Chapter 470 - 28: Flame of Origin

’But Wind God, isn’t a Reincarnation where yesterday just repeats itself the very thing you wish to avoid most?’

"Yes..."

The Wind God murmured, "If it means making my people repeat an age of decline, I would rather die... But, Su Zhou, what fruit will our actions truly bear? In all the endless Reincarnations of the past, no one has ever done such a thing..."

"It’s better than everything cycling through endings and rebirths."

In the end, Su Zhou didn’t know either. He admitted it freely, "It’s precisely because no one has ever done it, and no one has ever thought of it, that it’s worth experimenting with. If intelligent life only does things they already know, only repeats things with known outcomes, then they will stagnate forever."

"In my world, people often joke that ’humans are just repeaters,’ and inferior ones at that, who can’t even repeat the content perfectly. But it’s precisely because we repeat things differently than before, and come up with different results, that our minds expand and wisdom has meaning. It’s because we are inferior, not perfect, repeaters that civilization progresses."

"Reincarnation is the same. If yesterday always repeats, then the same suffering must be experienced again and again. Before trying a new choice, no one knows if it will lead to happiness or suffering. But, like with crabs, someone always has to be the first to eat one—so why can’t it be me?"

’This desire to explore the unknown is the quality a healthy civilization should possess!’

With that said, Su Zhou turned his head. He no longer looked at the silent Wind God, but instead stared at the Flame Heart before him.

"I want to guide the power of this Heart of Fire Element, blend it with your power, the power of the Earth God, and the power of the Water God, to create a massive, four-element version of the ’Five Spirits Colored Scales’."

"Or, in other words, an absolutely balanced, composite Element Core that can be converted at any time."

The cause of the apocalypse was originally the ecological cataclysm resulting from a single element transforming into another. Although a complete world is destined to have at least the Four Great Elements, the Reincarnation World Tartaridis has far too many single-Attribute Elements. Every one of its cycles causes devastating results.

But if, from the very beginning, the world possessed the complete and balanced Four Great Elements... then even with the dominant element cycling and the Eras changing, it would never lead to a world-ending scenario. At most, it would be like the ice age cycles on Earth, where the civilizations and life from the previous generation always have a chance to survive and continue.

"Reincarnation can be broken. Even if it can’t be perfected in this Era, it can be further improved in the next. This long-term process of self-revision and progress, self-sublimation and advancement, and that desire to explore the unknown—that is the fundamental meaning of civilization!"

’With this thought, Su Zhou reached out to touch the massive Fire of Origin.’

At this moment, he recalled his conversation with Yara from a few days ago.

"I need the knowledge to modify a world’s core, Yara. It shouldn’t be difficult. If those Divine Beings can do it, there’s no reason I can’t."

Su Zhou had said, his tone as firm as a rock.

"If you do this, your causal ties to this world, and your causal entanglement with the Silent Lord, will be tightly bound."

Yara had said. It didn’t try to dissuade him, only stating the consequences of his actions. "Are you really going to do this, Su Zhou?"

"Does saving a world not require a price?"

Su Zhou had replied, "The Divine Beings of this world don’t dare to pay the price for the sake of their people; they carry too many burdens. If that’s the case, then isn’t it fine if I pay it instead? Of course, in return, this world will be mine. As if I’m not getting anything out of it."

"Since you’ve already thought it through and made your choice," the Snake Spirit, coiled on Su Zhou’s shoulder, had chuckled nonchalantly. "Then I’ll tell you."

The moment Su Zhou touched the Flame Heart—

The power of the Water God and the corpse of the Earth God, which had been circling around it, followed his will and plunged into the enormous Flame Heart.

Although the difference in their sizes seemed like that between a speck of dust and a mountain, as these two powers, both belonging to the primordial elements, entered the unprepared flame core, the interior of the entire massive fireball began to glow with a faint aquatic blue and earthy brown light.

Before a New World is born, the core of the New Era is essentially a blank blueprint that can be altered at will. If the elemental stagnation in the outside world means that the speed of elemental transformation is dozens or even hundreds of times slower than normal, then here, the speed of elemental transformation is dozens or even hundreds of times faster.

"Will recklessly changing the origin of the New World make this world better or worse?"

Following closely behind Su Zhou, the Wind God reached out and infused his own Power of Wind Element into it. He murmured in a low voice, "Can we really be certain of all this?"

"If everything was fated and could be determined, then what would be the point of striving and struggling?"

"I understand your suffering. Because you must shoulder everything for your people, you don’t dare to make a choice. Whatever choice you make, it’s always one of the few that are least likely to be wrong."

Su Zhou didn’t turn to look at him. With his back to the Wind God, he modified the world’s initial data under Yara’s guidance. The young man said calmly, "But the choices that can’t be wrong are also the ones that can’t break the Reincarnation. I don’t know what the Silent Lord is thinking, but an ordinary human nature, an ordinary civilization, could never meet Its standards."

As he spoke, he began to laugh. The massive Flame Heart was being changed by him without any resistance, and Su Zhou was using this immense power to freely shape an unprecedented, colossal Spiritual Qi Organ—a world-scale ’Five Spirits Colored Scales’!

In the process of shaping it, his understanding of this powerful Spiritual Qi Organ deepened and grew more profound. In fact, his comprehension in this area might have even surpassed that of the Divine Bird Peacock who created it, because it never had such an opportunity to freely use the four primordial elements of creation to build this Spiritual Qi Organ!

’Afraid of the price required to explore the unknown?’

’It’s fine. I’ll pay it for you. Even if it means facing the Silent Lord, that’s my business.’

’Because mistakes must be corrected. This chaotic, flawed Reincarnation that brings suffering to the innocent—I will definitely put an end to it.’

’It’s not for any particular reason. It’s just my obsession. I can’t stand to see a world this dark, a world without hope.’

Su Zhou’s will was as firm as iron and stone.

The Wind God fell silent, observing it all. Elias, too, was speechless as he stared at the massive Flame Heart, watching with his own eyes as it began to shift through the colors of four different Spiritual Lights.

Because they saw a certain light in Su Zhou.

It was a pure light, one that could not be called good or evil. It was simply a kind of human, almost obstinate, obsession.

"Everyone has their own sense of justice and righteousness in their heart."

"Because everyone’s standpoint is different, and everyone’s logic is different."

"I’m a very self-centered person. I’ll listen to other people’s ideas, but I won’t be governed by them. I can understand other people’s positions, but I won’t change my own. That’s precisely why I am Su Zhou, and why I’m standing here, trying to save this world as an outsider."

"I’m doing this for you, but not entirely for you. Most importantly, I’m doing it for what ’I think’ is right."

With his power alone, he controlled the correction and structural transformation of the world’s core.

Su Zhou did his best to maintain the balance of the Four Great Elements, sustaining a smooth cycle and rotation of elements among them.

In the process, his mind was faintly drawn in by this cycle powerful enough to create an entire world. Gradually, he delved deeper into it and glimpsed its essence.

And just then, light and shadow shifted, and everything flickered past like fleeting glimpses.

Su Zhou saw the very beginning of this Reincarnation World.