Chapter 1830
by 林方方Chapter 1830 Exchange
As An Qingyu’s words fell, the remaining blood of the twelve divine beasts on the surface of the Gate of Truth immediately seeped into the inner side of the gate, disappearing without a trace.
The next moment, countless tentacles flowing with starlight extended from the cracks of the Gate of Truth.
These tentacles were composed of unknown material, like a condensed form of the boundless universe, magnificent and vast. They passed through the dense fog in the sky, slowly reaching toward An Qingyu who stood below the gate.
An Qingyu stood silently in place, showing no intention to dodge, allowing these starlight tentacles to envelop him.
These tentacles surrounded him, endless whispers filling heaven and earth. One of the smallest starlight tentacles slowly swept down from the top of An Qingyu’s head…
It first paused briefly at An Qingyu’s brow, then moved to his gray eyes. The sharp end of the tentacle pressed against the surface of his eyeball—just a bit more pressure and it could forcibly dig out those eyes.
The gray eyes clearly reflected the shadow of the tentacle, showing not the slightest trace of fear. An Qingyu remained motionless like a stone statue.
But after hesitating for a moment, the tentacle did not dig out his eyes, instead continuing downward…
Ears, nose, mouth, throat.
Whether it felt the price was insufficient or for some other reason, the tentacle circled An Qingyu’s body once, then returned to his brow.
As the tentacle’s tip lightly touched his brow, an ethereal soul was drawn out.
The moment the soul appeared, several other tentacles immediately coiled around it. An Qingyu’s body violently shuddered, his face turning extremely pale.
“So the price is ’emotion’…”
An Qingyu’s face finally showed emotional fluctuation, his brows tightly knitted as if hesitating.
But in the end, he made his decision.
“Fine, it’s a deal.”
As his words fell, the tentacles coiled around his soul began to suck forcefully, as if extracting something from the soul, flowing along the tentacles into the towering gate.
An Qingyu’s face showed signs of pain.
Seeing this, Lin Qiye’s expression changed slightly as he said in a deep voice:
“The Gate of Truth isn’t originally from this world. Are you sure the price it demands is reasonable?”
“Nothing approaches absolute fairness more than the Gate of Truth,” Fish Two answered.
“But even if sacrificing emotions can bring back Jiang Er… by then, you won’t be able to feel love. Have you considered what would happen if she really comes back to life and sees you in this state?”
Fish Two and Fish Four both fell silent. After an unknown period, Fish Four slowly said:
“That’s not something you need to worry about.”
Lin Qiye frowned, about to say something more when a muffled groan came from midair.
The starlight tentacles wrapped around the soul had mostly dispersed, and the translucent soul fell back weakly into An Qingyu’s body. His eyes opened, revealing unprecedented emptiness and exhaustion.
An Qingyu looked down at his hands, his pale face full of unfamiliarity, as if seeing his own body for the first time.
“Losing emotions… so this is how it feels,” An Qingyu murmured.
He looked up at the Gate of Truth. At this moment, those starlight tentacles that had devoured An Qingyu’s emotions still hadn’t left, but continued to linger around him.
They seemed to be examining An Qingyu, looking to see what other valuable things he possessed.
An Qingyu’s frown deepened.
“Taking my emotions isn’t enough? What else do you want?”
One of the tentacles rose, pointing in sequence to An Qingyu’s eyes, ears, nose, mouth…
An Qingyu’s eyes narrowed. Only now did he understand the true intention of these tentacles when they first crawled over his face.
From the beginning, they weren’t thinking about which part to take as payment, but weighing whether all these things together would be enough to pay the price.
In their view, to resurrect Jiang Er, who had dispersed into a magnetic field four years ago, paying with just “emotions” was far from enough.
An Qingyu stared at the starlight tentacles before him, his fists clenched, then slowly relaxed.
Now that he had lost all emotions, he didn’t know if he would feel angry at these tentacles if he still had feelings!
This time, he remained silent for a full tens of seconds.
Finally, he closed his eyes again.
“Take whatever else you want, just remember to leave me my life… I still have some unfinished business.”
With An Qingyu’s permission, the starlight tentacles immediately became active again, swarming toward his body!
Just as they were about to touch An Qingyu, a crisp sword sound rang out!
Clang——!!
A blade light penetrated the void, precisely cutting off the ends of the foremost tentacles!
Mysterious starlight flowed from the wounds of the tentacles. After this strike, all tentacles simultaneously turned, locking onto the deep red figure at the edge of Lake Er.
Lin Qiye, holding [Zhan Bai], stared fixedly at the tentacles in midair, his eyes full of anger.
Fish Two and Fish Four seemed not to have expected Lin Qiye to suddenly attack. They reacted now, lightning flashing around them as they charged together toward the sword-wielding Lin Qiye!
Lin Qiye had no intention of entangling with them. A faint light flashed across [Zhan Bai]’s blade, which immediately dissolved into mysterious purple light, absorbing into his body.
[Hand of Royal Authority]!
Before the two artificial gods could touch Lin Qiye, he directly pierced through space, disappearing from his spot.
When he reappeared, he was already above An Qingyu, with the magnificent Gate of Truth standing before him. Countless starlight tentacles angrily gathered together, seemingly wanting to teach this interferer a lesson.
An Qingyu looked up at him and spoke flatly:
“Why did you interrupt me?”
“How are you any different now from a fish on a cutting board waiting to be slaughtered?” Lin Qiye said in a deep voice. “It took your emotions first to deprive you of your ability to feel anger. Only this way could it smoothly consume everything else step by step…”
“You don’t understand,” An Qingyu shook his head. “The Gate of Truth is an absolutely fair and neutral existence. The price it demands is always equivalent to the exchange target.”
“But did it tell you where the upper limit of this price is?”
“…What do you mean?”
“It only told you the price wasn’t enough after taking your emotions, didn’t it?” Lin Qiye asked. “If you now give it everything except your life, and then it tells you the price is still not enough… what will you do?”
“By then, you will have lost everything. Will you offer your remaining life as the price? And what if that’s still not enough? You’ll be dead, but the exchange won’t be completed. Guess who benefits in the end?”
“Even if the price it demands is absolutely fair, how is its method of extracting payment any different from a scam?”
…