Chapter 571 - 409: That Is the Eight-Handed Mirror of the Three Great Divine Artifacts That I Control (Part 2)

After all, in their eyes, manual labor was a task for lowly mortals.

"And so, this monumental task,

fell, as a matter of course, upon the shoulders of the mortals who were still left behind in the Mortal World."

"As time went on, the Deities in the Celestial Palace grew ever more greedy and profligate.

Their greed was a bottomless abyss that could never be filled.

To sustain their extravagant lifestyles, the Human Race had no choice but to work themselves to the bone, day and night, suffering immensely.

And to spur the Human Race to work even harder,

those Deities actually instituted all sorts of so-called reward systems, using petty incentives to delude the people.

One of the Deities once said,

that as long as you break the backs of these mortals, so they can never raise their heads again,

and brand servility so deeply into their blood that it becomes an instinct,

the glory, wealth, fine food, and endless pleasures of the Celestial Palace would last forever, never to fade."

As Amaterasu spoke of this, her voice filled with indignation, and her hands clenched into fists unconsciously.

She, too, was a victim now. "Fortunately, not everyone in the Human Race was willing to submit to this degradation.

Those Immortals of the Human Race who held onto justice and compassion,

simply could not bear to watch their kin suffer so terribly.

They were determined to leave behind in the Mortal World the Secret Technique for ascending to godhood,

hoping to allow more people to escape this tragic fate and gain the power to resist.

But this act undoubtedly touched a raw nerve with the Deities of the Celestial Palace.

How could they possibly allow mortals the chance to stand as their equals?

Thus, a massive, soul-stirring battle inevitably erupted."

Amaterasu could still feel the tragic brutality of that great war. "But it was a pity. The Immortals among the Human Race were ultimately few in number,

and those who could uphold their noble character in the face of power and temptation were even rarer still.

In the final moment that would decide life and death,

a high-ranking Deity of the Human Race made an incredibly tragic and heroic decision.

He did not hesitate to burn his own Divine Format, exhausting all his power to seal away the entire Mortal World.

This was a high-ranking Deity standing at the very pinnacle of power. The energy released from the burning of his Divine Format,

was something that not even the other high-ranking Deities of the Celestial Palace, working in concert,

could forcibly break through in a short time. They could only helplessly and slowly wear it down."

Amaterasu let out a long sigh, her eyes filled with wistful emotion for the past. "And this is why an exceptional human like you can still exist in this world, safe and sound.

The current laws of heaven and earth are a product of that great war and the seal it left behind."

Amaterasu’s words

were like a bombshell, stunning everyone into a long silence.

Even a man as worldly and experienced as Xu Fu couldn’t help but be moved, his face a mask of shock.

He had never imagined that the secrets behind it all were so intricate and complex,

like a bottomless vortex hiding endless darkness and secrets.

’Those tales of Immortals, praised by the Human Race for generations and held up as gospel...’

’how much of them could actually be true now?’

’Most were likely just fabrications, polished and distorted.’

"I think I understand something now."

Xu Fu said with a sigh, as if waking from a long dream and slowly coming to his senses.

"Oh? And what is it that you understand?"

Chu He asked, catching the strange note in Xu Fu’s voice.

Xu Fu fell into a deep recollection of the distant past. His gaze grew distant, and his voice became softer and softer.

His expression was exceptionally complex—a mix of nostalgia, melancholy, and unwillingness to accept,

all kinds of emotions intertwined, making him impossible to read.

After a long while, he finally spoke softly, "Back then, before I embarked on my quest for the Longevity Secret Technique,

I often accompanied His Majesty.

"One day, the two of us were looking up at the sky together, watching the strange and shifting celestial phenomena.

"His Majesty, as if struck by a sudden thought, asked me a baffling question.

"I didn’t understand it at the time, and even today, I still don’t have an answer."

Xu Fu’s eyes were filled with confusion, as if he had returned to that distant afternoon. His Majesty’s puzzled face remained clear in his memory,

but the question itself remained an enigma.

"Hmph, what did he say? Can you stop being so dramatic!"

Amaterasu snorted coldly, her face full of scorn. "Do you think your precious Majesty is still alive? If you have something to say, spit it out! Stop dawdling!"

Amaterasu was already in a complicated mood,

and Xu Fu’s hesitance made her all the more impatient, her tone growing sharper.

Ignoring Amaterasu’s scornful and impatient gaze,

Xu Fu tilted his head back slightly, his eyes distant as if piercing through space and time to gaze into the remote past. He continued, his voice tinged with the weariness of ages and a hint of melancholy, "Back in those days,

"His Majesty and I were standing side by side in an open field.

"Above our heads, the clouds churned, as if the gods were playing a game in the heavens.

"Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled across the firmament. The clouds were a tempestuous sea, changing in an instant.

"His Majesty’s gaze was as deep as an abyss, as if it could pierce through the cosmos, through the thick, layered clouds, and into the endless depths of the sky.

"In that moment, his expression held both the heroic ambition to swallow the world whole, yet also a faint confusion about the unknown road ahead, as if lost in a fog, unsure of the way.

"Then, he asked me softly, ’To dare vie with Heaven itself... what would be the price?’

"No matter how I wracked my brains, I couldn’t find the slightest clue to an answer."