Where to?

"What?" Yu Shu stared blankly upward at the beaming face, unable to believe his ears. "I—I can—but I..." "You did nothing wrong. You fought and held on until the very last moment, gave it your all, and didn't let anyone down." Ji Jue patted his shoulder and laughed. "It's precisely because you gritted your teeth and held out to the end that we achieved such a perfect result, isn't it? Our plan has already succeeded." Dazed, Yu Shu couldn't find any words. Then he heard the voice beside him ring out like a command: "Stand up, Yu Shu—as rebels, are we supposed to watch the finale on our knees?" Before his mind could register the words, his body pushed itself upright of its own accord. Stiffly, he lifted his head. He gazed at the imminent destruction descending from above, barely able to breathe. Meanwhile, Ji Jue strode forward, looking up at the radiance blanketing the sky as cracks spread across it. The sprawling camp was like a bubble cupped in palms, gripped tightly by hand after hand, shrinking cruelly, crushed bit by bit. One magnificent, towering figure after another emerged from the heavens, looking down in cold detachment. They glared at Ji Jue's face. At that, Ji Jue smiled and waved. "Hello there." "Insolent!" Saint Chengwei raged, thunderbolts bursting from his eyes. He raised the colossal iron hammer in his hands and brought it crashing down like a plummeting celestial body, stirring massive shockwaves. Boom! Countless fissures spread. The camp was collapsing, rapidly dissipating from the edges inward. Yet Ji Jue continued watching them through the bubble-like final barrier, his smile mocking. "Something's wrong..." In Tiancheng, the Pope looking down upon all this couldn't help clenching his fists. He felt an unprecedented tension and unease. Something wasn't right. Where was it wrong...? The projected image zoomed in, again and again, until the smiling face gazing up from the earth was virtually within arm's reach, every minute shift discernible. Mockery, contempt, and detachment—yet completely devoid of confusion or fear. It was as though he had long anticipated it, long prepared for it! As though he had been longing for this very moment to arrive. A mole in the camp? Ji Jue naturally knew—he knew all too well! From the very first day someone stepped into the camp, whether they were a spy was clear as day to him. After all, if someone didn't offer him a shred of faith, instead shoving hatred and terror at him in spades every time they looked at him, how could he fail to notice? In fact, beyond that single mole, he saw through every ill-intentioned person clearly. Every move of every mole in the camp was under Ji Jue's watchful eye. Unfortunately, moles were a bit scarce. There weren't even enough for a full round of living experiments, so Ji Jue had let just one slip away to observe the specific results. Exposure was entirely within expectations. No, rather, exposure had been the very goal. Without such an insane toxin as bait, on the crucial verge of Holy Advent Day, how else could Ji Jue have coaxed Tiancheng to mobilize in full force? To a degree, the plan to destroy the camp had been drafted by Ji Jue himself! By now, a mere camp could no longer satisfy Ji Jue's needs and goals. Under the Order's manhunts and Tiancheng's interference, nothing could be accomplished here. Huddled in such a tiny crevice, scurrying like rats, hiding day in and day out—it could never amount to anything. Better to recycle the scrap and wring out its last bit of residual heat. "Speaking of which, you all might not know—" Amidst the world-shaking roar, Ji Jue's voice rang out from within the constantly cracking and collapsing camp: "Truth be told, there were actually two varieties of the 'spiritus culture' I made. "To be precise, two entirely different effects. The first, as you have all witnessed, targets believers and civilians. Geared primarily for maximum reproduction, expansion, and infection efficiency, to ordinary people without any spiritus protection, it is purely a terminal affliction. "However, even if you left it alone, nothing much would come of it. "Because from the start, a restriction was put in place. "Well, aside from that test subject given an overdose of the original strain who mutated into the third stage, once it expands to a certain scale, the fully matured culture halts and enters an 【Incubation Period】. "In other words, when the time comes, every carrier becomes an asymptomatic infected individual—without even the slightest abnormality." Ji Jue paused, his smile turning all the merrier amidst the earth-quaking roar: "So, take a guess, ladies and gentlemen—when did I intend to unleash the spiritus virus upon your Divine Kingdom's paradise? "Holy Advent Day? "Right now? "Or perhaps... long before you ever realized any of this?!" At that instant, the Pope froze where he stood, a chill gripping his whole body. He raised his