Igola leaned against the railing, gazing up at the expanse above.
The immense crater had already been filled, and a new city was being rebuilt across the ceiling. Down in Nightfall City, most of the rubble and wreckage had been cleared away. Countless mechanical creatures were hauling earth, and construction on new high-rises was already underway.
No one could have imagined that a mere ten hours ago, this place had been a ruin left by the collision of two cities.
"Mr. Rust Crow."
Igola turned his head and saw the Dark Snake Twins appear behind him. They were the god-hosters of the Twin Cult, the very two who had fought alongside Prison Mad Wolf Knight Yaxiu against Silver Lantern the previous night.
Within the Twin Cult, serpents served as the totem of faith because their grand law, 'Twin Fangs,' was a gargantuan serpent. Based on the degree of god-hosting, those below five percent were Infant Snakes; five to fifteen percent were White Snake Twins; fifteen to thirty percent were Blue Snake Twins; and anything above thirty percent made them God-Hosters—the Dark Snake Twins.
As for why white, blue, and dark were chosen as the tier colors... Igola cast a glance across Nightfall City. The dominant hues here were white light from the ground, blue neon from the skyscrapers, and pitch-black at the zenith. It was an exceedingly transparent primitive religion.
"Honored Dark Snake," Igola said, "it seems you have made your decision?"
The Dark Snake Twins asked solemnly, "If we share Nightfall's secrets with you, can you truly find a way to reopen the Abyss of the Twins?"
The Swindler smiled faintly. "I fear only a Divine Lord could make you such a promise. That is a grand legacy of the Grey Fox God Era—how could I guarantee it would open again? If anyone dared make such a promise, they would be an outright fraud.
"However, if anyone in Senluo is capable of intervening with the Grey Fox legacy, it is bound to be us."
Igola continued calmly, "Seeing is believing, while hearsay is false. Aside from Silver Lantern, the only person capable of entering the abyss is our companion."
The Dark Snake Twins exchanged a glance, still wavering.
Igola looked back toward Nightfall City below and said, "I hear the Divine Fire system was the bridge of civilization that maintained the stable continuation of the God Eras. Had it not been damaged, Senluo wouldn't have fallen into two centuries of a wasteland era. Silver Lantern carries multiple grand laws and came specifically for the Divine Fire trial. Perhaps the next shared ruler of Senluo is about to appear..."
Hearing this, the Dark Snake Twins finally made up their minds and said, "Mr. Rust Crow, do you need to call your companions along?"
"No need," the Swindler said leisurely. "Let us go."
Slay All Crows was currently meditating by the cave mouth, and on top of that, he was illiterate; there was no point in bringing him. More importantly, Igola did not trust the black crow. In truth, there were very few people he ever trusted; even Harvey had barely earned Igola's 'harmless certification.'
There was no need to call the necromancer either. Harvey had long since outsourced his brain, and he had even asked the Twin Cult for some 'materials'—thanks to the annihilation of the Nature Cult, the Twin Cult's supply of 'materials' was practically overflowing—to upgrade Alice, so he had no time to gather intelligence.
Thinking of this, Igola disliked Slay All Crows even more. At least Harvey prepared for the future, doing everything he could to enhance his strength to face unexpected perils. What was the use of Tamashi standing guard beside the cave entrance? Was he going to rescue Yaxiu with his imagination?
Igola followed the Dark Snake Twins across an elevated walkway. Glancing down at the mechanical workers transporting materials, he couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
As if noticing Igola's gaze, the Dark Snake Twins explained, "Nightfall's mechanical workers are likely the only ones in Senluo that can still function normally. In the past, mechanical creations were everyday necessities found in nearly every household. But with the advent of the Cataclysm, almost all creations were completely scrapped, and only a tiny fraction slipped through the cracks to survive."
"No, I am not surprised by the mechanical creations," Igola said. "I am merely curious. Nightfall's utilization of corpses is remarkably thorough. If my companion saw this, he would probably be overjoyed."
The materials being transported by the mechanical workers were cartfuls of fingers, ears, tongues, and other parts rather unsuited for discussion over dinner.
The source of these materials went without saying—naturally, they came from the generous folks of the Nature Cult.
Yet from such meticulous categorization, Igola knew they were not meant for consumption or other crude purposes; they were inevitably linked to the necromancy school.
Curiously enough, although the necromancy school was exceptionally suited to a wasteland era, Igola and his companions had not encountered a single necromancer along their journey. Senluo's mechanism for utilizing corpses remained stuck at the wasteful level of 'burial.'
