# Chapter 19: The Mask
Black chains hung within the temple, and there was no doubt about it—the Healing Church was a group of madmen. They had been in the past, and even now, they hadn't improved much.
Su Xiao had only ever seen worlds ravaged by Ancient Gods, along with the powerful beings who suffered under them. But now, the Healing Church of the Gloomy Continent was using practical actions to teach everyone a truth: as long as one was crazy and stubborn enough, they could face the Ancient Gods head-on.
Not only could they face the Ancient Gods, but they could also capture them alive. By exploiting the Ancient God's characteristic of sucking dry the world, they had saved the dying High Wall City, allowing it to flourish as it did today.
However, there was one point—this world had a deep foundation. On the surface, it seemed like a top-tier Eighth Rank world, but in the past, it was a Transcendent Primordial World that could go toe-to-toe with Doom Star.
When Su Xiao obtained the [Book of Souls: Soul Imprint] from the Beast Master, he had already sensed this world's deep foundation. Even though it had declined, it was because it had sealed itself to resist the Dead Silence, not because it had been attacked by external enemies.
Su Xiao looked at the Ancient God bound by chains. The aura of this Ancient God was completely different from any he had encountered before. The previous Ancient Gods either saw all living beings as ants or were cold to the point of cruelty. But this Ancient God's aura was profound—an endless darkness and depth.
Don't underestimate this Ancient God. After seeing the bound Ancient God here, Su Xiao realized something: several hundred years ago, the Healing Church and the Steam Church had never clashed or fought internally.
During that period, High Wall City suffered from a small amount of Dead Silence energy erosion. Population growth was slow, and necessities like food and fresh water were scarce. Under such circumstances, the Healing Church and the Steam Church couldn't afford internal conflict.
At that time, the Wadi Family and the High Wall Council were still small fries. So, if there was a major issue that needed someone to take the lead, it had to be the Healing Church and the Steam Church.
During that most difficult period, the Archbishop and the Holy Priest were the pillars of the people. Having survived from the Age of Gods to the present, they were also at a loss. They had both been to Dead Silence City, but both returned in defeat. Just when things were at their worst, a young man stepped forward. His name was Tuerz.
Tuerz's proposal was to immediately seal the entrance to Dead Silence City, abandoning the ancient tradition of the "Chosen One." Instead, by sealing the entrance, they could slow down the erosion within the city.
This idea was met with unanimous opposition. At that time, the "Chosen One" was the last ray of hope. Before each Chosen One entered Dead Silence City, they carried the hopes of everyone.
Back then, Tuerz, this outlier, was nearly executed by the fanatical supporters of the "Chosen One." The Archbishop saved Tuerz and discovered that he had different ideas and perspectives.
Twenty years later, with the Archbishop's support, Tuerz became the Dean of the Holy Scar Academy.
In Tuerz's view, after so many years of erosion, the Dead Silence energy had long become part of this world. The possibility of completely eliminating the root cause of Dead Silence was too low. Instead, it was better to come up with a strategy, gather all forces, and create a piece of land free from Dead Silence erosion where rapid development could occur.
After flipping through numerous ancient texts and risking his life, Tuerz paid a heavy price to leave this world and travel to other worlds.
For other natives of a Primordial World, this would be a dream, unless they had special notarization and contracts from the Void Tree. But for this world, it had such a foundation.
With the support of the Archbishop, Holy Priest, Old Monster, Snake Lady, and Steel Apostle, Tuerz traveled to many worlds. When he returned, he told everyone about what he had seen in a certain world.
That world was dark and sunless, its world power exhausted. But in contrast, the spatial shockwave phenomena that had frequently occurred there had also disappeared.
This gave Tuerz a huge inspiration. The plan to seal an Ancient God was conceived under Tuerz's leadership.
But there was one point: to use the power of an Ancient God to change the current situation of this world, the Ancient God itself had to be strong enough. It had to be the top-tier combat power of the Eighth Rank, and since Ancient Gods were naturally adept at fighting, the question was how to fight it once it was lured over.
