Chapter 465 - 27: The Center of the World

No one knew that the Wind God had joined them.

Even Duke Naisel Elias didn’t know that the gray-haired man who had suddenly appeared by Su Zhou’s side was a Divine Being from an ancient Era. Su Zhou found it difficult to explain why the Wind God was traveling with him, so he just vaguely said the man was a temporary companion and that he would reveal his true identity later.

"Mr. Su, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something off about that man..."

Whenever the two were alone, Elias would try to warn Su Zhou. "He gives me a very dangerous feeling. And he’s always disappearing without a trace. I never know where he goes."

’Of course he’s dangerous...’ As a Quasi-Clan member who possessed some of Su Zhou’s bloodline, Elias’s sensitivity to energy was much higher than before. He could easily sense the restless Wind Elements around the Wind God that couldn’t be fully suppressed. His body instinctively knew that this was a being powerful enough to kill him in an instant.

"Just think of him as a randomly spawned NPC. He won’t do anything to the city, anyway."

This was all Su Zhou could say in response to Elias’s worried warnings. And the Wind God did indeed act like a randomly spawned NPC. Recently, he had been wandering around Naisel City, sometimes doing good deeds like helping the elderly home, and other times just watching Su Zhou distribute the Dragon Scale Potion.

During his battle with the Wind God, even though Su Zhou had stitched his torn lower body back together, a large amount of his blood and flesh could not be reattached. So, not wanting to let it go to waste, Su Zhou brought it back to the city and had the various Alchemy Workshops and numerous Alchemists work overtime to produce potions.

With production lines and semi-automated Arrays, they had already prepared enough potions for the entire city’s population. There was still a lot of Su Zhou’s flesh left over from the battle. If only Naisel City could contact other survivors in this world, they would have already planned to take these potions out and sell them at a low price or even give them away.

"There aren’t many survivors left. The Water God’s followers have basically wiped out all the Shelter Cities in the region of the former Thousand Lakes Country. As for the Shelter Cities in other regions, they moved into the Netherworld Maze long ago after their water sources dried up."

The Wind God’s words confirmed this news, leaving Su Zhou speechless. "Settling in the Netherworld Maze is essentially abandoning one’s status as ’living.’ Although that doesn’t seem to be a problem in this apocalyptic world, at the end of an Era’s transition, they will be classified as the dead. They won’t be able to enter the next Era."

In fact, the Water God’s massacres and sacrifices in the major Shelter Cities had not only caused massive casualties but had also created huge hordes of Undead on the surface. Recently, all of these Undead hordes had begun to converge on Naisel City, leading to several extremely fierce defensive battles.

"Are there really no other survivors?"

Having led the charge and swept away the attacking Undead with his Commander Tier strength, Su Zhou had once again protected Naisel City, earning the fanatical worship of its countless citizens. Yet, he wasn’t happy. He still hadn’t given up hope. "Even if there are only a few dozen or a hundred people left, that’s fine. At my speed, I’m fast enough to bring them all over..."

He really didn’t want to abandon a single person.

"First of all, you have to be able to find them, which is nearly impossible in itself."

But the Wind God shook his head. "Secondly, how could a group of just a few dozen or a hundred people survive on the surface without entering a Maze? And large-scale Shelter Cities are indeed gone. Even if there were any, they were all slaughtered by the Water God’s past massacres... Otherwise, why do you think I was able to find this place so quickly?"

"It’s because Naisel City is one of the very few, and last, cities of the Earth People left in this world."

Hearing this, the young man fell into a dejected silence.

Yes, after his battle with the Wind God, Su Zhou had completely assimilated his True Body form. Now, he could transform his True Body form into a Soul and store it in his Soul Space. When needed, he could manifest his True Body and, in turn, store his physical self in the Soul Space.

This utilized a certain Extraordinary Law of ’Matter-Spirit Transformation.’ It was originally a very complex technique, but generations of Cultivators had summarized and simplified it over the ages. By now, it had been simplified to the point where even ordinary Cultivators could use its basic functions.

Likewise, during this recent period, Su Zhou’s Whole Body Mist Armor had also improved immensely thanks to his consultations with the Wind God.

