CHAPTER 554: CHAPTER 552: BORN IN THE SOUTH

"This is impossible!"

Luo Siyuan cried out in disbelief. Although the Human-faced Tadpole had weak defensive abilities, it was not something that ordinary city guards could handle. Moreover, he had made thorough preparations long ago. He used the pretext of slaughtering the Fish Demon to invite most of the formidable Cultivators from Chenzhou City, ensuring that there were no extraordinary masters within the city. What’s more, even Cultivators with profound Mana could not truly exterminate the seemingly endless Human-faced Tadpoles. If he wanted to save the people of Chenzhou as much as possible, the only outcome would be to be drawn into a war of attrition, exhaust all his Mana, and die in defeat.

"You!"

Luo Siyuan’s eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Scholar Zhu’s indifferent face and growled, "What have you done!"

"Not me, but my teammates."

Scholar Zhu shook his head. "Do you know the biggest difference between you and me? I have teammates whom I can trust and rely on. You have always been fighting alone."

"I’m sorry."

"You won’t even be able to collect a single Soul."

Luo Siyuan gritted his teeth, veins on his forehead bulging. With fists clenched, he bellowed, "So what? Even without the Souls, all procedures will continue as previously planned! The divine being will inevitably awaken!"

As if to confirm his words, no new Human-faced Tadpoles emerged from the bottom of the Ling Shui River. Thunder rumbled ominously in the skies above. Torrential rain poured down, striking the river, yet it failed to prevent the surface near the tower ship from becoming calm as a millpond.

This was not the peace of an ending. Rather, after a moment of silence, the river water suddenly began to boil.

The river flowed backward at high speed. Countless deformed tadpoles returned, flying back the way they came at a speed even faster than before.

An unprecedented terror compressed down on everyone present.

The air became oppressive and stuffy, thick as mud. Ordinary soldiers and distinguished Cultivators alike could feel the terror embedded in their biological instincts, gnawing at their bodies.

Their hearts pounded violently, nearly bursting. Their bones creaked, muscles grew rigid and numb, eyelids trembled nonstop, and goosebumps rose all over their bodies.

They wanted to scream, but the ability to do so had been stripped away from them in that moment.

Not far in front of the tower ship, the air churned into chaotic waves. A large section of the river surface vanished into thin air, as if scooped out like jelly. Surrounding waters rushed to fill the void but were consumed by the emptiness, disappearing without a trace.

Gone with it were tens of thousands of the deformed tadpoles that had been flying towards them.

「Time passed indeterminably.」

The air gradually lost its transparency, and outlines blurred, as if something was passing through barriers, descending upon this place.

The thunder in the sky came to an abrupt halt.

Lightning, the downpour, the wailing Human-faced Tadpoles, the pale-faced Cultivators—everything in the world, all of creation, lost its meaning.

In everyone’s eyes, there remained only the entity floating midair.

It was a gigantic, semi-transparent object. It possessed an irregular spherical head with a rugged front, crisscrossed with gullies. In its center were two gelatinous white orbs, each imprinted with a black circular pattern, which in turn reflected the bewildered faces of the onlookers.

The head was connected by a cylinder to a slightly bloated, barrel-shaped body. Four limbs grew from the body, currently huddled together, embracing itself.

The people on the ship became stupefied. Their brains hallucinated, making them feel as if all sights, except for the semi-transparent contours, were rapidly distorting. In the eerily silent air, a deafening, maddening roar emerged.

The entire world was upside down, spinning, askew, tearing apart, transforming into an indescribable entity.

"SIGH..."

Scholar Zhu’s soft sigh broke the silence. A hemispherical white barrier covered the space above his head, sheltering him and his three teammates.

He raised his palm and snapped his fingers. The white barrier expanded, enveloping the three tower ships. The others only felt a flicker before them, and the overwhelming sense of their brains being controlled slowly dissipated. Then, they clearly saw the true form of the translucent outline.

It was a huge, translucent human baby. It floated midair, its face innocent and naive, utterly guileless. Unclothed, with half an umbilical cord on its navel, it was in the most primal pose of life. It raised its chubby arms, like lotus roots, sucking on its fingers. With a curious, exploring gaze, it looked at the humans below the tower ships, who were as insignificant as ants.

"A baby," Scholar Zhu said indifferently. "This is your divine being."

"HEH, HEH, HEH..."

Luo Siyuan, too breathless to ponder the other’s mockery, yelled out, "Oh God!"

His cry caught the attention of the divine being. The baby turned its face, blinking its eyes innocently. It looked somewhat puzzled at Luo Siyuan, as if wondering why he was so agitated.

Luo Siyuan screamed hoarsely, "What is the meaning of all this! Why did you create us? Why let us suffer?!"

The baby tilted its head, still sucking its finger, offering no response.

"I’m sorry."

Scholar Zhu’s voice rose.

Luo Siyuan subconsciously turned his head. "What?"

"I am very sorry."

Scholar Zhu pursed his lips tightly, speaking with difficulty. "This is actually our sin, not something you are meant to bear."

"What are you talking about..."

Luo Siyuan could not understand why Scholar Zhu’s expression hid sorrow, but an ominous premonition made him tremble all over.

Golden flames began to rise beneath Scholar Zhu’s feet, his knees slightly bent. "His name is the King of Shengnan. Shengnan also means ’to give birth to a boy.’ He originates from all the newborns brutally suffocated, drowned, strangled, or otherwise cruelly killed—or who died prematurely—in the real world throughout ancient and modern times. These were infants who never truly came into the world. Their Souls settled and gathered, awakened by the Killing Fields game to become a new divine being. Driven by an instinct for exploration and knowledge, He subconsciously constructed a dream realm, a near-replica of the real world. This realm allows countless Soul fragments to play roles and enact lives, thereby learning about everything in the real world."

Luo Siyuan’s face was filled with bewilderment, as if his very spirit had been snatched away. He stood frozen in place, speechless.

"Help me."

Scholar Zhu uttered two words.

Behind him, Xun Zian, Chu Yin, and Shi Qi each took out a talisman that could share and transfer Spiritual Power and tore it apart.

The Spiritual Power of all three combined and flowed into Scholar Zhu, causing Spiritual Power, like an ethereal mist, to seep from his pores.

He stomped on the deck. Scholar Zhu shot up like a cannonball, straight into the translucent head of the divine being. He passed through the intangible, insubstantial gateway leading to the third layer of the dream realm.