Drenched in the Rain

The violet spiderweb across the night sky burned away to ash. The rising updraft condensed the moisture into cumulonimbus clouds, and pattering raindrops beat against the windows, clattering in fractured snaps against the glass. Rain was falling across all of Gospel right now. It was more than just rain; it was a ritual—symbolizing the spiderweb descending from the heavens and spreading to every corner of the Gospel Country. *When I succeed as the First Gospel, this ritual system will come into effect, becoming an extension of my will, letting my commands walk across the lands of Gospel like fate itself.* The instant Yaxiu noticed the rain outside, information he had no business knowing surfaced in his mind. It was a bizarre sensation, as if an iceberg sat within his mind; whenever he looked at anything, the corresponding portion of the iceberg would melt away, granting him an instantaneous understanding of every cause and effect. He had no doubt that once this iceberg melted completely, he would become unimaginably close to omniscient and omnipotent. Yet the monstrous waves churned up by the melting iceberg would inevitably drown all of his free will. Yet he had no means whatsoever to halt the iceberg's melting. The god that mimicked his face was prying open his skull bit by bit at this very moment, churning his brain; tearing open his chest, kneading his heart; and in the end, it would drape itself in Yaxiu's human skin and step into the future named 'Yayin.' This final transitional period was both cruel and merciful. The cruelty lay in having to watch helplessly as he was crushed and assimilated by a greater will, like a condemned criminal subjected to death by a thousand cuts. The mercy lay in not having to vanish in sheer bewilderment; he could clearly understand that none of this was coincidence or misfortune, but the inevitability of destiny. His death had rhyme and reason—though perhaps that was merely another form of cruelty. The root of all this was the Secret Incarnation. The so-called First Gospel was, in truth, the selection of the mortal best suited to wield a god. But a mortal soul could never accommodate a god perfectly, just as a wooden barrel could never withstand acid corrosion. Therefore, Gospel could only do its best to find a "comparatively suitable, sturdy wooden barrel" to extend the barrel's lifespan as much as possible. "The purest, most innocent, kindest, and most wonderful maiden" was the most fitting barrel. Naturally, such a person could not accommodate every god, but she could resist the corrosion of the Gospel god to the greatest degree. Every god had different requirements for an eligible host. The reason the Isu royal family had endured unbroken for seven hundred years, with every generation of princesses becoming the First Gospel, was that besides grooming princesses who met every standard, the royal family also knew certain hidden conditions. Thus, their test score combined with bonus points naturally crushed all other candidates, firmly securing the seat of the First Gospel. If all had gone smoothly, the First Gospel this time should have been in the bag for the Isu royal family. But after Yaxiu obtained the Secret Incarnation, Gospel suddenly had a new idea. It found a more suitable candidate. In the Mermaid Palace, they had learned that future Harvey wielding a god was no accident; it was because Harvey would later obtain a Concept Incarnation related to necromancy. Only with the buffering of the Concept Incarnation could he barely withstand the god's corrosion (though Harvey had already missed that initial opportunity). A Concept Incarnation was like a protective lining over the wooden barrel, drastically reducing the damage that a god of the same faction inflicted upon the soul, thereby extending the barrel's lifespan. Take Harvey's future as a legendary necromancer: beyond possessing Four-Wing sorcery power, he would also have miracles that fortified his soul, which, combined with the Concept Incarnation, allowed him to house a god perfectly. This also demonstrated that no matter how sturdy a wooden barrel was, it could never match a barrel with a protective film. Furthermore, a god did not remain inert; when activated, it would inflict severe trauma on the soul. Thus, the god's might had to be restricted to a certain threshold; otherwise, it would prematurely exhaust the host's usable lifespan. A soul protected by a Concept Incarnation meant not only a longer lifespan, but also that the god could unleash greater power. Put yourself in the god's shoes. If you had to move into a new home, you would have two choices: 1. The same wooden house as before, where you could live for fifty years at most, made of poor materials prone to rot, where a careless step might