This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder - Chapter 645

The wanshou eventually reached a point where many of them lost hope in life. They abandoned their faith and waited for death. Some believers’ faith turned into hatred for the Thousand-Armed God. The church also lost its power with the death of the betrayers. Most were destroyed by the mobs of wanshou, while others turned into relief centers.

Many people tried to keep their optimism, believing this was a punishment from the Thousand-Armed God, or that it would eventually end and life would return to normal, but most people despaired. The children who grew up in this environment became just as pessimistic, perhaps even more so.

Strangely, as the population decreased, more and more wanshou were born with strange powers. They were either gifted with controlling light, darkness, fire, water, wind, or earth. Eventually, it was discovered that those who did not possess such obvious abilities could train their power to become stronger.

If a relatively trained wanshou of the current year had fought in the war of yesteryear, he would have been able to defeat at least a thousand wanshou soldiers.

The appearance of these superpowered wanshou eased some pessimism, but not all. Their declining population directly correlated to the increased number of wild beasts. These beasts would ravage the farmlands and injure the farmers, causing crop yields to decrease. With the decrease in the food supply, many of them could only return to the old ways of hunting and gathering. A few farms still existed, but they needed many more farmers to tend them and could not supply the current population, dwindled as it was.

Those who bore children became special. Thought to have good fate, they were sought out by many powerful wanshou who wanted to have descendants.

Time passed. Although almost every wanshou gained a powerful physique, the birth rate still declined. Eventually, a special individual appeared among the dwindling population—a prophetess. She revealed the truth: the declining birth rate wasn’t the Thousand-Armed God’s punishment, but a malicious scheme by the demon lord. The demon lord was hiding because his battle with the Thousand-Armed God had severely weakened him.

Now, heroes must come forth and finish off the demon lord, restoring the world to its former resplendence.

Many people ventured out to seek the hidden demon lord. Some were youths full of determination to correct this wrong world, but most were people who had already given up everything. They did not care if they died, so they bet everything on a last gambit.

Decades passed, and none succeeded. What was worse than despair? Having hope turn into despair.

All the wanshou who ventured out came back empty-handed, having not seen hide nor hair of the demon lord. That is, those who made it back. Many perished in the wilderness, further depleting the population.

Many even suspected that he didn’t exist, but the prophets maintained their stance. Even when the old prophet died and a new one took their place, they never changed their stance on the demon lord.

Unknown to the wanshou, prophets appeared on every moon with wanshou populating it. They were searching for the demon lord, guided by a powerful will. If one person remained on a moon, he or she would become a prophet and learn the truth behind the calamity.

Two more decades passed. The population declined even further. While some wallowed in nihilism, many left the settlement, betting everything on the prophet’s words. It was not an ember that smoldered brightly, but it was nothing more than the last hurrah before the flame was snuffed.

Just as it seemed that no wanshou could succeed, one party found the demon lord.

Six wanshou crashed through the gate. Inside the gate was a simple room, extremely large but bare. They were all dressed either in armor or robes, armed with swords or staves. The one with the most handsome appearance and strongest equipment stared at the being sitting at the center. “Demon Lord, we finally found you!”

The Demon Lord didn’t look as ferocious as the wild beasts they had to fight to get here. He looked rather weak, with only two arms, only slightly stronger than the weakest one-armed wanshou. His clothes were equally strange. He bore some artificial resemblance to the wanshou, except that his skin was pale and he had a strange bump between his eyes and mouth.

“I should call you rude for barging into my home like this? Forget it. After all, I’m the source of your disaster. It’s only natural to be hostile.”

Contrary to the six wanshou’s thoughts, the Demon Lord’s voice spoke a strange language, but they could all understand it. His voice was also pleasant and made them feel tranquil, like merging with nature. Despite their hostile confrontation, the six wanshou felt their hostility lessen.

“Stop your treacherous tricks, Demon Lord! No matter what, we will not change our minds and slay you!” the leader shouted, brandishing his weapon.

“It’s not a trick, just a passive effect,” the Demon Lord said. “Well, the time for small talk is over.”

The Demon Lord stood up. Although he didn’t release any aura or energy, the party still felt an overwhelming pressure.

“Don’t back down. Remember what we are fighting for. If we retreat, the Demon Lord will hide again and recover his injuries. We won’t have another chance like this again,” the leader rallied.

“Injured?” the Demon Lord repeated with a wry smile. “Is that what the World Will said to give you hope?”

The party didn’t understand what the Demon Lord meant, but it didn’t matter. It did not change their convictions.

“Before starting, I want to ask. How did you find me?” the Demon Lord asked.

“Hmpf, do you think we will reveal such a secret?” a warrior wanshou asked.

The Demon Lord did not say anything. He just raised his arms, causing the party to raise their guard. It was useless.

