After Su Chen obtained the Human Ancestor’s projection technique, he immediately returned to study it more closely.

This projection technique was extremely different from his blood clone technique. The latter was based around splitting off fragments of his personal vitality, and it also relied on absorbing Origin Energy to create the clones.

The Human Ancestor’s projections did not require blood. Instead, all it required was a strand of the user’s will. This was also why it was called a projection technique and not a clone technique.

This was also why the Human Ancestor’s projection was able to cross the Barrier. After all, consciousness power was the only thing that could pass through it.

That didn’t mean that making such projections came at no cost, however. They would similarly need to be nourished by one’s own vitality. That was an unavoidable requirement.

Every time the Human Ancestor created a projection, he needed a host body to project into.

Put simply, the Human Ancestor’s projection technique could also be thought of as a possession technique, but the possession’s success rate depended less on the target’s willingness and more on their age.

The only reason he was able to accomplish something like this was because he was the Human Ancestor.

Each time he made a projection, however, he had to live out the course of an entire life.

This was also the reason why his projection would only appear every so often. He needed time to form each and every one of them.

As the Barrier began to collapse, however, the difficulty of forming these projections greatly decreased. Additionally, the Human Ancestor’s projections no longer needed to be discarded immediately after being used.

His classic appearance of an old beggar had been chosen on purpose. He needed to transmit information to the human race, but he also had to do so without violating the realm’s equilibrium. As such, he had no choice but to work within those limitations.

Unfortunately, this sign eventually became nothing more than a legend. People only knew about what the old beggar did, but not why he did it. Countless legendary figures had been brought to life by his hands, but only a select few had fulfilled his dream of leading the human race to new heights.

Of course, to say that there had been none would be an exaggeration.

The Gu Clan’s Ancestor, Gu Xuanmian, who had extracted the Shining Dragon Bloodline and established the first human dynasty, had received the blessing of the Human Ancestor.

With his power, Gu Xuanmian had developed the bloodline cultivation system that had lasted all the way to the current age. Even though this had resulted in the establishment of the Bloodline Nobility Clans, it was undeniable that the human race’s prosperity had greatly increased as a result.

Unfortunately, the Bloodline Nobility Clans had eventually ended up restricting the human race’s development. In some sense, their existence limited the bloodlineless cultivation path and the path of becoming an immortal.

It wasn’t until Su Chen appeared and shattered the bloodline restrictions that the human race had taken their second huge leap forwards.

Regardless, the Human Ancestor’s actions had been vital to the human race’s development.

But even he was unable to prevent the gods from ultimately returning.

Su Chen knew that he was humanity’s last hope.

After obtaining the projection technique, Su Chen immediately activated the Origin Bone Scepter, attempting to find a way to merge the projection technique with his blood clone technique.

The Human Ancestor’s projection technique was, in some sense, a divine technique, and any prediction that was related to it would require a sacrifice of astronomical value. But after Su Chen had exterminated the Astrals and tamed the wilds, his personal wealth had skyrocketed. At this point, he had hundreds of Demonic Emperor Origin Crystals and literal tons of Desolate Beast blood.

The Origin Bone Scepter was an item that could manipulate Method Power. As long as its conditions were satisfied, it could make a prediction. And after it was fed enough resources, a way to reconcile the two would appear.

Ten days later, Su Chen left the Boundless Palace and flew off towards the darkness in the distance until he arrived at the location that had been pointed out by the Human Ancestor.

At first glance, this location appeared to be completely desolate and uninhabited.

Even so, this was where the largest fracture in the Barrier was located, and where the gods would appear when they returned.

But before all that, Su Chen was going to use this fracture and infiltrate their realm beforehand.

Because he understood spatial Method Power, Su Chen immediately sensed the fracture’s location as soon as he arrived.

With a gentle swipe of his finger, a door appeared out of thin air.

Su Chen stepped inside, only to find that the pocket space behind the door was much larger than the one he had been in before.

The gods had specifically not stationed anyone here at this breach so that the humans would not be alerted. As such, this area had been kept a complete secret, until now. If it hadn’t been for the Human Ancestor, it probably would have taken Su Chen tens of thousands of years to discover it.

Now, however, he could use it for his own purposes.

The space before him distorted as the Human Ancestor appeared once more.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Su Chen nodded.

“Then let me pick a good host for you.”

Su Chen squeezed out a drop of his own blood. This droplet of blood was of no ordinary blood — it was his blood essence.

The Human Ancestor frowned when he saw this. “No physical object can pass through the Barrier — at least, not right now. The fracture is still only large enough for consciousness power to pass through.”

“I know,” Su Chen replied steadily.

The blood essence slowly faded as it seemed to seep into his palm.

“Hm? This is......” the Human Ancestor clucked his tongue in surprise as he remarked, “The Lord of the Dreamrealm’s ability to give illusory objects substance?”

“I wiped out one of his clones and learned some tricks from it,” Su Chen replied.

The blood essence had not fully disappeared. Instead, it had been concealed within his body.

Even so, crossing the Barrier still would not be easy.

Thankfully, Su Chen had the Human Ancestor’s aid.