break through the stairs; 2. A fully furnished modern townhouse with a longer lifespan, immune to wear and tear during normal use, and capable of enduring your occasional workout, barbecue, or fireworks. So from the moment Yaxiu acquired the Secret Incarnation, escaping Gospel's grasp became impossible. No matter how pure, innocent, and kind an Isu princess was, she could not compete with a Yayin who came with his own dowry. Gospel was far too pragmatic, far too materialistic. The Secret Incarnation was a concept dropped by the commander of the Spider Tower. Since the Spider Tower was a faction under the Omniscient Weaver, the Secret Incarnation naturally shared high compatibility with the Gospel sorcery spirits. If Yaxiu had known earlier that the Gospel Board was selecting a host for a god, if he had returned the Secret Incarnation to the Empress commander long ago, if... Yaxiu suddenly remembered something. At that moment, 'Gospel Yaxiu' snuffed out his mental self once more in his mind. His body shuddered as he slumped down against the wall. 'Lisi' came over, gripping his hand tightly and looking at him with worry. "Are you scared?" "I'm not scared. Not at all," Yaxiu answered as lightly as he could. He reached out to hug 'Lisi,' stroking her back in an attempt to convey a relaxed mood. Meanwhile, he located the 'Soul Summoning' sorcery spirit in his soul, which resembled a triangular bipyramidal hexahedron, wrapped it tightly in sorcery power, and handed down his will: destroy it! Exactly. Since the god favored him because of the Secret Incarnation, wouldn't everything be solved if he just destroyed it? The Secret Incarnation was precious, but compared to his life, it was nothing. What was more, Yaxiu had already smuggled himself into the Distant Sky Realm, so the importance of the Secret Incarnation and the Soul Summoning sorcery spirit had plummeted. Losing them would have virtually no material impact on him! Once he lost the Secret Incarnation, Yaxiu's finely decorated townhouse would be reduced to an unfinished derelict at the level of a doghouse. After all, he did not match a single one of the criteria: "purest, most innocent, kindest, and most wonderful maiden." No matter how the god weighed its options, it would never humble itself to dwell in Yaxiu's doghouse; it would settle for second best and move into the Isu princess's wooden cabin. When that happened, Yaxiu would naturally be saved! As for the consequences of destroying a concept, Yaxiu could no longer afford to care. In any case, he had no sorcery spirits related to 'Secret.' Still, doing this would completely ruin Annan's plan. Even if he had to take whatever punishment Annan dished out once they returned, he would accept it; it was just a shame about the divine wish... Yaxiu waited expectantly for a moment, only to find the Soul Summoning sorcery spirit swimming about happily and unharmed within his soul. He discovered that whenever his sorcery power sought to harm the Soul Summoning sorcery spirit, it would abruptly halt, almost as if... It was bound by a contract. Impossible! Yaxiu's pupils contracted. Although his contract with the Empress did prevent him from destroying the Soul Summoning sorcery spirit on his own, he had already stepped onto the third layer of the Void Realm, fulfilling the requirement for the contract's automatic nullification. How could this contract still be in effect?! Yet there was no second explanation for the current situation. Had the Empress laid a trap in the contract that he knew nothing about? With a thought, the original text of the contract surfaced clearly in Yaxiu's mind, and he immediately pinpointed the crux of the problem—the very first sentence of the contract: "When the Ox of the Sky Carriage enters the Spider Tower territory, Party B must remain in the Spider Tower territory for more than three hours." The phrase "When the Ox of the Sky Carriage enters the Spider Tower territory" was the top-priority condition of the entire contract. All subsequent clauses could only be executed once this condition had taken effect. In other words, even though Yaxiu had already reached the Distant Sky Realm, the contract remained binding. It would only be automatically nullified after the Ox of the Sky Carriage entered the Spider Tower territory. And when would the Ox of the Sky Carriage enter the Spider Tower territory? Other sorcerers might not know, but Yaxiu had his Void Realm map to cross-reference. He could calculate with certainty that the next time the Ox of the Sky Carriage entered the Spider Tower territory would be... tomorrow morning. *Pitter-patter, pitter-patter—* Outside, the rain grew heavier, and Yaxiu's heart grew colder. Compared to a clean and straightforward "death sentence," this mockery of "falling short