"The Twilight Candidate is here, retreat now!"

Gu Jianlin clutched the Loli Minister tightly in his arms and ducked into a dilapidated ruin.

Lu Zijin's bright eyes glimmered as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Even though they were being hunted, she showed no signs of fear and instead smirked, saying cheerfully, "You know, back when your father and I were being hunted in the Fusang Divine Palace, he carried me on the run just like this. It almost feels like going back in time."

Gu Jianlin hesitated at her words: "Minister Lu, don't tell me you and my father…"

Thinking of that woman, Han Jing, already left him dumbfounded back then.

"What are you thinking? I'm not into old men; I like them young."

Lu Zijin rolled her eyes flirtatiously, then murmured in a dreamy tone, "Who knew you little guys could feel so dependable? I finally understand Youzhu's happiness—I'm so jealous."

Four blazing Ghost Hands floated ominously behind them.

Chen Qing said expressionlessly, "And I've discovered the joy of flying."

Lin Wanqiu looked a bit awkward but still kindly cast a full suite of enhancement auras on them.

Currently, these two older sisters were being carried by the Ghost Hands, lifting them off the ground by their collars, hovering mid-air.

The Shadow scouted ahead of them.

"Which way are you two planning to go?"

Zhou Yiming shouted in frustration, "We should be trying to escape along Balensa City's perimeter and regroup with the main forces! Why are you heading deeper in? Planning for some street combat with the You Ying Group?"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lu Qingqing lay sprawled atop a spire, taking advantage of the high ground to set up her sniper rifle. Gunshots resounded furiously.

Clearly, the Twilight Candidate from the You Ying Group had arrived.

Groups of Corpse Ghosts, tainted with black Ghost Curses, surged forward like a tidal wave along the wide Divine Path. They pursued anything living indiscriminately, moving at breakneck speeds.

These weren't the sluggish, Parkinsonian zombies from Western TV shows.

This was the ability of a Fourth-Order Cloud Monarch—the Corpse Ghost Skill.

The power to control life and death!

"If you insist on marching toward your demise, I won't stop you. But trust me, some unexpected things are bound to happen. The Eastern Front can't guarantee your survival. There's a slim chance of life only within this city." Gu Jianlin was confident in his judgment—after all, the Black Qilin in his mind had already warned him in advance.

For now, all they could do was fight as they moved.

Gritting their teeth, Lu Qingqing and Zhou Yiming led four Guardians in pursuit, fighting as they retreated.

Ahead of them stood a colossal structure resembling a hive, riddled with countless cavities and defying the icy winds.

Gu Jianlin led the team, planning to rush in and seek shelter.

Unexpectedly, Old Gu shouted almost immediately, "Don't go in there! That's an Ancient God Clan latrine!"

Gu Jianlin gagged on the spot.

"The Ancient Supremes and Primordials obviously don't need to... relieve themselves, but their so-called Ancestors—compared to their transcendent civilization—are just lowly natives and still need bodily functions. That's where waste collects. They use the waste to nourish special plants, improving productivity!"

Old Gu explained confidently, "This stuff is highly toxic to Ascenders and can lead to severe contamination."

Disgusted, Gu Jianlin immediately turned the team around. In his mind, the Ancient God Clan had always been veiled in majesty and mystery.

Who would've thought of something so revolting?

Fine, perhaps he should've expected it after last time's golden toilet incident!

"Don't go there!"

Old Gu yelled again, "That's the Ancient God Clan's womb!"

Gu Jianlin froze in shock, gazing at the odd, egg-shaped structure ahead, tangled in silence.

A womb? Seriously?

"This is an artificial womb of the Ancient God Clan, designed to nurture Ancient God Seeds. Who knows how many years have passed? The remnants of the placentas inside are likely to have rotted, releasing an extremely corrosive energy."

Old Gu shouted loudly.

Gu Jianlin felt suffocated and changed course once again.

This time, Old Gu chimed in once more: "Continue along the Divine Path; up ahead should be the religious Sacrificial Ground…"

Gu Jianlin thought, at last, a somewhat normal location.

