An opportunity to behold God?!
Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank. His immediate assumption was that Catherine wanted to hold a "welcoming ceremony" for him, just like how they had corrupted Emma.
That doesn't make sense. Given the negative energy I displayed last time and my Illusionist class, there's no reason I'd need a corruption ritual... Perplexed and uneasy, Zhang Yuanqing put on a face of curiosity and skepticism.
"Behold God? Hah. If your intention is to corrupt and control me using some high-tier entity, then I refuse."
Those of evil classes feared corruption and madness just as much as anyone. While their personal obsessions twisted their personalities, it didn't impair their intelligence; severe corruption, however, could genuinely degrade one's mental faculties.
Zhang Yuanqing said this to test Catherine.
If her purpose was indeed to make him undergo a ritual, he would have to come up with a plausible excuse to decline. Alternatively, relying on the fact that he was merely an avatar, he could take the gamble and endure the "brainwashing" of a higher-tier entity.
"You have no need for that!" Catherine replied with a charming smile. "Your malice is like a bottomless quagmire. On the surface, it looks calm and undisturbed, yet in reality, it could poison an entire lake."
After that playful remark, she turned serious. "Tomorrow night's battle might involve high-tier Dominators—perhaps even the gaze of demigod-level powerhouses. We need an insurance policy for ourselves."
"Insurance?" Zhang Yuanqing allowed an appropriate hint of anticipation to show on his stern face.
Internally, however, he grew even more solemn. He had no justification to refuse—who would turn down a life-saving trump card? Declining would only raise suspicion.
Catherine gave an enigmatic smile.
"To be precise, divine protection! Don't underestimate our Hunter Guild. Our heritage runs far deeper than that of any Orderly organization."
Divine protection... Zhang Yuanqing's heart grew heavy. If Heaven's Punishment dared to go to war, they surely had thorough preparations and immense confidence, but the evil faction was hardly a soft target.
When two major factions clashed, an overwhelming victory in raw strength or intellect by either side was virtually nonexistent. Who won or lost came down to doing everything within human power and leaving the rest to fate.
Furthermore, he didn't know whether this so-called "God" would see through his disguise. An avatar replicated its original master with complete fidelity, but only up to the Dominator stage and below; high-tier methods and core traits could not be reproduced. For instance, the avatar did not possess the pitch-black heart.
It couldn't replicate the abilities to modify a Spirit Realm ID or devour character cards.
If the God Catherine spoke of realized he was an avatar, the identity of "Tongtian Jiaozhu" would be blown, and the President's plan would fall through.
Yet coming in his true body was a risk he dared not take.
This is a bit of a headache... Zhang Yuanqing rapidly thought through his options.
A dozen seconds later, an idea struck him. Looking at Catherine, striking and enchanting in her black dress, he asked nonchalantly,
"Protection? How does it work, and when does it begin?"
Catherine glanced at the wall clock. "In half an hour."
Without batting an eye, Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "I need to step out for a moment."
Catherine scrutinized him. "What are you going to do?"
Zhang Yuanqing scoffed. "Make some preparations. I don't feel like turning into a madman."
With that, kaleidoscopic dreams flickered across his dark brown pupils, and his figure vanished from the private room.
Catherine did not stop him.
In an uninhabited building at the border of Queens and Manhattan:
Two streaks of starlight flared simultaneously, and Tongtian Jiaozhu and Jumang met in a bedroom.
Jumang quickly pulled out the Perfect Human Skin and handed it to Tongtian Jiaozhu. "Hurry back. I'm betting there's no bullet in His gun."
For now, they could only hope that the so-called "protection" wasn't a one-on-one service granted by God to His devotee; otherwise, even a causality-type item likely wouldn't hide him from God's gaze.
After all, the Perfect Human Skin was not of a particularly high tier.
"If we lose the gamble, we lose this causality-type item," the avatar remarked ruefully.
