Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 567 The Crown of the Disaster Lord
There are three calamities in the world: the first is being devoured by stars, the second is falling into a dream, and the third is the decay of the heart.

If a person can withstand disaster without being destroyed, then he is a god.

—From *Zi Bu Yu* (The Master Did Not Discuss), Chapter on Disasters

The wind in the cave stopped.

The God of Fate raised his hand.

The mysterious card slowly emerged, shaped like a transparent membrane, with countless glimmers of light flowing inside.

The card is engraved with five characters: "The Guardian of the Light of the Unremembered".

In the instant light and shadow overlapped, his palm suddenly sank; the weight did not come from matter, but from the gaze of the rules themselves.

The moment the card touched his palm, the light patterns on the Destiny Chessboard trembled slightly. Si Ming lowered his head and gently stroked the thin film.

The name Shangguan Xi is now hidden deep within that membrane, like a star sleeping beneath glass.

He turned and left without looking back.

Behind them, the floor of the Taiguang Cave trembled, the stone walls cracked, and large plumes of dust fell from the dome. It was a "feedback shock" after the collapse of the altar's consciousness.

The entire cave was being swallowed up by an even deeper suction force, as if this space was being deleted line by line.

The God of Destiny walked at a steady pace. His footsteps sounded remarkably clear amidst the collapse.

As he left, the last wisp of stardust flew out of the cave entrance, circled his shoulder once, and then disappeared completely.

On the other side of the cave, not far away.

Thunder roared, tearing the air apart.

Miranda is slowly ascending the altar.

She stood barefoot on the corpses of two researchers, her own men, two experimental subjects who had been sent to scout ahead for her but had died tragically in front of the altar's defensive lightning net.

Their bodies were still twitching slightly, and their skin was covered with gray-black cracks from the electric arcs.

Miranda remained expressionless.

Her body was enveloped in countless translucent mycelia, which meandered like living things, clinging to her skin and forming a white cocoon that trembled gently with each step she took.

As she stepped onto the last step, the altar beneath her feet suddenly lit up, and a bolt of lightning struck down to punish the world.

The flash of light engulfed her figure.

boom! ! !
Lightning tore through the air, and the current formed a crisscrossing electric grid at her feet, instantly turning all the remaining corpses into charcoal.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of burning and metal.

But the lightning failed to harm her in the slightest.

Miranda's calamity zone expanded around her body, like a transparent water curtain, keeping the lightning at bay.

Lightning danced wildly around her, yet it seemed as if she were being lifted up by an invisible hand, transforming into one blazing white holy ring after another.

At that moment, her image was almost terrifyingly holy.

The electric light reflected in her pupils, and the hyphae in her pupils slowly undulated, as if countless creatures were awakening in her blood.

“What a pitiful creature,” she murmured.

"You are merely a set of rules, while I... am the one who defies them."

She stretched out her hand and placed it in the center of the altar.

The power grid exploded wildly, folding back layer upon layer, as if afraid to touch her palm.

"Obey me." Her voice was low, devout, yet cruel.

"I am your true master."

The thunder sounded like a membrane being torn apart.

Boom!

The talisman array at the very center of the altar flashed brightly, and all the lightning surged toward her body.

She stood in the center of the light, like a Virgin Mary bathing in judgment.

"Below the primordial silence,"

She slowly opened her arms, her voice cold and beautiful, carrying an irresistible air of authority.

"Taotie·Moon Devourer, I command you to awaken."

The moment the lightning struck, the runes on the altar shattered simultaneously.

That was the sound of rules being forcibly rewritten.

The electric current tore through space, and the altar's defensive barrier shattered in the lightning, like a piece of cloth being violently torn apart.

The shattered stream of light surged upwards, brushing across her face and tossing her silver hair, as if submitting to her.

Miranda's lips curled slightly.

“Not bad,” she murmured. “Even the gods of dungeons are nothing more than this.”

The next instant, a card slowly fell from the lightning.

The card surface shimmers with deep gold patterns, and is inscribed with the words: "Thunderous yet undisturbed, serene altar."

She raised her hand and caught it steadily.

Lightning crackled around her fingertips, like a snake bowing its head in submission.

The energy of the altar was completely drained, leaving only a charred, empty shell.

Miranda turned and left, her steps as light as if she were walking on an altar.

Behind us, the storm continued to roar, and thunder rolled incessantly.

However, the air around her was completely silent; it was the calamity lord's tranquil domain.

Heaven and earth made way for her, and even thunder dared not touch her in the slightest.

She murmured to herself, as if speaking to some will in the air:

"See? I am its owner."

Outside the cave, the electric light dissipated.

Miranda's figure disappeared into a gray fog.

Only the charred remains of the altar still silently emit white smoke.

The wind passed by, carrying away the last trace of thunder.

And that newly created mysterious card lay quietly in her palm.

The light patterns pulsated, like a heart that had not yet cooled down.

The third Heavenly Soul Altar.

"Shuangling Dharma Altar".

The cave here is so vast it's almost unnatural, as if someone had cut open the mountainside with a knife and then rebuilt it with an order that doesn't belong to the mortal world.

The walls, dome, and floor of the entire space are all made of stone figurines.

It was a gray sea.

Layer upon layer, countless stone figures are neatly arranged, their eyes expressionless, yet seemingly ready to open at any moment.

Each one was over ten feet tall, clad in armor and wielding a blade, with different appearances; some resembled beasts, some resembled humans, and some even had wings on their backs.

Each stone figure seems to have been a fallen Star Scourge.

An eerie stillness filled the air.

The altar is located at the deepest part of the stone figures, like a throne guarded by a silent army.

Selene was the first to start.

Blood surged wildly from her body, blood wings unfurled on her back, and a crimson light resembled a flower from hell.

"open circuit!"