However, right then, he suddenly noticed footprints on the ground.

Human footprints—barefoot impressions!

Looking ahead, more of these footprints dotted the barren ground.

Ji Xiaoyu was about to charge in headfirst but was stopped by him.

"Human footprints!"

Gu Jianlin rasped, "And they're fresh! Who's been here just now?"

Chen Qing's pupils glowed an eerie pure white. As a Spiritualist, her perception was unparalleled, capable of analyzing even the skin tissue remnants within the footprints. Her face suddenly turned pale: "Impossible. Three thousand years... eight hundred years… four thousand years… These tracks were left centuries, even millennia ago!"

Lin Wanqiu's complexion was equally ashen: "How could that be?"

"These prints are fresh—how could they be from hundreds or even thousands of years ago?"

Gu Jianlin felt his scalp crawl—this was turning into a horror story.

The next moment, his entire body froze.

"What happened?"

For the first time, Lu Zijin saw such a panic-stricken expression on his face.

Gu Jianlin's throat was dry, unable to formulate words.

Because the Shadow was dead.

Or rather, it had been temporarily dispersed, requiring all his remaining spirituality to reform it.

Yet that wasn't the crucial point.

The critical issue was what the Shadow saw before being annihilated.

·

·

Time rewound by one minute.

It was a massive, ancient altar crowned with an imposing towering sculpture, seemingly a god accepting eternal reverence. Draped in a blood-red robe uncorrupted by eons, the effigy loomed majestically.

This sculpture's surface was etched with the intricate patterns of a Black Qilin.

Scarlet blood flowed around the colossal altar like rivers, the pungent stench overwhelming.

Ragged black-robed figures emerged from every direction along the Divine Path.

They were bald, their sickly white skin laced with bulging, scorching-hot veins.

Mumbling arcane spells, they ripped open their black robes.

Their pale bodies were covered in grotesque and sinister markings, resembling blood-red dragonic tattoos that pulsated as if alive, emitting an ominous dragon roar.

The Shadow, lacking the Lock of Nonexistence, was immediately overwhelmed by the pervasive blood mist upon entering the area.

Its form teetered on the verge of collapse!

Simultaneously, the eerie figures stepped into the Blood River, their bodies rapidly dissolving and mutating in the scalding heat, accompanied by tremendous booms.

Countless crimson bloodlines emanated from the altar, consuming the entire city.

On the Sky-reaching Pillar in the distance, a black silhouette loomed amidst billowing blood mist.

White hair danced in the wind.

Boom!

A scarlet blade of light descended from above.

The Shadow was torn apart by a single stroke!

·

·

Gu Jianlin felt excruciating pain, reliving the Shadow's destruction as if it were his own.

This was one of the repercussions.

The side effects of the Qilin Forbidden Curse.

When the Shadow perishes, the pain ricochets back to its original vessel.

Of course, for those on the Divine Path, pain hardly mattered.

"Now it all makes sense."

Old Gu murmured softly beside him, "Kid, did your Shadow catch a glimpse of that colossal statue? That revered deity is none other than the Qilin Venerable. This city... this is the city of the Qilin Venerable."

Gu Jianlin froze in realization.

"But here's where things get messy. The owners of those footprints you saw—those ghostly things—they're converted Divine Servants, enduring through countless ages, their bodies marked by Ancestor Marks."

Old Gu muttered in a low voice next to him, "Those are Kui Dragon Patterns, the predominant motif on bronze artifacts during the Late Shang and Western Zhou Dynasty. That's because those eras were when the Kui Dragon Ancestor was most active."

He paused. "I understand now. The Kui Dragon Ancestor sensed a threat, and so it's raising an army for itself, awakening the buried horrors of this place! Didn't Lin Wanqiu say this was a prison? It interned felons who committed severe crimes—mostly Ancestor-level Ancient Gods."

Gu Jianlin's heart raced with terror.

"Now, take a wild guess: how do you think Ancient God Seeds are made?"

Old Gu smiled faintly. "They're farmed, using the corpses of Ancestors."

Boom!

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