Chapter 149: Beyond the Barrier

Looking at Oda's bloody last words, Wu Chang couldn't hold it anymore.

Two meals from one fish? Is this even possible?

The dead deserve respect; since this little bastard wrote his last words with such sincerity, he must fulfill the deceased's final wish.

The samurai's bloody last words were completed, increasing Wu Chang's Agility and Willpower by one point each, and his Inspiration by two points.

With the increase in attribute points, Wu Chang's Inspiration officially reached 100 points.

At the moment he reached 100 Inspiration, his vision blurred, and in a daze, he entered a state similar to soul out-of-body.

His consciousness began to rise, floating toward endless heights; the soul's ascent was slow, yet it didn't take long before it touched a barrier—a barrier covered in gray mist.

That barrier restricted his soul, or rather, restricted his Inspiration, preventing it from spreading beyond the barrier.

What does the barrier divide?

Is it dividing the Midnight Cemetery dungeon region?

Or does it divide the first and second layers of the Abyss?

He was curious—he wanted to see what lay beyond the barrier. Fueled by curiosity, his Inspiration swelled, sharpening his perception of what lay above.

With his enhanced perception, the gray mist inside and outside the barrier thinned, allowing him to faintly glimpse what lay beyond.

He spread his Inspiration outward, finally finding the right angle.

Through the gaps in the mist, he saw countless eyes on the other side of the barrier.

Among those eyes, some were filled with greed, desperate to pierce through the barrier and squeeze inside.

Others were more complex, mingling greed with emotions he couldn't name.

The moment Wu Chang "saw" them, they noticed him too.

Instantly, faint whispers filled his ears, seducing him to bow to the beings beyond, to offer his soul and devotion—he would gain everything he desired.

In response to the invitation beyond the barrier, Wu Chang gave them the middle finger.

In an instant, chaos erupted beyond the barrier.

They could not tolerate a mere ant within the barrier showing them disrespect; as they gathered power to strike him through the barrier, Wu Chang's soul suddenly plummeted back into his body.

He opened his eyes—his consciousness had returned to his flesh. The instant he sat up, dizziness overwhelmed him, his head splitting with pain.

Sss.

Damn powerful Outer Demon—it pierced the barrier and injured him, and so severely, the wound traveled straight from soul to flesh.

He reached up to clutch his head and felt a large bump on his forehead; the pain nearly brought tears to his eyes.

He turned his head and saw Erin standing beside him, holding the Light of Resolve, and suddenly felt something was off.

"What just happened?"

Honest Erin didn't hide a thing: "Just now, your Inspiration went berserk—your soul left your body uncontrollably and saw something you shouldn't have seen. I sensed something locking onto you through your gaze and extending tentacles toward you, so I used my Divine Form to sever the tentacles and woke you up."

As she spoke, Erin shoved a translucent tentacle into Wu Chang's hands; from its root, now turned to mush, it was clear it had been smashed apart by brute force.

Wu Chang swallowed hard. "Smashing it open and waking me up—was that one motion?"

Erin nodded, gesturing with the Light of Resolve in her hand. "I just tapped it lightly."

Wu Chang stared at the hammerhead of the Light of Resolve—the size of a barrel of water. Damn. So this was the culprit. If she'd hit any harder, it wouldn't have been waking him up—it would've been sending him to the afterlife.

He'd thought: with the Wasteland Realm's laws binding her, even if Erin's true form resided within the Wasteland, using her Divine Form still came with heavy restrictions—how could those things outside possibly hurt him?

If Erin weren't nearly saintly in character, he'd suspect this was revenge for when he woke her body in the Quiet Town and slapped off two of her teeth.

No way. Whoever hurt him had to fix it.

He pointed at the swollen bump on his forehead. "I need healing."

Erin swung the Light of Resolve like a staff. "Wait a moment—I'll heal you right away."

Wu Chang quickly grabbed Erin's hand. "This minor injury doesn't need a staff. Put the hammer away—I'm scared."

He regretted giving the Light of Resolve to Erin. If he'd given her a sword or a banner, none of this would've happened.

Watching Wu Chang's expression, Erin seemed to realize something. She hesitated a moment, then tucked the Light of Resolve away, placed both hands on Wu Chang's cheeks, and pressed her forehead to his.

In the next instant, holy light flared—and the pain in Wu Chang's forehead vanished.

