Yaxiu looted the castle clean, noticing an intriguing detail: demigods lived in remarkably austere conditions—shabbier, even, than Shattered Lake Prison.
He refused to believe demigods were all ascetic monks who despised comfort; the only logical explanation was that the pressure of survival weighed so heavily on them that material luxuries never crossed their minds.
Yet "Wind Erosion" was a major power in the First Hell, anchored by thirteen demigods and an entire clan of rain demons. Shouldn't they have lived quite comfortably in Hell?
While Yaxiu pondered this, Dead Frenzy suddenly pointed to a hidden compartment embedded behind a treasure chest. "You missed the most important treasure."
Yaxiu opened the compartment and looked inside, only to find a satin box containing a black... sticker?
"I knew it would be this," Dead Frenzy said, raising an eyebrow. "For demigods, this really is the single most important thing."
"What is it?"
"A calamity mark."
Yaxiu froze.
Dead Frenzy explained, "Did Weixi ever mention that demigods face a trial at fixed intervals?"
Yaxiu nodded. "She said demigods have to face one every three hundred days."
"Now it's 365 days. The interval between calamities stays in sync with the cycle of the world; in her era, a year was 300 days," Dead Frenzy said. "For the vast majority of demigods, a calamity is an exceptionally perilous hurdle, which is why people also call it the 'Year's Pass.'
"A calamity usually takes the form of another demigod's miracle. Demigods with five or more Hell wings will even face miracle-calamities on the level of a God-Leader. There are two ways to get through a calamity easily: one is to abandon all your Hell wings—so long as you don't steal knowledge from the Void Realm, the Void Realm won't trouble you. The other is to consume calamity marks.
"Each time a demigod survives a calamity, another calamity mark appears on the back of their hand. Calamity marks serve many purposes, but their primary one is—"
Dead Frenzy glanced at Yaxiu. "—traversing between the upper and lower layers of Hell.
"For instance, going from the First Hell to the Second Hell consumes two calamity marks. From the Second to the Third costs three, and so on.
"Conversely, returning from the Fifth Hell to the Fourth costs only four calamity marks. Going from the Second back to the First costs just one.
"Simply put, whichever Hell you want to go to, that's the number of calamity marks you have to consume."
Yaxiu thought it over. "Theoretically, then, as long as a demigod survives fourteen years, they can reach the Fifth Hell?"
Going from the First to the Fifth took a total of 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 14 calamity marks. Since calamities occurred yearly, a demigod could scrape together enough in fourteen years.
"Yes, but no one wastes them like that," Dead Frenzy said, shaking her head. "Because the second use of a calamity mark is canceling out a calamity.
"A demigod with one Hell wing can spend three calamity marks to cancel out their next calamity. Two wings require six; three wings require nine; four wings, twelve; five wings, fifteen.
"Demigods inevitably have slumps or face calamities they simply can't resolve. Without calamity marks to negate them, there's only death.
"Many demigods would rather stay at one Hell wing precisely because it makes it so easy to spend calamity marks and stay alive."
Yaxiu understood. Calamity marks were both Hell's passport and Hell's epitaph. The weaker a demigod was, the easier it was to scrape by, but the closer one reached toward power, the more easily one would be crushed by calamities.
"Then demigods surely wouldn't squander calamity marks just to go to the higher Hells, would they?" Yaxiu asked. "What's in the higher Hells anyway?"
"More resources, and..." Dead Frenzy exhaled a smoke ring. "Gods are born in Hell. The Fifth has the highest probability, while the First has almost none."
Yaxiu nodded in comprehension, looking down at the mark in the box. "Then where did this calamity mark come from? Can demigods transfer them?"
"They can, but there's a rather bizarre condition."
Dead Frenzy raised an eyebrow. "A demigod can peel it off only when it is their very last calamity mark. A demigod with two Hell wings can peel off their last two, one with three wings can peel off their last three, and so on."
*Only the final calamity marks could be removed?*
Yaxiu's eyebrows twitched. Probably only gamblers driven mad by desperation for money would strip off their very last calamity mark. Once they lost it, it meant they couldn't cancel a calamity for at least three years and would have to tough it out entirely on their own.
"Among the hard currencies traded between demigods, source crystals have the lowest value and calamity marks have the highest. When marks are traded in bundles, their value climbs exponentially." Dead Frenzy held up three fingers. "Generally speaking, eight calamity marks can buy a god."
