Chapter 13: The Past of Another World
"Truly incredible."
Facing the God of Might and Justice, 'Xing Zheng's' gesture, Joshua did not immediately ask questions. Instead, he first scanned the surroundings of the field hospital, his gaze lingering on a blurry stainless steel hospital bed. The warrior spoke in a calm tone: "I had just been born back then, and couldn't even remember the surroundings clearly myself. But I never expected divine power to be so formidable, capable of roughly reconstructing the original scene through information entanglement."
"Divine power is the force that turns impossibility into possibility. It originates from the 'Source.' Anything that exists can be reproduced by divine power."
The solemn and majestic deity also surveyed this small field hospital treatment room. His purpose was not mere observation but to analyze every shred of information around them. Xing Zheng replied to Joshua's emotion (gankai) in the same indifferent yet exceptionally serious tone as before: "Xinur is a deity after all. Since they had your memories as a sample, of course they could reproduce them."
"You saw my memories."
After a moment of silence, the warrior said.
"Of course. The Boundless Heaven watches over the world, especially you. We have always been watching."
The deity immediately responded: "I saw all those memories."
"Then what are your thoughts? About this world, my homeland."
Facing the deity, the man smiled and spread his hands. As he spoke, the surrounding scenery began to change rapidly again, like a videotape rewound to the very beginning and then played forward in sequence. The life of a man born on the battlefield unfolded swiftly through the shifting illusions.
Accompanied by the piercing alarm of a red alert, in a temporary hospital within an underground bunker, a child born at the wrong time came into the world during an era of war.
From the moment of his birth, the smell of gunpowder and the roar of artillery became the seasoning and accompaniment of his life. Because superweapon attacks had destroyed eighty-five percent of the Earth's entire ecosystem, nearly all major cities were obliterated. Thus, this boy, born during the Third World War, spent most of his childhood moving through chaotic battlefields alongside his military parents. From a young age, he displayed exceptionally excellent physical qualities and talent. Though not yet old, his performance was no less than that of some regular soldiers.
This hardship lasted for over a decade. Until one day, his father, an officer, was suddenly transferred to a secret special operations unit. As a family member, the boy—now a young man—also joined the reserve team, undergoing what was probably the most grueling death training in that world. Most of his comrades who joined with him dropped out midway because they couldn't bear it. Only this young man persisted, relying on his talent and unyielding tenacity.
For him, the trajectory of his future fate was actually very clear—either die on the battlefield or be shuttled through the military's endless missions. He didn't think there was anything wrong with this life, because this was precisely the meaning of his existence.
But ironically, the war ended.
Perhaps the victors realized that continuing to fight would only leave them as primitives struggling to survive on a wasteland, or perhaps they thought giving up the starry sea beyond the sky for just one Earth was too shortsighted. In any case, in the seventeenth year after the war began, ceasefire, negotiations, and peace arrived at a dizzying pace. That summer, half a year after the now-grown man had begun his service, his discharge notice was delivered to him.
Incredible? Absurd? The man who suddenly lost his life's purpose didn't feel these emotions. He silently put away the notice, took his compensation, and went with his parents to the capital of the 'Earth Federation,' enjoying the so-called peaceful life.
The power of technology surpassed everyone's imagination. With the assistance of artificial intelligence and mobile automated machinery factories, the irradiated wasteland transformed into a forest of steel and concrete within just a few years. Skyscrapers and automated factories covered the entire land. The civilian application of various military equipment unleashed astonishing productivity. On the day of the man's twenty-first birthday, the first space city belonging to the Earth Federation was already suspended at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point, and many spaceships capable of traveling back and forth to Mars had been completed.
Productivity was immensely abundant; material wealth was immensely abundant. In this post-war era, all humans no longer needed to worry about survival. Low-efficiency repetitive work was entirely handed over to semi-automated machinery. Intelligent beings only needed to contemplate how to achieve the meaning of their own lives. While the vast majority were lost in this overly beautiful future, the man and his father, relying on (pingjie) their excellent physical fitness, became the first batch of residents of the first human space city.
"Before the war started, our family actually ran a martial arts school. This signboard hasn't been taken out for almost twenty years."
Due to the high-intensity strain of years of war, the old man, though only middle-aged, already showed signs of aging. He laboriously took out a large wooden signboard from a box, brushed off the dust accumulated over the years, stared blankly, and muttered to himself in a daze: "I never thought I'd have the day to hang it up again... I'm probably the first person in all of humanity to open a martial arts school in space, hahaha."
Chuckling at himself a few times, the old man noticed his silent son beside him. He restrained his smile, then seriously grasped the other's hand. This old warrior, who had endured countless battlefields and struggled through fire and iron, spoke in an exceptionally solemn tone to the young warrior before him: "Jinglin, I'm old. I can't revive our family's martial arts school's reputation anymore."
"Are you willing to inherit it and make it famous throughout the world?"
"Of course, Father."
