Chapter 534: 10,000x Eternity

The ninety-ninth day since Earth was rebuilt.

Above Celestial Imperial City, the last remains of the Heavenly Demon, which had ravaged the world for a thousand years, finally vanished in the morning light and faded into nothingness.

The new laws of nature spread across the planet like silk spun by a spring silkworm, gently covering the entire world before settling into perfect balance.

This was also the day Yves chose to leave.

In the central square of Celestial Imperial City, there was no funeral music and no farewell song.

This was a goodbye—but not a funeral.

Eira wore her imperial robes and held little Kelsey’s hand. She stood quietly on behalf of the Great Shaw Empire.

Rainn stood in white robes as pure as snow, with the solemn members of the Miko Clan behind him.

Malcolm led the Red Dwarf Clan. Codex and the old Forgemaster Syed stood beside him, still gripping their not-yet-cooled forging hammers.

Damian stood quietly, with Faye—the Heaven-Devouring Mystic Dragon, now at Mythic Rank—lying on his shoulder.

Leon wore simple human clothes that had been washed until they had faded. He stood quietly at the edge of the crowd, with tears still shining in the corners of his eyes.

The Artifact Spirit of the Golden Great Wall, Zoey, stood stubbornly in the front row in the form of a girl wearing a long golden dress.

Cheryl, Bella, Victor, Jade, Luke, Nellie, James, Vespera, John, Vivi, Jordan, Cici, Jenna, Alexius, Graham, Robert, Irene...

Everyone who had fought side by side through the blood and fire of this world was here.

In the center of the square, Yves’s body, formed from pure laws, glowed with a faint white light.

He brushed off some nonexistent dust, like an old farmer about to leave on a long journey. Then he looked at Aiden.

"Aiden, I spent 11,823 years preparing all of this."

Yves’s voice was not loud, but everyone in the square heard it clearly.

"The System, critical hits, fragments, last words, the Three Questions, the Golden Gate... I calculated everything, all so that you could stand here today."

"But now, I want to tell you one final thing—you don’t owe me anything."

Aiden said nothing. He simply looked at Yves in silence, deep light from the laws swirling in his double-pupiled eyes.

"You don’t need to fulfill the regrets I left behind."

Yves gave a self-mocking laugh, and a faint light flickered in his eyes.

"When I created the 10,000x Critical Hit System, I saw it as nothing more than a cold tool."

"But you used it to do something I had never dared to imagine—and could never have done."

"You brought everyone together."

Yves took a step forward. Golden ripples of law spread out beneath his feet.

"The strongest blow of the 10,000x Critical Hit was not the moment you combined four laws and shattered the ninth heavenly lightning strike."

"It was the moment you walked alone into the enraged core, crouched down, and gently told him, ’You are part of evolution.’"

"That was the true meaning of the 10,000x Critical Hit."

"It was not about making one person ten thousand times stronger. It was about giving everyone the same ten-thousandfold increase."

With that, Yves turned around, opened his arms, and looked at the countless beings from the myriad races gathered in the square.

"Every one of you is a multiplier of the 10,000x Critical Hit!"

"Pride learned to bow its head. Envy learned that people can still stay connected even after being separated. Wrath learned that there is more than one way to uphold justice."

"Greed learned what it means to have enough. Sloth learned when to rest. Lust learned that truth is more precious than perfection."

"Gluttony learned how to stop being hungry. And Rage... learned that it, too, is part of evolution."

"The eight new organs of Earth were never chains. They are the eight heartbeats of this planet."

"And you are those heartbeats."

Yves’s law-made body began to break apart from his fingertips and edges, turning into countless brilliant particles of law.

The particles did not drift into the void. Instead, they fell like rain into the patterns of law across the square, sinking deep into the heart of Earth.

"The 10,000x Critical Hit System has been shut down."

His figure became almost completely transparent, but his voice carried a freedom and relief he had never shown before.

"But from today onward, 10,000x Eternity officially begins."

"It is not ten thousand times the power to fight. It is ten thousand times the chance to live."

A low hum filled the air.

The last particle of light sank into the earth.

Yves completely merged with Earth’s core law network, becoming the planet’s distributed "conscience of law."

The instant he disappeared, the entire Earth trembled slightly.

