Chapter 143: Chapter 112: Samsara
“Thump”

“Thump”

“Thump”

In the silent and chaotic fourth layer of the Spirit Realm, there was no other noise, just the sound of three heartbeats emanating constantly from within the cocoon of light, never ceasing.

They maintained an unborn yet alive state, with their connection to the fourth layer interface growing increasingly tight.

Standing there, Laine gazed at the floating black crystal, feeling the power that could end all things.

Death, but not pure, was caused by the nature of the Chaos World itself. After all, even to this day, no deity had truly died.

The death and rebirth of Cronus had never erased his immortal essence, and Laine couldn’t do that either. Hence, the power of Death that grew as a result halted at the pinnacle of great divine power and, unsurprisingly, it had no further potential for growth.

So even though there were some underlying concerns, Laine had no other choice.

“I wonder if it can fulfill my expectation… Well, when I pioneered the Spirit Realm, I wasn’t entirely sure either.”

“Let’s just give it a try, whether it succeeds is up to luck.”

Taking a deep breath, Laine finally made up his mind. Whether it would succeed or not, it was necessary to try.

The matter with the souls of Silver Humanity was once again a wake-up call for him. Souls, though originating from him, didn’t mean they couldn’t be tampered with by others on their return.

Thus, he needed something to help him solve these problems more effectively.

He extended his right hand and gestured lightly. The next moment, the ancient and mysterious well atop Mount Sinai in the central axis of the Spirit Realm disappeared quietly.

Without sound, the half of the Divine Artifact, the Well of Origin, which could endow all things with souls, the counterpart of the Life Vase, appeared before Laine, also in the center of the fourth layer of the Spirit Realm.

From inside the well, threads and strands of power scattered about, drifting into the surrounding environment. Feeling the breath of Spiritual Life, the three cocoons of light trembled slightly around Laine.

The Well of Origin had become even more powerful, or rather, if it hadn’t been split in two, accompanying the world’s creatures as they began to multiply, the Life Vase would have become another Genesis Artifact of Chaos.

In this situation, even though only half remained, its waters were still sufficient to have an extraordinary effect on the deities.

“Don’t be impatient; you will be born into this world soon.”

Smiling lightly and transmitting a calming thought, the three cocoons of light promptly returned to calmness. Laine looked at the well that was like stone but not stone, like jade but not jade, hesitated for a moment, but still pointed at it in the end.

So the next moment, the floating black crystal shattered in response, turning into a cloud of black mist.

Released from the form of ‘divinity,’ the essence of Death became more active. The black mist jumped and whirled but eventually drifted down under Laine’s control, merging with the waters of the Divine Artifact below.

Under Laine’s watchful eye, Life and Death converged in that moment. Initially, they mixed together, but once they lost control of the power of the Spirit Realm, they separated instantly.

There was no sign of blending between the two; they were clearly distinct, even antagonistic, eroding each other. Instinctively, both knew that if they could vanish the other, they would become stronger.

But Laine knew this was just an illusion.

“Just as I thought.”

The changes before him did not surprise Laine. In other worlds, he didn’t know if life and death could naturally coexist, but in Chaos, they definitely could not.

As for their desire to eliminate each other, that too was to be expected, as the instincts of Source Power were more primitive than the will of the world. They found it difficult to judge the long-term good or bad of a situation.

Indeed, if Death were completely erased, the proportion of Life in the world would increase, but when one looks at the larger timescale, it’s not a good thing.

After all, with no ‘Death,’ the world’s capacity for ‘Life’ would soon reach its limit. At that point, Life would become stagnant water, with no more variation or creation.

Fortunately, Laine was prepared for this.

With a thought, two streams of breath from different origins slowly came into being in the void, and under his guidance, they moved towards the mouth of the well.

The two breaths—one from the ‘past,’ born from Cronus’s ‘Death,’ symbolizing the previous Divine King’s transformation from ‘Life’ to ‘Death’; the other from the ‘future,’ arising because of the three goddesses, symbolizing the change from ‘Death’ to ‘Life’ for the Chronology goddesses who otherwise could not have been born due to a change in fate.

This was a decision made at the outset. Laine rarely did things without meaning. The reason he still nurtured new deities in the fourth layer of the Spirit Realm, even though he knew he couldn’t grasp the secrets of immortality now, and had expended considerable energy for this, was for the very scene before him.

After all, the birth of a deity itself had a special significance. A god whose fate had been intercepted was even more so.

Moreover, aside from that, Spring, Summer, and Autumn originally had the incomplete meaning of ‘cycle,’ which is why Laine thought the Chronology goddesses were the best choice. If Themis were unwilling, he could have chosen other gods, but none of them would fit better than them.

Then the next moment, as the two mysterious breaths overlapped and rotated, descending together into the Well of Origin, a miraculous change began to take place.

Life and Death began to meld together, and a new, more complete ‘symbol’ was born. It was a cycle, an exchange, a process from birth to destruction, as well as the rebirth that follows destruction.