Ye Chui and his group had been exiled into the Sin Continent for one full day.
Their ordeal had not yet spread across the Castro Continent, but certain individuals naturally received the news immediately. For example, the Pope of the Church in the Holy City Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Kingdom, Boris.
In the underground secret chamber accessible only to the Pope, rows of massive ancient bookshelves stood filled with various old tomes and scrolls. The sound of pages turning rustled from time to time. Pope Boris, dressed in a casual nightgown that made him look utterly undignified, held a thick volume and flipped through it. A single floating flame drifted beside him like a firefly, providing enough light for him to read.
The book in his hands was an ancient work of the Church, said to have been personally written by gods to impart doctrine.
However, those gods seemed to have little understanding of the human race when they wrote it. The power within the book was far too overwhelming. Countless powerful believers who read it had their minds shattered by the immense force inside, turning them into madmen. Even mighty Popes had gone insane from studying these texts.
There were a total of one hundred and three thousand such books.
Later, after the Pope who went mad from reading them, the new Pope issued a ban. These works were sealed and hidden in the secret chamber. Only successive Popes could browse these forbidden books, which became known as the One Hundred and Three Thousand Forbidden Tomes.
Yet these terrifying forbidden books seemed to have no effect on Boris whatsoever.
He flipped through them with a calm expression. Golden light flickered faintly in his eyes, as though countless small worlds were born and extinguished within them. He was currently reading a chapter about the Sin Continent. With the rustle of pages, he soon finished it.
Snap. Boris closed the thick volume, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes as if analysing and comprehending the contents.
When he opened his eyes again, a trace of a smile appeared on his face.
“So that is how it is. In this way, I can peek into the situation inside the Sin Continent…”
Boris muttered to himself. With a whoosh, he casually tossed the heavy tome onto the floor. He seemed to care nothing for these divinely authored works. Dragging the hem of his nightgown, he walked to an open area in the chamber. He spread his hands. Strands of faith power began to gather at his summons, forming a profound light seal in the air.
He intended to spy on the Sin Continent and learn Ye Chui’s current situation there!
Entry into the Sin Continent was normally only possible through exile, which came with shackles and sealed power. Ye Chui and the others had found another path: entering through the haunted mine beneath the Doomsday Mountains, which might contain an entrance to the Sin Continent. Even Boris had not anticipated that the chief bishop stationed in Fearless City, Lagin, would desperately exile them, forcing them to enter the Sin Continent with their powers sealed after all.
“The terrifying seal inside the Sin Continent is very powerful, Ye Chui. Even though you possess divine power that can partially resist this seal, you will still be bound and reduced to little more than an ordinary person inside. I am quite curious to know how you are doing now…”
A light screen appeared before Boris. Flickering images moved across it as he used some wondrous power to locate Ye Chui and his group.
“Are you and your little companions currently being hunted? Or perhaps already captured and tortured? Or maybe you smoothly passed the initial trial but suffered heavy injuries? Or…” A cold, ambiguous smile curved Boris’s lips. “Perhaps you are already dead!?”
The scene on the light screen suddenly froze, revealing the mercenary plaza in Stan Town.
In the somewhat dim world, the atmosphere was exceptionally lively. Bonfires blazed with flames, roasting various delicacies on top. There was bread, fine wine, fruits. The townsfolk laughed freely. A few young girls sang loudly. Several drunkards got into a scuffle but soon hugged each other again and drank more. What a harmonious and joyful scene.
Boris wore an expression of “what am I even seeing?” He manipulated the light screen, slowly shifting the view toward the group beneath the Solon statue. It was none other than Ye Chui, Debbie, and the entire team, along with Kas, Merlin, Ross, and the others.
They were happily eating roast chicken…
Ye Chui’s voice came through the light screen. “Kas, this chicken meat really tastes great.”
“After entering the Sin Continent, many supplies in the town vanished. Food became scarce. I arranged for people to plant crops while figuring out how to raise some animals. There was a mercenary in town who raised a few low-tier magical beasts, a type called ground birds. They look a lot like chickens, and their meat is similar too, only much more delicious. Because of their odd shape, like a large box, people call them box chickens. Some places raise them for sale, so I thought I would give it a try.”
Kas sighed as he spoke, then bit into the chicken leg in his hand. “These past few days raising box chickens have been quite torturous. The little things are too ferocious and cunning, but the flavour really is excellent.”