Given the harsh conditions in High Wall City at the time, there was no time for hesitation. They selected a target from a book recording Ancient Gods, then tricked the Ancient God's divine messenger, lured it over, and captured it.
Just that alone wouldn't bring the Ancient God. But Tuerz and the others infused the divine messenger's body with the divine energy of a benevolent deity. For that Ancient God, this was a great provocation.
The top-tier Eighth Rank combat power Ancient God, the God of Sin·Womipush, descended.
Before luring this Ancient God, the Archbishop, Holy Priest, Tuerz, and others were all worried that the Ancient God might not be strong enough to achieve the desired effect of sucking dry the world.
As it turned out, they had worried for nothing. The Sin God was far stronger than expected. Even the strongest Chosen One in the past couldn't compare to the Sin God's power.
A chaotic battle began. When it ended, the Sin God was trapped by the Archbishop's ability. It seemed like a victory, but the cost was that over 90% of the transcendentists from the Healing Church, Steam Church, High Wall Council, and Wadi Family had died in battle.
Although the battle wasn't in High Wall City, the Sin God sensed the city's existence. It broke through the siege, charged into High Wall City, and absorbed 30% of the commoners there.
Moreover, after the battle, among the five founders of High Wall City, the core of the Steel Apostle was nearly shattered, leaving him in a long period of blurred consciousness.
The Old Monster's soul was almost crushed, hovering on the edge of death. The Holy Priest barely avoided beast transformation and still hadn't fully recovered.
The Archbishop seemed fine on the surface, but only he knew that he could no longer freely use the power of the "Initial Holy Scar." However, with his three old friends in such a state, he had to tough it out alone.
As for the fifth member, the Snake Lady, she couldn't participate in the battle. She had to be responsible for something more important later.
As for Tuerz, of course, he wanted to participate and was prepared to die in battle. But before the battle began, the Archbishop punched him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. When he woke up, the battle was already over.
As it turned out, the Archbishop's approach was correct. From then on, the Healing Church was basically managed by Tuerz, leading to the current Great Sage·Tuerz.
The cost High Wall City paid to besiege the Sin God was painful, but the gains were equally great. Because of the Sin God's power, coupled with the continuous influence of the Snake Lady's main body, the Sin God had been sucking dry the world.
Previously, the Academy faction had absolutely refused to open the entrance to Dead Silence City because of this. Opening the entrance also meant lifting the Sin God's seal.
Logically, after absorbing Dead Silence energy for several hundred years, the Sin God should have grown weaker and even perished. But the problem was that the seal on the entrance to Dead Silence City had been growing stronger in recent years. This wasn't a good sign. It meant the Sin God hadn't perished but had instead grown stronger.
The Academy faction had two reasons for refusing to open the door: 1. For unknown reasons, the sealed Sin God had been growing stronger in recent years. 2. Even if they succeeded in killing the Sin God after opening the door, what then? Would they have to pay a painful cost to trap another new Ancient God?
This was also why Zuiyasi could make the Academy faction yield. As soon as this guy arrived in this world, being an Ancient God system himself, he immediately sensed that an Ancient God was sucking dry this world. But the problem was that High Wall City didn't look like it had been sucked dry by an Ancient God.
Although Zuiyasi couldn't find where this Ancient God was, after understanding the gap between the city and the badlands outside, he had a conjecture. So he took on this matter. After leaving the city, he found a secluded place, established a sacrificial channel with his old friend, and borrowed some things from him.
Zuiyasi's old friend was a scholar from the "Yargu School" on Doom Star. The "Yargu School" sounded unfamiliar, but if one mentioned the "Eye Ritual," it wouldn't be so unfamiliar.
The "Yargu School" was basically a bunch of madmen who took pleasure in insanity. The Eye Ritual they mastered was an important branch of Ancient God power.
