The giant corpse before me had completely merged with the earth. I stood quietly by the giant’s head; its skull towered far above me, nearly ten meters tall. The face resembled a human’s, with some hair that had turned entirely to stone, and the body’s structure looked human as well.
The Spirit of the Mountain stood silently beside me, watching.
“Why did you call upon me?”
I turned and asked. The Spirit of the Mountain shook his head.
“It’s not me calling for you—it’s you calling for us. The power awakened within you in this world, the annihilation, is calling out to the world’s consciousness. Isn’t it true that you want to understand everything about this world?”
I nodded. That was indeed my deepest desire—to let the Forsaken gain power. To gain power, I had to understand everything about this world. Yet what the Spirit of the Mountain said about my power’s annihilation calling out—I hadn’t sensed that at all.
“Why did you bring me here?”
I asked. The Spirit of the Mountain slowly drifted in front of me. I glanced toward the other caves—there were quite a few, and it looked like they connected to other places.
“In total, over a hundred gods have fallen here.”
I stared in shock, eyes wide. In that instant, something clicked in my mind: in this world on the Yang side, why do the Forsaken possess such overwhelming power—enough to destroy heaven and earth with a mere gesture? It’s the power of the gods.
"It is indeed because of the gods that the Forsaken here have gained such immense power."
"Can you read my thoughts?"
I asked, and the Spirit of the Mountain shook his head, slowly approaching me. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and in an instant, my eyes widened as countless translucent, vaguely human shapes appeared all around—souls of every color, type, and size.
"Everything here is called a soul. Some come from the earth, some from the sky, and some from flowers, trees, insects, fish, birds, and beasts. 'Soul' is a broad term—anything that exists in the visible world has its own soul. Your power is also a kind of soul force."
I swallowed, feeling as if I glimpsed a vast, boundless world in an instant. Shocked, I noticed a white, humanoid figure drifting around me like a veil—cloaked in gossamer, its face hidden, only its mottled eyes visible. It was neither ghost nor anything else I recognized.
"Is that Oblivion?"
I asked, and Oblivion nodded.
"So is Emperor God’s goal to find the corpses of these gods?"
I asked, and the Spirit of the Mountain nodded. The vibrant souls around us began to scatter and fade away. I saw the Spirit of the Mountain lift his hand from my shoulder, and Oblivion did the same—leaving only a wisp of white slowly vanishing before my eyes.
"Is there any way for the Forsaken’s true forms to possess the power of this world?"