Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

"The residents of Dead Silence City have indeed become much weaker."

The old charlatan narrowed his eyes and stared at the security guard Shu Shi who was wandering outside the window. A look of relief appeared on his wrinkled face.

"Is this considered much weaker?"

The air in the room froze instantly, and everyone's breathing stopped.

Only at this moment did they truly realize what kind of horror was hidden in this cursed and dead city.

"Yes, if Eclipse was in its prime, we would have been killed long ago."

The old charlatan's hoarse voice came to an abrupt halt, and in this cramped room of less than 30 square meters, a strange knocking sound suddenly rang out.

Bang, bang
The sound was short and slight, like a naughty child jumping upstairs, or like some creature tapping its knuckles on the floor.

Su Xiao exchanged glances with the old charlatan, and Veronica immediately raised her trembling hands, her pale lips moving silently, indicating that it was definitely not her doing.

Bang, bang.

Two more knocks.

Fine beads of cold sweat oozed out of Veroni's forehead and slid down her tense cheeks.

What was truly terrifying was not the sudden sound, but the fact that her perception ability, which she was so proud of, could not detect any abnormality.
"not……"

The old charlatan's eyes twitched uncontrollably and he raised his hand, motioning for everyone to remain still.

The shaking of the ground gradually faded away, and the heavy footsteps of the gatekeeper Shu Shi finally disappeared at the end of the street.

Su Xiao's eyes were fixed on the dilapidated wooden cabinet in the room - it was a nearly two-meter-high vertical cabinet, with holes full of insects on the surface, and the cracked wooden boards seemed like they would break at any time.

It was obvious that the strange crying sound came from this cabinet.

Under the old charlatan's suggestion, no one dared to move, for fear of violating some taboo.

crunch~

The double doors of the wooden cabinet were opened, revealing a few tattered strips of cloth hanging inside. In the shadow at the bottom, a petite figure was curled up in a ball, with her arms tightly wrapped around her knees.

As soon as Lin Yi's sight touched that figure, a strange tremor appeared at the edge of his vision.

He felt a sharp pain between his eyebrows, as if an ice spike was slowly piercing into his brain. His instinct was frantically warning him - run away!
When the old charlatan saw the petite figure, his face twitched and his mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out, but the shape of his mouth was: "Prepare to escape."

Although the combat effectiveness of several people has increased several times with the assistance of Lin Yi, the monster in front of them is not an ordinary resident of the Dead City.

If it was a monster of the level of Tree Erosion, they would be fully capable of ending the battle within a minute.

But it might take everyone more than ten minutes to fight this guy, and in this cursed city, any mistake in the process might attract a flood of residents of the Dead City.

"Woo, woo..."

The crying sound was heard, and the little girl curled up at the bottom of the closet kept her head down, her messy black hair covering her face, and her thin body trembled slightly with sobs.

"Help me."

At the moment when the pleading voice fell, the little girl's head suddenly turned 180 degrees, and her pale face rose from her knees, looking straight at everyone.

Lin Yi summoned the Hercules Shield to stretch across the crowd, barely blocking the horrifying sight.

Su Xiao watched as spider-web-like cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the translucent shield in front of him. These cracks spread rapidly like living things, as if countless invisible hands were frantically tearing the barrier apart.

What’s even more terrifying is that sticky black liquid is oozing from the edges of the eroded cracks.

"Run! Don't look at her!"

When the old charlatan's voice appeared, everyone turned around and ran without saying a word.

Di Ya grabbed Veronica's wrist, and the two of them smashed the glass window and jumped out. Su Xiao kicked the door open, and Lin Yi and the old charlatan followed closely behind.

Just when Lin Yi and the old charlatan were about to leave the room, a dark energy wall appeared out of nowhere and bounced the two back.

Puff, puff...

Hair-like spikes pierced through the black wall, and blood could be seen on the tips.

"I command you, Ataya, in the name of the Black King, to retreat."

But after hearing the old charlatan's words, Ataya not only did not retreat, but instead a furious expression appeared on her face.

Lin Yi looked at the old charlatan speechlessly. Could it be that this guy had a grudge against the little girl in front of him?

At this moment, a spike as thin as a hair scraped across his cheek, leaving a dark corrosion mark on the wall behind him.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" Lin Yi took two steps back and casually summoned several layers of shields to block his side.

