Chapter 259: The First to be Affected
What happens to an ordinary person, temporarily empowered by cataclysm-grade forces, after losing their source of spiritual energy?
The answer to this question is clearer to Shen Baiwei than to Lu Xibei, who secretly orchestrated everything.
Because she has seen it with her own eyes.
Through a special ritual, ordinary people without the potential for spiritual energy are connected to the powers of a high-level urban legend, using the high-level urban legend as a source of spiritual energy, attempting to create a mass-producible and easily controllable “spiritual ability user.” This research has never ceased since the establishment of the Tethys Laboratory.
Of course, it has also never succeeded.
As experimental subjects, ordinary people without spiritual potential lose their power when the source of spiritual energy is cut off, but the long-term overburdening of foreign spiritual energy accumulates hidden ailments in their bodies, which will erupt all at once in an instant.
Some things cannot be crammed in, and if forced, it can only lead to “organizational rupture”…
At that time, they will show terrifying symptoms, including but not limited to sudden d*ath, urban legend transformation, liquefaction of bones, and spontaneous disappearance of organs.
In short, they will definitely d*e!
It’s like trying to install an ultra-high-power engine in a toy car and forcing it to ignite.
How could that end well?
Even if it could run, it would end in total destruction after just one use.
“They will all d*e,” Shen Baiwei said gravely to Lu Xibei. “Or perhaps, the moment they are eroded by the Shaman Queen’s powers, they have already entered a state of chronic d*ath.”
If they had even a bit of spiritual potential, the situation would be even worse. Almost 100% would turn into completely irrational aberrant urban legends… Shen Baiwei added silently.
“Dawarishi, you know your stuff!” Lu Xibei nodded. “It seems that this daunting task entrusted to you is not mistaken at all.”
“Don’t feel burdened. Think of it this way: they are already at the end of their lives anyway. We are just slightly taking advantage of their imminent physiological d*ath, giving them a social d*ath funeral, and conveniently procuring some benefits for ourselves and the beings of the God Realm Yumen.”
“That’s better than… well, better than selling funeral services in a mourning hall, right?”
Although the concept of calamity made some sense, was she really not afraid of the punishment of time? Shen Baiwei looked at Lu Xibei, wanting to say something but stopping short.
Even though she no longer needed to worry about the power of the Snake of Time harming her for not being able to consume the “correct” past, that did not mean the punishment of time would not descend upon both of them.
They had already had too much of an impact on the Yumen Pass from a thousand years ago, and the resulting changes were probably so significant that time cannot fully rectify them.
Just as she was trying to organize her thoughts, a knock at the door sounded, followed by a deep male voice outside.
“Miss Shen, I am Chen Long. I have arrived.”
Hearing the voice, Lu Xibei shot Shen Baiwei a look, stepped forward to place Zhu Yan’s spell formula solidification mask and a few small slips of paper into her hands, and patted her shoulder. “I’m leaving this to you. Take a moment to look over these slips of paper, consider it as lines for the show later.”
“To be honest, I am quite confident in provoking others!”
As she spoke, she turned towards the window, climbed onto the windowsill, and just as she was about to leap out, she suddenly stopped, turned her head to Shen Baiwei and said, “Oh right, make sure you’re ready for a rollback. In case things go south, we can escape at any time!”
After all the effort, if they cannot save the gradually falling God Realm Yumen, then it’ll be best to save their own lives first.
With that, Lu Xibei lightly tapped the window frame with her toes, soaring out and disappearing among the undulating buildings outside.
Rollback? Watching Lu Xibei’s back, Shen Baiwei’s heart jolted slightly.
Having successfully altered her spirit patterns, she had not completely lost her rollback ability, but using that ability meant facing the powers of the Snake of Time again.
For Shen Baiwei, this felt like tearing off a scab after a wound had just healed, enduring the pain and confronting the bl**d again, which made her instinctively resistant.
Before Lu Xibei woke up, she could use the excuse of “the calamity has not awakened, and I cannot leave her alone to go back” to avoid rollback, but now she seemed to have no excuse left…
—
After leaving the Dai Mu Institute, Lu Xibei headed straight for the Zawen Temple.
Before Shen Baiwei appeared in public as the Miracle Saint Fang Ji, she had indeed reserved ample time, but this time was not used to persuade Shen Baiwei, but to search for a way to communicate with Hong Bian and find a means to reach out.