The young man, who had been silent all along, looked up. Having found new meaning, he stared at the ancient, nearly decaying signboard before him, a strange light flickering in his eyes.
Then, the warrior grinned and said, "It's my honor."
What followed was somewhat unremarkable. The story of a martial arts school owner who became undefeated across heaven and earth in an era of great harmony probably wouldn't interest many. The light and shadow in the illusion shifted and changed, and finally, everything returned to the chaotic void.
And the God of Might, who had been watching all this and observing every detail of this world, let out a breath.
"A civilization reborn from war, vibrant and full of life."
Closing his eyes, then opening them again after a moment, He evaluated after some thought. His indifferent yet majestic tone carried a hint of respect: "Wisdom and alchemical technology have reached such a level. Relying solely on tools and intellect, life without any supernatural power can still achieve such feats—cities like continents of steel, fortresses suspended in the void, colonies built on uninhabitable worlds (the Moon, Mars), and they are even transforming them into forms suitable for life... There are no transcendents detached from society; all beings are the cornerstones of order and civilization."
"As a deity of a world with supernatural power, I find it hard to imagine such a form of civilization. It is an order beyond my domain."
Responding to the warrior's question, Xing Zheng evaluated seriously: "But I am not surprised by this. Cognition is a circle. The more you understand, the more you realize you don't know. Deities are not omniscient or omnipotent. Even the arrogant like us know what reverence is."
"Is that so."
Joshua nodded slightly. He was not surprised by the response of one of the Seven Gods before him.
Not long ago, the Sage's colossal formation, vast enough to envelop the world, had carried the warrior and the First Flame through the void of the multiverse. He had witnessed what could truly be called the 'infinite' multiverse. In such an expanse, so vast it defied imagination, who could claim to know everything? The Seven Gods knew what reverence was, which was why they could progress. Those who were complacent, lost their imagination and curiosity, could not grow stronger.
"But Joshua, that world is not suitable for you."
Suddenly changing the subject, Xing Zheng met Joshua's gaze. In his gray pupils, light flickered like stars: "Its order is already stable enough. If it doesn't encounter evil gods or other civilizations, that world will continue to develop orderly. Such a world, without conflict and proceeding step by step, is a constraint for you, for a born warrior."
"That world without miracles is not suitable for someone like you."
He evaluated thus, and upon hearing this, Joshua felt somewhat disappointed.
"You don't know either."
He murmured to himself, then shrugged nonchalantly: "Forget it. I don't care either."
In the brief time since his traversal (chuanyue), Joshua had thought a few times about why he had come to this world, but in the end, he found no answer. This was partly because he was too lazy to think deeply, and also because he hadn't reached a level where he could know the truth.
But now, having achieved Legendary status, while traveling between the Church of the Seven Gods and the Carlis World, Joshua had realized that his physical body could survive in the void. This meant that if he knew the coordinates, he could travel to other worlds using only his physical body, achieving what was called 'traversal' (chuanyue) through his own power. The system was even easier to explain—it was nothing more than an energy conversion interface. If the warrior was willing to pay some price, he could now personally 'empower' (guanding) and upgrade others. The system was similar to the inheritance runes left behind by deities like Xinur before their death—nothing particularly lofty.
He had originally thought that the deities of this world might know some relevant information, but it turned out they didn't. Neither Xinur nor Xing Zheng, one of the Seven Gods, knew anything. Moreover, regarding his true identity, these deities seemed to hold an indifferent attitude.
As for why Xing Zheng, after learning about the traversal (chuanyue), still appeared so unconcerned, the reason was actually simple—such a thing was not inconceivable in a supernatural world. A soul crossing worlds for reincarnation, though rare, was not impossible. For this deity of the Seven, the warrior's current situation was probably similar to 'suddenly awakening memories of a past life.'
For a deity who transcended life and death, what was there to care about? It was like how an ordinary person might exclaim over someone winning five million, but wouldn't question the existence of such a winner—it was rare, but it did exist.
And even if it truly was a soul from another world, so what? Joshua had found the spark left by the Sage, making him, to some extent, the savior of the entire Mycroft Continent. The Seven Gods, whose purpose was to maintain human society, had absolutely no reason to deal with a newly ascended human Legendary, possibly even a future companion of theirs, over such a trivial and boring reason—unless they had nothing better to do.
As for the Divine Mechanism siblings, who had been observing all along—Ying and Lin—they were still in shock and hadn't grasped what had just happened.
"As for questions, I do have one."
After thinking for a moment, Joshua slowly began to speak. Since he couldn't get an answer on this matter, he might as well ask about another direction. Thinking this, he asked directly: "Because of the contingency left by the Sage after the final battle, the Mycroft Continent no longer needs to worry about its survival. But why—"
Pausing for an instant here, the warrior frowned and spoke in an exceptionally solemn tone: "Why did the Sage disappear after leaving behind the four inherited artifacts?"