Chapter 327: Lost Continent

From a scientific perspective, the stars visible in the night sky are overwhelmingly stars.

The nearest of these stars are millions of light-years away from the ground, equivalent to over tens of trillions of kilometers.

Theoretically, the apparent movement of the starry sky observed by the naked eye comes from the rotation of the planet beneath, not from any change in the sky itself—the sky should not suddenly accelerate.

Unfortunately, in the Abyss, not everything can be explained by science.

Take the stars above the sea right now: each one is moving at a subtle but visibly detectable speed, and upon close observation, each star's trajectory is distinct.

Their positional shifts are not caused by the rotation of the planet beneath Wu Chang and the others, but rather as if they are being drawn by some force toward their destined locations.

Huh.

A wind rose over the sea, fierce gusts blowing from the ocean toward Briver Island, carrying a peculiar salty stench—like rotting seafood, or the foul odor of unprocessed internal organs.

Wu Chang felt a slight sting in the corner of his eye; he looked up along the source of the pain and saw a star vanish from the sky.

He pointed toward the spot where the star had disappeared and said to Eileen and the Grand Mother:

"Didn't that star just vanish?"

Before the two goddesses could clearly see it, another star silently vanished from the same patch of sky Wu Chang had pointed to.

The three stared in silence at the vanished stars.

They could feel that the stars' disappearance was not the ordinary flickering of "blinking stars," but more like the annihilation of a mass of light.

No, not annihilation—rather, a glowing sphere had just fallen into a certain "hole" and temporarily vanished.

The two vanished stars were merely the prelude; soon after, every luminous body in the sky found its matching deep hole and vanished into it.

Within half an hour, the once brilliant sky had vanished entirely, leaving behind a dead, dark expanse.

After the stars disappeared, the half-risen full moon reversed its ascent like rewinding, sinking back into the sea.

When the last sliver of moonlight was swallowed by the sea, the world plunged into utter darkness, not a single glimmer remaining.

In a daze, heaven and sea merged into one chaotic mass, as if the plane had regressed to its primordial state.

Wu Chang and the other two shared the same thought: Is this the return of the stars to their places?

Clap. Clap. Clap.

In the dead silence of darkness, crisp clapping echoed.

Wu Chang couldn't help but clap—he had entered many Abyss dungeons and seen countless dungeon bosses pull stunts.

Whether it was the upper deity Lyman, the top player Joy, or the native inhabitants of the Wasteland Realm, none of their stunts matched the sheer awe of this scene.

What was that phrase again?

Good stunt—deserves a reward!

Eileen was used to Wu Chang's behavior, but the Grand Mother was not; she frowned:

"Mortal, what madness is this? If you can't withstand the willpower, stay inside the ship like Gilman."

Wu Chang said:

"Don't you find this scene breathtaking?"

The Grand Mother snorted:

"A frog at the bottom of a well, a mortal who's never seen the world—any slight manifestation of a divine realm sends you into fits."

"If you entered my plane and witnessed my divine realm, wouldn't you be so astonished you'd fall to your knees and beg to kiss my feet?"

Wu Chang retorted:

"But this is the Wasteland Realm—even if you prepared, could you arrange a divine realm of this caliber within the Wasteland Realm?"

The Wasteland Realm has dimensional barriers; if establishing a divine realm here were truly that easy, earthly divine realms wouldn't be one of the Wasteland Realm's most elite mystical rituals.

The Grand Mother replied matter-of-factly: "I cannot. I would only be astonished that the Lord of the Deep Sea could establish a divine realm here—I wouldn't be astonished by the divine realm itself, like you."

Wu Chang smirked and muttered: "When I elbowed you earlier, you looked just as unworldly."

The Grand Mother: "You!"

Before the Grand Mother could snap back, Wu Chang pointed toward the distance:

"There's a tremor coming from over there—something's about to emerge!"

The Grand Mother also sensed the disturbance from afar; she stopped arguing with Wu Chang, floated into the air, and Eileen pulled Wu Chang's hand as they both rose.

With the moonlight and starlight gone, it didn't greatly affect Wu Chang and the others; Wu Chang activated his Law-Breaking Eye, and the ambient elemental particles became his light source, allowing him to see the distance clearly.

At the farthest edge of the sea, a massive bulge rose from the water.

