Chapter 487: Divine War Ruins

Here float many ruins, and various mutated monsters exist, even including numerous out‑of‑control demigods and ancient evil creatures.

Jia Deliya drew near at some unknown moment, her gaze solemnly fixed on the window, her tone tinged with a sigh.

Ke Lai En also approached after hearing Jia Deliya's sigh; his expression slightly solemn as he thought for a moment before speaking:

"This shouldn't be the most dangerous, right? Otherwise this place would just become a treasure trove for the Seven Great Churches to obtain high‑sequence traits and materials."

Jia Deliya nodded, her voice a bit wavering as she continued:

"Indeed, for extraordinary beings of our level, the real danger here is that you can never guess what you'll encounter the next second—perhaps merely approaching a ruin, your body suddenly melts like a lit candle, or you might be petrified, or blown apart by a raging wind."

Ke Lai En turned his head, asking sharply:

"What about extraordinary beings beyond our level?"

Jia Deliya's probing gaze fell on Lei Ke Dun; seeing he showed no unusual reaction, she continued:

"This sea is filled with sounds that should not be heard; the higher the sequence, the stronger the spirit, the easier it is to hear. This is why the demigods who dare explore here encounter problems—they become either mad or out of control, forever lost in this place."

Hearing Jia Deliya's description, Ke Lai En looked toward Lei Ke Dun with a somewhat worried gaze.

Lei Ke Dun leaned on the wooden chair at the dining table, curling his lips as he said:

"Probably someone keeps rapping next to my ear. To be honest, it doesn't sound very good. Of course, occasionally it speaks to me clearly, but I don't understand it."

Ke Lai En's mouth twitched slightly; he wasn't sure whether the other was disparaging rap or the sounds that fill this sea.

"Rap?" Jia Deliya said with a slightly tongue‑twisting accent, her tone full of curiosity.

She didn't wait for Lei Ke Dun's clarification, and continued:

"Does 'can't understand' refer to the language itself, or the inability to grasp the meaning those sounds convey?"

"You'd better block out those sounds; listening to them for too long, even as a demigod, will inevitably drive you mad. Many out‑of‑control, mad demigods already exist here."

Lei Ke Dun nodded solemnly, indicating he understood.

"These sounds don't affect me much; they're just a bit unpleasant."

As he spoke, his gaze lingered on Xi Si, who had just stepped out of the shadows, noticing the cold, indifferent eye behind him that seemed formed of starlight.

That eye shimmered with pure radiance, separating him from the omnipresent shadow veil around, preventing him from passively hearing the True Creator's voice that fills this sea.

Ho! Ho!

A hoarse yet clear breathing sound echoed in the ears of all crew aboard the Future, like the sound of a massive airflow moving in and out of a throat—slow, rhythmic, with an indescribably eerie feeling that pricked everyone's nerves.

As the Rose Bishop, Xi Si suddenly covered his head with both hands, emitting a low, pained hum:

"There's a corpse there."

While he spoke, Lei Ke Dun had already turned his gaze there, seeing a massive figure wandering among the broken ruins not far away.

It stood nearly ten meters tall, its skin rotting and oozing pus; the pale yellow pus mixed with tiny tufts of fuzz, only a small portion retained intact gray‑blue skin.

It had no head on its neck, yet its throat could be seen clearly, expanding and contracting as if breathing hard, producing the huge, clear breathing sound around it.

Midday sunlight around it turned a dim yellow, gathering like a tangible, poised 'Twilight Storm'; anything touched by that dim glow would decay, rot, wither, and eventually die.

A giant that devoured the Phoenix's traits? Even after losing those traits, it can still wield power near Sequence Three, largely thanks to the peculiarities of these ruins.

As thoughts drifted, he heard Jia Deliya's calm, clear voice:

"Accelerate and bypass that area, don't get close!"

The ship's sailors finally snapped to attention, sprinting from the dining hall to their stations; under the command of Chief Navigator Otto Rolf and Sailor Leader Nina, they quickly adjusted the sails and altered the course.

Only after the ruin formed by stacked stones and pillars vanished below the sea surface did Xi Si, who had been covering his head, recover.

"What was that corpse just now? Can the mere breathing of a corpse provoke such a huge reaction?"

Ke Lai En looked at Lei Ke Dun with curious eyes; he had noticed that the other had glanced toward the direction of the sound, and a probing gaze would surely uncover something.

Lei Ke Dun lowered his head, looking at the cold food on his plate with no desire to continue eating; he lifted the nearby cup of wine, took a sip of the red wine, and then said calmly:

"A giant that harbors the 'Grim Reaper' pathway trait; perhaps it was once an angel. Even though it is now dead and has lost its original traits, it can still manifest Sequence Three‑level power thanks to the peculiarities here."

"Lost its original traits?"

Ke Lai En gave Lei Ke Dun a strange look, as if saying, "No wonder you have no extra reaction; that corpse can no longer explode equipment."