Based on the speculation of Zuiyasi and that Eye Scholar, they had guessed High Wall City's method of dealing with Dead Silence several days ago. In that scholar's view, this was too unstable. Whether the Dead Silence energy gradually weakened the Ancient God or slowly strengthened it, neither was a long-term solution.
Moreover, if the Underworld God found out about this, the Gloomy Continent would probably be doomed. In the past, the Gloomy Continent could indeed go toe-to-toe with Doom Star, but times had changed.
Ancient Gods were generally hostile to each other. But if the Underworld God learned of the Sin God's current situation, it would definitely send its prison hounds and followers to raze High Wall City to the ground and eliminate the Sin God as well. For an Ancient God to be captured alive and sealed, only annihilation could wash away this defilement to the dignity of the Ancient Gods.
Ancient Gods were always like this, though there were exceptions. For example, Ursula, that half-blood Ancient God, most of the time didn't dare to call herself an Ancient God, fearing that other Ancient Gods would find her embarrassing and come to destroy her.
The negotiation between Zuiyasi and Great Sage·Tuerz was: at this stage, it was the perfect time to open the entrance to Dead Silence City and lift the Sin God's seal. Many powerful beings were participating in this event, and they could besiege the Sin God together.
After eliminating the Sin God, they would adopt a new sealing technique, the "Breeding Eye" from the "Eye Ritual."
This thing was an auxiliary ability researched by the Yargu scholars for the upper-level Ancient Gods. It allowed an upper-level Ancient God to suck dry a dozen or even dozens of worlds simultaneously.
In common terms, the "Breeding Eye" was like a living absorption device that had to attach to an Ancient God to work. But there was one point: if only the "Breeding Eye" existed alone, it absolutely couldn't suck dry a world. Among the numerous divine systems, even millions of living beings, or Abyss Spawn, Void alien existences, etc., no living being or existence had this ability. Sucking dry the world was the absolute unique ability of the Ancient Gods.
Not being able to suck dry the world didn't mean they couldn't alleviate this world's problems. That Ancient God scholar discovered that not only absorbing world power would also absorb Dead Silence energy, but absorbing an ancient faith energy existing in this world could also absorb the Dead Silence energy together.
This method treated the symptoms but not the root cause. However, it was clearly much more reliable than relying on the Ancient God to maintain the status quo. As long as enough Eye Rituals were set up in High Wall City to create numerous "Breeding Eyes," and regular maintenance was performed at a great cost, the problem could still be solved.
After confirming that this method was feasible, Great Sage·Tuerz immediately agreed to open the entrance to Dead Silence City, leading to the current scene.
In front of the temple's main gate, many powerful beings from High Wall City had gathered. According to Great Sage·Tuerz, besieging the Sin God was a bad strategy. Several hundred years ago, the Healing Church had suffered from this aspect.
The Academy faction had brought many powerful beings this time. Besides Great Sage·Tuerz himself, five sages and over a dozen mentors were present. This clearly meant they had brought all the Eighth Rank upper echelon and above from the Holy Scar Academy.
As for Su Xiao's side, there was himself, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, Silver Wolf Woman·Marina, and finally Xiusi. Bringing Xiusi was to have a backup plan in case the situation changed.
Kaisa was nowhere to be found. Zuiyasi and Wude were both present. The Duke hadn't come. Since meeting last night, the Duke had disappeared without a trace.
Madame Yan had also come. She had a different purpose from the others. The main body of the Snake Lady, the original founder of the High Wall Council, was inside the seal. The independent clone she had split long ago had been in High Wall City all along.
One could consider the Snake Lady and her clone as two separate individuals. Now, no one knew whether the Snake Lady's main body was alive or dead. It had been too long. Even her own clone had lost the spiritual connection with the main body, let alone others.
The hundred or so people further back mostly came from the Steam Church, High Wall Council, or the Wadi Merchant Alliance. When the fighting actually started, don't expect them to be reliable. In fact, they might become pig teammates.
