PGVCW 26

Playing God in Various Catastrophic Worlds

Chapter 26: The Ascension Scam

Xia Wang'an declared that she was not an immortal.

Then, with a casual turn of her hand, she deployed the ultimate supportive cultivation art—All Things Turn to Rain—and healed everyone present.

[Ding!!] [Host Faith Power +106,526]

007 was so ecstatic it felt compelled to execute celebratory cartwheels: [Congratulations, Host! Your Faith Power has surged by over one hundred thousand units!!]

The soaring Flying Vessel hovered overhead, while the celestial projection broadcasted Xia Wang'an’s heroic rescue sequence. This relentless accumulation of atmospheric tension, combined with the visceral "divine miracle" of witnessing their own physical wounds instantly close, pushed the collective emotional tide of the populace to its absolute peak.

Feudal King Wu, who had consistently harbored profound skepticism, froze entirely in place, staring at the spectacle in unadulterated disbelief.

The populace wept and laughed simultaneously, gazing upward in fervent devotion toward the ethereal maiden draped in billowing immortal robes. "We are saved!" "We are truly saved!!"

An entire metropolis crammed into every boulevard and alleyway, prostrating themselves en masse before a single individual with god-like reverence. Scanning the horizon, it appeared as though the entire mortal realm had submitted entirely beneath her feet.

Faced with such a tableau, even the two Sect Patriarchs—acting merely as spectator witnesses—felt their hearts thrum with overwhelming emotional resonance. Yet Xia Wang'an, the focal point of ten thousand worshippers, maintained a countenance of utter serenity.

Far from displaying agitation, her physical posture radiated relaxed familiarity, perfectly mirroring someone thoroughly accustomed to such pageantry.

Yet ever since the epoch began its fracture fifty years prior, the mortal populace had scattered across isolated prefectures, leaving functional urban strongholds virtually extinct.

Where on earth could she have cultivated familiarity with "ten thousand citizens prostrating in unison"?

Recalling the fervent assertion made by the third-generation disciple of the Wheat-Excision Sect claiming that the "Heaven-Saving Sect possessed a population of two hundred million," Feudal King Wu had initially dismissed the notion as absolute fabrication.

Yet observing the sixteen- or seventeen-year-old maiden survey the spectacle with completely unruffled eyes, Feudal King Wu began to experience profound doubts regarding his own analytical judgment.

[How profoundly nostalgic.]

Xia Wang'an surveyed the surging sea of humanity below, drifting momentarily into past recollections: [It appears we were consistently subjected to universal prostration.]

007 maintained rigorous precision: [The demographic volume assembled presently is comparatively modest, though their Faith Power output possesses exceptional purity.]

[Indeed, it remains a rare curiosity that they exhibit zero apprehension toward my person.]

007: “……”

It mentally reviewed the original historical timeline, recalling that during early developmental phases, the Host had indeed maintained earnest diligence in planning various formal [Settings].

That disciplined approach persisted until progressive temporal accumulation implanted a minor operational pathology: an obsessive compulsion to engage adversaries in extended conversational sparring.

Naturally, casual discourse with combat targets remained largely innocuous; the underlying complication was Xia Wang'an’s secondary behavioral quirk—she maintained an absolute aversion to leaving active personal adversaries alive.

Consequently, her standardized operational methodology involved executing the target first, followed by cradling the adversary’s cranial skeletal remains to conduct leisurely dialogue.

Naturally, acting as a loyal system entity permanently aligned with its Host, 007 evaluated this behavioral cycle as entirely unproblematic.

Should those individuals survive, their communicative trajectories invariably deteriorated into tiresome pleas for clemency or aggressive verbal vitriol.

Therefore, should Wang'an desire conversational engagement, terminating their physiological processes beforehand represented an entirely rational procedural prerequisite.

One could readily visualize the visual impact when Xia Wang'an—draped in blood-saturated mourning robes while cradling a skull and intermittently emitting manic chuckles (arising from the psychological triumph of combat victory)—manifested before indigenous populations across those diverse worlds.

Objectively considered, their visceral terror possessed a fractional degree of logical validity.

Obviously, 007 operated entirely without objective parameters.

