Chapter 23 Tarot Club Opening
"Ha... indeed it is so."
The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings watched Ning Lu slide his hand a few times over the gray mist, grafting the scene of the Tarot Club before his eyes, and the starlight‑forged pupils flickered with a dim, indistinct light:
"From your brief words I seem to glimpse my own future. Yet the future you describe is hard for me to believe."
"Do you mean the 'Old‑Age‑Level Clown'?" Ning Lu said abruptly.
"I can't believe it either—being a destiny beacon, none of the arrangements succeed, yet a God without the authority of fate still fulfills part of his own purpose. Is your 'destiny beacon' really useful?"
"... Fate remains wondrous even for beings of our tier," the Celestial Worthy said, his tone unchanged.
"But I don't endorse that statement. If I were the Original Creator, fate would be merely a toy in my hand—would that sentence still exist?"
At that moment a faint smile appeared on the Celestial Worthy's face; he extended his palm toward Ning Lu and spoke:
"Do you have a purpose you wish to fulfill? Together our essences could span the pillars, and each of us holds a universe—there is no fundamental conflict of interest between us... we could cooperate, couldn't we?"
"Your words are charming, but my favorite thing is to tell people like you 'No.'" Ning Lu refused the invitation without hesitation, turning his gaze back to the steadily progressing Tarot Club.
In any case, Ning Lu would never voluntarily cooperate with the Celestial Worthy. One can look at every deity or organization that has teamed up with him and see that none escaped his back‑stabbing and received a good ending.
For example… the karmic 'April Fools Day.'
Although rejected, the Celestial Worthy showed no embarrassment. He simply, naturally and without a trace, withdrew his right hand, and together with Ning Lu shifted his focus to the Tarot Club below.
At that moment, Klein's voice echoed from within the Tarot Club:
"Congratulations, Miss Justice, you have become a Beyonder."
At this point, Miss Justice Audrey officially became a Beyonder, and the Hanged Man Alger was promoted to sequence 7—so it seems I originally misremembered Alger's Sequence… Ning Lu thought this silently in his heart, without voicing it.
No one in the Tarot Club noticed the two figures watching over them, and the proceedings continued methodically, now arriving at the "Inquire Roselle Diary" step:
"... Very good."
Master Zhou's heart lit up with a pleased smile upon hearing there were three pages of diary, and he deliberately kept his caution in front of the Spectator.
"Roselle Gustav." As Klein read Roselle's diary, the Celestial Worthy suddenly interjected:
"His real name is Huang Tao, a sales‑industry worker, unmarried, graduated from an obscure second‑tier university."
Ning Lu glanced at the Celestial Worthy but did not interrupt his explanation:
"I chose him because he is born with Pride and cruelty… Ha, the more kindness his family gives him, the more cruelty he shows to enemies. From my vague perception, if the 'Steam Son' is a Beyonder characteristic granted to him, then the emperor's ruthless cold‑blood is his innate talent."
The Celestial Worthy shook his head, a hint of regret in his tone:
"Ha, a proud emperor who treats the whole world as a game—if he chose any of the three Pathways I possess, I would have resurrected a step ahead of God himself."
Hearing the Celestial Worthy's slightly sarcastic appraisal, Ning Lu replied:
"I will not evaluate Huang Tao too extremely."
"From his early misdeeds, I don't like this emperor much; for his nation, actively promoting colonization is terribly ironic, and his ending is dramatically fitting."
"But I also won't despise him excessively, because most other deities are similar. To this world, 'God loves mankind' is just a laughable lie (Note 1). Compared with other deities, Huang Tao is already rather anthropomorphic."
The Celestial Worthy merely shrugged his shoulders lightly:
"You're right, my dear compatriot. After all, our creator is insane and twisted; how can you expect to inherit any mercy from a creator's fragmented existence?"
"However..."
The Celestial Worthy squinted his eyes and began to tempt again:
"Your world appears orderly, and your humanity is well‑kept. Fellow, if you find this intolerable, perhaps consider cooperating with me. With my authority I can guarantee that once we transcend our original essences, you can make our whole world orderly, and I don't mind being the most merciful deity—instincts can change. Want to try?"
This time Ning Lu completely ignored the Celestial Worthy's temptation, silently turning his head, his gaze fixed on the deliberately enlarged pages.
I must say… the name 'Huang Tao' looks terribly ugly.
The three diary pages recount Huang Tao's voyages and his mastery of the Savant and the Acting Method. Klein also began answering Audrey's questions about the Acting Method, mentioning the reward for information about the Antigonus Family.
Alger then started speaking about the antigonus family notebook:
"The Antigonus Family is an ancient lineage with a very long history; tracing it down leads back to the 'Cataclysm Era' before the Fourth Epoch, linked to the second 'blasphemy slate.'"
"Cataclysm Era..." Ning Lu recalled the histories he knew upon hearing the term:
After the Original Creator awoke, there was the chaotic First Era, the Chaos Era; thereafter came the Dark Era, when the Sun symbolized by the Primordial God was lost, and the barrier prevented the light of the Superstar Sovereign from reaching the surface.
Then the Ancient Sun God ended the Darkness but eventually fell, ushering the era when the gods emerged—the Cataclysm Era.
Later, in the Age of Gods, deities walked the earth, causing disaster after disaster; the Fifth Era, the Black Iron Age, saw deities recede, and the Beyonders released from Sefirah Castle began to walk the world again.
When Alger mentioned the 'blasphemy slate,' Ning Lu heard the Celestial Worthy let out a long "tch" sound.
"What's wrong?" Ning Lu asked the revered one casually.
"I get annoyed when I hear anything related to God," the Celestial Worthy said expressionlessly, "If possible, step on the blasphemy slate for me."
After speaking, the Celestial Worthy added:
"It's the first one; I find the Second God rather pleasant, hope he wins the resurrection tournament soon."