An indescribable warmth, like a gentle ocean current, passed through everyone’s heart at the same moment.

From the soles of their feet to the tips of their hair, it was not powerful, but it was perfectly clear.

It was the sign that Earth’s law ecosystem had fully matured.

For the first time, Earth created a Law Resonance on its own, without being triggered by any outside force.

It was as if the planet itself had just given a long-forgotten smile.

The square fell into absolute silence for thirty full breaths.

"He’s still here."

Kelsey was the first to break the silence. Her bright eyes were fixed on the ground, and her voice was clear.

"I can feel him. He’s right here."

Eira looked down at her daughter and asked softly, "Where?"

Kelsey raised her chubby little hand and pointed at the soil beneath their feet.

"He’s in the ground where all of humanity stands."

...

Time flew, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Celestial Imperial City, once a ruined fortress scarred by war, had now become Earth’s largest center for the study and management of the Laws.

A warm, golden barrier covered the sky all year round. It was Bella’s domain, the "Holy Land of Light." It had now become Earth’s strongest shield of Law.

Inside the hall of the Myriad Races Council, Leon wore a neat human suit. As the council’s first rotating chairman, he was signing a trade agreement between the myriad races.

In the frozen lands of the Abyss, Rainn’s white robes fluttered in the wind. With his fingertips, he guided the threads of Law through the air, perfectly balancing the fluctuations of the "Pillar of Emotional Bonds."

Beyond Earth’s atmosphere, several enormous dragon shadows flew through the vast starry sky.

They were Law outposts built by Faye and the Dragon Clan. The power of the Heaven-Devouring Mystic Dragon kept the cold depths of space at bay.

Damian carried his greatsword on his back and walked across the land step by step, checking its natural pathways and keeping Earth’s underground energy stable.

Inside Celestial Imperial City, the ringing of hammers never stopped.

At the Law Forging Academy founded by Malcolm, Syed and Codex were enthusiastically demonstrating to a group of Red Dwarf and human apprentices how to fuse the Laws into ordinary iron.

On the grass outside the Core Law Academy, Kelsey sat cross-legged with several butterflies made of pure Law fluttering around her.

As the first human who could naturally communicate with Earth’s Law network, she giggled as she listened to the Laws tell their stories.

And at the very edge of Celestial Imperial City, the ancient Golden Great Wall gave off a faint glow.

Artifact Spirit Zoey sat on top of a huge Transmutation Altar, swinging her pale little legs.

The altar had once been a defensive structure. Now, it had been completely transformed into a communication station for the Laws of the universe.

Regular messages from twelve surviving civilizations across the universe flashed along the Law bridges connected to the Transmutation Altar.

During these three years, Aiden and Cheryl had not planned any special ceremonies. Each of them had simply stayed busy in their own area.

Aiden traveled between the Eight Pillars, working to keep the Laws in balance. Cheryl, meanwhile, managed the affairs of Celestial Imperial City with her usual decisiveness.

But every evening, no matter how busy they were, the two of them sat together on the city wall for a while.

Sometimes they shared a cup of tea. Sometimes they simply sat in silence, letting the breeze pass by.

"One of the bricks is loose."

Cheryl sat on the battlement, swinging her legs as she pointed beneath her.

Aiden followed her gaze and paused.

It was the fragment of Extreme Cold Crystal that Cheryl had pushed into the gap between the bricks three years ago, on the night Bella broke through.

After three years, nourished by the new Law ecosystem, the fragment had formed a strange symbiosis with the traces of the Law of Light left in the brick.

Ice blue and warm gold intertwined, giving off a unique, quiet golden-blue glow.

Aiden reached out with his long fingers and gently pulled the fragment free.

Boom!

A strand of pure golden Golden Sunfire suddenly leaped from his fingertips.

The air warped slightly under the intense heat. The Golden Sunfire then turned into a fine carving tool and, strengthened by the new Laws, began reshaping the fragment.

The Law of Extreme Cold and the Law of Light merged and separated within the flames. In the end, they condensed into two simple, ancient-looking rings.

One was ice gold, carrying the calm strength and determination of the Law of Extreme Cold.

The other was warm gold, filled with the protection and gentle warmth of the Law of Light.

