Chapter 1804 - 321: The Grand Finale (Part 1), Apotheosis

Chapter 1804: Chapter 321: The Grand Finale (Part 1), Apotheosis

Gu Hang sat quietly in the empty grand hall.

This was the most magnificent hall in the Imperial Palace of Holy Terra. Ten thousand years ago, the Emperor received the Human Empire’s Sons of God, commanders, chancellors, and lords here, announcing the beginning of the great founding expedition.

Then, the Emperor walked out of the hall, leading to the largest square within the palace, Vision Square, which connects to Eternal Avenue. There, the original interstellar soldier corps, the Imperial Forbidden Army, and the elite mortal warriors received the Emperor’s review, proudly and majestically commencing the grand founding expedition.

And soon, Gu Hang would also preside over a similar ceremony.

At this moment, it was a time of waiting.

Logically speaking, now there should be many ministers and attendants around Gu Hang, making various preparations on the spot.

It had indeed been like that earlier, but Gu Hang asked everyone to leave temporarily just over ten minutes ago.

The moment of ascension was calmer than expected.

Unlike when Slaanesh was born, which took an entire Spirit Race Empire, a dominant cosmic race as a sacrifice, causing waves in the Subspace that lasted for millennia and resulted in a massive catastrophe nearly across the entire universe.

The Emperor’s ascension was much quieter than Slaanesh’s.

But according to records, back then, the golden light on the horizon was visible throughout the entire Empire, the Divine Emperor’s ascension’s shadow causing billions of people to weep excitedly, kneel, and worship — of course, this might also be a myth fabricated by the National Church.

But no matter what, there was certainly some commotion at least in Holy Terra at that time.

Yet now, without any external commotion, Gu Hang ascended. He clearly felt that the thin layer of paper that had been blocking him for a long time silently shattered.

The Human Empire thus gained another deity escorting it through the Subspace.

Now, it has been thirty years since the Myriad Things Melting Furnace was devoured by the Storm God Kingdom.

Gu Hang finally took that step, entering the highest level in both Subspace and physical universe.

And his ascension wasn’t entirely without commotion.

It’s just that it didn’t happen now.

Thirty years ago, when the most promising Inferior Deity in Subspace to become a great existence, Bas Sol, fell, and his Divine Realm space, the Myriad Things Melting Furnace, was smashed and devoured by Gu Hang, that was Gu Hang’s ’commotion’ of ascension.

Using one of the strongest gods below the four Chaos Gods as a sacrifice is actually quite significant.

And if that weren’t enough, then ten years ago, Gu Hang faced a rather large-scale challenge.

By then, he had long mastered the authority of the ’Creator.’

And the key that Bas Sol painstakingly collected for hundreds of years and forged, the Rain Star created with the ancient Knight Star as a model, was also in Gu Hang’s hands.

Though it wasn’t self-made, after mastering the authority of the ’Creator,’ analyzing and controlling this key wasn’t difficult for Gu Hang. It took less than two years to complete.

After mastering the key, it was time to search for the so-called ancient weapon.

But in reality, it was a trap — a trap set by Jian Qi.

He fooled Bas Sol, embedding one false piece in the information related to the ancient weapon.

A simple lie couldn’t deceive Bas Sol into investing his life in pursuit. But as the god of deception, Jian Qi wouldn’t stoop so low as to deceive another god to death.

Jian Qi crafted many sophisticated lies, leading Bas Sol to gradually become fully invested in them. More importantly, the ancient weapon existed, was powerful, and could indeed turn Bas Sol into a god.

This information was true.

Only true information could successfully deceive Bas Sol.

But the problem lies in the fact that within a sophisticated lie, there’s often one fatal falsehood interspersed within the truth.

This ancient weapon came from an ancient cosmic race. During that race’s active period, even Subspace wasn’t like it is now.

And for this ancient weapon to function, Subspace must be restored to its state during the time it existed.

But that’s impossible to achieve.

Unless Bas Sol could destroy the four Chaos Gods plus the Emperor.

Even as a great existence, one couldn’t destroy five other beings of the same level, since the eternal game between the four Chaos Gods has been ongoing for all time, yet their positions haven’t changed.

Even as a god, it’s impossible, let alone for Bas Sol, who isn’t even a god yet.

