Countless impoverished commoners ignited their hopes once more after the Abundance.
If such a paradise truly existed, they would be willing to go.
"There is no sentimentality, no heresy, no need to strain one's eyes looking into the distance, and no point in recalling past bitterness to appreciate the present." Jingwei blinked. "Is there really such a paradise? Wherever there are people, conflicts will exist; everyone has their own little schemes, so it is not very realistic."
"It is still possible, oh." Xiaoyu smiled and said, "Just like a pyramid scheme, as long as thoughts are unified and there is only one voice, no matter how many people there are, there will be no conflicts."
Jiuyue shivered.
"Stop! Don't say such terrifying things, Xiaoyu."
"That kind of paradise is boring anyway." Xiaotian munched on dog food with a crunch-crunch sound.
As a good buddy, Shiyilie also got a share of Xiaotian's dog food. Eating it on the side, he muttered, "If I could eat my fill and buy what I like without working, going to paradise wouldn't be out of the question."
"Is there really such a paradise?" In the Land of Gods Abandonment, the clansmen were restless.
"Can we break the curse of the Land of Gods Abandonment?"
Derrick saw his clansmen's eager expressions, panicked inside, and quickly looked toward the Chief.
Had he not already chosen Mr. Fool, he probably would have placed his hopes on the Aeon of Harmony just like these clansmen.
The Chief gave him a look, telling him to stay calm.
Then, he made a sound to draw the attention of all the clansmen to himself.
After some soothing, the restless clansmen calmed down.
The gods outside were too far away from them; the only ones who could save them were themselves.
[A pile of assorted masks appeared.]
[Elation], Aha
"Look at the court jester's sweet words (making merry),"]
[Zhang Chulan: ???]
Zhang Chulan: Don't tell me this pile of masks is the Aeon of Elation?
Chu Zihang: This is truly surprising.
Xiao Se: The gods of this world are truly peculiar.
Lu Mingfei: You mean to say abstract, right?
Jiuyue: Too abstract! It's one thing that Erudition is a mechanical head and Nihility is Black Overlord, but now Elation is a pile of masks.
Sakura: Elation... seems to be an Aeon that can bring joy to people.
Zhang Chulan: I have to say, the appearance of the Aeon of Elation is really amusing, truly worthy of Elation.]
Kirei Kotomine's lips carried a faint, elusive smile.
Elation... Can you also make me feel a hint of pleasure?
I am truly looking forward to it.
"These masks have a strong scent of elation, truly worthy of [Elation]." Rimuru shook its head.
"To think there is such an Aeon..." Nakajima Atsushi wore an expression of having broadened his horizons.
Izumi Kyouka tugged at his sleeve, pulling back his wandering thoughts.
"Kyouka-chan, what kind of Aeon do you think it is?"
"I don't know." Izumi Kyouka shook her head.
"Elation, interesting." Chrollo wore a trace of a smile on his face, which quickly vanished.
"The Aeon of Elation is so special, actually being a bunch of masks." Lei Wujie rubbed his head. "All those masks are smiling, does that mean the Aeon of Elation is a very happy deity?"
"Perhaps it's an elation that finds amusement in others?" Wuxin said indifferently.
"In short, it's trouble." Xiao Se said.
"As for A-Gin here, I will rebuild the glory of the A-generation!" Gintoki quickly tied a "Cheer" ribbon around his head.
Shinpachi side-eyed: "Don't gild your own lily, and don't steal other people's lines, hey!"
"Tch, Shinpachi, you don't understand." Gintoki shook his head meaningfully.
Shinpachi: "..."
I don't want to understand at all.
"There's even laughter in the background, this is [Elation]?" Lin Qiye muttered to himself.
Hearing him mutter, the others also perked up their ears to listen, and sure enough, they heard that laughter.
"The Aeon of Elation brings joy, nothing wrong with that."
["Ahahaha——"]
The laughter abruptly sounded across the canopy.
As if sanctioned by the canopy, it was forcibly suppressed, and it quickly switched to the next Aeon.]
Everyone looked at each other in dismay.
Could that be the Aeon of Elation?
"Strange, when that laughter sounded, it felt like I saw a van full of people crashing over."
"It must be an illusion."
["Sailors dead drunk (voracious eating and drinking)."]
Just like Elation, no new icon appeared; only a huge beastly maw appeared.
[Voracity], Ouroboros
Countless bright red, sharp teeth appeared accordingly.
Along with the sound of a shattering mirror, beautiful flowers appeared.
"Listening to the crying of the baby in the mirror (conclusion),"
[Beauty], Idrila
"Waves (beating wings) enter dreams (perception), scales collapse (rotation),"
An insect-like lower body appeared.
[propagation], Tazzyronth
The background rippled like water patterns.
[Mystery], Mythus
Half white, half black.
