Free Web NovelChapter 611: Chapter 228: Sequence 1, Sequence 2, Sequence 3
All the people in the city were either rejoicing or panicking over the immense transition they were about to experience.
The vast emotional turmoil excited all the Evil Fallen of the city.
Yet nobody noticed that, in a dimension imperceptible to them, something infinitely vast and mysterious was descending.
Only Bai Wu could see it.
The yellowing sky began to emit a kind of sandy yellow light, as if the entire world had been immersed in a giant dye vat.
After a moment of distraction, Bai Wu suddenly realized... the world around him, the buildings, billboards, streets, the soil beneath his feet, street lights, and even the moths, had all frozen in time.
They were all covered with a layer of sand.
The massive curtain vanished in an instant, leaving only two grand and mysterious presences filling the space between heaven and earth.
"So it’s confirmed it’s him, huh? Why don’t we prepare a bit more... This is far from being tough, isn’t it?" said the sharp, mocking voice. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
The response it received came from the meticulous voice in the dream:
"He can see us."
"Why didn’t you say so earlier?"
"He’s even intuitively sensed us in his dreams... He’s very adapted to us. Or rather, he’s very compatible with us."
"This gives me a very uncomfortable feeling, oh! I know what it is now, we’re like two idiots plotting loudly!"
The world was covered in sand, with even the sky turning yellow-orange; Bai Wu stood in a world as if frozen in time, seeing two dark ink-like shadows drawing closer.
They went from being immeasurably grand and mysterious to gradually smaller, their voices never changing, always resonating around the ears.
When the ink-like figures had shrunk to about the size of Bai Wu, they were like two clusters of darkness that light could not drive away, like shadows detached from physical objects but capable of existing independently.
Bai Wu felt that the other’s speaking style indicated they were two very different personalities, and it seemed they had realized... that he had seen them in his dreams before.
So he took the initiative to greet them:
"What’s the situation now, am I still in Baichuan City?"
"See, see! Damn it, he really can see us! That’s really rare!"
The sharp voice betrayed neither apprehension nor joy.
The other voice remained steady and serious:
"Hello, creature from the outside, the space you are in now is the realm of silence, so you don’t need to worry. The city you struggled so hard to save and the people in it have not turned into sand."
"It’s just that because you are in another dimension, the appearance of those things has changed for you. To give you an example, the world appears to you now as if it were a sandbox."
"We shall occupy some of your time, but rest assured, you are not losing time at this moment."
While he didn’t quite understand, Bai Wu didn’t feel any hostility. He simply sat down on the ground and looked at the two dark figures:
"Who are you?"
"Look at him, not a bit tense, he even just sat down. It’s infuriating, it makes our sacred, grand entrance seem like a joke," the sharp voice continued to emote as always.
And the other voice still seriously answered Bai Wu’s question:
"We are the answer you have been seeking. Before you ask that question, perhaps you can tell us, what do you hope to find at the deepest part of the Well?"
Bai Wu liked this straightforward approach. He had also guessed that the real masterminds behind the adventure and twisted version of Baichuan City were these two beings.
He didn’t want to hide anything, yet he still kept a bit of caution for safety’s sake:
"I want to find... a way to counter Sequence 3—Immortality."
"Ohhh, a mission that’s impossible to complete right from the start, how courageous." The mocking tone was ineffective against Bai Wu.
Bai Wu had figured it out, the only one who would seriously answer questions was another voice.
He looked towards the ink-like shadow to his right, but did not receive the answer he wanted:
"Immortals cannot be killed, the question you want to ask has no answer. Their souls may be sealed, but as long as their flesh remains, no matter how badly damaged, there will eventually come a day when they recover."
"Even the World Will can only seal them, unable to achieve complete destruction."
The entity suspected to be the "Will of the Well World" mentioned the World Will, and Bai Wu believed his speculation was correct: the World Will and the Will of the Well World were not the same.
The serious voice continued:
"But immortality does not mean there is no end. If something can exist forever, in the boundlessness of time, it will itself give birth to countless possibilities. This could lead to great cataclysms, so there indeed exists a method to end immortality."
Bai Wu furrowed his brows:
"You just said it cannot be killed... yet now you say there is a method to end it. Isn’t that a contradiction?"
This time, the one who answered Bai Wu was not that voice, but another voice that spoke mockingly:
"You have seen the World Will, and you have also seen the death of an immortal person. Doesn’t your little brain have any ideas?"
Bai Wu was astonished. He indeed had seen Qian Yixin infused with the World Will, but when had he witnessed the death of an immortal person?
And why would they connect Qian Yixin with immortality?
He was a person adept at thinking, and quickly realized some things:
"Are you talking about... Zhou Zeshui?"
