# 1558
Chapter 1554: Gate of Truth
Upon hearing these words, both Lin Qiye and Cao Yuan froze.
"What did you say?" Lin Qiye's brow furrowed immediately.
"Don't panic. I'm not saying the gods of Great Xia want to kill him. Do you remember what I told you on the Dao Ship last time?" Zuo Qing gazed into Lin Qiye's eyes and said slowly, "An Qingyu is the world's nightmare that Wang Mian from the future spoke of. It's not just because of his stance... it's because of his identity.
An Qingyu is the [Key to the Gate]."
A bolt of lightning flashed across Lin Qiye's mind.
"He's one of the three pillar gods of the Cthulhu Faction?" Cao Yuan couldn't help but laugh. "How is that possible? He was executing missions with us just a few years ago, advancing from the 'Pool' realm to where we are now... How could he possibly be a Cthulhu deity?"
"Listen to me finish first." Zuo Qing shook his head and continued, "An Qingyu is the [Key to the Gate], but only a part of it... According to the Heavenly Venerable's speculation, when the Cthulhu Faction first invaded Earth, the [Key to the Gate] was killed by several Ancestral Gods. Its body shattered into countless fragments of the Gate of Truth, falling into eternal death-like slumber.
The [Key to the Gate] is time and space itself. After falling into eternal slumber, fragments of Its body were caught up in the chaos of time and space. The vast majority were exiled to the ends of time, but a few were scattered throughout the river of time where humanity exists.
Some of these fragments were recovered by Cthulhu Faction deities, like the bubble Zeus used to exile us, but some were never found... If we didn't guess wrong, An Qingyu fused with one of the [Key to the Gate] fragments while still in swaddling clothes, becoming part of the Gate of Truth.
Strictly speaking, from that moment, he was no longer human, but the Gate of Truth itself.
His [Only Correct Answer] is an expression of the Gate of Truth's power. He inherited the Omniscient and Omnipotent sight of the [Key to the Gate], capable of deconstructing all matter, Forbidden Ruins, and God's Ruins in the world, turning them into part of himself. The more he deconstructs, the more powerful he becomes, and the more complete the Gate of Truth he controls...
When he completely controls the entire Gate of Truth and becomes the only omniscient and omnipotent truth in the world, the [Key to the Gate] will awaken from its eternal slumber. At that point, he will become the [Key to the Gate]."
This passage caused Lin Qiye and Cao Yuan to simultaneously fall into confusion.
Lin Qiye stood stunned for a long while before digesting this content and speaking in disbelief: "Even if he's a fragment of the Gate of Truth... that doesn't mean he'll necessarily grow into the [Key to the Gate], right? As long as he doesn't continue deconstructing the world, wouldn't that work?"
Zuo Qing sighed helplessly:
"Once, the Heavenly Venerable thought so too... After the future Wang Mian warned Yuanshi Tianzun, he had been secretly observing An Qingyu. When he discovered the Gate of Truth fragment in An Qingyu's soul, he had already deduced the entire sequence of events.
Actually, the most稳妥 method at that time was to simply kill An Qingyu and completely destroy that Gate of Truth fragment. But the Heavenly Venerable, in his benevolence, didn't do that. Instead, he sent you all to the national fortune Island.
There, you wouldn't have contact with the outside world, wouldn't participate in wars, and An Qingyu wouldn't be able to deconstruct more matter. Perhaps that place could curb the Gate of Truth's awakening... But when the Heavenly Venerable returned to that Island and saw An Qingyu's condition, he knew this idea wouldn't work.
The Gate of Truth An Qingyu controlled had gradually taken shape. Even if he didn't actively deconstruct matter, the Gate of Truth would automatically absorb the rules of the world to grow, just at a slower pace. Since imprisoning you wouldn't work, he didn't interfere when you broke out of the island.
He had originally planned to find a way to deal with the Gate of Truth after the war ended, but he didn't expect An Qingyu to actively channel the Cthulhu Faction's corruption and, using the Gate of Truth's power, reversely deduce our temporal-spatial coordinates.
This sounds simple, but besides An Qingyu, no one in the world could do it, because the bubble that exiled us was part of the [Key to the Gate]... Only the [Key to the Gate] itself could calculate the temporal-spatial coordinates leading to [Key to the Gate] fragments.
An Qingyu saved everyone, but the Gate of Truth sensed the Cthulhu Faction's corruption and began awakening at an alarming rate. The Heavenly Venerable had no choice but to sever An Qingyu's corrupted soul while taking the opportunity to plant a restriction deep within his soul, hoping to curb the Gate of Truth's growth this way..."
"Wait!" Lin Qiye seemed to think of something. "Are you saying... the side effects?"
"Exactly. The symptoms An Qingyu has been experiencing lately aren't side effects from having his soul severed at all... They're due to the restriction the Heavenly Venerable left behind." Zuo Qing sighed deeply. "The Heavenly Venerable's restriction did effectively seal the Gate of Truth, which is why An Qingyu couldn't use his abilities and even his thoughts were obstructed.
To complement the restriction's effects, I also had Doctor Li prescribe him a special medicine to suppress his soul's self-healing.
But who could have expected that the Gate of Truth's awakening aura would attract the Migo's descent... They're frantically trying to find An Qingyu, because An Qingyu is the god of truth they worship and adore. Did you notice that after the Migo descended, they all seemed like signal towers searching for signals? They're communicating with the Gate of Truth and献祭 their own deaths to it...
As the Gate of Truth grows stronger, the Heavenly Venerable's restriction can barely contain it anymore. So he must be brought to Heavenly Court and the Gate of Truth must be dealt with permanently..."
When Zuo Qing's words fell silent, the entire office fell into dead silence.
"Dealt with... how?" Cao Yuan's voice was hoarse.
Zuo Qing stared at the two of them without speaking.
Seeing his expression, Lin Qiye and Cao Yuan's pupils slightly contracted.
Since An Qingyu had already become part of the Gate of Truth, destroying him along with his soul would prevent the [Key to the Gate]'s resurrection. This was the simplest and most effective solution that didn't need Zuo Qing to explain—something they could figure out themselves.
Cao Yuan slammed both hands down on the desk and abruptly stood up, his eyes fixed intently on Zuo Qing:
"Commander Zuo... what are they going to do to An Qingyu?"
"How they'll handle it... I'm not sure either. But you need to prepare yourselves mentally." Zuo Qing paused, his expression complex, and said slowly, "This world cannot have another [Key to the Gate]..."
"They're going to kill him?" Cao Yuan's breathing grew heavy. "But he's An Qingyu!! A few days ago he risked his life to save all of Great Xia! And now they're going to kill him?!"
Cao Yuan had personally witnessed An Qingyu transplant that arm onto his body. He knew best what determination An Qingyu had shown throughout this process and what pain he had endured. Naturally, he couldn't accept this outcome.
"Cao Yuan, calm down." Lin Qiye stood up and placed a hand on Cao Yuan's shoulder, saying in a deep voice, "If the gods of Great Xia wanted to kill Qingyu, the Duke just now could have done it easily... Perhaps they have another way."