Chapter 204: Exploring the Wang Ting

Under the dim yellow light, Daryk turned back to look at the guards and residents standing at the entrance of Silver City; their expressions were solemnly grave, fists pressed to their foreheads as they saw the group off.

Daryk unconsciously clenched his fist and turned forward again; Chief Colin Iliat walked ahead of him, carrying two straight swords, and slightly farther ahead, the Pope and Mr. World led the way.

Everyone carried dim yellow lanterns made of animal hide, stepping silently and resolutely along the path shrouded in darkness.

Kleine was inventorying his current sealed objects; few could be useful within the Wang Ting—the Star Staff and the "Curtain" imbued with Sequence 9 to Sequence 1 were the priorities.

Yes, during his stay in Silver City, Kleine hunted the Dark Demon Wolf Kotal; unfortunately, the creature still escaped, and he could not recover its Sequence Two divine essence.

It is extremely difficult to kill an angel outright, especially one of the "Fortune Teller" path; as a God of Wishes, He has the chance to resurrect—even a True God cannot guarantee His annihilation unless another True God of the same path acts.

Kleine originally intended to gift the demon wolf's divine essence to Su Lin, but the timing was not right, and there was nothing he could do; he himself knew that a Fortune Teller, once determined to flee, was nearly impossible to catch.

After crossing the long darkness, passing through the "Forest of Decay," the "Barren Tunnel," and the "Ancient Elevator," they arrived at the place where the Guardians resided.

This was the Wang Ting, a "divine realm" left over from the ancient era.

The orange-red light rippling around the Wang Ting resembled sunset, bringing a wave of weariness and fatigue that urged the travelers to rest.

The towering complex of palaces and Gao Ta above still retained the lingering glow of the Second Era; myths written since primordial times continued into the present, and they, now, would bring this myth to its conclusion.

"Wait for me a moment." Kleine turned his head back, offered no further explanation, and pulled two items from his chest.

Senior Zhongli glanced at the items in Kleine's arms: a deep black wooden box and a black key; he nodded slightly, his gaze filled with approval and admiration, and said, "Go. Fulfill your promise."

A jade barrier shield enveloped Kleine; he did not pause, slipped the "Crawling Hunger" onto his left hand, and flickered toward the Guardians' residence via the restricted "short-range teleportation."

"That's not the direction of the Wang Ting," Daryk asked curiously, "Is the box in Mr. World's hands a sealed object?"

"That is the Guardians' residence. The box contains the ashes of his comrade, Grosseur," Senior Zhongli explained. "Mr. World is fulfilling a promise—to return this giant, who could never go home, to his own land."

Senior Zhongli's words exploded like thunder in the minds of all in Silver City.

'Mr. World's comrade?!'

Daryk's eyes widened; he suddenly understood why Mr. World had become a retainer of Mr. Fool.

'So Mr. World is a warrior who slept since ancient times!'

"Great being, was he once also a guardian of the Wang Ting?" asked Colin Iliat.

Colin Iliat harbored confusion; although Kleine's earlier words in Silver City had logic, from a believer's perspective, they were not particularly "devout."

He still could not determine whether this being was, as Daryk claimed, a god, for from his perception of transcendent power, this one was also a Sequence 4 entity.

"Not at all," Senior Zhongli shook his head. "It's complicated. He, along with that giant guardian and warriors from different eras, jointly waged a secret, legendary battle against a dragon named the King of the North."

"The giant guardian named Grosseur fought bravely, yet fell at the very moment before dawn broke."

As Senior Zhongli spoke, his gaze swept across Colin Iliat and Lovia.

"But his sacrifice brought hope to his companions; ultimately, they opened the path forward."

As Senior Zhongli spoke, he also communicated with Paleth.

'Among them was your descendant, Mobet.'

'Heh, I already guessed how that boy ended up. Not bad.'

Colin Iliat fell silent; he felt the being's words had been prophetic. After a moment, he smiled: "For a warrior, such a sacrifice is worth it."

The exchange did not last long. Kleine kept "flickering" back to the group's side and softly said, "Let's go."

After advancing less than ten minutes, the group reached the tallest, most magnificent structure within the Wang Ting.

Though the wonders along the way were awe-inspiring, none compared to the path ahead; whether Daryk or Chief Colin, the deeper they entered the royal city, the more their eyes betrayed their growing awe.

They were ready—eager to make their final stand against this millennia-old fate!

The twilight light, like a tangible substance, coated the palace's surface, radiating a powerful sense of decay—as if all things in the world were nearing their end.

On either side of the palace, one end bore spired roofs, the other, circular towers.

