Yaxiu had never imagined that fate could be so bizarrely twisted.
Legends standing at the pinnacle of sorcery were swimming desperately for their lives in the Flowing Gold River.
The remnants of the Grey Fox Divine Era from a bygone age had turned on one another and begun slaughtering their fellows the moment they woke.
And enemies who, just half an hour ago, could not bear to breathe the same air or stand beneath the same sky now had no choice but to work together to weather the crisis.
Only now did Yaxiu, the uninvited interloper, finally piece together what had actually happened.
Without question, Silver Lantern had known nothing at all about the Cicada Song Feast. She had merely known that Nightfall held a dormant Divine Fire system that could be activated. But because the Divine Fire system required citizen authentication, she had broken into the Transcendence Cult to seize the Resonance Strings Grand Law.
As for how she knew that the Resonance Strings Grand Law could grant her citizenship, or that Nightfall harbored a Divine Fire system... there were simply too many possible sources of information: the Sorcerer Handbook in the Void Realm, secrets of cults she had wiped out, or perhaps she was even a sorcerer of a faction related to fate and prophecy.
In this world, not even the dead could keep secrets.
Moreover, much as Yaxiu disliked Silver Lantern, he had to admit that she possessed extraordinary tenacity and drive.
For someone like her, once she set her sights on a goal, the entire world would yield to her path.
Just as she had said in the Transcendence Building: fate was the echo of humanity shouting into the Void Realm.
Yet Silver Lantern had only wanted to become a Divine Fire seed; she had never anticipated that the Divine Fire was merely a subordinate trial in this place. Because she had become a Divine Fire seed possessing the limit of time talent, she had instinctively triggered a resonance with the Void Realm, to the point where even her Gate of Truth could no longer stay sealed and had burst wide open, drawing in the waters of the Flowing Gold River.
The other legendary sorcerers were in the same predicament. They had sealed themselves inside statues not just to halt their aging, but more importantly, to use the external environment to forcefully shut their Gates of Truth—a wildly absurd comparison popped into Yaxiu's mind, but he caught himself before letting the thought run wild.
This was also why the legends had slept for over two centuries without developing aftereffects like "Undirected Frantic Intermittent Systemic Dysfunction Syndrome." After all, those aftereffects were essentially the result of temporal toxicity and erosion from the Flowing Gold River. But since they had continuously maintained the limit of time talent and could even freely swim in the river, how could they possibly be poisoned and eroded by its waters?
Though both had run into unexpected complications, Silver Lantern's problem was that what she had not wanted to appear had appeared, while the legends' problem was that what was supposed to appear had failed to show up.
To this group of lingering former legends, the Square-Round Cicada Immortality Plan was their final lifeline. If the plan had simply failed, they would have resigned themselves to fate; they just had never expected that the plan had never even reached its final phase.
According to Yaxiu's guess, the Square-Round Cicada Cult likely would not have dared to deceive these legends. Legends were not lone wolves; they had friends, masters, and disciples. If the Square-Round Cicada Cult dared to play tricks, the sorcerers waiting outside had not had their sorcery spirits sealed.
Yet the ways of the world were unpredictable. When the Great Cataclysm erupted in Senluo, all the sorcerers—indeed, all adults—vanished without a trace. Consequently, the Cicada Song plan was shelved indefinitely, until he and Silver Lantern broke in and inadvertently restarted this immortality project that had been gathering dust for more than two hundred years.
Thinking of this, it would be a lie to say Yaxiu didn't regret it—if he hadn't come in, Silver Lantern would have surely reaped what she sowed and died down here. They could have waited up above for a few days until the blood seed vanished, then happily searched for a way home, quickly leaving the wasteland of Senluo for the Gospel, the Stars, or even the Blood Moon.
Back then, when facing the Bloodmad Hunter Gerard, I sat there like a harmless lackey and got captured. But now, I'm a Sanctuary sorcerer. If we meet again, I'll definitely make sure he... can't catch me.
Yaxiu would have to be insane to willingly cross the Blood Saint clan. After all, Gerard hadn't been targeting him; he had been after the cult leader Heath. At the end of the day, Gerard had merely been carrying out official duties. If Yaxiu truly returned to the Blood Moon, the most he would do was avenge Harvey, visit friends like Freya, and then continue looking for a way to cross into other realms.
