self-rescue program. When certain mechanisms are triggered, the Hourglass of Time will directly contact the Space-Time Hub.

As for why the Space-Time Hub was contacted at this moment, Su Ziyu speculated that some major upheaval might have occurred inside the Space-Time Hub, leaving the Space-Time Monitor System with no other choice but to use it as the last resort for self-preservation.

The entire sequence of events gradually became clear.

The Void Contract of Spiritual Ascension surprisingly contained powers akin to those of the Four Evil Gods.

This discovery was truly horrifying for Su Ziyu, especially linking it to how Gao Ge and Mao Ge became deities of Ook orcs' faith after consuming the corpse of Benevolent Father—Nagash. The connection instantly sent chills down Su Ziyu's spine.

There is a prehistoric pitfall here.

And this pit was likely dug not long after the Heaven's War had just ended, as the three major pathways for racial ascension only appeared after the Heaven's War concluded.

Spiritual Ascension pointed to the Aida Spirit Race during Heaven's War.

Mechanical Ascension pointed to the Space Undead during Heaven's War.

Genetic Ascension pointed to the Green Giant during Heaven's War.

First, the Space Undead; after Heaven's War ended, this race entered the Mysterious Tomb for a long slumber, with no signs of re-emergence for at least the past tens of thousands of years. Then the Green Giant; after the Ancient Saints perished, the Green Giant seemed to regress. Currently, only Gao Ge and Mao Ge can claim a connection to the original Green Giant.

Here's the key point.

After Heaven's War ended, the Aida Spirit Race did not immediately perish. Instead, they experienced a period of prosperity until internal corruption and degeneration arose, leading to a direct war with the Greenskin that shattered the entire race's destiny.