Pausing for a mere second, it enthusiastically rallied alongside its Host: [Their sensory faculties are fundamentally flawed, and their baseline courage is wholly deficient! Such cognitive deviance rests entirely with them—observe how exceptionally well-adjusted the populace of this contemporary world remains, Host!]

Xia Wang'an absorbed the Faith Power saturated with intense gratitude, nodding with deep satisfaction: [Your logical deduction is sound.] [If indigenous populations across alternative realms exhibited comparable psychological normalcy, operational execution would be vastly streamlined.]

"The Heaven-Saving Sect..." "Practitioners of immortal cultivation..." "Manifesting exclusively during epochs of grand worldly catastrophe."

Within the议事堂 (Council Hall) of the Rice-Excision Sect, Feudal King Wu wore an expression of obscure, impenetrable complexity. Though numbering over sixty rotational cycles of age, he retained a physical vigor significantly more robust than Grandpa Gao.

Sporting a mane of silvered hair, he occupied his seat with the raw predatory intensity of a muscular apex tiger—radiating the distinct physical readiness to violently detonate across combat vectors should anomalous stimuli manifest.

Linke instinctively registered the hostile environmental pressure, his pupils dilating fractionally as he locked his gaze onto Feudal King Wu.

Yuanning, tracking auditory telemetry warnings indicating "localized environmental energetic elevation," descended into deep cognitive synthesis.

As for Xia Wang'an:

She remained completely indifferent to atmospheric posture, confident in her absolute dominance across physical combat metrics.

Observing her unbroken serenity, Feudal King Wu voluntarily retracted his aggressive Qi.

Remaining silent for several compounding seconds, he ultimately articulated his core inquiry: "Since your esteemed sect's cultivation protocol targets ultimate ascension to immortal status, does the achievement of immortality permanently preclude descending into the mortal plane?"

The semantic weight embedded within this singular inquiry was staggering.

He bypassed inquiries concerning the organizational architecture of the Heaven-Saving Sect, omitted petitions for martial intervention against global catastrophes, and avoided questioning why the sect remained historically latent.

Inquiring whether post-ascension entities could return to the mortal realm revealed the underlying premise actively gripping his cognition: Who precisely achieved immortality, and who specifically failed to return?

Xia Wang'an locked her direct ocular gaze onto Feudal King Wu: "Naturally not. Immortal ascension achieves ultimate transcendence across spatial-temporal limitations; post-ascension entities navigate freely across the celestial sphere, terrestrial realms, and myriad dimensional planes without structural impedance."

"Free navigation..."

Feudal King Wu muttered the lexical sequence iteratively, while the expressions of the two Sect Patriarchs seated adjacent dissolved into ashen despair.

Xia Wang'an maintained her fixed ocular lock: "Who achieved ascension?" "Or alternatively... whom do you presume achieved ascension?"

As Xia Wang'an had analytically anticipated, within an ancient geopolitical civilization characterized by catastrophic disasters, traditional dynastic authority, and widespread cultural devotion to imperial dragon veins, indigenous folklore invariably preserved deep records of immortal mythos.

Furthermore, within a non-technological paradigm devoid of technological industrialization, prolonged civilizational survival across two centuries necessitated the historical manifestation of specialized combat assets.

"Two hundred years prior, the mortal realm underwent absolute structural mutation; however, the shift transcended botanical anomalies alone—human physiological parameters experienced parallel evolution."

"An entire generation of martial adepts materialized, possessing the capacity to execute extreme vertical displacement, exerting devastating physical strength, and originating diverse sword and saber arts specifically engineered to eradicate monstrous entities."

"The Seven Great Sects continue to preserve these martial lineages presently, yet operational efficiency has degraded below one-thousandth of their ancestral baseline."

Feudal King Wu's ocular membranes gradually lost their turbid film, his memory drifting backward toward his youthful epoch: "Martial adepts cultivated specialized methodologies—diverging from your sect's spiritual absorption of ambient heaven and earth Qi, focusing instead upon continuous internal circulation frameworks and physical displacement arts."

"Martial cultivation progressively established formal developmental tiers; apex practitioners achieved individual combat equivalence matching massive military formations."

Xia Wang'an consolidated the data points into a concise operational category: [High-Wuxia].

