Chapter 654: Godhood Rite (Two in One)

The two of them hesitated no longer. After bowing to Yan Jing, they reached out toward the great curtain.

"Hum—"

The great curtain trembled. The two appeared in the Land Before the Curtain, preparing to step into the new curtain behind Yan Jing.

Right at that moment, a violent roar erupted behind them. Taken aback, they turned to see the old man—who had been sitting on the ground—suspended in the air and plummeting into the distance.

They instantly realized what had happened. The female elder shouted at the old man within the great curtain:

"Wei Si, what are you doing?!"

The old man crashed heavily onto the ground. He immediately threw his head back, his face twisted in a savage snarl.

"If we join forces and take him down, the great curtain behind him will still be ours!"

"Do it!"

The old man bellowed, but the two outside didn't move an inch.

It wasn't just reluctance to join his reckless gamble. After crossing the great curtain and arriving at Yan Jing's side, they had finally grasped exactly how terrifying this man was.

The oppressive presence he gave off was suffocating, even though Yan Jing hadn't deliberately released any weird energy.

"Attack!"

The old man grew desperate. He hadn't expected his two old friends to abandon him at such a critical moment.

"Despicable. Truly despicable,"

Yan Jing said with a faint smile:

"You knew I wouldn't take you with me, so you tried to drag your friends down with you?"

"...Bullshit!"

The old man choked on his words for a long time before finally squeezing out that single curse.

Behind Yan Jing, the expressions of the other two turned completely frigid.

"Wei Si, what exactly are you trying to do?" the female elder asked coldly.

"Hmph." The male elder scoffed, turning on his heel and walking straight into the great curtain behind Yan Jing.

Clearly, he didn't want to waste another word on the elder surnamed Wei.

"Don't listen to him!" Seeing the male elder leave, the elder surnamed Wei sank into utter despair. He looked at Yan Jing and actually started to beg:

"Please, take me with you. I was just momentarily confused, I swear..."

Before he could finish, drops of pitch-black liquid, thick as ink, began to slowly fall from the collapsing sky in the distance.

The liquid was incredibly viscous. Every single drop seemed to carry the weight of a mountain, acting like a sharp blade that sliced straight through the sky as it fell.

The sky shattered into fragments as the black liquid corrupted it, soon crumpling into twisted folds.

Staring at the black liquid, the elder surnamed Wei reacted as if he had just seen the most horrifying thing in existence, trembling uncontrollably.

"I beg you, please! I know I was wrong. I'll never do it again..."

He was on the verge of falling to his knees before Yan Jing. Watching those liquid drops creep toward him, his hands shook uncontrollably.

"I really know I was wrong! Please, I beg you... Ah!"

A drop of the black liquid landed on him. The old man's body violently convulsed and curled in on itself as pustules erupted across his back. A split second later, tentacles and jagged bone fragments resembling teeth burst from the sores. The old man's eyes bulged as if forced open from within, and a hand actually reached out from inside his eye socket, tearing his pupil wide open.

"Urgh... gurgh... argh..."

The old man's voice gradually faded into a whimper, eventually twisting into a string of bizarre, incomprehensible syllables. He dropped onto all fours, hunching over as countless horns sprouted from his head.

In mere seconds, a monster in the truest sense of the word stood before Yan Jing.

"What is that liquid?"

Yan Jing looked at the female elder beside him, who had fallen completely silent.

"We call it the Source of Mutation."

With a complicated look in her eyes, the female elder stared at the elder surnamed Wei, who had completely lost his consciousness.

"In truth, all Sources of Mutation come from the corruption of these black drops."

"If a sufficiently powerful entity comes into contact with the liquid, they undergo a so-called 'Mutation.' After enough time ferments and nurtures the process, a select few of those entities will eventually become true Sources of Mutation."

"It seems Wei Si's luck isn't so great. A true Source of Mutation wouldn't lose its sense of self."

The female elder sighed, her tone heavy with conflicting emotions.

"This is the ultimate fate for most people."

"We estimate that the probability of birthing a Source of Mutation is less than one in a thousand."

One in a thousand sounded like decent odds, but that was only after filtering for 'powerful entities.'

For figures on the old man's level, you would be hard-pressed to gather a thousand of them even if you combined the entire Inner World and Surface World.

"Where does this liquid come from?"

Yan Jing's eyes flickered as he watched the pitch-black drops that everyone else avoided like the plague.

The female elder shook her head.

