CHAPTER 1024: CHAPTER 217: JOURNEY OF DEVOURING THE GOD

Pristine white snow covers the exposed black rocks, standing sacredly apart from the dark earth.

The shadow cast by the Eye Demon Worm shrouds the Gauss Basin, as strange creatures breaking the silence of the mountain’s base climb along its tracks, like ants swarming up hills.

As one of these ants, Lu Li withdrew his gaze from the mountains.

The worms could not approach the snowy mountains, and he had to proceed alone, though not entirely solitary—

At the insignificant foothills of the Spine of the World Mountains, there existed a bazaar set up by the strange.

Simple to the extent of having only dilapidated stone houses and long-extinguished bonfires. But these were merely symbols, representing "this is a gathering place".

Many strange pilgrims gathered here or passed through.

Lu Li approached the gathering, unnoticed and ignored by the strange. For something much more tempting lay ahead, on the snowy mountain.

There was only one thing being traded: the Blood of the God of the Deep Sea.

The Divine Blood was carried in various forms. Soil saturated with blood, rocks stained with bloodstreaks, or pale red liquid mixed from melted snow water.

What they did seemed unrelated to worship and pilgrimage, but perhaps it was the style brought by the primitive and barren thoughts of the strange.

After a brief stop, Lu Li left the gathering and continued to climb upwards. The path ahead was endlessly long.

Looking up or back, Lu Li could see the conspicuous outlines on the snow. Though hard to count, most would not encounter Lu Li.

As a human, Lu Li had no physical advantage. And as mentioned earlier: there were more tempting things ahead, they had no time to show malice and strangeness to a human carrying a strange aura.

Lu Li quietly climbed, observing stories unfolding along the way.

A strange creature with four limbs climbed steadily, ignoring the steepness and snow, overtaking Lu Li with a rustle and quickly vanishing ahead.

When a strange creature found Divine Blood, nearby creatures rushed to fight for a patch of bloodstain.

Numerous smaller, more scattered, and more chaotic bazaars were distributed throughout the mountains.

More interesting to the strange pilgrims than the Divine Blood were the predators.

The temperature gradually dropped from the coolness of the Gauss Mountains to the coldness near the mountain waist. Night fell, and Lu Li abandoned the conspicuous oil lamp, using only phosphorescence to protect himself from being swallowed by the darkness.

The sky, shrouded with clouds for decades, was somber and lightless, but fortunately, the snow on the mountain emitted a faint yellow glow.

The Mist of Strangeness did not envelop here; it was the power of the God of the Deep Sea, still within the Spine of the World Mountains.

If it weren’t for the strange and these encounters, this climb might have been a spiritual cleansing journey.

Lu Li did not rest, observing the calm inverted pentagram mark on the back of his hand, which could be triggered at any time; he had to climb to the summit—if the God of the Deep Sea was still there.

Then Lu Li contacted Vena Ice-Free Port and Midnight City.

Vena Ice-Free Port had once again lost contact, not due to a strange invasion, but because Mayor Matthias was imprisoned by the tribunal once more.

A noble secretly in contact with Lu Li told him that the tribunal had taken over the city, seized Lu Li’s victory, and falsely accused him of bringing the God of the Deep Sea.

Puxiu and the others naturally had not been released.

"What does the tribunal intend to do?"

The noble replied that he didn’t know either. Vena Ice-Free Port was under lockdown, all citizens forbidden to enter or leave, with only the factories and the port handling goods still operating.

Since taking over, the tribunal had done nothing besides these operations, like suspicious preaching activities.

Lu Li informed Midnight City of the events at Vena Ice-Free Port, and Midnight City replied with news: they sent students led by a professor from Giant Tree Academy to the snowy mountains for a trial, hoping Lu Li would meet with them and provide some information.

Unable to return from far away from the mountain’s base, Lu Li wrote down his experiences to be carried away by merchants.

Lu Li did not sleep through the night, fragmenting his rest throughout the night. Though difficult to achieve restful sleep and wash away fatigue, it was better than vanishing into the cold long night.

The Doomsday Apocalypse was enough to support Lu Li in maintaining his current state for a short time.

With an hour left until dawn, the snow no longer made the surrounding light dim.

Lu Li emerged from his tightly wrapped bedding, letting merchants take the bedding and warm water bag, continuing his climb upwards.

The higher he went, the fewer the strange outlines, the more concentrated...and the stranger.

More frequent were the Divine Blood on the unexplored and unplundered mountain waist, where strange creatures from below gathered or occupied places where Divine Blood was spilled, devouring and consuming.

But it was no longer like a pilgrimage, more like madness, grabbing blood-stained snow or rocks and putting them into their mouths, or lying on rocks and licking.

Their state made Lu Li realize something was amiss. As he approached, the strange creatures roared to drive him away.

"Get lost...bastard!"

Lu Li had no interest in the Blood of the God of the Deep Sea, and fortunately, they had no interest in him either. Spending some time winding around the blood-stained places occupied by strange creatures, the only obstacle ahead became the snowy mountain itself.

By the second nightfall, Lu Li had reached a position near the upper waist of the snowy mountain.

Once again, he contacted Vena Ice-Free Port and Midnight City. The former remained out of contact, as did the noble from the previous day. Perhaps he regretted contacting Lu Li or something unexpected had happened. The latter informed Lu Li that the gathering places and many strange at the mountain’s base had disappeared.

The Divine Blood at the mountain’s base was scraped clean, forcing the strange to venture further up in search of new Divine Blood.

Because of the strange gathering at the blood-stained places, Lu Li appropriately extended his fragmentary rest time. Two days of climbing made his body urgently communicate the need for rest.

After a peaceful night, Lu Li bypassed the strange creatures and continued upwards.

Changes accompanied him as he neared the hazy mist surrounding the summit.

The sound of a river vaguely echoed from ahead, seemingly a stream formed by the melting snow mountains.

Lu Li quickly received the answer: it was the Blood of the God of the Deep Sea.

Like magma, like the flowing blood of snowy mountains, the Divine Blood surged, rushing downstream.

Lu Li saw the strange creatures soaking in the river of Divine Blood and those devouring onshore, exuding a detestable, world-weary aura.

Perhaps Divine Blood not only represented power but also a price.

The river of Divine Blood was not singular; what Lu Li saw was just an insignificant tributary. The higher he went, the more dense, more turbulent they became, horrifyingly pouring down towards the foot of the Spine of the World Mountains.

Rather than a drainable blood flow, Lu Li believed it to be the power of the God of the Deep Sea—

This conjecture was confirmed hours later. The river upstream became a stream, and further up it was a water channel.

And the newly occupied strange creatures’ aura became even more world-weary and detestable.

The Weird Leaders ignored Lu Li as he passed, but as he surpassed them, continuing upwards, the ghastly beings, as if hated by the world, all turned their gaze towards Lu Li.

A hunched, frail, ghoul-like leader with glowing dry skin crawled towards Lu Li, crashing into an invisible force that blocked it.

"Come back...come back...!"

It rasped in a hoarse voice towards Lu Li.

Lu Li glanced at it and the other leader creatures, withdrew his gaze, and stepped onto the final stretch of his journey.

The God of the Deep Sea knew of his arrival, waiting for his arrival.