Although she had unraveled the Shaman Queen’s scheme to corrupt the God Realm Yumen and found a way to counter it, she did not believe that she could sever the Shaman Queen’s supply of spiritual energy to the corrupted people in the city all by herself.
The simplest and quickest way to cut off the Shaman Queen’s supply of spiritual energy would be to inflict harm on her, making her unable to pay attention to the corrupted.
If she could deal a heavy blow and put her to sleep, even better!
For a cataclysm-grade urban legend, relying on legends to awaken again is not an easy task; otherwise, those semi-urban legend tribes wouldn’t have been wandering in the Gobi Desert for centuries.
However, all this was just a theory in Lu Xibei’s mind.
On her own, without breaking the Shaman Queen’s seal, she lacked even the means to effectively attack the Shaman Queen; if she forcibly broke the seal, she would be no match for the Shaman Queen.
After thinking it over, the only approach she could come up with was asking for help from Hong Bian.
“…”
Although Hong Bian had integrated himself into the God Realm Yumen, it shouldn’t be impossible to communicate with him, right?
That monk didn’t seem like the type to do such a thing without leaving any room for retreat! Lu Xibei thought.
As the Zawen Temple came into view, Lu Xibei slowed her pace and quietly landed in the open courtyard at the entrance.
This courtyard, she had visited not long ago with Shen Baiwei. Back then, it was filled with exotic flowers and thriving spirit energy fluctuations, but now, with Hong Bian and the God Realm Prototype having merged into the God Realm Yumen, after a few days of drought, most of the vegetation had withered and decayed, exuding a heavy atmosphere of d*ath.
Suppressing her emotions over the changes, Lu Xibei walked through the small courtyard and quickly entered the depths of the Zawen Temple, where she soon saw the monks who remained.
After observing the monks’ condition for a moment, she froze in place, her mood growing increasingly grave.
Apart from the Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers who had previously ambushed the Zawen Temple and had since withdrawn, there were not many monks left in the temple; most were young adult men, all possessing a certain level of spiritual energy. In theory, even if something happened to the God Realm Yumen, they should be the last to fall.
However, what Lu Xibei saw was completely different from her expectations.
After Hong Bian’s God Realm Prototype vanished, among the remaining ruins, figures in moon-white monk robes were scattered everywhere, either lying or reclining, with blank expressions, resembling corpses, their bodies showing no sign of vitality.
It was as if they had lost all senses to the outside world.
Their clothes seemed to have not been changed in a long time, dirty and stained, some of which were unrecognizable from their original moon-white color.
If they hadn’t changed their clothes, it was needless to say that they had not cleaned the temple either.
Dust had accumulated along the corridors, appearing as if no one had stepped foot in there for centuries, far from the mere few months of debris haphazardly thrown about, broken pottery, crumpled scrolls, moldy food… it was everywhere in sight.
Upon careful observation, Lu Xibei even saw two or three monks at a slightly farther distance, with a few fat rats lounging on them.
These rats were brazenly gnawing at their flesh, leaving behind grotesque wounds.
Some wounds had begun to rot, with foul bl**d pooling around them as maggots squirmed in the decaying flesh, causing eerie sounds whenever a rat bit into them.
They were still alive, with weak breaths rising and falling from their chests, yet they did nothing to drive away the rats and insects that were gradually taking their lives.
“Hello? I have some questions I’d like to ask.”
“Hey! Can you hear me?”
“High monk, can I borrow your head for a moment?”
“…”
Lu Xibei attempted to call to the nearest monk, steadily raising her voice, even playfully pretending to choke the monk’s throat, but he seemed completely oblivious to her presence, remaining utterly still.
Lu Xibei, “???”
What is going on? What happened? Those who had followed them left the world, lost their dreams, and became lifeless shells?
Just as she wondered, a monk from a distance, as if stimulated by her arrival, suddenly twisted his body, raised his head, and let out a loud call.
“What use is wealth?”
Immediately following, as if in answer, another monk roared, “Devouring conscience, severing benevolence.”
“What use is the sword?”
“Only adds to slaughter, fuels violence!”
“What use is fine wine?”
“Poison that pierces the intestines, harms the body.”
“…”
The back-and-forth of their voices echoed hollowly in the Zawen Temple, overlapping as if imbued with some sort of enchantment, flooding into ears and unsettling minds.
Watching this scene and listening to these sounds, Lu Xibei’s expression grew increasingly solemn.
She realized she was wrong.
She had thought that the monks at the Zawen Temple would be the last ones standing, but unexpectedly, those with spiritual awareness and keen senses were the first to be affected…
