Clone Xuan looked at the Godseal Board, saying, “In truth, the Cultivation Luo Yinglong has displayed is tremendously powerful. My original is precisely researching this might. Perhaps if given a few years, the team China we face may all have power equal, or even more than Luo Yinglong. This is true Cultivation techniques. It’s not just a trick to strengthening yourself, but a science that’s as careful and strict as natural science.”

When he said this, clone Xuan looked up to everyone. “Based on the message the yellow race’s Saints told us, this Godseal Board is the ultimate causality type weapon created jointly by the yellow race Saints and Cultivators. In other words, apart from the Saint’s profound understanding and manipulation of energy, it won’t be lacking in the Cultivator’s rune technology either... Hmm, perhaps the Saints have similar technology as well. Anyways, the Godseal Board is only around due to the amalgamation of these two great accomplishments. I think for those present who’ve read my country’s ancient novel ‘Investiture of the Gods

[1]

’, you shouldn’t be unfamiliar with the equipment in that legend, right?”

“Correct. In the legend, as long as you wrote a person’s name on it, that person would die, and in a completely logical way, as if he deserved to die. This is causality. First, decide that he’ll die, then decide how he’ll die. In truth, this Godseal Board’s abilities don’t just stop here. Based on the information we obtained in the ruins, it’s capable of omniscience and omnipotence. It’ll be like that person in team China said. We’ll know everything about her with one look. Also, if it was designed to be a weapon, it shouldn’t be like how we are now. It shouldn’t injure everyone at the same time as injuring the enemy. That’s not a weapon, but a technique or ability. Thus, I completely believe the ruins when it said the weapon isn’t complete.”

Xuan suddenly extended his palms towards everyone, and he pressed down on a finger as he spoke. “Then let’s guess what happened then. Saints and Cultivators were enemies before. They started a war that spread throughout the whole world, a Grand Primordial War. It even caused the heavens and earth to shatter. This event directly led to the collapse and decline of the glorious ancient civilisations. Although the two groups gradually grew again later and various technologies even improved under the catalysis of war, the numbers of humanity never rose. So, multiple fifth stage lifeforms and Cultivator lifeforms came into being. At the same time, they sensed the truth of the box as well as certain methods to break out. They then created God and left the pinnacle creations of their technologies they were proudest of in ruins. This brought forth the existence of several large ruins, such as the one Adam obtained his item from and the one we did too. That’s the first thing.”

“Secondly, based on the process from when we were obtaining the item in the ruins till the time the ruins suddenly collapsed, the three forces weren’t harmonious, or may have even had grudges. At the same time, Saints and Cultivators were always on guard towards the other. They were afraid of the other side being too strong to the point they couldn’t be stopped. That’s why the white race’s plan never finished and the Godseal Board we obtained isn’t complete. In other words, the two groups which created this weapon were afraid of the other having complete control over the weapon. Most likely, no, the Godseal Board was split into two pieces. Each taking charging of half would be reasonable. If my guess is right, my original has the other portion. There’s a seventy percent probability that it’s that Jade Disc of Creation, based on the name, Creation, which is another form of causality. Although, I don’t know the item’s effects. The complete Cultivation techniques, or rune technology, should also have the method to combining these two pieces together.”

“Want to live on?” Clone Xuan smiled coldly at all those present. He even signalled a psyche force user to contact the other squad and completely transmit his words to all of the members of team Devil.

“Then kill team China. Obtain the relic item in their possession. We’re dead otherwise. We all know spacetime reversal can be cancelled by moving ourselves across spacetime. The spacetime reversal I cause here in this world won’t follow me back to God’s dimension, and it won’t accumulate either due to me using causality points in another world. But have you thought about it? How much causality points have we used in this world? How many days is left till the end of this final battle? For the remaining eighty or ninety days, there’s only one possibility that awaits us as time accumulates... a Death that only targets us team Devil will come, and it’ll be one that get more and more intense.”

[2]

Xuan watched those around him gradually pale, and he levelled a cold gaze at them. “I know some among you are rather despicable. You plan to go to the winning team after victory is decided. Or perhaps, you planned to betray us from the start? It no longer matters. The situation has already become fixed. It’s not just team China that can gain the greatest team unity possible by fighting with their backs against the wall. So can we. Want to live on? Then struggle well...”

