Chapter 365: Black Cathedral

Darkness descended, and Yu Sheng allowed his mind to sink into this familiar, gentle stillness.

He made no attempt to temporarily shift his consciousness to the Intergalactic Inn to "wake up early," but instead relaxed, savoring this moment of peace, silently pondering amid the rare (though not truly rare) quiet, letting his thoughts drift, letting all his memories and self-awareness spread through the boundless depths of silent darkness.

He recalled everything he had seen atop that colossal beast.

Clearly, the shattered planet was the "Grand Void Pivot"—he had witnessed an end before history, a destruction before birth.

Connecting this with the Siege Colossus he had seen in that desert, and with the inscriptions within the Colossus's body, the answer was obvious.

This "Bizarre Realm" deep within the Taiyou underground mine had the property of randomly projecting scenes from the late Old World before its visitors.

But… why?

Yu Sheng had never heard of such a realm before, and all knowledge he had received from Baili Qing or Yuan Ling Zhenren had clearly told him one thing: all "information" from the Old World was blocked behind the "Event Barrier" of the "Secondary Singularity Explosion," and should never have "leaked" to this side.

…Had someone "sent" Old World information over? Was there something deep within this realm that had "recorded" Old World events? Or… was the "Event Barrier" formed by the Secondary Singularity Explosion being pierced by some force, causing Old World things to "seep" toward this side?

Or perhaps… all three were true.

His mind drifted and scattered in chaos; freed from the constraints of his body, his thoughts spread freely. He recalled many details he had previously ignored, fused all his memories together, and from them spawned countless conjectures and notions. After an unknown length of time, he felt his scattered thoughts begin to coalesce, felt his mind gradually "rise," felt himself crossing the boundary of that chaos, crossing a hazy, desolate wasteland.

In his daze, he "saw" the darkness recede, "saw" Luna with her golden hair leading her knightly order patrolling the desolate wasteland, "saw" the brass knights guarding a great bonfire that had somehow reignited, and a vast black cathedral standing inexplicably between that nameless hillock and the bonfire wasteland, its interior glowing with light, its exterior wreathed in mist.

Yu Sheng: "…"

He had nearly "come back to life," his mind already surging upward toward escape from the post-death chaos, but as he crossed the threshold, he glanced toward the Sanctuary Wasteland—and was instantly frozen in place.

Felt like he'd seen something weird, something off. Better go take another look.

With a thought, Yu Sheng, whose soul had already revived, directed his consciousness downward, "landing" directly on the Sanctuary Wasteland.

In the gray, silent wasteland, Yu Sheng lifted his head, staring blankly at the towering black cathedral with its many spires and towers—nowhere had it been before. After a long while, he finally took a step forward.

The massive, solemn door, seemingly cast from black iron, opened of its own accord as he approached, its creaking echo reverberating through the thin mist surrounding the cathedral.

Yu Sheng instantly had the illusion that any second, a rousing BGM would blare, with a woman singing in the middle, and a health bar would suddenly appear atop the cathedral…

He shook his head, shaking off these bizarre associations, then stepped forward with a mix of curiosity and confusion.

He passed through a corridor about ten meters long, crossed the outer wall with its narrow windows and continuous spires, and reached the cathedral's courtyard, paved with pale stone slabs. On either side of the path stood numerous flowerbeds and nurseries, where dark soil nurtured pale or gray plants and unnamed flowers, quietly blooming in beds of varying sizes—yet all these plants seemed utterly lifeless, stagnant and dead within their nurseries and flowerbeds.

Yu Sheng passed through the courtyard and entered the cathedral's main building.

The heavy doors opened as he neared, revealing a vast, silent chapel: rows of empty pews lined beneath arched ceilings and narrow spire-windows; a deep red carpet stretched the length of the chapel; black floor-standing candlesticks stood everywhere, each bearing no wax or oil, yet floating midair in clusters of pale flames that illuminated the surroundings.

Yu Sheng slowly walked past the pews to the chapel's end—when suddenly, he heard rapid footsteps.

He turned and saw someone pushing open the chapel's door—a figure clad in silver-white female armor, golden hair cascading down, a radiant holy sword at her waist, standing at the threshold.

