Citizen of the Old Era

Looking at Silver Lantern sprawled across the cage's blood net, vomiting a puddle of fresh blood, Yaxiu exhaled a turbid breath, golden electrical sparks crackling in the air. Though he had fought many battles before, this seemed to be the first time he had acted so ruthlessly against a young woman. He didn't know whether Igola and Harvey had lowered his bottom line, or if the Sword Princess and the Witch had raised his threshold. Yet Yaxiu didn't hesitate in the slightest. As his principle went, even if he needed to bring Silver Lantern back alive to the Four Pillar Cult to solve his sense of touch, he couldn't put his mind at ease unless he reduced her threat level to that of a Lalafell. Yaxiu dropped to all fours, arching his back like a cat. The sharp horn on his forehead sparked with lightning, and the golden thunder around him contracted violently into a soft layer of golden down—if Freya saw this, she would definitely say he looked like an overly hairy Veela, the cult leader thought to himself. Yet condensing himself like a great cat was not weakening him; it made him far fiercer. Those errant currents had been unnecessary waste caused by his inability to fully control the Transcendent Prison Grand Law during this initial god-hosting. Now that he had actively reined in all that energy, his destructive power would surpass the limits of a Legendary. Whether Silver Lantern was playing dead or truly unconscious, his next move would strip her of all armaments! Swoosh! An afterimage cut across the space as blinding thunderous light illuminated the entire chamber. Yaxiu's thunder claws aimed for the defeated foe's limbs, tracing a cruel trajectory! Crack! When Yaxiu tore through Silver Lantern's arms, he saw that fresh blood didn't burst from the severed flesh; instead, ghostly blue lightning crackled out! Lightning?! With that close contact, Yaxiu discovered that the Silver Lantern slumped on the ground was merely a bundle of condensed thunder. Realizing the truth instantly, he spun around to look at the pool of blood on the floor behind him! Just as he had deceived Silver Lantern's judgment earlier with the Acting and Substitute sorcery spirits, Silver Lantern had also used a miracle to bait his opening strike! By then, Silver Lantern had already dispelled the illusion disguised as blood, her right hand thrusting toward the nape of Yaxiu's neck like a scalpel! Slash! The two separated the instant they clashed. Yaxiu retreated to the other end of the room and touched the scratch on his neck. With every breath, blood steadily welled out—Silver Lantern had nearly severed his windpipe. "In that instant when you brushed against death, what flashed through your mind?" Weise appeared completely unharmed. She said calmly, "The person you want to see? The things you want to do? Or perhaps those unspeakable desires? Justice, conscience, ideals, longings... How fragile all of it is in the face of death. "This is the difference between illusion and eternity. You who are trapped in the narrative of illusions fear because of death, despair because of wandering, and suffer because of unmet desires. I pity you. You willingly imprison yourselves in illusions to endure suffering, ignorant that taking one step forward would bring eternal peace. "You treat everything in the illusion as destiny, never realizing it is merely a play woven by the Void Realm for reality." Yaxiu raised an eyebrow, probing for an opening as he asked, "What do you mean?" "Have you never thought about it?" Weise smiled. "If the Void Realm can resonate with our knowledge, why couldn't it resonate with emotions, with longings, with fears? "The less you lack something, the easier it is to obtain it; the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen. Many cults have emerged across the Senluo Land, but whether they survive has nothing to do with ideals, only resources. Those with resources often weather the initial stages quickly and grow rapidly, while those without, no matter how noble their pursuit, are extinguished in history. "The more well-fed and stable a cult is, the more it can make the Void Realm heed its pursuit of happiness; the more starving and desperate a cult is, the more wildly imaginative its fantasies of despair become. "You must have seen similar things in other countries, haven't you? Money flows to those who don't lack money, love flows to those who don't lack love, and misfortune specifically seeks out the miserable. "What people call destiny is merely the echo of your cries to the Void Realm." For a moment, Yaxiu thought of many people: Annan, Banjie, Igola, Harvey... even himself. He had never truly settled down, living constantly amid danger, to the point where he had almost grown accustomed to such a life. But when Yaxiu thought of Lisi and the Sword Princess, of Annan and Freya, his heart quickly settled. Perhaps he had not yet escaped destiny, but at least many of the people he knew were already walking on the best possible path. "Destiny faction?" Yaxiu probed. Weise neither confirmed nor denied it. The reason she had said all that was to mislead Yaxiu about her sorcery faction, and to buy a little time. Bzzzt. The lightning around Weise suddenly dissipated completely, leaving behind only a tail of blue electricity. Yaxiu realized something was wrong—unless she had voluntarily dispersed her power, such a phenomenon could only mean she had fully mastered the power of the Resonant String Grand Law. But it didn't matter. The combat strength of the Transcendent Prison Grand Law was superior to that of the Resonant String Grand Law; in a true fight, Yaxiu had nothing to fear— Yet Weise simply walked to the doorway at the edge of the blood net cage and pressed her hand against it. The bloody radiance of the cage abruptly shifted to a safe green light. Weise stepped straight out of the cage, glancing back at the utterly bewildered Yaxiu. "The reason you still harbor illusions about this illusion," she said, "is that you haven't lost enough yet." Weise pressed the wall again, and