Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 733 Ghost City Model
Huang Chao's death cannot be attributed to his carelessness, nor can it be blamed on the tricks he played.

Looking at it from another perspective, Huang Chao was forced into this situation.

As he said, the moment he became a celestial being, he was destined to be abandoned by Heaven and become a stepping stone for the new generation of chosen ones.

This is not a truth he understood after becoming a celestial being, but a truth he understood even before he achieved that status.

As a celestial being, how helpless must Huang Chao feel when he discovers that the will of Heaven is no longer in his favor, and has even begun to trip him up?

His life was like being forcibly pushed forward step by step by fate, crossing small rivers, great rivers, and mountains, until he was pushed to the edge of a cliff.

If Huang Chao wants to survive in adversity, the only way is to put himself in a life-or-death situation, and possession is undoubtedly the fastest and most convenient method.

Huang Chao's ambition was too great. As Xiao Ran said, he was too arrogant. All his goals were the perfect answer in his mind, and he wanted the winner to take all.

This is also the reason why he failed at the last minute.

Of course, the Dragon Lip Pearl was purely an accident, but this accident might just be a destiny predetermined in the dark.

After all, this thing had been in his hands for so long, and it was only just now that Xiao Ran suddenly had the idea to take it out.

Who would have thought that this seemingly insignificant act would help him so much?

[Main Quest 2: Imperial Seal of the State, Completed]

Side Quest: Imprint the Truth, Completed

[You have completed the main questline of this Lost City. You may return to the real world at any time, choose to return to a business there, or remain in the Lost City.]

"This...is it over?"

Upon receiving the mission notification, Xiao Ran did not show any joy, because this mission in the Lost City seemed to be even shorter than she had expected.

But is that really the end of it?

"Are you OK?"

At this moment, Gu Xintang walked to Xiao Ran's side and asked, "Xiao Ran and Huang Chao talked for a long time just now, but in fact, in Gu Xintang's eyes, he only saw Xiao Ran stand there stunned for a few seconds after taking off the box containing the jade seal."

"fine!"

Xiao Ran waved his hand and led Gu Xintang away from the main hall.

Not long after the two left the main hall, Xiao Ran put away the dragon lip bead in her hand, and then heard shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" coming from the main hall behind her again.

"Did you get the Imperial Seal?" Gu Xintang looked at the box in Xiao Ran's other hand.

Xiao Ran simply tossed the box to Gu Xintang.

This caught Gu Xintang off guard, but seeing the ambiguous smile on Xiao Ran's face, Gu Xintang realized that the situation might not be what he had thought.

With a sense of doubt, he opened the box, only to find it empty.

This left Gu Xintang completely bewildered.

He turned to look at Xiao Ran: "Empty?"

“It’s empty!” Xiao Ran nodded. “The real imperial seal was sent out long ago after we entered Ghost City. Now, the various rebel kings outside are probably fighting tooth and nail for it.”

"What?! The imperial seal has already been sent out?!"

This result greatly surprised Gu Xintang. After a brief moment of shock, his face immediately turned furious.

"Isn't this just playing with people?!"

Gu Xintang's fingers tightened, squeezing the box in his hand so hard it made a cracking sound. They had come all this way, only to find it was all for nothing.

Everything is empty. Huang Chao is dead, and the imperial seal is empty. They are trapped here and being played around.

Thinking of this, Gu Xintang felt an indescribable sense of frustration and casually threw the box in his hand away.

"Boom!!"

The box crashed onto the ashes-covered stone slab with a loud clang, its echoing sound ringing out as it rolled. The sharp sound seemed to shatter some invisible barrier; the air rippled like water, and the entire ruined plaza distorted and warped as if oil paint had dissolved!

Suddenly!! Gu Xintang's hair stood on end, his martial arts senses screaming wildly! Almost instinctively, he spun around and drew his sword—

"Qiang!"

The golden and silver sword beams tore through the gloom, only to strike a void. Wherever the sword energy passed, the air cracked with spiderweb-like black fissures, but deep within the fissures lay not bricks and stones, but an abyss churning with viscous ink! An even more terrifying sense of crisis exploded up his spine, and Gu Xintang abruptly looked up, his pupils instantly shrinking to pinpoints!

A huge, indescribable shadow, about ten feet ahead, shifted to the side.

It wasn't a physical entity, but rather a projection that transcended time and space! The mere outline of the phantom filled the entire field of vision. The jagged spine, like an ancient mountain range, pierced through the dark carapace, upon which countless tiny, pained faces writhed; the ends of the reversed joints were not claws or teeth, but slowly swirling, vortex-like holes that seemed capable of swallowing light.

Even more horrifying was the location of the shadow's head, which had no facial features, only a swirling, pale vortex of stars compressed from thousands of howling souls!
"Uh..." Gu Xintang groaned, his two swords vibrating and humming, and a thin layer of white frost strangely condensed on the blades.

