Chapter 1347: The Divine Deception
Even Tianlong hadn't expected that Qi Xia's desperate, utterly mad gambit would actually be recognized.
This space had officially gained a world, connected through the void.
"What a joke..." Tianlong raised his head and shouted toward the faint sliver of starry sky. "Even this counts as a world? Are you people looking with your eyes open? This 'Creator' has deceived you! Everyone here except him is fake!"
But this time, the scales did not tip in Tianlong's favor. The next moment, even more stars surged forth in the sky.
Countless "doors" lit up at once, connecting into a vast, resplendent river of stars.
Those stars blinked from thousands upon thousands of miles away, looking down upon this brand-new, complete world.
Seeing this, Tianlong couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.
*How terrifying—this God of Deception?*
He had brought two hundred thousand faceless men and even deceived the very laws of heaven and earth.
Qi Xia, at that moment, lowered his head, reached down, and tore open the "ground" beneath his feet, peering into the depths.
Even below the ground, the starry sky was visible.
The world he had created was now surrounded by "doors."
A divine deception had been completed.
"Bai Yang... how do you intend to reverse time?" Tianlong asked in a hoarse voice, his eyes ancient and weary. "Even if you are the 'Creator,' you are merely 'Endless Life.' How can you possibly control 'time'?"
"Tianlong, in the 'Peachland' you control, people are time. If I can control people, then I can control time."
"You..." Tianlong felt profoundly puzzled. He was not relieved by the sound of Qi Xia's voice returning; instead, he grew even more confused. "Bai Yang... why? At this moment, you could go anywhere... yet you choose to return to the 'Peachland' to reverse time?"
"Because I promised them," Qi Xia replied from within the void. "I want to liberate everyone in the Land of the End, not just myself."
At this moment, Tianlong felt a deep sense of powerlessness, and it was as if everything suddenly became clear to him.
Qi Xia had found an escape route within this "Eternal," but instead of fleeing to another space, he had chosen to return to the "Peachland."
He intended to make everything that had happened happen once more. For the sake of this chance, he had willingly built an entire world.
And now...?
According to his words, he had succeeded.
Everything he had promised—he had done. He had deceived no one.
But how had he managed it?
No... that wasn't the issue. The issue was that Tianlong knew full well that this "Eternal" would lead to his own defeat, yet he was powerless to change it.
He could only watch as time slipped by, second by second, eventually pointing toward his tragic end.
"Tianlong, such a pitiful dragon?" Qi Xia asked softly again. "Have you ever, even for a single second, considered the path ahead for the countless beings?"
"I..."
"Have you ever, even for a single second, experienced the torment of eternity?"
"I..."
"You are no different from Qinglong. You both revel in others' fear and worship, yet you never give anything in return. That means you have never truly earned the right to be gods."
As Qi Xia spoke, the countless stars in the sky blazed with even more dazzling light.
Tianlong looked at this boundless world of flesh and blood, gazed upon the brilliant Milky Way above, listened to Qi Xia's voice echoing from the void, and began to tremble slightly.
The feeling was extraordinarily strange.
He felt as though he was being suppressed by some immense force—
Like the suppression of "divinity."
His opponent possessed a "divinity" infinitely stronger than his own.
This feeling... he had only ever experienced it once before, when facing the "Master."
At that moment, Tianlong understood that he could never win. The gap between him and Qi Xia within this "Eternal" had become an insurmountable chasm.
In the time that followed, Qi Xia began to summon the "door" he wanted from the vast starry sky. He sought a single "door" he longed for—but this, too, was a gamble.
He needed to convince his subconscious that what he wanted was not "escape," but to return to the "Land of the End."
Only by carrying the strongest desire for the "Land of the End" and the fiercest murderous intent toward Tianlong could he successfully summon the "door" that led to the "Peachland."
Unsurprisingly, Qi Xia failed many times.
But time meant nothing to him. He began to traverse eternity within the infinite.
Even though his entire being was now imbued with divinity, he had no way to make his heart yearn for the "Land of the End."
That place was filled with slaughter, deceit, and despair. Its sky was even bloodier than this one. Its stench was unbearable.
Everyone he wanted to save was guilty. He would have to fight countless monsters with nothing but flesh and blood.
Why should anyone long for such a world?
Mechanically, numbly, he summoned every "door" to appear before his room, replacing the "door" he had.
Each time he opened a door, he saw a brand-new scene: real mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas; bustling, vibrant worlds of all kinds. But he destroyed every single wrong "door."
Perhaps, as he had once said, since he already knew the path to victory, there was no need to take shortcuts now.
Everything was for the sake of returning to the "Peachland." He needed to open the door and witness the end.
Finally, on a certain day within the "Eternal," Qi Xia opened the door before him and found nothing but a void beyond.
A familiar void—empty, desolate.
This was the "Third Station."
Qi Xia stared into the void for a long time. The light in his dead, stagnant eyes gradually flickered back to life. An idea came to him.
This time, he pondered longer than before. His expression became far more animated.
"I see..." he murmured to himself. "I finally understand... The reason I couldn't summon 'The End' was because I didn't know how to win. But now I do..."
"You understand...?" Tianlong forced himself to stay alert, his face haggard as he looked at Qi Xia.
It was an extraordinarily complex emotion. He felt that he might finally have hope of escaping this "Eternal." But this "method" would lead to his complete defeat.
So, should he be looking forward to this plan with Qi Xia?
Why did he feel that this plan was brilliant just from watching the last day of "rebellion"?
If one were to view it from the beginning of the "Eternal," this plan could not be described merely as brilliant—it was "grand."
Perhaps his loss was not unjust. Someone had built a world within eternity just to kill him.
What surprised Tianlong even more was that Qi Xia did not step into the "Third Station" before him.
Instead, he simply left this "door" in his own room, carefully preserved it, and then began summoning "The End" again.
As he had said, he had truly found a way to "win."
Now, without any hesitation, he could summon a "door" that led back to "The End."
As for the time spent on this—both Qi Xia and Tianlong, within the "Eternal," felt it could be ignored.
When that "door" opened, it revealed the "Paradise Bank."
This was the result of a joint gamble between Qi Xia and Bai Yang.
The two-way door of the "Paradise Bank" led to the "Train" on one side and the "Peachland" on the other.
This "door" had been crafted by Golden Monkey, right under the noses of Qinglong and Tianlong, using the "Artifice" skill within "Energy Storage."
This small, unremarkable door now played a crucial role.
Qi Xia thought for a moment, then turned back, picked up the door leading to the "Third Station," and officially began his journey back to the "Land of the End."