The Ancient Gods' Whisper

Cognitive correction.

Gu Jianlin hesitated for a moment and asked, "Which Inheritance Path is this ability from?"

Jing Ci shook his head and explained flatly, "It's not an ability from an Inheritance Path. Yemengjade's Eyes, a winner-takes-all Mythical Weapon, only works on those whose spirituality is weaker than mine."

Gu Jianlin thought, "Ah, so that's how it works," and sighed, "It's a Mythical Weapon too? No wonder. If an entire Path had this ability, wouldn't they be unstoppable?"

This ability's most dangerous aspect is that it can defeat enemies without direct confrontation.

It can achieve many things that mere brute force cannot accomplish.

Assassination, incitement, subversion, infiltration, turning truth into lies—it's terrifying.

Of course, in the eyes of old perverts, it has even more uses...

"It's not as exaggerated as you think. Cognitive correction must follow a logical chain. For example, you're seventeen years old this year, haven't been in a relationship, and certainly haven't married. If I forcibly alter your cognition to make you believe you have a wife and child, it wouldn't make sense logically, so it wouldn't work."

Jing Ci leaned against the windowsill, sipping his hot latte: "You'd start questioning yourself, wondering how you could legally marry when you're not even of age. Even if I found two actors to 'play the part,' you have no memories of a wife or child, so you'd feel everything is unfamiliar and become suspicious."

"Unless I'm willing to spend a lot of time carefully repairing the entire logical chain, like in 'The Truman Show,' making everything seamless—but the cost of that would be too high."

He paused for a moment. "As for Lin Wanqiu, your connection with her isn't deep, and the parts I altered don't have any logical loopholes. In reality, there won't be any flaws for her to notice."

Gu Jianlin understood suddenly, but this ability is still pretty enjoyable.

"Moreover, it's not as free-range as you think."

Jing Ci noticed his odd expression and corrected him: "For certain reasons, I can't do things that are morally corrupted."

Gu Jianlin froze. "Why is that?"

"High Order Transcenders encounter all sorts of peculiar ascension rituals when they advance."

Jing Ci looked at him deeply: "If you don't die prematurely, you'll experience it sooner or later."

Just as Gu Jianlin was about to speak, he noticed Jing Ci's gaze falling on his wrist.

"The Lock of Nonexistence and the Soul Comforting Bell."

Jing Ci nodded approvingly: "Not bad. These two Mythical Weapons haven't appeared for over four thousand years. Apparently, the Qilin Clan has been safeguarding them, and it seems that's true."

Gu Jianlin was stunned again. He strongly suspected the effects of these Mythical Weapons were a joke.

How could they be so easily seen through?

The principle behind the Lock of Nonexistence isn't in the objective sense of disappearance.

It's subjective neglect.

Essentially, it erases the so-called presence.

For instance, during the cafeteria fight, Joker and Gu Jianlin were brawling.

But the people outside the Barrier would subjectively ignore their existence.

Yet now, the man in front of him could see through it effortlessly.

Jing Ci seemed to notice his doubts and added deliberately: "You don't need to be nervous. The Lock of Nonexistence's concealment is indeed strong. At least, I can't break its effect. But for the teacher, it's hardly worth mentioning."

"Only a handful of individuals in this world can see through the Lock of Nonexistence, and people at their level couldn't care less about you."

He reminded him, "According to the teacher's rules, I can only help you this once. Next time you use that trick, you can relax and let the Lock of Nonexistence shield you. You're smart enough to disguise your ability for Divine Servant Transformation—no matter what, don't let the Ether Association find out. Got it?"

To be honest, Gu Jianlin was momentarily uneasy.

Because the other side spoke so plainly.

Divine Servant Transformation.

But what he possesses is the ability for direct Ancient God Transformation.

The reason he felt it couldn't be revealed was clear.

Because the Ether Association's stance on Fallen is utterly uncompromising.

And whether it's Divine Servant Transformation or Ancient God Transformation, they resemble evolution perfected beyond deformation.

"Are you the enemies of the Ether Association?"

Gu Jianlin suddenly asked.

He wasn't sure which faction his newfound allies belonged to.

"You're overthinking it."

Jing Ci replied, "They hardly qualify as the teacher's enemies."

Gu Jianlin was speechless.

A wave of pretentiousness washed over him.

He never would've guessed that the mysterious old man from the grocery store had such a prestigious background.

"You mentioned rules earlier?"

He asked, confused, "What rules?"

Jing Ci shook his head: "You don't need to know that for now, and you won't have a next chance anyway. What you need to do is perform well within the Ether Association and crush anyone who comes after you."

Gu Jianlin was puzzled again: "Why should I crush them?"

Jing Ci earnestly countered, "They're targeting you because of your father's situation—why wouldn't you crush them? Don't you feel angry? Don't you want to blow their brains out with a gun?"

Gu Jianlin responded calmly: "Even if no one helps me or warns me, I'll still clear my father's name. Those who target me can keep trying, but I'll find them one by one."