The main entrance was painted gray and blue, adorned with symmetrical and mysterious symbols; its overall height far exceeded ten meters.

"I'll go," Senior Zhongli said to Kleine—this was his purpose in coming to the Land of the Forsaken Gods.

Kleine nodded and handed the black iron key, shaped like a seven-stringed lute, into Senior Zhongli's palm.

At Kleine's gesture, the Silver City exploration team moved to a position behind him.

Senior Zhongli closed his eyes; his figure blurred in place, then split into two. His Sequence 4 avatar, holding the key, stepped toward the deep Kong Dong on the great door.

Thud. As the key inserted, the door's symbols, markings, and patterns glowed blue; the arcane designs intertwined.

The heavy door slowly pressed inward; the first sensation was a rising and falling tide-like sound.

Senior Zhongli's avatar stood motionless as the endless, viscous, shadowy ocean from within the door surged forth and swallowed him whole.

Senior Zhongli did not sever his connection to the avatar; instead, he used a secret technique to preemptively slice off a small fragment of his soul as a buffer, inscribing upon it divine talismans of varying effects, containing a core of luminous order energy provided by Su Lin—he intended to use this to resist corruption.

Yet even so, a black line appeared at the corner of his true body's eye.

"Acceptable," Senior Zhongli had barely finished speaking when, beneath the eternal orange-red light, his shadow on the ground began to writhe.

Ding

A long spear interwoven with gold and Jin Xuan colors pierced through the writhing shadow and pinned it firmly to the ground before it could fully separate.

Senior Zhongli raised his left hand to his temple; intense pain throbbed in his left skull, as if a red-hot iron rod had been thrust inside and was being twisted.

"So this is what corruption and erosion feel like? Slightly different," Senior Zhongli murmured, lowering his gaze. "All these years… you've suffered."

Indiscernible mutterings, chaotic

This spiritual corruption clung like a parasitic worm, taking root in his soul, attempting to reshape its original environment.

At that moment, the orange light streaming from outside turned golden; the entire Wang Ting became brilliantly bright.

A phantom sun suddenly appeared in midair—the noonday sun, unseen in the Land of the Forsaken Gods for millennia, had returned. Though illusory, its light was undeniably real, delivering an overwhelming shock to the people of Silver City, who had never seen sunlight.

Senior Zhongli endured the pain, swept his left hand over his head to tidy his hair, drew forth the Fate Spear "Gungnir" from the dragon world, and fixed his gaze unwaveringly on the avatar now encased in a sphere of black ocean.

Gradually, the black force seemed absorbed by the object at its center, shrinking in diameter until Senior Zhongli's avatar's form was revealed.

His face, identical to his own, was veiled in shadow; his hair, once light brown, had turned pitch black, its bound strands now loose and falling to his shoulders in gentle curls.

Behind him, pair after pair of dark, ethereal wings unfurled, as he looked down upon the crowd from above.

The battle in reality had not yet begun, but deep within Senior Zhongli's consciousness, an identical figure had already engaged him in combat, an invisible aura of killing intent pervading the void between them.

Tap tap tap.

From either side of the great door, two "Silver Knights" over five or six meters tall stepped out one pace at a time. They wore finely crafted, sturdy silver full-body armor; one wielded a greatsword, the other an axe, radiating an overwhelming pressure.

Miss Kelaien's gaze sharpened as he realized these two "Silver Knights" had not, as in the original work, remained guarding the inside of the door, but had sensed some summons and come out on their own.

Boom boom boom.

Miss Kelaien looked around — one by one, golems over ten meters tall were also walking toward this place from afar. Along both sides of the divine kingdom's staircase, giant statues descended step by step.

A sudden whistling sound rang out. Golden Jade Barrier shields lit up simultaneously on Miss Kelaien's side, and correspondingly, those Silver Knights and statues also lit up with pitch-black Jade Barrier shields?!

"Clearly the shadow has already been bound by me, yet information was still stolen? Perhaps it's related to you being a clone." Senior Zhongli's back bent slightly, the long spear in his hand sliding along his right arm to lie flat against his back.

"Speaking by common sense, I should be unable to stop you; my odds of winning are less than one in ten." The black Senior Zhongli spoke slowly, his tone calm: "But you want a more direct experience of the corruption, and at the same time you want to study the essence of this power, so you will stay here and entangle yourself with me."

"Indeed." Senior Zhongli nodded.

After both sides fell silent for a second, their figures vanished from where they stood in an instant. At the same moment, hundreds of sparks exploded simultaneously in the sky outside the great door, and the clang of iron meeting iron rang out from every place where sparks bloomed.

