Chapter 83

 Ye Zheng looked up and observed the patterns on the tall stone walls: undulating waves, flowers, treasures. They resembled the decorations in great cathedrals, yet even more intricate than those in the grandest upper-district church.

Looking around, the circular hall trapping them had a total of twelve doors. Each door was carved with a figure holding a sword in different poses.

Ye Zheng focused intently on the figures on the doors. She suspected they depicted the God of Hope, but they did not quite match the familiar image she knew.

The recorded and widely circulated image of the God of Hope was more majestic: wielding a sword gleaming with golden light, face solemn and dignified, tall and robust.

In truth, when Ye Zheng had flipped through records, she found no explicit mention of the God of Hope’s gender. But most people defaulted to male, and in the widely spread portraits, the figure did appear more masculine.

The figures carved in this stone hall were more slender. Even while holding a sword, their faces carried compassion.

“What exactly is this aberrant realm? Are we sure we did not accidentally stumble into some church?”

Roy muttered in question.

Lu Qi imitated her companions and observed the palace. After staring for a long time, she felt the figures on the doors looked extremely familiar.

“Isn’t this the God of Hope?”

She pointed at one figure with lowered eyes and a gentle smile.

Everyone looked at Lu Qi in astonishment. Pei Xi frowned. “Lu Qi, are you sure? The God of Hope in my memory does not look like this.”

Lu Qi nodded firmly. “Yes! Near my hometown, there was a rundown church with the God of Hope looking exactly like this. After I came to the city, I realized your version looks different!”

Ye Zheng’s eyes widened slightly. What Lu Qi said was probably true. The western district of the lower city was the most barbaric region in the entire empire, sparsely populated, with simple and almost untouchable folk customs.

In such a poor and hard-to-govern place, even the church could not be bothered to invest much effort. It was normal for some ancient traces to remain.

“Lu Qi, how many years has that church near your home existed?”

“I heard four or five hundred years? I never wanted to go in, afraid it would collapse any day.”

Hearing Lu Qi’s answer, Ye Zheng gained a rough idea of when this stone hall had been built.

Pei Xi also reacted, showing an incredulous expression. “So from this, it is very possible this place was also built by people of our empire several hundred years ago?”

The group fell silent. This completely contradicted their understanding of aberrant realms.

Every person in the empire knew aberrant realms were alien spaces wandering outside the human world, carrying ominous disasters, devouring humans and human living space like foreign monsters.

How could an aberrant realm leave traces of empire people? Building something like this required enormous time and manpower.

“No way…”

Kyle unconsciously touched the exquisite patterns on the stone wall and murmured. Suddenly, he pushed lightly and found the stone door beneath his hand opened easily.

With a dull rumble, one door slowly swung open.

Pei Xi’s face grew grave. This aberrant realm felt too strange, not just its own peculiarity, but also the continuous dreams lately. He always felt flashes of these engravings in them.

Of course, what left the deepest impression in his dreams was still that sword gleaming with golden light.

Could those dreams really be prophecies? Would he, just as in the dream, raise something resembling the God of Hope’s divine sword?

Pei Xi stared at the open door. Beyond it was faintly visible a deep corridor lit only by small lamps on both sides, dim and endless.

“Since this door opened, let us go.”

He took a deep breath and walked toward the door. The Cloud Soarers team followed. The aberrant realm was too mysterious, they could only explore headfirst.

Lu Qi was about to step through the stone door when she sensed something and looked back. Sure enough, Zhao Mei had not followed!

“Zhao Mei! What are you writing?”

“If this is a maze, it is better to leave some marks.”

The youth had no qualms about defacing cultural relics. He put away the pen he carried.

Lu Qi looked curiously at Zhao Mei. He always wore plain black clothes, who knew why he liked black so much? With his refined and handsome looks, white would suit him well too.

Today he had draped on a strange black robe, covering his figure completely, like some eccentric legendary magician.

Seeing the youth tuck the pen into his black robe, Lu Qi felt even more convinced that Zhao Mei hid magic beneath it.