"I don't know. No one can say for sure. But the moment a Domain begins to collapse, this liquid appears."

"They will corrode the entire world until absolutely nothing is left."

"And then where do they go?" Yan Jing asked.

The female elder shook her head.

"They return to the void."

"Once, someone tried to capture a single drop, but they couldn't withstand the corruption in the end, and their life withered away."

Yan Jing nodded and said no more.

Soon, the great curtain in front of them was completely eroded by the Source of Mutation. In the vast space, not a single speck of visible land could be found; there was only endless pitch-black.

Finally, even the very borders of the great curtain were corroded. The entire great curtain vanished without a trace, leaving the Land Before the Curtain completely empty and barren.

Staring at where the great curtain had vanished, a thought suddenly struck Yan Jing.

"How many great curtains are there in this world?"

He looked at the female elder.

The female elder narrowed her eyes in confusion, not understanding why Yan Jing would ask such a question.

"Originally, there was only one. As for now... there should still only be one."

She glanced at the great curtain behind Yan Jing.

Yan Jing blinked.

"Then... the great curtains in front of everyone else..."

The female elder blinked too.

"They should be gone as well."

Yan Jing's mouth twitched.

It seemed he had caused a massive catastrophe.

...

...

Meanwhile, in the Surface World, countless entities were struck with simultaneous shock.

They were all individuals who had been in the Land Before the Curtain, preparing to accommodate a Ritual at this time. Yet, just minutes ago, an incredibly shocking scene had played out.

The great curtain was disappearing!

That great curtain, which had always been shrouded in darkness, was gradually withering away right before everyone's eyes!

Until it finally vanished completely!

The news spread like a virus, swiftly sweeping across the entire Surface World.

And then...

The entire Surface World exploded in an uproar!

"The great curtain is gone! What are we supposed to do about our advancements now?!"

"Someone once tried to forcefully absorb an item that hadn't been 'sacrificed.' They mutated almost instantly, turning into a monster just like those in the Inner World."

"What is going on? Just what exactly is happening?! Doesn't this mean the path of cultivation in the Surface World has been completely cut off?!"

"We're doomed. The Surface World is doomed."

"Is the true apocalypse finally here?"

At this moment, practically everyone in the Surface World was gripped by anxiety.

Whether they were high-Tier entities or low-Tier entities, all fell into an inexplicable panic.

The disappearance of the great curtain was simply too bizarre!

While mighty figures had discovered that the great curtain was weakening weeks ago, this was no longer a matter of weakening. The great curtain had outright vanished!

According to their original estimates, the great curtain's disappearance shouldn't have happened for at least a few more months. Now, that timeline had inexplicably jumped forward.

The incident even alarmed the six entities at the very top.

In order to uncover the cause, those six took action simultaneously.

In an instant, the skies above the Surface World were bathed in boundless light. It reflected upon the earth, severing mountains and rivers alike. From afar, the realm no longer looked like the mortal world.

This phenomenon lasted for a full half-day, but even when the spectacle faded, it yielded no results.

The great curtain was gone.

No one knew where it went.

For a time, all entities in the Surface World below the Tenth Tier were completely lost, not knowing where to turn or what to do.

Meanwhile, the culprit behind this entire incident—

—was busy preparing for his own advancement.

Though Yan Jing felt a little embarrassed about cutting off everyone else's path to advancement, he certainly couldn't let his own fall behind.

Within the Land Before the Curtain, a spring materialized in Yan Jing's palm.

Liquid bubbled out of the spring. Every drop that hit the air vaporized into milky-white steam, spreading into the surroundings.

{Item Name: Source of Life (Unique)}

{Usable Tier: All Tiers Usable}

{Item Effect: Contains dense vitality; can resurrect any entity that hasn't truly died}

{Item Description: The reward for ranking first on the player leaderboard. Since the player leaderboard began, there have been a total of four top rankers, which means four different unique rewards. This particular reward comes from a Pathway that everyone has pursued since ancient times—Life. It contains a Demigod Realm Divine Throne, as well as a path to godhood. PS: This item is no longer under the control of the system, and comes with no after-sales guarantee.}

As Yan Jing looked at the Source of Life in his hand, weird energy slowly surged. Two faint motes of light emerged from his brow and drifted downward toward the Source of Life.

These were the two origins of the great curtain. Now, they were going to fuse with the Source of Life in their own way, jointly transforming into Yan Jing's tenth Ritual.