"If we lose, it's just a Perfect Human Skin. But if we don't gamble, the President's entire plan goes down the drain." Zhang Yuanqing spoke as if talking to a mirror, laying out the logic for himself. "Catherine mentioned that God cannot descend into the mortal realm. That means you won't come face-to-face with God. As long as we rule out a one-on-one service, the likelihood of a causality-type item pulling off the deception is extremely high."
The avatar gave him a thumbs-up. "As expected of the original body! I'm just an avatar noob, you're the real badass!"
With that, the avatar donned the Perfect Human Skin, reverting to his original appearance, before brushing a hand over his face to disguise himself once more as Tongtian Jiaozhu.
Yet his core was now entirely that of the person Zhang Yuanqing, bearing all the karma of the original body.
In this state, he was a living, breathing person rather than an avatar.
"I'm off!" The avatar waved, dissolving into starlight.
Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing returned to No. 69 Hamburg Street and pushed open the private room's door again.
"If corruption were truly involved, do you really think your Illusionist tricks could keep your personality and state stable?" Catherine sat back lazily on the couch, wearing an amused smile.
I knew you'd think that. Smart people love filling in the blanks in their heads, and then they're utterly convinced of their own theories... Zhang Yuanqing said coolly,
"Cut the crap."
He sat on the single armchair opposite Catherine, waiting for the time to arrive.
Tongtian Jiaozhu had not been with the Hunter Guild for long and couldn't possibly trust the organization completely. On top of that, he carried a shard of the Holy Plate. Hearing that he was about to receive the protection of a high-tier powerhouse, having his guard up was only natural.
Under such circumstances, taking some time to make defensive preparations was entirely reasonable.
Seeing him remain silent, Catherine grew all the more convinced that she had hit the nail on the head. Smiling radiantly, she rose gracefully, walked over to a wooden cabinet in the corner of the room, and retrieved a piece of canvas, a glossy, pitch-black bowl, and a purple glass bottle.
She unrolled the canvas and weighed down the four corners with heavy objects. Then, she pulled out the glass bottle's cork and poured a dark green liquid into the black bowl.
Zhang Yuanqing sat to the side, watching curiously.
Catherine dipped a translucent, fair finger into the bowl, stirred it quickly to coat it with the dark green liquid, and, using her finger as a brush, began tracing tadpole-like runes onto the canvas.
These runes were twisted and hideous, appearing haphazard at first glance. Yet once joined together, they formed an uncanny harmony, coming together into a cohesive whole, an entity perfectly aligned with the Great Dao.
It was like countless mortises and tenons fitting seamlessly together.
As Catherine finished sketching the final rune, a burst of dark green radiance surged from the canvas, congealing into a two-meter-tall portal of light.
"Go on in." Catherine looked back with a smile and stepped into the glowing gate.
Dark green ripples spread, and she passed through the portal, vanishing from the private room.
The God Catherine spoke of isn't in the Spirit Realm... Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and followed Catherine through the gate.
A blur of illusory light flashed by, and immediately after, Zhang Yuanqing found himself in a vast, expansive realm. In the grayish-white sky, there was neither sun nor moon.
A dim, chaotic light filtered down through the pale clouds, holding the sky and earth in an eternal twilight.
Greeting Zhang Yuanqing's eyes was a crimson lake, embedded in the earth like a giant ruby.
The Blood Lake? The Blood Lake!!
Zhang Yuanqing's pupils contracted slightly. He suddenly recalled what the Class-A wanted criminal "Pluto" had confessed that day: the original founders of the Covenant of Freedom had sworn their oath to overthrow the tyranny of the Holy See beside the Blood Lake.
And the Blood Lake was located in the Kingdom of God!
Was this the Kingdom of God spoken of by the Covenant of Freedom?
Zhang Yuanqing's heart thudded wildly against his ribs, his emotions nearly slipping beyond his control. The God he was about to "behold" was truly the divine entity who had founded the Covenant of Freedom.
Catherine walked up beside him, her expression devout and reverent as she whispered,
"This is where the elders of the Covenant of Freedom once swore an oath to overthrow the Holy See's tyranny."
