Chapter Ninety-Six: Return to the Summit

The dark personality vanished with a great mass of corruption, leaving behind not only a vast quantity of pure power, but also strengthening the Dementor’s strength with that same darkness. It was a double harvest in a single stroke.

Within Gu Zhongyan’s sea of mind, the spiritual power accumulated by more than a thousand fallen souls once again caused Hao Hai’s inner ocean to swell.

The trembling silver-white sapling shook its roots violently, blazing with a brilliant radiance as it drew in and condensed the flowing power of the mind.

From that foundation of spirit, formidable magic began to spread outward.

As the resting place of more than a thousand fallen souls, Saint Vangosa Village had, over the course of more than one hundred and fifty years, become an artificial node of magic.

Now, under the stimulus of that power, the scattered magical elements of heaven and earth began to gather rapidly around Gu Zhongyan.

In the cloud-choked ruins of the village, sunlight broke through the darkness for the first time and fell upon the center of the church.

Because of the rain and wind, the light refracted through the water into a spectrum of brilliant colors, descending upon Gu Zhongyan like a rainbow veil.

Outside Saint Vangosa Village, Su Yan stared in astonishment at the sunlight piercing through the clouds, realizing that the weather he had once controlled with ease seemed to have been influenced by some unusual force, slipping partly beyond his grasp, though not entirely beyond it.

He could still command wind and rain at will, yet no matter how fierce the storm or how dense the clouds gathered, that single beam of sunlight was like a silver needle driven through cotton, able to break through the blockade with effortless ease.

And as time passed, that influence only grew stronger.

Centered on the church, rainbow light slowly spread outward, and as though time were flowing backward, the gray-white village of Saint Vangosa returned to the appearance of long ago.

The ruined church became new again, the shattered roof began to mend, and within the village, figures of laughing people gradually appeared.

Children running along the dirt roads, old men chatting beneath the eaves, shy girls blushing by the wall, handsome young fellows grinning foolishly...

How could this be? Was it an illusion?

Su Yan stared wide-eyed at the scene before him, disbelief flooding his face, until a voice sounded beside his ear.

“It is not an illusion. It is their farewell to the past.”

Su Yan came back to himself with a jolt. Turning around, he saw that Gu Zhongyan, who had been standing at the center of the church, had somehow appeared beside him, floating at the same height and gazing calmly at the village below.

For a moment, Su Yan felt that Gu Zhongyan’s tranquil gaze was like that of a deity high above the world, indifferent yet compassionate as it looked down upon mortal life.

Subconsciously following his gaze, Su Yan saw the lively village before him gradually fade, like mist beneath the sun, dissolving bit by bit.

The people, the village alike, were erased as though they were chalk drawings wiped from a blackboard, leaving only an empty stretch of ground, as if the village had never existed at all.

“Brother Gu, what is going on here?”

Though he knew demons existed, and knew too of magic, the spectacle before him still left Su Yan struggling to understand.

Gu Zhongyan thought for a moment, then explained, “The soul is one of the fundamental forces of the universe, and possesses a certain degree of indestructibility.”

“I absorbed the power of more than a thousand souls, but I did not consume their souls themselves. One could even say that the essence of their souls was set free by the dispersal of the evil force.”

“Originally, as devout believers, once their souls were redeemed they should have gone to heaven.”

“However, after learning that they had merely been pawns toyed with between heaven and demons, these redeemed souls chose to depart as human beings.”

“What you just saw was the embodiment of the choice they made at the end.”

“Saint Vangosa Village was a village from more than a hundred years ago to begin with. Its existence until now was entirely due to the evil force here. Now that power has vanished, and those redeemed souls borrowed its strength to bid farewell. Of course it can no longer endure and has disappeared completely.”

Su Yan nodded thoughtfully. “So that’s how it is. I understand now.”

Then, after studying Gu Zhongyan for a while, he said, “Brother Gu, you seem a little different. The Saint Vangosa contract must have greatly increased your magic power.”

“More or less.” Gu Zhongyan smiled, a hint of amusement and a trace of worry flickering in his eyes.

The power of the Saint Vangosa contract was extraordinary, greater even than that of the Beast when combined. Added to that, Saint Vangosa Village itself had become a temporary node of magic, and the two forces compounded one another, directly restoring his magic to its peak.

At present, his magical level was already comparable to the time when he had used forbidden magic to break through the barriers of the world.

Not only that, the strengthening of his spiritual power had taken his body a step further. By his estimate, though he still might not measure up to Thor or Loki, he should not be far behind Sif, the Valkyrie, or the Warriors Three.

Even his lifespan had expanded directly into the realm of millennia.

With such formidable physical prowess and peak magical power, Gu Zhongyan now possessed planetary-level strength, enough to contend with powerful Avengers such as Thor in his normal state, the Hulk, and Doctor Strange.

After traveling for so long, he had finally regained all of his strength. How could he not be pleased?

Yet amid that pleasure, he could not help but feel some concern.

To have raised his power to this level in such a short time depended not only on foreknowledge of the story, but also on the solid foundation he had built across three lifetimes.

But now that his strength had returned to its peak, advancing further would be difficult.

Before this, every increase in his power had come from absorbing external forces, expanding the sea of mind, and thereby increasing his magic.

It had been like an empty water vat: once a source was found, it could keep filling higher and higher.

But now the vat was already full. Even if it were thrown into the ocean, it could still hold only one vat of water.

So from here on, he would have to continually deepen his understanding of magic and refine his mental framework, so that the vat could contain more water.

However, that was no easy task.

Gu Zhongyan now possessed planetary-level strength; the next step beyond that was the level of a celestial father.

There were countless powerhouses in the Marvel universe, and celestial-father-level beings were common enough that they often gave people the impression that such strength was nothing remarkable.

In truth, that perception came from comparing across the entire Marvel universe, and even across the whole timeline.

Under normal circumstances, celestial-father level was already the peak of existence within a universe. If not for the constraints of the plot, one could live freely and comfortably for tens of millions of years without effort.

The gap between celestial-father level and planetary level was essentially the gap between man and god.

Take Thor as an example: normal Thor and Thor the God of Thunder were not even in the same tier of power. The former was planetary-level and could only be crushed by Hela, while the latter counted as a weaker celestial-father-level being and could fight Hela on more equal terms.

Gu Zhongyan was not Thor. He did not have inherited divine power, nor could he rely on outside force. If he wanted to grow stronger, the difficulty would naturally be far greater.

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