Chapter 284: 280 The Blessing of the Gate Master

Returning to his rented inn room, Fang Mu sat on the edge of the bed and continued to flip through the "Night Wanderer Notes." With Wang Zheng no longer there to disturb him, he was able to read with more focus and immersion.

Although he had already finished the section regarding the Toad Frog God, Fang Mu could not help but feel curious and wanted to keep reading.

The content recorded in the book was unsettling. This was clearly just a translation, yet the text upon it still possessed a strange, magical power. The reader would become like one under a hypnotic spell, incredibly addicted to it, as if every word could be deeply branded into their mind; it seemed to be slowly changing a person's behavioral patterns.

Fang Mu felt his soul being submerged by an invisible darkness and the unknown; his consciousness was falling into a world filled with madness and fear.

The monsters and Alien Gods described in the book seemed to have leaped off the page, now standing in the same dimension as him. His sanity was slowly being worn away as he read, his nerves becoming increasingly taut, and his fear deepening with every passing second.

Shu and Hu, the Emperors of the South and North Seas, the God of Time and Space, after mistakenly killing the Emperor of the Center, Chaos, felt guilt in their hearts. The gods had a rift, and the Chaos Turbid Qi that leaked out after Chaos died was able to take advantage of the situation, causing both to become chaotic and insane, entangling as one, transforming into the Gate Master, who transcends all things, brings all things to one, dominates time and space, and dwells in the Ultimate Abyss.

The Gate Master, the Lord of Time and Space, the One Who Brings All Things to One, the Master Who Transcends All Things, dwells in the Ultimate Abyss. She left behind keys to open the ultimate mysteries of the universe throughout the infinite cosmos. Those fated to obtain a key will be qualified to step into the Ultimate Abyss, share supreme wisdom and supreme godhood with the Gate Master, and become an existence that transcends and is detached.

"Gate Master... Master Who Transcends All Things..." Fang Mu muttered. The scene before his eyes underwent a bizarre change; the book in his hands was slowly disintegrating, and strange, inexplicable music seemed to be drifting into his ears.

It was a sound produced by an unknown instrument, pleasant and melodious yet causing extreme discomfort, penetrating the soul while simultaneously eroding it. This was not music that should exist in the human world, much less a sound that humans were blessed to enjoy.

When Fang Mu discovered that the "Night Wanderer Notes" in his hands had completely vanished, he also snapped back from his state of immersive reading. He was instantly struck by a bone-chilling cold that eroded his entire body. His whole body was so stiff that it was difficult to move; he merely wanted to make a motion to stand up, but found he could not do it at all, and losing his balance, he fell to the side.

The place where he fell was neither soft nor hard; the ground visible to his eyes was a road of dazzling white light.

"So familiar." Fang Mu looked at the scene before him, familiar yet strange. Then, the memories he had forgotten in the deepest corners of his mind slowly surfaced. He finally recalled that he had been here many times before, yet after leaving, he had self-shielded those memories due to excessive fear.

Fang Mu heard it; that music that shaved bones and devoured souls was right ahead, inside that majestic gate.

"This is the entrance to the Ultimate Abyss, and ahead is the Ultimate Abyss Gate?" Fang Mu's breathing was heavy, his eyes turned blood-red, and fear and excitement were mixed together; for a moment, he could not distinguish his true inner emotions.

After realizing where he was, Fang Mu could not help but feel puzzled again. Why had he come to this place, and why was he able to come here?

He soon remembered that he had once used the artifacts of the predecessors of the Master Who Transcends All Things, the two gods Shu and Hu—that Nail and that Hammer. He had even used the Nail and Hammer to reopen his Ear Aperture and Eye Aperture on his own body.

"Hearing what is heard, seeing what is seen... What I am hearing now is the sound the Gate Master hears, and what I am seeing is what the Gate Master can see. I am sharing senses with her." Fang Mu finally understood, and at the same time, he was finally able to connect it to the content of the "last will" his next life had left for him.

"There is more than one blessing on my body," meaning that I am simultaneously being watched by this insane Lord of Time and Space.

Just as he thought this, Fang Mu felt several cracks split open in the surrounding environment out of thin air. Those cracks gradually outlined the shape of closed eyelids; those eyes slowly opened, and one by one, flexible, rotating eyeballs stared fixedly at him.

"Gate Master." Fang Mu's face turned deathly pale. Seeing the gradually revealing, twisted, and deformed figure of the Lord of Time and Space, he only felt that fear was about to drown his consciousness again.

Then, a series of strange, high-frequency wing-beating sounds erupted from all directions. Fang Mu quickly looked around and indeed saw the figures of giant mantises. Only, when they appeared this time, set off by those giant eyes, they seemed so small and loyal.

Fang Mu heard that group of eyes emit a sound, and immediately after, those mantises whose true forms could not be clearly seen jumped out ferociously, all swinging their hand-blades to slash at him.

Fang Mu let out a scream, closed his eyes, and rolled to the right, feeling an intense sense of weightlessness, as if his whole person had fallen into an abyss, his heart palpitations choking his throat.

Thump!

Hearing the sound of the fall, Fang Mu landed on his back. His swaying limbs gradually felt gravity and the touch of the ground, and only then did he slowly regain his calm and open his eyes again.

The dark void, the white light road, the Ultimate Gate, the endless eyes... all had vanished. All he saw was the ordinary environment of the inn room, and a disheveled version of himself who had fallen off the bed, soaked in cold sweat.

Fang Mu panted heavily, wiped away his cold sweat, and climbed up from the floor. When he stood up and saw the state of the bedding, his pupils constricted.

The mattress had been sliced open by a sharp blade, carving a strange, mysterious, and unknown symbol. For some reason, despite clearly never having seen it before, Fang Mu recognized at a glance what this symbol represented: the fallen and insane Lord of Time and Space.

"Could this be something I did?" Fang Mu could not believe it; he shook his head frantically, wanting to deny it. His reason was working rapidly—this could not have been done by him... because it was simply impossible. To be able to carve such a large symbol on this 2.2-meter bed so neatly and decisively, he would have to possess a weapon at least longer than his arm, yet he did not carry such a blade with him.

Fang Mu hugged his trembling self, thinking of those mantises that had attacked him in a swarm...

It was those mantises that did it, it must be!

Fang Mu dared not dwell on it. He rushed into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and without even taking off his clothes, stood under the water flowing from the showerhead, being drenched by the water, imagining himself as a blade of grass without a will.

Feeling the water temperature shift from icy cold to warm, his out-of-control emotions and disordered senses were also slowly returning to balance.

"The Gate Master must be related to the time travel and time loops happening to me." As Fang Mu untied his clothes, which had become heavy from being soaked through, and threw them outside the bathroom, he thought calmly, "Those mantises that appear at the end of every one of my lives and then slash me to death are the kin or Servants of the Gate Master. They must have acted against me under the Gate Master's decree."

Fang Mu leaned against the wall, looking down at the water spiraling into the drain, and muttered to himself: "This is the Gate Master's blessing to me."