His teeth chattered, and in the instant the shadow turned around, it felt as if a gaze pierced straight to the depths of his soul, as if it wanted to suck his very marrow dry.

Fortunately, this terrifying figure seemed to be from a different time and space than them, with an impenetrable barrier between them. As the figure turned around and opened its palm towards Gu Xintang, it gradually disappeared in front of Gu Xintang.

Gu Xintang turned his head with difficulty to look at Xiao Ran beside him, his voice hoarse and distorted as he managed to squeeze out, "What...what is that?!"

Xiao Ran's gaze was fixed on the terrifying outline that was moving from illusion to reality, a dark light flashing in her eyes.

"The demons of the underworld." Xiao Ran frowned. From her conversation with Huang Chao, she had a rough idea of ​​what made this ghost city truly troublesome.

The so-called superior talents or the so-called special talents are nothing more than sacrifices prepared in advance for the arrival of those demons and gods in the underworld.

Using these powerful physical bodies as vessels and the imperial edict bearing the Imperial Seal as an anchor, they forcibly descended from the underworld into this world.

They are different from Qinghai and Liumu; the two are merely a wisp of thought of the main body, and to be honest, their strength is not even worthy of being called clones.

However, these demon gods who have been possessed are completely different. Not only do they possess superior or even extraordinary physical attributes as the bodies they possess, but they also have the Imperial Seal of the State to confirm their legitimacy. As a result, the power of the demon gods who have descended far exceeds that of Six Eyes and Qinghai by many times.

These things, let alone Lu Cheng's army outside, even if everyone in the world were combined, would not be a match for these demon gods.

"Devil!!"

Gu Xintang's face turned deathly pale, his voice filled with an undeniable resolve: "No, we can't let these things get out! We must find a way, we absolutely must find a way to stop them from leaving!"

Once these things escape from the Ghost City, will it be a disaster? No, it will be an unpredictable catastrophe far beyond the definition of "disaster."

"Stop it... but how?" Xiao Ran muttered to herself.

Even Huang Chao, who has become a celestial being, is merely a pawn in a larger game. He alone cannot stop these demons from leaving Ghost City…

"I wonder if Master Plum Blossom has any solutions."

Of all the methods Xiao Ran could think of, the Plum Blossom Taoist was the only one.

However, Plum Blossom Taoist is not omnipotent. This is not a magic trick, and it is unrealistic to expect Plum Blossom Taoist to turn the tide all by himself.

Just then, Xiao Ran suddenly thought of something.

He took out the suicide note that Huang Chao had written earlier from his spatial storage, his fingertips skimming over the words filled with resentment and self-justification, and flipped directly to the last page.

That blueprint is composed of precise lines, mysterious symbols, and indescribable nodes.

The lines on this drawing are of varying thicknesses, crisscrossing and intertwining, forming a complex pattern that resembles an esoteric script, dazzling the eye.

The mystery is completely incomprehensible.

But Xiao Ran then thought of something else: Gui Huai used tree vines to simulate the Ghost City model.

At that moment, the model was instantly and vividly reproduced in Xiao Ran's mind!
Xiao Ran's pupils contracted sharply, and his hands trembled slightly with excitement. He no longer looked at the lines on the blueprint with his naked eyes, but instead poured all his mental power into it, using his powerful mental strength as his eyes, while simultaneously constructing the structure of the Ghost Locust model in his mind at high speed!
In my mind, two light and shadow models suddenly took shape:

A vast, twisted, three-dimensional graphic, with energy channels flowing like roots, is constructed like the complex network of veins in the human body.

The other is a cold, precise, and extremely complex urban blueprint, with every line and every building accurate to the millimeter.

Xiao Ran's powerful mental strength was like a precise loom, forcibly rotating, disassembling, overlapping, and nesting the two models in her mind space!
When the two are combined, it's like a gentle breeze blowing away all the fog blocking the way.

A complex three-dimensional graphic appeared in Xiao Ran's mind.

The three ghosts, each with a different perspective, are all intertwined. They are linked together, inseparable.

These three ghost cities correspond to the past, present, and future.

When they first entered, it was the ghost capital of the past, modeled after the former Chang'an city. And the location they are in now is the most realistic ghost capital.

Those demons that have already descended are from the ghost capital of the future.

Xiao Ran deduced that the reason she and Gu Xintang were separated from Tan Shancai and the others was because she heeded Dai Long's earlier warning and did not enter through the main gate.

And the model built in my mind did indeed confirm this: the three gates leading into the imperial city were precisely the entrances to three different times and spaces.

"go!"

With this detailed model, Xiao Ran thought for a moment and immediately came up with a solution: there is a hub in the three timelines. As long as this place is controlled, the entire Ghost City will be torn apart and blown apart.

At that time, the three timelines will be in chaos, and even those demons and gods will not be able to get out of here.

(End of this chapter)