# Chapter 9: The Inherited Key
## — The Dead Eternal —
The Thunder Ancient Dragon opened its massive maw, its enormous wings flapping, stirring up a sandstorm in the ever-shrinking desert of the Chronos World. As it heard this term, it couldn't help but pause slightly in bewilderment.
Evil Gods were the enemies of civilization, the enemies of all life. They were the embodiment of natural disasters, the physical manifestation of destruction and doom. Since ancient times, countless civilizations had attempted to analyze the essence of Evil Gods, just as intelligent life had analyzed that the essence of typhoons was storms generated by the ocean releasing its own heat, and that earthquakes were tremors produced by tectonic plates releasing pressure. People wanted to understand the nature of Evil Gods so they could formulate countermeasures and solutions.
But such attempts had all regrettably failed at the final step.
It wasn't that this step was so difficult that no one in history could succeed—rather, before they could succeed, Evil God armies arriving from unknown origins would annihilate everything they had.
"...Do you think you'll be an exception?"
Thus the Thunder Ancient Dragon inquired. Throughout its long life and ancient inheritance, it indeed possessed information about Evil Gods. As a reconstructor of world cycles, a regenerator, the Thunder Ancient Dragon had indeed restored several worlds destroyed by Evil Gods. That was why it felt shocked: "The Dead Eternal—that is the clue you've found regarding the essence of Evil Gods? No one has ever reached this step, or rather, before reaching this step, they were all destroyed."
"To be precise, it wasn't I who found it. I merely synthesized others' intelligence and confirmed this point."
Part of Joshua's thought threads were still communicating with the Thunder Ancient Dragon. As he departed, he spoke thoughtfully: "Destruction? Indeed, aside from 'Eternal Wonders' and 'Overly Developed Civilizations,' the information 'Researching the Essence of Evil Gods' is also a trigger? That matches the intelligence I possess."
"The existence of Evil Gods might indeed be slightly more important than everyone initially imagined."
The Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate had left behind extremely rich research materials related to Evil Gods. As a Near-Saint who could already imprison some Evil Gods within worlds, carry them around, and even use them as tools like compasses, it was unquestionably the number one professional in this field across the entire multiverse. Joshua, having inherited the relevant materials, naturally benefited greatly, gaining many new insights. By synthesizing this with his own existing intelligence, he could deduce many new things.
For instance, before this, Joshua had believed that Evil Gods might merely be 'phenomena' created by the power of the behind-the-scenes manipulator—similar to how psionic energy related to psychics, or the Steel Serpent. Or perhaps Evil Gods were simply another apocalyptic version of 'Chaos Steel Serpents.'
But now it seemed that the information regarding Evil Gods themselves also fell within the 'warning range.' This was not a treatment that purely derivative phenomena could enjoy.
"Malicious Chaos—let's temporarily call the transcendent power held by that behind-the-scenes manipulator by this name. The essence of this power can be somewhat analyzed through the power of Evil Gods."
Joshua's main consciousness was still falling toward the Genesis Maelstrom. He was passing through layers of abysses, the former blockade lines of the Seven Gods against Chaos. The warrior pondered alone: "Chaos can erode and infect anything else—only other transcendent powers can resist it. This point might often be overlooked, but it actually demonstrates that Malicious Chaos has an extremely close connection with all things."
After all, that so-called erosion phenomenon was similar to 'Arcane Power Infusion,' 'Divine Power Infusion,' and even 'Holy Light Infusion.' But aside from Divine Power, whether Arcane Power or Holy Light, they could only rapidly infuse a portion of related transcendent matter and their corresponding transcendent beings—'Mages' and 'Clergy'—not all things.
Secondly, Malicious Chaos could cause mental erosion, driving people mad, even rendering them unable to think. There were many possibilities for this—simple interference with the soul, Chaos possessing anti-intelligence algorithms, or containing vast amounts of information that directly overloaded people into madness. Based on Joshua's own experience fighting the Decay Evil God and Death Evil God, 'containing vast amounts of information that directly overloads people into madness' was actually the most fitting description. Hadn't he nearly been driven insane by the countless memories and calls from the Death Evil God, disrupting his thought arrays for a long time?
One of the essences of Evil Gods was precisely the sea of memories and information gathered from countless dead lives within civilizations. Of course, the possibility of it possessing something like 'anti-intelligence algorithms' couldn't be ruled out either.
—Ordinary people would go mad at a single glance. The bizarre infectious and erosive nature of Evil God minions, their spiritual contamination, and even their meme-based action patterns all undeniably confirmed one point: compared to other transcendent powers, 'Malicious Chaos' had a close relationship with 'information.'
"But the Sage of Demons said that the essence of Evil Gods, and even the essence of the behind-the-scenes manipulator, is related to 'Eternity.'"
The abyss continuously descended, continuously stretched. The God of Steel didn't deliberately accelerate but merely strolled past countless worlds, his thoughts diverging: "'Eternity'—I've seen this term before in the memories of the 'Plenty Evil God,' in the 'Ultimate Goals of Civilization' of the earliest civilizations from the ancient pastoral era of the multiverse."
"【Eternity】, 【Infinity】, 【Absoluteness】, and 【Omniscience and Omnipotence】."
—'Eternity' that transcends all material change, even the end.
—'Infinity' that transcends all finite existence, even imagination.
—'Absoluteness' that transcends all causal concepts, even probability.
Omniscience and Omnipotence aside—that was clearly a purely philosophical supreme concept with no need for discussion in reality. But without a doubt, these three points—【Eternity】, 【Infinity】, 【Absoluteness】—were definitely feasible for those most ancient civilizations that had once been close to bathing in the glory of the First Flame, inherently possessing infinite sources of energy and matter.