Feudal King Wu registered minor cognitive friction: "High-Wuxia?"

"High-Wuxia practitioners utilize martial arts as their foundational Dao, deploying internal Qi and physical kinetic mastery to breach human physiological limits. Advanced realms expand somatic longevity—while failing to achieve biological immortality, physical aging is successfully suspended."

Having traversed analogous dimensional planes and perused equivalent literary archives, Xia Wang'an processed the classification within her established knowledge base.

Feudal King Wu's expression ignited with sharp luminance as he surged to a vertical posture: "Affirmative! Affirmative! Our ancestral cultivation framework was precisely High-Wuxia!"

He added a layer of desperate aspiration: "Does your exalted sect—being practitioners of the Dao—also possess the capacity to guide martial adepts toward celestial ascension?"

Confronting his expectant gaze, Xia Wang'an executed a slow negative motion of her cranium: "Advancing martial cultivation to pinnacle thresholds yields catastrophic spatial-cleaving power, yet achieving formal immortal ascension operates via an entirely divergent metaphysical paradigm."

The luminous expectation within Feudal King Wu's ocular matrix instantly extinguished.

Observing his heavy, despondent collapse back into his seating assembly, Xia Wang'an offered mild palliative framing: "Though structural ascension remains inaccessible, high-wuxia adepts achieve the status of [Martial Deities], representing an ontological tier functionally analogous to immortals."

For example, the fallen Imperial Princess Heng possessed combat metrics approximating pre-eminent Martial Deity status during her historical peak.

Feudal King Wu's countenance dissolved into profound disorientation: "The chronological window has permanently closed..."

Comprehending the systemic underlying reality, he slowly elevated his cranium to lock his gaze upon Xia Wang'an: "Fifty years prior, celestial manifestations saturated the realm, accompanied by folklore asserting that achieving immortal ascension grants the capacity to fundamentally restructure the terrestrial environment."

"During that epoch, the botanical anomalies we had successfully contained suddenly erupted into unbridled fury; localized aquatic resources materialized spontaneously across geographical regions, while oceanic tides surged uncontrollably, generating catastrophic tsunamis."

Xia Wang'an paused mid-motion, her hand halting in its trajectory toward her sugar confections. Verification confirmed—the anomalous volumetric surplus of water within this specific dimension originated precisely from the aquatic deficit of her home plane.

Feudal King Wu articulated the historical tragedy with bared teeth: "Those anomalous anomalies manifested overnight, violently accelerating botanical propagation. Within a single rotational month, seventy percent of a million-strong elite imperial army perished in combat, and countless civilians were displaced."

"Should the crisis remain restricted to botanical expansion, defensive parameters remained viable; yet confronting calculated celestial cataclysms, conventional strategic calculus collapses."

"Consequently..."

He lacked the vocal capacity to continue. Adjacent to his position, the Rice-Excision Sect Matriarch Chu Qingning exhaled a poignant sigh, assuming the narrative: "On that fateful day, a colossal beam of brilliant illumination descended from the firmament. Under the direct observation of the assembled multitudes, the Imperial Princess and the Seven Sect Patriarchs executed celestial ascension. Prior to their departure, they explicitly commanded us to maintain vigil for their ultimate repatriation."

"Every living subject maintained absolute faith that upon achieving immortality, they would return to deliver our civilization from destruction. Yet fifty rotational years have elapsed, and zero trace of their return has ever manifested."

Behind her, Wheat-Excision Sect Patriarch Lu Tianshi instinctively grasped the peace-talisman suspended around his cervical perimeter, his ocular expression reflecting absolute, parallel desolation.

When compounded catastrophes decimated over half the population within a single lunar cycle, driving their civilization toward terminal extinction, encountering an instantaneous beacon of hope compelled the realm's supreme powerhouses to seize every accessible survival vector.

Ascension had crystallized during that dark epoch as the solitary conceptual pathway to salvation.

Xia Wang'an furrowed her brow: "You assert their ascension was initiated via a descending beam of light?" Chu Qingning affirmed: "Mythological accounts attribute celestial ascension to precisely such visual markers." She queried further: "By what mechanism does your exalted sect define authentic immortal ascension?"