The fundamental cause was likely faith.
Senluo's sorcerers could not choose their own sorcery schools; their arts were intimately bound to the faith they followed. The Calamitous Fire Temple specialized in fire arts, the Transcendent Cult in lightning arts, the Nature Cult in nature arts... Therefore, to produce necromancers, there had to exist a faith tied to necromancy.
And such a faith did not exist.
The reason was simple: reality was already so harsh that if you introduced a negative-energy faith, everyone would simply lie down and die. How could a cult ever grow?
An ideal could be preposterous, absurd, or even anti-human, but it could not be defeatist. Even if your goal was to destroy the world, you had to be full of spirit and fighting will to draw followers.
Seeing that the efficiency of corpse utilization here nearly rivaled Harvey's, Igola naturally drew a conclusion: "Do you possess a Grey Fox legacy related to the necromancy school?"
The Dark Snake Twins looked at each other. "Close enough."
"I heard rumors before that merchant caravans and legions passing through Nightfall would vanish without a trace... Did you send them straight into the furnace for recycling?"
The Dark Snake Twins remained silent, but taking no stance was already a stance in itself.
Igola naturally didn't care about those people's lives, but he couldn't help furrowing his brow. "I heard the Grey Fox God Era was an age of peace and tranquility. How could it leave behind this sort of legacy? Could the mindset of the Grey Fox God Era have been so advanced that it reached the level of necromancers, utterly disregarding the humanistic nature of corpses?"
By then, they had stepped into a palace. The guards at the entrance turned out to be three pairs of twin sorcerers. To spare manpower for guarding this palace during such a critical moment of life and death spoke volumes of how much the Twin Cult valued this place.
Only after the palace doors slowly shut did the Dark Snake Twins speak: "The Grey Fox God Era was indeed a wondrous, peaceful age. Material goods were boundlessly abundant, all living beings lived in peace and joy, everyone pursued their ideals, and society advanced steadily, like a paradise on earth."
Igola was somewhat puzzled. "Then Nightfall..."
"If it were the Grey Fox God Era," the Dark Snake Twins said as they pushed open the doors at the end of the hall, turning back to the Swindler, "that would indeed be true."
Igola stepped inside. Even though he instantly maintained his calm demeanor, surging waves of shock roiled in his eyes.
Before him was a massive biological exhibition hall, filled entirely with culture tanks of varying sizes. The smaller tanks were roughly three meters tall, each bearing a plaque with detailed information: 'Human · Male · One-Wing Sorcerer,' 'Human · Female · Two-Wing Sorcerer,' 'Beastman · Male · Three-Wing Sorcerer,' 'Elf · Female · Four-Winged Sorcerer'...
The larger culture tanks held Void Realm creatures that were virtually impossible to encounter in reality: 'Fishcleaver Dragon · Male · Juvenile,' 'Foxlantern Dragon · Female · Growing,' 'Ragecleaver Dragon · Male · Mature,' 'Shadow Evil Dragon · Male · Juvenile'...
What shocked Igola most, however, was that these culture tanks were still operating.
The creatures within were submerged in nutrient solution, connected to numerous needles and tubes, looking as though they could awaken at any moment.
"This has nothing to do with the Twin Cult," the Dark Snake Twins said from behind him. "After the Cataclysm, no cult could restore civilization to such a degree. We merely do our best to maintain the continuation of this laboratory."
"So this is a laboratory from the Grey Fox God Era?" Igola shook his head immediately after speaking. "No, based on what you said just now, this certainly isn't human experimentation that the Grey Fox God Era would conduct. In that case, it must be—"
"Did you know?" the Dark Snake Twins said suddenly. "The elves here are the last elves in Senluo."
Igola froze. "What do you mean?"
"Out there, you haven't seen a single elf, have you?"
Igola thought back. Ever since arriving in Senluo, he truly hadn't seen any elves.
"Of course you haven't," the Dark Snake Twins said. "Because the elves of Senluo were already driven to the brink of extinction as early as the Fire Cat God Era."
While the extinction of an intelligent species was not entirely unheard of, the Dark Snake Twins bringing it up so abruptly gave Igola a distinct sense of foreboding. "Were the elves deliberately driven to extinction?"
The Dark Snake Twins nodded. "Elves were the longest-lived among intelligent species, which was why they were regarded as raw material for the path to eternal life."
Igola's pupils shrank, and the name almost burst from his lips: "The Grand Law of the Fangyuan Cicada!"