It was clear Kas was eating the chicken with great satisfaction.
“Yes, yes, this chicken meat tastes amazing. It is not even inferior to those sea magical beasts,” Debbie said with a sigh.
Ye Chui nodded too. “Although we are not short of food or supplies now, we should keep raising box chickens. From now on, every time we come out of a trial or battlefield, we can kill one to celebrate.”
“Sure. Box chickens reproduce very quickly,” Kas agreed, nodding as he continued gnawing on his chicken leg.
Meanwhile, in the secret chamber, Boris could no longer remain calm.
Good grief, what is this? Not only are they perfectly fine, they are happily eating chicken!!!
Boris stared blankly at the light screen, his expression indescribably complex.
People like Ye Chui really can thrive no matter where they go… Truly unimaginable, truly unimaginable!!!
…
Sin Continent, lower world, Stan Town.
“With all of you here, Stan Town will face no more danger. But leaving this place will probably not be easy,” Kas said worriedly to Ye Chui after finishing his chicken leg. The more one understood the rules of the Sin Continent, the clearer it became how difficult it was to leave.
“For five thousand years, no one has ever left the Sin Continent,” old Merlin said in his aged voice. He held a cup of fine wine and sipped slowly. When the white-robed nun had exiled Stan Town, old Merlin had briefly fought her and sustained some injuries, leaving him somewhat weak now. As he drank, he seemed to recall certain past events and sighed softly with a hint of implication. “I never thought I would end up in this place after all…”
“Teacher Merlin, why do you say that? Do you have an old acquaintance who was also exiled to the Sin Continent?” Green asked curiously.
“It was an old friend of mine from before. At thirty years old, she killed a divine envoy and was exiled by a white-robed nun from the Divine Punishment Division. That was how I came to know the identity of those white-robed nuns…” Merlin replied.
“She?” Ye Chui and Debbie’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Teacher Merlin, could that old friend have been your lover?” Green asked right after.
Merlin unhappily patted Green’s bald head. “Do not pry into these matters. She was my rival and my friend. Lover? Heh, perhaps. But we never made it clear… You children should not ask about such things. It has been over thirty years now. I suppose she has probably died long ago.”
Merlin drained the wine in his cup. Perhaps due to the alcohol, a touch of melancholy rose in him. He glanced at the expectant looks from the younger generation around him and thought to himself: if they insist on hearing these romantic tales, then I will reluctantly tell them. Back then, she and I were quite a famous pair of rivals among the young generation. We even adventured together in the Heavenly Demon Ancient Tomb. At that time…
“Since Teacher Merlin does not want to discuss these things, let us not press him,” Kas coughed lightly and said to everyone. “We should discuss what to do next instead.”
Merlin: “…Hehe, hehe…”
“Participating in the Sky Ladder battlefields allows fragment worlds to keep advancing. We are currently in the lower world and can rise to the mid-level world, then the upper-level world. In the upper-level world, there will be a chance to leave the Sin Continent!” Kas continued. “But advancing from a lower-world fragment world to an upper-level one will be extremely difficult…”
“Those are not problems,” Ye Chui said with a smile. “Next, we will participate in those trials and battlefields. Here we still hold our strongest trump card. Kas, I know what you are worried about. The magical creations we have used before cannot be brought into trials and battlefields again. But rest assured, I have as many modified firearms as we need!”
Kas was stunned. “Unlimited?”
“Our top priority now is to farm Sky Ladder points and unlock all our powers,” Debbie added.
Through Kas and the others, they had already learned that the initial trial was merely the simplest competition, mostly involving ordinary newcomers on their first attempt. Beyond that were trials and battlefields proper. The hunters who participated in those had already unlocked or exchanged powers through Sky Ladder points and were far stronger.
Trials were relatively simple: participants were teleported into a shattered fragment world, with numbers ranging from one hundred to one thousand. In the end, only one person or one small team could survive to claim victory. Those who forfeited did not count.
Sky Ladder battlefields were even more brutal. These determined whether a fragment world could advance to mid-level or upper-level. To advance to the next layer, representatives had to participate in Sky Ladder battlefields and win ten consecutive victories. Too many losses could even cause a drop back down to the lower world.
“Our primary task right now is to farm points!”