hands and frantically searched, finally finding the report submitted by the Celestial Eye Hall along with the annotated map. The exits of every Rabbit Hole covered virtually all four parishes—East, West, South, and North. The date: one week ago! The dissemination of poison had begun long before this! While they had been leisurely weaving their trap, waiting for the heretics to walk into the snare and be caught in one sweep, the virus had already spread in absolute silence, cloaking the entire domain. With every breath, touch, and movement of supplies, it propagated through the Divine Kingdom until it enveloped everything. Right this moment, countless carriers lived innocently and ignorantly across the Divine Kingdom, moving at the Order's command, ultimately carrying the virus within them to every corner. They were already enmeshed within the virus! But... "And now, you can guess once more." In that moment, he suddenly heard Ji Jue's voice, ringing out with utter clarity. Because all other noise had abruptly vanished. "What is the trigger that actually ends the spiritus strain's incubation period, bringing it to full maturity and unveiling its complete form?" What... was it? The Pope's consciousness stalled for a fraction of a second. His throat felt itchy. He gave an instinctive cough, only to find he couldn't stop. The soft cough rapidly escalated into a heart-wrenching screech. With every cough, emerald blood gushed rapidly from his nose and mouth, accompanied by countless minute tissues resembling insect eggs. As they fell into the blood, the eggs hatched and extended, tiny spiritus worms squirming with relish in the gore. Not just him—throughout Tiancheng, fierce coughing and howls erupted in rolling waves without end. Angels on the move vomited violently, collapsing to their knees in spasms, writhing and wailing as spiritus worms slowly reached out of their mouths and noses. Not just Tiancheng—throughout the vast paradise of the Divine Kingdom, across the entire Huangliang Dream, all the angels lost control at this very moment. The final lock had been undone by Ji Jue. There was no longer any divine power to shelter them, for divine power had already been utterly devoured by the spiritus strain. More accurately, the instant they came into contact with divine power, all the strains in their incubation period underwent a violent transformation and awakened! When strains as tiny as insect eggs sprouted in their organs, brain, flesh, and bones, self and consciousness squirmed as they spread outward from the soul—blood fell like rain. Angels plummeted in dark swarms like flies. Outside the deathly silent camp, wails blotted out the sun. The countless angels that had once blotted out the sky now dropped from the air one after another. Dark-green blood sprayed ceaselessly from their mouths and noses, and like insects raining down from the heavens, they splattered into mush upon impact. Those angels not yet fully infected tried in panic to gain altitude, only to see hatched worms landing on them one after another, burrowing into flesh, plunging straight into their core—swiftly, amidst hoarse shrieks, they plummeted toward the earth. As if dropping straight into Ji Jue's outstretched palm. The moment his five fingers closed, countless rays of dim light rose from the wreckage, converging toward Ji Jue. In an instant, the power of tens of thousands of angels was devoured clean by the culture. Those transformed essences of self-nature gathered once more into Ji Jue's hands, swirling violently until iron-colored light manifested. Ultimately, it formed an eerie silver crown that rested upon Ji Jue's head. And the savage, frenzied spiritus mycelium transformed into countless phantasmal lights enveloping him, like ferocious mist slowly congealing into solid form, dyeing his robes bone-white. "How does it feel, everyone?" Ji Jue asked curiously: "This gift from the Enemy of God and the Devil—" No one answered; thus, by default, five stars. Right then, within his hand, wisps of dim light gathered from countless strains drifted continuously, utterly tame. Hard to imagine the terrifying power harbored beneath that dazzling exterior. Combining the spiritus refinement learned from Ye Xian, referencing certain techniques of Chunjun, incorporating aspects of corruption refinement, and finally uniting them with Tale Alchemy, he had created these countless minute spirits... Then, utilizing Fluid Alchemy to continually purify and transmute them, within the accelerated Chicken-Leg Hut, hundreds of cycles had iterated in just a few short days. Ultimately, from within this Huangliang Dream, the Worm was reborn! At this point, calling it a worm was perhaps no longer appropriate. Even if parts of the basic structure had been adopted, rigid imitation was never Ji Jue's style; tailoring to the circumstance was the true hallmark of an artisan's mastery. Having completely mastered