# 1750
Chapter 1750: Eternal Pill
Space.
"...Me?"
Jialan pointed at herself in confusion.
"Jialan is the backup plan?" Lin Qiye frowned and asked. "Why have you never mentioned this to me?"
"More precisely, the backup plan is the [Immortal Pill] within Jialan's body." The Fate Monk spoke slowly. "Long ago, Lingbao Tianzun specifically refined a pill to withstand this great calamity. Although it was later destroyed by the Key to the Gate's intervention from afar, two fragments retaining the pill's medicinal power survived... namely, the [Immortal Life Pill] and the [Immortal Pill]."
"You know all this, so what about it?"
"Just half a pill, when swallowed, immediately grants God Ruins-level super defensive power and immortality-level super healing ability... In a sense, this is the first and last 'artificial Forbidden Ruins' in the world.
What matters most is that once this pill is swallowed, it cannot be digested. In other words, the so-called 'immortality' and 'eternal life' are powers the body obtains from the pill, which cannot be fully integrated into oneself... Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because these two pills were never meant to be eaten by humans in the first place."
Jialan froze. "Not for humans? Then who? Gods?"
"No, for it..."
The Fate Monk pointed somewhere, and Lin Qiye and Jialan both turned their heads, their gazes slightly tightening.
That shattered divine kingdom stood precariously on the Moon.
"Heavenly Court?"
"More precisely, the origin of Heavenly Court." The Fate Monk paused. "And that pill wasn't originally called the [Immortal Life Pill]. Its name was... [Eternity].
Lingbao Tianzun's original intention in refining this pill was to integrate it into Heavenly Court's origin. That way, Heavenly Court would become a freely mobile super divine kingdom possessing both [Immortality] and [Eternal Life] characteristics... or rather, an eternal divine kingdom.
Heavenly Court's origin would become indestructible and even possess powerful self-evolutionary abilities.
If Lingbao Tianzun had truly refined the [Eternal Pill] and integrated it into Heavenly Court's origin, then Heavenly Court would become the most powerful divine kingdom in existence! Even Yerand's Kingdom of Heaven from back then wouldn't be remotely comparable."
"Bestowing God Ruins-level power onto a divine kingdom and its origin?!" Shock appeared in Lin Qiye's eyes.
He knew Lingbao Tianzun refined this pill to withstand the great calamity, but how could a single pill resist the Cthulhu Faction gods... Lin Qiye hadn't known.
"The Key to the Gate foresaw the future after the eternal Heavenly Court would appear, so it spared no代价 to shatter it, and it indeed succeeded.
The [Eternal Pill] was split in two—one part retained the [Immortality] characteristic while the other retained [Eternal Life]—making it impossible for Heavenly Court's origin to absorb either fragment. Lingbao Tianzun's 'Eternal Heavenly Court' plan thus failed.
But he didn't give up completely. Instead, he preserved these two pills in the Jade Pool forbidden grounds, asking the Queen Mother of the West to guard them carefully. The subsequent events... you already know."
Lin Qiye nodded thoughtfully.
No wonder the Queen Mother of the West's attitude toward these two pills was so ambiguous. On one hand, she had Jialan and the others protect them; on the other, she said that if crisis arose, destroying the pills rather than letting them fall into enemy hands was preferable...
The [Immortal Life Pill] and [Immortal Pill] were indeed important trump cards for Heavenly Court, but also dangerous ones. No one could guarantee they would be useful in the future, yet they couldn't be handed over to others either.
"So, the backup plan you're referring to is..."
"Now that Heavenly Court's origin is damaged and its body is fragmented, once it fails to suppress what's beneath the Moon, both the Great Xia gods and human society will be trampled underfoot." The Fate Monk's voice was grave.
"The only way out is to reshape the eternal Heavenly Court and thoroughly suppress them before any of this happens!"
As the Fate Monk finished speaking, those calm eyes like a winter lake gazed indifferently at Jialan.
"We need your [Immortal Pill]."
"But I can't just take out the [Immortal Pill]." Jialan spoke quietly. "If I could have, Queen Mother would have taken it two thousand years ago. Unless..."
Jialan seemed to have thought of something, her body freezing in place.
"Unless, you are refined into a pill." The Fate Monk calmly completed her unfinished thought.
Hearing this, Lin Qiye's pupils constricted sharply.
In the void, he grabbed the Fate Monk's collar forcefully, his voice trembling.
"Do you know what you're saying?!"
The Fate Monk seemed to have anticipated Lin Qiye's reaction long ago, his expression completely unmoved. "I do."
"She's Jialan! She's my fiancée! We waited two thousand years for each other, finally making it this far... And now you're telling me to refine her into a pill?!"
Lin Qiye's roar echoed in the Fate Monk's mind as a powerful aura burst forth!
The Great Xia gods locked in battle around them didn't know what had happened, but seeing two identical "Lin Qiyes" tearing at each other, they were filled with confusion.
"Who she is doesn't matter... Since this is a game of chess, some pieces must be sacrificed, isn't that right?"
"She's not a piece!!!"
"She is definitely a piece! You think you were clever back then, giving her the white piece instead of the black one, and that would keep her out of this?" The Fate Monk roared back. "From the moment two thousand years ago when you fed her the [Immortal Pill]! She became a piece!
No matter how hard you try to push her away! She cannot leave this chessboard! This is her 'destiny'!
The 'destiny' you chose for her with your own hands!!"
Lin Qiye stood frozen in place.
In his mind, the scene from that snowy day flashed rapidly—himself secretly stuffing the Immortal Pill into Jialan's mouth...
But what else could he have done then?
Watch Jialan die right before his eyes? Even if he barely saved her, would he then have to watch her grow old over two thousand years, turn to dust, never to meet again?
There was no predestination in this world. From the very beginning, it was a predetermined causality... namely, fate.
"Lin Qiye, you should be very clear about what kind of opponents we're facing." The Fate Monk's voice steadied. "Do you think the Cthulhu Mythos could be easily toppled by just one Li Yifei and a few human strongholds surviving from the Western Han period?
To win this game of chess, a surprise attack alone isn't enough... Since this is a duel, the sacrifice of pieces is unavoidable."