Su Xiao took out his communicator and saw the blue indicator light flashing. This meant Gulu was rushing over and would arrive soon. She had heard that she could finally enter Dead Silence City and had happily come. Hopefully, she would still be this optimistic after entering Dead Silence City.
Regarding the "Wolf Tomb," before leaving this morning, Su Xiao had asked the Archbishop. The Archbishop also didn't know where the "Wolf Tomb" was. The Archbishop knew about the Silver Moon Wolf, but they weren't from the same period.
When the Silver Moon Wolf came to this world, it was still the Age of Gods. The Archbishop, Holy Priest, and others hadn't been born yet. The Silver Moon Wolf had sought out the Eternal God, and the two had cooperated.
According to the Archbishop's speculation, if there really was a "Wolf Tomb" in this world, then go to Dead Silence City to find it. This didn't mean the "Wolf Tomb" was necessarily in Dead Silence City, but the probability of finding it elsewhere was too low. It was better to give up this thought early to avoid wasting time.
Su Xiao's own feeling was also that the Silver Moon Wolf had come to this world during the Age of Gods and had likely perished in that era. With such ancient matters, and without any perception means to find the "Wolf Tomb," if the "Wolf Tomb" wasn't in Dead Silence City, then as the Archbishop said, it was better to give up early.
"Anyone who doesn't want to die, step back."
Great Sage·Tuerz spoke solemnly. Upon hearing this, the Divine Maiden and others retreated toward the distant steam train. Xiusi hesitated on the spot, unsure whether to stay or leave.
"Stupid kid, hurry up and run. Move it."
Baha used his wing to pat Xiusi's back. Xiusi looked at Su Xiao and, seeing that Su Xiao was staring at the chain ball inside the temple, he jogged toward the steam train.
Su Xiao gestured to Silver Wolf Woman·Marina beside him, signaling her to retreat as well. Madame Marina had never fought an Ancient God before. Even though she had a strong will, whether she could resist the consciousness invasion of a top-tier Eighth Rank Ancient God was uncertain.
Madame Marina herself had loss of control/beast transformation issues. Facing an Ancient God directly, there was a 90% chance she couldn't hold up.
"Boss, should we start preparing to hunt the Ancient God? I feel..."
Baha hesitated.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang also barked, meaning it agreed with Baha's opinion.
Su Xiao looked at the chain ball suspended in the center of the temple. Of course, he also sensed something was wrong. Based on his experience hunting gods, this Ancient God's aura was... too empty. But within this emptiness, there was an endless darkness and depth.
Great Sage·Tuerz walked into the temple. He took off the pendant around his neck and then recited a strange-sounding incantation.
The silver pendant floated up and, with a clang, was adsorbed to the shackle in front of the chain ball. The shackle shattered and bounced away.
Clatter~
Chains rubbed against each other. The chains hanging above fell down one by one, and the chain ball in the center grew smaller and smaller.
"Here it comes."
Madame Yan's black smoke dress surged. Her body almost turned into a translucent fluorescent white, giving her a strange beauty.
Under everyone's gaze, the chain ball burst open with a bang, and a black shadow fell down.
With a splat, like a rotten wooden stake hitting the ground, a coiled large snake fell. Its body was decayed beyond recognition. One could vaguely see that it had long eyelashes. Its snake head had a high resemblance to a human face. It was the Snake Lady's main body. From its appearance, it had clearly died completely many years ago.
Seeing this, Great Sage·Tuerz's expression changed slightly, but he quickly accepted the fact that the Sin God had broken free from the seal at some unknown time. Ancient Gods weren't so easy to trap, let alone trap for several hundred years.
"So the door is open just like that? Where's the Ancient God?"
Baha looked around. In this hall filled with hanging chains, there was no trace of the Ancient God. There was, however, an Ancient God system, standing outside the door watching.
Drip, drip~
Black liquid dripped from above. Everyone looked up at the ceiling. At some point, a large area in the center of the ceiling had turned into black liquid, with layers of ripples forming.