"Go!" Miss Kelaien roused the others of the City of Silver, and after switching with his Historical Projection, charged toward the inside of the great door.

Along the way, those "Silver Knights" and "golems" surged toward the invaders bearing black shields. Miss Kelaien could not help but feel a headache coming on — although the enemy could not break through their side's defenses either, this undoubtedly meant being bogged down in a stalemate.

Bang bang bang—

The golden shields on everyone's bodies blazed with dazzling light and then shattered apart. A soundless wave swept across the entire area, and the black shields on those Silver Knights were dissolved by this tide.

And at that very moment, Colin seized the timing. Around him rose a "Storm of Light" woven from sheets of dawn, sweeping forward.

The golems shattered, while the "Silver Knights," who were already at the demigod level, borrowed the light to hide, their forms vanishing.

The projection of the Messenger Young Lady "Reinette Tinekerr" stepped out soundlessly from the top of the staircase. Miss Kelaien had summoned this angel's projection before Senior Zhongli and his clone began fighting, letting her conceal herself in a hidden position.

As this Messenger Young Lady took a step forward, her figure abruptly vanished, and at an empty space ahead, a Silver Knight was revealed, having been possessed.

As Miss Kelaien's figure crossed with that Silver Knight's — snap — Miss Kelaien snapped his fingers, and that Silver Knight very obediently followed behind Miss Kelaien; he had already become a marionette.

Following the same method, among the procession entering that deep great door, three armored knight marionettes had been added.

Southern Continent, Hand of Silver outpost, near the fountain in the central plaza.

"Anduin, do you say whether life is always boring and tedious?" In Su Lin's hand was a ring of light, within which was released a Holy Light forbidden spell — a divine-tier spell, the Seal of Eternity.

Amon pushed up his monocle carved from a water mirror and said:

"Honestly, I suspect your name is making some kind of jab at me?"

"Didn't you go adventuring according to those maps I gave you? Gave up that quickly?"

Su Lin sighed, channeled this mark into Amon's clone body, and said wistfully:

"At first, I immersed myself in the atmosphere, feeling the pressure brought by those environments and the bizarre, but every time I reached a boss — sorry, you don't understand that."

"Put another way, every time I found the source of the bizarre, those creatures with starry backdrops that could actually fight me took one look at me and ran."

"By the way, aren't there any Earth-native ones among your maps? For example, monsters left over from the First Epoch?"

Amon fell silent for a moment. He had deliberately told Su Lin about these locations suspected of being connected to Outer Deities of the starry sky precisely to let those Outer Deities cause this fellow some trouble.

Now it seemed, the upheavals that had occurred in the starry sky exceeded his imagination.

"No." Amon, sensing that the master-servant link between himself and his main body had been weakened, asked in puzzlement: "Are you trying to turn me into an independent entity?"

Su Lin nodded and smiled: "Because doing so seems like it would be quite interesting."

"Interesting." Amon expressed his agreement: "This power called Holy Light is very unique. I think even my main body would attempt something similar here — separating the self out and then trying to master this power."

"Can you return my Beyonder characteristic to me? I want to study the vulnerabilities of this power."

Su Lin took out from his storage pouch the Beyonder characteristic of Sequence 6 of the Thief pathway. Amon's clone's original Sequence 4 Beyonder characteristic had already been made into a card by him.

"Wow~." Amon took the Beyonder characteristic and sighed: "I thought you would only give me a low-level Sequence 8 characteristic."

"Does it matter? Once it's in your hands, you can work wonders with it anyway." Su Lin shrugged — this Amon was, after all, the sort that couldn't escape.

After Su Lin left, Amon looked toward an empty bench nearby and asked in puzzlement: "Why would you get involved in this matter?"

On the bench, a figure appeared from within Amon's perception — it had been there all along, simply unobserved.

It was Adam, dressed in a plain white robe, with a thick golden beard.

In his hand he was turning the pages of a book with a red cover, slowly reading the text upon it.

"This has nothing to do with the greater picture, and besides, isn't this exactly the outcome you wanted?" In Adam's azure eyes were reflected those words translated from Russian. The index finger of his right hand slid slowly across the text, savoring it word by word, sentence by sentence.

"Heh." Amon pinched the monocle on his right eye socket and smiled: "I just don't understand — He asked you for help and you actually helped. Are you two on very good terms?"

"I am not close with Him. Even though your main body just stole my Bone Cathedral, I do not intend to get involved in this matter." Adam said casually, the corner of his mouth curving into a faint smile:

"But, He called me comrade."

End of chapter.