Cheryl picked up the ice-gold ring and naturally slipped it onto her slender ring finger.

Then she took out another newly refined Extreme Cold Crystal from her pocket. It gave off a clean, icy chill as she placed it in Aiden’s palm.

"This is for you."

Cheryl gave him a playful wink.

"The warm gold ring is for Bella. She is a guardian, so she needs to protect."

"This ice-gold one is for me. I’m a builder, so I need to stay steady."

Aiden looked at the crystal in his hand and the warm gold ring, then smiled gently.

When Bella received the warm gold ring, she did not say a word.

She simply hung it from the hilt of her Radiant Blade, the sword she used to protect Earth.

At sunset, the sky was red like blood, painting the square of Celestial Imperial City in rich shades of gold and crimson.

Aiden stood quietly before the projector in the Law Garden.

A huge 3D image slowly turned in the air. It was no longer the simple map with only a few dozen points from the past. It was now a full map of Earth’s thriving Law ecosystem.

The Eight Pillars pulsed strongly in eight directions like beating hearts. Their roots of Law spread across every corner of Earth and the Abyss.

At the top of the image, the cosmic Law bridges gave off a steady light. Along the edges, communication codes from twelve surviving civilizations flowed like waterfalls.

Small groups of people were gathered around the square.

Bella stood with her arms crossed against the old city wall. The warm gold ring on her sword hilt reflected the sunset, matching her calm and cool presence.

Cheryl crouched beside Kelsey, holding a thick stack of data sheets. She patiently explained the latest changes in the Eight Pillars.

Faye sat on Damian’s broad shoulders, holding a Law tool. She was angrily repairing the communication unit of a Dragon Clan outpost.

In one corner of the square, Leon patiently corrected Victor’s punching stance, teaching him how to replace brute force with precise control of the Laws.

Rainn and Irene walked side by side, quietly discussing a new plan to connect the Miko clan with the Swarm Law.

Malcolm and Codex had their arms around each other’s shoulders, loudly arguing about how to fully add Law forging technology to Earth’s public education system.

Zoey and Kelsey, two girls who looked almost the same age, held hands and argued with flushed faces about whose Law was the most beautiful on Earth.

Jade stood with her eyes closed. The senses of the Divine-Eyed Swordsman had evolved to their peak within the new Laws.

Then she suddenly spoke.

"Next spring, the Eight Pillars’ Gluttony organ will need a new module. Otherwise, the energy will overflow."

Kelsey suddenly stopped arguing and looked up. A strange light sparkled in her large eyes.

"Aiden!"

Her clear voice rang out.

"Grandpa Yves just sent me a question through the Law network."

Aiden turned around and looked at the girl, who had now grown into a young woman.

"He asked... do you think this is enough now?"

Aiden did not answer right away.

He turned his head slightly and looked at Cheryl nearby.

At that moment, Cheryl also looked up at him. Their eyes met in the golden light of the setting sun.

A bright smile appeared at the corner of Cheryl’s lips.

"Enough," she said softly.

"But not the kind of enough that means we can stop. The kind that means... we can keep moving forward."

Aiden smiled.

He looked away, then summoned the system panel that had stayed with him through countless days and nights.

The complicated data and critical-hit notifications had long since disappeared. Only a few simple, peaceful lines of text remained.

[Current Status: Support Mode]

[Earth’s Law Ecosystem: Fully Mature]

[Connections to the Cosmic Law Network: 12]

[Eight Pillar Organs: Operating Normally]

[10,000x Critical Hit System: Retired]

[10,000x Eternity: Active]

Aiden raised a finger and tapped lightly in the air.

At the bottom of the Law Garden projection, he carved a message of his own.

The words shone in golden Law light. Their style was strong, yet gentle.

"How far one person can go depends on how many people are willing to walk beside them."

"10,000x Critical Hit was a tool. 10,000x Eternity is a choice."

"Choosing to keep everyone together is ten thousand times harder than choosing to make one person stronger."

"But it is worth it."

Night fell, and the sky above Celestial Imperial City turned completely dark.

Yet the city did not fall into darkness.

At that moment, the Law particles of the new ecosystem lit up on their own. Soft, warm golden light filled the entire city.

It was not sunrise.

It was not sunset.

It was Earth’s own light.

(The End)