Chapter 1835 - 1834: Faith in Order?

"If you’re not buying anything, then leave," the middle-aged man looked up, his facial muscles carefully controlled to remain calm as he gazed at He Ao. "I don’t welcome mental patients here."

He Ao glanced at him, picked up his phone, and started dialing.

"Who are you calling?" the middle-aged man asked coldly, watching He Ao’s movements subconsciously.

"Staff from the Research Institute." He Ao replied casually.

Bang—

Almost the moment his voice fell, a crisp and subtle gunshot suddenly sounded.

He Ao’s body shuddered, and he fell backward onto the ground.

The middle-aged man returned the silenced handgun to the open drawer and leaned forward to look at the young man lying on the ground.

A hint of crimson oozed from the young man’s chest; his eyes widened as he stared at the middle-aged man, seeming to want to say many things.

"Kid, there’s a way to Heaven, but you don’t take it," the middle-aged man glanced at the open supermarket door, bypassed the young man on the ground, and walked to the door. He looked up, glancing outside.

"Hello, have you recently experienced any neck pain—"

A low inquiry was heard not far away outside.

The middle-aged man quickly reached out and closed the supermarket’s glass door.

’Welcome, welcome’

The sensor devices hanging on the door emitted a series of sounds.

Buzz—

The middle-aged man pulled down the roller shutter behind the door, completely blocking out the outside light, plunging the already dim supermarket into complete darkness.

Immediately afterward, the middle-aged man turned back, glanced at the young man on the ground, who was staring at him but seemed to have no strength left, and the blood on the young man’s body continued to increase.

Seeing this scene, after a brief hesitation, the middle-aged man directly stepped over the young man on the ground and quickly ran to the depths of the supermarket, opening a hidden door in the wall.

Meanwhile, behind him, the previously quiet sensor lit up.

’Welcome’

Accompanied by a slightly noisy sound, the young man lying on the ground stood up.

He reached out, lightly shook his clothing, and a deformed bullet fell onto the ground with a crisp sound.

The blood that had covered his body gradually receded and disappeared, until it was completely gone.

The Multicolored Ring can change appearance and can alter the style of clothing.

Blood can also be a fashion choice.

He Ao raised his head, looking towards the depths of the supermarket, at the open hidden door.

He stepped forward, slowly walking over.

——

Martial Arts World

He Ao’s true self lifted his gaze, sweeping over the surrounding light that created a massive framework.

Within this framework, many rays had returned to their complete form, shimmering with bright glows throughout the scattered framework, illuminating the area more brightly than before.

In contrast, the crack running through the framework appeared even dimmer.

Yet the crack still existed, piercing through the entire framework, seemingly consuming the light passing before it.

Then he lowered his head, looking at the light in his hand that had been restored to normal length and reconstructed.

He released it, and the light flew up into the sky, merging with the surrounding radiant framework.

Another one.

The progress was smoother than he imagined, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief as he floated his consciousness back up to the Martial Arts World.

The surrounding scene swiftly blurred, but in that instant, he saw the rule he had just repaired passing through the immense crack.

A terrifying grey light suddenly shot out from the crack, and in a moment, the light was directly severed.

Part of it disintegrated into scattered glimmers, vanishing in the dark void.

The surroundings transformed again into a deep forest, a gentle breeze brushing against He Ao’s cheek.

Immediately, he sank back into the world’s depths.

In his vision was the ray of light he had just repaired, or rather, the rule he had just reconstructed.

The rule, although not completely the same as the original one, was still directly severed by the force of the crack, leaving parts even bearing some of He Ao’s alterations.

This time, He Ao did not look at the rule anymore, but reached out his hand to grab another broken rule.

This rule was not important; its overall informational content was not substantial either. Becoming more adept, He Ao quickly restored this rule.

This time, he did not leave immediately but released the rule’s light first.

As the rule’s light passed through the massive light framework, a grey light shot forth again, slicing at the rule’s light.

In just an instant, the light was severed again, half of it completely vanished.

However, before He Ao could examine the vanishing light closely, a violent grey light surged forth again from the crack, heading directly toward He Ao.