Yaxiu looked down at the mark in the box and asked, "How do you use it?"
"Stick it on the back of your hand," Dead Frenzy replied.
Yaxiu pressed the pitch-black sticker onto the back of his hand. It immediately melted into the pattern of an eye, multicolored mist seeping from every trace of the mark.
He examined it for a long while before something struck him. "The marks on Sword Princess and the others' hands..."
"Those are gifts from the Four Pillar Gods to help them commune with their guardian spirits in Hell." Dead Frenzy tapped away the ash. "They can be used as a calamity mark, but the price is... the difficulty of the next calamity doubles. Plenty of demigods bargain with the Four Pillar Gods to quench their immediate thirst with poison, but very few survive."
Yaxiu asked, "Speaking of guardian spirits, did theirs die?"
Dead Frenzy shook her head. "Of course not. Their guardian spirits can fly, so even in the First Hell they can retreat in time. Unlike the rain demons, who can only trudge slowly on the ground and couldn't even run away."
Yaxiu pondered for a moment, raising his right hand. "So, I'm just one calamity mark away from going to the Second Hell?"
Dead Frenzy leaned against the doorframe, her blood-red hair fluttering lightly in the wind. "That's right."
"Then, how do you plan to take back *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*?"
Yaxiu looked at Dead Frenzy. "If giving up the Sorcerer's Handbook can remove the threat you pose, I'm more than willing... provided you can convince me of your sincerity."
After stating she wanted *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* back, Dead Frenzy had simply continued leading him to loot Hell strongholds. Because she hadn't elaborated, Yaxiu had used that time to weigh his options.
In all honesty, he harbored no greed for the Sorcerer's Handbook. Or rather, he had already received everything he wanted. Even if the handbook still harbored the legacies of multiple civilizations, even if it could draw treasures on the level of the extraction bottle, Yaxiu felt no attachment to it.
Even without the Sorcerer's Handbook, he had companions who supported one another, along with the strength to fight against fate. What was more, the handbook was never truly his to begin with; it was the fruit of Dead Frenzy and the others traversing countless worldlines. If they wanted it back, Yaxiu had no objection.
Dead Frenzy walked to the center of the fortress, tilted her head back to look at the towering spear obelisk, and said leisurely, "You think I'm going to offer you a trade? No. What I'm giving you is merely an option.
"These wonders are all high-tier wonders. Put them away."
Yaxiu nodded and stowed the fortress's spear obelisk, eagle statue, and lightning reliefs into his Soul Kingdom.
The spear obelisk was the wonder "Fighter's Stele." When activated, earthen walls would rise along the perimeter of the area, and any unit approaching the walls would be impaled by armor-piercing spears.
The eagle statue was the wonder "Thunderbird Transmutation." It fired an egg-shaped orb of lightning that continuously struck all surrounding units; once it reached one hundred strikes, the lightning would undergo nirvana and transform into a thunderbird to assist in battle.
The most powerful of them, the lightning reliefs, was the wonder "Rain Demon Nest." It could instantly summon a thunder rain demon into the battlefield. The thunder rain demon possessed Dimming Claws and supersonic speed, and its body of lightning could revive indefinitely. However, the Rain Demon Nest was a consumable wonder; a rain demon was birthed at set intervals, and once all the rain demons within were exhausted, the wonder would naturally collapse.
Evidently, most members of Wind Erosion specialized in lightning sorcery as their core art, which was why they were able to construct two lightning sorcery wonders.
Inside the Soul Kingdom, the sorcery spirits watched one wonder after another being hauled in, hopping and bouncing across them with curiosity. Yaxiu looked closer and discovered that the Substitute sorcery spirit had already moved its bed up onto the tower of the "Overturned" wonder, fast asleep with the Heart Sword sorcery spirit in its arms, living a life far more comfortable than his own.
Once Yaxiu finished stashing all the wonders into his Soul Kingdom, Dead Frenzy suddenly asked, "Wonders can be stored in a Temple of Sorcery, but where do you think *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* is kept?"
Yaxiu blinked. After a moment of thought, he realized he genuinely had no idea.
It couldn't be his fleshly body, nor could it be his soul. Yaxiu had died several times in the Void Realm; if the Sorcerer's Handbook were hidden in his soul and happened to get swallowed by a Slash Fish Dragon, would the Doomsday Quintet have had to raise that Slash Fish Dragon to the supreme peak of sorcery?