"It really is you!" Luna's face lit up with a smile as she hurried forward, speaking quickly, "Ailin was outside muttering that you'd probably wake up soon, so I felt movement here in the cathedral and rushed back with the knights…"

Yu Sheng listened, stunned, then finally interrupted: "Wait, wait—let me speak first—what the hell is this cathedral?"

"Ah, I forgot to tell you," Luna realized, quickly explaining, "This is the headquarters of the Fireguard Knights."

Yu Sheng: "…What?"

"The Fireguard Knights," Luna said solemnly, "That's the name we gave ourselves. Though right now, including me, we're only thirteen knights."

Yu Sheng understood perfectly—but that didn't stop him from being stunned: "Did you guys build this cathedral?!"

"Yes."

"…How did you build it?!" Yu Sheng's eyes nearly bulged out. "I mean, this thing is huge—I last came here and this was just barren land… Forget how you built it, where did you even get the materials?!"

Luna thought seriously, then looked steadily into Yu Sheng's eyes: "By thinking."

Yu Sheng: "?"

He wore an expression of "this serious female knight suddenly saying this word—what's wrong with her?" but after holding that gaze for a moment, he suddenly understood something.

"…Learned from me?"

Luna nodded: "Yes."

"Copying how I shaped things in the valley?"

"Yes," Luna nodded again, then added quickly, "Watching you shape things in the valley, I vaguely felt I 'understood' some knowledge. Then my knights and I realized we could do similar things in this wasteland dominated by souls and consciousness. Since there was nothing here, and everyone needed a place to stay, we discussed it and decided to build a base for the knightly order."

"Of course, this is all a clumsy imitation of your art—if we hadn't seen you shaping things in the valley, we'd never have grasped this knowledge…"

Yu Sheng listened, dumbfounded, then his eyebrow twitched. He looked up at the grand, majestic cathedral—its artistic height at least seven or eight stories—and couldn't help asking: "You… designed all this?"

"Yes, mostly me, but everyone gave input—we mostly drew inspiration from our homeland's architecture and some scenes from Ailin's favorite games."

Yu Sheng instantly understood why standing at the cathedral's entrance gave him the feeling that a rousing BGM might erupt at any moment, and that the cathedral might sprout a health bar.

He hesitated, then asked hesitantly: "…How long did it take you to build?"

Luna opened her mouth to answer, then suddenly realized something, coughed twice awkwardly, and looked uncomfortable: "It actually took a long time—building this cathedral was difficult. We made many mistakes; some structures still aren't satisfactory, and we'll need to keep adjusting them."

Yu Sheng: "How long?"

Luna lowered her head honestly: "…Half a day."

Yu Sheng: "…"

"You, you created far grander things in the valley," Luna immediately tried to make him feel better, "Especially that magnificent teleportation nexus…"

Yu Sheng looked up at the sky, saying nothing.

What could he say? Luna and her knights had built a cathedral whose candlesticks even bore the Inn's logo, while his own teleportation nexus still relied on jumping from second floor to first.

Though now there was an elevator.

"Alright, at least I know you built it," Yu Sheng sighed, then smiled at Luna. "How's things outside?"

"Everyone's at Queyun Palace," Luna said. "They're discussing what happened in the realm, and waiting for you to return."

"Hmm, good. I'll head back then," Yu Sheng nodded, his figure beginning to fade. "See you in the world of the living."

Luna smiled, bowing slightly to Yu Sheng's fading shadow: "We'll see you in the world of the living."

In the Queyun Palace hall of Qianfeng Spirit Mountain, a phantom door materialized in midair.

The door opened, and Yu Sheng stepped out.

As soon as he emerged, Hu Li's cheerful voice rang out beside him: "Master, you're back!"

"Back, back," Yu Sheng waved before his eyes, adapting to the myriad colors and sounds of the world of the living, then smiled, reached out, and rubbed the down behind the ears of the fox Miss who was poking her head over, before turning to look at the crowd before him, "Everyone's here."

Luna slowly raised her head from behind the crowd and waved at him.

"Everyone's here, just waiting for you," Irene stood on the ground with hands on her hips, "Where did you run off to just now?"

Yu Sheng could only awkwardly scratch his head: "Go take a look in the Sheltered Wasteland later, there's a surprise."

Irene: "?"

(End of this chapter)