Black liquid trickled down in strands, followed by a human skeleton that had been soaked until it was yellow. It fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
"Tuerz, slowly back up."
Su Xiao spoke. At this moment, only he and Great Sage·Tuerz were inside the hall, with the main door behind them.
Great Sage·Tuerz beside him slowly stepped back and said in a low voice, "I can close the door at any time. This temple is very sturdy, built with deep stone."
Great Sage·Tuerz had obviously guessed what Su Xiao was going to do. Although the two had been hostile before, they now had a tacit understanding.
Inside the temple, a figure fell from the black liquid above. It was humanoid, about 3.5 meters tall, landing barefoot in a half squat position.
As this figure stood up, everyone could see its appearance. Its upper body was covered in dense, smooth black scales. From its form, it clearly had female characteristics. On its face was a slender white bone mask, which didn't look like it was worn but more like an exoskeleton.
Misty black hair like smoke hung behind it, each strand seeming to have independent life, slowly floating, covering its entire back. Its lower body was covered by hanging tentacles, like wearing a bizarre floor-length skirt.
This was the Sin God. To be precise, it was no longer completely an Ancient God. It was half Ancient God, half Abyss existence.
A war scythe over two meters long fell from the liquid above and was caught by the Sin God. This scythe was about 2.6 meters long, made of dark metal + bone + dark flesh + solid soul, etc. An invisible aura spread outward from the Sin God. Almost simultaneously, all living beings within a hundred kilometers sensed something and fled desperately into the distance.
Boom!
A thunderclap sounded in the sky. A black cloud vortex formed, with a terrifying deep red inside.
Inside the temple, black semi-fluid emerged beneath the Sin God's feet, surging to lift it up. Its gaze, which made even souls feel cold, calmly looked at Su Xiao and Tuerz outside the hall. The next instant, the dark matter beneath its feet was about to drag it out of the hall.
Zzzt~
Translucent metal threads tightened and then snapped in an instant. It seemed like they hadn't stopped the Sin God for even half a second, but this was actually the triggering device.
Clang!
The crisp sound of a metal bolt being pulled came from the ground around the Sin God. The Sin God was about to control the dark matter beneath its feet to surge around, but then it stopped. Its eyes, which seemed to have sin flames burning inside, narrowed. It had already sensed that this time, it had encountered a god hunter.
Under the Sin God's control, mist began to spread around. Countless energy threads too thin to be seen with the naked eye were distributed around, with one end disappearing into alternate space.
These traps were set up quite cleverly. First, threads made of soul energy + body energy were used as triggering devices. Then, lethal weapons were hidden in alternate space. Once these weapons were activated, that alternate space would open, achieving the effect of killing the enemy.
Dense spirit shadow threads around connected to mechanisms specifically developed for Ancient Gods. Ahem, some were also aimed at the Ancient God system. This wasn't aimed at Zuiyasi, but the Ancient God system.
If Zuiyasi knew about this explanation, he would definitely have a "MMP" to say. Based on what he knew, besides himself and his wife Ona, Su Xiao didn't know any other Ancient God systems.
After looking around, a ball-sized deformed monster with wings formed in front of the Sin God. This deformed monster burst into sin flames, screeched, and pounced on an empty spot.
Crack!
Golden-red lightning spread. The Sin God immediately used dark matter to lift itself up. Even it didn't want to touch this golden-red lightning. This thing was completely synthesized lightning specifically for dealing with Ancient Gods.
After removing this most threatening trap, the Sin God looked at Su Xiao outside the hall. It confirmed that this was a god hunter. The ring on the other's hand could grow by devouring the power source of Ancient Gods. Judging from the fluctuation intensity of the ring, it had already devoured quite a few Ancient Gods' power sources.
After the Sin God appeared, many outside the hall felt fear. Some even widened their eyes to the extreme, clutching their throats as their reason quickly evaporated. They were about to become the Sin God's lower servants.
