Chapter 87
"Because of my impatience—because I could not wait thousands of years just to rise again as a perfect new being—I chose to separate my soul and body right then and there, while the explosion was still ongoing, while the universe was still screaming in agony from losing its protector, while the gods and goddesses I loved were still drenched in blood and tears at the feet of humanity's victory-hungry soldiers," The Silent One continued, his voice no longer heavy or deep, but cracked, trembling like a harp string snapping in the midst of the most beautiful melody.
"My soul—I placed it within The Silent One, within the man you know as the terrifying specter, within the being you have considered your brother for thousands of years. And my body—my physical nature, the very essence of my existence as the God of the Vast Cosmos—I released it, letting it drift between the cracks of reality, waiting patiently like a hunter who knows that, in the end, all prey will come to him—no need to chase, no need to lure, only to wait."
The Silent One shifted his gaze toward The Singer and Ling Xu—two women standing before him with different expressions yet equally frozen, equally speechless, equally struggling to comprehend information too heavy for an ordinary mind to bear.
Information that suggested one of them might carry the body of the God of the Vast Cosmos without ever realizing it, that for years—no, for thousands of years—as they walked through blood, fire, and tears, something had been sleeping within them, something older than the universe, something stronger than anything they had ever imagined, something waiting to awaken, waiting to take over, waiting to complete what the soul now residing within The Silent One's body had begun.
"And my body, The Singer—the body of the God of the Vast Cosmos that was once the pride of the gods and goddesses, once the terror of humanity that dared to resist, once the symbol of unmatched power—has, it seems, settled within one of you. Within one of the girls now standing before me in this artificial hell, amidst the black flames that are beginning to fade, the shattered bone walls, and the never-ending screams," The Silent One said, his voice suddenly softer, more cautious, like someone about to open an ancient coffin untouched for thousands of years, wary of what might lie within.
Ling Xu, who moments ago had been trembling with uncontrollable rage, her third eye blazing brighter as the Cancer plague within her stirred restlessly, heard The Silent One's claim that the body of the God of the Vast Cosmos resided within one of the two women before him—and for a moment, the flames of anger in her chest subsided, replaced by something colder, calmer, more analytical, like a detective uncovering the most crucial clue in a long-unsolved case.
"Is it me?" Ling Xu asked, her voice no longer broken from shouting, no longer cold from threats, but flat, empty, like the surface of a lake undisturbed for far too long.
And her eyes—or rather, her third eye glowing with grayish-green light—stared directly at the Silent One, at the soul of the God of the Vast Cosmos residing within the body of a thirty-six-year-old man, at the enemy who had taken her mother, her childhood, her belief that the world was not entirely cruel.
"Is the body you once had—the physical nature of the God of the Vast Cosmos, the pride of the gods and goddesses, the symbol of unmatched power—now dwelling within me? All this time, as I walked through blood, fire, and tears, as I died eleven times and rose eleven times, as I devoured entire divine civilizations and turned them into flesh within my stomach, has something been sleeping inside me? Something older than the universe, something waiting to awaken, something that—"
"No," The Silent One cut her off, and for the first time that night, his voice trembled.
Not out of fear—for the soul of the God of the Vast Cosmos knew no fear—but out of genuine astonishment, a shock born from the realization that even he, even the entity once revered as the protector of the gods and goddesses, even a being who had existed since before time itself was named, could not conceal his surprise upon discovering that his physical nature—his long-planned vessel—had chosen a host he had never anticipated.
"Not you, Ling Xu. Not the vessel of the Cancer plague that devoured entire divine civilizations. Not the girl with the white bandages on her head and the third eye glowing with grayish-green light. But her—"
He turned his gaze toward the Singer, the red-haired woman who still stood frozen with the green flute in her grasp, her eyes wet with endless tears, her body trembling as she processed the truth—that she, a nineteen-year-old girl known for thousands of years only as The Singer, the third among the three Wheels of Cultivation, the one who once laughed freely in the bamboo pavilion at the edge of the universe and embraced Huan Zheng every night even though he never embraced her in return—was the host of the God of the Vast Cosmos's body.
She was the lost physical nature.
She was the key to the resurrection of the most powerful being to have ever existed in the boundless universe.
"The Singer," The Silent One whispered, his voice no longer heavy nor deep, but soft—so very soft—like a lover calling the name of their beloved in the quiet of night, like a father stroking the hair of a sleeping child, like someone who had searched for thousands of years and finally found what he had been seeking, here in this artificial hell, amidst fading black flames, shattered bone walls, and endless screams.
"You, The Singer. You are my lost body. You are the physical nature of the God of the Vast Cosmos that has long hidden behind your beautiful face and your matured body of only nineteen years. You are the one who will complete my soul—my hungry soul, my weary soul, a soul that cannot die, because death is the one thing it can never attain, no matter how hard it tries, no matter how much blood it spills, no matter how many civilizations it destroys."
To be continued…