Chapter 424 - 360: The Fate of the Two Gods! A Brand New Three Realms Divine Power—Retrace

Chu Bamboo saw that was the end of it. He folded his arms across his chest, lost in thought. ’A part of the plan...?’

Z: "..."

Right now, Z didn’t dare to even breathe.

"What are you afraid of? It’s not like I’m going to eat you," Chu Bamboo said, glancing at the light screen Z projected. His tone was devoid of any inflection.

Z remained silent.

"Z... I won’t ask about the other things. I know you’ve probably made some mistakes... maybe even huge ones. You kept telling me to chew you out, but when I actually tried, you weren’t happy about it... Your skill at burying the truth is truly masterful..."

Chu Bamboo’s words were laced with sarcasm. He paused, narrowing his eyes. "Fine, that’s not important anymore. For now, I’m a little curious. How exactly was the contamination on you wiped away?"

"And besides that... what exactly is on Mars?"

"..." Z finally said, "I cannot describe the specific situation in detail, but... I can only say that the removal of my contamination is very deeply connected to you."

"Oh! So you developed some method for me to take on the contamination for you?" Chu Bamboo guessed boldly. That would explain some of Z’s guilt. However...

’Z must have done other things, too.’

After a long look at the light screen, Chu Bamboo decided he would ask Lin Xin Bamboo later.

"As for Mars..." After a long silence, Z sighed. "That is not something you should know right now."

"...Z, let’s just be frank," Chu Bamboo said, tired of Z’s evasiveness and riddles. His expression turned extremely stern. "You should know that I *can* go back."

"So, tell me... what method do I need to stop this ’great disaster’? To get humanity through that hopeless future... and into a new era! Our enemies... fine, I know you can’t talk about them! But you have to at least tell me something useful!"

"..." It was so long before she replied that Chu Bamboo started to suspect Z wasn’t going to answer at all. Then, she finally said, "According to the intelligence I currently possess... you, as you are now... do not have the slightest chance of solving the problem."

"?" Chu Bamboo shrewdly seized on the key word. "’Now?’ No... you mean, the counterpart who would be created if I went back now... still wouldn’t have the slightest chance of resolving that crisis?"

’In other words, if it’s me—the original who can use dreams to travel to the future—then maybe there’s still a chance to solve it?’

Chu Bamboo calmly analyzed Z’s underlying meaning. "Please, be more detailed and precise."

"The only solution is... to become stronger," Z finally said.

Chu Bamboo was stunned for a moment.

"If you could become as powerful as... no, even if you were only as powerful as Lin Xin Bamboo is now, you would have a preliminary chance of solving the problem!" Z’s voice was more serious than ever. "But, if you return now... it would still be impossible for you to reach that realm before the cataclysm arrives... Therefore, you, as you are now, are not enough!"

"...I see." A thoughtful expression appeared on Chu Bamboo’s face. ’So you have to be a God to even qualify...’

’Tsk, no, it only means you’re *qualified*...’

Chu Bamboo suddenly smiled, as if a weight had been lifted. "Z, can you tell me, was the God of the Golden Dawn an actual God?"

"...He could be."

"Then I get it!" Chu Bamboo nodded frankly. ’It seems that God understood everything, and his death was probably deeply connected to this matter!’

’Considering that the God of the post-civilization era was able to suppress the Ten Thousand Races and usher in an age for humanity, she must have been a God too. But she still died in the end... could she have died the same way as the previous God?’

’In other words... it’s a problem from Mars, or one created by an alien civilization!’

’That’s why they say...’

’Only by Becoming a God can you know the truth!’

’But even Becoming a God doesn’t guarantee you can solve it...’

’Because it seems both Gods fell into the same trap.’

’No...’ A thought suddenly struck Chu Bamboo. ’To be blunt, the fact that the Gods died... that’s just my own speculation! It’s not certain that either of them actually died... just like my counterpart, who goes to Mars every time and also might not have died...’

’If Z hadn’t said that there has only ever been one Chu Bamboo... I would have even suspected that my counterpart’s corpse, or the contaminated monster it became, might still be on Mars right now.’

"Alright... you’ve given me something useful, more or less," Chu Bamboo said, abruptly standing up. He patted his perfectly clean body and added with a measure of peace, "So, let’s start the real, useful conversation... Z, my current situation is..."

Chu Bamboo described parts of his past experiences and his current realm in detail, finally asking, "So, do you have any good methods to help me break through?"

"..." Z was taken aback. "If it’s just about getting you to the Third Realm, or even higher... that’s very easy for me! But if it’s about having you... advance in a way that aligns with your Memory Divine Techniques... that would be extremely difficult! I can’t determine your Celestial Mandate, either... After all, I don’t possess any Divine Techniques related to prophecy."

"..." Chu Bamboo looked at Z, his face expressionless.

"Erm, okay! Actually, it’s not like there are *no* clues..." Z fell silent for a moment, then continued in a slightly hoarse voice, "Your breakthrough to the Third Realm in this timeline... was essentially triggered when you were faced with a world that was almost completely destroyed, save for your hometown and the mega-corp enclaves. Even the foreseeable future held no hope for humanity... You were plunged into absolute despair... and that’s when you broke through."

"Although we could theoretically replicate that... it would be too cruel to you! Besides... there’s no way to create such a scenario at present."

Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

"Oh, right!" Z suddenly thought of something, a hint of delight in its voice. "I’ve thought of something that will be helpful to you..."

The light screen flickered, and a new diary page appeared.

Chu Bamboo stared with dead eyes. "..."

’Fine, you’re not even going to pretend anymore, are you?’

After a long look at the light screen, Chu Bamboo refrained from saying or cursing anything else and simply read on. A moment later, the calm expression on his face froze. His pupils contracted, and his mind reeled.

As he had expected, it was a deduction and cultivation method for Third Realm Divine Power. Chu Bamboo had assumed it was one of the stored methods he’d already seen... but he was wrong. The technique derived this time was—

"...Regression, or maybe Retracement," Chu Bamboo murmured, a thousand thoughts swirling in his mind.

"This Retracement means that, for Divine Techniques of this type that I’ve used before, even after they’re depleted, I can—without needing to find someone to Rewrite it for me—slowly use Blessing Power to create a Reproduction of the depleted Divine Technique..."

In a way, this was a further evolution of storage.

Originally, it was using an Artifact as a storage device...

But now, it was turning his own body into a storage device!