Due to the great distance, they couldn't gauge the height of the bulge, but as it emerged, the sea level visibly dropped—evidence of the immense size of what lay beneath.

The object's ascent lasted over ten minutes; when the surrounding seawater drained away, a colossal island emerged from within the massive water mass.

More accurately, it was a continent.

The waves raised by the continent's emergence reached hundreds of meters high; had there not been powerful restraints surrounding the continent forcing the waves to subside, those waves alone could have destroyed many coastal nations.

Wu Chang gazed at the suddenly appeared continent—he had assumed legends were exaggerated, that the so-called continent would be no more than a larger island.

But as he stared at the vast shadow in the distance, the Lord of the Deep Sea truly seemed to have dragged an entire continent beneath the sea.

Is this the full power of a divine realm?

The ability to reshape a plane's geography on such a scale clearly exceeds the upper limit of power allowed in the Wasteland Realm.

Without the aid of a divine realm, even if he transformed into a Root Knight and doubled his attributes again, he could never drag an entire continent into the sea like the Lord of the Deep Sea.

Thinking of this, Wu Chang did not feel dread—he felt excitement.

If the Grand Mother wasn't just boasting, then the divine realm the Lord of the Deep Sea used was ordinary among mid-tier deities, meaning that when Eileen eventually builds her complete divine realm using the Pillar of Divine Realm, it too could possess power equal to or greater than this one.

The power to erase a continent with a single move—who wouldn't be stunned?

The emergence of the Lost Continent didn't just cause drastic changes on the sea—it also rapidly elevated the tier of the Quiet Town plane, directly ascending from a C-rank dungeon plane toward the Realm of Reason.

The three waited in the air for a while; Wu Chang pointed at the silent continent and said:

"The Lord of the Deep Sea seems to be waiting for us to come over."

The Great Mother made as if to leave. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Wu Chang reached out to stop her and said:

"According to the internal intelligence I obtained, the Lord of the Deep has a weakness: it fears being rammed by ships."

After speaking, Wu Chang's gaze turned to the fleet brought by the Great Mother and Gilman Mandazhu Sect.

"Could I borrow your ships? If your faithful fear danger, you may hand the vessels over to the islanders to pilot."

The Great Mother snorted coldly and said:

"Every knight who enters the Holy Church Knights Order upholds the Eight Virtues of Knighthood: courage, humility, honor above life, and fearless sacrifice—pure souls all."

"You ask if I'd replace them with a bunch of rats like these islanders? That's the greatest insult to them."

Wu Chang shrugged and said: "I can apologize."

The Holy Church Knights aren't afraid of death? Then that's perfect—the islanders are Erin's most steadfast believers, and he cares deeply for their lives.

The Great Mother, uninterested in further words with Wu Chang, raised her palm to the sky. Violent white flames erupted from her palm, forming a sunlike holy fire above Briver Island.

As the white holy fire rose, white lanterns ignited on the ships anchored in the surrounding seas.

One by one, knights clad in light armor of the Holy Church Knights Order appeared on deck, kneeling on one knee, right fist pressed to left chest, awaiting the Great Mother's divine command.

The Great Mother instantly shifted from her cold demeanor toward Wu Chang to a face brimming with compassion, addressing the crowd:

"My most beloved children, the source of the stars and moon's concealment, the trembling of land and sea, is the ancient demon awakened from the ocean depths."

"It rises from the seabed, dragging the lost continent with it, ready to unleash a cataclysmic flood with its evil kin, bringing about the end of the world."

"Will you follow me to this chaotic, evil land to slay the demon and restore light to the world?"

The Holy Church Knights responded in unison:

"May our bodies become the blade of our Lord, illuminating the endless night with His light!"

The Great Mother glanced at Wu Chang; Wu Chang flipped his hand and gave a thumbs-up.

The Great Mother propelled the holy fire, suspending it above the fleet to dispel the darkness, then said:

"Set sail, my most proud children—I shall be with you."

Sharp whistles pierced the air; within five minutes, the fleet was fully assembled. Dozens of the Ogare Kingdom's most advanced steam-powered iron ships, guided by the Great Mother's holy fire, cut through the night, racing full speed toward the distant rising continent.

Wu Chang, Erin, and the Great Mother stood on the deck of the flagship "Glory," gazing at the approaching lost continent.