Then he shifted his gaze to Xi Si, who was seated in the backlight, his complexion still clearly not good.

Although he has passed the 'Listener' stage, he still retains the Listener's trait; even without actively using that ability, he is more perceptive than ordinary extraordinary beings in incidents like earlier. If one day his condition is too good or too bad, he might directly hear the mutterings that fill this sea.

Lei Ke Dun turned his head toward Ke Lai En, seeming to understand the question behind his calm expression, and laughed lightly:

"No need to worry; although the magical item he carries can't truly block the sounds that fill this sea, as long as you don't leave the Future, nothing will happen."

"No trouble as long as you stay on the Future? Does the ship have such arrangements?" As the Star General, Jia Deliya could not have missed these questions. Ke Lai En mused silently for a moment, then stopped pondering and focused on eating the food before him.

Having abandoned his plan to continue lunch, Lei Ke Dun rose from his seat, stepped out of the dining hall onto the deck, and gazed at the sea, now bathed in a golden sheen under the midday sun.

After strolling on the deck for a while, his spirit suddenly felt a stir; ahead of the Future on the sailing sea, a massive luminous point, its dreamlike radiance revealed by refracted sunlight, appeared.

Curious, Lei Ke Dun turned his head to look over, his gaze piercing the outer dazzling brilliance, seeing four massive pillars carved from diamond within, upon which floated a sizable island.

His gaze continued deeper into the island, sweeping over charred, scorching earth, where he saw two steeds seemingly forged of gold; behind them pulled a splendid chariot also of gold. They radiated sunlight‑like brilliance, with occasional golden flames bursting into the surrounding air.

Seemingly startled by Lei Ke Dun's stare, the two golden steeds let out a long neigh and then galloped away with a clattering rhythm.

The air beneath their hooves felt like solid ground; the golden chariot swiftly rose into the sky, racing toward the Future like a newly risen sun.

The instant the golden chariot rose like a sun, a sudden thought flashed in Lei Ke Dun's mind: "Sun Chaser!"

"Sun" pathway, Sequence Two; the ancient 'Sun Chaser', now the 'Light Pursuer'.

At that moment, Jia Deliya's voice, amplified by a spell, rang urgently and clearly in everyone's mind:

"Look down!"

"Don't look!"

Lei Ke Dun's figure also became transparent at that moment, the brilliant starlight dimming under the scorching sun.

As that sun drew nearer to the Future, the midday sun was suddenly overtaken by dazzling starlight; stars flickered with clear brilliance, constantly twisting and contracting, and before the golden chariot's sun could burst out of this area, it was carried into a painted world.

The intensely bright sky abruptly lost its sense of space, its colors becoming rich and distorted, like an abstract oil painting—its base a starry sky, with at its center a sun spewing tiny golden rays outward.

A faint glow formed from gathered complex knowledge suddenly surged from the "Future" and rushed into the huge oil painting in the sky.

The starry sky on the oil painting suddenly brightened considerably, forming a tug-of-war with the scattered specks of golden yellow from the sun.

In the painted world, Bei'er na dai's figure reassembled amidst the complex knowledge; she still wore the attire of a pirate leader and held a pale mask flashing with metallic luster.

The mask had hollows only at the eyes, with no seams elsewhere, exuding a deathly silence from inside out.

She looked at Lei ke dun, who held a brilliant transparent crystal ball, his eyes flowing with pure light, and gave a flat comment.

"You're very bold; I never even thought of taking away this 'Light Chaser' trait."

"This is one of my purposes for coming to this Divine War ruin: the high-sequence trait of the 'Sun' path is the best source of energy."

Lei ke dun's deep blue‑near‑purple eyes gave an impression of abnormal holiness and wisdom, yet seemed rather cold, lacking warmth.

Behind him, amidst flowing wavelike pale blue light, a somewhat incomplete ring made of gears and chains quickly appeared.

At the center of the incomplete ring, outlined books kept flipping, and a pair of eyes—containing countless brilliant stars, cold and indifferent, without eyelashes—emerged from between the pages.

The status and power of the 'Sage' erupted on Lei ke dun.

He lightly tossed forward the transparent crystal ball held in his right hand; it spun slowly, accelerating, and the surrounding gravity and electromagnetic fields began to distort.

The brilliant transparent crystal ball turned dark, as if it were a 'black hole' that could swallow light; everything in the painted world began to warp, gradually drawn toward the black hole.

Bei'er na dai glanced briefly at the 'black hole' that had reached a stalemate with the 'Sun' ring, and inexplicably felt it was a celestial body that truly exists in the universe.

She quickly gathered her thoughts, then slowly pressed the pale mask flashing with metallic luster forward, toward the direction of the blazing white 'Sun'.

The metallic‑luster flashing mask quickly solidified into an extremely complex and mysterious three‑dimensional symbol, pressing down onto the blazing white, scorching 'Sun'.

Noticing this, Lei ke dun strained to control the black hole, pushing it beneath the blazing white 'Sun'.

(End of chapter)