Chapter 838: Darkness

In fact, the group knew where to control the overall situation on this Great Ship without needing the Songtian High Priest to lead them.

When they entered the Great Ship's cabin and emerged from the imitation natural garden, they saw a Gaota at a single glance. That tower was extremely imposing, standing out like a crane among a flock of chickens compared to the surrounding buildings. In truth, some of the apartment buildings in the slums were already very tall, almost reaching the top; if one spoke of actual height, they were no shorter than that Gaota. However, at a single glance, one would feel that the tower was magnificent and glorious, while those buildings were thin and humble, with a clear difference in status.

"That is the Shen Zhi Ta," Songtian said. "It is the only place on the entire ship where deities are worshipped."

Zhen Jian said: "Haven't all your deities left you? There are only humans on the ship, the deities are all gone; what is the point of worshipping deities?"

The Songtian Priest said: "You do not understand. This was not built for the deities, but for the people. In a long and endless journey, people need deities far more than deities need people. When those children are lost, seeing that high tower and hearing the sounds of chanting to the deities makes their hearts more easily find peace. It is not just us children who have always believed in deities who are like this; even your children who have no deities in their eyes will eventually be like this. They will believe even more deeply, do you believe it? When they truly receive the protection of the deities, land safely, and find a new home, by then everyone will have become devout believers, and they will be able to help each other, forge ahead side by side, and be inseparable."

Zhen Jian revealed a faint smile, holding a trace of disdain. It was not that he disdained the logic he spoke—in fact, the logic this fellow spoke was not bad; human willpower is weaker than one imagines, and when lost and suffering, everyone wants to find a spiritual sustenance... but he must be telling the truth for that to matter!

Was that Gaota really just a spiritual comfort built for the passengers? Was there truly no deity inside?

An evil deity is also a deity.

The group walked toward the Gaota. Almost every Human powerhouse was using their own methods to distinguish if there was any special aura, yet they had no harvest. If there was an evil deity, the existence of this evil deity must be very obscure and not easily detected...

Or perhaps, that evil deity had not yet moved in?

Then their harvest from coming here would not be great.

The Gaota looked even more imposing from up close. Not to mention it was tall, majestic, and opulent, it was even more magical that every brick and every pillar, though perhaps not overly ornate or complex, all had a feeling of being sacred and inviolable. Although the surroundings were very quiet, when they approached, low chanting sounds seemed to ring in everyone's ears, adding a few more points of mystery.

The Songtian High Priest came to the front of the tower, his hands performing a gesture of pressing palms together, as if praying. In fact, this gesture was not unusual for a priest, but indeed only a few people in the team performed this action. Zhen Jian had been keeping a close watch, remembering everyone who performed the action in his heart.

Inside the tower, the entrance was a large hall, wide and grand, which was the place for holding sacrifices. At this time, it was empty, making it appear even more spacious. The few people could see a vacant space left where the deity statue was placed in the center. Perhaps the deity statue had not been built yet, or perhaps there was no need for a deity statue at all; when the time came, something would naturally fill this place.

Although there was no deity statue, murals had already been painted and various decorations inlaid around it. Those paintings were relatively abstract and not as concrete as typical religious themes. The only thing that could be seen was that the overall decoration was dominated by Luse and gold, and the Luse was that most vivid emerald green, just like the leaves at the turn of Spring and Summer.

Passing through the hall, behind it was the staircase leading to the Gaota. That staircase followed a passage upward; at first, it was quite spacious and bright, but as they went higher, they entered a narrow stairwell inside the tower, where the light was dim, like a Black Hole.

Songtian looked back and said: "These stairs are not spacious, and the facilities are not perfect. The latter half has not yet had time to install a Lamp, and the light is poor. Why don't you leave some people behind and just have a few representatives go up?"

This time, Qian Jian said: "Since we have reached this point, everyone wants to go up; how can we leave anyone behind? It doesn't matter, let's all walk slowly together."

The Songtian Priest sneered: "Fine, if you refuse to give up, then we will reduce our side. Lord Haotian, and everyone, we have plenty of opportunities to go up the tower, let's not have so many people go up this time, shall we?"

Haotian cooperated very well and said: "You lead them in front. And also..."

At this time, the Hutian High Priest said: "I will follow behind."

Haotian was indifferent and said: "We will just have two people go up, and the rest will wait below."

Songtian said: "That is good; with fewer people, they will be at ease."

This was sarcasm. Qian Jian smiled faintly and said: "Please, High Priest, go up first. I will follow second, then behind me is Changle, then Kun Jian, Zhen Jian... let's arrange it like this."

Songtian smiled and said to the young Changle: "Your entourage is quite something, two Sword Saints serving you alone."

Changle said: "You leading the way in front, is that not my good fortune?"

In fact, Qian Jian arranging it this way was obviously to protect Changle. With the two strongest Sword Saints sandwiching him, what kind of existence could possibly make a move on him?

Actually, they had discussed before whether to appropriately relax the protection, being loose on the outside but tight on the inside, to try and lure the other party to make a move. But Zhen Jian believed: Could the other party not have thought that a key figure like Changle would have Sword Saints protecting him? If there was no plan, so be it; if there was a plan, the Sword Saints would naturally not be in their eyes. We do not need to deliberately reveal flaws; just act according to normal procedures.