“Come on, come on! We will lose the others if we do not hurry!”

Lu Qi dragged the youth forward, not noticing that his green eyes were still fixed on the carving on the door.

The twelve doors each showed the God of Hope in different poses. The one they entered had the God of Hope holding the sword reversed, the horizontal blade blocking across his chest.

Ye Zheng followed Lu Qi into the dim, endless narrow corridor. Ahead, the silhouettes of the other youths raised glow sticks to explore.

She tugged at her black robe. Beneath it was light armor.

This light armor was of little use against aberrant realm monsters. It was suited for dealing with humans, especially those skilled with swords.

To obtain that sword, she had considered the possibility of clashing blades with Pei Xi.

Pei Xi excelled in close combat, while her ability was not suited to counter him. Battle would be very disadvantageous for her, so she had to prepare various contingencies in advance.

This maze was sealed and lacked water sources, greatly limiting her ability.

Directly fighting Pei Xi was the least ideal option, as the Cloud Soarers team would undoubtedly side with him. But even if it came to that, it would be fine. This aberrant realm definitely had more entrants than just the Cloud Soarers team.

The moment this aberrant realm descended, it occupied a vast area. The mad point-farming Sykes would not miss it. And the Divine Academy team, they were the closest to this aberrant realm.

“Why are there three doors again!”

The boys’ shouts came from ahead. Lu Qi quickened her pace with the youth and caught up to the front.

At the corridor’s end were three doors, each engraved with different patterns.

Pei Xi’s face grew solemn. His intuition told him these doors should not be chosen randomly.

Though this place resembled human ruins, it was still an aberrant realm. Aberrant realms were always full of crises, one could not lower their guard. The group had not yet encountered any danger, which somehow made everyone feel even more uneasy.

Roy used the glow stick’s light to carefully examine the patterns on the doors and spoke softly, “There must be some kind of pattern here.”

The first door depicted people feasting and reveling wildly. The second door showed mountains collapsing with a roar and rivers surging violently. The third door portrayed a ferocious beast sliced in half.

Pei Xi said gravely, “Let us check the stone walls on both sides for more clues. If we really cannot find anything, we retreat...”

“The door will not open!”

Lu Qi pressed against the door they had entered through and pushed hard. The stone door remained immovable.

Everyone’s expressions inevitably grew heavier. Their attitude toward the three doors ahead became even more cautious.

While the youths wandered blindly in the corridor searching for clues, a slightly hoarse voice rang out in the narrow passage.

“Divine Revelation, Volume Two, page 89: When the human world is on the verge of collapse, mountains fall without reason, rivers change course without cause, and all things are utterly destroyed. The divine counters with a sword. The toppled mountains cease collapsing, and the raging rivers no longer run wild.”

The second door exactly depicted collapsing mountains and rivers, while the door they had entered through showed the divine holding a sword horizontally across the chest in defense.

Pei Xi, who had been feeling along the stone wall, turned back in surprise. Lu Qi’s eyes widened with admiration. “Zhao Mei, you can even recite this? I did not even know what this book is!”

“Stupid Lu Qi, then what are you surprised about?”

Roy habitually retorted.

Kyle rubbed his head sheepishly. “This seems to be a church book, detailed records of everything about the God of Hope. I once glanced at it in my dad’s study and lost interest right away. Truly embarrassing...”

Pei Xi stared at the youth leaning against the stone wall. His green eyes looked especially deep in the dim lamplight as he quietly stayed in the corner.

He had not expected Zhao Mei to have such profound knowledge of church texts...

Thinking about it, it was not strange. The empire’s people were all believers in the God of Hope to some degree, some devout, some perfunctory. For a healing-type ability user like Zhao Mei to take the God of Hope as his faith and goal in saving people would make others feel reassured.

Sensing everyone’s admiring gazes, Ye Zheng forced a smile and tucked the Divine Revelation in her arms even deeper.

Telling everyone she carried such a thick book around would be a bit odd. Better to let them think she was a genius boy with photographic memory. That way, readers who liked Zhao Mei might be even happier.