"Here's a hint," Dead Frenzy said. "When Weixi underwent her Second Cycle rebirth, what was it about her that actually returned to the past?"
Yaxiu was taken aback. Right—what had actually gone back to the past?
The *Spectre Manual* recorded it clearly: after Weixi was reborn, she still relied on killing to nourish her soul, proving she truly had abandoned everything from her First Cycle, returning up the river of time to seize the soul and flesh of her childhood self, starting completely from scratch.
"...Her memories?" Yaxiu guessed.
"Very close," Dead Frenzy said. "To be precise, it's the sum total of an individual's information. Your flesh returns to nature, and your soul is buried in the Void Realm. But your memories, your thoughts, your ideas—combined together, they form a unique 'consciousness.' The world cannot take it away; the Void Realm cannot claim it; it belongs to you forever.
"When rules gain consciousness, gods are born. When sorcery gains consciousness, sorcery spirits are born. And when soul and flesh gain consciousness, the psyche is born.
"Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook has always resided within your psyche."
Yaxiu's heart sank. "You want to separate the Sorcerer's Handbook from my psyche?"
"No, we can't do that," Dead Frenzy shook her head. "To hinder Ouroboros's pursuit to the utmost, we fused every privilege of the Sorcerer's Handbook into your psyche, making it entirely yours so Ouroboros wouldn't detect the worldline anomaly.
"Besides, we never planned on separating the Sorcerer's Handbook," she added calmly. "There's no need."
"What do you mean?" Yaxiu asked.
"It means we will take back the Sorcerer's Handbook, and we won't give up your shells either." Dead Frenzy cast a glance at him. "When that time comes, will there be any need for your psyche to exist?"
Yaxiu almost laughed in anger. "Then why should I ever return the Sorcerer's Handbook to you?"
"Because the Sorcerer's Handbook holds everything we accumulated over all those years. Without it, we can't return to our peak in the shortest possible time," Dead Frenzy said indifferently. "Ouroboros chased us down this time, and we lost. But if we reclaim all our resources, perhaps we can keep fleeing, perhaps we can try once more. If you don't return it, there won't be any hope left at all.
"Still, I'm not looking to guilt-trip you." Dead Frenzy noticed Yaxiu's grim expression. "In any case, no matter what, you'll willingly hand your psyche over to us."
"Why?"
"Because you want to defeat Ouroboros and save your own fate too," Dead Frenzy said. "The problem is, even if you were given all the resources of Hell and became the strongest demigod sorcerer through all the ages, how much of that power could you actually bring to bear?"
Her words hit the nail right on the head.
Yes, Yaxiu could condense a Hell wing in a single day. But even if he condensed all six Hell wings, even if his Soul Kingdom was packed with zenith-tier wonders and filled with gods, could he wield that power properly?
His opponent wasn't some minion; it was an eight-winged creature that surpassed the supreme peak of sorcery: the World-Devouring Serpent. If piling up raw power were enough to overcome it, the Doomsday Quintet would have crushed it long ago.
"We are willing to give you four chances," Dead Frenzy said. "For every 25 percent of your psyche you surrender, one of us will merge with you, allowing you to temporarily fight at the supreme realm of sorcery. With each additional 25 percent, the degree of fusion will deepen, and your sorcerous realm will naturally skyrocket.
"Surrendering your psyche won't affect your combat strength. Your soul body, sorcery spirits, and Soul Kingdom won't suffer any loss. Even giving up 75 percent of your psyche won't disrupt your daily life.
"If you manage to defeat Ouroboros in the first three chances, we'll naturally have nothing to say. But if three attempts still aren't enough..." Dead Frenzy arched her swan-like neck toward the space above, blowing out a stream of white smoke. "We'll give you two options.
"One option is to wait for death, buried alongside this world.
"The other option is to hand over your psyche to us and then go die, waiting for the world to accompany you to the grave."
Yaxiu looked up as well. There was no sky here. Up and down inverted at any moment, all creation hanging suspended above, instilling a constant dread of being crushed at any second. Living in such an environment truly was like hell.
After a moment, he said softly, "That sounds like only one option."
"Haven't you gotten used to it by now?" Dead Frenzy said calmly. "Sometimes the world offers no good endings. You can only choose the less terrible of two bad ones."
Chapter 1063