Since all these rules and superstitions are outdated, what's wrong with me indulging in some me

"He constantly uses his divine power to save all sentient beings from their delusion, but they are unaware of this, like a blind person seeing the sun and moon..."

More and more pale gold characters appeared, dancing in the air like fireflies.

Even more strangely, a faint golden hue appeared in Xie Yiping's dissipating glow.

[Waaaaah, this girl is so kind! I hope she'll be reborn into a better life next time, so she can be happy and blessed.]

Is God Lu trying to help them find peace in their next life? May they be happy in their next life!

[Master Lu, how many more surprises do you have that I don't know about? Such a powerful Rebirth Mantra, how much merit must one have to be able to utter a mantra so easily! Even the holy monks of Buddhism probably can't do that, right?]

May all your bad luck be gone! Best wishes to the students of Class D!

Lu Changsheng stopped chanting only after the firefly light had completely dissipated into the air without leaving a trace.

Only Lu Changsheng and Cheng Caijun remained in the corridor.

Outside the window, in the direction of the main teaching building, a vast, evil, and suffocating aura was rapidly approaching.

The evil god is coming.

"Brother Lu, we..." Cheng Caijun looked at Lu Changsheng.

Lu Changsheng did not hesitate.

He chose—

【no】

The system notification sounded again:

[The player chooses to remain in the dungeon—]

[Confirm?]

Lu Changsheng confirmed.

Then, he looked at Cheng Caijun and said, "You can leave now."

"And what about you?!" Cheng Caijun asked anxiously.

"Li Xingguo hasn't been found yet..." Lu Changsheng looked towards the dormitory door. "Let's go, this is our last chance."

Cheng Caijun remained silent.

A few seconds later, he walked up to Lu Changsheng and grinned:

"Brother Lu, do you think I'm the kind of person who would abandon my brothers and run away for my own life?"

"..."

"We'll die together, we'll live together." Cheng Caijun patted his chest. "Besides, you saved my life. If it weren't for you, I would have died in the exam hall."

Lu Changsheng looked at him and finally nodded.

"it is good."

He turned and walked into the corridor, blood seeping from the wound on his back: "Then let's go to the basement first."

Why go to the basement?

"I always felt something was off. When we went to the basement before, those corpses were moving around, and I thought it was the residual power of the ritual. But now that I think about it carefully, the ritual wasn't even started, so where did the power come from? I suspect that the nexus of the evil god's descent that Xie Yiping mentioned is right there."

"Okay, Brother Lu, I'll listen to you."

The two arrived on the first floor and turned into the passageway leading to the basement.

The lower you go, the lower the temperature and the stronger the smell of blood in the air.

The passageway was even more gloomy and damp than I remembered, with dark red dew condensing on the walls and emitting a stench of rust and decay. The steps were slippery and sticky, making an unpleasant "plop" sound with each step.

"This place... seems more 'alive' than when we last came here."

Cheng Caijun lowered his voice and nervously looked around. The stains on the wall seemed to be slowly writhing, outlining an even more painful and distorted face.

Lu Changsheng did not answer; all his attention was focused on his senses. The jade pendant felt slightly warm against his chest, like an uneasy heart.

The principal's death and the collapse of the contract have clearly dealt a severe blow to the evil god's control over this space, but have also thoroughly enraged Him. The underground "nexus" is likely in a highly unstable state.

They finally arrived once again at the doorway that Lu Changsheng had blasted open with his explosive talisman, now reduced to a twisted frame and a pile of broken bricks and scrap metal.

Inside the door, the scene of the basement hall came into view.

Sixty-five shriveled corpses still knelt at the apex of the sixty-six-corner formation.

But unlike last time, all the corpses raised their heads this time! Their empty eye sockets stared straight at the doorway, their jaws opening and closing slightly, but they made no sound.

At the center of the formation, the area that had previously been merely cracked and bleeding had now completely collapsed, transforming into a slowly rotating dark red vortex with a diameter of over two meters.

The vortex was bottomless, and from the other end came the faint sounds of chewing and growling that sent shivers down one's spine, exuding a nauseatingly strong stench of blood and pure evil.

At the edge of the vortex, the dark red array lines pulsated violently like living blood vessels, drawing wisps of grayish-black mist from the kneeling corpses and injecting them into the vortex. With each wisp drawn, the color of the corpses darkened further, the opening of the vortex widened, and the rotation became more stable.

"This is... the nexus where the evil god descended?" Cheng Caijun's voice trembled. "It's absorbing the corpses of these students to stabilize the passage?"

Cheng Caijun gasped.

"It's probably more than just a corpse." Lu Changsheng's gaze sharpened. "It's draining all the remaining energy from the entire school! With the principal dead, the school's rules are broken; it's completely unrestrained!"

Lu Changsheng's gaze was icy as he instantly locked onto the northeast corner of the formation—the missing spot.

At this moment, the area was not empty.

Li Xingguo stood with his back to them in the empty outline. He didn't try to lie down, but instead opened his arms as if in an embrace, facing the blood pool at the center of the formation.

His blue overalls fluttered without wind, and wisps of gray-black aura were being peeled off his body, flowing into the array lines beneath his feet and then into the blood pool in the center.

His body withered and turned ashen at a visible rate, but his face displayed an expression of near ecstasy and devotion.

"Li Xingguo!" Lu Changsheng shouted sternly.

Li Xingguo's body trembled slightly, and he slowly turned his head. His face was emaciated, his skin clung to his skull, and his eye sockets were sunken, but his eyes shone with an unusual light, full of ambition, fanaticism, and a sense of satisfaction at having achieved his goal.

"It's you all." His voice was hoarse, but with a smile. "Perfect timing, come and witness this great moment."

He gazed at the central pool of blood, his eyes filled with ecstasy: "When I fully merge with this nexus, my soul will become an extension of 'He' in this world. The power of the nexus will reach its peak, and the power 'He' can bestow will far surpass anything before!"

As he spoke, the gray-black aura around him dissipated even faster, while the central blood pool spun faster!

An even larger and more despairing evil god's will surged through the passage, causing the pressure in the entire basement to increase sharply, and the air to become so thick that it was almost impossible to breathe!

"We can't let him continue like this!"

Lu Changsheng's eyes sharpened.

He could sense that once Li Xingguo was fully "integrated", this hub would become extremely stable and powerful, and the power of the evil god himself would be able to intervene more directly and terrifyingly!

In that split second, the jade pendant on Lu Changsheng's chest suddenly pulsed violently, almost like a greedy one, like an unprecedented surge of energy! An extremely bold, almost insane idea struck his mind like lightning.

It's better to guide than to block, and better to seize than to destroy!

Since this hub is frantically absorbing energy to stabilize itself and the passage, what if an even more powerful "source of suction" appeared?

Is there an entity capable of seizing, diverting, or even temporarily accommodating this energy?