The old charlatan's forehead was covered with sweat, and he quickly drew an obscure symbol on his chest with his fingers: "Thirty years ago... I cheated her 'eyes' away."

"what?!"

Before Lin Yi could curse, Ataya's body, like a puppet controlled by invisible strings, crawled out of the cabinet in an ergonomically unsound posture.

The joints of her limbs were bent in opposite directions and her spine was twisted into a strange S shape, but her head was always facing the two men.

"Liar..." Her voice turned into dozens of overlapping screams, like countless resentful souls wailing at the same moment.

Dense black hairs madly emerged from the cracks in the wooden boards of the entire room, wriggling and entwining like living things, overwhelming and strangling the two of them!

The street downstairs——

As soon as Su Xiao pushed open the back door on the first floor, a teeth-grinding creaking sound suddenly came from the whole building, as if some huge object was twisting and breaking inside.

At this moment, the window on the second floor exploded, and black hair gushed out like a waterfall. Wherever it passed, the glass and bricks were instantly corroded into honeycomb-shaped debris, which scattered everywhere.

swoosh~
A hair-like spike pierced his neck. If it weren't for the reaction ability he had developed through life and death experiences, this would have been fatal.

Veroni kept her hands clasped together the entire time, trying her best to block out nearby sounds and energy fluctuations to prevent attracting even more terrifying things.

"Aren't they coming out yet?"

Veronie's forehead was covered with sweat and her breathing was rapid.

The consumption of using one's abilities in a place like Dead Silence City is far more terrifying than in the outside world.

Under normal circumstances, she could maintain the shielding for at least half an hour, but here, it was a miracle if she could last more than ten minutes.

"Get out of here."

The old charlatan's voice came from the room, followed by a loud explosion, as if something was being torn apart inside.

Su Xiao didn't hesitate at all. He grabbed Di Ya and Veronie's arm at the same time, and shouted, "Let's go!"

At the last moment before evacuating, Veroni gritted her teeth and poured all her remaining strength into this area.

As long as the battle can be resolved within three minutes, the sound from this area will not be transmitted.

Inside the room, the old charlatan had already opened the metal book in his hand, and a large number of patterns began to appear on his face.

"Ataya, I'm warning you one last time. Back off."

At this moment, the black fog surging around the old charlatan almost condensed into substance, and his whole body exuded a suffocating sense of oppression.

If an outsider saw the confrontation between the old charlatan and Attaya, they would probably mistake it for two terrifying BOSS-level creatures killing each other.

"Liar! Liar!" Ataya went completely crazy.

Her limbs twitched strangely, and each movement shattered the wooden floor around her.

Her empty right eye socket could be vaguely seen among her messy black hair - there should have been an eye there, but now there was only a dark hole.

"Where are her eyes?"

"I have been sacrificed, otherwise I would not have been able to leave this damn place." The old charlatan's face looked very ugly. In order to escape from this damn place, the Dead Silence City, the old charlatan could be said to have cheated many residents. Otherwise, if he wanted to leave here relying on his own strength, he would at least be skinned alive.

click-

The metal book in the old charlatan's hand automatically turned to a certain page. The runes on the page seemed to come alive, twisting and crawling out of the paper, turning into gray chains, and suddenly stabbed at Attaya!
“Uooaaaaa——!”

Ataya let out a shrill scream, her body twitching violently and her black hair dancing wildly, trying to block the chains.

As soon as the runes on the chain touched her hair, it burned up the grass instantly like a raging fire!

After using this power, the old charlatan's skin began to crack at a speed visible to the naked eye, and cracked lines spread across his face.

His face quickly turned gray, and his entire body was enveloped by increasingly thick black fog.

Ataya's body was twisted and deformed by the chains, and her bones cracked under the weight.

Her skin began to peel off in large flakes, revealing the dark, wriggling flesh underneath - as if something was struggling inside her body to escape.

Lin Yi's temple was throbbing and fear gripped his heart.

I can't stay here any longer!
He turned around and used all his strength to punch the black wall behind him. Unexpectedly, the originally indestructible wall was as fragile as paper and shattered under his fist! "Go!" he shouted at the old charlatan.

However, the old charlatan still stood there without moving. The black fog around him was so thick that it almost obscured his figure. Only a distorted outline could be vaguely seen.

"Boy, you go first." His voice had completely changed its tone, like the sound made by some ancient mechanical friction, and it did not sound like a sound that a human could make at all.

