Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 283 The Angel of the Holy Word

Inside an unassuming house in Queens.

In the spacious basement of the house, which resembled a temple, Mr. A, dressed in a hooded black robe, knelt in the darkness, whispering devoutly.

In front of him was a statue nearly 3 meters tall, depicting a person hanging upside down with their legs bound by chains.

This upside-down figure has the giant's unique vertical single eye, and its arms are outstretched, forming a cross.

Mr. A suddenly stood up, looked at the figure that had suddenly appeared behind him, and smiled at her beautiful, almost feminine face:

"Welcome! It's been a while since we last met, hasn't it?"

Ember got straight to the point:

"I want to see the true Creator."

The embers' directness startled Mr. A slightly, but he quickly recovered and cautiously said:

"No problem, but I need to consult with the Dark Saint."

Seemingly afraid that Yu Jin might misunderstand, Mr. A paused for a moment and explained:

"The new world of painting is in the hands of the saint; I do not have permission to use it."

Ember nodded slightly:

"As soon as possible."

"I'll contact them right away."

Mr. A breathed a sigh of relief and said without hesitation.

Before he finished speaking, he hurriedly left the basement, leaving Ember and the statue of the True Creator alone, seemingly without any concern that Ember would destroy the statue of the True Creator.

After all, their previous experiences had made their relationship far from harmonious.

But a short while later, Mr. A returned to the basement.

And in his shadow, another figure quietly rose and spoke in a low voice:

"Lord Ember, my lord awaits your meeting. Please follow me."

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure silently disappeared into the darkness, vanishing without a trace, regardless of whether Ember could catch up.

When Mr. A turned around to ask Yu Jin a question, he found that Yu Jin had already disappeared without a trace.

-

In the basement of a house in the West District.

A few candles flickered with yellowish flames, illuminating the altar, chairs, and round table placed around the room.

At the edge of the light, in the darkest place, a figure appeared and disappeared, sometimes swaying, sometimes stretching, a thin layer with no thickness, like a shadow that had come to life.

At the same time, a figure quickly appeared beside him.

The Dark Saint walked straight into the darkness, followed closely by footsteps.

Perhaps it's a custom of the Aurora Society, but their basements are always incredibly spacious, like temples.

And at the very depths of this 'temple', there is a hidden room—

A room enclosed by two double stone doors.

The Dark Saint stopped in front of the stone gate and gestured for Ember to enter.

Yu Jin slowly stepped forward and placed his hands on the two stone doors.

Rumble!

With a heavy creaking sound, the double stone doors slowly opened, revealing a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.

"..."

The Dark Saint remained silent for a long time as he watched this scene, but finally passed through the narrow gap.

The room behind the door was just as dark as the basement outside, lit only by a few flickering candles.

The dim lighting illuminated rows of long benches, making it look like a prayer hall prepared for worshippers.

Passing through the aisle between two rows of benches, you will find a decoration resembling an altar.

However, instead of a holy emblem adorning the altar like the Church of the Seven, a painting hung on the wall—

That is a corner of the world of painting, a part that has been separated from the original painting.

The true nature of the world of painting is clearly not in the Northern Continent, but in the Land Forsaken by the Gods.

The Dark Saint stopped again, stood aside, and silently watched the embers.

The embers passed the altar and walked to the painting.

The instant he reached out and touched the painting, a flash of white light enveloped it.

-

Amidst the flashes of white light, the world seemed to rush before my eyes.

When he came to his senses, the embers had already appeared halfway up the mountain.

Countless tiny black and red blood vessels emerge from the fungal carpet, spreading towards the mountaintop like ivy.

The further down you go, the denser and thicker the "blood vessels" become, and the more viscous the fungal carpet becomes.

Looking down from above, the foot of the mountain is a blood-red hellscape, an endless carpet of fungal growth, a sea of ​​crimson as far as the eye can see. Layer upon layer of these densely packed "vessels" naturally evoke a deep-seated discomfort, making one feel nauseous and want to vomit.

Conversely, the higher you go, the sparser and thinner the "blood vessels" become, and they break easily when stepped on.

The veins finally stopped spreading upwards near the mountaintop.