Everyone looked at each other with complicated gazes. After a long time, Zhang Xiaoxue asked carefully, “Xuan, what does that piece of paper mean? The Godseal Board can only show the text, but not translate it.”

“It

is

incomplete after all. It can’t know what we don’t understand ourselves. I said before it might be the X-files. That may be one of the interpretations of X, but it’s impossible to confirm. That’s what I was talking about before... The me in team China will make the same decision as me. If I was in his position, there’s only one decision I would make.”

“We would cut off all our own means of retreat to commit ourselves irrevocably and fight with our backs against the wall!”

***

“What kind of prompt is this? It wouldn’t really be the X-files, right?”

Honglu was still sitting there lost in thought. There were many strands of hair beneath his feet, all subconsciously plucked off in the midst of thinking. In just this short while, the originally dense hair had become much more sparse. However, the little boy’s understanding didn’t seem to rise and he continued to pluck off hair as before.

“X? X-files? A mathematical function? Or something else? Dammit, Xuan you idiot. Next time, I’ll write a string of code for you to guess and we’ll see who becomes the idiot!” Honglu shouted.

His voice still carried a tinge of childishness. He sounded like a cat that had had its tail stepped on a few times, and quite a few times at that. The little boy was already being brought near to the stage where he wanted to kill someone, and even his eyes were getting bloodshot.

In the end, he had no choice, and tried to silently recite all the words that started with the letter X.

“Think(xiang), thanks(xie), some(xie), star(xing)... Star? Starship Troopers?”

This dumb method of Honglu actually gave a viable method. He cross-referenced every possible word against the movies team China had experienced to see if he could find the origin of this X. Although he took a long time, and expended a lot of mental energy, he finally had a ray of hope.

When he recited the word ‘star(xing)’, he suddenly recalled the words Starship Troopers. He hadn’t revived yet when team China went through this movie, and this movie had been the first time team China had gone through a three-way team battle. Xuan had also used a scheme to perfectly reverse the situation. As a little boy who had wanted to surpass Xuan, he wouldn’t give up on the chance to familiarise himself with the movie. Not long after he had revived, he had pestered the rest of the team to describe what happened in the movie in depth. Although he had been impressed with Xuan’s scheme deep inside, he had been stubborn and kept acting as if he wasn’t very convinced by it.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

For that movie’s scheme, Honglu had thought through it several times. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish it so perfectly. Perhaps victory would have been secured under his own schemes, it would be a risky victory. It would likely have been a pyrrhic victory and there would definitely be deaths. After all, the other side also had a good strategist. In this respect... he truly was of ‘mortal’s wisdom’.

“God dammit, those with mortal’s wisdom can crack this code too!” Honglu shouted. His finger was pointed at his head, as he recited incantations. A streak of coldness struck his head, followed by a ball of water. When the ball of water fell, it was already mixed with the ice, and immediately drenched the boy. “If ‘X’ represents the ‘star(xing)’ in Starship Troopers, does Xuan want me to emulate his scheme in that movie? No. This final battle lacks any external forces to use. These numbers won’t fit either, unless...”

“I know! So it turns out this was they way to break the code!”

[1] The Godseal Board comes from the novel Investiture of the Gods, named after the item itself. From the Wikipedia page, a character is bestowed the ’

Fengshen Bang

, a list that empowers him to invest the gods of Heaven’. The word 封 can mean bestow/seal, as readers of ISSTH may remember from DB’s footnotes for Meng Hao’s Demon Sealer title. I chose to have a new translation for

Fengshen Bang

instead of just going with Investiture of the Gods, because 1) Most of you wouldn’t have heard of this anyways. 2) In its first mention, clone Xuan specifically mentions the meaning of ’seal’ behind its naming sense. 3) Let’s be honest, I think Investiture of the Gods is horrible as an item name.

[2] This part, ‘a Death that only targets us team Devil will come’ is a slight play on words in Chinese. The author uses the words ‘死神来了’ to describe it, which means the Death god comes literally, which also happens to be the Chinese title of Final Destination.