by just a hair" plunged him into an even deeper abyss. It was a god showing off; it was destiny mocking him. Of course. He had snatched the Secret Incarnation from the Spider Tower, and he was currently in the Gospel Country—how could he possibly escape unharmed? In the Void Realm, he was hunted by the Spider Tower; in reality, he was schemed against by Gospel. No matter what, the Secret Incarnation would still end up serving the Omniscient Weaver, just put to a different use. Perhaps the Omniscient Weaver high above the heavens hadn't even looked his way. The mere synergy between Gospel and the Spider Tower had been enough to precisely and ruthlessly strangle all his hopes. He was like a bug stuck to a spiderweb; there had never been any hope of escape. The iceberg was still melting, and his soul felt as if it were dying with it. Right then, a warm little darling wriggled in his embrace and reached up to pinch his cheek. "Yaxiu, let's run," 'Lisi' said, looking at him seriously. "Leave Nabistin, leave Gospel entirely. As long as we run far enough, you won't be dragged off to become Witch Yayin." Run. That option hadn't crossed Yaxiu's mind from the start. After all, this was the imperial palace of Nabistin, and the god had bored straight into his mind, tearing away. Where could he run? It would be nothing more than an ugly, futile death struggle. Yet... Yaxiu looked at the earnest 'Lisi' and smiled, nodding. "Alright. Let's escape. There's no way in hell I'm becoming the First Gospel!" Yaxiu didn't take the stairs at all. He leapt straight out the window, using the 'Rushing Toward' miracle to teleport across Yalan Lake, then drew the Yafeikong motorcycle from the 'Banjie spatial card'—the plan to assassinate the princess naturally included an escape protocol; each of their spatial cards contained a motorcycle so they could ride off as fast as possible to flee the palace, or even Nabistin, whether the mission succeeded or blew up. *Vroom! Vroom!* The mechanical beast let out a fiery roar. Looking at the dense curtain of rain blanketing the world before him, Yaxiu felt as though he had returned to the Time Continent; the noise inside his head seemed to grow a little less grating. He retrieved his dark crimson trench coat from the card and draped it over 'Lisi,' who was on the verge of looking like a drowned puppy. 'Lisi' sat behind him, her small hands holding tight around his waist. "I'm not cold. You wear it." "The rain is too heavy," Yaxiu said with a chuckle. "It wouldn't do me any good anyway." *Vroom!* The Yafeikong motorcycle accelerated in a split second, tearing across the stone-paved roads of the imperial palace. Speeding through gate after gate, it actually escaped the palace with absolute ease! Suddenly, the Gospel Book materialized before them once again, its purple-streaked bookmark still dazzlingly brilliant through the sheets of rain. Because a third of Yaxiu had already become Yayin, the instant it updated, Yaxiu already knew what had been added. 'Lisi' opened it to the bookmarked page and saw two bonus Weaving Extras that had been added. The protagonist of the first extra was named "Annan Dolan." ...... ... Down in the underground hall, the members of Funeral looked at the Gospel Book's contents. Banjie was silent, Igola let out a long sigh, Harvey was ecstatic, and Annan remained quite calm. [Annan Dolan] [Aliases: Antigospel, Violet Witch, Calamity Lord] [Relationship to Yayin: Enslavement Contract] [Deeds: Exploiting the Enslavement Contract, Annan successfully stole the divine wish and wished that Gospel could no longer take effect in reality. Thereafter, the Gospel Book vanished, the boards extinguished themselves, and the world could no longer hear the Gospel. This led to technological progress regressing by thirty years and the outbreak of civil war, which was later followed by an invasion from foreign realms. For the rest of Yayin's life, she worked to mend the catastrophes wrought by Annan Dolan, even dying once along the way.] [Disposition: Execute.] "Though I've wondered whether the Blood Moon Country would be better off without the Blood Saint or Moon Shadow clans," Igola remarked, "I never expected you would actually dare to pull something like this—and target Gospel, the very bedrock of your civilization." "I find it a bit odd myself," Annan said. "I should have wished for Gospel to vanish outright. Why was it altered to 'Gospel cannot take effect in reality'..." "Even sorcery spirits possess an ego, to say nothing of gods," Harvey chuckled. "Besides, would the Omniscient Weaver slay His own god just because you asked? The fact that He was willing to fulfill your wish as best He could—who knows whether He was keeping His word or simply didn't care about the Gospel Country's survival?" "Because