"What have you turned into now?" the Moon God asked in a deep voice.
Although Zhang Rongfang did not show him any malice, based on the exchange of blows just now, Zhang Rongfang... had completely transcended his original understanding.
Recalling this guy’s absolutely abnormal growth speed from the very beginning.
A thought uncontrollably arose in the Moon God’s mind.
Could it be... he is not an alleged genius, but actually the external evil spirit that invaded during the last celestial light?
As he was contemplating.
Suddenly his gaze sharpened, noticing Zhang Rongfang curiously looking at a twisted human figure with black wings in the distance.
The figure had a large singular eye on its chest, with only a large mouth on its head as a feeding apparatus.
This was indeed the commonly seen evil spirit monster from the outside world!
"Living spirit...! Living spirit...!! Hahaha!!" The evil spirit vehicle hungrily hunched toward Zhang Rongfang, accelerating its sprint.
All of a sudden, it leapt and lunged forward.
Poof!!
A flash of red light.
The evil spirit vehicle was entirely enveloped in a dark red curtain of blood.
Like being bitten by a giant blood-red beast, swallowed whole in one gulp.
Behind the blood curtain, Zhang Rongfang stood at the center surrounded by blood, seemingly closing his eyes carefully to savor the taste of the evil spirit vehicle.
After a while, his face rapidly changed, and instantly his entire body turned black, transformed into the shape of that evil spirit vehicle, standing where he was.
"Too weak... such a monster is far inferior to the previous three."
He discontentedly reverted to his original form, looking up at the sky.
"Master, it seems now that the outside world is just like this. Why don’t you come back and join us?"
He was now also at peace, knowing Yue Dewen was a part of the Moon God.
And judging from the Moon God’s behavior, he couldn’t erase the influence of Yue Dewen’s memory.
The two were initially one entity; rejecting Yue Dewen was essentially rejecting himself.
The Moon God felt uneasy inside, but for some reason, he didn’t sense any threat from Zhang Rongfang at this moment.
He could feel the sincerity and earnestness in the other’s tone.
But.....
He was ultimately not just Yue Dewen; even if he returned, it couldn’t go back to the pure mentor-disciple relationship between Yue Dewen and Zhang Rongfang at the beginning.
"I don’t know what you’ve been through, but it seems now you might live better beyond this sky barrier than I do....."
He paused in silence, finally glancing at Zhang Rongfang before turning around, transforming into a shadow and shooting away.
Zhang Rongfang remained standing, no longer trying to hold him back.
In the esoteric teachings of the Soul Buddha, he had already understood the duality of personality and memory.
Personality itself was composed of memories, and without absolute certainty, he couldn’t act to separate his mentor Yue Dewen’s personality.
Watching the Moon God’s departure, Zhang Rongfang looked up at the sky again.
The weather was overcast, with faint celestial light about to pierce through the clouds.
"If the sky barrier made of black spiritual lines can block celestial light, then.... I can also create a similar space in this outer realm."
Zhang Rongfang waved a hand, instantly countless streams of blood poured out of his body, quickly blackening, and turned into black spiritual lines.
The terrifying ability of life transformation made each spiritual line he formed completely identical to the sky barrier.
Massive black spiritual lines soared into the sky, beginning to gather near the fissure, weaving and constructing a gigantic light-blocking canopy made entirely of black spiritual lines.
"First, let’s test if I can establish a base on this ground. Then I’ll go to the Sea of Oblivion to check if the core of the Sea of Oblivion really exists...."
From the start, Zhang Rongfang’s goal had never changed.
To create a completely safe, stable base where he could live securely. Whether it was evil breath or celestial light, neither could threaten him.
This was his goal.
His wish.
*
*
*
Amongst the charred black ruins, large swathes of dead, black trees resembling ghostly claws spread around the area.
Within the ruins, one broken statue after another, some waving arms reaching for the sky, others with folded hands, heads bowed in prayer, or with three heads and six arms, sitting atop lotus platforms.
But all the statues either had no heads, no legs, or their entire upper halves were missing.
The grim and bizarre broken statues made this wasteland appear desolate and eerie.
Bai Lin’s white dress had long been turned gray by wind and sand.
She cautiously hopped forward amidst the ruins, closely following another woman in gray who was leading the way.
The woman wore tight gray clothing with many pockets, her hair tightly wrapped, and a large mask covering her face.
Her name was Lin Dong, a survivor Bai Lin had accidentally encountered not long ago after getting lost.
"It’s here," Lin Dong suddenly halted and tapped the ground beneath her feet.
Buzz.
In an instant, countless black spiritual lines burst from the ground, forming an inclined passage to the underground in front of the two.
"Let’s go, this is where we usually live," Lin Dong smiled at Bai Lin.
"Here...." Bai Lin curiously peered inside the passage.
It was brightly lit inside, with some kind of glowing powder on the walls.
"Celestial light has been getting stronger lately, and the interaction zones we can find are getting fewer. Now, we mostly rely on previously stored supplies. Life is getting tougher...." Lin Dong sighed.
Bai Lin followed her into the passage.
The two walked down the sloped path, neither fast nor slow.
"The Eternal Palace announced again, the price of divine marrow for exchanging supplies has increased again. At this rate, we might not even be able to afford maintaining the furnace..." Lin Dong complained while walking.