Yet, cursed by sheer misfortune, he had insisted on charging into the trial. Although meeting the Watcher was a welcome stroke of luck, there was no escaping now!
The Flowing Gold River had erupted, the Square-Round Cicada was revived, yet instead of feasting on the immortal cicada, the trial-takers were about to become its snacks!
What was worse, before the Square-Round Cicada had even caught up, infighting had already broken out. The river's current depended on the number of tributaries; the slower the current, the further upstream they could swim. And the number of tributaries was tied directly to the life and death of the sorcerers. Thus, the more people who died, the further the survivors could flee!
These legendary and Sanctuary sorcerers, capable of overturning laws and reversing causality in the outside world, now embarked on an unprecedented battle royale within the Flowing Gold River.
"Ibrahim, Casillas, I'll be waiting for you at Ruby Mountain!"
Accompanied by a shrill curse, a legend nearly three meters tall was washed downstream by the rushing waters. Perhaps he possessed some exotic bloodline, or perhaps he had fortified his flesh through an Ascetic miracle; in the outside world, his colossal frame would have served as armor granting high physical resistance or even magic immunity. Yet inside the Flowing Gold River, his massive body made him nothing more than the perfect target.
Both his arms and legs had been broken, his joints twisted into terrifying angles, and his wrists were bleeding profusely—his tendons had clearly been severed. If not for such measures, it would have been impossible to completely incapacitate a legendary sorcerer.
At that moment, the Square-Round Cicada happened to finish its previous little snack. Nature had promptly delivered another chewy, hearty portion of fine cuisine, causing its chirps to take on a distinctly cheerful tone.
Yet just as the legends had anticipated, it did not move while eating, so it remained rooted at the lower end of the Flowing Gold River.
Sensing the current slow, the trial-takers halted their fighting and scrambled to swim upstream. However, after the brutal underwater skirmish just now, everyone subconsciously kept their distance from one another. Yaxiu and Weise stayed at the very rear of the group, not daring to get anywhere near the main force.
When Meisi, swimming at the very front, met peak resistance once more, he glanced back at the crowd.
"How truly pathetic."
He said, "I, Meisi Wubainian, am a triple-discipline legend, director of the Institute of the Long-Lived's Blood. I have traversed four realms, explored the relics of angels, and earned the title of 'Gear of Time.' Before me, no time legend could compare to me. After me, Sijiadi, Yunni, you are merely successors walking in my footsteps."
None of the individuals Meisi singled out offered a rebuttal, showing that in the Grey Fox Divine Era, Meisi had indeed been a lofty legend second only to the grand laws.
"Now, the era we knew has passed, and we, these lingering husks, are about to pay the price for our cowardice and fear of death by becoming fodder for the Square-Round Cicada," Meisi said. "Tearing at one another like fish and crabs just to fight for a sliver of hope... but if we cannot consume a single bite of the Square-Round Cicada, even if we manage to walk out of the Flowing Gold River, how much longer can any of us live? A month? An hour?"
The legends' expressions shifted slightly. Unlike Yaxiu and Weise, they had entered the Cicada Song plan precisely because their days were already numbered. Once they left this place or their time talent expired, they would be like long-buried antiques unearthed from tombs, swiftly rusting and rotting away, popping like fragile bubbles at the slightest touch.
"Death alone is an unavoidable fate," Yaxiu heard Silver Lantern murmur softly beside him. "Eternity alone is the sole salvation."
Yaxiu had almost forgotten he was still holding Silver Lantern's hand. Lacking the lifespans of legends, the two of them had to link their lives together just to barely swim against the current of time. Yaxiu was already thoroughly resentful and self-reproachful over the fact that he had to cooperate with Silver Lantern to survive. Now that she had the gall to preach—or rather, mutter to herself—he couldn't suppress a petty surge of vindictiveness, so he squeezed her hand hard.
Weise turned her head in shock, looking at him. Coming to his senses, Yaxiu felt his face flush red. He should either let go and slash her down, or grip tight and fight side by side; what kind of petty, childish vengeance was this? This was the Flowing Gold River, not a preschool nursery.
Just as Yaxiu sheepishly prepared to let go, a sudden pinch of pain shot through his palm—Silver Lantern was squeezing his hand back with all her might. And so the two of them carried on with a petty game that even kindergarteners would scoff at, squeezing each other's hands beneath the water in mutual retaliation.
