Chapter 695: Hidden Three Pillar Gods

Xu Zhi stared at the three dark, viral figures before him.

They resembled a dense mass of aggregated dark creatures, like countless flies and mosquitoes merged together, strange and chilling. The Pillar Gods truly lived up to their name; they were incredibly formidable.

The Three Pillar Gods perfectly controlled the timeline, experiencing almost no surprises or setbacks. How could they not be angry after suffering consecutive defeats like this?

On second thought, Caroline and the Dream God, along with other aberrations, had all fled after stirring up trouble with the Three Pillar Gods. They showed off and then disappeared quickly, leaving only him openly in the Arcane Library. If not him, who would they blame?

This was a very realistic problem.

Xu Zhi rested his chin on his hand, thinking calmly.

However, the other two had deliberately provoked the Three Pillar Gods, while his actions were unintentional; he was merely there to study culture and exchange civilizations. As for the three killer moves...

Things had turned upside down.

He had been misunderstood.

Xu Zhi wanted to say that he was a good person, that he hadn't intended to provoke Cyberton, and that the "chicken-killing" incidents were truly accidental, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Yet he wasn't flustered, because he also possessed a Demon Core, making him "one of them." In their eyes, he was a mysterious prehistoric creature from the ancient Lava Land.

A super-prehistoric "Demon Core" creature.

In any case, his clone was here, participating in research. At most, the roles would be reversed, and he would be the one studied.

"The world has suddenly exceeded our expectations."

Suddenly, from within the three blurry dark figures, an aged, low voice emanated from a plant-shaped aggregated shadow.

Xu Zhi looked towards the Plant-type Pillar God.

It was a tree resembling a ghoulish, charred, withered tree, possessing a precise, substantial feel. It was a being formed from the aggregation of countless viruses.

"What, truly, is the truth of the world?"

A tiger-like animal emerged; it was the Beast-type Pillar God. Two crimson flames burned in its eye sockets, and an ancient symbol was carved into its forehead.

Xu Zhi had expected the Three Pillar Gods to be full of rage, so their strange words caught him slightly off guard.

Feeling a sudden curiosity, Xu Zhi couldn't help but ask, "You're not here because of the Sacred Cherry Blossom Emperor, or the invaders from another world, or your anger towards me?"

"Anger?"

Three emotionless, low voices responded,

"That is a human emotion, not the emotion of destiny."

"Reason, love, hate, anger—those are not what we possess. We merely wish to live... to lead the destiny of our race, the consciousness formed from the convergence of endless thoughts of all beings, towards prosperity."

"We are the most complex beings in the world, and also the simplest."

Xu Zhi remained calm.

Absolute calmness?

The Plant-type Pillar God stated, "The Sacred Cherry Blossom Emperor poses no fatal threat to us. As the leader of an ancient civilization from the previous era, she witnessed our rise and chose not to destroy us, which means she never intended to act against us from the beginning."

So, compromise was possible?

Xu Zhi recalled Caroline's previous demands.

The Human-type Pillar God said, "Although the aberrations from the other world are terrifying, our calculations show that they do not possess the fatal capability to overturn and destroy us. In fact, they will be counterattacked sooner or later. Their self-proclaimed pride will be shattered by us. In the near future, we will invade and destroy them; they will regret it!"

Xu Zhi was stunned.

Although the Three Pillar Gods were enemies among themselves, there were no absolute enemies. If they joined forces to resist external threats now, they were absolutely confident they would win this war.

The Three Pillar Gods' terrifying big data calculations were formidable. Winning was indeed no exaggeration, as they were absolutely rational.

After all, the Three Pillar Gods grew stronger with stronger opponents. In their eyes, these might merely be stepping stones, just like the Isu people of the past.

Viruses iterated and updated.

Unless the Pillar Gods were destroyed all at once, they would eventually catch up to and defeat their opponents.

No one knew what hidden cards the Three Pillar Gods possessed.

This was because Xu Zhi was not familiar with the Three Pillar Gods.

He couldn't engage in intimate, unreserved conversations like Caroline to understand their true capabilities.

The Wisdom Sub-brain could only monitor their actions, not read their minds. But did the Three Pillar Gods even have 'actions'? Fate was so elusive that even Xu Zhi couldn't grasp what they were thinking or what they were truly doing.

It could be said that they were the beings Xu Zhi understood and could spy on the least in the entire sandbox.

"Then what is your purpose?" Xu Zhi asked curiously.