She roared, her hands transforming into claws, and waves of blood surged forth, tearing through the torrent of stone figures in front of her.

In an instant, the air tore apart into a red storm, and blood flames dozens of feet long swept forward.

boom! !

spark.

It was just a spark.

The blood claws grazed the stone statue's chest, leaving only a trail of scorching light.

The stone figures didn't retreat even a step; sparks flickered on their chests before fading away.

“How is that possible…” Celian was taken aback. Zhuang Yege immediately followed, shaking the copper bell in his hand.

As soon as the bell rang, the World-type Domain Card "Dead Tide Realm" was activated, and the shadow of surging waves suddenly appeared in a corner of the cave.

Thousands of wronged souls roared out from behind him, sweeping over the stone terracotta warrior formation like a raging tide.

At that moment, the air was filled with the wails of ghosts.

But when the ghost tide collided with the stone figures,

silence.

The wronged souls were frozen in mid-air, then disintegrated into ashes.

The stone figures remained unmoved, as if it were nothing more than the wind blowing across solid stone.

"It didn't work?" Zhuang Yege's pupils contracted.

Selene looked up, flapped her wings and took flight, trying to pass through the stone terracotta warrior formation from above.

However, before it had flown ten meters, a low hum echoed in the sky—

"Om."

The stone figures on the cave ceiling raise their bows, and thousands of stone arrows are released from the bowstrings simultaneously.

Like a torrential rain, like a waterfall.

The arrows were so dense that even the air was tinged with gray.

Selene dodged and flashed, her blood wings folding into a shield, but she was still forced back.

She landed, her clothes already torn to shreds by the rain of arrows.

“They’ve even blocked the roads…” she whispered through gritted teeth.

Yu Weiwei sighed and raised the wolf-tooth bone club.

"Then I'll try the hard one."

She rushed forward, her strength converging in an instant.

The bone rod was raised high, and the air vibrated in a circle of twisted ripples.

"open!!"

The entire space trembled violently from the impact, dust swirled wildly, and shockwaves rolled and crushed what lay ahead.

The stone figures were submerged in light and shadow.

But when the dust settled, the stone figures remained motionless.

Instead, a deep pit appeared on the ground beneath Yu Weiwei's feet—a mark left by the aftershock of the rebound.

Yu Weiwei was thrown back by the shockwave, tumbling several times before crashing into Zhuang Yege's side with a muffled groan.

"These stone men are really tough."

She looked up and forced a bitter smile.

"How to do?"

Zhuang Yege held the copper bell, his face grim.

"They appear to be held in place by some kind of force."

Just then, a voice came from behind.

"what happened?"

Si Ming emerged from the shadows.

Selene breathed a sigh of relief, then said with a hint of annoyance, "This place is the Third Soul Altar. We found it, but these stone things—"

Zhuang Yege continued, "They filled the entire space. You couldn't jump over them, you couldn't fly over them."

However... it seems they won't attack as long as you don't step into their range.

Si Ming looked at the densely packed stone figures before him and narrowed his eyes slightly.

“A rather interesting defensive line.” He took out the Mysterious Card, a faint light appearing at his fingertips.

"I'll try."

He prepares to unfold the "Illusory Chessboard," using the trajectory of fate to pave a "fictional path."

Just then, a cold laugh came from the other side of the passageway.

"Ah. The pieces are moving, and the player is here too."

The sound was gentle, yet it caused the air temperature to drop sharply.

They turned around,

Miranda came out.

She was still wearing that white and gold cloak, and her body was shrouded in a faint mist.

Her eyes were contemptuous and amused, a smile played on her lips, and she put her index finger to her lips in a "shush" gesture.

"Shhh."

"Okay."

Without hesitation, she stepped directly into the stone figures formation.

In an instant, all the stone figures turned their heads at the same time.

Countless empty eye sockets stared at her.

then,

A bluish-gray crack appeared on the chest of the stone terracotta warrior in the front row. Dense mycelium oozed from the crack, and within seconds, the mycelium spread throughout the entire body, corroding the entire terracotta warrior into dust.

Miranda's pace did not stop.

With each step she took, the disaster zone around her expanded by an inch.

Moss, mold, and fungi grew wildly from the rocks at her feet, engulfing the stone figures in front of her like a tidal wave.

Those once invincible guards had no chance of resisting her.

One by one, they turned to dust.

"That's... a disaster zone?" Yu Weiwei murmured.

Zhuang Yege's pupils contracted: "No—it's impossible! She shouldn't belong here!"

Si Ming said in a deep voice, "But she has already appeared."

Selene gritted her teeth and whispered, "That woman... she's cheating."

There is nothing they can do.

They could only watch helplessly as Miranda walked by, leaving behind vast stretches of blank space.

That scene,
Just like a high-level player easily crushes a low-level dungeon, it's a foregone conclusion.

Miranda quickly arrived at the altar.

The embers of lightning still flowed on her cloak, and her mycelium intertwined with the textures of the stone magic circle, emitting a faint hiss.

She reached out, her fingertips tracing a light line through the air.

The protective light barrier of the altar shattered into fragments, as if it had been directly "cut off" by some higher authority.

The card quietly appeared.

High-level world-system mystery: "The Awakening of the Spirit Altar".

She caught the card and turned around.

His gaze fell on Si Ming.

"Now, the Altar of Souls."

She chuckled softly, her voice gentle yet deadly.
“I have two.”

“And you,” she leaned slightly forward, a cold glint in her eyes, “…”

There's only one.

She raised her finger and pointed at him.
"How about we cooperate?"

In times of disaster, there is no difference between gods and humans.

Only destruction can prove who is lying.

—From *Zi Bu Yu* (The Master Did Not Discuss), Chapter on Disasters, Section 2.

(End of this chapter)