It seemed to be some kind of ’rule’ aimed at eradicating anything beyond the limits of this world.

He Ao quickly withdrew, his body falling back into the real world, the light passing by him and vanishing into the darkness.

This time, he did not immediately return to the world’s depths but lowered his head to look at the silver Longsword thrust before him.

Eternal Silence Mark.

This sword was the power cast by the God of Knowledge, the force transformed to destroy the Martial Arts World, the endpoint for the fate of all living beings in the Martial Arts World.

The crack that pierced through the entire rule framework at the world’s depths was most likely this sword’s original form.

Even at the surface level of the world, He Ao had grasped the Eternal Silence Mark to some extent, making it his weapon.

But at the world’s depths, it remained the power of the God of Knowledge’s descent, attacking He Ao without hesitation.

He Ao lifted his head, gazing at the sky. In a trance, a crack traversing the Firmament was reflected in his pupils.

Originally, He Ao thought that the power left by his good friend had ended after destroying the Martial Arts World.

But now it seems that the power of the Eternal Silence Mark was not a completed task, but an ongoing process.

His good friend’s demand was not just the Martial Arts World reaching destruction as a final point.

But rather the Martial Arts World perpetually bound to destruction.

Destruction does not end after the act itself; even picking up the remnants of this world to recreate a complete one is impossible.

Once the restored rules exceed a certain Boundary, allowing this world the possibility of renewed vitality, they will be directly severed by the Eternal Silence Mark’s power.

The power of the Eternal Silence Mark is continuously in effect.

He Ao gazed at the silver Longsword before him, realizing that his original plan had encountered a massive, unpredictable obstacle.

As long as the power of the Eternal Silence Mark exists for one day, he cannot restore the Martial Arts World’s rules, nor can he completely control the Martial Arts World to achieve the effect of ’creation.’

His initial plan encountered a huge obstacle at this moment.

If the Eternal Silence Mark was some power left by an Angel or Usurper God, He Ao might have figured out a way to suppress it, but the Eternal Silence Mark was left by a Divine Being, and a powerful one like the God of Knowledge.

He Ao couldn’t suppress it at all, not even remotely.

He squatted down, rubbed his temples, and fell into thought.

Either he abandons the idea of using the Martial Arts World to achieve ’Creation,’ or he finds a way to deal with this Eternal Silence Mark.

This time, not even the Secret Wizard’s talent could significantly help him.

The Secret Wizard’s talent only enhanced insight, reducing the difficulty of understanding knowledge, but how to use knowledge and change mindset wasn’t in this increased ’insight.’

Given the current situation, with the help of Barrier Wood, changing the rules and utilizing the Martial Arts World for ’Creation’ was much simpler than He Ao imagined. As long as he bypassed the power of the Eternal Silence Mark, he could quickly achieve his goal.

He Ao raised his hand, rubbed his temples.

——

Main World·Beidu

"Something happened! Something happened!" A middle-aged man tumbled down the stairs into the expansive basement.

His frantic steps kicked the corner of a stone table, causing his body to lean forward, almost falling to the ground.

"What happened?" A figure with white hair extended a hand, grabbing his clothes from behind and lifting him up.

"Thank you, thank you," the middle-aged man raised his head, gulped, and looked at the entire design of the basement.

A dense and complex Array was inscribed into the structure of the basement.

Several figures dressed in different attires, with white-tinted hair, stood outside the Array.

A faint yellow glow delineated this Array, flickering with bright light.

At the moment, these figures turned their heads, all gazing at the middle-aged man.

"Here’s the thing," the middle-aged man swallowed, speaking quickly, "Someone came asking me which Divine Being I believe in. He also knew about the Research Institute and wanted to call the staff there. We might have been exposed."

Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged glances for a moment.

And the white-haired figure lifting the middle-aged man looked down and said, "Could it have been a trick? What happened to that person? How did you handle it?"

"I killed him." The middle-aged man said sheepishly, "He said he was going to call the Research Institute, I had to respond immediately."

"You killed him?" A quick voice came from one of the figures in the crowd, "Couldn’t you have just thrown him out as a lunatic?"

