The deeper he explored the inner layers of the Imperial Palace, the more he marveled at its utterly irrational structure—a damned configuration that could hardly exist in three-dinsional space.
It was like a toy box jumbled into a ss.
Even though every corner inside looked solemn and majestic, there was not a single place that conford to reason.
Sotis, turning a corner revealed a multitude of decrepit palace complexes. Yet, pushing open a tiny wooden door and stepping beyond the humble gate, he would find himself in a grand hall where countless masses of flesh writhed like worms.
Passing through a corridor, the false landscape transford into a genuine peril straight out of Hell. When he stepped back, the world changed once again.
If not for the Raven's guidance, he might have lost his way in this maddening maze long ago.
This Imperial Palace contained not only chaos and disorder but also a subtly maddening power.
Huai Shi guessed that if one were influenced by the external sights, the more recklessly one ventured forward, the more terrifying and grueso the scenes would beco, until, finally, one would be completely trapped in the deepest depths of Hell.
But when he passed through the long corridor and pushed open the paper door before him, he found himself standing before a silent shrine.
In the distance, the crisp ringing of a bell resounded.
It was indistinct, heard from beyond the soaring torii gates, but that clear ringing carried a strange Magic Power, dazzling and entrancing, compelling one to plunge into its source.
After waiting for only a brief mont, Huai Shi saw several dazed Attendants stagger through the torii, following the clear bell sound into the darkness.
Before long, they reached their end, becoming withered skeletons in the sated darkness.
In the courtyard beyond the torii, the bell's ringing grew more high-pitched and crisp, drawing in the prey caught in its trap, solidifying into a tangible form.
The Kagura Bell.
The ritual instrunt of Yinzhou's Native Religion slowly vibrated in the darkness, emitting a rhythmic, low sound. As layers of bell tones overlapped, a faint, distant song and lody arose from the deepest part of the dark courtyard.
Flickering flas ignited.
Yet, in this deathly silent shrine, they brought no warmth; instead, they made the place feel even more chilling.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten—"
It was unclear whether it was a chant or a song. A child's low murmur abruptly sounded beside his ear, seeming to burrow into his Soul, softly incanting an ancient, unintelligible spell: "Buri bu, yura yura shi, buri bu..."
The crisp sound of white jade colliding gradually erged from this lingering chant, echoing continuously in his mind.
Not until he suddenly awoke from his stupor did he realize that he had, at so point, recited the inexplicable words echoing in his mind and had taken a step past the torii...
He felt a stiffness on his face.
At first, he thought his face had frozen. But when he touched it, he felt an icy, smooth, Iron Stone-like texture. Not until he staggered back out of the torii did his petrified skin revive under an infusion of life, returning to normal.
Then, he saw:
As the sacrificial hymn was sung, all the vegetation in the shrine's courtyard rapidly petrified, until finally, it resembled clusters of exquisite jade, frozen in alluring and vibrant poses.
Wisps of black mist rose from them, saturated with greed and ferocity. A single droplet was a potent poison, enough to destroy Huai Shi's Soul.
He couldn't go in.
His Death Perception hamred at his consciousness as never before, delivering a stark verdict: entering ant certain death.
He should have turned and left, but the Stigma of the Mountain Ghost seed to rejoice, sensing sothing hidden within the shrine and beginning to pulse with Resonance.
Huai Shi was certain: there was sothing inside, sothing he absolutely had to obtain.
Miss this chance, and it would be lost forever.
He didn't know when this thought had surfaced, but it left him in a dilemma, unable to decide. This place was far too dangerous for him; even a fleeting glance from a Snake-faced Attendant had left a withered mark on his arm that still hadn't faded.
"To do it or not to do it, that is the question."
Huai Shi scratched his head, desperately wishing soone would co along, say a few words, egg him on, and give him courage. But just when he needed it most, the Raven had vanished.
He had no idea where it had gone.
He had to face this dilemma alone.
There's still a little ti...
Huai Shi felt his pocket and squatted outside the torii gate like an old farr, examining the increasingly sinister shrine. He pondered, analyzed, hypothesized, verified, considered, and deliberated. Then, he pinched out his cigarette.
He turned and walked away.
Ti to slip away, he thought. Too many freaks in this place.
You only live once; it shouldn't be wasted like this.
But after taking only two steps back, he began to feel regretful. He glanced back at the darkened, unlit shrine, recalling the Raven's words: the chance to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, and a motorcycle into a Battle Axe, was right before his eyes!
I've already co this far, he mused. It's a special occasion, and I'm still young... Is it really okay to just walk away like this?
Huai Shi heaved a long sigh, gritted his teeth, and stamped his foot.
He decided to go through with it.
Casting aside his final hesitation, he carefully took out the crumpled flyer from his pocket.
He studied the image of Little Cat on it.
Alright, first, draw a circle.
A chilling wind howled, rising out of nowhere.
Then, draw a smaller circle next to the Great Circle.
Agonizing screams erupted out of thin air as countless units of Source Substance converged from the two adjacent circles, revealing layers of malice from the Abyss.
Huai Shi hesitated for a mont, then with a slightly withered finger, he once again drew the final circle.
Instantly, a sound like thunder erupted, tearing through the silence both inside and outside the shrine. It even interrupted the sinister, terrifying chanting lody, and the earth shuddered violently.
