Chapter 1339
Only Because You Are More Splendid Than Anything Else
When Amber woke up, the World fell into a slumber.
The entire World was like an insect frozen in amber.
It seemed as if it had died, yet it also seemed to possess a sliver of life.
As the liquid within the Amber Egg rapidly drained, the white-haired maiden, barefoot, gradually landed on the ground.
She stepped out of the shattered Amber Egg and walked into this silent World.
Everything before her seemed to be enveloped in the sepia tones of an old photograph.
It was unknown how much time had passed, or perhaps it was just an instant. Amber walked out of the Amber Forest and appeared in the Shadow Realm.
She reached out her hand and touched the still river.
Regardless of their original composition, after time had been frozen, they turned into solid rock.
She chuckled and caressed a passing Moon Deer.
It had been running at full speed, but now its limbs were curled up, suspended in mid-air.
She went to the Sea of Grief and quietly gazed at the ocean.
Amber reached up and tidied her white hair at her temples, a hint of nostalgia in her eyes.
She went to the former Crystal Mountains—it no longer possessed the permafrost glaciers that sealed the Calamity Demon Dragon, but had transformed into a refreshing, verdant deep mountain. Lush and verdant, with fragrant grass growing in abundance.
She walked to the Trial Grounds.
One step at a time, traversing worlds that overlapped like a honeycomb, she found Eivass, sitting alone in a stone chamber, in just three steps.
However, the “Host” was not guarding here.
She looked with nostalgic affection at the Ascension Venue with its eight chairs.
Amber walked up to Eivass and stood on her tiptoes, gently caressing his head.
Then, she vanished from the Trial Grounds and proceeded to the next location.
Perhaps a very, very long time had passed.
But no one knows how much time had elapsed in that frozen moment.
Amber traveled all over the Dream Realm, touching everything she had ever wished to touch.
Finally, she arrived at the focal point.
The Ring Heavenly Envoy was not wearing the pajamas he usually wore when residing here, but had, for the first time in a long time, changed into formal attire in the style of the Winged Ones.
It was the same white robe he wore when he first met Amber in the Sky-Piercing Tower.
He was sitting in front of a monitor, which displayed the dream Eivass was currently experiencing—and he was drinking cola.
“…Teacher.”
Amber chuckled softly and sat beside him.
She leaned against the Ring Heavenly Envoy and murmured softly, “It’s been a long time.”
In a sense, the Ring Heavenly Envoy should not be entirely Ai Shiping.
Because over the vast expanse of time, the original Ai Shiping could no longer hold on.
He was forced to sever his initial aspirations and memories as a snake tail, and then re-integrate them after they had fully developed. This process was akin to a soul dialysis.
And when Ai Shiping could no longer endure, he gave his name, his memories, and everything about himself to the snake tail of that generation.
But from another perspective, the Ring Heavenly Envoy is the true Ai Shiping.
The Ouroboros… the tail it devoured was always the Ai Shiping who was not truly killed or destroyed by being completely corrupted by the “snake tail” back then, but rather chose to devour it. The so-called “snake tail devours snake head” refers to this. It is precisely because of this that the current Ring Heavenly Envoy is also corrupted.
The so-called “devouring” is, in fact, just a re-integration after splitting. When the snake tail understands everything, it will often accept its mission—the mission of being firewood.
Eivass is gentle, and therefore Ai Shiping is also gentle. He deliberately used the word “devour” to trick the snake tail of that generation into attacking and destroying him.
—Just as the current Ring Heavenly Envoy is doing to Eivass.
But Ai Shiping did not expect… he still underestimated the kindness and light within his own heart.
Even realizing that this might lead to his eternal damnation, after understanding the truth of everything, the snake tail of that generation still chose to desperately preserve all of Ai Shiping, and re-integrate with Ai Shiping—this is the current Ring Heavenly Envoy.
And when he realized that since he would make such a choice, the snake tails he would cut off in the future would also make the same choice, he abandoned the idea of “inheritance.” Just as Eivass now understands the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
And because the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s spirit was on the verge of collapse when he was born, he chose to distance himself from all his friends and not get involved in any emotions during the reincarnation, dealing with all people with absolute rationality and ruthlessness—to prevent the Void from exploiting any weakness.
And now, as the Ring Heavenly Envoy has transmitted all of his pure memories to Eivass—he has no reason to continue to exist.
What he said to Eivass, “Your Host is dead outside the door,” was also the truth.
Because Eivass’s Host was the Ring Heavenly Envoy himself.
The moment he stepped through the door, he had utterly “killed” himself.