The Human Ancestor’s projection began to retreat.

A consciousness seed enveloped the illusory blood essence and then the two flew towards the barrier. The closer one got to the Barrier, however, the greater the pressure of the Origin Energy Sea they would have to endure. Even consciousness power would have a hard time keeping itself intact in the midst of the powerful Origin Energy storms that brewed there, not to mention larger, illusory objects.

Even though they seemed to be mere feet away from the breach, that distance felt like an almost insurmountable gap.

The restrictions on Method Power coming from either side prevented any physical objects from crossing over without first passing through an extremely dangerous test. The illusory blood essence advanced very slowly and unsteadily as the violent winds buffeted it constantly. Soon after it entered the turbulent area, half of it had already been eroded away.

At this rate, the droplet of blood essence would completely disintegrate into nothingness before it reached the other side. Even though the consciousness seed would still pass through, if it couldn’t merge with Su Chen’s blood essence, then it would be impossible for it to mature normally like the Human Ancestor’s projection.

Thankfully, the Human Ancestor intervened at that critical moment.

The projection covered Su Chen’s blood essence in a powerful shell of consciousness power, helping it withstand the pressure threatening to rip it apart.

Finally!

Under the protection of the Human Ancestor’s consciousness power, the droplet of illusory blood essence managed to pass through the breach.

“Whew! Finally, we’re through.” Su Chen let out a long sigh of relief.

“The rest will depend on you. I no longer have the strength to aid you for some time,” The vestiges of the Human Ancestor’s will transmitted to Su Chen from the other side as it began to disappear. Obviously, casting this protective shell over the illusory blood essence had taken a significant toll on him.

Su Chen’s main body watched the droplet of blood essence disappear, but he didn’t leave just yet. He remained there, using his spatial Method Power to influence the surroundings and reducing the rate at which the breach widened.

Even though spatial Method Power could not fully stop the Barrier from collapsing, it could at least reduce the rate at which the collapse took place.

This didn’t take place in just this location; the Boundless Sect was also hard at work, stabilizing the other fractures as well. Hopefully, their actions would be able to delay the gods for at least another few years.

For Su Chen’s projection, this timing was still a bit tight. Hopefully, his projection would be able to find a way to further delay their return.

Within the Winter Night Duchy.

Duke Fabino paced back and forth outside the room, until the clear sound of a baby’s wails could be heard.

The midwife responsible for delivering the baby, Miss Justine, carried a newborn infant out of the room. “Congratulations, Duke Fabino. You now have a son.”

“Ah, a son! I, Fabino, finally have a son!” The duke tilted his head back and laughed in relief, wringing his hands as if he wanted to hold his son, but he didn’t quite dare to do so.

“You can hold him, but don’t use too much strength,” Miss Justine said as she tenderly handed the child over.

Fabino gazed at his own son as he softly murmured, “Look, he has a pair of black eyes.”

“And black hair,” Miss Justin said, “Look, he’s already opened his eyes and is looking at you.”

The infant had opened his eyes, and was now gazing at his surroundings curiously.

His eyes darted around in a lively manner.

“What will you name him?” Miss Justine asked.

“Look how sharp his gaze is. This child will definitely be intelligent. I can sense it! The entire Fabino Duchy will be changed because of him! I will call him Frost. Frost Fabino!” Fabino replied decisively.

And like that, Frost’s name was decided.

No one noticed how Frost frowned slightly upon hearing this name.

Even if they had noticed, they probably would have just assumed that it was an insignificant twitch of his muscles.

Only the little Frost knew that this frown was actually one of displeasure. And he was displeased because his consciousness bewitching technique had actually failed.

He had tried to use his consciousness power to influence his father into naming him Su Chen. This would have saved him from having to respond to two different names.

But the amount of consciousness power that he possessed was not enough to do this.

Su Chen’s projection, also known as Frost Fabino, quickly discovered that this was because, although he appeared similar to a human, his actual bodily makeup was very different from that of a human.

The biggest difference was that the consciousness power of the creatures in this world existed in a solid state.

This made it very difficult for their consciousnesses to be affected by the outside world, and vice versa.

Perhaps this was the reason why they could provide little to no divine power to the gods — their basic substance was restricted and they were unable to release much more, making it very difficult for the gods to utilize their faith. The result was that their population was only enough to sustain the few gods still living in the Kun territory.

The Dusk of the Gods was a historical event that had taken place a long time ago. For unknown reasons, the ancient gods had fought with each other afterwards. Many gods had been killed during this conflict.

It was obvious to Su Chen that this battle had been sparked by the gods’ self-preservation instincts.

The dead gods’ lives had been used to sustain this world, bringing forth new lifeforms and new worshippers. This was what had allowed the surviving gods to barely survive until this day and age.

After that battle, the gods had reached an agreement to not fight amongst themselves anymore. Instead, they would focus all of their efforts on wearing down the Barrier and attempting to escape.

To achieve this goal, the gods needed to band together. If they ever fought against one another again, then they would undoubtedly suffer mutual destruction!

That was the birth of the Eternal Treaty.