Monsters Die When Killed

Su Zhou was the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord. His justice was his own, and the opinions of others had nothing to do with him. He would never change his own concepts of good and evil just because of what someone else thought—but at the end of the day, he was still a young man not yet twenty years old.

He was unshakably convinced he was right, and he needed no reason for it. Still, he wanted to know why others didn’t do what was right.

He was perplexed.

"Why not do that?"

The Water God raised his weary eyes. The Whale God’s massive pupils were dilating as death inevitably drew near.

But at this moment, his expression had relaxed considerably. "Nameless one... it is because I lack the power."

"The Earth People you see are a civilization that developed abnormally, one that lost its Divine Beings and its heritage because the Demon Tide was severed. And during a normal transition between Eras, we Divine Beings who have just revived cannot defeat those gods."

"If those gods bore me ill will, paying lip service to cooperation only to steal my knowledge before betraying me and destroying my people, what could I have done? If I didn’t use blood sacrifices to restore my power, but the other Divine Beings did, what then could I have done?"

The Giant Whale’s voice grew weaker and weaker. "I could only use the fastest method to restore my power, to get a bargaining chip to contend with the other gods at the end of the Era. That is what the previous Water God told me... Haha, this was my first revival, and it turns out to be my last. To be honest, in this slaughter among Divine Beings, I really don’t know if anyone has ever truly won. Most gods just end up destroying each other, allowing the Era to change naturally—just like the Earth God this time. He was clearly a first-generation god born naturally from this cycle of Reincarnation. Otherwise, how could He have forgotten to even leave behind a legacy?"

Su Zhou listened to all this in silence, his expression unchanging, while the Giant Whale’s voice trailed off into a murmur.

"Unity, cooperation... you think we don’t want that? The essence of civilization is exchange, but it is also self-preservation. I have my people to think of—how could I possibly take such a risk?"

Hearing this, Su Zhou spoke up, asking in confusion, "I don’t know about all of that, but was it really like that this time? The Earth People right now clearly have no power to resist you, nor is there an Earth God to stand in your way—He already turned Himself into part of the Soil of Origin to prolong this Era. So why, this time, did you still have to slaughter them to restore your power?"

"Because the Wind God exists. He revived at the same time as me... If He used blood sacrifices to restore His power and I didn’t, then my people would have been slaughtered..." For an instant, the Giant Whale’s voice even held an incredible heartiness. "Haha, when it comes down to it, we are all nothing but prisoners of Reincarnation, merely repeating our parts in this eternal cycle."

"Nameless one, you ask me why I didn’t do the right thing. It’s because only a true Powerhouse can afford to do the right thing! When faced with the end of the world, with the changing of an Era, if you too were burdened with countless people, with your own civilization, then as a God, you can only choose the least bad option."

—For civilizations to fight and slaughter one another, to compete for the best opportunity in the Era, to gamble on that one insignificant possibility—that was the least bad option.

"Unless... I was strong. Very strong. So strong that if I wished to show kindness, no other being would dare to show malice. So strong that if I wished to do good, no one else would dare to do evil... A pity... a pity... I wasn’t strong enough..."

Su Zhou had wanted to say more, but the Water God was already dead.

A faint blue, translucent Divine Soul, like an Ice Crystal, emerged.

One half of it was as gloomy as the dim sea in the dead of night, the other as brilliant as shining waves under the vast sun. A sea of light and a tide of darkness cycled in alternation.

’A prisoner’s dilemma. Indeed, you are all truly Prisoners of Reincarnation. If a choice must be made, you can only pick the least bad one... But the least bad choice can never break the cycle of Reincarnation.’

Picking up the massive Evil Soul, Su Zhou looked up at the corpse of the Water God and muttered to himself, "So you all just slaughter each other, eternally, forever continuing this cycle of Reincarnation. How could you ever, *ever* break out of it? Even if you last for many generations, who’s to say you won’t encounter a severing of Spiritual Qi, just like the Earth God? What’s more, what if the severing of Spiritual Qi is just part of an even larger cycle of Reincarnation?"

’Even I can figure it out—the Maze has eight levels, maybe even more, but in the end, only two gods revived. So what about the previous Deities? Why did only the Water God and the Wind God revive? And what about the previous Fire God? This means that not every God can revive each time, right? After many Eras pass, even the Marks in the Maze are worn away, and they can no longer revive. They can only wait for new Deities to appear...’

For some reason, a flash of Spiritual Light suddenly crossed Su Zhou’s mind.

’—Wait a minute. If the Maze holds the remains and departed souls of all past civilizations... doesn’t that mean the Maze is just another form of the Netherworld?’

’The Silent Lord, the Maze, Reincarnation, and Rebirth... The reappearance of the Maze, the information about the previous Era’s ecosystem, the souls reviving from it after death...’

But this flash of inspiration was ultimately overwhelmed by exhaustion. Su Zhou simply committed the idea to memory, then collapsed to the ground—he didn’t even have the strength to remain standing.

And yet, even collapsed on the ground, a bloody and mangled mess, the Wingless Great Dragon was still muttering to itself.

’The least bad choice... But if you don’t even pursue what’s right, if you don’t even strive for an ending of Perfection, then how could you ever achieve that Perfection—an ending where everyone can be happy and where no ’evil’ exists at all?’

The Evil-Devouring Demon Lord had never craved a world filled with evil, but rather a world where there were no more Souls left for him to devour.

After a long silence, Su Zhou finally spoke in his Soul Space with unshakable resolve. "Yara, I have to become..."

"Become what, Su Zhou?"

The little red snake replied softly to her Contractor.

"I must become a true Powerhouse!"

Su Zhou declared, clenching his fists. "And then, I will choose to do what is right!"

But the Snake Spirit only sighed, her emotion unreadable. "Oh, Su Zhou... Do you realize this is far more difficult than eradicating all ’evil’? With the power you have now, you are still a long, long way off."

"Becoming an Overlord... is that not enough?"

"Not enough."

"Becoming one of the undying Immortal Gods... that’s not enough either?"

"Still no."

"Even being a Celestial Venerate Creator, capable of bringing forth the Creation of all things and all living beings... that’s not enough either?"

"Not enough."

After a short and rapid exchange that went back and forth three times, Su Zhou finally sighed, but also smiled as he asked, "Even higher than a Celestial Venerable, and higher still, the most powerful beings I know of... those ’Great Beings’... is that still not enough?"

"Haha, Su Zhou, my dear Contractor."

At this point, even Yara couldn’t help but laugh. "A sealed Great Being... isn’t there just such a sad and pitiful one coiled on your shoulder right now?"

This was indeed the first time Yara had mentioned her own Seal, but she didn’t continue on the subject. Instead, she extended her tail and gently stroked Su Zhou’s bloody, mangled neck. She replied calmly, "Let’s go, Su Zhou. Keep moving forward."

"Your journey in this world is not over yet."

Indeed, it was not the time to linger.

It was time to get back on the road.

And so, the exhausted Su Zhou got to his feet and, in the dark of night, began to walk in the direction of Naisel City.

The Gale howled, and rain began to fall, drop by drop. The clouds once again hid the stars and moon, and a cold mist began to spread.

All that could be seen was a lonely silhouette, on the journey of a man and a snake.

And the path to pursuing what is right is just such a road—dark, lonely, and long.

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