The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

Just as Ionevoy thought, after stepping through that door, time itself had become a tangled mess of headphone wires.

Here, the bright moon rises as usual, hanging straight in the sky according to its original trajectory.

Here, the blazing sun, which should have been setting in the afternoon, strangely rose from west to east...

The stars gradually began to appear...

What a rare and bizarre phenomenon.

When the sun's shadow and the actual moon perfectly overlap, the starlight shines even brighter.

The demonic energy of the entire ruins also boiled over, the chill of the night and the heat of the day intertwined and entangled into a force field called "chaos".

Here, night and day coexist...

The past and the present... coexist simultaneously.

A long-lost feeling of palpitation returned—just like the first time I mentioned the Morse Desert back in Stamok…

Yunefu frowned, recalling his brief conversation with Iseria before he left—the pale-haired girl said it was a feeling that was indescribable, but she really wanted to go.

Then came the "Iron Sand Demon Armor" they encountered in the desert, and then the black-robed alchemist understood what Iselia meant by "feeling"...

It is a mission.

He rubbed his throbbing temples with one hand; the sensation from the [Root of the Sands] was making Yunefu feel dizzy...

Chaos, utter chaos! Space, time, and even the concentration of demonic energy are all fluctuating wildly.

"Iseria...don't go too far," the black-robed alchemist said, still holding the pale-haired girl's wrist tightly as he gently instructed her.

Not far from them, the Holy Prayer Seth and the remaining followers he led were stepping onto a bustling street that seemed to lead to the heart of the ancient city.

But in reality... it wasn't an "entrance" at all; rather, it was more like an "exit" marked with an "entrance" label.

The "master" of the ancient city, or perhaps the "holy remains" as the church members called him, showed an almost physiological aversion to those in white robes.

And those glimmers of light that originated from the "holy remains," guiding the believers and regarded by them as "miracles of the ancient church"...

In reality, they are using the strange distribution of magical energy and lighting conditions in this place to create one "mirage" after another, quickly kicking those "uninvited guests" out of the current situation.

"Lord Seth...aren't we going too smoothly?" A cultist from the excavator looked around uneasily. "This place is too strange."

Those tall buildings made of stone turned to sand as they passed by, and the stone path under their feet became less and less with each step they took.

Not to mention the man-eating grasslands and the "unmanned buildings" that occasionally spew out venom or rampaging magical energy.

"This is merely a test from my God for his believers..." Seth remained expressionless, but quickened his pace, saying coldly, "You... are you questioning God's test?"

The cultist turned pale with fright, shrank back, and obediently followed behind Seth.

But in reality, Sethby knew exactly what was going on—the ruins were driving people away.

It's a way of driving people away that's impossible to do because of certain relationships or emotions, and the inability to be ruthless enough to completely exterminate them.

He stopped and stood before the spatial rift he had previously called the "Sanctuary," and drew a distinctive emblem on one of the walls.

"This is it. When we get back... have them find it by following this emblem, understand?" Seth tapped the emblem on the wall, his cold voice sweeping across the entire street.

He straightened his white robe, glanced at the crowd behind him, and continued, "Our god did not directly invite us to an audience, but instead set up numerous obstacles... to test our sincerity."

"After we cross this rift, we will return to Zelharan."

"And your names... will be engraved on the sacred monument of Hart City."

The faces of the believers, weary from their long journey, were instantly filled with relief and ecstasy. Without a word, they quickly knelt down and bowed to Seth.

Seth turned to the side, then completely turned around, and stepped into the spatial rift first.

"Finally... the torture is finally over," one of the believers said, still kneeling but raising his upper body to wipe the blood and sweat from his face.

"What are you standing there for? Lord Seth has spoken, hurry up and follow!" another cultist urged, pulling the man along and joining the team that entered the rift.

The crack slowly closed, and the figures of the believers completely disappeared into the phantom of this ancient city.

As Yonivore watched this scene, he became even more suspicious of the "owner" of these ruins.

Logically speaking, with time and space in such a chaotic state... it should be a good time to take action.

However, instead of exterminating the church members at this opportune moment, it opened a rift and sent them all out.

The relationship between the Church and Zehrharan was far more complex than he had imagined... from ancient times to the present.

"They... were just kicked out like that?" Iseria asked, shaking the two of them who were holding hands.

"Perhaps 'it' couldn't wait any longer," Yonivo said, looking ahead at the dark blue obelisk.

In an instant, a beam of sky-blue light shot into the sky!

The faint ethereal energy emanating from Iseria seemed to resonate with something strange at this moment…

A gentle vortex enveloped the two, and like a water slide, it swiftly and smoothly swept them into the depths of time and space.

Actually, it's more like a fully enclosed water slide... Eunice's robes fluttered in the wind as he sped along the slide leading to the pool.

When the howling wind subsided, the black-robed alchemist had no idea where he was...

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the environment was exactly the same as before it was absorbed by the obelisk!

The layout of those buildings, even the textures on them, are exactly the same...

The sun was scorching, the pavement was baking, and the streets were deserted.

The timing is wrong...

Yune unconsciously pinched his cheek.

His own hands were empty...

Where is Iseria?!

Yonivore frantically searched around, when suddenly his head bumped into a transparent crystal wall to the side with a dull thud.

On the other side of the wall... a flustered Iseria seemed to have heard the commotion and quickly turned around...

Their eyes met.

On one side was the chilly, desolate night, with a freezing temperature and the dark, purplish-red outlines of dilapidated buildings.

On the other side, the scorching daylight, with its high temperatures and uneven clusters of buildings, occasionally reveals patches of greenery.

They were separated between reality and illusion...