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

The core of the Source Castle is a door, which may correspond to the 'door' path and also fits the way the ancients ascended—any path that wants to become an ancient must first become Sequence 0 and use the Sequence 0 it belongs to as its foundation.

Similar to the Source Castle, the River of Eternal Darkness corresponds to three paths: Night, Death, and War.

As for the core of the River of Eternal Darkness, it is a deep darkness.

When the embers traveled upstream to the end of the River of Eternal Darkness, he reached the end of that river.

Ahead lay a profound darkness, seemingly capable of swallowing all light in the world, impenetrable by any ray. Yet, this darkness was also remarkably pure, unlike the viscous darkness of the 'Chaotic Sea,' containing no impurities, pure and serene. It was as if, by entering it, one could attain eternal peace…

Ember knew that the River of Eternal Darkness was making its last struggle, but Ember did not want to feel peace, at least not now.

Whoosh!

The ethereal sound of water echoed from the deep darkness, as if a river were rushing through it, like waves crashing against rocks.

The surging torrents burst forth, trying to push away the embers.

Before that, Ember had already sent the bird-shaped gold ornament into the darkness.

In that extreme and pure darkness, the gold ornaments stubbornly emitted a pale glow, illuminating a very small area, like a small boat struggling to survive in the tide of death.

Darkness did not reject its light, for that pale glow was itself part of the River of Eternal Darkness, and it could not reject itself.

The bronze eyes of the bird-shaped gold ornament shone brightly, like vortexes, greedily absorbing the surrounding darkness. Given time, it would eventually drain the entire core, and perhaps even develop 'self-awareness'.

But this clearly does not meet Ember's expectations.

So just as it began to absorb that 'darkness,' Ember reached out and retrieved the golden ornament from the darkness.

He doesn't need the entire core, only a portion of it, so there's no need to drain the River of Eternal Darkness completely at once.

In comparison, sustainable exploitation is far more beneficial.

Wow!

The illusory sound of water grew more and more turbulent, as if the entire river had become surging and turbulent, seemingly as if it were bidding farewell—well, whether the River of Eternal Darkness was bidding farewell or not, the embers would just take it as a farewell.

As Ember departed, the waves of the River of Eternal Darkness surged even more fiercely—He could do nothing to Ember, and could only watch helplessly as Ember came to His home, stole His treasure, and then leisurely left. But if He couldn't do anything to Ember, couldn't He do anything to you?!

The enraged River of Eternal Darkness surged with waves thousands of feet high, almost instantly engulfing all the Silver Knights who were still fighting the dead. Even the Silver Knights standing on the steps were not spared, as if it wanted to drag all of them to the bottom of the river at once!

Even though these silver knights had been swept to the bottom of the river, the River of Eternal Darkness still could not sense their souls! This meant that even if they died in the River of Eternal Darkness ten thousand times, they would not leave anything behind, and would not be marked or anchored by the River of Eternal Darkness—even gods could not escape it, yet these silver knights at the level of free demigods had accomplished something that even gods could not do.

This could only be because an entity of the same or even higher level as the Source Matter tampered with the souls of these Silver Knights. Their souls were not unanchorable, but rather pre-anchored!

A soul that has been anchored is difficult to take away even by the River of Eternal Darkness.

This also means that killing these Silver Knights is meaningless except for venting anger; in fact, these Silver Knights were specifically created for Him to vent His anger on!

In an instant, the sound of the water grew more and more turbulent, and the river surface was turbulent, as if foreshadowing the river's mood at this moment.

On the riverbank, Death, his cloak tattered, was questioning the meaning of life.

The River of Eternal Darkness told Him that He could gain His freedom if He killed the embers.

Although He initially had the intention of slacking off and testing the limits of the River of Eternal Darkness, He never expected that even a black dragon casually summoned by Ember could restrain Him, and the appearance of the fire giant only worsened His situation!

He struggled to even deal with the dead summoned by the opponent at will, so how could he possibly kill Ember?