[Equilibrium], Hoo
"Welcome the formless crown prince (retracing)."
A flashing glance of:
[Finality], Terminus
A crowned humanoid entity formed like condensed ice crystals appeared.
[Remembrance], Fuli
"In the end, measure the world with your body, and engrave all these things in your heart."
An Astral Express drove past in front of the ice crystal figure, like a light piercing through the long night.
"They say this is precisely the path you should walk—"
The Astral Express drove past rapidly, rushing toward the vast galaxy.
"Akivili (Trailblazer), set off once more (connect the worlds), Akivili (Trailblazer)!"
[Trailblaze], Akivili
The Astral Express turned into a golden meteor.
The scene returned to where it started.
A woman wearing a purple veil was flipping through a book.
"Countless meteors streak across tonight's sky, if you choose the correct one..."
The woman closed the book and looked toward the camera.
"It will carry your wish to thousands of worlds."]
"As expected, both Remembrance and Trailblaze are Aeons." Dazai Osamu thought to himself, "The Astral Express is strongly related to the Aeon of Trailblaze. Trailblaze, pioneering and expanding, using a train to pioneer is very apt."
"Voracity, gluttony..." Gojo Satoru smiled. "These are not good words. Voracity, is it like its name implies, never getting satisfied?"
"Finality, the end, terminal or conclusion, also referring to remnants and destruction." Zhang Chulan shook his head. "That world seems to be fraught with disasters as well. However, isn't the attire of that Aeon of Remembrance way too much like an ancient emperor? Could it be Ying Zheng?"
"Not just that. The highest deity believed by Taoism's Shenxiao Sect is Fuli Yuanshi Tianzun." Wang Ye said.
"You mean the Aeon of Remembrance is related to Taoism?"
Wang Ye shook his head: "It's just a manner of speaking. Even different worlds inevitably share similarities; you'll know if you look at the other worlds in the chat group."
"Fine." Zhang Chulan shrugged his shoulders.
"However, that Aeon of Mystery is indeed mysterious enough, with so little information revealed. I wonder what kind of people believe in it." Xu San said.
Zhang Chulan joked: "Perhaps they are some riddle-makers, who only know how to say ambiguous things all day, fooling people around like flies in circles."
"Come to think of it, it's quite apt." Zhuge Qing smiled.
Wang Ye also smiled and nodded.Eh, eh, eh, eh, that propagation is a bug, right?" Lu Mingfei pointed at the firmament.
"Can bugs even become Aeons these days?"
"What's wrong with bugs?" Chen Motong smiled and said, "Don't forget that the Swarm is one of the Four Great Calamities. You play as the Swarm yourself, after all."
Lu Mingfei gave an embarrassed chuckle.
"propagation and bugs—it's quite fitting," Chu Zihang said.
"I can already imagine the disasters caused by the Swarm in that world," Caesar sighed with emotion.
"Beauty, Idrila." Xiaolan's eyes lit up slightly. "An Aeon named after Beauty, what kind of breathtaking existence would it be?"
"Equilibrium, balance?" Conan rubbed his chin in thought.
"It should be just like that," Haibara Ai said. "Doesn't this mean that if there are existences in that world that break the balance, the Equilibrium Aeon will step in and restore everything to balance once more?"
"Not impossible," Conan replied, unable to stop himself from wondering if eternal life could also be considered breaking the balance.
"Watching this video playback, the Astral Express is truly the unadulterated protagonist." Kumoko touched her wound.
She had just gotten into another fight with other monsters; she won, but she also got hurt.
"If the Astral Express comes here, I must get on their good side."
"Did that mysterious veiled lady glance at us?" Jiuyue looked unsurely at Bodhisattva Dashi.
Bodhisattva Dashi nodded.
"Eh? How did she do that?" Lielei asked curiously.
"She is connected to Remembrance, and that is likely the reason," Wuxian said.
The others looked thoughtful. "I see."
"It looks like we'll soon be able to go and experience other worlds ourselves."
Nezha rested his hands behind his head with a smile on his face. "Fun times are coming~"
When it came to bugs becoming gods, the people of the Lord of the Mysteries World accepted it quite well.
After all, the mythological forms of many people there were all sorts of bugs.
Meanwhile, the people of the The Youngster World were dumbfounded.
Other worlds really are bizarre and varied.
Even bugs can become Aeons.
Perhaps because their fear of locusts was far too deeply ingrained, quite a few commoners spontaneously developed a sense of dread toward the propagation Aeon.
On the other hand, the rulers felt a slight ripple in their thoughts, thinking that if the propagation Aeon could promote population growth, it might not be impossible to let people worship It.
"Why isn't there the appearance of the Beauty Aeon?" Tohsaka Rin felt dissatisfied.
She wanted to see what the Aeon named after Beauty actually looked like.
