That being said, there was still one last thing to do before actually running away.
After all, having encountered such a great opportunity, it would be too much of a pity not to leave some contingency plans behind.
Otherwise, when The Original split later on, there wouldn’t be any need to worry about running headfirst into the Creator, but when he took a stroll and came back to look: Ha, by the First Epoch, the full-strength barrier had already risen.
Lin Chuan would only be able to cling to the outside of the barrier and keep company with the Outer Deities, everyone huddling together to mentally stalk Earth.
Not to mention, if there were one more Great Old One, the apocalypse war probably really wouldn’t be winnable.
After leaving Huang Tao’s home, considering that the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings had already withdrawn the symbol of Blindness and Foolishness, and The Original was about to awaken—although it was unlikely to be such a coincidence—to avoid missing it by just those few days of hurrying home, Lin Chuan found a nearby express hotel to check in.
Entering the room, he locked the door securely and pulled out four caterpillar breads he had previously purchased from his backpack to serve as his staple food.
He placed one in the corner to the left of the curtains, correspondingly placed another in the corner to the right of the curtains, put the third on the bedside table near the bathroom, and finally tossed the last one in front of the television.
Coming to the center of the room, Lin Chuan took out the patterned jade pendant purchased from the antique market, tied a circle of red string around it, and solemnly hung it around his neck.
Taking a deep breath, he took strides and began to walk a square in a counterclockwise direction.
As the first step was taken, he clearly felt the aura of Sefirah Castle on the jade pendant at his chest begin to violently vibrate:
“The Immortal Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.”
As the second step passed, Lin Chuan severed the direct connection between himself and his main body:
“The Exalted Thearch of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.”
After finishing the third step, he unceremoniously flipped the middle finger at the air:
“The Exalted Thearch of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.”
On the fourth step, he could already use Spirit Vision to see countless illusory threads of spirit hanging down from the ceiling of the room:
“Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.”
Walking finished, returning to position.
Following closely was the most important preparation.
To avoid being detected by the Celestial Worthy or having Sefirah Castle undergo any stress reactions, Lin Chuan immediately used the symbol of “Nothingness” to conceal his true status and aura.
Logically, items carrying the aura of Sefirah Castle on his body, coupled with the ritual capable of actively making Sefirah Castle open its door—the Celestial Worthy-brand fully automatic person-pulling program—was grandly activated!
He actively withdrew his control over this body, instantly elevating his own will and transferring it into the main body above the Boundless Void.
Within the real world, after “Lin Chuan” completed the four steps and finished the ritual, his entire face instantly turned pale, and his eyes became hollow and dull in a flash.
Obviously, this shell holding the ritual had already been Marionettized, while a portion of the spirit body he had actively severed was smoothly pulled up onto Sefirah Castle, hanging into a cocoon of light.
Through that subtle connection, Lin Chuan could even perceive that part of his “clone” hanging directly beneath that brilliant door of light composed of huddled worms and stained with a faint bluish-black glow, turning into a silkworm cocoon, even gently and cozily swaying in mid-air.
Smuggling into Sefirah Castle was a success.
A sentence inexplicably flashed through Lin Chuan’s mind:
“Hehe, Celestial Worthy, I’m coming in, oh.”
Confirming that registration was complete, Lin Chuan no longer continued to pay attention to the situation over there.
Although his heart was as curious as if being scratched by a cat, and he really wanted to make that part of himself inside the cocoon of light turn around and take a look at whether there were any familiar people among the “cocoon room-mates” around him—after all, Zhou Mingrui might be hanging right next door side by side right now.
But thinking about it, it was better to respect the “Beacon of Destiny”.
For Lin Chuan, the particularity of his own symbolism was indeed sufficient to evade the vision of the Celestial Worthy, after all, the Celestial Worthy was only one aspect of the personality of The Original, rather than The Original itself.
But if he insisted on repeatedly jumping back and forth and crazily probing within Sefirah Castle…
Hm, take a guess on who the honorific name Embodiment of Sefirah Castle refers to?
Even if he wanted to rub it in their faces, he would have to wait until the Fifth Epoch to do so.
By then, he could witness firsthand and stage the famous cliché:
“Haha, so Sefirah Castle is like this over at your place, Celestial Worthy…
But it’s completely different over at mine.
If you can accept it, open your eyes and take a look!
Just kidding, even if you can’t accept it, you have to accept it anyway.
Anyway, God Almighty is about to revive~”
…
Above the Boundless Void.
Lin Chuan had already redecorated his own Sefirah space.