Erin stepped back half a step, then blew gently on Wu Chang's forehead. "Pain flies away."

After finishing, Erin's cheeks flushed slightly. "When I was little and hurt, the high nuns in the church always healed me this way. Are you feeling better now?"

Wu Chang was about to nod—then suddenly shook his head violently, clutching his mouth in agony.

"My mouth hurts too—I'm in terrible pain, Young Lady. Please heal me again."

Erin tilted her head in confusion, then quickly understood what Wu Chang was implying. Her cheeks flushed deeper, and she pulled out the Light of Resolve again.

"If the injury is this severe, I must use a stronger spell."

Wu Chang leapt up like a jumping carp. "Haha, I must've been mistaken—it was just residual pain. No healing needed."

Avoiding Erin's gaze, he immediately examined the translucent tentacle.

"Item Name: Twisted Consciousness Entity"

"Item Type: Special"

"Item Description: A fragment from a powerful being, containing immense energy, usable as an alchemical material."

The translucent tentacle likely came from some deep Abyssal entity, but compared to Leyman's true eyeball, a consciousness tentacle was far less valuable.

Perhaps as an alchemical material it could fetch a good price, but it was too troublesome—such a high-grade material might be unusable by Wasteland Realm alchemists. Better to treat it as pure energy and convert it directly into combat power.

He first took out the Commoner's Poison, but found it had no appetite; then he took out the Golden Wang Zuo.

The Golden Wang Zuo had no picky tastes. After activating its skill "Treasure," the translucent tentacle transformed into a fist-sized transparent diamond, which he embedded into the Golden Wang Zuo—immediately activating its other three forms.

Obtaining the translucent tentacle was merely the side reward from the bloody last words. The samurai's bloody last words, besides granting Wu Chang attribute points, also granted him a skill.

"Skill Name: Iai-do"

"Skill Level: B"

Skill Description: Accumulate energy to enhance the next attack; effects stack with other skills. Enhancement strength depends on charging time, with a maximum charge duration of three seconds and a maximum damage multiplier of three times.

Note: True masters strike instantly to subdue their foes—one blow, one kill!

Iaijutsu's skill effect is simple and brutal: charge for a critical strike—the longer the charge, the harder the blow.

The skill has two highlights: first, the charging duration is freely selectable; second, there is no weapon restriction.

That means he can fully combine the Dawn's Weight Hammer's charge mode with stacking to increase his damage during ambushes.

Who says American Iaijutsu isn't Iaijutsu?

After tallying the loot, Wu Chang and Brother Han Er found the horses Ruz and the others had ridden, and headed toward the Serina district.

Killing Mikael did not complete the dungeon's main quest, and the Crimson Last Words of Miracle Moon had not been settled—meaning nothing was over yet.

The missing piece to break the deadlock should be resolving the chaos caused by Crimson Moon Immortality and the Hunguang Sect Sect.

The undead tide triggered by the Crimson Moon is currently gathering toward the Serina district; arriving there would allow them to solve both problems at once.

During the journey, Wu Chang's brow remained tightly furrowed, showing no joy at the impending breakthrough of the dungeon.

The reason was the intelligence he discovered in the Ronin's resentment.

The Hunguang Sect Sect is a branch of the Tranquil Sect; those cultists of false gods are born bastards, and sabotaging for Lyman is perfectly normal.

But why would someone hire the Ironclad Corps to deliberately plunge the dungeon into chaos?

Would they target only the Midnight Cemetery dungeon?

Wu Chang believed this unlikely; from the fragmented memories of the Ronin, he saw that the Ironclad Corps alone had accepted commissions to destabilize four different dungeons.

His intuition told him the ones who hired the Ironclad Corps were likely more troublesome than the Tranquil Church.

A madman going mad is normal behavior—but when a sane man goes mad, his goal through that madness is probably not simple.

He had a premonition: something big was coming.

On the way to the Serina district, they encountered several waves of undead.

Undead affected by the Crimson Moon were extremely aggressive, actively attacking all living beings along their path.

Serina, once a symbol of peace, held not a trace of peace.

Brother Han Er, a lifelong resident of Serina, wore a face so dark it could drip water.

"Those bastards of the Hunguang Sect Sect—they actually dared to do this!"