"They probably haven't figured out how to design the subsequent parts yet, so they just dangled a carrot to whet people's appetites first," Emiya Shirou said.
Tohsaka Rin looked at him.
"Most games are like that."
Tohsaka · Electronic-Device-Handicapped · Rin furrowed her brows.
Games... Oh well.
"To summarize, there are a total of 16 Aeons that have appeared in the firmament so far: Destruction, The Hunt, preservation..." Ye Fan said.
Everyone else present listened intently.
"I speculate that the power of the people in that world originates from these Aeons, though how precisely they acquire this power remains unknown."
Ye Fan put down his notepad and looked at the others.
"Does anyone have anything to add?"
"I propose that after watching subsequent videos, we can determine our attitude toward the Astral Express based on its performance in the videos. If one day the Astral Express truly comes to our planet, we can be prepared ahead of time," someone said.
Ye Fan nodded.
If their planet were to truly integrate with that world, there was a ninety percent chance that the first faction they would come into contact with was the Astral Express.
The Astral Express should indeed be classified as a primary observation target.
Apart from the God Slayer World, the leaders of various factions and organizations in other worlds were also reviewing the video to make subsequent plans.
Once everyone finished discussing, the next video began to play.
["Speaking with shame..."]
"Legends are rare on this Xianzhou. After all, with eternal life and perpetual vision, where is there any room left for legends?"
[Smoke curled gently, and the paper-carved lamp slowly rotated.]
A single sentence directly caused everyone to widen their eyes, followed immediately by a commotion.
Longevity—this was the desire of countless people.
Yet now, they had just heard news related to it.
This stirred them up even more than the introduction of the Aeon of Abundance mentioning eternal life earlier.
After all, this wave solidly confirmed that the Xianzhou possessed longevity and perpetual vision.
Karasuma Renya's pupils contracted violently, his heavy breathing clearly audible throughout the entire room.
His eyes were filled with burning fervor.
From the previous eternal life to the current longevity and perpetual vision, the firmament truly could bring him hope for longevity.
Right now, he couldn't wait to integrate with that world quickly so that he could attain longevity.
Vermouth's expression worsened slightly.
No one knew better than her how much the Boss craved longevity; now that there was a glimmer of possibility, he would surely cling to it relentlessly like a hound that caught the scent of prey.
The days ahead probably wouldn't be so peaceful anymore.
Toru Amuro quietly clenched his fists.
He was both worried about the organization's madness over longevity and afraid that other ordinary people would be blinded by longevity and led astray.
Emperor Mingde's heart was also extremely excited.
That world truly possessed the method of longevity!
At this moment, only a tiny handful of civil and military officials resisted the temptation of longevity and were instead filled with worry—worrying for the emperor and the future of the imperial dynasty.
Meanwhile, the other officials had desire and greed shining in their eyes, hoping to get a share of the pie and pray for longevity.
"We're in big trouble now," Xiao Se said with a solemn expression.
He never expected this video to start off with such a bombshell.
"Indeed." Wuxin also lost his mood to joke around, furrowing his brows tightly. "The world is going to descend into chaos."
"It's not like our world has the Dao of longevity, what's there to be chaotic about?" Lei Wujie asked, uncomprehending.
Xiao Se looked at him. "You underestimate people's obsession with longevity. Since they know there is a way to attain longevity, they will inevitably exhaust everything and resort to any means necessary to search for it. Even if it's just an ambiguous piece of information, countless people will flock to it like ducks."
Seeing that Lei Wujie still didn't understand, Xiao Se added, "For instance, if an unfounded rumor spreads through the pugilist world that a peerless martial art is about to emerge beneath East Lake, what would you do if you heard this news?"
"Of course I'd go take a look! What if it's real, and what if I manage to get my hands on it? Wouldn't I hit the jackpot?" After saying this, Lei Wujie froze for a moment, then nodded heavily.
"I get it now."
"Hiss—" Zhang Chulan drew in a sharp breath of cold air.
"Are all the people of the Xianzhou actually granted eternal life?" He patted his little heart and paused for a moment before saying, "Whether it's a planet or a starship, the people it can accommodate are limited, and resources are likewise limited. The Xianzhou people live forever, so their population will only grow and grow. Where do their resources come from? Where does their living space come from?"
"Invasion?" Xu San said.
"Judging from the videos about the Luofu we've watched so far, the Xianzhou doesn't seem like the kind of existence that would go around invading others," Wang Ye said.
Zhuge Qing smiled and said, "The universe is vast; uninhabited planets always exist. Even if they aren't suitable for human survival, as a Xianzhou capable of sailing across the galaxy, they naturally have ways to resolve that. Aren't those uninhabited planets just waiting to be brought under the Xianzhou's banner, becoming places to accommodate their population and provide resources?"
"Old Qing, what you say makes sense." Zhang Chulan gave a thumbs-up.