Lanius stood triumphantly at the port. He touched his wallet, and couldn't help but chuckle as he thought about how most of the cash he'd swindled had been transferred to Backlund. Lately, the Punishers had gone mad, meticulously and thoroughly checking anyone leaving Tingen. To evade their pursuit, Lanius chose to leave by sea, which seemed safer.
After this departure, I'll never return. I'll go to Backlund, or somewhere else, and buy some real estate. Then I can live a carefree life as a wealthy man, or use my eloquence to deal with those businessmen… Those members of the Aurora Society? Ha, what a joke. They're always thinking about summoning the "True Creator." Ha, I'm not going to participate in their rituals to summon evil gods. Let those idiots die on their own!
"That's it! Prepare to blockade the port! That blasphemer is here!" Just as Lanluus was getting carried away with his smugness, a furious shout rang out, and a Punisher wielding a sword leaped high into the air, bringing his greatsword down towards Lanluus's head. Seeing the situation was dire, Lanluus quickly used his abilities to create a faint illusion, mentally affecting the Punisher captain's actions. The sharp sword grazed Lanluus's body, slamming heavily into the ground and splitting a crack in the earth. He then rolled away, fleeing into the city.
"Hmm, what's going on outside?" Sitting in a café near the harbor, Benson put down his grammar book and rubbed his temples in frustration. Just now, he had heard a huge commotion outside, pulling him out of his reverie.
"It's nothing, the substitutes are probably just arresting criminals. Don't worry, keep studying." Wei Gao took a sip of coffee, his right hand casually sketching a landscape on the paper in front of him. The paper depicted a magnificent courtyard, so beautiful it seemed otherworldly. However, strangely, everything within the courtyard exuded an eerie feeling; if one had to make a comparison, a closer look at the style of this landscape would resemble the unsettling abstract paintings of Picasso's later years.
It's clearly a realistic landscape painting, yet it appears to use an abstract composition. The scenes in this painting are blended together in some extremely strange and illogical ways, like a bug in a game or a spatial distortion.
"Oh." Benson nodded, continuing to diligently study the book in his hands. Having long been a seasoned professional, Benson knew that his position as Wei Gao's professional liaison was solely due to his slightly superior eloquence. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, he naturally devoted himself to learning grammar to enhance his abilities. Wei Gao was pleased that Benson was so sensible and thus continuously created opportunities for him to learn.
All I can say is that he is Klein's brother... Wei Gao took a sip of coffee and sat by the window, watching Lanluus flee in panic.
"Why did the Punishers catch up so quickly? Normally, don't the followers of the Storm Lord take a long time to discover even the slightest clue in such cases?" Lanius was utterly baffled. He had participated in the Aurora Society's divine intervention for his own benefit, but now he was fleeing the Tingen City branch of the Aurora Society, which had inexplicably wiped out its members, out of fear of death. Even the fact that Megaos, with whom he had previously shared intimate moments, was pregnant with the child of an evil god due to a ritual had driven him almost insane with fear.
Someone tipped them off! Could it be because of the Aurora Society incident?! Damn Storm Church, they only go to such lengths to eliminate dissidents at times like this! Normally, when I'm just swindling money, these guys wouldn't be this efficient! Lanluus cursed inwardly, then turned and darted into a side alley. Wei Gao shook his head, a smirk playing on his lips.
Ha, Lanius is finished. The direction he went was guarded by a squad of Night Watchers—ha, hopefully the Goddess of Night reminded her followers so that these poor souls wouldn't die from the corruption of the true creator.
The higher-dimensional observer gently shook the avatar he had left in the Forsaken Land and said to the true creator, "It's your turn, true creator. Release your divinity. To prevent Adam from noticing anything amiss, I will create a'second' Megoos when you release the divine corruption. But as the price for this, the corruption that lingered on Ince Zangwill will be consumed."
"Alright, leave it to me." The True Creator gazed at Lanluus, to whom he had planted the seed of divinity, and said in a deep voice.