The Nine Pillar Gods all know that the Ring Heavenly Envoy would never truly kill Eivass. Because no matter how jealous he was of Eivass, no matter how harsh his words were,
Eivass was the only hope deep within his heart. And the reason for his reluctant survival.
—No one wanted to protect Eivass more than the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
Jacob, as the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s Disc, everything he did, all the trials he set up, all the operations he carried out, were all for this purpose. That is why he had no doubt or wavering in his actions—because he knew that he himself was also a part of the Savior. He had been following Eivass from afar, responsible for intercepting any unexpected enemies.
However, Jacob could never reveal this secret to anyone. Especially not to Eivass.
He had to keep the secret until his death.
Perhaps when everything was settled, he and “Eivass” might be born again from hope and miracles—but that would be his due.
But the Ring Heavenly Envoy no longer had a reason to continue existing.
Those words he wanted to say to Eivass—but could not, and absolutely must not say—he turned into the Ascension Ritual, so that Eivass would personally experience all of this.
The transmission route of the “Whisper of the Void” is “whispering.”
Therefore, by verbalizing his knowledge, he could cause the listener to be corrupted; however, by obtaining information through “seeing with one’s own eyes,” he would not be infected.
In fact, even the “Whisper of the Void” that Eivass heard was actually the Ring Heavenly Envoy himself playing the part.
It was a form of jealousy, a morbid curiosity, and also a cautious reminder—this was merely to let Eivass know how he generally felt when he was corrupted.
After all, how could the Ring Heavenly Envoy bear to truly let Eivass be corrupted by the Void?
That was the only miracle he and Amber had created through their tenth reincarnation!
“I know—you are Teacher.”
Amber touched the Ring Heavenly Envoy, who was as untouchable as a statue in the frozen time: “No one understands Teacher better than I do. Teacher, I’m so tired. Are you tired? You must be tired too.
“Everything is about to end—”
As expected, the Ring Heavenly Envoy showed no reaction.
But Amber did not show any signs of regret.
She had been watching this World motionlessly for a hundred thousand years, witnessing tragedies happen again and again, yet being unable to do anything, unable to even speak a single word.
Now, all the journeys had reached their end.
She slightly raised her hand, and a wine glass appeared in her hand.
It wasn’t cola in the glass, but sparkling golden wine.
It was the wine Ai Shiping had brewed for her—she loved its taste and had never forgotten it. She had secretly saved this glass of wine—a champagne that had traveled through a hundred thousand years of time and was still bubbling.
She raised the wine glass, somewhat clumsily, and looped her arm around the Ring Heavenly Envoy, who was drinking cola, and slowly drank this interlocked toast, sip by sip. It was as if she were drinking all the memories of the past.
After she finished the wine, she released her hand.
She let the transparent wine glass, which retained a trace of golden wine, float in the air.
She left it there deliberately—so that the Ring Heavenly Envoy would know she had been here.
“Goodbye, Teacher.”
Amber walked behind the Ring Heavenly Envoy, hugged him, and murmured softly, “Perhaps—we will see each other again soon.
“When a person dies, they turn into a Phantom Demon. What do Phantom Demons turn into when they die?”
She quietly felt the unfading passage of time.
After an unknown period, she spoke.
“I’ve come—
“—to pave the way for you, Teacher.”
In the next instant, Amber instantly transformed into countless bright golden fragments.
Countless specks of light, moving slowly yet quickly, traversed the entire Dream Realm.
The Tenth Origin River was constructed, and the river water surged forth. However, under Amber’s efforts, this river was not the “River of the Void.”
Instead, Amber transformed it into “Stillness.”
Compared to the Void, this was a form of “diminution.”
From ultimate “meaninglessness,” it was reduced to “not progressing,” dissipating a considerable portion of its power.
And this was also a form of paving the way.
As time flowed again—
The Ring Heavenly Envoy was lifting his head to drink cola when he suddenly seemed to sense something and reached out to catch the wine glass that was about to fall.
In that instant, the Ring Heavenly Envoy froze.
As countless memories flooded his mind—he looked at the wine glass in his hand. He watched as it gradually gained divinity, transforming into a Heavenly Envoy Fragment.
Amber-colored wine liquid seeped out from the walls of the glass, drop by drop, and fell into it.
The Ring Heavenly Envoy closed his eyes and touched the wine glass to his forehead.
“Be still, time—”
His voice trembled slightly.
This was the first time the Ring Heavenly Envoy had revealed his emotions.
It was the story he had once told Amber, the poems he had recited.
And perhaps it was because of this poem that Amber possessed the power to freeze time.
That, and the future of this World led to these ninety thousand years of reincarnation and ninety thousand years of torment.
“—Only because you are more splendid than anything else.”
The days I spent on Earth will leave traces.
They will not become nothingness forever.