Soon, the two faint lights vanished into the spring.

"Hum— Hum— Hum—"

The clear liquid that had been steadily bubbling from the spring suddenly seemed to go berserk.

"Hummm—"

Milky-white steam billowed out, eventually sinking into the great curtain behind Yan Jing.

...

...

Within the great curtain.

As the female elder and the male elder stepped inside, their expressions softened at the sight before them.

This place was indeed even more prosperous than the previous great curtain.

The trees were lush and green, the cliffs towered high, and the morning sun hung in the sky. Amid the dense foliage, tiny songbirds fluttered and darted through the air like dancing petals, weaving back and forth through the mountain forest.

In the sky, the clouds hung low, shaped as perfectly as if carved by a chisel and shaped by an axe.

Sunlight cascaded down, leaving paths of refracted light in the air that looked like glass.

"This truly is a better place," the female elder said slowly.

"As long as nothing happens to him, this place will thrive for at least another ten thousand years."

"It would be extremely difficult for anything to happen to him." The male elder spoke slowly:

"If we run into a problem that even he can't solve, then no one will be able to solve it."

"That makes sense."

The female elder nodded:

"Let's figure out what we should do next."

The two of them had already discussed this. Since they had received Yan Jing's favor, they naturally had to do something in return.

They planned to scrap their previous hands-off approach and establish a complete, formalized system within the great curtain.

But before the two could even begin to act, they simultaneously froze.

Currents of pure white mist surfaced in the air, and everything before their eyes began to change.

The already lush vegetation started to grow wildly. Streams a few meters wide surged with water. The clouds in the sky dissolved into rolling mist, and even the earth cracked open as fresh soil breached the surface, generating new land out of thin air.

Both of them were stunned. It all happened so fast. In just a few seconds, the scene before them looked as if it had rewound to the warm, primordial era—everything had become vibrant, robust, and massive.

"What the hell?"

The female elder blurted out, only to freeze once again.

She realized her voice sounded different.

It was no longer that hoarse tone scraping like sandpaper; it was a voice brimming with vitality.

She looked at the male elder beside her, intending to ask what was going on, only to find that her old friend was "gone."

In his place stood a figure plucked straight from her memories.

He had a tall, muscular build. Beneath a thick mane of long black hair, a pair of resolute eyes gleamed with spirit.

"How did this happen?"

The female elder drew a sharp breath, and only then did she pleasantly discover that she had grown young again too.

The wrinkles on her arms had completely faded away, leaving her skin incredibly smooth.

The bark-like creases on her palms had reverted into firm, supple lines.

Even her head of pale white hair had regained its former life and color.

The two locked eyes, both seeing the shock and elation reflected in the other's gaze.

"Just how many secrets does he have left..."

In Yan Jing's palm, a brand-new spring was gathered into his weird energy.

He closed his eyes. When he opened them a few seconds later, his gaze was so deep it seemed to hold a vast sea of stars.

Stars evolved within them, ultimately transforming into a moving tapestry of life's endless cycle.

An indescribably terrifying aura abruptly erupted from his body.

The empty walls of the Land Before the Curtain groaned around him, unable to bear the pressure.

Fractures spread wildly across the surfaces.

It looked as if the space would collapse at any moment.

Meanwhile, behind Yan Jing, a brilliant, multicolored light fully blossomed.

[Godhood Rite: Longevity Realm (Prismatic) (Unique)]

[Ability 1: Achieve Immortality]

[Your lifespan is naturally extended. You have obtained a longevity anchor point. By affixing the anchor point to any object—even the heavens and the earth themselves—you will suffer no lifespan decay and will not die, so long as the tethered object does not perish.

You can change the location of the anchor point at any time.]

[Ability 2: Eternal Realm]

[Within your great curtain, everyone's lifespan will be extended to a hundred times their original span. Upon entering the great curtain, any wounds on their bodies will be completely healed. You can grant lifespan to entities outside the great curtain, up to a maximum of ten times their original lifespan. Naturally, you can retract this at any time.]

[Ability 3: Lord of Life]

[You can manipulate the lives of entities at a lower Tier than yourself, granting or stripping it away. When entities of the same or higher Tier face you, their origins will be much more easily damaged (at ten times the normal degree), and they will be utterly unable to shake your origin.]

[Ability 4: Endless Growth]

[You can reconnect anything deemed to be broken or severed. You can restart anything deemed to have reached its end.]

[PS: Life is the source of all things.]