Chapter 627 Death Never Ends

The psychic energy within the temple was constantly fluctuating. All the servants and attendants working in the palace felt the oppressive and terrifying aura. The Great Sage's anger emanated from the long hall, even triggering more than a dozen small-scale psychic discharges throughout the building. Many attendants trembled and prostrated themselves, bowing their heads in prayer towards the long hall, hoping that this wrath would not befall them.

The long hall remained sealed off, and the time needed for rebirth had long passed, yet Grendel still hadn't shown up.

The air was thick with the stench of blood and the acrid smell of ionized air, and heat surged around the regeneration device.

Corpses lay scattered around the regeneration device, one of them still twitching and spasming. All the corpses had the same faces and were in the same state—their faces were filled with anger and terror, and their legs below the knees were crushed by an indescribable cursed power.

No matter how many times you are reborn, it's the same. Even if you are a flawless blank body that has just stepped out of a biomass container, as long as your soul is injected into it, the nightmarish curse will take effect immediately.

Another Gorendall emerged from the last incubation chamber, the regeneration device behind him issuing a warning that biomass reserves were temporarily depleted. This perfectly proportioned, robust, and imposing body, like a demigod hero from mythology, stood quietly on the platform. Amid the irritating alarm, he took a deep breath and then sat down directly on the ground.

The excruciating pain and the horrific sound of flesh being crushed arrived as expected, but a strong sense of exhaustion and despair overshadowed the agony.

A moment later, he reached out his hands directly to his legs, and a ball of blazing light surged in his palms.

A short, sharp pain is worse than a long, drawn-out one; decisive action is better than despair.

With a flash of light, the twisted and shattered limbs were instantly vaporized. The pain, unlike anything before, made Gorendel clench his teeth, but he managed to force out an almost distorted smile, making a strange "hoarse" sound from his throat, as if trying to mock something.

Now that he has personally disposed of his limbs below the knees, the terrible curse will finally be no longer in effect.

A servant stood to one side, trembling slightly, holding a long robe, awaiting his master's command.

Gorrendel ignored the stupid slave and instead waved in another direction—a spherical drone silently flew over, hovered in front of him, and activated its data terminal function.

Gorrendel quickly operated the machine a few times, issued an emergency production order to the rapid machining center, and then waved his hand to the side.

"Go, open the transport route."

A moment later, a hastily produced "goods" was delivered to the long hall. Grendel looked at the thing in the servant's hands, and his expression became increasingly twisted and ferocious.

Those were a pair of mechanical prosthetics.

The gleaming metal surface seemed to be a silent mockery of his series of ugly failures, reminding him that his once perfect "path to holiness" now had indelible cracks, that his body and soul were no longer pure, and that he had most likely lost all hope of repair.

But a spark suddenly flickered in Grendel's heart—perhaps, perhaps, as long as he killed that cursed doll and the blasphemous alien behind it, he could break the strange curse.

Yes, that must be it, there's still hope... The borderlands are full of strange and dangerous things. This inescapable curse might just be some kind of unanalyzed dark energy product. Besides, that doll seems to have some connection to Alice's Cottage. It's normal for things related to the Ancient Holy Spirit to be difficult to deal with, but it's definitely not unsolvable... It's not like the Ancient Holy Spirit himself came...

A faint spark of hope ignited within him. Grendel himself was unaware of the fear and weakness in his heart at that moment. He was simply encouraged by this inexplicable "hope" and finally regained some of the courage to face the Holy See. Then he reached out to the pair of prosthetics.

The living metal connectors quickly adapted to the body, and the nerve connection process went smoothly. The prosthesis soon regained mobility. Despite the intense physical and psychological discomfort, the "Great Sage" slowly stood up and walked down the steps with a gloomy expression.

Then he heard the sound of metal twisting and breaking.

The sensor sent a burning alarm signal to his nerves, and the burly body collapsed to the ground in a sorry state. Grendel turned to look at his legs in shock and anger, only to see the bizarre scene of his metal limbs being crushed and curled up by an invisible force, turning into a pile of wreckage.

His spiritual intuition sensed a terrifying chill, and wisps of black lines spread through his spiritual vision like a poison that seeps into his bones. He heard countless whispers swirling around his ears, and thoughts that did not belong to him darted around in his mind.

In a daze, he seemed to suddenly "understand" something—

“You are guilty, and an ominous sign has arrived.”

...

Yu Sheng's consciousness floated aimlessly in a state of chaos, as if he were sleeping in a tranquil and peaceful dream, yet he remained constantly aware of his "self".

