# 2017
Chapter 2017: Empty
On the blood-red sea surface, countless threads of causality extended from Fate Monk's body, surging through his palms and into Lin Qiye's body.
As Fate Monk's heart finally stopped beating, the lifeless corpse dissolved into countless chaotic threads of fate, rapidly contracting into a sphere of light that floated quietly in Lin Qiye's palm...
Forbidden Ruins Sequence 007, Fate Buddha—【Causeless Cause】.
"...You've worked hard."
Staring at the sphere of causality in his palm, Lin Qiye murmured softly.
Although there were aspects of Fate Monk's methods that Lin Qiye did not approve of, and the two had clashed more than once... Fate Monk was, after all, a creation of Lin Qiye's own hands. Without Fate Monk, Lin Qiye alone could never have played this game of chess to its current stage.
He and Fate were like light and shadow on one side of the chessboard—like a pair of comrades who never quite agreed with each other yet always unflinchingly kept their backs bare to one another.
Now, everything about Fate had returned to its original form. That cold, merciless chess player seemed to have never existed at all.
On this shattered chessboard, there truly remained only Lin Qiye, standing alone.
As Lin Qiye's palm slowly closed, the【Causeless Cause】merged completely into his body. Cause and effect rapidly fused, and a powerful, mysterious law took shape within him!
His aura began to climb rapidly!
By now, Lin Qiye's soul was no longer the fragile thing it once was, unable to bear both "cause" and "effect" simultaneously. Having been tempered by the Miracle Law and the Dark Law, his soul had become unshakeably firm. With the birth of the Causality Law, his realm instantly broke through the Human Apex barrier and returned to Chief God realm!
At the same time, memories that had never existed in Lin Qiye's mind came flooding back...
They were Fate Monk's memories.
Jialan, An Qingyu, Baili Pangpang, Shen Qingzhu, Jiang Er, Cao Yuan...
Those names he had completely forgotten now reappeared in his mind as Fate Monk's memories returned... Those fragmented memories instantly connected and became whole. A brilliant light swiftly ignited in his eyes!
【King's Star Coins】had erased Lin Qiye's memories... but in this world, there was one other person who shared identical memories with him!
Fate Monk.
Fate Monk's memories were like a sample that Lin Qiye had copied on the snowy mountain all those years ago. Now, this sample perfectly compensated for the original's memory defects. Everything achieved completeness in this moment!
He remembered...
As those memories he had once treasured like gems returned, two streams of clear tears traced down Lin Qiye's cheeks. In that moment of having lost and regained, he finally understood Fate Monk's two sentences from before.
An Qingyu was NOT a traitor!!
Shen Qingzhu had gone missing—this might be related to An Qingyu... meaning, similar to Cao Yuan?
Lin Qiye jerked his head up sharply. Those bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the【Key to the Gate】controlling An Qingyu's body nearby. Surging killing intent erupted from within him!
"...【Key to the Gate】!!"
Lin Qiye's roar shook the heavens. As if sensing the danger, the【Key to the Gate】frowned. The Gate of Truth behind him opened once more!
"I told you, I would wait for you on Earth." The【Key to the Gate】spoke slowly. "You have your preparations... and I have mine."
As that Gate of Truth fully opened, endless gray mist churned from within it. Silhouetted within, four figures gradually stepped forward!
In an instant, four Supreme God-level auras descended!
"Four Supreme Gods? Where in this world would there be so many Supreme Gods??" In the churning blood-red sea, the heavily wounded prisoner felt his heart jolt as he sensed those four terrifying auras.
Just as he spoke, Chen Han sat on a floating pixel board, pulling him out of the seawater with effort.
On the pixel board at this moment lay the figures from the previous battle. Chief God-level combatants had suffered the worst injuries. Yuzuri Takishiro, shattered into game data, had already lost all HP and remained unconscious. Hu Jia lay on the other side, bleeding from all seven orifices, also unconscious.
Conversely, Jinian was not only conscious but had sustained relatively minor injuries. She was currently continuously manipulating pixels to fish other figures out of the sea water...
The flesh-mangled Master Chen lay supine on the pixel board. Seeing the four figures emerging from the mist, his eyes slightly contracted...
"It's them...?"
In the churning mist, the outlines of the four figures finally became clear—precisely the Supreme Gods who had fallen on Earth over the years: the Greek King of Gods Zeus, the Norse King of Gods Odin, the Egyptian Sun God Ra, and the Hindu Creator God Brahma!
"How is this possible? Didn't the【Black Goat】die? Can the【Key to the Gate】even control their corpses??"
"No... those aren't corpses... they're alive." Chen Han stared unblinkingly at the four Supreme Gods, his voice hoarse. "Do you all remember the artificial gods that An Qingyu created before? They feel similar to those artificial gods... except these are far more advanced!"
"Gate of Truth can actually achieve this? That's too ridiculous!" Shao Pingge spoke bitterly.
"Even if Commander Lin returned to Chief God realm... he can't take on four Supreme Gods alone, let alone the far more terrifying【Key to the Gate】..."
As those four Supreme Gods returned, everyone's hearts sank into the abyss...
After all, these four were the top-tier Supreme Gods from various divine kingdoms that Great Xia had exhausted every method to slay over ten years. Now they had returned in force, and worse yet, they stood on the side of the【Key to the Gate】—utterly despair-inducing.
The four Supreme God figures stood shoulder to shoulder. Their terrifying auras pressed down upon the entire sea. Thunder, hurricanes, scorching sun, and Buddhist light threatened to tear the entire world asunder.
Above them, atop the rolling gray mist, the black-robed【Key to the Gate】spoke in a deep voice:
"Lin Qiye, there is no one behind you anymore... What do you have to defeat me??"
Thunder roared. Wind howled mournfully.
Under these five peak-level divine authorities, Chief God-level auras flickered like candles in the wind, on the verge of extinction at any moment.
Lin Qiye stood alone amid the blood-red waves. The Crimson Cloak billowed wildly in the wind. He grasped the Causality Law. Those calm eyes slowly lifted...
"Who said there was no one behind me...?"
The hand holding the Causality Law gently grasped at empty air.
The next moment, five illusory images of Asylum of the Gods ward doors materialized in an instant behind Lin Qiye!!