The Great Mother asked: "Combat could erupt at any moment. While we still have time, tell me everything else you know about the Lord of the Deep's weaknesses."

Wu Chang did not withhold: "It fears death."

The Great Mother frowned slightly, giving Wu Chang the expression of an old man on the subway checking his phone—don't speak if you have nothing meaningful to say. What do you mean, "fears death"?

"Who doesn't fear true, absolute death? Do you not fear it? Or does she not?"

The more powerful a life, the more it craves evolution—and the more it fears death.

For when an individual grows powerful enough, especially after activating divinity and becoming a true god, they are no longer bound or affected by the mortal realm.

Nothing remains worthy of their attention or sacrifice except themselves.

A god's gaze looks only toward the future and themselves—never lingering on anything else.

Precisely because of this, gods may calmly accept temporary death if it serves their purpose—but when faced with absolute death, they fear it more than mortals.

Even mighty Miracle Walkers rumored to come from the Fourth Abyss and the Omniscient Crystal value resurrection above all else.

Fearing death is not, in itself, a god's weakness.

Wu Chang explained: "It fears death especially—so much so that it refuses to take even the slightest risk for it."

The Great Mother listened, her expression thoughtful, then fell silent.

A god who fears death so intensely, so unusually, must not be born that way—there is only one possibility: what it guards is more important than its own life.

It cannot die. It dares not die.

The fleet sailed through the dark sea for about twenty minutes. As it entered the waters beyond the lost continent, thick fog began to swirl around them.

Previous battles with the Fishmen had given the Holy Church Knights and navy personnel experience—they immediately entered combat readiness and hurled large bundles of smoldering Water Bittergrass into the surrounding seas.

Water Bittergrass suppresses fish senses and can suffocate them to some degree; after alchemical processing, it works equally well on Fishmen, forcing them to surface prematurely for easy targeting.

Yet this mission proceeded with unusual ease—the fleet encountered no Fishmen harassment along the way.

The silence was unnerving, even making the Great Mother tense, suspecting the Lord of the Deep was gathering all its strength to strike them hard upon landing.

But in truth, the smooth voyage was not because the Lord of the Deep had not sent Fishmen—or because all Fishmen had perished on Briver Island.

It was because Wu Chang had been following the fleet beneath the waves all along, transformed into a Sea Giant gliding along the seabed.

Whenever a Fishman neared, he tossed it into the Blind Abyss and absorbed its life force.

Along the way, the Sea Giant killed over a thousand Fishmen—but due to the vast power disparity, it granted him only thirty points of strength increase.

The fleet drew closer to land, entering the inland sea. Surrounding reefs multiplied; onboard lighting systems began to fail.

First torches, then alchemical oil lamps, finally even Erin's golden flame were extinguished by darkness—only the Great Mother's white holy fire still illuminated the path ahead.

The three-hour tutoring habit had ingrained in Erin the urge to ask immediately—he did so now. Bound by the Divine Pact, the Great Mother had no choice but to temporarily instruct Erin.

The reason the white holy fire burns even in darkness is due to the nature of a Mid-tier God.

A Demigod possesses divinity within; when that divinity matures and connects to the Source, and its essence embodies traits like light or other elements, it signifies ascension from Demigod to Low-tier God—truly possessing divinity.

To become a Mid-tier God, one must unite with a Divine Realm, fuse divinity with faith, and forge one's own rule.

For instance, the Great Mother's white holy fire never extinguishes because "Everlasting Holy Flame" is the rule she has forged.

Further still, if one replaces the surrounding world's rules with one's own controlled rule, that rule gains a new name: Authority.

Under the Great Mother's patient instruction, the fleet halted at the edge of the lost continent. Beyond lay vast, razor-sharp reefs—no longer navigable by ships.

The Great Mother split off a portion of holy fire to illuminate the fleet, then Wu Chang and Erin stepped ashore.

Crossing the reef shore, the three formally entered the lost continent.

Whether this land was always thus, or shaped by the Lord of the Deep, its ground was composed of deep black stone. Every few steps, a stone protrusion resembling a stele rose from the earth—ranging from ten to over a hundred meters in height.