The River of Eternal Darkness probably knew this from the beginning, so it never expected Him to kill the Ember, and naturally wouldn't grant Him freedom. The promise the River of Eternal Darkness made to Him was merely to ensure His unwavering loyalty and service to the River of Eternal Darkness!

only……

"Death" Salinger looked at the Phoenix Ancestor floating motionless on the River of Eternal Darkness and suddenly felt a little fortunate, at least He was much luckier than this bird.

Ok?

While feeling relieved, Salinger suddenly frowned, because he realized that he had an absurd amount of "humanity"!

He who could be resurrected by the River of Eternal Darkness should possess only pure divinity; where would humanity come from?

As dawn broke, a young man stepped out of the hotel, leisurely enjoying the morning scenery of Bayam.

He had just bought a "Teana" drink in a fruit shell from a vendor when he suddenly felt a large shadow appear beside him.

The young man turned his head and looked up little by little, and found that a half-giant who was nearly two and a half meters tall was walking over.

"Sir, may I have a moment? I'd like to tell you about our guiding light and our Savior, Mr. 'The Fool'."

The half-giant bent down, trying to make his smile appear kind.

The young man took a sip of his "Teana," pointed to the side, and nodded with a smile:

Okay, but not here.

He then moved to a spot where he wouldn't block anyone's way, and the seemingly imposing half-giant gently followed.

"You can speak now." The young man made no attempt to hide his curiosity.

The tall, strong half-giant's expression immediately turned solemn:

"Our Lord calls himself 'The Fool.' In the past, in the present, and in the future, He is the great ruler who governs the spiritual realm, the king of yellow and black who holds good fortune, and the beacon for every living being to pursue eternity."

"Our Lord dwells above the realms of reality and the spiritual, His mercy is sprinkled throughout heaven and earth, and six angels stand beside His throne..."

"Impressive, impressive," the young man exclaimed sincerely.

Upon hearing this response, the half-giant couldn't help but smile. He then described, in as concise a language as possible, the various miracles performed by Mr. Fool, concluding with:

"If you are interested, you can learn more at the Fool's Church at 16 Phillips Street. It is the largest church in Bayam, where you can hear the priest narrate the 'Words of the Fool'."

The young man nodded:

"If I have some free time, I'll go take a look."

Watching the half-giant disappear into the distance, the young man smiled and took out a monocle made of crystal from his pocket, putting it on his right eye.

Before becoming a god, He rarely appeared on the Northern Continent. This was because He had grudges against most of the Seven Gods, and the Northern Continent was full of their spies; He could be discovered if He wasn't careful. Even if it wasn't His true form that came, losing too many avatars was still undesirable.

But now that He has become a god, He is not afraid even if the seven gods are facing Him—to put it another way, even if He cannot defeat Him, can't He just run away? When it comes to escaping, only the true gods of the 'Fool' and 'Gate' paths can compare to Him.

However, although He can now roam freely across the Northern Continent, there isn't much He can do.

Because the anchor of the Fool is more stable than He imagined, although the Fool's Church is inferior to the Church of the True God in both quality and quantity, it is enough to support the Fool to become Sequence 0.

The reason He was so certain that the Fool had not yet become a god was quite simple—adjacent pathways can sense each other, so He could sense that the Fool's pathway had not yet produced a Sequence 0, and that was His opportunity.

Although the Fool has two paths—the Fool and the Door—neither can truly be used by the Fool until the Fool becomes a god. In contrast, although He only has the path of "Error," the already divine Him has a greater advantage than the Fool.

Of course, if the Fool remains hidden in the Source Castle, then there's not much He can do about the Fool.

Although He could force His way into the 'Source Castle', the risk of doing so was too great. Even if He could successfully kill the 'Fool', He would not be able to escape smoothly. The best outcome would only be a lose-lose situation.

Therefore, He has been waiting for an opportunity and has been looking for the Fool's weaknesses.

Unfortunately, the Fool was more cautious than He had imagined, and with the help of the Goddess of Night who possessed hidden authority, He found it very difficult to find any exploitable bugs—either they wouldn't have much of an impact even if used, or they had already been fixed. There wasn't a single bug that could have a real effect, which truly disappointed Amon.