A lush green forest comes into view, full of vitality.

But at the same time, this touch of green is also the only spectacular sight in this blood-red hell.

This wasn't Yu Jin's first time visiting this painted world; he knew the way well and headed straight for the mountaintop.

Nestled in a verdant forest was a village, where the sounds of children playing and laughing could be heard from time to time, creating a lively atmosphere.

When Ember last came here, there was no one here.

Just as he was about to continue towards the temple at the summit, a clear voice called out to him:

"Big brother!"

Yu Jin turned around and saw a beautifully sculpted little girl running towards him, holding a windmill.

The little girl, panting, approached Yu Jin and handed him the windmill, her dark eyes sparkling.

"This is for you."

"Thanks."

Yu Jin remained silent for a moment, then took the windmill and thanked him softly.

"You're welcome."

The little girl's eyes curved into crescent shapes as she asked curiously:

"Big brother, are you a pilgrim?"

"Pilgrims?"

"Uh-huh!"

The little girl's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly:

"Grandma said that pilgrims come from very far away. They cross hell to come here, just to reach the mountaintop and see the Lord. When I grow up, I want to be a pilgrim too!"

Looking at the little girl's innocent and adorable appearance, Yu Jin admonished her:

"It's best not to."

"Huh?"

The little girl blinked and stared blankly for a while before she could react.

Meanwhile, the embers had already left and continued their ascent to the summit.

The true creator is the creator worshipped by the former Silver City, namely the ancient sun god.

Even when the true creator was just born, his power had already been greatly weakened.

However, through his alliance with the Black Emperor Solomon, he remains the orthodox faith of the Northern Continent.

However, his good fortune was short-lived. He was soon defeated in the struggle against the Church of the Seven Gods, and his true form was sealed in the Land Forsaken by the Gods.

According to ancient legends, during a certain period of the Quaternary Age, Ulroth the Tail-Eater led a group of devout pilgrims or the remaining followers of the True Creator on a pilgrimage journey by ship, pursued by many powerful enemies.

For some reason, He abandoned the ships and, with the help of the "True Creator" or His own power, directly parted the sea, leading the devout through the ruins of the divine war to the "Forsaken Land," preserving the flames of organizations such as the "Redemption Rose" and the "Aurora Society."

In the "Forsaken Land," they traversed the desolate plains and built temples along the "pilgrimage" route, the kind that the "Sun" exploration team later discovered.

It is important to know that until the Fifth Age, He was still one of the orthodox faiths of the Northern Continent, and His followers must have been numerous!

Even if the true creator is an "evil god," he would not treat his devout followers as expendable resources.

After all, even from a purely profit-driven perspective, both righteous and evil gods need a large number of believers as anchors.

No god would abandon its believers so easily.

So here's the question: where did those devout believers who supposedly followed the "true creator" to the land of God's forsaken go?

If they were in a land abandoned by God, why did the temples they built become dilapidated?

Does the true Creator not provide protection for His believers?

Silver City, with its few demigods, managed to survive in the land abandoned by the gods. There's no reason why the true creator would say that a god couldn't protect his followers.

However, from a factual perspective, no trace of these "pilgrims" was indeed found in the land abandoned by God.

So, do these people live in a world of painting?

Theoretically, it is indeed feasible. The painted world, as a complete world, could easily support millions of people. The painted world of the Steam Church is the best example.

But the painted world possessed by the true creator doesn't seem like a habitable place at all. Widespread decay has rendered this world almost worthless; the small forest atop the mountain could barely support a thousand people…

While pondering, Yu Jin had unknowingly arrived at the temple at the end of the mountain.

Just like last time, the temple was magnificent and enormous, yet still incredibly empty.

This time was different from the last, because there were people welcoming Ember at the temple entrance.

He was a tall, elderly man.

He was nearly 2.3 meters tall, with a slightly hunched back, completely white hair, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and a scar on his lip. He was wearing a dark black clergy robe and was a rather elderly priest or bishop.

He bowed slightly:

"Welcome, Lord Ember. My lord has instructed me to wait here for you for some time."

"Who are you?"