"Equivalent exchange."

The Human-type Pillar God slowly began, "This is the rule of civilization in the Wizarding World, isn't it? In fact, it has similarities with us, the Arcane Masters of today."

Xu Zhi was taken aback.

Wizards and Arcane Masters both appeared to be seekers of knowledge, but how could they be the same?

Wizards were individuals, mining on their own. They, however, were like a blockchain, with clear divisions of labor, a group of computers mining together. If anything, they were more like the Isu people of the past, who linked their brains to collectively deduce technology...

"You understand wizards?" Xu Zhi asked.

"We have obtained more information than you might imagine." The three hollow, emotionless voices slowly resonated, chillingly, their eyes showing an aloofness like the eternal heavens.

"So, what do you wish to exchange?" Xu Zhi asked again.

Both parties were direct, engaging in extremely simple and blunt questions and answers. Courtesies and pleasantries, to beings like them, would be laughable.

"We wish to exchange information: what exactly happened to the civilization of the Ancient Lava Age?" The flames in the Pillar Gods' eyes flickered intensely. "The Cherry Blossom Emperor was taken away; what responsibility does that imply? What terrifying potential opponents exist? Ninth-tier?"

So that was it?

Xu Zhi realized that the Pillar Gods were indeed formidable, with exaggerated computational power. They had likely detected Caroline's sense of crisis and knew she might be facing a formidable, unknown enemy.

Most likely ninth-tier.

"You want to know what happened during the era of the Ancient Lava Land and the Ancient Gods?" Xu Zhi asked. "After all, you might also face the difficult problems of those two ancient civilizations?"

"Yes, that is the first question. The second question is, we also want to know the Ancient Gods' attitude towards us. If we invade the Six Realms, and even counterattack the world currently ruled by the Ancient Cherry Blossom Emperor, dominating everything we can see, will the Ancient Gods intervene against us?"

Xu Zhi gasped.

Dominate everything they could see?

The Three Pillar Gods had such enormous ambitions?

They wanted to simultaneously rule the Six Realms, Caroline, and the Miniature Universe era behind Caroline?

That fierce!

The Three Pillar Gods appeared mild-mannered, currently playing games with Cyberton and others. This was merely a facade. Behind the scenes, they harbored terrifying plans, even intending to wage war on both fronts simultaneously?

Where did their confidence come from?

"You want equivalent exchange for these two questions? The cost must be substantial enough, then," Xu Zhi chuckled.

"How about the Path to the Ninth-tier?" the three Pillar Gods spoke in unison, their eerie voices overlapping. "This is a unique path, unknown even to the Sacred Cherry Blossom Emperor... After all, she is ultimately limited as an individual; her computational power is only equivalent to one of us Pillar Gods... assuming the Ancient Gods haven't told her about this path to the Ninth-tier."

Ninth! Tier!

The Pillar Gods had actually deduced a shortcut to the Ninth-tier?

Xu Zhi's mind reeled. He felt that the Three Pillar Gods were far more developed and held more secrets than he had imagined.

"What exactly does the Path to the Ninth-tier mean?" Xu Zhi asked.

"It's not a method for *our* breakthrough."

The Three Pillar Gods' voices were exceedingly calm and solemn as they replied, "It is a method for normal life forms to break through to the Ninth-tier. Every living being will have an opportunity to break through, with the difficulty reduced to an acceptable level. Furthermore, it is an absolute righteous path of cultivation, not a wicked one! Based on our conjecture, the Ancient Gods broke through using this very method!"

Xu Zhi was stunned for a few seconds.

So that was it! The Three Pillar Gods' computational power was indeed astounding. After hundreds or even thousands of years of combined calculations by the three Pillar Gods, the method for the Ancient Gods to break through to the Ninth-tier had finally been deciphered.

"You are truly admirable," Xu Zhi said with surprise. "In my era, the method for the Ancient Gods' breakthrough remained the greatest, unimaginable mystery."

The Human-type Pillar God chuckled. "Of course, based on our observations, the Ancient Gods did not share this method with the other party, which proves that he and the Sacred Cherry Blossom Emperor were not truly inseparable."

Xu Zhi's expression suddenly turned solemn, and he stood up, saying:

"This equivalent exchange of knowledge is acceptable. Using the breakthrough method to the Ninth-tier to answer these two questions—the history of the super-ancient Lava Age and the Ancient Gods' attitude towards you—is certainly a sufficient equivalent exchange."