Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead

Chapter 728 - 327: Lost Continent (Part 3)

However, this time the operation went exceptionally smoothly, and the fleet wasn’t harassed by the fishmen along the way.

Everything was eerily quiet, making the Great Saint Mother anxious, suspecting that the Master of the Deep Sea was gathering all its power to ambush her when landing on the island.

But in reality, the smooth sailing wasn’t because the Master of the Deep Sea hadn’t sent out the fishmen tribe, or because they had all perished on Briff Island.

Instead, it was because Wu Chang True Self was following beneath the fleet, transforming into a Sea Giant moving along the seabed.

Whenever a fishman approached, they would be thrown into the Blind Abyss, absorbing their life force.

Throughout the journey, the Sea Giant had eliminated over a thousand fishmen, but due to the significant power difference between the two sides, it only resulted in a 30-point increase in power for him.

As the fleet approached land and began entering the inner sea, the surrounding reefs increased, and the lighting equipment on the ship gradually failed.

At first it was torches, then the Alchemy Oil Lamp, and finally even the golden flames conjured by Erin were extinguished by the darkness, leaving only the Great Saint Mother’s White Sacred Fire still illuminating the path ahead.

With three hours of efforts from honing good habits, Erin inquired about the cause on the spot. Due to the divine covenant, the Great Saint Mother had to temporarily teach Erin.

The reason the White Sacred Fire could continue burning in the darkness was due to the characteristics of a mid-tier god.

A Demigod possesses Divinity within, and as Divinity becomes more complete and connects with the source, if the Divinity harbors properties of light or other elements, it marks the elevation from Demigod to a low-tier God, truly possessing Divinity.

To become a mid-tier God, one must combine with the Divine Kingdom, using the Power of Faith to merge with Divinity, crafting their own Rules.

For example, the Great Saint Mother’s White Sacred Fire can persist without extinguishing because the Rule of the Everlasting Sacred Fire is what the Great Saint Mother has established.

Furthermore, if one could replace the surrounding world Rules with their own controlled Rule, at that moment, the Rule would acquire a new name, Authority.

Under the Great Saint Mother’s careful guidance, the fleet stopped around the Lost Continent, then moved inward, encountering large sharp reefs unsuitable for ship passage.

The Great Saint Mother separated a cluster of Sacred Fire to illuminate the fleet, after which Wu Chang and Erin landed on the island.

Passing through the rocky beach, the three officially entered the Lost Continent.

No one knows if this land was originally like this or if it was influenced by the Master of the Deep Sea, but the continental ground was made of deep black stones. Every few steps revealed a stone-like protrusion resembling a stele emerging from the ground, ranging from tens to hundreds of meters long.

Perhaps because it had been buried in the deep sea for too long, the ground was exceptionally slimy, covered with a layer of black-green mucus. Stepping on it made a squelching sound, with the smell and texture reminding one of partially digested vomit.

To avoid the nauseating mucus, the three chose to travel by flight.

After flying inland for a while, they gradually saw the ruins of a shattered city.

According to legend, the Lost Continent, dragged into the deep sea by the Master of the Deep Sea, once gave birth to a mighty civilization possessing technologies far surpassing other countries of the time. The cities they built were awe-inspiring even to the Gods.

Judging from the preserved ruins, perhaps this wasn’t an exaggeration.

Because in the ruins, giant stone steles a hundred meters high could be seen everywhere, covered in hieroglyphs.

Creating such steles thousands of years ago would have been a monumental task.

Distant from the three, Wu Chang True Self dispelled the Sea Giant transformation, also walking through the city’s ruins.

He held a Four-sided Age Fire Lamp, with red Age Fire emitting light in the darkness. The surrounding darkness attempted to extinguish the Age Fire, but it remained unaffected.

In a way, the Age Fire itself also symbolized a type of Rule, no less than the White Sacred Fire condensed by the Great Saint Mother using mid-tier God Rules.

The Abyssal Game recognized item seemed more powerful than imagined.

He carried the lantern and found an unusually tall stone stele, burning off the mucus on it with the Age Fire, then produced the All-Knowing Crystal, saying:

"Translate it."

A moment later, a long string of words filled Wu Chang’s mind.

The contents of the text were lacking substance, full of clichés praising the divine’s great deeds, numbering tens of thousands of words, but condensed to just four words.

Eternal God.

From the translated text, it seemed that the engraver wrote it from the Lost Continent’s perspective, but one thing caught his attention.

The God praised on the stele turned out to be the Master of the Deep Sea.

If it weren’t for the Master of the Deep Sea sinking this land and over time setting up the stele to praise itself in human language, then it was the God worshiped by this continent.

Interesting, could it be that the continent’s sinking was actually the choice of the Lost Continent’s inhabitants?

Following this line of thought, could the earliest fishmen have been residents of the Lost Continent?

With this suspicion, Wu Chang could search for similar steles or divine temples to interpret.

He finally found the information he wanted in a divine temple.

The temple recorded all the rituals of divine worship, and the last record mentioned the name of the King of Xilan Country, who was also the High Priest of the Ocean—Da Gang.

It matched.

No wonder the Master of the Deep Sea could condense a relatively complete Divine Kingdom in the Desolate Realm; it turned out that Xilan Country, not far from the Plane Center, was nurturing the Master of the Deep Sea with the nation’s Power of Faith.

A nation nurturing a God, yet falling to a kingdom’s sinking, with its citizens turning into fishmen, eternally living in the dark deep sea.

It seems quite ironic at first glance, but thinking about it, Xilan Country’s millions of people, although reduced to only a few thousand fishmen, Da Gang truly became a God.

From Da Gang’s perspective, transforming from human to God, not only is it a win, but it’s an incredible win.

If not for Wu Chang’s intervention, the Master of the Deep Sea would wake stably, elevating the Plane’s status alongside it.

When one person attains enlightenment, even the household benefits, Da Gang could transform from a native God of the Desolate Realm to a true lower-tier God, and maybe even, with the rise of the Master of the Deep Sea, advance to a mid-tier God, or even higher.

That would be the real win, a grand victory.

Unfortunately, he encountered Wu Chang.

On the other side, because Wu Chang’s main body had no means to interpret the text on the stele, they didn’t linger. Under the guidance of the Great Saint Mother, they headed directly toward the city center.

Xilan Country’s city layout was structured in concentric circles, with buildings becoming denser and the building standards higher as one moved toward the center.

Perhaps for this reason, the city center was more intact compared to the outer areas.

A circular Giant Divine Hall stood at the city’s center, with a massive ominous feeling emanating from behind its tightly closed gates.

The Great Saint Mother said, "This is the core of the Divine Kingdom."