and grasped the Worm's essence, he had achieved a thorough breakthrough! No longer eroding the world or transforming all matter, stripped of the Nether Sea's immortality and grandiosity, it instead fragmented into innumerable parts, fusing with all things, turning every soul into a nursery for its incubation and expansion. After undergoing pupation, the Worm of old had arrived at the final stage of complete metamorphosis: The adult form. Or perhaps it could be called— —the 【Lord of the Flies】! In a sense, Ji Jue had Wen Sheng to thank. If not for the Holy God, if not for this Huangliang Dream, how could he have dared so casually attempt research that in the real world would bring combined extermination from all factions and leave him without a grave? This seemingly fabricated phantom dream was, for an artisan, nothing short of paradise! An experimental ground that would never break no matter how roughly treated; test subjects that would never die no matter how brutally tortured; and countless unforgivable enemies no matter how viciously attacked—this was quite literally heaven! Now, as Ji Jue spread his hands once more, boundless dark phantasmal light rose from the paradise, converging toward him and pouring unceasingly into his hands. Devoured entirely! The Crown of the Lord of the Flies blazed with fierce light as the devil's wild laughter echoed between heaven and earth. A furious roar rang out from beyond the heavens. The iron hammer crashed down again—Saint Chengwei rallied, enveloped in scorching flames, incinerating himself entirely in an instant and reforming anew. Wild flames spread, landing upon angel after angel, destroying and reconstructing them, killing and resurrecting them, casting off the pathogen's clinging grasp in this brutal manner. The heavens shattered. The Prism broke, a terrifying breach appearing under the hammer's blows, and a sea of angels bearing unquenchable fire poured into the camp like a deluge. But Ji Jue had already turned and walked away, disappearing into the heart of the camp. Amidst the camp's violent collapse and crumbling, buildings tumbled and slabs of earth peeled away, swallowed by the darkness of the void. Only then did the behemoth hidden at its core finally reveal itself before everyone's eyes. That was— A train? Indeed, beneath the collapsing structures, a magnificent mechanism slowly roared to life. Under the howling steam whistle, crimson thermal vapor surged and spread, outlining a ferocious silhouette in the dark. A chassis forged as if of gold gleamed brilliantly. Mounted at the very front of the train, before the engine room, hung a lifelike, wailing face, endlessly shouting, roaring, sobbing, and weeping tears of blood. "O God, save me—save me—I have, I have fallen into Hell—" Instinctively chanting hymns, calling out, screaming—yet it left everyone frozen in their tracks. That face... "Y-Yidela!!!" Saint Chengwei froze, finally recognizing the partner with whom he had shared the greatest rapport in days past, the Saint who had been slain. Yet that was no longer his friend. It was a Spirit of Creation refined after having his soul, self, memories, and all power extracted! Witnessing the former Saint reduced to such a tragic state, countless angels chanting hymns stood frozen in disbelief. Wasn't it said... wasn't it said the Saint had returned to the side of God? Why was he here?! Why had he become like this?! "It's a fake!" Saint Chengwei gritted his teeth, squeezing out words as though spitting blood: "Vile heretic! How dare you desecrate the Holy Spirit! Show no mercy—burn every trace of this blasphemy to ashes!" In his roar, the giant hammer smashed down once more. In midair, it expanded, expanded, expanded, until finally dwarfing the camp itself, boundless darkness bearing down like the sky collapsing! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Under the giant hammer, the camp disintegrated, yet the colossal train remained completely unscathed—scarlet arcs of thunder rose one after another, coiling around the train to hold back the imminent destruction. That was the Power of Divine Retribution bestowed upon Yidela! Just as Saint Chengwei's eyes bulged with rage, the whistle sounded again, and the stationary golden train moved slowly forward into the void. Faster and faster. An eerie, blazing light erupted from the locomotive, blasting forward from the mouth and nose of Yidela's face! In the end, it pierced through the seams of this dream, bursting forth! There was simply no stopping it... If the Rabbit Hole was quietly digging burrows behind everyone's backs, then at this moment, this train was an outright tunnel boring machine! Consuming the divine power Ji Jue had plundered, it rumbled forward. Just like that, it made off right before their eyes?! No matter how fiercely Chengwei attacked, he couldn't breach that barrier of thunder. Once the train started moving, its hull acted