Just as I thought... Lowering his voice, Zhang Yuanqing asked,
"What exactly is God? Is He in the Blood Lake?"
Catherine nodded. "The Blood Lake is the place of His slumber."
With that, she dropped to her knees, prostrating herself toward the Blood Lake, pressing her smooth forehead reverently against the ground.
This probably isn't the Spirit Realm, nor is it the real world. Is it a legendary secret realm? An independent secret realm created by a high-tier powerhouse, separate from reality! Zhang Yuanqing silently speculated.
When Catherine straightened up, he asked,
"Didn't you say God cannot descend into the mortal realm?"
"Who told you that's God's true form?" Catherine's pale forehead was stained with soil as she giggled. "What slumbers in the Blood Lake is merely His mortal incarnation."
An incarnation in the mortal realm... Zhang Yuanqing pressed, "What does God's incarnation look like?"
Catherine offered an enigmatic smile. "You'll know soon enough."
Under Zhang Yuanqing's gaze, she walked to the edge of the Blood Lake, slit her wrist with a fingernail, and allowed a stream of fresh blood to trickle into the crimson waters. Immediately after, she bent down, cupped a handful of blood-red water, threw back her head, and drank it down.
The vivid scarlet liquid trickled down her snow-white neck, possessing a tragic, uncanny beauty.
In the next second, Catherine clutched her ears and collapsed to the ground, letting out heart-wrenching screams as though enduring some horrific torment. The sheer agony caused her, a Dominator, to roll across the dirt.
A dozen seconds later, Catherine stopped writhing, staring blankly up at the sky with dilated pupils.
After another moment, the light returned to her eyes. She pushed herself up to a seated position and let out a long breath of relief.
She looked at Zhang Yuanqing and smiled.
"Offer your vital blood in exchange for the divine water of the Blood Lake, and you will receive God's protection. The divine water infuses you with the aura of God; should you suffer an attack from a high-tier powerhouse, God will cast His gaze upon you and intervene to save you.
"By high-tier powerhouses, I mean peak Dominators or demigods. Attacks from Level 7 or Level 8 Dominators fall outside God's vision. Doing this is mainly to give us an extra layer of insurance."
Will drinking God's bathwater make me lose my mind on the spot...? Zhang Yuanqing studied Catherine. Seeing that her mind seemed perfectly normal and intact, he felt somewhat relieved.
Moreover, discovering that protection was granted this way actually made him breathe easier: he wouldn't have to face God directly or receive one-on-one divine attention, drastically reducing the odds of his cover being blown.
He walked over to the edge of the Blood Lake. Catherine warned,
"The divine water contains God's power. If consumed in excess, there are only two outcomes: first, your physical body collapses, and you return to the Spirit Realm on the spot; second, you mutate into a terrifying demonic beast. Although you would gain power capable of destroying anything, you would also lose your sanity, which is tantamount to the death of your consciousness, and there is no reversing it.
"That is why we only use it as an insurance policy rather than trying to harness divine power from the water."
Mutate into a terrifying demonic creature? Is this God of the Toxic Chemist class? Zhang Yuanqing asked,
"Then how much should I drink?"
Catherine said,
"You are at the peak of the Saint stage, but your physical body is frail. Your intake must not exceed five milliliters."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded and cupped a tiny splash in his palm.
This isn't very hygienic... Should I boil it first to kill the germs? A moment of hesitation arose in his mind, but reminding himself that he was just an avatar, he gritted his teeth and slurped it into his mouth.
In an instant, it was as if he had swallowed molten lava. A searing heat exploded across his tongue, surged down his throat, and plunged into his stomach.
Zhang Yuanqing felt as though his internal organs were being burned to cinders. Even more fatal were the terrifying ravings whispering by his ears, like murmurs from a dream, like an unintelligible ancient language.
Just like Catherine moments before, he clutched his ears and let out heart-wrenching screams.
Yet at this very moment, neither the agony of his flesh nor that of his soul could overshadow the sheer shock surging through his mind.
The Demon Seed!
The Demon Seed from the hold of the cruise ship!!
Chapter 716