To be precise, he reclassified the concepts and dimensions here.
He expanded the bedroom he had previously molded into a city, placing it on the highest layer.
This place was similar to the location of The Door of LIght inside Sefirah Castle, requiring one step-by-step ascent.
Having said that, perhaps he could trick others in the future by saying this was the “City of Calamity”.
Anyway, everyone was a Sefirah, everyone was a city, and even everyone was a Sefirah turned sprite.
The equation held true, and he, Lin Chuan, was the contemporary evil dragon.
At this moment, let alone an evil dragon, there wasn’t even a trace of the City of Calamity yet.
Seniority was authority; no wonder they said the translation for Great Old One was ‘Great Old Seniority’?
At that time, he would just say that The Original plagiarized Lin Chuan’s creativity, which was why the City of Calamity split out.
As for the architecture decorated on the outside and the Boundless Void further out, they should be considered the divine kingdom or subsidiary world that came with him as an Great Old One, much like the painted world of the High-Dimensional Overseer or the mirrored world of the Primordial Demoness.
Beneath the city, he chose to mold a profound and tranquil lightless starry sea.
Standing on the mirror-smooth observation deck, the dome had no clouds, only a profound Cosmos backdrop sparsely dotted with a few deep red stars.
Actually, choosing other colors or simply not making them in the style of stars would also have been fine.
Lin Chuan raised his hand, his fingertips brushing across the void like playing invisible strings, gently pulling those few stars.
The deep red stars instantly lit up, and as his arm lifted upward, they rose into the city above.
At the same time, those jade pendants previously bestowed by Lin Chuan began to vibrate on the coffee table at Huang Tao’s parents’ home and in the pockets of Zhou Mingrui’s parents.
The patterns on them lit up, and without giving people a chance to react, the deep red light swallowed their figures.
Silently, several spirit bodies that had fallen into slumber were gently extracted.
Following the invisible threads of karma, they directly crossed the Astral World and were pulled above this void, transforming into a few shimmering cocoons of light, quietly stored somewhere within the city.
It has to be said that the Celestial Worthy’s design was indeed great.
As long as the direction of the person-pulling program was slightly modified, it could be used directly.
However, generally speaking, those who needed it couldn’t use it because they lacked a Sefirah, while those who had a Sefirah didn’t need it.
Accompanied by the successful extraction of the spirit bodies, in the real world, the jade pendants at those few locations quietly shattered, turning into powder and dissipating into the air, erasing all traces left by Beyonder powers.
As for the people pulled up, their figures completely disappeared into thin air.
Other people’s memories, related archives and photos, work records…
Not a single carrier recording the traces of their existence was left behind, as if they had never appeared on this planet.
Confirming once more that there were no errors or omissions, that everyone had been pulled up and was in good condition, and that no big guy had suddenly popped up on Earth shouting “Let there be light”, Lin Chuan finally heaved a sigh of relief.
This was something he had thought about before his transmigration.
At the end of the original work, even after Klein became the King of Space-Time, he still couldn’t change the established history, and could only look back at the past time and time again within the fog of history, because what was out of reach was not just distance, but also time.
After seeing the secret records of qin and han esoteric arts, Lin Chuan did not choose to hold a Luck Enhancement Ritual to hang himself from a tree facing southeast simply because of the doubts on his body, and because he wanted to try saving the unresolved regrets in his heart.
Later it proved that this was indeed feasible; there was no established destiny to stop Lin Chuan.
Since that was the case, if the Celestial Worthy could pull people onto Sefirah Castle to preserve their spirit bodies and cross the apocalypse, why couldn’t he?
“Now everything is truly done, and it’s time to run away.
Zhou Mingrui and Huang Tao, the favors you guys owe me are huge.
What are you two going to use to repay them?
Assassin potion, or…”
Muttering a few words of self-deprecating complaints, Lin Chuan sighed.
Although he wouldn’t actually feed them both Assassin potions, things like the translated version of Emperor Roselle’s diary (the risqué parts), The Sacred Words of the Fool, and the Tarot Club documentaries—not a single one could be left behind.
“Sigh, Zhou Mingrui and Huang Tao only need to hang on Sefirah Castle like cured meat, but Lin Chuan has to consider much more.”
How much longer would it take to see the era he was familiar with?
A few thousand years?
Or ten thousand years?
Lin Chuan wasn’t sure either, but he would wait quietly until Klein woke up under the red moon and perplexedly explored that unknown world.
Then, he would walk up, pat Klein on the shoulder, and greet him with a smile:
“Long time no see.”