as the dream's boundary wall, sheltering those within—not to mention the interference of Yidela's thunder of divine retribution. In such haste, how could it be broken? Compared to this, the Crown of the Lord of the Flies was merely a byproduct of the bait plan. Exhausting all the camp's accumulated wealth—through the joint efforts of Ji Jue and the old bastard over these days, based on the theoretical foundations of the Rabbit Hole—they had barely managed to replicate thirty percent of the Doomsday Express's performance within this dream. Yet that was enough to roam wherever they pleased! "Pursue! Pursue them!" Saint Chengwei roared. "I don't believe these bastards will never stop! Let's see how far they can run!" The Rabbit Hole left no trace due to its stealth, but the terrifying momentum of this train boring through the dream was impossible to conceal. Once it stopped, they would be cornered like turtles in a jar. But if they kept driving, how long could they hold out under the Order's encirclement? Furthermore, burrowing too many tunnels meant that a single mistake or delay would cause them to be crushed by the local collapse of the Huangliang Dream, buried alive in the very holes they bored. It was nothing more than drinking poison to quench a thirst! Resounding tolls of bells echoed through Tiancheng once more. Under the Pope's power, all the virus was purged and incinerated. With no time to spare for anything else, every legion mobilized, every controllable combat force deployed! They would drown the abominable Enemy of God in the dream once and for all! "Unleash the divine power, Chengwei! Burn the heretics to ash, no matter the cost!" "Understood!" Massive as a mountain, Chengwei turned into a falling star, streaking away! And inside the violently jolting carriage, Yu Shu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Collapsing to the floor, drenched in sweat, he looked back to see all the camp members. They had boarded long ago, waiting for his return before departing immediately. Sadly, he was the only one who made it back. "Don't fret over the losses, Ah Shu. What we lost today, we'll take back a thousandfold in the future." Ji Jue walked out of the engine room and patted his shoulder. "And don't grieve over sacrifices. Truth be told, it saved us a lot of trouble..." Yu Shu looked up blankly, only to see Ji Jue's tranquil smile: "After all, isn't reaching the destination ahead of schedule a good thing?" Boom! In that instant, the train accelerated—surpassing its limits, accelerating again, and yet again! In the engine room, Bao Dachai shoveled with sparks practically flying from his shovel, cursing that dog bastard Ji Jue for slacking off and slipping away while shoveling precious fuel into the furnace without pause. And so the train roared and howled, boring madly through this dream like a streak of light. Amidst wave after wave of thunderous rumbles, in the train's carriages, every face wore a smile identical to Ji Jue's. With fanatical gazes, they followed the figure approaching step by step. Cheering, shouting. Yet when Ji Jue looked over, the entire place fell so silent you could hear a pin drop. Everyone held their breath. "Having waited so long, finally arriving at this moment and this place... this circumstance was truly hard-won." Ji Jue reached out, stroking the interior bulkhead of the carriage. Looking around, gazing into each starved, eager face, he told them: "Just as you wished, now we shall yield to the destiny granted by this rebellion and embark upon the long road to Hell! "So, are you ready, everyone?" The silver-crowned Enemy of God laughed merrily, spreading his arms wide: "Today, you shall set foot on the battlefield of your dreams. You shall truly stand as enemies of the gods. "There is no need to fear displacement anymore, for we are returning to our true home. "There is no need to fear the wrath and chastisement of the gods anymore. From this day forth, we shall reign as kings in Hell!" At that, uncontrollable fanatical cheers and roars of hatred erupted like thunder. The rebels following the devil surged with cheers, their eyes burning crimson. Without further hesitation, they held their heads high and downed the blood wine in the golden goblets before them. Embracing the final fall! Amidst violent turbulence, the golden train burned red-hot, completing its final charge. Boundless crimson thunder carved through the void, gradually tracing the outline of an eerie portal. Yet before it could even open, the train thrust forward brutally. Shattering the final obstacle. Breaching the domain beyond the gate— "Not good—" In Tiancheng, the Pope was struck as if by lightning, his eyes nearly splitting in shock. At this moment, he finally understood the train's terminal station, the true goal of these heretics, the core of the devil's plan, and the prize they truly sought to seize! That was... that was— "【Limbo】!!!"