Richest Man: "You're all being a little too blunt."
Richest Man: "@Dutiful Sons and Loving Fathers Old Man, unlike them, I only want to be friends with you."
Richest Man: "When the chat group's world-travel function unlocks, I'll come to your world and help resurrect you."
Richest Man: "Of course, you know me—I'm a businessman. So I'll need a bit of collateral. Not much, just a few Talismans will do."
Dutiful Sons and Loving Fathers Old Man: "…"
Dutiful Sons and Loving Fathers Old Man: "You might as well just say it outright."
In the end, wasn't this all just about getting his Talismans?
Dutiful Sons and Loving Fathers Old Man: "@Ordinary Group Leader, send me my future. Once I break free of my seal, aside from the Rat, Tiger, and Dragon Talismans, the rest you can choose from at will."
For the sake of resurrection, Shendu gritted his teeth and offered a heavy price.
But still—
Ordinary Group Leader: "Do you take me for a fool?"
Ordinary Group Leader: "Just because I'm young, you think I'm easy to trick?"
Ordinary Group Leader: "You promised Valmont his treasure and never delivered."
Ordinary Group Leader: "You promised to revive the other demons and never followed through."
Ordinary Group Leader: "And you think I'd believe you now? Not a chance."
Shendu had no rebuttal. While the matter of withholding Valmont's treasure hadn't yet happened, he certainly hadn't intended to give it.
As for the Talismans, yes, he was planning to first gauge the strength of the other group members before deciding whether to actually hand them over.
Lazy Sister Umaru: "Wait a minute. Shendu is a Fire Demon, right? He's still a demon. For demons, betrayal is perfectly normal, isn't it?"
Uchiha Dance King: "That's true."
Boil Daigu Into Soup: "Girl, you've hit the nail on the head."
Richest Man: "Hard to deny, really."
Most Evil Elf: "An angle I hadn't considered."
Ordinary Group Leader: "…"
Ordinary Group Leader: "So yeah… better we wait until the world-travel function unlocks. Once we're in your world, we'll take what we want first and only then resurrect you."
Ordinary Group Leader: "We're not like you—we don't go back on our word."
Ordinary Group Leader: "But once you're revived, if you want to claim territory, you'll have to go elsewhere. You can't touch Huaxia."
For Roxie Vale, Huaxia was always Huaxia, no matter the world. Shendu could set himself up as king elsewhere if he wished, but he could never massacre Huaxia's people.
That was something she would never tolerate.
Dutiful Sons and Loving Fathers Old Man: "…"
Dutiful Sons and Loving Fathers Old Man: "Fine. I understand."
The situation left him no choice but to yield. He would bide his time for now, and once he was revived, reconsider his options.
For the moment, it was best to explore the memory archives. According to the information, they contained glimpses of the other group members' futures—through them, he could also gauge their strength.
The world-travel function was not yet active. By the chat group's rules, a new function would likely unlock only when the member count reached fifteen.
At present, excluding the leader, there were thirteen members. Two more were needed.
Since the number and timing of new members joining was random, no one knew when they would hit that threshold. Still, it shouldn't take too long.
Brandon White was, of course, interested in traveling to other members' worlds. But he wasn't in any particular rush.
He had other matters to attend to.
Ever since his change in mindset, his understanding of nature had deepened, and with it, his mastery of the Authority of Nature.
The ability to communicate with all things, awakened originally from his desire to speak with Pikachu, had undergone a strange transformation.
In Brandon's original understanding, "communication with all things" meant only communication with living beings in the natural world—animals, plants, and the like. In essence, it was a highly advanced form of translation.
But he soon discovered that this ability wasn't limited to living beings. It could also extend to a far greater, more exalted existence—the Earth itself.
Yes, the Earth possessed thought.
Not thought in the sense of science, psychology, or neuroscience.
But something mystical.
When the chat group used "spiritual energy revival" as a filter to recruit its members, who exactly was it communing with?
The world's consciousness.
More precisely—the consciousness of Earth.
It could also be called Heaven's Will, the Mandate of Heaven, or the collective will of civilization.
This will, this mind, was not something science could define. Instead, it belonged more to myth, legend, scripture—Buddhist sutras, Daoist texts, works beyond the scope of present-day science.
Together, these formed what could only be called the Mystical.
If the Earth had thought, then of course its consciousness could be communicated with.
And if that was true, then why stop at Earth? Even the universe itself should have thought.
Brandon had not yet tried, and for now, he couldn't. Communicating with the universe's consciousness was beyond him.
Even the Earth's consciousness was asleep most of the time. Aside from a single exchange early on, it had remained dormant.
That one conversation had only touched on matters concerning the Authority of Nature.
But Earth's consciousness had not explained anything in detail. It had only left Brandon with a vague impression: You will understand in the future.
After that, it said no more, leaving Brandon helpless.
Even so, that experience had revealed just how powerful his ability to communicate with all things truly was.
If the Earth's consciousness could be reached, then what about other entities?
For example—national fortune?
According to mysticism, each nation had its own "national destiny," a kind of consciousness.
And yes—it could be communicated with.
Not like a human, with free-flowing dialogue, and not answering every question. But it was still possible.
Huaxia's national destiny manifested like a totem dragon.
Because Brandon himself was part of Huaxia, he felt a deep affinity when connecting with it.
Through that national fortune, he could perceive everything within Huaxia's borders.
The locations of mineral deposits, hidden treasures… the places where unique heavenly materials and earthly treasures lay… even the birth of prodigious ability-users or mutated beings.
All of it, he could sense.
And beneath Huaxia, he had discovered a strange, indescribable, mysterious space.
There, Brandon had seen countless orbs of pure light, free from any impurity, forming a radiant ocean.
Intuitively, he understood: each of those light spheres represented a person who had once lived in Huaxia.
But this "ocean" was not the underworld, nor was it a cycle of reincarnation.
Reincarnation might exist—but this was not it.
These spheres contained only memory, not souls.
If Brandon wished, as the wielder of the Authority of Nature, he could extract someone's memories and implant them into a vessel capable of holding them, transforming them into something like a soul.
(End of Chapter)
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