Hearing this, Lin Yi left the room without saying a word.

The next second, all the light in the room disappeared, and countless strands of hair penetrated the walls from all directions like a black rainstorm, turning the entire house into a sieve.

Lin Yi could even feel the cold air flow caused by the hair brushing against his back. If he had been a second late, he would have been a corpse riddled with holes!

"Haha, is that all you have?" The old charlatan's voice was completely distorted, with a creepy and crazy laugh, followed by Attaya's heart-wrenching wail - the voice no longer sounded like that of a human, but more like the scream of some dying beast.

Lin Yi did not stop, but left quickly.

As the battle escalates, this area will soon become a death zone.

Staying here any longer? That would be a recipe for death.

The streets of the Dead City stretched out before my eyes, grey and depressing.

All the buildings are in strange black and gray tones, as if they have been eroded by some invisible force for a long time.

The sky was filled with thick gray fog, blocking out all light and leaving only a suffocating haze.

Except for the occasional whistling sound of wind, the whole city was deathly silent.

After walking about 500 meters towards the street on the right, Lin Yi suddenly stopped and hid in a small alley on the side.

The next second, several Tree Eros appeared at the corner of the street. They did not stop, but went straight towards the direction where the old charlatan was fighting with Attaya.

Lin Yi looked at the scene in front of him and finally understood why the old charlatan had to bring Veronica in here.

In this cursed city, any sound is like a beacon in the darkness.

Without Veronee's shielding ability, unless the battle could be resolved instantly, it would attract the entire city's residents, as it was doing now.

As the sounds on the street faded away, Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as he turned around and prepared to leave the abandoned neighborhood, a hoarse, dry voice suddenly sounded in his ears: "My friend, may I ask how the Dawn Sect is developing outside?"

Lin Yihu instinctively jumped back several meters, creating a safe distance from the source of the sound.

In the dim light, Lin Yi could clearly see the owner of the voice - in the shadow of the dilapidated house, stood an old woman wearing a gray hood.

Her body was hunched like a dead tree, and her bony outline was vaguely visible under her wide robe.

Lin Yi's muscles tensed instantly, his fingers slightly bent, ready to attack at any time.

The old woman's exposed skin was covered with strange black lines - those were the marks of erosion by the power of death, which had already crawled all over her neck like a poisonous snake.

In the center of her wrinkled forehead, a dark golden mark emitted a faint light, forcibly trapping the power of death within her body.

Lin Yi carefully looked at the old woman in front of him. Although the years had carved deep wrinkles on her face, her delicate features still revealed her former beauty - when she was young, she must have been a stunning beauty.

The threadbare gown she wore was made of something fine, silk or some precious fabric perhaps, but dulled by age and grime.

"The Dawn Sect? Is it the sect that believes in the Lord of the Dawn?"

Seeing that the other party still had some sanity and had not been completely corroded by the power of death, Lin Yi relaxed his guard slightly.

He adjusted his posture, keeping his fingers subtly tense, so as not to appear overly hostile yet still be able to respond to emergencies at any time.

If I can get some information about the Dead City from her, then this adventure will be worth it.

When the old woman heard Lin Yi's answer, her skinny body trembled violently, and a faint light suddenly appeared in her cloudy eyes.

"Praise our Lord, it seems that the sect is still thriving."

After hearing Lin Yi's answer, the other party slowly outlined a complex symbol on his chest - it seemed to be some kind of sacred mark of the Dawn Sect.

"You are, Kepel Salom?"

Seeing the other party's performance, Lin Yi suddenly remembered what he had read in a book during this period.

"It's been a long time since I last heard this name..." The old woman - no, perhaps she should be called Keppel Salom at this moment - had a dazed look in her eyes.

She slowly brushed off the years of dust on her robe. Her movements were so graceful that they didn't match her old appearance. It was clearly a habit that had been ingrained into her bones after strict etiquette training.

"Just call me 'The Saint of the Dawn', young man."

Kepel Salom, the last saint to be canonized by the Dawn Sect, mysteriously disappeared on the eve of the Black King's cavalry sweeping across the continent.

According to historical records, on the night of the seventh new moon after her disappearance, the sect's headquarters, which had lost the protection of the Lord of Dawn and the guidance of the Saint, had its temple gates breached by the Black King's undead army.

