Chapter 54: Mother of Dusk

Crunch, crunch!

The Soul-capturing Demonic Cloud chewed forcefully, flesh splattering, as it found the taste of the delicious soul to be delightful.

After this fellow died, it would be free to devour souls as it wished!

However, its excitement did not last long; a voice resounded, causing it to stiffen instantly!

“Do you find it tasty?”

A man in a mask appeared behind it, unscathed, and gently caressed the Soul-capturing Demonic Cloud:

“The formless is all forms, and all things were one at the beginning of creation. By consuming me and merging together, it means you understand this truth. I am very pleased.

Do you know? Humans are a fascinating species. They despise each other yet flatter one another. They all wish to be above others yet grovel at others’ feet. They are the most despicable yet the most noble, chaotic yet orderly.

And I want to strip everyone of their hypocritical masks and return to the eternal chaos in the flesh. Before I achieve this goal, can I ask you to be a bit more obedient?”

Though his tone was gentle, there was an oppressive force that stifled breath.

The Soul-capturing Demonic Cloud didn’t understand; it had certainly consumed this guy, and the soul it was chewing couldn’t lie!

Why…

is he still alive!

Especially when the Soul-capturing Demonic Cloud looked through the hollows of its three-petaled eye, towards the mask, it seemed to see a dark starry sky, vast and mysterious, yet with an affectionate gaze.

A love for all things.

A strange, distorted form of love that made it shiver and bow its head slowly.

“Good boy. Be a good child, okay?”

Seeing the Soul-capturing Demonic Cloud quiet down, the masked man also happily smiled, patted it, and let it hide in the clouds. Then he glanced at Lu Yu’s figure, not taking much interest.

A brave little guy, leveraging momentum to counteract dominant creatures, benefiting from it, with a mind far surpassing others. It’s just a pity…

that he’s too weak!

In the grand stage that is about to come, he is destined to be just a side character.

I hope he can bring some surprises…

He jumped from the top of the clock tower, letting himself free fall, and just before crashing into the ground to become a bloody mess, a dark rift opened and swallowed him.

Passing through the shadows, he directly arrived at a huge underground hollow where dozens of cultists from the Evil God Cult, wearing black hooded robes adorned with complex and mysterious patterns, were engraving sacrificial runes on specially processed eyes, internal organs, and skulls.

The ground had been dug into channels in various directions, shaping a twisted, mysterious symbol resembling the sun, but it was partially covered by bizarre patterns.

Numerous cultists poured a shadowy substance that flowed like oil and wriggled with life into the channels, seemingly searching for something.

And in the central underground area stood a three-meter-tall stone serpent sculpture with its eyes dug out. From its hollows flowed much shadowy water, collected by the waiting cult members below, and poured into the channels.

Beneath it stood an old man in a yellow robe, hunched over with a grim face and sharp, eagle-like eyes.

He sensed the arrival and turned his head to look at the newly arrived masked man, frowning and asking, “Is the limit probe of the Star Beast Tower complete?”

The masked man shrugged, “Not yet. As expected of a tower that only exists in fantasy. I was detected just by approaching it…”

The elder interrupted him with a grave voice:

“This is not what we agreed on!”

“No choice. You see, my Soul-capturing Demonic Cloud is injured because of this. I tried my best…” The masked man feigned wiping away a tear, showing not a trace of sadness, and kindly reminded, “Next, the League is likely to take action against illicit activities. You should be careful!”

“Action against illicit activities…”

The elder’s eyes twitched slightly, and if not for the uncertainty of whether he could defeat this guy, he would want to thrash him thoroughly.

Angry…

because he had been insulted!

After all, he is the high priest of a secret society that worships the Mother of Dusk.

According to legend, the sun was born from the shadow of the Mother of Dusk. When the sun falls, the Mother of Dusk would craft a coffin from shadows, bury it, and consume the solar core during the twilight to become the new Mother of Light birthing all things.

Thus, they believed the sun belonged to the Mother of Dusk and that all things were nurtured in the shadow of the great deity.

As the deity’s spokespeople, they claim the right to govern all things and often conduct human sacrifice rituals, being recognized as one of the Evil God Cults by the League.

And every operation by the special force against them is codenamed — action against illicit activities!

God damn abbreviation!