"This technique itself is excellent and has immense potential, but your cultivation of it is very crude... Yes, your application is ingenious. You could say you’ve unearthed all of this technique’s potential, but your cultivation is crude."

Regarding Su Zhou’s cultivation of the Whole Body Mist Armor, the Wind Attribute expert, the Wind God, was not impressed. He pointed out that Su Zhou’s use of the Gale Seeds was still at a very Junior Level. "A Gale Seed is, in essence, a point that generates the Magic Wind. By controlling them freely, you can shape the wind into various forms, even using it to assist your physical body and unleash immense power... But why do you always call upon the power of each Gale Seed individually?"

"Why not group the Gale Seeds into small clusters, give them a degree of autonomous movement, and have them float around you? They could periodically burst out with Wind Cannons to hinder your enemy’s movements. And when you need to defend, you could gather these Gale Seeds together to quickly form a combined Gale Shield. Isn’t that much faster than having to call upon them individually every time?"

It was a fundamental technological upgrade, like the difference between laying bricks one by one and using modular construction.

With the Wind God’s help and guidance, Su Zhou not only optimized the structure of the Gale Seeds, allowing them to generate even more powerful Gales, but also built upon the idea and thought of countless other useful methods. ’Indeed, the Wind God’s idea coincides with some of my previous concepts. In fact, I can add more than just the Gale Seeds to this combination—I can incorporate my other powers as well.’

’My Breath is essentially just gathering power and blasting it out. It doesn’t actually have to come from my mouth. I can use the Gale Seeds as a core to gather structures similar to the cannon barrels on my spine, forming ’Floating Cannons.’ When I encounter an enemy, the Floating Cannons can fly over first and unleash a barrage of Breath attacks, and then I’ll move in for the kill myself!’

Su Zhou already had a vague, similar idea, and the Wind God helped him perfect this line of thought, providing the technical support to finish the modifications.

By the time Su Zhou had completely cleared out the Undead around Naisel City and upgraded his Gale Seeds, everyone in the city, even three-year-old children, had been injected with the Dragon Scale Potion made from his blood, just in varying doses.

In other words, all of them now possessed a certain degree of Elemental Stasis Resistance. Even without the Sheltering Array, they could live normally on the surface.

After taking care of these matters, Su Zhou set off with the Wind God, preparing to head to the Central part of the world.

To the place where the ’Earth God’ had died in the past.

Before this, Su Zhou borrowed a Space Ring from Elias, returned to the bottom level of the Maze, and loaded it with a portion of the ’Primordial Water Element’ left behind by the Water God.

Then, he asked Elias if he wanted to go with him and the Wind God to witness the prelude to the changing of the Era.

"Me? Can I really?"

The white-haired, gray-eyed boy pointed at himself in surprise. He looked very nervous and a little dejected. "Besides, is the world ending... so soon? I thought it would at least hold off until I died of old age."

What he said, however, reflected the thoughts of most Earth People in this Era—so what if it’s the apocalypse? It probably won’t happen before I die anyway. Every extra day I live is a win.

A kind of decadent optimism.

"Perhaps it’s the apocalypse, perhaps it’s the changing of the Era, or perhaps it’s a kind of rebirth."

Su Zhou replied calmly, "I’m going to try out some brand-new options. If I fail, then this friend next to me will make a different, repetitive, but at least stable choice."

"Don’t worry. By my standards, the most important thing is whether it will affect the vast majority of ordinary people... and since all of you have my blood, there’s a high chance you won’t be affected. And Elias, as the leader of Naisel City and the leader of the largest group of Earth People today, I think you may need to witness what happens next as their representative."

With the offer put that way, how could Elias possibly refuse?

And with Su Zhou’s current prestige in Naisel City—like that of a god, or rather, a literal living deity—the matter of Elias going on a long journey with him couldn’t possibly affect the Order of the city in the slightest. After witnessing Su Zhou’s power, even those with ulterior motives wouldn’t dare cause trouble in any matter related to him.

And so, the trio of Su Zhou, the Wind God, and Elias set off, heading toward the Central part of the Tartadis World.

To the place where the Earth God had once sacrificed himself to the world to sustain its existence.

And also the location of the world’s largest ’Maze.’