"Eh, I was thinking he would answer wrongly for two rounds. Did I give too many hints?"
Bai Wu was greatly shocked. Zhou Zeshui possessed the Power of Life and Death, and nearly an immortal body, which was characteristic of Well Level monsters. This meant he was very close to being immortal.
But no matter how close, it was not true immortality...
If what Zhou Zeshui possessed was true immortality, then wouldn’t that mean Jing Yi, Jing Er, Jing Si, Jing Wu, and even Jing Liu were also immortal?
Although Bai Wu had always been curious about how Jing Wu could be killed by him time and time again yet always manage to resurrect, could it be that this in itself was immortality?
But he had seen Alpha, Jing Liu, killed in an instant.
He had seen the death of Jing San, and had nearly witnessed Jing Wu being killed by Jing Yi.
These were thorough erasures. If the extraordinary vitality possessed by the Well Level was already immortality, how could they possibly die?
Another voice rang out:
"Before answering your question in detail, let us introduce ourselves..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, that’s so boring, why don’t you guess who we are first? Hey, guess who we are?"
The personalities of the two voices could not be more different, one seeming very solemn, the other overly playful.
Bai Wu said:
"I thought you were... the will of this world?"
"Answer——Wrong! Oh, too bad. I forgot to add a little wager. Well, you’re lucky, there’s no penalty for a wrong answer." The sharp voice seemed very regretful.
Bai Wu was taken aback.
These two "living beings," they’re not the will of this world?
Then what are they? If not the Will of the Well World, how could they influence the captain’s actions, how could they arbitrarily enforce various rules?
How could they change space and time so effortlessly?
"I told you, we are what you have been searching for. All right, to lift the veil of mystery, you can call us... the First of the Sequence. I’m Laosi, and he’s Laoda."
"You’ve already encountered Laosan... well, not exactly encountered. You’ve only felt its presence. It has a name you’re more familiar with, Sequence 3—Immortal."
Bai Wu remained silent, he was indeed surprised, but his brain was also pondering whether this possibility was plausible.
Damnit, standing in front of him, could it be that there is no such thing as the World Will of the Well World, perhaps it doesn’t exist at all?
Is this what the High Tower Master referred to as the two ultimate Sequence entities? Are they... alive?
Surprised yet feeling it wasn’t so abrupt, because Bai Wu had actually seen "living Sequences" before.
Sequence 23—Prayle’s Eye.
It can’t really be considered alive, as the Sequences are merely descriptions of various things from another facet of one’s personality, but the descriptive words seem to possess an alternative way of thinking, akin to another self.
Therefore, the precise relationship should be that another persona of oneself has granted Prayle’s Eye life.
Thus, Bai Wu suddenly thought of the Well World’s fourth level, the densely packed faces at the pinnacle of the Inverse Tower.
More than once had he heard that the Well was composed of the emotions of all beings, so perhaps Sequence One and Sequence Two "came to life" through a certain personality within the myriad of souls.
"It seems like he has discovered it, how can he stay so calm? No wonder you always take sides, because he resembles you more. But I like his other side... because that other side, is more like me!"
The sharp voice interrupted Bai Wu’s contemplation.
Bai Wu didn’t delve deeper into his thoughts:
"So you are... Sequence One, Sequence Two?"
The sharp voice replied:
"I am Sequence Two, you can call me... The Heart of the World. It is Sequence One, you can call him The Heart of Rules."
"We are certainly not any World Will. That thing does exist, indeed, it’s what nurtured us, but it’s grown old, it’s dying, hehehe. It can’t even do anything about Jing San."
Had the voice of Sequence Two not been so sharp, it might have truly sounded like a mischievous child, but the piercing emphasis made it seem somewhat spiteful and arrogant.
When it came to the World Will, it seemed like an adult who had bullied Sequence Two for a long time finally couldn’t control him anymore, his wings had hardened, and now he could play out the scene of a kindly father and filial son.
This was very similar to the current reality; the Well World influences the real world, but the origin of the Well World... still stems from the real world.
Thus, the Well World nowadays truly resembles a patricide.
Sequence One was much more rigid:
"The will of the world is weakening, the existence of distortions has diluted its influence, amplifying the power of living beings’ emotions. It is being eroded."
"You can philosophically consider the Well and the World Will as two separate things: one is subjective and the other objective."
"The subjective determines the appearance of the world in our eyes, while the objective makes us revere and seek. But when the rules of this world can be twisted by emotions, can be arbitrarily destroyed... then this world loses its objectivity."
"Science is collapsing, and so is theology."
The voice changed once more, with the sharp voice suddenly taking over the conversation: fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"But what’s interesting is that such a world is actually not what we detest. Don’t think that just because we stand before you, it means we acknowledge you."