the god didn't vanish, but continued to reside inside Yaxiu, Yaxiu was ultimately 'armored as human' by the god and stepped into the future named 'Yayin,'" the Swindler sighed. "Now that you know how the future unfolds, will you still make that wish?" "Yes," Annan replied without hesitation. "I won't bother asking bullshit like why you don't care about Yaxiu—what conviction is supporting this resolve of yours?" "Gospel despises Dolan." Annan looked toward the radiant phantom of the god on the throne. "Unless Gospel dies, no generation of Dolan will live past thirty. The same goes for me. For me to live, Gospel must die." "Besides, I despise Gospel as well." Now even Harvey grew curious. "Aren't you a bug that parasites off Gospel? Isn't the agency you run built on exploiting Gospel's loopholes to survive?" "If only the First Gospel chosen by Gospel were you," Annan said, glancing at the necromancer. "It's precisely because I understand Gospel's core that I loathe it so much." "Gospel grants no one freedom. None at all." The purple moth swept her gaze across the legendary sorcerers around the throne. "Information, emotions, relationships, education—everything a person can come into contact with is under Gospel's control. As a near-perfect system, it imprisons everyone in their own private cocoon. The cities dominated by different families represent different incubation strategies: spiders, ants, bees... anything except living as a human being." Igola reminded her, "Human freedom is inherently constrained by one's environment." "But what if there isn't even freedom of thought?" Annan said. "Gospel can control every facet of the environment. Every choice you make is a path Gospel arranged for you, and you aren't even aware of it... Only those who can choose count as humans. Those who blindly follow are merely bugs." The Swindler fell silent for a moment. Looking at the Gospel Book's contents, he murmured, "Then what will Yaxiu choose..." "He has no choice." Harvey pulled Alice's coffin from a spatial card. "And neither do we." The reason the group remained in the underground hall instead of fleeing immediately was that they had already heard the commotion aboveground. The surrounding servants pressed against the walls on both sides in unison, all because the Secret Guard who had just departed had returned—and brought quite a few people with her. Among them were several faces Annan and the others recognized: the Sanctuary guard captains they had encountered along the way. "Annan Dolan, you have been designated as Noise interfering with Yayin." The Secret Guard asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you willing to take your own life?" "Have Yaxiu come and say that to my face, and I will," Annan replied. "Any contact between Noise and Yayin is deemed a severe interference that disrupts the future," the Secret Guard said. "Commencing elimination of the Noise." The Frost Curse Dual Pistols, Alice, Second Miss Donna... With all their armaments primed and the battle on the verge of erupting, a flicker of apology toward Yaxiu suddenly surfaced in Annan's heart. *I'm sorry, Yaxiu.* *Though I owe you an apology for so many things, the thought that I wouldn't change a thing even if I knew beforehand—that I'd drag you down to Hell with me just as before—makes me too lazy to apologize. At worst, when we go down to Hell, you can be on top and I'll be on the bottom.* *Yet there is one thing for which I am truly sorry, because it was entirely avoidable.* *If you two had never met.* *Then you wouldn't have to bear one more heartbreak right now.* ...... ... [Lisi] [Alias: Daughter of Yayin] [Relationship to Yayin: Enslavement Contract] [Deeds: A perpetual Enslavement Contract exists between Lisi and Yayin; therefore, Lisi can severely interfere with Yayin's will. As long as Lisi lives, the potential to profane Yayin persists.] [Disposition: Execute.] 'Lisi' closed the Gospel Book and saw twenty silhouettes appear on the city streets ahead. They stood out jarringly, each carving out an isolated pocket in the sheets of rain untouched by wind or water, strolling through the tempest as leisurely as if taking a walk. Sanctuary sorcerers. "Lisi." Unlike the irrepressible agony and bewilderment from before, Yaxiu's voice was firm and steady now, ringing clear like rain striking the pavement. "Are you scared?" "I'm not scared." 'Lisi' leaned against Yaxiu's back, her voice clear and distinct through the veil of rain. "Lisi isn't scared at all." "If you're not afraid of the rain, Yaxiu, then Lisi won't be either." "Hold on tight. Don't let go." Drawing the Sword of Honeyed Words and Belly Dagger from his mouth, Yaxiu rode the Yafeikong motorcycle and charged straight at the Sanctuary sorcerers. "I won't let you get soaked by the rain."