This made people wonder: several hundred years ago, how did the Healing Church deal with this situation to besiege the Ancient God?
"Ah!!"
A mentor from the Academy faction let out a heart-wrenching scream. The flesh on his chest split open, and dark red tentacles grew out from his internal organs, writhing wildly. Facing the Ancient God directly, if one's heart wasn't firm enough, they would end up like this.
Ice spread. Amu's axe swung down, shattering the frozen mentor into pieces. Having mutated to this extent, there was no saving him. If not dealt with quickly, he would become a lower servant arbitrarily controlled by the Sin God.
Seeing this, Great Sage·Tuerz remained silent. This time, they had no divine protection. They could only rely on their own flesh and blood to face the Ancient God.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse. Those transcendentists who had been full of confidence, ready to surround and kill the Ancient God, began to mutate one by one.
In terms of strength, 99% of them were stronger than Bubu Wang. However, that didn't help at all.
In Su Xiao's team, Amu went without saying. He had followed Su Xiao in killing quite a few Ancient Gods. This simpleton, aside from being afraid of missing meal times, hadn't been found to have fear of any type of enemy.
As for Baha, that went without saying. His void bloodline was a reward from Su Xiao's killing of the Dominator·Sotos.
As for Bubu, although it wasn't naturally very brave and could be a bit silly sometimes, it had followed Su Xiao all the way in hunting Ancient Gods. Its fear of Ancient Gods was at the physical level, not spiritual submission. It was afraid of being hit by the Ancient God and feeling pain, not spiritual fear or trembling. When facing an Ancient God directly, if the spirit and soul were fearless, there would naturally be no mutation.
With a boom, the metal main door of the temple closed. At this point, the good news and bad news were mixed. The seal that had trapped the Sin God had failed. The good news was that this temple from the Age of Gods was particularly sturdy and could temporarily trap the Sin God.
Only a few seconds had passed since the Sin God appeared, but Su Xiao was more concerned about another point. The black liquid on the ceiling inside the hall had too strong an Abyss characteristic. This meant this battle could no longer be dealt with simply by treating it as an Ancient God.
For some unknown reason, this Ancient God had adapted to Abyss energy and had somehow absorbed a large amount of Abyss power, becoming even stronger.
At this moment, on the open ground behind, large pieces of crushed ice were scattered. Amu, with cold air emanating from his body, shattered the last "ice sculpture" that was in the process of mutating.
A spatial fluctuation suddenly appeared behind Su Xiao, almost making him swing his fist back. The person who suddenly appeared behind him had indeed been punched by him before. He quickly said, "It's me!"
It was Gulu. She sized up the metal door in front and asked, "Is this the gatekeeper boss of Dead Silence City? Logically, it shouldn't be particularly strong, right?"
After saying this, Gulu frowned. She felt that the aura inside this temple was ridiculously strong.
Su Xiao suppressed the perception warning of the enemy and formed a plan to deal with the Sin God. When the Sin God first appeared, Su Xiao had prepared to throw the remaining "Sun Barrel" directly at it.
But considering that the Sin God wasn't restrained at the time, the probability of being hit by the "Sun Barrel" wasn't high. Plus, this was the entrance to Dead Silence City. If it caused unknown risks, that would be bad.
However, after perceiving the Abyss energy where the Sin God appeared, Su Xiao's train of thought for dealing with the Sin God gradually became clear.
The metal door in front began to decay, meaning this temple couldn't trap the Sin God for much longer. Seeing this, Su Xiao tilted his head down and looked at Gulu beside him, asking, "Your leader often wears a mask. Do you also like wearing masks?"
"Huh? What? It's okay. I wear one sometimes. Why the sudden question?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't say anything. He directly slapped the "Primordial Mask" onto Gulu's face. Wude and Zuiyasi, who had already retreated more than ten meters away, both showed the knowing smile of those who had been through this before.