Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 996 Where are you going?

Upon hearing Xia Xiu's identity, the Patriarch's face darkened to the point that it seemed as if ink would drip from it.

The purple-gold [Sisyphus] stood in the center of the sanctuary, and the almost soul-suppressing aura emanating from him made it clear that his own avatar's numerical strength was simply insufficient to confront it head-on.

He underestimated the young man in front of him; this guy was also someone who had broken through the boundaries of a legendary hero.

I can't beat him now, I have to find a way to escape, I can't let him catch me no matter what.

You must know that the great Fifth Truth has placed "that thing" inside himself. Everything he did in Far East City was to release "that thing". If the man in front of him discovers it, then everything will be over!

We have no choice but to take a risky approach!
He gritted his teeth and growled, the sound reverberating in his chest like a beast's roar:
"...Krosel, repair!"

The shattered arms rapidly healed amidst the surging water, the meandering water ripples re-weaving muscles and bones, and blue-white light shimmered in the air, carrying a blinding chill.

However, Sisyphus gave him no time to catch his breath.

The enormous figure took a step forward, the earth shattered with a deafening roar, and its fist, carrying the weight of a mountain, smashed straight toward [Krosel]'s face.

"Now, Croselle!" the Patriarch roared.

boom--!
The moment the fist made contact with his face, Crosell's body suddenly deformed, like a water sac being squeezed violently.

There was no tearing of flesh and blood, only a large amount of water exploding in a loud bang!
The next moment, the world before everyone's eyes was completely swallowed up.

【The Great Liberation: A Water Prison】

Boom——! !

Water first gushed from the cracks in the ground, and then the entire world was pressed down by an unseen hand.

Centered on the sanctuary, a right-angled wall of water rises from the ground, its edges so sharp they are terrifying, and light reflects off it as layers of tiny scales.

All four sides rise simultaneously, and six-pointed starlight beams light up at the corners, locking the nodes one by one—the Water Cube closes in place, directly covering one-fifth of the easternmost part of the city.

The wind was forced out, causing the banners at the street corner to tilt backward, and the dust was sucked back onto the water.

The bell on the clock tower had barely struck half a note when it was swallowed up by the heavy water pressure, the remaining sound shattering into a muffled thud that crashed back into the heart of the tower.

The market stall roof was ripped off and then reattached; white foam seeped from the cracks in the cobblestone pavement, and a horse lost its balance, its neighing broken in two. The winch of the dock crane spun wildly, its chain swung into the water, and came to an abrupt stop.

The light was swallowed by the water and then refracted, casting a deep blue filter over the entire city, as if it were slowly sinking into a giant transparent coffin.

under night.

Pedestrians outside the Far East City merely looked up and saw a blue wall approaching. Before they could even turn and run, the water was immediately pressed against their faces, the pressure in their eardrums surged, and then they were engulfed by the immense water pressure.

Inside the Water Cube, heat and cold simultaneously assaulted his skin, his gums ached, and his arms began to feel numb. He looked up, searching for a space to breathe, only to touch a thin film of air bubbles that seemed ready to burst at any moment, rippling outwards as his trembling forehead pushed against them.

Outside the Water Cube, vendors held onto their stalls, staring blankly as the blue wall cut across the street corner, "cutting away" a section of the familiar alleyway.

He reached out to touch it, his palm meeting the cold, hard fluid, both soft and firm, which bounced back and pushed his fingers away. He threw the rope over, and the end of the rope floated motionless on the surface of the water, as if being supported by an invisible hand.

The students tugged at the teacher's sleeve, pointing to the schoolhouse floating in the cube, the pages of the book swimming away like white fish.

He asked the gentleman, "Is that the sea?" The gentleman didn't turn around, but stared intently at the shadows behind a window, his lips trembling.

At this moment, viewed from above, Far East City looks as if a corner has been bitten off by a perfect crystal die.

……

……

Inside the shattered sanctuary.

When the Patriarch unleashed his ultimate attack, Monford, who was next to Xia Xiu, was the first to be affected.

Before he could react, the entire world seemed to collapse, and an irresistible giant wave crashed down from all directions.

He was swept into the interior of the Water Cube, his chest felt like it was being crushed by a huge boulder, and his eardrums were instantly throbbing with pain from the water pressure.

The icy water tore at his limbs. He struggled desperately, but his movements were slow and clumsy. His breathing became increasingly rapid, and his lungs sounded an alarm as if they were being burned.

