A second ago, Li Ban had been speaking with Cat Girl. Now, after a flash of darkness and light, he suddenly found himself standing in the vast, cosmic Star River.
At a glance, he could tell this Star River was different from his own.
Though equally brilliant and majestic, the finer details held countless differences.
Soon, however, the Star River before him began to change.
A streak of red light emerged in the far distance, gradually washing over the entire world.
The Star River was boundless, yet this sudden crimson glow swallowed it completely.
Bathed in its glow, even Li Ban took on a red hue.
Then, he heard a voice.
"No. It shouldn't be like this."
"No, it shouldn't be like this!"
"No, it shouldn't be like this!!!"
The voice rippled across the universe, repeating endlessly like an echo.
Li Ban realized he wasn't hearing the voice with his ears. Another consciousness had invaded his mind, forcing him to "hear" it.
The voice grew increasingly shrill and frantic, until it devolved into a piercing drone.
Li Ban cupped his hands over his ears in a futile gesture. It felt like his skull was being torn apart.
Finally, after a bout of agonizing pain, the noise stopped.
As if regaining its sanity, the voice murmured softly.
"Start over. Yes, just start over."
The moment that thought arose, the entire universe went dark.
The world before Li Ban abruptly tilted. Stars and nebulae tumbled like discarded trash, falling into an unknowable abyss below.
The light vanished, and the world plunged back into darkness.
But in the blink of an eye, everything snapped back to its original state, as if the destruction had just been a hallucination.
The cosmic Star River flowed swiftly once more. Everything before him was magnificent and beautiful.
But Li Ban knew the world had changed.
He had just witnessed the world being deleted and rebooted.
Because such a process consumed a massive amount of energy, the Star River before him was now noticeably sparser.
Soon, however, new stars flickered into existence, filling the empty voids.
A voice echoed from the depths of Li Ban's mind.
"You see? He has already gone mad."
Li Ban looked down at his chest. "You are... Xiao Suo?"
"Heh. Is there any other priest you've devoured?"
Li Ban finally understood what was happening to his body.
He had devoured a massive number of Xiao Suo's fragments, but Xiao Suo's lingering consciousness within them hadn't been completely wiped out.
As a result, once those remnants accumulated to a certain point, they coalesced into a new Xiao Suo inside Li Ban.
Li Ban knew that if he showed any weakness, Xiao Suo would attack without hesitation and replace him.
At the very least, he would force Li Ban to become a black-robed priest.
The moment Li Ban became a Black Robe, the white-robed priests would never let him off.
He would be forced to stand as an enemy against both the white-robed priests and the Wizard World.
That was exactly the outcome Xiao Suo wanted to see.
Faced with this sudden crisis, Li Ban remained calm. "So you deliberately lured me into devouring you. When did you figure it out? Was it back at the Unreturning Place?"
"Spot on. Your reward is becoming a Black Robe."
"You can certainly try."
Li Ban was full of confidence.
Xiao Suo was waging psychological warfare.
But Li Ban knew he would absolutely never devour another person's Wizard Embryo Fragments just to advance to a Great Wizard.
As long as he stayed true to his original intent, he would not fall to corruption.
Yet Xiao Suo didn't immediately strike.
"Do you know that even if you devour all of me and erase me from this world entirely, it would still be meaningless?"
"The scene you just witnessed was no illusion. It is a memory of something that truly happened."
"You should be able to tell that the master of this world is sick. When the world fails to run in the direction he dictates, he goes mad, destroys it, and replicates a new one."
"This cycle has already repeated over a dozen times."
Over a dozen times didn't sound like a large number.
But when measured on the scale of a world being rebuilt, developed, and destroyed, it became a terrifying figure.
Xiao Suo's sorrowful voice echoed once more.
His voice had always been highly pleasant to the ear, and even now, hushed as it was, it remained exceptionally melodious, carrying an enchanting power.
"I know you possess miraculous power, but you are still no match for him. If we don't stop this endless rebooting, you will end up just like me—forever trapped in this agonizing cycle. You will helplessly watch countless friends and loved ones appear in ignorance, struggle in despair, and die in agony."
"To put an end to all of this, we must destroy the origin point of this cycle: the Wizard World."
As Xiao Suo whispered his enchantments, another cycle of the world's destruction, deletion, and reconstruction played out before Li Ban's eyes.
He thought of everyone in the Wizard World. They were far from the first batch of people to be abandoned in despair.
Even their so-called escape route merely led to another hell.
Undeniably, Li Ban had to admit his resolve was wavering.
But he still couldn't accept Xiao Suo's actions. "Is that your excuse for killing so many people?"
"Compared to the countless lives lost in every single cycle, the fraction of people I've killed doesn't even amount to phoenix feathers and unicorn horns."
Li Ban was left speechless. As hard as it was to accept emotionally, it was the truth.
Xiao Suo was highly satisfied with Li Ban's silence. "You don't need to worry about your family and friends in the Wizard World. You possess more than enough power to take them away before it is destroyed. The destruction of one Wizard World is better than the reboot of the entire universe."
Li Ban remained silent.
Xiao Suo continued, "The easiest way to destroy the Wizard World is to destabilize its core essence. And the most effective way to shake that essence is to turn the Nine Provinces into the Nihility State."
"Li Ban, you possess abilities that even I envy. To subvert the Wizard World, you don't even have to become a Black Robe. Not only will the White Robes fail to guard against you, but they will even offer you their greatest assistance."
Finally, Li Ban spoke.
"You once told me you were the inner demon of a certain Great Wizard. Is that Great Wizard the master of this realm... the ultimate Wizard Lord?"
Xiao Suo chuckled softly. "It's an easy guess, isn't it? To mold the world into exactly what he desires, he endlessly reboots it. Yet this endless rebooting has, in turn, become his own inner demon. Tell me, isn't that hilarious?"
As he spoke, a third cycle of destruction, deletion, and rebirth played out right before Li Ban's eyes.
Li Ban lowered his gaze. 'Would destroying the Wizard World within twenty years be easier than becoming a Great Wizard in that same time?' he wondered.
Sensing Li Ban's wavering resolve growing stronger, Xiao Suo whispered, "You know exactly what you must do to break free from this endless cycle. Keep me hidden in the depths of your mind, and together... we will destroy this prison."
Wizard World, the Nihility State.
Three Solar Priests surrounded Li Ban, awaiting the final outcome.
The others stood in the distance, all wracked with anxiety.
Suddenly, Li Ban opened his eyes. His gaze flickered rapidly, as if he were locked in an intense mental struggle.
The Solar Priests braced themselves, their eyes glued to the robes Li Ban was wearing.
Abruptly, Li Ban let out a soft sigh, and clarity returned to his eyes.
"Xiao Suo, you are wrong. My original intent was never to stop the reboots."
He turned his head, meeting the gaze of Cat Girl, who had been staring intently at his face from a distance.
"It was to protect everyone I care about."
He would never use protection as an excuse to inflict harm.