Chen Lun looked solemn as he began to hike in the desert covered with yellow sand.
He pulled down the brim of his hat to block the wind, sand and sun. He stretched out his hand to feel the strong wind, the collision of tiny particles was clear and real.
'What kind of place is this?'
Looking at the desolate scene around him, Chen Lun couldn't help but think of a fairyland.
'Could this mural painted by Clarenso have created an independent space similar to a fairyland? And who was the voice that just sounded in my mind? '
Recalling what the old voice said, Chen Lun boldly guessed that this place was most likely a replica of a certain historical line in the past, which was intercepted and preserved by Clarenso using the power of myth, but was polluted and underwent unknowable changes...
The "God of Magic" Angela mentioned is most likely Mr. Jingyao, because Clarenso is his subordinate god and also fits the description of "an angel under his command".
'As for the multiple layers of history... and the apotheosis ritual that Clarenso intended to prevent...'
Chen Lun frowned, feeling completely confused.
He was secretly alert, feeling as if he was experiencing an extremely secret and dangerous history, which might contain the truth about the past involving the gods.
Chen Lun walked forward for about half an hour, one foot shallow and one foot deep in the scorching sea of sand. During this time, he did not meet anyone in the wind and sand, not even any living creature... It seemed that there was no life here, only endless wind and sand, scorching sun, and that lonely huge stone pillar.
Seeing this, Chen Lun gradually gained his courage and tried to fly forward using the air walk. Suddenly, the speed was very different. The stone pillar that seemed far away at first quickly enlarged in his sight, and he approached it at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After a moment.
He came to the foot of the huge stone pillar.
It was difficult to measure from a distance, but now that I was right up there, I realized that it was ridiculously large... Chen Lun made a simple visual estimate and found that the radius of the stone pillar was probably more than one kilometer.
The overall texture of the stone pillar is unclear, but the surface feels very granular and matte, dark yellow in color, and is engraved with evenly distributed spiral patterns that extend around the pillar and upwards into the sky.
Chen Lun couldn't help but gasp in amazement. It was impossible for such a magnificent building to be created by humans...
'But will Carmen be on top of the pillar?'
He looked around and found nothing but endless wind and sand.
Shaking his head, there seemed to be no other choice at this moment.
Chen Lun calmed down and immediately used the air walk skill to fly straight up along the stone pillar. His body seemed to violate the laws of physics, tilting 90 degrees, walking on the stone pillar. With one step, he was like a sharp arrow, sticking to the stone pillar and crossing dozens of meters into the sky.
His figure seemed particularly small against the backdrop of the huge stone pillars, but his speed of movement was quite astonishing. However, because of this, the sandstorms blowing in his face became like fine needles, causing slight stings on the exposed skin.
Chen Lun looked calm and indifferent, and even increased his flying speed again.
Bang!
The surface of the stone pillar was stepped on by the feet, making a loud noise.
The air waves were like ripples on a lake after a stone was thrown, and the sand was blown away. Chen Lun used the reverse thrust to lift himself up like a rocket. The stone pillar was too hard, and even after he stepped on it, it was not damaged at all.
Soon he arrived at an altitude of several hundred meters. He could no longer feel the strong wind and sand here, but his spiritual intuition still gave him a faint warning.
"Um?"
Chen Lun frowned slightly. He found that there were countless grains of sand floating in the air around him, as if they were still. It was quite strange.
With his arrival, the sand particles began to float on their own and gathered into streams of quicksand, forming vague human shapes.
Woo!
A strong wind blew from behind my head.
Chen Lun was as agile as a deep-sea mackerel shark. He moved sideways in mid-air and avoided the attack. Not only that, he turned around and swung his stick, which lashed at the enemy like a silver snake spitting out its tongue.
There was a dull bang, accompanied by countless grains of sand flying.
Chen Lun then saw clearly that the one who attacked him was actually a "humanoid monster" made of sand particles, holding a sickle and extremely thin. Half of the target's body turned into sand particles and scattered, but it was still alive, and its "wound" was even absorbing the surrounding sand particles to slowly heal.
His face was gloomy. He used the Life-Seeing Technique to investigate the details of the sand monster, but he only obtained the name "contaminated sand" and some panel information.
'It is written in the description that these sands are polluted by myths and have some kind of activity... They even contain the power of the two paths of earth and conspiracy.'
Chen Lun thought to himself, and dodged the attacks of the other three "Sand Men". He threw several spade cards, which exploded after colliding with them.
Boom!
Chen Lun glanced down and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Those "sand men" were hit by the spades and exploded into pieces of sand, but they condensed back together at an extremely fast speed, as if they were immortal.
'These monsters are not very strong, but if we want to kill them completely, we probably need to destroy all the floating sand, which is a waste of time and energy...'