"I might understand a bit about the meaning of 'Infinity'—especially after meeting the Shadow Sage, I gained some insight. The other party was an infinite existence. Only an infinite existence could spread its power across the equally infinite multiverse. Moreover, opening entirely new paths precisely aligns with the meaning of 'Infinity'—infinite power, infinite expansion, infinite future... and infinite hope."
Although it was merely speculation, Joshua believed that the 'Sage-level' realm corresponded to the concept of 'Infinity' among the three 'Ultimate Goals of Civilization.' This realm was absolutely worthy of the ancients' imagination of it.
As for the term 'Eternity,' aside from the 'Ultimate Goal of Civilization' aspect, Joshua had only encountered related concepts in the context of 'Eternal Wonders.' To be honest, he couldn't quite understand this. After all, in his view, no matter how magnificent and grand a building or wonder might be, it would gradually fade with the passage of time... Up until now, Joshua still couldn't quite figure out where the 'eternity' lay.
But it could be understood from another direction—that the existence of those Eternal Wonders must contradict the goals of the behind-the-scenes manipulator. In fact, it could even be said that no true Eternal Wonder had ever appeared in this multiverse. After all, even the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground had been destroyed before it was truly completed. If Joshua achieved Near-Saint status, he might attempt to repair it, but for now, even with the relevant materials, he was powerless.
"If those great wonders had been completed, they would absolutely have caused earth-shattering changes to a civilization. Whether the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground or the Black Mist itself, if they became complete forms, they would be enough to allow a civilization to dominate the multiverse, perhaps even never be destroyed... But is this considered 'eternity'? No, there must be information I'm still unaware of. Even the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate had few speculations in this regard. I must still be missing some key elements."
But even so, it was enough.
【Malicious Chaos】 was a power connected to all things and highly aligned with information. Moreover, Eternal Wonders and Overly Developed Civilizations would make the behind-the-scenes manipulator uneasy, wanting to erase them. To this end, it had even created the tool of Evil Gods, and Evil Gods were also a relatively important element in executing its plan... This much information was already sufficient, enough for Joshua to formulate countermeasures.
Furthermore, the power of Malicious Chaos was completely different from psionic energy or arcane power. It seemed to belong to a different system from the Sages.
How to put it? Somewhat like the difference between the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate and the Sages.
"The Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate—the path of self-achieving one's own universe—might be related to 【Absoluteness】. Absolute self, absolute mastery of self. For the internal world it created, it was an 'Absolute' existence."
And Malicious Chaos was related to 【Eternity】—this also matched the information left by the Sage of Demons.
At this moment, Joshua had arrived at the boundary of the former Extreme Dark Abyss, the border of the Genesis Maelstrom. Here, one could see the wreckage of countless worlds falling into it, like giant whales dying in the ocean, sinking to the depths of the seafloor. Similarly, here, one could see countless newborn worlds surging upward, like volcanic eruptions at the beginning of life, bringing new matter and possibilities to the surface worlds.
The God of Steel did not continue forward. He stood at this boundary between life and death, this border between destruction and creation, gazing at the Genesis Maelstrom itself—that black-and-white millstone of all things, like a Taiji symbol—silently contemplating.
【Eternity】, 【Infinity】, 【Absoluteness】—the relationship between these three was truly very close, even interchangeable. For instance, Infinity could also represent Eternity. An Eternal existence would naturally be Infinite. An Infinite existence would naturally be Eternal.
And an Absolute existence without Infinity or Eternity would be unrealistic—otherwise, could it truly be called Absolute? Conversely, Infinite power itself was Absolute suppression. Eternity was also Absolute existence. The three were nearly unified, with only slight differences in minor aspects.
Therefore, 【Malicious Chaos】 must have brought some change to the multiverse. Evil Gods corresponded to the Primordial Gods of Divine Power, the World Consciousness of Psionic Energy, the Pure Energy Beings of Arcane Power, the Ancient Dragons and Void Behemoths of Life Energy, the Primordial Elemental Beings of Elements, and the various ancient Aether Beasts of Aether, and so on. The changes caused by Malicious Chaos were hidden within the 'common sense' of all beings in the multiverse today. After all, it was the 'True Primordial Transcendent Power,' second only to Divine Power and even earlier than Psionic Energy. All life born in this multiverse must have been bathed in its changes.
But this change was too subtle and gradual. Just as before Joshua expounded his teachings, many people didn't even understand that transcendent powers were created by the Sages—they simply assumed it was the truth of the multiverse, never imagining that such things didn't exist in the multiverse before.
Subtle and gradual, like boiling a frog in warm water? Although somewhat unpleasant, Joshua never hesitated to make the worst assumptions—all currently existing life might have been influenced and locked in by changes related to 'Malicious Chaos' even before their birth. They had been dancing in the other party's palm from the very beginning.
But Joshua was different... At least in the world he had once lived in and understood, there was no transcendent power at all. If anyone in this multiverse was most likely to detect something wrong while knowing nothing, perhaps it was only him.
But that didn't mean he could discover it—perhaps he was already in the game without knowing it. Who's to say that what he regarded as common sense wasn't actually a facet of Chaos?
"But this is my advantage."
The Sages of the past, constrained by circumstances and needing to save this multiverse, might not have had the time and energy to continue research in this area, having to abandon it midway. Therefore, compared to the Sages of previous generations, Joshua's advantage wasn't merely his identity as a transmigrator... His true advantage lay in having received the inheritance of countless people. All scattered clues converged upon him, as if the gaze of myriad realms was focused upon him.
Joshua now held the key closest to the truth!