Huai Shi moved swiftly, filling in the missing facial features.
Soon, a lifelike Q-version avatar of Little Cat materialized before Huai Shi. It imdiately began to frantically drain his Source Substance. Only when it had siphoned off most of his reserves did darkness erupt from the avatar like a volcano...
「In Paradise.」
Little Cat snapped out of his astonishnt, sensing a distant call.
After a mont's hesitation, he turned to look back at the silent Paradise behind him.
One by one, the lights in Paradise ignited, and the gates of the silent, ancient castle bood open.
In the darkness, door after door swung open. Finally, a line of pitch-black shadows slowly erged. Their silhouettes, shrouded in darkness, made it impossible to discern their features. Only pairs of eyes, shining with scarlet light, glead from the blackness, radiating furious and avaricious splendor.
Little Cat was dumbfounded.
"Hey, are you really this good to him?"
He stamped his foot in frustration, hands on his hips, eyes wide as he stared at Paradise. "You clearly don't run the household, so you don't know how expensive things are!" he exclaid. "A token force would have been enough! Did you really need the entire Departnt of Justice to mobilize in full force?!"
A piercing whistle echoed from the depths of Paradise, like a response from the darkness.
After a long mont, Little Cat sighed and shook his head helplessly.
"Fine, have it your way," he said, waving his hand in resignation. "Good thing this is the last job. Otherwise, you'd eventually offend everyone... Hey, you guys rember to bring back so local souvenirs! Don't make the trip for nothing."
Thus, after a wait so long Huai Shi found it almost unbelievable, an ancient wooden door, adorned with patterns and reliefs from Hell, slowly rose from the darkness.
rely looking at it, a chilling and painful aura washed over him.
Huai Shi swallowed and instinctively took a step back.
Then, he heard knocking from behind the door.
It was as if Fate itself were knocking.
Huai Shi mustered his courage, reached out, and slowly turned the knob. A hurricane burst forth from the darkness behind the door. Following it, a pair of pitch-black eyes appeared in the opening crack, staring intently at the nearby Huai Shi.
rely being watched by those eyes, Huai Shi was paralyzed. Only above his head did the faint image of a small Crown appear, proving his identity.
After a long mont, as if finally granting approval, the shadow slowly nodded, its voice hoarse, "—Where is the pirate?"
Huai Shi let out a sigh of relief, drenched in sweat and barely able to stand, leaning against the open door. Hearing the question, he hurriedly looked back over his shoulder.
A finger shot out—BIU!—straight as an arrow, pointing into the darkness behind the torii gate.
A man of action, not words.
The shadow simply nodded, took a step forward, and erged from the Dark Gate.
The ground roared, and cracks spread in all directions.
A crack split open on the torii, as if it could not bear the arrival of such a powerful presence.
Carrying sothing resembling a briefcase, the shadow pulled a pair of gold-rimd glasses from inside his coat, put them on, then took out a docunt stamped with the seal of Paradise from the briefcase and casually stuck it to the torii entrance.
For so reason, he turned back to give Huai Shi a aningful look.
Imdiately after, he waved behind him.
As he moved forward, a column of dark figures marched out from behind the Gate of Hell in perfect unison, charging into the shrine with him.
The Departnt of Justice was in action!
The song and lody were torn asunder in an instant; the chanting voices vanished without a trace.
The entire shrine seed to tremble under the power of the lead shadow. Countless shinawa ropes shook furiously. The petrified flowers and plants in the courtyard shattered, releasing an unknown number of malevolent Evil Spirits that flew towards the dark figures of the Departnt of Justice.
The lead shadow sneered. He raised his hand, and the Evil Spirits rushing at him froze in place. With a scream, they disintegrated.
The terrifying monsters from Paradise strode into the shrine.
Like battle tanks, they charged ahead, smashing everything in their path.
Wherever they passed, all creatures and objects were crushed to dust by their horrific power.
The torii outside the shrine collapsed. The path behind it disintegrated. The purification basin, filled with poisonous liquid, crumbled. The old notice boards, plastered with announcents, turned to ash.
On either side of the worship hall, the divine retainers—blood-colored foxes on stone seats—opened their eyes. They swelled rapidly and lunged, only to be shattered into fragnts under the trampling feet of the Departnt of Justice's dark figures.
The Dark Good Brothers, exuding a ferocious aura that declared 'Copyright Enforced, Gods and Buddhas Beware!', marched straight ahead, effortlessly slicing through obstacles and striking directly for the Yellow Dragon's den.
One punch shattered the Offerings Box before them. Another tore apart the walls of the worship hall. Darkness stead from their bodies as they casually snatched the bloodthirsty sword phantoms leaping within the hall and forcefully crushed them.
From the Inner Shrine, surrounded by a jade rail, a venomous and heartrending scream suddenly erupted.
Huai Shi, lurking in the dark, was stunned. This Paradise Legion... isn't their ferocity a bit over the top?!
But he recalled the aningful glance the lead shadow had given him just monts before.
Huai Shi spun around. He imdiately saw that the lawyer's letter stuck to the shattered torii had, at so unknown point, ignited spontaneously and was already mostly burned!
Ti was running out!
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