Chapter 1052


Chapter 160: Convergence of Shadows

Vilyric is a person who values “science” highly.

For anything that seems unfathomable or defies common sense, she tends to believe there must be some logical principle behind it, and she’ll go to great lengths to figure it out.

This time is no exception.

In this completely unknown environment, she wouldn’t meekly give up her senses and place her hopes on those ethereal tales of rules.

Although her eyes were indeed closed, sp continuously monitored everything around her in place of her vision.

The sound of the waves grew clearer in her ears, but in reality, she and her companions were still walking hand in hand through the fog-laden hills, without any spatial portals or dimensional rifts suddenly appearing to suck the girls in.

Until that sound seemed to be right next to her, the surging waves almost crashing against her body, washing over her clothes at that moment!

She lifted her foot to step down again…

And landed in the other world.

“Ah…”

At that instant, Vilyric suddenly understood.

The truth of this realm— the【Endless Ruins Sea】.

What a surprise…

There was such a clever usage of it.

Vilyric wasn’t sure if this place was truly the Endless Ruins Sea, but at least where she had landed at this moment—was a divine kingdom left behind by some god.

A corner of the divine kingdom, just like the sacred ground left by the Demon God Olivya for Tiyelu, contained the profound powers unique to that realm.

Not【magic】, but rather…【cycle】, a somewhat abstract principle that felt elusive; “cycle” was merely the first appropriate descriptor that came to Vilyric’s mind.

And the exquisite method by which this divine kingdom was constructed and designed far surpassed what she had seen in the Illusions of the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, to the extent that even the Priestess, possessing the same level of power, only just grasped its ingenious concepts a moment ago.

The deity who left behind this divine kingdom must have set a logic akin to a program, revealing itself to the current world only under certain specific conditions and bringing outsiders into this place, as if the divine kingdom descended, with two worlds overlapping and then separating again.

This was pure【rule】, so it didn’t require any spatial magic or other aids.

If it weren’t for that fleeting fluctuation earlier, which reminded Vilyric of her own summoning of the divine kingdom, she probably wouldn’t have recognized this truth.

“……”

Gently releasing the hands of the two girls beside her, the Priestess took in the surrounding scenery.

It was a sea, yet not a sea.

The “whoosh” of the waves would invariably evoke images of tumultuous waves crashing at the surface of the ocean; however, upon truly stepping into it, Vilyric realized that the sound was not the sea washing against the shore but rather the noise generated by countless flowers swaying in the wind and colliding with each other.

A sea of flowers.

Crimson, blood-red flowers spread across the expanse, extending to the infinitely far horizon under a darkened sky devoid of sun or moon, resembling a twilight dusk that brought the melodious ancient wind close.

“In the world of the nether, by the edge of the underworld, across the three paths… flowers bloom like blood, eyes gaze afar…”

A familiar voice of soft chanting quietly rang out beside her, a White-clad Middle-aged Man standing atop the sea of the Flower of the Other Shore, smiling.

“Welcome, everyone, to the【Endless Ruins Sea】.”

……

“This is the place.”

In Xinchuan County, within the Wangxi Basin, several inexplicable figures were gathering together, silently observing their surroundings.

Some concealed their bodies with hoods and robes, while others showed no intention of disguise, directly exposing their differing scales, fur, or limbs, their heights and physiques as strange as could be, almost impossible to describe with any proper terms.

The monsters’ grotesque gazes prowled around the basin, seemingly searching for something, but they failed.

After a while, one of them spoke, using the somewhat stiff and awkward language of the Ancient Spirit Realm.

“You all… received the signal from【Nameless】too?”

The monsters all nodded, either affirming in their unique ways, while another one chimed in.

“The situation here is vastly different from what she described; we might have been deceived.”

The group began to murmur.

“【Nameless】never lies; perhaps something happened later that forced her to change her plans.”

“Hmph… So the guy’s been hiding here all along. No wonder everyone couldn’t find her. She clearly promised to share the method to break through the blockade and join us in taking revenge on that crumbling island, yet she suddenly pulls a disappearing act, making us wait like fools! How infuriating!”

“No, no, no,【Nameless】, you’ve got it wrong. Given the current situation,【Nameless】 was clearly caught off-guard by a powerful enemy, forcibly trapped here until recently when she finally managed to send out signals, allowing us to come to her rescue.”

“Oh? Who could have such power?”

“Who else could it be? The one who could silently suppress【Nameless】 has to be that Spiritual Fox Priestess herself.”

“……”

Mentioning that name, the monsters fell immediately silent, their expressions growing cold, seemingly filled with dread toward what it represented.

After a moment, one of them spoke again.

“Don’t worry, the Spiritual Fox Priestess hasn’t shown up for a thousand years; she’s probably long dead at the hands of our master. Now, with the great era returning, the influence of her broken island and minions over the Ancient Spirit Realm will greatly weaken. I think【Nameless】was able to escape precisely because of this.”

“Even so, where is she? She clearly said she would lie low here, waiting for us to arrive to help her break free completely and work on great plans together. Yet there isn’t even a ghost here!”

“Don’t worry, I can sense some traces of power left here… Oh, found it, right here.”

A figure cloaked in black, fully covering their body, opened their eyes, walking directly to a nearby rock face, brushing their short staff over its surface, causing large chunks of rock to break off and fall, revealing a narrow米-wide tunnel leading to some place, with a golden light seeping from within the mountain stone.

That golden light blocked the entrance, appearing only half an inch thick, not showcasing too much brightness or patterns, resembling an ordinary golden eggshell, seemingly ready to shatter at the slightest external force.

“Hmm… It seems this should be the forbidden place that【Nameless】mentioned, but what is this golden light? She didn’t seem to mention anything like this before, right?”

In response to a companion’s inquiry, the figure who discovered the entrance simply shook their head, skillfully tossing the topic back.

“This is probably the reason for the unexpected changes in plans. I’m not good at breaking in; I leave it to you all.”

“Hmph! Everyone, get out of my way!”

A tall, three-meter-tall, strange creature with spikes all over its body, muscles bulging, and no head, but with a huge gaping mouth in its abdomen, stomped forward.

“It’s just a measly turtle shell! I love smashing these kinds of things! Watch me smash it to pieces in one hit!”

It raised its terrifying iron fist, almost the size of a child’s head, with muscles bulging immediately. Before it struck, the force of its punch surged like a hurricane, an oppressive power rushing skyward, causing the cloaks of the surrounding monsters to flutter wildly!

“Woo hoo hoo!!!!”

In an instant, the sky turned dark with clouds, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Undoubtedly, the gathering force had long exceeded the realm of mere mortals, touched upon the fringe of the【rule】.

If judged by the ancient spirit realm’s layered division, it would be at least the terrifying power beyond【Transcendence】, enough to single-handedly annihilate a city, only the combined strength of a nation could resist.

If such a world-shaking punch were to erupt, the flimsy barrier before them would be no match, let alone the entire basin and mountains behind it would surely split in two under the immense power!