As a seasoned connoisseur of xianxia literature, Xia Wang'an immediately initiated academic instruction: "Achieving immortal ascension demands rigorous personal cultivation, preceded by mandatory tribulation testing—[Lightning Tribulation] must interrogate the physical vessel, and [Inner Demons] must test the spiritual core. Only by successfully surviving both trials does ascension materialize." "If a mere column of illumination sufficed to achieve ascension, I would have ascended millenniums ago."

The fundamental universal framework dictated absolute transactional symmetry: absolute acquisition mandates absolute expenditure; achieving baseline results absent physical or spiritual sacrifice defies cosmic law.

The historical [Settings] deployed by Xia Wang'an during her active developmental phase frequently incorporated analogous overpowered protagonist golden fingers, yet such unearned, spontaneous capabilities functioned structurally as hollow facades devoid of deep foundational integrity.

Had the dimension avoided the anomalous, abrupt injection of massive aquatic volumes that accelerated baseline mutations into apocalyptic monstrosities, Imperial Princess Heng—maintaining her uninterrupted cultivation trajectory—would have naturally matured into a true Martial Deity within approximately five centuries. At that apex threshold, she would have possessed verifiable capacity to successfully deliver the world.

Yet manifestly, external intelligent actors—or alternatively, anomalous systemic forces—actively conspired to preempt civilizational salvation. —The purported "Immortal Ascension" constituted an absolute, premeditated spatial scam.

"During that era, our ancestral masters similarly perceived systemic anomalies, yet to secure survival for the collective populace, they elected to execute the high-risk gamble." Lu Tianshi tightly compressed his talisman into his inner vestments: "The prior consensus established that Imperial Princess Heng would ascend to secure a survival vector, subsequently utilizing celestial sovereign power to extract the anomalous water volumes and restore our world to its original baseline." "The Seven Sect Patriarchs remained stationed locally to maintain civilian protection. Yet on that precise date, through mechanisms untraceable, the Patriarchs were similarly vacuumed upward into the luminous pillars."

That day, junior disciples watched with their physical eyes as their direct masters vanished from the temporal plane. "Our masters harbored zero desire for ascension; their physical resistance against the engulfing illumination beams was absolute, yet they proved mechanically incapable of breaking the celestial tractor beam..."

Chu Qingning's gaze drifted involuntarily toward the crimson tassel suspended from her spear spar: "Master articulated that he would execute absolute ingenuity to achieve repatriation, commanding us to maintain eternal vigil." Yet fifty rotational years had expired, and his return remained perpetually unfulfilled.

Among five initial martial disciples, spatial survival had winnowed their aggregate tally to merely two—herself and her senior martial brother. The original [Stellar-Drop Sect] had structurally fragmented into the [Wheat-Excision Sect] and the [Rice-Excision Sect].

Feudal King Wu interjected through an ash-white vocal timbre, maintaining his prolonged silence: "I deduced the operational reality decades prior." Within a micro-second, physical posture aged him by twenty rotational years, his structural frame curving heavily forward: "She would never willingly abandon her subjects." "Failing to achieve homecoming signifies solely that home was mechanically closed against her."

At this precise temporal microsecond, the three geriatric survivors—each carrying a minimum chronological baseline exceeding sixty-three rotational years, representing the pre-eminent sect masters and regional monarchs of the realm—reflected identical, profound desolation across their reddened ocular membranes. Mirroring adolescent youths sheltered fifty years prior beneath the absolute protective wings of senior guardians, completely liberated from existential dread.

Those luminous pillars had extracted the domain's supreme structural guardians, systematically stripping away their dearest familial kin.

Yuanning lowered his optical focus; even Linke experienced an uncharacteristic surge of emotional heaviness, instinctively reaching into his garment pocket to manipulate a confection unit to achieve internal psychological stabilization.

Xia Wang'an, however, maintained uninterrupted, silent observation throughout the collective revelation. Reaching the termination of the narrative sequence, she executed a slow, absolute upward vertical translation.

"Where reside the surplus water volumes?" "Though structural ascension remains unverified within my personal metrics, true practitioners of immortal cultivation possess verified capability to shift topographical mountains and manipulate oceanic currents."