"Couldn’t throw him out," the middle-aged man said slowly, "And he was indeed calling someone from the Research Institute. If their people show up, we’re finished, and at the door, I seemed to hear inquiries from someone presumably from the Research Institute."

"Idiot." Another figure in the crowd couldn’t help but say, "We might have gotten away with fooling them, but now that you’ve killed someone, things have gotten more complicated, and it might have been someone from the Research Institute. They’ll discover us soon."

"But the situation was urgent; I had no choice." The middle-aged man immediately said.

"And now you’ve dragged all of us into even more urgent circumstances?" Another figure said coldly.

"I’m doing all this for the great Order!" The middle-aged man immediately said.

"Alright," the white-haired figure who had grabbed the middle-aged man interrupted the quarrel, "Now that things have come to this, the management at the Research Institute is very strict; they’ll probably discover something’s wrong soon. We must relocate immediately."

He glanced at the middle-aged man, then at everyone around the Array, "We’ll leave through the side door and activate the timed bomb. We can’t let the knowledge gifted by the Divine Being fall into the hands of those godless sinners."

"But what about the ritual?" Someone in the crowd spoke up, "We’ve prepared so much already, we’re about to invoke the power of the Divine Being."

"Plans can’t keep up with changes," the figure in the white robe shook his head, "We have backup Arrays elsewhere, and there’s a way to continue after the ritual is interrupted,"

His gaze swept over everyone, "But we need to survive first to continue the ritual. If the Research Institute catches us, the chance of Divine Descent vanishes completely."

"Alright." The crowd exchanged looks, quickly nodding.

"There’s a small door over there," the white-haired figure raised a hand to point to the other side, "behind that stone. You go first, I’ll cover the rear."

The middle-aged man looked in the direction the white-haired figure pointed, slightly stunned.

"Priest!" A figure looked at the white-haired figure, unable to hold back a comment, "You should go first, you’re more important than any of us."

"There’s no time for that talk now," the white-haired figure said calmly, "I still have to set the explosives. The faster you evacuate, the safer we’ll be."

The figure wanted to say more, but the white-haired figure immediately said, "That’s an order! Everything is for the Divine Being!"

Upon hearing this, someone in the crowd visibly sighed with relief, and they quickly moved toward the stone the white-haired figure pointed at.

Someone swiftly flipped a switch, the stone moved to one side, revealing a narrow secret door.

"Is it that narrow?" "Be thankful there’s a way out; go quickly!"

Everyone quickly squeezed into the secret door, and the last figure turned back, taking one last look at the white-haired figure, "Priest, we’ll wait for you up ahead."

Seeing this scene, the white-haired figure merely said calmly, "You go first."

The last figure withdrew his gaze and stepped into the stone door.

Immediately after, the stone door closed automatically.

"That door is···" The middle-aged man standing next to the white-haired figure turned his head to look at him.

"Ah——"

At that very moment, a violent scream erupted from behind the stone door.

"The walls are closing in!" "It’s a trap!" The voices came muffled with agonizing screams from behind the stone door.

Thud thud thud——

Soon after, there were intense sounds of something slamming against the stone door.

But that stone door remained stable, not being breached from the inside.

The screams from behind the door grew more intense, and the thudding accompanied the screams, becoming even more violent.

Eventually, the sounds behind the door completely quieted down.

Only the faint creaking continued.

Bright red liquid seeped from beneath the stone door, flowing along a deliberately carved channel into the glowing yellow Array, tinting it with a pale blood-red hue.

As the red spread, the yellow glow grew brighter and more intense.

"Priest..." The middle-aged man turned his head, looked at the white-haired figure beside him, and gulped, "I, I, I···"

"You did well," the white-haired figure gently patted the middle-aged man’s shoulder, "very well, you’ve helped me a great deal."

"Really?" The middle-aged man instinctively responded.

Then he suddenly felt something, looking down at his chest.

A hand had somehow pierced through his chest, clutching his heart.

Thud——

Bright red blood spurted out, seeping into the earth.

Thud—Thud—Thud—

Soft footsteps sounded from the depths of the staircase, a figure descended the steps, and those simple casual shoes appeared in the white-haired figure’s field of view.