Chen Lun saw that more and more sand monsters were appearing around him in the sky, and he immediately made up his mind and continued to fly upwards without looking back.
In order to create enough distance, he even used instant movement several times in succession, flashing repeatedly at the maximum distance of 100 meters, and only then did he get rid of the entanglement of the sand monsters.
Not long after that, he finally reached the top of the stone pillar.
It seemed like a huge circular platform square, and the ground underfoot was flat and smooth, like a cross-section left after a stone pillar was cut off by some great force.
In the distance, in the middle of the platform, stood a dilapidated spire building. This was exactly what Chen Lun saw outside the mural world.
He had a hunch that Carmen was probably inside!
Chen Lun remained alert and headed straight towards the spire.
The platform here is the top of the stone pillar, located very high in the air. Looking up, you may even have the illusion that you can touch the dim sky.
As he got closer to the spire, the warnings from his spiritual intuition became more and more obvious, as if telling him that there was some terrifying monster hidden in the building.
Finally, Chen Lun stood in front of the spire. On the tightly closed double-opening stone door, there was an engraved mysterious pattern with a circle as the base and complex triangles together to construct it. He didn't quite understand it, but to be on the safe side, he split out an arm, turned it into a giant white python, and pushed the door open.
Cluck... Rumble...
As the stone door slowly opened, a smell of dust and decay that had been stored for countless years drifted out. Chen Lun even saw a series of fleeting and distorted images through the dim dust in the air. It was a tiny person confronting a huge figure in a yellow robe in the sky.
Wow.
The dust settled and the image faded.
Chen Lun's seriousness at this moment had reached its peak.
"The yellow-robed figure that blocks out the sun and sky... Could it be the same one that appeared in the sky above the cat town of Kazt? Who is he?"
Covering his mouth and nose lightly, he walked into the spire carefully, holding his silver cane.
The environment inside was a little dim, so Chen Lun took out the kerosene lamp from the Blood Poetry Ring and lit it up, holding it in his hand for illumination. Looking around, the place seemed quite empty, and some of the original decorative pendants had long since decayed, turning into gray-black fragments piled up in the corners of the wall. There was only a stone staircase that looked fairly stable, winding upwards.
He did not find any valuable clues on this floor, so he climbed the stairs and walked up. As he explored deeper, Chen Lun felt that the environment inside the spire was very similar to Ms. Fredetri's Meteor Tower.
"Could this spire have been Clarenso's residence?"
Chen Lun guessed.
Combining various pieces of information, he felt that this possibility was very high.
The spire has twenty-two floors, but the rooms on each floor are empty until Chen Lun reaches the top floor...
"This is… ?"
Chen Lun raised his eyebrows, very surprised.
The walls and ceiling here disappeared, as if it were open air, and he could clearly see the dim sky. But when he looked at the spire from outside just now, this place was clearly closed.
Chen Lun tentatively walked to the edge of the room and then reached out to touch an object, which was an invisible wall.
'It must be some kind of magic that hides the walls and ceiling, allowing for better observation of celestial phenomena...'
He has a plan in mind.
Turning his head, in the center of the room, there was a huge easel and a three-meter-high tower-shaped chair. Chen Lun seemed to see a man sitting on it, looking up at the sky, quietly painting at some time in the past.
Coming to the giant easel, Chen Lun saw what was painted on it.
His expression suddenly changed.
The canvas was filled with a waxy yellow background, which mostly corresponded to the sky. Looking up, one could faintly see a huge yellow-robed figure, who seemed to be standing in front of the stone pillars and spires. There was nothing under his hood, but he seemed to be looking down at the people outside the painting. The corner of the yellow robe was lifted, revealing the twisted and deep grotesque colors underneath. In his left hand, he was holding a tombstone, on which were written many names:
Galsworthy…
Bancroft House
O'Driscoll...
…
At first glance, there were no less than a dozen names, and some of the words were blurred and unclear, but Chen Lun could somehow understand the deeper meaning in his heart:
'The names of the Dark Sun Mother, the Death God Burying the Bones Old Man, the Giant King, and a group of angels from the God level... all of these gods' names are engraved on that tombstone. This figure in the yellow robe is the True God of the Earth, the Rope Clay Man of the Curtain!'
boom!
Chen Lun's brain shook, and he felt dizzy. If he hadn't relied on the silver cane for support, he would have fallen to the ground. But blood kept flowing out of his mouth, nose and eyes.
"The one Clarence wants to deal with is actually the old man..."
He was shocked and quickly used the sanity stored in the statue of Maggie to replenish himself. After a few minutes of adaptation, he stood up again.
Looking back at the canvas, his gaze shifted to a corner.
There was a huddled, haggard and skinny old figure...
'Carmen.'
Chen Lun was determined.
'He is trapped in this painting within a painting...'