If Crimson Moon Immortality was Mikael I's sin, then the attack on the Gravekeepers, spreading Crimson Moon Immortality across all of Serina, was entirely the Hunguang Sect Sect's doing.

In the holy city of Serina, committing such acts clearly reveals their intent.

To provoke a miracle. But Brother Han Er couldn't understand: the Hunguang Sect Sect could have triggered a miracle stably—why choose this method?

Brother Han Er couldn't figure it out, but Wu Chang understood perfectly.

From the resurrection ritual, it was clear that the so-called miracles were merely illusions, deceiving the dungeon's natives using the Abyss Game and the Tranquil Church's abilities.

Hearing Zhanghuo needed a true miracle.

Coincidentally, Wu Chang's second main quest also required a true miracle.

Since their goals aligned, and Hearing Zhanghuo was working so hard, how could he not lend a hand?

When the group reached the outskirts of the Serina district, the city gates were closed, and countless undead surrounded the walls, forming a zombie siege.

Yet the height of the walls meant nothing before the True Self, whose height after Whale Transformation approached twenty meters.

Under the guidance of Brother Han Er, the lifelong Serina resident, they found a secluded stretch of wall and easily climbed inside.

But as they scaled the wall, they noticed the undead crowd seemed drawn to something—shifting from random encirclement to converging toward several specific sections of the wall.

!

Something had definitely happened at those wall sections, but Wu Chang and the others couldn't spare attention; they could only leave a note warning the wall guards as they passed.

Entering the Serina district, Wu Chang and Brother Han Er followed the secret tunnels used by corpse collectors, sneaking into the basement of the Hunguangda Cathedral.

Inside the underground workshop, activity was frenzied.

Undead corrupted by the Crimson Moon were continuously delivered here, processed into bricks, and transported to the upper levels of the cathedral.

If all the undead tonight were forged into bricks to replace the remaining ordinary bricks in the cathedral, even if the Hunguangda Cathedral's miracle was fake, it would become real.

Wu Chang was intimately familiar with the Hunguangda Cathedral's layout; he led the group past patrols and reached the lift platform without trouble.

He was about to descend to the second basement level to retrieve the Corruption Core from the hidden chamber, but as he stood on the lift, he suddenly sensed a surge of Thunder Qi from below.

His intuition told him he craved that Thunder Qi—more precisely, the Thunder Law fragment within him was craving it.

The last time he came to the Hunguangda Cathedral, he hadn't felt this.

Had the Tranquil Church restocked?

Reaching over one hundred in intuition not only allowed Wu Chang to see the Wasteland Realm's barrier and the entities watching from within the Wasteland Realm, but also granted him many benefits.

One such benefit was turning vague flashes of insight into directed guidance.

Judging by Hearing Zhanghuo's actions, the miracle ritual would continue for some time—he chose to trust his intuition and descended first.

On the fourth basement level of the Hunguangda Cathedral, two grotesque guardians stood at the entrance: their bodies deformed, covered in tumor-like masses of muscle, limbs scarred with cuts and sutures.

From their few remaining hollow, flat faces, one could tell they had once been human.

Both grotesque guardians were strong—each possessed the power of the wandering monsters in the Royal Necropolis.

If Wu Chang had tried to eliminate them without triggering alarms during his previous exploration, he could only have waited nearby and slowly poisoned them.

But now, it was far easier.

With his True Self activated, using Social Anxiety and Advanced Stealth, he grabbed one in each hand and crushed them with slight force.

This was the charm of numerical power.

The higher his True Self's Strength attribute, the less Strength he gained from consuming and absorbing others; once his Strength exceeded 200, the decline became especially pronounced.

The life force of the two monsters granted him only fifteen Strength points.

Wu Chang found the key amid the two piles of flesh-mud and opened the heavy stone door.

As the stone door opened, a heavy stench of blood and decaying flesh rushed out; upon listening closely, one could hear pitiful wails from behind it.

Wu Chang sniffed, and the smell of the fourth basement level of the Hunguang Sect Sect reminded him of the small dungeon beneath the general store in the quiet town.

Clearly, whatever lay behind the stone door was not welcome.

To keep Eileen from being tainted by these sights, he had her wait outside and not enter.

He and Han Er entered the fourth basement, where indeed lay a massive dungeon, far more professional than Mati's small dungeon beneath the general store.