The massacre lasted for three days and three nights.

The once glorious Temple of Dawn was reduced to nothing but blood-soaked fragments of stained glass.

Hundreds of high-ranking priests were crucified on the holy symbols of their faith, and the thousand-year-old books in the library were reduced to ashes in the fire.

When all this happened, the two pillars that were supposed to protect the sect - the Lord of Dawn and his human representative, the Saint - disappeared like the evaporating morning dew.

After learning about the other party's origins, Lin Yi took out a bottle of royal secret wine with a gold-plated seal and two exquisite snacks wrapped in silk from his storage bag.

Keppel Salom's dry throat rolled unconsciously.

She stretched out her right hand, which was trembling like a dead branch, and her fingertips showed a bit of cautious piety when they touched the food packaging.

After finishing a brief pre-meal prayer, the former saint gracefully broke the snacks into small pieces and put them into her mouth.

"It's been hundreds of years, and I never thought that I would be able to eat such delicious pastries one day."

The residents of the City of Death do not feel hungry - their bodies have long been transformed by the power of death.

But the sense of taste, this luxurious gift from the world of the living, has been preserved intact like a curse.

In this cursed city, no crops can survive; even the hardiest mosses wither as soon as they sprout.

If it weren't for Lin Yi's gift, this former saint would probably never remember the taste of fresh food.

"Why did you suddenly disappear hundreds of years ago?"

After the other party finished enjoying the tea, Lin Yi finally asked the question that had been lingering in his mind.

Keppel Salom slowly put his wrinkled hands together, and when his skinny fingertips touched, a faint golden light flashed.

She bowed deeply towards the central area of ​​the Dead City, and the dark gold mark was faintly visible on her forehead.

"I came here in obedience to the will of my Lord."

"Lord of the Dawn?"

"Yes, my Lord came here and suppressed the riot in Dead Silence City hundreds of years ago. Naturally, I will follow in my Lord's footsteps."

"Suppression?"

After hearing Keppel Salom's answer, Lin Yi finally understood something. The Dead Silence City was not a product of the Black King era. This cursed land has existed for a thousand years.

"Yes. The Lord of the Sky a thousand years ago and the Lord of Dreams five hundred years ago both suddenly disappeared at a certain moment. Later, after I received the message from my Lord, I realized that they had all gone here to suppress this area."

The Lord of the Sky from a thousand years ago? The Lord of Dreams from five hundred years ago? These names of gods that had long been lost in history were now casually mentioned by Keppel Salom.

Although these gods are just more powerful extraordinary beings, there is no doubt that the three gods mentioned by Kepel Salom have reached the sixth level.

"I'm sorry, it's time for my daily prayers. I don't have anything to give you in return. This small gift is just a token of my gratitude."

With an almost inaudible sigh, she gently took off a ring and handed it to Lin Yi.

【Holy Light Oath】

Origin: Black Throne Continent, Dawn Sect
Quality: Epic
Category: Jewelry (Ring)

Durability: 40/40
Equipment requirements: inheritor of the Light Occupation (Hunter does not meet this requirement)
Equipment Effect 1: The wearer's all Light skills increase in effect by 30%, and skill consumption is reduced by 15%. When using Holy Light skills, there is a 20% chance of triggering "Double Casting", allowing the skill to be released an additional time (without consuming additional energy).

Equipment Effect 2: The Holy Light power in the wearer's body will continue to purify itself. After using Holy Light skills 5 times, a layer of "Holy Tempering" effect will be obtained (up to 5 layers). When the stacking reaches 50 layers, it will trigger "Light Sublimation", making the next Light skill a guaranteed critical hit and causing an additional % Holy Light attribute damage.

Rating: 681
Introduction: This ring was forged by the Lord of Dawn himself over three months. Long-term wearing of it can continuously enhance the user's holy light power.

Keppel Salom sighed. She could no longer leave this place. If it weren't for the mark of the Lord of Dawn that helped Keppel Salom suppress the erosion of the Dead City, she would probably have been assimilated by the Dead City.

At this moment, a petite figure stood silently at the door.

She was a little girl with skin that was a strange grey-black colour, and there was no trace of life in her hollow grey eyes.

The girl's breathing was disordered at the moment, and the power of death and silence around her was sometimes strong and sometimes weak. It was obvious that she had suffered a great loss in the confrontation with the old charlatan. (End of this chapter)