"Fine, fine, fine!" Lanevus's face contorted with rage as he stared at Dunn Smith, who was blocking his path. Dunn's eyes were deep and unfathomable as he silently watched Lanluus, trying to pull him into a dream. Lanluus looked around and saw the Punisher squeezing into the alley behind him.
As a mere Sequence Eight, he was naturally trapped in a desperate situation, surrounded by these two squads. His body began to mutate, and bits of divine corruption gradually seeped through his skin, attempting to summon the mad True Creator through his fragile form. With the help of the higher-dimensional observers, the True Creator was transmitting power at a speed far exceeding what He could currently do. The Extraordinary beings surrounding him changed their expressions, feeling the rapidly spreading corruption before them, and pain appeared on their faces. Lanluus's face was also contorted; he gritted his teeth, trying to escape the alley.
"As long as I can get out..."
He listened to the increasingly intense murmurs in his ears and gradually lost consciousness. A black light rose from the ground, appeared on the earth, and shone into the sky, forming a pitch-black cross in mid-air.
At the same time, the Storm Cathedral in Tingen immediately used its own messengers to notify the nearest diocese, Backlund. "Singer of God," Ace Snake, enraged, received a divine message from the Lord of Storms and immediately rode the gale and lightning towards Tingen; Bishop Anthony Stevenson of the Church of the Night rose from before the statue of the goddess, bowed deeply to the woman beside him, and vanished from the church as if erased from existence.
Do you want to protect your child?
Megoss awoke with a start. Looking around, she was shocked to find herself drenched in cold sweat. She stared blankly at the magnificent courtyard, unsure of where she was.
Do you want to protect your child?
A voice rang in her mind. Upon hearing it, Megas clutched her head in pain and said, with fear but also a hint of stubbornness:
"I…I can! Even if I'm all alone, I can work, I can take care of this child. Even if his father never comes back, I can still raise this lovely child well! He's a good boy, he helps me, he sings in my belly…"
"What if it was Lanluus who blasphemed the Lord of Storms?" The high-dimensional gaze's voice boomed as he questioned Megaus: "He stole what he shouldn't have stolen, and he's being arrested now, to be imprisoned in the Storm Church by the Punishers. Ah, can you escape the Punishers' clutches? Even if you're innocent, can you protect your unborn blasphemous son?"
"Your stomach will be cut open, and you will be imprisoned in a water dungeon until you die a miserable death. Your family will not even know that you were captured by the Church of Storms; they will only think that you died in that accident. If you have relatives who believe in the Lord of Storms, they may even go to the Church of Storms to pray to the executioners who killed you."
Megoss's face turned deathly pale, seemingly terrified by the words of the higher-dimensional observer. Her lips trembled, and she collapsed to her knees with a thud. Megoss murmured softly, "Save me, save my child..."
"Drink this, and you will have the power to protect your child." The voice of the high-dimensional observer remained unchanged. A vial of "Scholar" potion slowly floated into the air and landed in Megos's trembling hand: "The choice is in your hands. Will you drink it and gain the knowledge to protect yourself and your child, or will you place your hopes on the mercy of the Lord of Storms and wait in your home for the Punisher to break down your door and kill your child?"
"But…but what about my family…If I leave, they will…" Megos's eyes were unfocused. She looked at the figure gradually appearing before her, stretching out her hands helplessly like a drowning person. Seeing this, the High Dimensional Overlord laughed, the sound deafening, causing the entire courtyard to shift and change shape. Megos knelt on the ground, forcing back her tears.
"A promise." The High Dimensional Overlooker sneered, "You promise to sell your life to me, and I will make a 'Megoos' who is exactly like you suffer in your place."
"Thank you for your kindness..."
Waking from her dream, Megas wiped away her tears, held the potion in her hand, and slowly drank it. She heard countless whispers from the sky, clutching her head and banging it against the wall. After a long while, once the pain subsided slightly, she opened her eyes and sat up.
Immediately afterwards, she gently touched her swollen belly, used the newly acquired knowledge in her mind to create a simple disguise, and then, guided by the voice in her head, resolutely walked towards the port. A stiff body emerged in her room as if peeling away layers of a cocoon, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Megas.