Furthermore, the Mother of Dusk cult is notorious for appearing out of nowhere, hence the jests about being paratroopers among the Evil God Cults. People often joke, asking if they’ve been raided yet, and if there are any quick services, etc…

And several times, they almost really got wiped out!

The insult is no less derogatory than using a peacock dance gesture towards the people of the Pickle Country.

After riling up the masked man, he changed the subject:

“Have you found Its location?”

The high priest answered with a gloomy look, “No, although It used to be summoned by our cultists and was dug up in this area — the ‘Fallen Blood’ — and even sensed Its presence, we can’t find the seal’s location.

It doesn’t seem to be sealed in another dimension since we can’t locate any traces of spatial fluctuations… It’s as if It exists in a different time point. How did the League manage that?”

Having said that, he shook his head, his eyes full of confusion.

The masked man inadvertently glanced at the unnoticed white figure in the corner, flicking his nail and casually said:

“That sounds about right. Otherwise, why would the monsters be allowed to use the Abandoned City District as a buffer zone? It seems that the key to breaking the seal is still that high tower. Only when the light of the stars dims will darkness appear.”

The high priest, with an ugly look, interrupted, “Are you joking? That tower has stood for too long. We’ve buried… so much beneath it. The only time it ever moved was several decades ago. With our power alone, we can’t possibly break it.”

The masked man cheerily replied, “Darkening the starlight doesn’t only involve destructive methods. As for the specifics, that’s the business of our Brotherhood of the Faceless. We won’t break our promise!”

Listening to these bold words, the high priest was not excited but asked with a frown:

“What exactly are you after?”

His goal was to free this follower of the Evil God, who was infinitely close to being a Higher Being, to sacrifice Dayuan City and elevate It into a true Higher Being, gaining power.

Then what was the other party after?

According to the agreement, they were to take something beyond this follower.

What secret hides within!

“My dear brother, what are you talking about!” The masked man looked at him in surprise and said with a pious and self-evident tone, “Of course, it’s to liberate the follower of the great being we serve and struggle for!”

Who is ‘we’?!

Isn’t the god that the Brotherhood of the Faceless worships known as the “Faceless God,” also called the “Lord of the Endless Feast,” “God of Great Desire”?

Why are they suddenly acknowledging a foreign god?

Stay away! Don’t get involved!

The old man strove to calm the urge to curse, his forehead pulsing with stress.

The Brotherhood of the Faceless believes that all beings are formless and all things are without a true shape, appearances are just skins, and all material is one of the myriad forms of the original chaos. All things are siblings, and they love everything in the world, longing to return to the original chaos where all merged as one.

They don’t reject the worship of other deities besides the Faceless God; it’s just that their attitude…

is utilitarian: acknowledge as a father if useful, discard if not.

Other cults are often infiltrated by these rogues, creating all sorts of chaos!

Anytime there’s something interesting going on, they can be found involved, even actively helping enemies, which has caused massive losses for many cults.

They are, indeed, infamously notorious!

Action borne out of pleasure alone

is more terrifying than purposeful evil!

Neither the cults nor the officials want to deal with them, especially because they are skilled in transformation magic. They can become anyone close, and they will not be recognized, playing and deceiving you until you completely break down into madness.

Formless as a thousand faces,

All is one!

This man before him is one of the core members of the Brotherhood.

This time, he had no choice but to seek an alliance with this mad group to fend off the Dayuan City League and the Pet Beast Association. Otherwise, he truly wouldn’t want to encounter these lunatics.

All are foxes,

just a game of who is more cunning.

After discussing the subsequent plans, the masked man turned into darkness and left. The high priest did not fully trust them; after all, he might just be one of those fools being toyed with. So he still had to rely on himself to search.

But just thinking about it made his face twist into a fierce expression, and he gnashed his teeth and muttered:

“If it weren’t for the fact that the ‘Fallen Blood’ I’ve painstakingly collected and purified was stolen, losing the search medium and letting these guys join, even now we could only use the Touch of Shadow to search bit by bit… Damn it, if I find out who did this, I’ll flay and dismember them…”

“Achoo!”

Faraway, the Little Hamster sneezed involuntarily, rubbing its nose with a paw, feeling like someone was thinking about it.

Could it be its own little bed, little sofa?

Or did it catch a cold after astral projection?

Oh well, it doesn’t care anymore because right now, the Little Hamster is going to do something big with this human…