Perhaps because it had been buried in the deep sea for too long, the ground was especially slippery, a layer of black-green mucus spread all around, stepping on it made a squelching sound, and both the smell and the feel underfoot reminded one of incompletely digested vomit.

To avoid contact with the disgusting mucus, the three chose to fly to travel.

Flying inland for a stretch, the ruins of a shattered city gradually came into view.

According to the records in legend, the lost continent dragged into the deep sea by the Lord of the Deep Sea once gave birth to a powerful civilization upon it; they possessed technology far surpassing that of other nations of the same era, and the cities they built would draw sighs of wonder even from the gods.

Judging from the preserved ruins, perhaps this was no exaggeration.

Because within the ruins, hundred-meter-tall giant stone steles could be seen everywhere, the stone steles covered in pictographic script.

Several thousand years ago, crafting such a stone stele would have been a massive undertaking.

Far from the three, Zhenwo released the Sea Giant transformation, also walking among the city ruins.

In his hand he carried the Four Directions Year-Fire Lantern, the red Year-Fire radiating light in the darkness; the surrounding darkness tried to smother the Year-Fire, yet the Year-Fire was utterly unaffected.

In a certain sense, the Year-Fire itself also represents a kind of rule, no less than the white Holy Fire the Great Mother Goddess condensed using mid-tier divine rules.

Items recognized by the Abyss Game seemed to be even more powerful than imagined.

He carried the lantern, found an especially tall stone stele, used the Year-Fire to burn the mucus on it clean, then took out the Omniscient Crystal and said:

"Translate it."

A moment later, a long string of text poured into Wu Chang's mind.

The content of the text lacked substance, all being formulaic praise of the god's great deeds, over ten thousand words written at length, condensed down it was really just four characters.

The forever god.

Judging from the translated text, the inscriber wrote from the perspective of the lost continent, but one point caught his attention.

That was the god praised on the stone stele was actually the Lord of the Deep Sea.

Unless it was the Lord of the Deep Sea, after sinking this land, who over a long stretch of time erected stone steles for himself, then with human-scale tools, knocked out words of praise for himself one character at a time—in which case He himself was the god worshipped by this continent.

A bit interesting; could it be that the continent's sinking was actually the choice of the lost continent kingdom's residents themselves?

Following this line of reasoning, could those earliest Fishmen actually be the residents of the lost continent?

With this suspicion, Wu Chang could then search for similar stone steles or temples to decipher.

Finally, in a temple, he saw the information he wanted.

The temple recorded all the ceremonies of worshipping the gods; in the final entry, it mentioned the name of the king of Xilan Kingdom, who also served as the High Priest of the Sea—Dagang.

It matched up.

No wonder the Lord of the Deep Sea was able to condense a relatively complete divine kingdom within the Wasteland Realm; it turned out to be Xilan Kingdom, not far from the center of the plane, who used the strength of the entire nation to sustain the Lord of the Deep Sea with faith.

The entire nation's strength sustaining a god, yet it came to the kingdom sinking, the subjects transforming into Fishmen, living forever in the darkness of the deep sea.

At first glance it was deeply ironic, but thinking carefully, although Xilan Kingdom's population of over a million was later reduced to only a few thousand Fishmen, their king Dagang truly became a god.

From Dagang's perspective, going from man to god—was that just winning? It was practically winning blind.

If not for Wu Chang sticking his hand in, the Lord of the Deep Sea would have awakened safely, and the plane would have completed its elevation along with it.

When one person attains the Dao, even his chickens and dogs rise to heaven; Dagang could have gone from a native god of the Wasteland Realm to a true lesser god, and could even, as the Lord of the Deep Sea rose, become a mid-tier god, or even higher.

That would have been truly winning—winning big and winning special.

Unfortunately, he ran into Wu Chang.

On the other side, since Wu Chang's main body here had no means to decipher the text on the stone steles, they did not linger; under the Great Mother Goddess's guidance, they headed straight for the very center of the city.

Xilan Kingdom's city layout was constructed in concentric circles; the closer to the center, the denser the buildings, and the higher the buildings' specifications.

Perhaps because of this, the city center was more intact compared to the outer areas.

At the circular center of the city stood a massive temple, a tremendous sense of foreboding emanating from within the temple's tightly shut great doors.

The Great Mother Goddess said: "This is the core of the divine kingdom."

(End of this chapter)