The hunched-over clergyman remained bowed, but his voice had become somewhat louder:

"I am Steifer, the attendant beside the throne of God, the 'Angel of the Word'."

As he spoke, the old man's figure suddenly swelled to four meters tall, and behind him emerged patches of dark, illusory feathers. These feathers intertwined with light and shadow, weaving into four pairs of profound yet sacred wings.

Ember calmly gazed at the giant before him and said softly:

"lead the way."

Steifer bowed respectfully and entered the temple with heavy steps.

The temple is surrounded by numerous statues, all of which are vertical, single-eyed giants.

At the far end of the temple, a huge inverted cross stands as tall as the hundred-meter-high temple.

Countless huge black iron nails and chains held a naked, blood-stained man upside down, firmly bound to them.

The Hanged Man, the true Creator.

The upside-down giant opened his eyes from behind the veil of shadow and stared intently at the embers, still hanging upside down.

A terrifying aura suddenly descended, an aura that was dark, filthy, and full of depravity!

The 'Angel of the Holy Word' Steifer bowed his head respectfully, not daring to look at the upside-down giant with his eyes open, and retreated from the temple, leaving only the embers alone with the true creator.

"ember."

The upside-down giant's lips opened and closed, emitting a buzzing sound:

"I want to discuss a deal with you."

As the sound rang out, a series of delirious murmurs filled with intense madness suddenly echoed in Yu Jin's ears.

The pain was like a sharp steel needle, piercing the eardrum and penetrating the brain, causing waves of pain.

For ordinary people, simply hearing His voice is enough to cause them to lose control.

But for Ember, it's as simple as raising his hand.

What truly interested Ember was the language of the 'True Creator'—

It was not Hermes, nor Giants' language, nor Elven language, nor even any language spoken in the North.

But Ember was extremely familiar with it, because it was Chinese, Chinese with a strange trilled consonant.

Without the accompanying babbling, the sound would at most seem a little strange.

But under the layers of illusory murmurs, His voice sounded more like the whispers of an ancient god.

"What deal?" Yu Jin asked in return.

The Hanged Giant spoke again:

"You need the Chaos Sea, I need the Blasphemous Tablets."

"You give me the Blasphemous Slab, and I'll give you the coordinates of the Chaos Sea."

"In addition, I can give you some information: another version of myself is cooperating with another version of you."

Ember seemed unsurprised, and asked in a normal tone:

Where is the blasphemous stone tablet?

"The Court of Giants."

You need a key.

"Where's the key?"

"I don't know. My influence in the Northern Continent is limited. You'll have to find out for yourself."

"In exchange, I can give you another piece of information."

"Amon is trapped in the Chaos Sea."

The true Creator's answer was quite honest.

Ember asked casually:

"If I were to kill Amon, what suggestions would you have?"

The hanging giant remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking:

"He has many clones in the Northern Continent. If you want to kill him, you'd better eliminate all of them at once."

Ember was slightly surprised:

"Isn't he your son?"

The true creator's tone, however, returned to calm:

He hates me.

The answer was irrelevant, but still sincere.

Ember asked casually:

"Any other requests? You'd better make it clear at once."

The True Creator said in a deep voice:

"I'll give you the coordinates of the Chaos Sea, you give me the Chaos Sea."

"Only usage rights are available."

"Can."

"It's a pleasure working with you."

The Hanged Giant was silent, then hummed:

"It's a pleasure working with you."

"The key?"

Ember recalled that he had spent some time aboard the Golden Dream.

On that occasion, Edwina's men happened to retrieve a huge black iron key.

Is it possible that that is the key to the Giants' Court?

Ember suddenly asked:

"What does a key look like?"

The true Creator remained silent for two seconds, then manifested a scene—

It was a huge black iron key, which was not exactly the same as the one that Ember had seen, but rather completely identical.

Ember immediately spoke:

"I've seen this key before."

Edwina should still be in the Sunya Sea.

And coincidentally, he also needed to go to the Sunya Sea recently.

"..."

The True Creator did not respond, probably not expecting it to happen so quickly, and only spoke after a long while:

"When you find the key, you can go to Stuffer, and he will take you to the Forsaken Land."

(End of this chapter)