She did not quite understand terms like tragic beauty or white moonlight, but labels like “little genius” should be well-received too.

Ye Zheng simply felt that since this aberrant realm hid the God of Hope’s sword, bringing something related to the God of Hope might come in handy.

『I thought you really memorized all of Divine Revelation. In the original plot, you...』

The system started to speak but suddenly swallowed the words.

“In the original plot, I also helped the Cloud Soarers team find the correct path.”

Ye Zheng slowly said in her mind.

“In other words, I led the Cloud Soarers team to the divine sword.”

She had already figured it out. This stone palace was built entirely around the God of Hope. Only the most devout believers could approach the divine. If one was not devout enough and chose the wrong path...

With a muffled rumble, Pei Xi pushed open the stone door engraved with collapsing mountains and rivers as he walked at the front.

White light immediately poured from the door, illuminating the dim corridor. The youths closed their eyes against the blinding glare. When they opened them again and saw clearly what lay beyond the door, they could not help stepping back into the corridor.

In the vast stone hall, one person lay on the ground soaked through, abdomen swollen. Another had their torso crushed by a boulder, head tilted, eyes glaring toward the entrance. Blood had pooled across the floor and flowed right up to the youths’ feet.

“Is this door really the correct choice...”

Roy’s face turned pale.

The black-haired, green-eyed youth pushed through the group and stepped forward. Lu Qi reached to pull him back, but her fingers only brushed his sleeve for a moment.

“Drowned.”

“Crushed to death.”

The black-robed youth squatted beside the corpses, pronouncing their causes of death like a legendary black cat of ill omen.

“The drowned corpse has already begun to bloat. That means these people entered at least four hours ago.”

After Ye Zheng finished speaking, she paused herself.

This was very strange. In hot weather, a drowned corpse would take at least four or five hours to start bloating and decomposing. Yet this aberrant realm had only descended less than two hours ago.

The weather was not particularly hot. She herself wore light armor and a black robe and did not feel warm. The corpses should not have changed this quickly.

Could time flow differently in the aberrant realm? Or had the Cloud Soarers team received news of this aberrant realm one or two hours late?

Pei Xi also squatted beside the youth. He had no knowledge in this area and was simply worried Zhao Mei might encounter danger by rushing in.

“This place is indeed very dangerous.”

Pei Xi’s expression was grave. He looked up and scanned the surroundings, worried that a giant boulder might suddenly fall from some corner.

“We pushed open the correct door. There will be no punishment.”

The youth explained.

Pei Xi was stunned. “You mean they entered the wrong door.”

This palace had multiple doors. These people might not have entered through the same door they had just used.

If they had chosen wrongly and entered one of the other two doors, would they have met the same tragic fate...

Pei Xi pondered deeply. The youth squatting beside him suddenly stood up and turned to look at the Cloud Soarers team members.

“From now on, everyone stay close to me.”

“Only the most devout believers in the God of Hope can find the true path.”

The group first froze, then their gazes turned trusting toward the youth walking at the front.

Pei Xi nodded as well. The situation was clear now: only someone with deep knowledge of the God of Hope, like Zhao Mei, who could recite scriptures, could find the correct direction.

The black-haired, green-eyed youth responded to his teammates’ trusting gazes with a gentle yet firm expression. A faint trace of self-mockery flickered in his eyes.

Lies. She was actually not devout at all. The Saintess position was merely a calculated means for her. She would not waste time memorizing church scriptures. She disdained placing hope in the divine.

If she were truly devout in the God of Hope, she should help Pei Xi. He had already received divine oracles in his dreams.

Yet she had never received any.

But so what? She would find the true path for everyone! As long as that one sentence was true, faith and divine oracles no longer mattered.

The few still hesitating at the doorway heard the youth’s slow yet resolute words and unconsciously stepped forward, following behind him.

Pei Xi also stood up and closely followed that quiet yet powerful black figure.

“Let us go. To the next door.”

The youth’s voice was lower and hoarser than before, like the calm sea before a storm, occasionally rising and falling.