Perhaps because the process of hanging up this time was deliberately delayed for a long time, he felt that this "drifting" was more relaxed and immersive than before. It was like a person who had been deprived of sleep for a long time suddenly burying their head in a comfortable bed. A lazy feeling filled his internal organs, making him even a little...enjoyed.

Exhaustion is the best medicine for rest, just as hunger is the best seasoning—Yu Sheng felt that his mental state after he died was somewhat abnormal.

While drifting along, he reviewed the events of the day.

There's not much to summarize about the battle itself. He was quite satisfied with the effectiveness of the blood needle launcher and blood grenades. His only regret was that he was hit by the Great Sage's unknown AOE attack before he could really utilize them, resulting in his instant death. But he was used to this routine; after all, this kind of thing happened frequently.

When fighting strong opponents, just go in and casually deal a couple of hits to get some damage on the damage list. If the enemy attacks, just go to sleep without hesitation. Leave the rest to the creep and your teammates. Anyway, you always carry the whole game with your deathrattle. That's what a graveyard hero is all about...

That's how Yu Sheng understood it, anyway.

What truly deserves our attention and vigilance is the way those hermit followers appear, and the great sage's self-destruction at the last moment.

The skirmish took place in an underground parking lot on the edge of the old town—not in a dark alley, not even in some otherworldly place.

This was different from Yu Sheng's initial assessment. He originally thought that the cultists could only open passages from dark alleys, and believed that this was due to some kind of limitation of the "Boundary Bridge" technology. However, today's events proved that the Secret Order actually had the ability to open exits in other places, or even to forcibly "create" a space similar to another realm directly from the real world.

Thinking about it carefully, the environment of that parking lot was clearly changing in some kind of "artificial alien" direction, but this process was not stable.

Did the Hermitage make a technological breakthrough in their research on the "Boundary Bridge"? Or was this a secret they had been keeping hidden, only to be accidentally exposed today?

And then there was the high-ranking priest's self-destruction in the final stage—it was an incredibly powerful burst of energy, but to be honest, Hu Li could have withstood it if she really wanted to. After all, as a body cultivator who could use headbutts to execute orbital strikes, who knows how high the limit of her defenses could be? But what no one expected was that most of the power of that self-destruction was compressed near the rift, and it wasn't even released in Hu Li's direction at all...

In other words, the priest used all his strength to close the rift at the last moment.

This matter was even more important than his life; he was willing to give up the last shred of possibility of dying together with the enemy in order to ensure that the rift could be completely and thoroughly closed.

So, what exactly is on the other side of that rift?

Yu Sheng's thoughts sank into the darkness, and many speculations spread endlessly in his consciousness. Freed from the constraints of his flesh and blood, his thoughts became incredibly free, and his ideas would quickly jump from one direction to another.

He recalled what Eileen looked like back then.

The tiny doll's head was submerged in his blood, and then the fully formed "Blonde Irene" appeared—but even more astonishing than "Blonde Irene" was the enormous projection of the spider goddess.

Ominous form – clearly controlled by Eileen.

And the little doll kept talking about the sacrifice... "blood sacrifice"?

Yu Sheng's thoughts drifted far away, but were suddenly pulled back. In the midst of chaos, he finally glimpsed the border of the wilderness of the soul.

Dark gray clouds covered the plains, nameless tall grasses swayed in the wind, a giant crystal tree stood in the center of the endless wilderness, and a solemn black cathedral stood beneath the crystal tree, bathed in the glow of the celestial bodies.

Yu Sheng's spirit descended from the sky and coalesced at the church entrance.

He saw a tall, blonde figure standing in the front garden—Luna was not wearing her usual knight's armor, nor was she carrying a longsword at her waist. Instead, she was wearing a robe similar in style to her nun's habit in the real world.

This outfit gave this girl, who was always a bit too talkative in the spiritual world, an extra touch of quiet elegance.

"You're back." Luna smiled and bowed slightly in greeting when she saw Yu Sheng appear.

Yu Sheng was a little unaccustomed to it at first—after all, in the soul world, this girl rarely spoke more than one sentence.

However, he quickly realized something, nodded slightly at Luna's outfit, and then turned to look at the direction of the church entrance.

After a long while, he broke the silence softly: "...No visitors."

“Yes, I’ve been waiting for quite a while,” Luna said softly. “There’s only the wind here.”

“Perhaps… we’re still on our way,” Yu Sheng added. “Sometimes the roads here aren’t easy to travel.”

Luna pursed her lips, but in the end, she just shook her head.

Yu Sheng wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out. After a few seconds of silence, he reached into his pocket.

He brought some things from the real world into this wilderness.

A few game coins and some colorful candies.

He handed these things to Luna.

“There should be a cemetery behind the church—this is a wilderness for souls, a place for weary souls to rest.”

"good."

(End of this chapter)