Before they even knew what happened, the warrior wanshou had appeared in the Demon Lord’s grasp. He let out a pained scream before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

“Let him go!” the leader wanshou shouted, rushing forward with his blade. Behind him, his companions released their elemental attacks, but like before, it was useless.

No matter how far he charged, no matter how fast those attacks shot, they seemed to be separated by an uncrossable gulf. It was only a few seconds, but the Demon Lord had already released the warrior wanshou, who collapsed onto the ground.

“So that’s it. You actually have such a sensitivity to the flow of esoteric energy. Is that what led you to the conclusion? Even I have to admire your talent. I only periodically release the technique, and the last time was decades ago, yet you could still pinpoint me,” the Demon Lord said. “Still, is that your natural talent, or something guided by the World Will?”

The wanshou didn’t know what the Demon Lord meant, nor did he want to. He intuitively sensed his friend’s death, and the anger powered his sword. He had never felt so powerful before. And so, he roared and slashed forward, intent on slaying the evil foe.

Yet, his actions were useless.

“I’m not the type to torture weaklings. Just fall peacefully,” the Demon Lord said as he gazed at them.

Involuntarily, all the wanshou looked into his eyes. They felt their minds growing heavier. Before they knew it, it felt like they were bearing a million tons on their backs. They wanted nothing more than to succumb to the fatigue and sleep. Oh, the wanshou resisted, but it was useless.

One by one, they collapsed. Never to awaken again.

Or, that should have been the case. Despite all odds, the leader wanshou gasped as he came back onto his knees. Tears pooled at the corners of his eyes as he gazed at his fallen allies. One by one, he recited their names. “Demon Lord, even if my friends die, they’ll protect and aid me against you. With their help, I’ll kill you and save this world!”

“A power-up originating from your friends?” the Demon Lord said with a hint of incredulity. However, that emotion quickly vanished. “I see. You are the one chosen by the World Will to eliminate me. Unfortunately, even if the World Will reached the level of the Heavenly Dao, it still wouldn’t be able to defeat me, much less kill me.”

The Demon Lord waved his hand, and the remaining wanshou screamed in pain. Although he felt his body weakening, an external force swiftly boosted him, helping him fight against the weakening. The Demon Lord showed no surprise. If anything, it was what he wanted.

“That should be about it. Any more, and it will affect the foundation of the system.” The Demon Lord flipped his palm, and the final wanshou vanished.

“I thought there was no World Will. Turns out it was just incredibly weak,” Tianyi muttered to himself. He swiped his sleeves, and the corpses vanished from his abode.

He had teleported the “hero” into the True Nothingness. No matter how hard the nameless system attempted to boost him, it was impossible if he was not within the system itself.

The reason Tianyi chose such an option was because he didn’t know if the system would continue reviving or powering up the hero. So after making the World Will lose as much energy as possible without damaging the foundation, he removed him.

He originally thought this small system didn’t possess a World Will, but he was pleasantly surprised. There was usually a correlation between the power of a system and the strength of the World Will. Among all the systems, the Heavenly Dao of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System was the strongest World Will he had encountered.

It directly invoked tribulations and punishments to keep order. No other World Will had such rules. It was a bit strange since the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, the Herakles System, and the Thorson System were on the same level, but their World Wills weren’t so strong.

Most World Wills would spawn natural divinities to keep order. The first gods and god king of the Ma’at System were such divinities. Perhaps the Thousand-Armed God was also one such divinity. Unfortunately, it was betrayed.

Tianyi didn’t know how much energy the World Will had expended to create such a hero, but he didn’t think it could create another one before the population died. Once the last wanshou perished, the World Will would only be able to rely on the beasts to defend the system. Alas, beasts were far too easy to fool.

He already knew the reason the World Will targeted him. It was easy enough to guess.

First, he was an outsider. Second, he was actively destroying the system’s ecosystem. Yes, ecosystem, not the wanshou. In the World Will’s view, even if the wanshou killed the Thousand-Armed God, it would not be a threat to the system like Tianyi was. That was also if the betrayers could ascend to godhood in the first place.

The World Will didn’t care if the wanshou perished. As long as it existed, a new sapient race would rise eventually. Tianyi truly threatened it. His actions had disrupted the balance, and the World Will might have sensed his ill intent.

While the spacetime divine conduit stayed in the nameless system, Tianyi’s actions did not stop. His other conduits had not discovered a second system unknown to the All Pantheon Alliance, and he was still working on restoring the World Fusion Method.

His main conduit in the Heavenly Immortal Court was not idle either. He consulted the Scripture Repository and even sought out the Concealed Emperor for similar methods. As he expected, the Heavenly Immortal Court did not have such methods, but Tianyi wasn’t expecting it to. He wanted different methods to research and compare to make his restoration smoother.

After another thousand years, Tianyi felt that he had restored the World Fusion Method to the best of his ability. Now, there was only testing left. After testing, he could readjust and make modifications. Only, the price was too high.

But Tianyi didn’t have a choice.