"The Eternal Palace... what kind of place is that?" Bai Lin still hadn’t forgotten her mission to gather intelligence about the outside world.
"The Sky Light is getting stronger and stronger, everything is about to become unsustainable. In order to counteract the Sky Light and find hope for escape, the Palace Master of the Eternal Palace established a large trade hub for everyone to trade and exchange resources.
He himself also provides certain resources for trade. To put it bluntly, it’s just a big marketplace," Lin Dong explained.
"Counteract the Sky Light... is it possible?" Bai Lin wouldn’t have had such doubts before coming out.
But after coming out, she saw with her own eyes those beams of Sky Light descending from above, heavily striking the ground.
So she questioned whether such resistance was truly meaningful.
"Legend has it that the Palace Master of the Eternal Palace was one of the original builders of many interactive zones, and even had a hand in the design of gods and buddhas, so if even he can’t do anything, then none of us can," Lin Dong explained. "Alright, we’re here!"
At last, the passageway reached its end.
She pushed open the wooden door at the end with a creaking sound.
The door swung open, revealing an expansive and profound underground cave behind it.
Within the cave, numerous dim blue lanterns hung from the walls.
Beneath the lanterns was a sprawling area of black stone pavilions, courtyards, and spire towers.
Things resembling wind chimes hung from the eaves of the buildings, gently tinkling in the breeze.
The architectural style made Bai Lin feel as if she had returned to the Great Spirit within the sky dome.
Behind the door, a few Black Armored Men were stationed, gesturing towards Lin Dong and quietly conversing for a bit.
The Black Armored Men glanced at Bai Lin a few times, then raised a friendly right hand.
"Welcome to the Axe and Halberd."
"Axe and Halberd?"
"Yes, that’s the name of this place." Lin Dong smiled, explaining as she led the way.
"According to statistics, there are seventeen stable settlements still surviving on the earth today. Our Axe and Halberd is one of them.
The biggest requirement for stable survival is having an internal circulation system that can self-sustain as much as possible."
"Internal circulation system?" Bai Lin found these terms quite novel.
"Yes."
Lin Dong quickly led Bai Lin into the depths of the cave complex, winding through the bustling streets.
Before long, they arrived at a somewhat secluded square courtyard.
Taking out a key, she unlocked the courtyard gate and kindly went in first.
"Come on in."
Bai Lin curiously stepped inside, seeing all sorts of incomprehensible miscellaneous items scattered all around.
Two young men and women were sitting in a corner, fiddling with the items, seemingly assembling something.
"Make yourself at home, have a seat." Lin Dong waved a hand with a smile. "Originally, everyone saw no hope, but about ten years ago, the Eternal Palace conducted a large-scale test using past extraterrestrial technology."
"What test?" Bai Lin instinctively asked.
"I’m not sure either, but after that test, the Eternal Palace announced a search for as many newcomers as possible to register at the Palace.
Anyone who found a newcomer would get quite a few benefits from the Eternal Palace. So finding you is quite a gain for me," Lin Dong chuckled.
"Searching for newcomers..." Bai Lin vaguely sensed there might be some inside story here.
"Do you know any other newcomers who haven’t been to the Eternal Palace? Introduce them and we’ll split the rewards later." Lin Dong asked quietly with a smile.
"No..." Bai Lin blinked and replied flatly.
"That’s such a pity..." Lin Dong said regretfully.
"Can I ask, what do you usually eat down here?" Bai Lin asked curiously.
"We don’t need to eat much, there’s plenty of livestock on the lower level. When needed, we just consume a bit of brain marrow." Lin Dong explained with a smile.
"!?" Bai Lin froze suddenly. "You’re not human??"
"Of course not, ordinary people can’t survive under the Sky Light," Lin Dong replied.
"Long, long ago, it became very difficult to find real humans on this land... Everyone has undergone modifications, living in a different way."
"!?" Bai Lin couldn’t tell at all that the other party was also a god-host line symbiote like herself.
*
*
*
Thousands of miles from Zhang Rongfang’s fissure.
In the middle of a gray-white desert stood a towering, weather-worn stone tower, leaning as it pierced the ground.
The stone tower had twelve floors, windows on each floor occasionally flickered with fine blue electric arcs.
On the topmost floor of the stone tower, within an enclosed room.
A purple-black electric orb hovered, expanding and contracting mid-air, its inner parts flickering with blinding electric radiance.
There were no connecting devices around the orb, only a metal instrument shaped like a tuning fork below, aiming at the orb from afar.
"Fifteen years..."
In the room, a bald, black-clad woman encased in a translucent protective suit stared at the flickering purple-black electric orb, her eyes glowing bright blue as if calculating something.
Fifteen years ago, an accidental experiment of hers opened a strange portal.
The portal opened for just an instant, then exploded in the blink of an eye, triggering the dramatic space collapse event at the Eternal Palace at the time.
Everyone thought it was an accident.
But only she, as the Palace Master, knew. That experiment successfully opened a special portal to an unknown space and world.
Though the portal’s duration was very brief, it transferred something across.
She didn’t know what, but... she saw hope to escape this decaying land.
This place allows no ascension, no escape from the huge gravity of the white pupil. Apart from staying here and waiting to die, there is no choice.
But the fleeting portal from the experiment gave the Palace Master of the Eternal Palace hope for escape once again.