Even if Bas Sol successfully obtained the key back then and unlocked the ancient weapon, he couldn’t ultimately become a god.

He couldn’t destroy the four Chaos Gods, nor change Subspace, so this ancient weapon would be a powerful yet exquisite waste.

And the ones deceived weren’t just Bas Sol; his former ally, the Chaos Warlord Alchaton, was also a victim.

This guy also took the ancient weapon matter seriously.

After losing Bas Sol as an ally, Alchaton devised a new plan: he intended to seize the time gap when Gu Hang acquired the ancient weapon and snatch it away, believing it could change the entire cosmic situation as rumored, getting hold of it before Gu Hang.

Of course, this might also be part of Jian Qi’s scheme.

In reality, the list of victims should also include Gu Hang.

Though relatively speaking, Gu Hang suffered the least loss in the trap.

Because he won the war.

Jian Qi is skilled in schemes but not good at executing them. The Lord of All Changes has too many bizarre, unique, and unpredictable ideas, often causing internal contradictions, leading to flawed execution.

After orchestrating a plethora of schemes, Jian Qi might never have anticipated that Gu Hang versus Bas Sol would end in Gu Hang’s overwhelming victory.

Indeed, as the trap designed, he engaged in a fierce battle with Alchaton, who came to steal the ancient weapon. The human troops suffered heavy losses, and when facing Alchaton empowered by the four Chaos Gods, Leon and Martins barely escaped death.

But all this was no match for Gu Hang’s intervention.

He possessed immensely powerful strength, and importantly, he was still a ’man.’ Yet to ascend, he always had an absolute advantage: he could more conveniently than the four Chaos Gods or the Emperor project power into the real universe, and if necessary, even appear in person.

Gu Hang destroyed Alchaton.

Though the losses were heavy, what did it matter?

Ten years ago, the Unyielding Expedition and the Dark Side Expedition had already reclaimed over 75% of the Empire’s territory.

On a foundation more powerful, more efficient, and more centralized than the Old Empire, humanity’s war potential reached an unprecedentedly terrifying level.

No matter how significant or severe the losses, it was just a drop in the bucket to the immeasurably vast Human Empire; these were wounds that time could easily heal.

The Old Empire had bled for ten thousand years and survived, let alone the New Empire now under Gu Hang’s control.

Whether it was within the trap, eliminating Bas Sol, devouring the Myriad Things Melting Furnace, or destroying Alchaton and obtaining the ancient weapon, these were all Gu Hang’s victories.

Even if the ancient weapon was useless, it didn’t matter.

After all, even without the trap, Chaos was still Gu Hang’s enemy.

These two things were already on the kill list.

Because of the trap, it instead facilitated Gu Hang’s action.

Moreover, that so-called ancient weapon might be useless to Bas Sol, but would it be entirely useless in Gu Hang’s hands?

That isn’t necessarily the case.

There is a distinction between Gu Hang and Bas Sol.

Bas Sol was merely a ’Creator.’

And Gu Hang, on the foundation of being the top-tier Inferior Deity and guardian deity of humanity, had further ’Creator’ attributes.

Although just a step away from being a great existence, after consuming a ’Creator,’ Gu Hang still couldn’t take that step.

In this matter, quantitative change seemed difficult to lead to qualitative change.

But nevertheless, Gu Hang’s ’quantity’ accumulated sufficiently.

Unlike Bas Sol, who counted on the ancient weapon to elevate him to True God, Gu Hang needed that bit of ’quality.’

He didn’t care about the allegedly immense power of the ancient weapon. Once acquired, this spherical thing, existing conceptually between the physical and virtual, was placed into the Storm God Kingdom.

Of course, he couldn’t utilize this supposedly all-destructive super weapon, nor could he recreate the environment of Subspace.

But it didn’t matter.

After ten years of analysis, he nearly dismantled it thoroughly, truly turning it into waste.

Just to extract that ’quality.’

And today, he succeeded.

What once obstructed him wasn’t a step away but merely a thin film, quietly breaking apart.

He did it.

————

Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the final Chapter will be released.

A serialization lasting two and a half years, 3.46 million words, finally reaching its end, leaves me with a lot of emotions.

After releasing the final Chapter, I’ll write a concluding comment!