"Exactly. By the way, a piece of advice: the Ether Association's resource pool includes ascension methods you can exchange Merit for, but I'd suggest not believing them in this regard."

Jing Ci commented casually.

Gu Jianlin asked, "Why?"

"Why do you think the Ether Association purges Fallen without mercy? Beyond the genuine danger Fallen pose, the main reason is that they believe Fallen taint their faith."

Jing Ci raised his eyes, his gaze profound: "But in my opinion, their faith is a joke."

Gu Jianlin maintained his doubtful look.

"Ancient humans worshipped gods because they believed gods didn't exist."

Jing Ci stared out the window, his voice calm: "Because nonexistence ensures absolute fairness."

Gu Jianlin pondered the meaning of this sentence carefully.

"But once gods are personified, they're no longer the deities humanity truly needs."

Jing Ci set down his coffee cup and said, "It's simple: why am I human, and why are you god?"

Gu Jianlin's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this.

"Hence, the war between humanity and gods has never ceased throughout history."

Jing Ci said, "The Ether Association, along with all the Transcender organizations on Earth, and even the domestic Transcender families, all share one ultimate goal: to prevent the resurgence of that lost civilization."

"Take the soon-to-be-opened Qilin Immortal Palace, for instance. If the great being inside isn't fully dead yet, they'll spare no effort to kill it again."

He chuckled, "Do you understand now?"

·

·

Gu Jianlin's ears were ringing.

The man's calm, gentle voice was like thunder, stirring up stormy waves in the night.

Just like the tempestuous state of the young man's heart.

Gu Jianlin lowered his head, falling into silence.

"Holy shit…"

So that's how it is.

This is the stance between Transcenders and the Ancient God Clan.

The issue is, the being in the Immortal Palace isn't the Qilin Venerable.

It's him.

The more Gu Jianlin thought about it, the colder his back felt, and his blood froze.

He could already imagine, not far in the future, the grave doors of the Qilin Immortal Palace being blown open, with hordes of high-level Ether Association Transcenders storming in, unleashing their ultimate moves against him.

Surely, if that day came, he'd be done for.

After all, the power of the Qilin Venerable hasn't recovered.

Gu Jianlin himself is just a Zero-tier rookie.

While the situation isn't grave enough to endanger his life—he isn't sealed in the Qilin Immortal Palace.

In reality, he's a member of the Ether Association. When the palace opens, he'll catch wind of it.

Most likely, when the Qilin Immortal Palace opens, Ether Association members will find an empty tomb.

But the current issue is—what side does he belong to?

Humanity or the Ancient God Clan?

This was turning into a "double agent" situation.

Gu Jianlin felt like a lion cub dropped into a nest of hyenas.

Utterly ridiculous.

Fortunately, his secret hasn't been exposed.

No one knows about it yet.

As long as the Ether Association remains in the dark, he can stay hidden while exploiting their resources to grow stronger.

Until he figures out what's really going on.

And where the Qilin Power originates.

Thinking it over, playing the mole in the opposing faction while using their resources for his own development seems pretty exciting.

"Alright, I'm leaving. This is for you."

Jing Ci took a vial of solution from his suit pocket and placed it on the table: "The side-effects of evolution will leave your body and soul utterly parched, unable to self-recover spirituality. If you urgently need to use the Soul Comforting Bell to glean Joker's memories, then inject this secret medicine—it will temporarily restore a bit of spirituality. Not much, but enough."

Gu Jianlin stared silently at the vial and sighed deeply.

Other than inheriting the Qilin Venerable's power, the man truly knew everything about him.

It was as if every move he made, the other person knew perfectly.

"One more thing."

Jing Ci suddenly said before leaving: "Although the Ether Association's top brass are vile, they won't blatantly send you to your death. During the operation to hunt Joker, when fourteen members of the action group lost combat ability, there was a roughly thirty-five-second window when someone could have rushed in to save you."

"That was when the Barrier caused by the Lock of Nonexistence was inactive."

He smiled, hands in his pockets: "During that interval, three people intended to rush into the Barrier to save you, but they didn't act for various reasons."

Gu Jianlin squinted his eyes: "Three people?"

"One of them is an Ether Association member with the codename Thunder. Sword Sect Path—she's the most promising young talent in the Sword Sect Path in decades, even the teacher views her highly. She was the emergency response for the operation, but she didn't act because I altered her perception of time. With your ability to perform Divine Servant Transformation, Joker is no match for you."

Jing Ci smiled: "Another one was a descendant of the Lu Family who had borrowed a Mythical Weapon capable of foreknowledge, predicting outcomes. He confirmed you'd be fine, so he didn't steal your thunder."

Gu Jianlin realized why he had shown up at the school and even disguised himself.

Thoughtful indeed.

"Who was the last person?"

He couldn't figure it out.

"Confidential."

Jing Ci replied, "Figuring it out yourself will be much more fun."