He turned his head and began to tidy up the pile of sundries in the corner, taking inventory of his belongings: that copy of secret records of qin and han esoteric arts, which he could consider showing to Little Zhou later; a batch of old items casually packed from the antique market, which might be useful if soaked in his Sefirah; and his own notebook that he had used for nearly six years…
Not a single thing was missing, all lying quietly there.
Confirming that there were no more loose ends on Earth to be nostalgic about or deal with, Lin Chuan closed his eyes and extracted his own existence.
“I am not a good person in the true sense,” he thought to himself:
“If I were a good person, I should save more people right now, or even try to see if I could save the spirit bodies of all humanity across the globe right before the apocalypse arrives.
This is possible; anyway, once the Spirit World is destroyed, there’ll be no records to check.”
While trying to employ the ability he had just recently researched, he calmly self-analyzed.
“But, there would be risks with that.
I’m not sure if I could time it right, and it would most likely attract the attention of the Celestial Worthy and God Almighty.
But what if I only saved a portion of the people?
Taking advantage of the fact that The Original hasn’t awakened yet, pulling more people up?”
“No, I won’t do that either.
I must ensure that after The Original awakens, there are still enough humans remaining to leave behind the seeds of civilization for the two continents.”
“Shortly after, I will return to Earth and watch from outside the barrier.
Even if the stars fall, I won’t make a move, because apart from Zhou Mingrui, what I truly love is not the humans and Earth of this world, but simply the Earth in the plot I am familiar with.
To avoid the butterfly effect…
I might even add fuel to the fire.”
Lin Chuan recognized his own essence.
He was a friend of Zhou Mingrui, and also a willful reader, but so what?
Anyway, the ones about to make their debut next were wild Outer Deities of the universe; surely no god would accuse Outer Deities of lacking humanity, right?
Authority began to flow.
Previously, when Lin Chuan had not yet contacted his main body, he wasn’t unconsciously utilizing Sefirah to block pollution, but rather hadn’t established any connection at all.
This was a subordinate authority jointly interwoven by the two symbols of “The Existence Outside of The Original” and “The Nothingness of The Original” within Sefirah, which perhaps could be called the “Observer Outside the Light Cone”.
The so-called light cone was an ironclad law of physics and causality.
Suppose a supernova explosion occurred deep in the universe extremely far from Earth.
Before the light cone of its explosion reached Earth, this event would not cause any impact on Earth, nor could Earth capture any information about the explosion.
Only when the light cone arrived did the event become reality in observation.
In other words, the triggering of all causality in the material universe was subject to the absolute restriction of the speed of light.
In this world, the light cone was even more special, because the destiny symbol of The Original was the Key of Light.
As mentioned in Cuttlefish’s official account replies: the word “Sefirah” in Sefirah Castle represented the source, while the word “Light” in the Key of Light represented “Within the light cone, that is destiny”.
This was also reasonable.
As an extraterritorial visitor, “The Existence Outside of The Original” unknown even to The Original, when concealing himself, as long as he didn’t actively exert influence, even an Great Old One holding mastery over destiny could only touch a void when searching in the long river.
Because he came from “outside the light cone”, as long as he wished, the vast majority of authorities or symbols could not affect him, because those things did not exist to him in the first place.
In a sense, it was like, close my eyes and if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist?
It was somewhat similar to the Sequence 0 Sublunary Eye of the High-Dimensional Overseer Pathway.
At the same time, Lin Chuan could choose not to perform conventional space jumping or flying, but instead let his existence begin to “fade” from the three-dimensional physical universe.
Just like a pencil draft gently erased by an eraser on a scroll, his coordinates, his mass, and the space he occupied severed ties with the world at this moment, becoming equivalent to non-existence, returning to the state of “Nothing”, yet without completely disappearing—the traveler outside the world closed his eyes.
Then, he redefined and observed his own existence, re-establishing a connection with the world.
When his next step was taken, he was already standing on the rugged crater of the Moon.
There was no trajectory of physical displacement; he simply “did not exist” on Earth the moment before, and subsequently “existed” again on the Moon.
To any potential observer, his disappearance and appearance had no transition whatsoever, and they didn’t even trigger the refraction of light or spatial fluctuations.
Following closely, his figure faded, logged out, and reconstructed once more…
With every smear, he became more familiar and at ease, and the distance he crossed exploded exponentially, growing further and further away, faster and faster.
May 5, 2018.
Lin Chuan officially left this non-native planet about to usher in the apocalypse, embarking on a journey through the boundless Cosmos.