"Meisi," Sijiadi said, opening one eye to reveal a clock-dial eyeball within. "If you have something to say, just say it."
"Fleeing is useless," Meisi said. "The plan proceeds. We must eat the Square-Round Cicada."
"Eat it how?" another person asked. "I didn't replace my teeth with the sharp fangs of a Ragecleaver Dragon."
"Didn't you bring knives and forks?" Meisi produced a dagger, its blade gleaming with a faint grey light that looked somewhat familiar to Yaxiu. "No matter how sharp our weapons are, they can only resist the Flowing Gold River; they can't possibly withstand the toxic erosion of the Square-Round Cicada. But if we can carve out even a single wound and drink a drop of its fluid, that will count as our victory."
Only then did Yaxiu realize that their clothes, weapons, and even Silver Lantern's mask had not been corroded or worn away by the Flowing Gold River; otherwise, this massacre would have turned into a giant communal bath. However, the Flowing Gold River could not possibly affect only living organisms, which meant their clothing and weapons had been designed from the outset with the river's influence in mind.
Yaxiu glanced down at his Honeyed Tongue Dagger; as expected, it was completely fine. It seemed items produced by *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* were quite dependable after all.
"You mean we should all go back together, heavily wound the Square-Round Cicada, and eat as much of it as we can?" Casillas asked, deep worry etched across his face. "But—"
"Do you think we have any other way to survive?" Meisi countered. "Does stepping out of the Flowing Gold River, catching one glimpse of Senluo two hundred years later, and having your soul extinguished sound that appealing to you?"
"We no longer have a past," Meisi said, clenching the dagger between his teeth. "We cannot lose our future as well!"
"Strike while it's still eating!" With a powerful leap, he surged downstream toward the Square-Round Cicada. "Gear of Time, Meisi!"
Yaxiu and Weise heard several heavy sighs rise among the legends, followed by their defiant battle cries, one after another:
"Moon Shadow Blade, Disigao."
"Night and Flame, Baofang."
"Soaring Phantom Bird, Cecil."
"Silver Triumph, Kathleen."
In an instant, nearly ten legendary sorcerers followed Meisi in charging the Square-Round Cicada. The giant insect continued devouring the giant legend, seemingly indifferent to their movements.
*Clang!*
When the legend named Disigao swung his blade, a continuous flurry of afterimages erupted, carving into the Square-Round Cicada in an apparent instant. Even watching from afar, Yaxiu felt his hairs stand on end, a chill creeping along the centerline of his body as if the strike had landed on him!
A swordsmanship of the legendary realm!
Without sorcery spirits, without miracles, purely by swinging a blade combined with the limit of his time talent, he had unleashed a slash that distorted time itself, projecting a psychological shockwave even across the distance!
If he had unleashed a swordsmanship miracle unrestrained in the outside world, a vast crowd of spectators might have dropped dead simply from watching the strike!
"Coward."
Silver Lantern's ridicule was as punctual as ever. Yaxiu shot her a cold glare, suddenly grabbing her wrist—impressive, how did you manage to keep goosebumps from spreading past your palm?
You bastard, weren't you terrified by that legendary swordsmanship too?!
Though the other legends did not possess legendary swordsmanship, all of them had close-combat prowess at least on par with the Sanctuary realm. Assaulting the Square-Round Cicada in succession, they actually succeeded in gouging out several wounds that oozed fluid!
Could this really work?!
Just as Weise seemed tempted to move, Yaxiu yanked her hand hard, swimming desperately upstream!
"*Zhi—*"
Before the legends could even stick out their tongues to lick the fluid, the Square-Round Cicada let out an unprecedented cry. In a flash, every single injury on its body vanished!
"*—liao!*"
With that second cry, the legends besieging the Square-Round Cicada all transformed into heaps of dry bones draped in empty clothes!
Even those legends who had not yet leapt onto the cicada and had merely drifted a bit too close turned into withered bones as well!
Remarkably, the waters of the Flowing Gold River around the Square-Round Cicada hollowed out slightly for a moment, though the void was swiftly refilled.
The surviving trial-takers were struck dumb by the sight. Near Yaxiu and Weise, a middle-aged sorcerer suddenly surfaced—it was Meisi.
Meisi stared fixedly at the Square-Round Cicada, his eyes filled with a mixture of terror and fanaticism.
"The Square-Round Cicada... can cast spells?"
Chapter 594