However, it's not entirely unprofitable.

As long as the "Fool" is not a god, He will find an opportunity sooner or later.

Amon's lips curled slightly as he took another sip of "Teana".

Hmm, it tastes good.

I'd like another cup.

A vendor pushing a cart passed by him, smiling as he handed him another cup of Teyana.

Amon smiled and thanked him, and then he saw the vendor adjust his monocle on his right eye.

-

Intis, Trier, at a luxurious estate on the outskirts.

Alexander Hamilton, the former governor of the Republic of Intis, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his second-floor study, gazing silently at the rising sun.

Since the founding of Intis, the Church of the Eternal Sun has been the dominant force, suppressing the Church of the God of Craftsmen until the latter changed its name to the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery. Therefore, this country is also known as the Kingdom of the Sun.

The sun at that time was warm but not scorching, dispelling the darkness and cold and making people feel warm.

But now the sun's light was so blinding, yet Alexander remained fixed on it, using his extraordinary power to force his eyes not to shed tears. That sun was like the newly born Second Intis Empire, like the returning Black Emperor.

He was so dazzling and so powerful that it was difficult to feel any resistance.

Knock knock knock~!

"Come in."

Alexander heard the knocking and said in a deep voice.

He turned his gaze from the sky to the doorway.

A middle-aged man, dressed in a formal suit and looking impeccably groomed, pushed open the door and entered, saying respectfully:

"Your Excellency, those gentlemen have arrived and are waiting for you in the conference room."

Alexander Hamilton corrected:

"Don't call me governor, I'm just an ordinary person now."

His tone was incredibly calm, as if he were not attached to the empty title of consul.

The middle-aged man's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he lowered his head even further.

He knew that he should only listen to what these important figures said; to take it seriously would be suicidal.

If this person truly has no desire to become governor, why would he need to gather those people here?

Alexander Hamilton did not look at the middle-aged man, nor did he question him about why he was silent with his head down. He calmly walked out of the room.

After he left, the middle-aged man dared to raise his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and then hurriedly followed, keeping a distance of one body length behind Alexander, like a loyal servant attending to his master.

Snapped!

The conference room door was flung open, and Alexander Hamilton glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the people at the long table. He didn't observe their expressions, nor did he try to memorize their faces, because he knew it was pointless.

The same group of people, but the next time you meet them, they've changed their faces. Remembering their appearance won't help in investigating their true identities.

Moreover, Alexander had long since given up investigating the identities of these people.

In his collaborations with these individuals, he was consistently in a weaker position. Under such circumstances, hastily investigating their identities would not benefit him and would only exacerbate tensions.

Therefore, when communicating with these people, one needs to be skilled in rhetoric, but Alexander no longer has enough patience!

Alexander placed his hands on the table and asked in a deep voice:

"We have provided you with enough intelligence. When can you begin your operation?"

Ever since the Steam Church sided with that despicable usurper, the resources Alexander could mobilize had been steadily dwindling. The assistance he provided to the Secret Order had exhausted his last remaining resources and connections. If these people couldn't provide a clear answer soon, all of Alexander's initial investments would have been for naught!

Therefore, no matter what, a result must be obtained today!

"Don't rush," the unremarkable-looking middle-aged man said slowly, taking a sip of water.

"Dylan has been found, but you have to give us some time to prepare."

"The legacy left by an angel may be rich, but it is also quite dangerous."

"That's something you need to consider!"

Alexander bluntly stated, "I only care about the results!"

A tall, slender woman with delicate and alluring features winked at him and chuckled softly, covering her mouth:

"Your Excellency seems to be quite irritable lately. Would you like me to help you calm down?"

She licked her lips:

"I'd be happy to help in this regard."

Alexander stared expressionlessly at the representative of the witch cult. She was the only one among the people present who didn't change her expression, but Alexander was the most averse to her—the reason was simple: Alexander didn't want to sleep with men.