Since entering the dungeon, the screams had never ceased; prisoners locked in the cells, even without active torture, bore lingering wounds that kept them immersed in agony.

In the center of the dungeon grew a small tree made of flesh and blood; Wu Chang recognized it at once as a juvenile Miracle Tree.

The branch swayed and grew slowly amid cries of agony and pleas for mercy.

Pain and despair had always been the best breeding ground for wishes; the Hunguang Sect Sect imprisoned these people in the dungeon, torturing them endlessly—not merely for interrogation, but to nourish the Miracle Tree.

Once the branch grew thick enough, it would be transplanted onto the main body.

Through gaps in the torture chambers, one could see that the deeper inside one went, the more cruel and grotesque the instruments became; enhanced by alchemy and mysticism, they could even peel a prisoner's brain from its skull and connect its nerves to multiple bodies simultaneously, forcing it to endure multiple tortures at once.

Even Han Er, well-traveled and hardened, vomited three times along the way.

The thunder essence that drew him came from the deepest torture chamber.

Recalling the scenes in the earlier cells, Wu Chang couldn't help but feel uneasy for the prisoner inside.

As they neared the chamber, they met the guards changing shifts; several black-robed torturers carried a grotesque alchemical device into the room.

"How's it going? Did he break yet?" the incoming guard asked anxiously, fearing the prisoner might finally confess.

The outgoing torturer wiped blood from his hands and said cheerfully, "Nope. He still swears he didn't steal the Holy Flame. Haven't met a guy with bones this hard in a long time."

The incoming guard exclaimed eagerly, "Hehehe, he's exactly my type! Quick, hand over—my turn now!"

Ding ding ding.

A knock came at the torture chamber door; the two turned and saw a stranger standing beside the open door.

One of the torturers asked, "Who are you?"

Wu Chang touched his chin and said, "I'm here to break someone out."

Instantly, two torturers vanished into thin air, pulled into the Golden Kingdom.

Five minutes later, Wu Chang appeared in the chamber carrying their corpses; he glanced inside and his expression turned strangely odd.

The two torturers told him the Patriarch had captured the thief who stole the Holy Flame and ordered them to torture him relentlessly to reveal its whereabouts.

The thief had stubborn bones; after over an hour of torture, he'd endured nearly every high-difficulty device and still refused to speak.

Wu Chang clicked his tongue and pushed open the cell door; hearing footsteps, the prisoner emitted a faint, ragged breath.

"Kill me. I really don't know anything. Hurry, kill me."

Wu Chang studied it for a long time before recognizing the humanoid form inside.

Isn't this Lei Hu? How did he get so broken in just a few days?

Now, Lei Hu looked as if he'd been repeatedly raped by an upgraded Jitou Si—no trace of a top PVP player's edge remained; his eyes were vacant, stupid, and utterly pitiful.

"Huh? Isn't this Brother Lei Hu?"

Hearing Wu Chang's voice, Lei Hu jolted violently, as if grasping a lifeline; he widened his sightless eyes and frantically scanned around, shouting:

"Who are you? Are you a player too? Please, save me!"

Wu Chang cleared his throat and said, "I can save you, of course—but the price…"

"Take it! Whatever you want, I'll give it! Just get me out—I'll do anything!" Lei Hu cried.

Wu Chang said, "My demand is simple: give me one thing, and answer one question."

Lei Hu: "Ask anything!"

"I'm interested in the thunder essence on you. Besides your Thunder Knight class, you must have a corresponding cultivation art."

Lei Hu fell silent for a moment, surprised the man knew so much about him; his survival instinct forced him to calm down and say:

"I have the art, but I've already learned it. If you save me, I'll sign an agreement with you and use an item to copy a copy for you once we return to Crimson Courtyard."

Wu Chang said bluntly, "Then forget it."

"No! I'll give it to you right now!"

Lei Hu hadn't expected zero negotiation; thinking of what awaited him when the torturers returned, he immediately surrendered, pulling a book from his inventory and dropping it before Wu Chang.

Wu Chang picked up the art, confirmed the system prompt, then asked:

"You could've just cooperated from the start."

Unlike Wu Chang's calm pace, Lei Hu was nearly frantic, urging: "Ask your question! They'll be back any moment!"

"This is your only chance. Choose wisely. Tell me—who hired you to cause the dungeon to go out of control?"

(End of Chapter)