"In truth, it wasn't just the Grand Law of the Fangyuan Cicada pursuing eternal life," the Dark Snake Twins murmured with a sigh. "The Grand Law of Zhishou Fire's desire to 'let ordinary people drive sorcery spirits,' the Grand Law of Chasing Light's goal to 'conquer death'—which of these wishes was easy to achieve? Without a vast amount of cruel human experimentation, how could there have been the Blue Bird God Era or the Grey Fox God Era that followed?
"The Grey Fox God Era was indeed a wondrous age everyone yearned for, but the Fire Cat God Era was not. It was a frenzied epoch where all of Senluo burned for the sake of three grand laws.
"The reason Nightfall was fortunate enough to survive the Cataclysm is that it isn't merely the legacy of Grey Fox.
"It is also the wreckage of Fire Cat."
* * *
Yaxiu glanced down at his wristwatch and saw the trial count had reached eighteen.
Although the interval between trials had lengthened from thirty minutes to sixty, they had been fighting for over ten hours straight. Between rushing onward and engaging in desperate battles, Yaxiu felt exhausted in both body and mind, even with the trial rewards replenishing his stamina.
Most absurdly, enemies they had already defeated could reappear with different 'skins.' Take Igola, for instance: after the initial 'Mind Rust Crow,' Yaxiu had encountered 'Poison Smoke Rust Crow' and 'Bomb Rust Crow.' He truly hadn't realized the man was so versatile.
Annan was the same. Aside from the 'Gun Arts Violet Moth,' an 'Infinite Firepower Violet Moth' had appeared once, unleashing the miracle 'Doran Family's Glory' the moment she took the field. Six firearms had opened fire simultaneously, nearly shredding Yaxiu and the Watcher, as if declaring, 'I'm opening with my ultimate move this time—let's see you dodge that.'
Yet as the strength of their trial opponents scaled fully to the two-wing level, Yaxiu and his companion stubbornly held out. Beyond the dramatic surge in his physical attributes, Yaxiu's 'senses' had grown increasingly sharp. Not only could he anticipate every attack, but his body could also keep pace with the speed of his consciousness.
By the time Yaxiu formed a combat strategy in his mind, his body had already executed the battle automatically.
Though he was rapidly growing stronger, Yaxiu felt little joy. Still, since the Watcher beside him voiced no opinion, he said nothing either.
When they finally reached the luminous door at the end of the passage, Yaxiu let out a sigh of relief. Yet he knew the true test was only just beginning. "How do we split them? Do you want to take Mirror Master or Silver Lantern? I'm not confident I can beat either of them."
"I'm not confident either," the Watcher said calmly.
"Then we won't split," Yaxiu said. "Since our teamwork is so good, let's join forces and make them cry."
"Agreed."
With their decision made, the two stepped through the light door into the second-stage hall.
The next second, Yaxiu arrived in a brightly lit hall. He immediately dodged to the right to evade potential ambushes, then looked around.
Then he froze.
"Where is he?"
Yaxiu had expected the light door to turn into a wall, but in the direction he had just emerged from, there was no sign of the Watcher!
Had the Watcher suddenly realized his shoelaces were loose and squatted down to tie them?
"In the Cicada Hall, the Fate Twins are separated until ten minutes pass, when the passage to the next hall opens."
Yaxiu turned his head and saw Silver Lantern standing upon the pattern in the center of the hall, still wearing her fox mask, still dressed in ceremonial finery.
"Then where did they go?"
"In another hall," Weise said. "To spend ten minutes in peace, or..."
"To decide life and death."
The moment the words left her mouth, both rushed toward each other, resuming last night's slaughter!
* * *
"Can't we just sit here for ten minutes?"
Seeing the Watcher draw his twin swords, Mirror Master sat cross-legged on the floor and raised her hands in surrender. "Kill me if you want; I'm not fighting."
The Watcher sheathed his swords and said, "An accident might happen."
"Hmm?"
"Yaxiu's foundation was too weak, so he gained the most from the trials. Combined with his aptitude..." the Watcher said, "Weise might not be able to beat him."
"I take a different view," Mirror Master giggled. "In terms of aptitude, Weise isn't lacking either. Plus, she possesses the Silver Dragon Blood body, so her physical constitution is only better than Yaxiu's, not worse.
"More importantly, she's been sulking ever since she woke up today. It's truly terrifying.
"This time, she might genuinely want to kill Yaxiu."
Chapter 576