"If the World Will were completely eradicated, everything would be something we wouldn’t avoid. Hahahahaha, I would even very much enjoy seeing such a scene – a world, a universe without rules, where sentient beings are no longer sentient, order, distortion, life, death, time and space, all without boundaries, everything is Chaos, everything is distortion, it does sound quite delightful."
Bai Wu couldn’t imagine such a world, it was exactly what Alpha yearned for—a world completely unpredictable.
He believed if these two Sequences truly desired the arrival of such a world, then he had no reason to still be sitting in this desolate world of yellow sand, listening to their prattle.
At the same time, the vast treasury of the Well World’s fifth level was also something they couldn’t break free from.
As for the individuals who were intent on making the world lose its objectivity, retaining only subjective and distorted ideas, currently, there was only Alpha.
Therefore, although Bai Wu was very curious about the effect of Sequence One and Sequence Two, he understood he might not obtain either of them.
Even if he did, it could come at a considerable cost.
Rather than tending to that before anything else, it was better to first figure out a symptomatic solution; as for a fundamentally curative one... Bai Wu just thought about it but didn’t speak outright:
"So what exactly is the method to defeat the Immortal?"
"Let the immortal erase all thoughts of life."
This time, the other party answered Bai Wu’s question succinctly and clearly.
Such a brief statement, yet Bai Wu couldn’t fathom its depth.
Sequence One elucidated like a mentor:
"Zhou Zeshui’s death was because he had already given up all thoughts of life."
"Jing Liu thought she was going to die, but deep down, she yearned to live, so the backlash of cause and effect didn’t truly kill her. It did weaken her power, though. Even if she used power beyond what her life force could bear to glimpse into cause and effect, even if she was at her last breath, she just couldn’t die."
"Jing Wu was the same. When he thought he had no vitality left, he couldn’t survive... but as he recalled those subordinates from his past and a reluctance arose in him... Jing Yi suddenly discovered that Jing Wu, as if he had a surge of returning light, was able to resist."
"You must have wondered, too, why the World Will, when gathered in Qian Yixin’s body, could not dispose of the owner of immortality due to the contract, but why couldn’t it dispose of Jing Yi? It even went to kill him personally once, yet didn’t finish the job. What was the purpose?"
The words of Sequence One made everything clear for Bai Wu.
"Because it can’t kill Jing Yi."
"Yes, because it cannot kill the immortal ones."
"The immortal can never be killed, unless... their owner believes they can be killed. Or their owner is convinced beyond doubt that they must die. This is the secret of immortality."
"And the true master of immortality you mentioned, the one you call Alpha, is able to kill his several Well-Level subordinates... because in the process of shell formation, Alpha can easily take back the ’settings’ of their life, which have already embedded deep within their souls."
"Even if they regain their memories, it cannot be changed. This is also a special privilege of the First Generation owner of immortality; he can indeed kill the Angel Envoys who inherited his immortal traits."
"But it’s not truly eradicating immortality, rather it’s making these immortals... believe that they can be killed."
An astonishing secret was thus casually revealed, as casually as two acquaintances discussing the weather.
Bai Wu roughly understood that Alpha was like some incurable ’plague’ from the First Generation.
He spread the plague to six disciples, and these six disciples were actually incurable.
Yet they always believed... they could be cured or devoured by the one who had inflicted the plague upon them.
This was a notion, but for them, it was a setting.
Even if Jing Er regained his memory, even if Jing Wu broke free from Jing Yi by his will to survive, they were utterly convinced that Alpha could kill them.
Laosi was probably no different. This is a characteristic of the immortal.
Its spreader... will always leave an easily erasable perception upon the infected.
"This perception, much like a setting, is unchangeable; even if you tell them now, it cannot be lifted. Alpha, the true owner of immortality, has no such perception... so in a sense, he cannot be killed."
"Even if the World Will could suppress him completely, reinforce a seal almost impossible to break, that wouldn’t count as ’killing’."
What a hopeless answer.
Jing Yi to Jing Liu could only be killed by Alpha unless, like Zhou Zeshui, they had no attachment to life whatsoever.
But Alpha was different, he knew he would not die and instead desired to live to witness the grand spectacle of the distortion’s arrival.
That is to say, the only weakness of the immortal... does not exist for Alpha.
Bai Wu realized that even if he reached the fifth layer, he probably couldn’t fill the regret of the High Tower Creator—the complete resolution of Alpha.
"Even Laosi, who is dedicated to getting everything back on track and returning all specialty to objectivity, couldn’t do it. We are no exception."
"This is the answer you sought. Do you understand? It cannot be destroyed. What you face is like the evil in people’s hearts... it can only be suppressed, but can never be completely eradicated."