The few people then stepped onto the stairs. Even if they were Sword Saints, unless they used their methods, they would otherwise walk up one step at a time.

The higher they walked, the darker it became. Even though everyone's eyesight had reached the level of seeing in the middle of the night, falling into this kind of darkness meant they really could not see the road at all. Fortunately, if vision was gone, there were other senses, and Mental Power could also feedback the surroundings; everything showed that it was exceptionally calm.

Zhen Jian walked a few steps and suddenly realized: "Why not light a Lamp? You don't have a Lamp, but we do." He flicked his hand, and a spark of light ignited.

Almost in the next instant, as if a gust of wind blew from somewhere, the light was immediately extinguished. The surroundings were pitch black, even darker than before.

Zhen Jian raised an eyebrow. All the Humans at this moment stopped with great tacit understanding, standing in the darkness without moving, waiting for his explanation.

The Songtian High Priest sighed: "Everyone, this is something I did not explain beforehand. The Shendian is a place that strictly forbids fire. Except for the main hall, the rule in other places is that one is not allowed to light a Lamp or fire. Look at the lower half we passed; the Lamp used is actually not a Lamp, but a special seal stone that emits cold-colored light, which can be accepted by the deities."

Kun Jian said: "What kind of rule, is it that kind of rule?"

Songtian said: "It is the rule of the deities."

Words like the rule of the deities sounded grand and intimidating, but the Sword Saints and even the Sword Immortals did not feel it was anything remarkable. The path of a Sword Guest in the later stages is all a path of rules. Anyone who becomes a Sword Immortal is qualified to touch the rules and form a rule barrier, and further up is the Sword Saint who is one with the rules inside and out. Now, counting everyone present, who did not have rules on them? It was just that they had not released them.

And here at the Tianmo, which is the Lingjie, rules only belong to the deities, so calling them the rules of the deities was no problem. And the vast majority of Tianmo powerhouses only acted by borrowing the power of the deities and the rules of the deities. Perhaps the strength they could exert was not below that of Human powerhouses of the same level, but they did not master the rules themselves.

This, of course, showed that deities were more powerful than humans in mastering rules. The system of deity-deity martial artist-believer they built was also a behemoth that a single person with a single sword could hardly contend with. The deities were responsible for increasing power, while the priests and martial artists were responsible for fighting, each performing their own duties. And the rule-based great power that those priests mobilized through the hands of the deities even exceeded that of the Immortals and Saints, but they were still essentially a bit inferior.

The difference between a Tianmo deity martial artist and a Sword Guest was probably the difference between a high-level executive of a large company and a self-employed individual. An executive could be very rich, even get dividends, and have a stable income, while a self-employed individual had high risks and was very likely to become poor overnight; if they went bankrupt, they were done for. But they had the possibility of breaking through the ceiling and becoming a large company.

Sword Immortals and Sword Saints, these Lesser Gods and reserve deities, would naturally not revere any rules of the deities. Hearing that they had entered the rules of the deities, they only frowned and did not immediately release their own rules to resist. This was naturally because they were confident they could use their own rules to exclude the external rules at any time.

Zhen Jian said unhappily: "Since there are rules, why didn't you tell us in advance? Does mere fire prevention require the use of rules? And you said before that there were no deities here, yet you put the rules in first. Which deity ordered this? Clearly, there are other ulterior motives."

The Songtian Priest said: "This does not sound like something a Sword Saint would say. The rules here are different from yours. The rules there are one with the person, but here they can be separated from the deity's power and can be contained by external objects for other uses. Essentially, it is about the same as your Dharma Artifact, only more powerful and precious. But what kind of place is this? Using some precious container rules is worth it. I said before that there are no deities here yet, only some scattered rules. If you mind, you might as well disperse the rules yourselves. You few Emperors are capable of doing so, it will just take a little time."

Zhen Jian stared at him in the darkness; he could not even see the reflection in his eyes. He paused for a moment and said: "We will take action when it is time to disperse them."

If one wants to catch a wolf, one must eventually sacrifice the child.

The group had their own thoughts, walking upward step by step. Qian Jian kept control of the surroundings, secretly feeling strange in his heart: This is a dead rule, no one is manipulating it. It seems it was arranged long ago. This place actually hides rules; it is truly too suitable for conspiracies and harming people. Was it built specifically for today's scheme? Time-wise, it definitely would not be in time, but why build it like this? Was it to scheme against others?

That Songtian Priest was at the very front, so he could set the rhythm, and everyone else followed his rhythm. Although everyone could walk without sound, for the sake of safety, everyone retained their footsteps. The footsteps of different people are different; if one pays attention to distinguishing them, one can basically confirm the safety of everyone.

Walking slowly upward, step after step, after an unknown number of steps, they had probably gone up as high as dozens of floors. The surroundings were still just as dark, and everyone was a bit numb. The footsteps coming from all around were like heartbeats, "da-da-da," repeating dully.

Zhen Jian walked a few steps and suddenly felt a shock in his heart, noticing something. He said: "Let everyone report their numbers now? Changle first, is Changle there?"

In the darkness, the footsteps all stopped.

However, there was no answer.