the cage turned back into a net of blood. Then she actually strolled toward the elevator, making her leisurely escape! Yaxiu instantly rushed forward and struck the blood net, but the net merely warped without breaking. Even if he attacked with all his might, the most optimistic estimate was that it would take several minutes, by which time Silver Lantern would already be outside basking in the moonlight! Why was Silver Lantern able to unlock the cage here? Wasn't this the Transcendent Cult's territory? The cult leader looked at the electric current in his palm and suddenly remembered the contents he had read from the grand law earlier. Both Transcendent Prison and Resonant String were remnants of the Grey Fox Divine Era, recognized as official citizens by all the ruins; it was through this that they had been able to gather historical intelligence and data. This building wasn't the Transcendent Cult's territory. The Transcendent Cult was just a bunch of squatters, like mice stealing food from a refrigerator, cockroaches sleeping in a shoe cabinet, or a stray cat turning on a computer to play. The building still belonged to the citizens of the old era from over two hundred years ago. Silver Lantern had opened the cage so effortlessly just now—clearly, this building was willing to obey her commands! Which meant— The moment Yaxiu realized this, thunder silently merged into his soul, generating a hazy identification card within it! He reached out to touch the blood net of the cage. Mental options fed back to him: "Maintain," "Unlock," "Cancel," "Contact Customer Service." He immediately canceled the cage and contacted customer service to demand that the building stop the high-speed elevator! "We apologize, honored guest, but you do not possess the corresponding permissions." Citizen status alone wasn't enough, huh... Yaxiu charged straight over, blew the elevator doors apart with a punch, sabotaged the elevator shaft's mechanisms to force it to a halt, and then transformed into a bolt of lightning to pursue her up the shaft! In just that brief span, the elevator had already reached the 50th floor. Yaxiu caught up only to find Silver Lantern fleeing through the ceiling. Without a word, he pursued her upward to kill! Weise looked back at Yaxiu in surprise. Although she had initially used the Illusion sorcery spirit to bewilder the Resonant String Grand Law and complete god-hosting, unlocking all of Resonant String's permissions had required her to continually deepen the effects of illusion and use the Thousand Mechanisms sorcery spirit to transform into thunder sorcery spirits that Resonant String favored, thereby gaining Resonant String's full trust. Even if Yaxiu had caught on immediately, how could he unlock permissions so quickly without relevant sorcery spirits? He wasn't even the real First Gospel! Yet the situation was still advantageous for Weise. Riding the elevator hadn't been a waste of time; she had already learned what permissions she possessed as a citizen. Emerging from the elevator, she immediately applied for an emergency evacuation route. The center of every floor opened to both sides, revealing an opening that formed an escape corridor leading straight to the surface! Although Resonant String lagged behind Transcendent Prison in combat strength, it was a notch faster; Yaxiu, having fallen a step behind, depthlessly failed to catch up to her! Just as she transformed into lightning and shot toward the dark night, she saw an abyssal, prison-dark jade-green evil soul leap down from above! Ghost King of the Nether Knights! Harvey rode atop the Nightmare Steed, clad in dreadful armor forged from cold flowing fire, holding aloft a scythe-like, saber-like Blade of Despair. Though he was a lone rider, dozens of Nether Knight phantoms materialized around him, crowding the corridor and charging down like a vast army! Ripples of shock couldn't help but stir in Weise's heart—how was the necromancer up here?! Even after the 90th floor was sealed, not even Transcendent believers could pass above the 90th floor! But she realized the answer at once. The necromancer had run up before the 90th floor was sealed! She and Yaxiu had fought in the Upload Chamber on the 100th floor for quite a while. The Transcendent Cult wouldn't have paid any attention to them, and even if someone tried to capture them, the mind sorcerer could deal with it. Knowing they couldn't intervene in a battle between grand laws, they had moved ahead to lay an ambush at the top levels! With Yaxiu's personality, he wasn't the type to plan so far ahead... this was probably the mind sorcerer's doing. However... Weise didn't slow down in the slightest, slamming like a streak of lightning toward Harvey's Nether Knight blade! Crack! Blade of Despair, dreadful armor, Nightmare Steed... The Nether Knight was pierced through as easily as paper. Even though Harvey had tried his best to twist his torso aside, Weise's hand gouged a gaping hole through his chest, flesh and bone instantly reduced to charred ash under the high-voltage current! A sorcerer who hadn't even reached Sanctuary dared to stand in the way of a god-host? Right then, an ear-piercing shriek that resonated through nearly the entire building drilled into Weise's eardrums. She glanced toward the source of the sound, only to see the mind sorcerer standing at the edge of the opening, holding a megaphone in his hands. In her god-hosting state, this kind of mental attack could barely hinder her; if anything, the necromancer's eardrums were probably ruined. Though she didn't know why the mind sorcerer would join Yaxiu in this madness, he clearly retained his sanity. He wouldn't throw his life away in a direct clash with a god-host, content merely to cast miracles from the periphery to show he had made an effort. He had to be kept alive; he was Yaxiu's most likely vulnerability— Wait. If the mind sorcerer was merely going through the motions, why was he holding a megaphone? Weise jerked her head around, only to see a death-knell black crow already descending above her!