"How great, Mother. For your child, you're even willing to sell everything to me. Ha, if you didn't agree, I really wouldn't have the heart to just take your body away." Wei Gao said softly, picking up his coffee cup. He looked coldly at the half of the dark sky corrupted by the divinity of the true creator, and said to his true form, "Refill my cup, thank you."
"..."
"Yes, now." Gao Wei nodded seriously. "This is called 'the darkest place is under the lamp.' This opportunity is rare. By the way, notify the True Creator and ask Him to do more to help me cover up the traces of the drug."
Wei Gao took out the Hermit's Extraordinary Aura from his robes, mixed it with the coffee that had been transformed into a potion, and swallowed it in one gulp. Benson rubbed his eyes, which were tired from reading, and watched the darkness outside gradually fade, muttering to himself, "It's dawn..."
"Yes, it's dawn," Wei Gao echoed, a slight smile appearing on his face—this was a win-win, no, a win-win-win situation. The vessel for the True Creator's divine descent was preserved, the Lord of Storms was at ease, and he himself had successfully transferred another portion of power into Earth. Only the world where Lanruus was injured had been achieved; he would inevitably be captured alive by the two Sequence Threes. Judging from the current situation, the injured Night Watchers and Punishers would probably take him to Backlund, where he would face endless torture.
"But can I make you reveal information about the Aurora Society?"
The higher-dimensional observer manipulated the last trace of pollution it had left in Tingen City, then poked its head out from its source body located in the starry sky and called out to the Mother Tree of Desire.
"Hey, little sister, come here, let me show you something." The High Dimension Overlord put his arm around the shoulder of the Mother Tree of Desire and led her to the Astral Barrier. Although the Mother Tree of Desire was unwilling and didn't know why this guy was acting crazy, she was still forcibly dragged over by the High Dimension Overlord with dual-path and full source matter. She watched as her kin excitedly pressed their physical body against the Astral Barrier while sharing their vision with her.
"Is this the authority of the Outer God, the one who never takes action? I'll remember this; I might need it later." The Mother Tree of Desire thought to itself, then saw two Sequence 3 beings and a human tainted with corruption appear before it. It looked at the Outer God with bewilderment, not understanding its intentions, when suddenly it felt a kick in the rear, and the entire god crashed directly into the Astral Barrier.
Instantly, the attention of all the gods was drawn to the Mother Tree of Desire, whose face was pressed against the barrier.
"You, the one who looks down from a higher dimension..."
"That's more like it." Wei Gao snapped his fingers, watching as Lanluus, who was being held hostage by two Sequence 3, trembled and collapsed to the ground, a smile appearing on his face:
"True Creator, True Creator. I offended the Mother Tree of Desire to keep your secrets from being revealed. Shouldn't you thank me several times for that?"
"You could have dealt with Lanluus in other ways," the True Creator emphasized to the higher-dimensional observer.
Well, actually, it was just to have some fun with the Mother Tree of Desire. He shrugged and walked away with Benson, who looked completely bewildered.
Anthony Stevenson's face was grim. He whispered a few words to Ace Snake, who also had a stern expression. Ace Snake hesitated for a moment, then reached out and cracked open Lanluus's skull immediately afterward, both saints took a step back in unison, their faces serious.
They discovered that Lanevus's brain had disappeared without any external injury.
Information that can be disclosed at present:
Overlooking route:
Sequence nine scholars
Its full name is "Star Scholar".
You will gain some knowledge about the starry sky, but without the protection of the ancients, taking this potion will result in instant death from contamination;
At the same time, it greatly enhances learning ability and memory capacity, grants greater inspiration, and qualifies one to learn ritual magic;
Due to the influence of the "high-dimensional observer" at the top of the sequence, some random knowledge will be inserted in addition to this knowledge, the specific content of which is determined by the top of the sequence.
Those who drink the potion will gradually become arrogant scholars who do not respect knowledge. However, this is actually a side effect of the potion. If they do not respect knowledge or treat others with humility while playing the role, they will eventually be devoured by the potion.