"Gulp... Hah..." He choked out a string of bubbles, his vision blurred by the water, surrounded by swirling rubble and broken stone pillars. The ruins of the sanctuary swayed in the water, like the struggle of something on the verge of death.

But amidst the suffocating fear, he saw that adult.

Xia Xiu stood underwater.

No, it can't be said that I was standing underwater.

Although he was in the water, he seemed to be protected by some kind of transparent membrane, and not a single water droplet could get close to him.

This scene was like a miracle.

Monford opened his eyes wide, as if he wanted to say something.

Just as he was struggling in a panic, suddenly, a Möbius strip slowly appeared around him. The arc of light and shadow intertwined and circled around him, as if isolating him.

He suddenly realized that the oppressive feeling had decreased dramatically, the suffocating grip had been pushed away, and he was able to breathe underwater.

The water flow is forcibly separated by an invisible membrane, and with each breath, air rushes into the lungs through the membrane.

Just then, Xia Xiu's sarcastic whisper rang out:
"These natural beings sometimes like to play these kinds of elaborate and frightening tricks. Night was one of them, and so are you—except you're much more sensible than Night. You released such a huge water cube just to make yourself flow into the Far East City's sewer system..."

As he spoke, he summoned another avatar of himself.

Wow~~~~
The sound of flames burning echoed in the water.

Montfort was startled and looked in the direction of the sound, only to be greeted by a scene that made his soul tremble.

A dazzling light rose from the boundless shadows underwater.

That was a six-winged angel—Metatron—appearing in the water.

Six wings spread out, but the wings were not flesh and blood, but countless overflowing light particles, which condensed into sacred feather light, like a galaxy pouring down in the daytime sky.

The angel held a flaming sword in each hand—yes, the flames still burned fiercely in the water, the fire so intense that it dyed the surrounding water a reddish-gold color.

"boom--"

The two flaming swords converged, condensing into a gigantic sword so magnificent that it was impossible to look directly at it.

The next instant, the sword flashed out—like the legendary Moses parting the sea.

The entire Water Cube split open from the center, with two massive streams of water being forcibly torn apart and receding to the sides, revealing a passageway that resembled a miracle.

Monford held his breath, his eyes wide open, feeling that this scene had surpassed ordinary imagination.

Immediately afterwards, as if unable to withstand such divine power, the Water Cube collapsed with a deafening roar.

“Wow——!!”

The shattering waves exploded with a deafening roar, like a collapsing dome falling from the sky, engulfing the entire Far East City in a thunderous crash.

Almost all the people trapped in the water were released at the same time. They coughed and stared blankly at the sky—the inexplicably huge Water Cube had suddenly exploded before they could even understand it.

Their eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment.

"What...was that...just now?"

"The water...how could it suddenly...be Gone again..."

"Save...save me, is it...is it a miracle...?" Under the cover of night, a six-winged angel hangs high in the void.

Those six wings were like the convergence of blazing light particles, resembling millions of burning stars; that figure shone like the blazing sun, illuminating the earth, like a god who divides day and night in two.

The six wings vibrated between water and fire, the fire sword burned like the sun, the night was torn apart, and all people trembled at the sight of the light.

In a fleeting moment, the chaotic, sea-like darkness was purified into a blazing white day.

People stared blankly up at the burning sun, their faces reflecting its light, unsure whether it was fear or worship.

But that sun was ultimately just a fleeting miracle.

As the six wings retracted, the light dissipated like a tide, and night once again enveloped the ruins.

……

……

Monford stared blankly at the sky, his throat dry. Even though the water around him was still wet, he still felt as if he had personally witnessed a "miracle."

Beside him, Xia Xiu remained indifferent, holding a silver cane, his gaze merely sweeping across the sanctuary.

That place should have been the remains of the Fifth Church's collaborators.

Xia Xiu did not personally take action from beginning to end.

Those guys weren't killed by him, but rather betrayed by the Grand Patriarch, who was one of his own.

Originally, it was the Patriarch who had decimated their numbers at the beginning, but then the old man probably thought they weren't dead enough, so he unleashed a team wipe attack, sending them all to their deaths.

Sure enough, this is the ultimate fate of donuts and collaborators—they will all die under the "sweet air" and "rounder moon" created by their own people.

He casually tapped his silver cane, his gaze falling on the drain deep within the sanctuary.

In the dark waterway, sewage churned and a stench filled the air.

That old, suicidal Patriarch was so desperate to escape that he was willing to mingle with filth just to run away.

This old codger uses all his skills to escape.

Monford staggered to Xia Xiu's side, his shoulders still trembling slightly. The cubic wall of water that had just gushed out of the waterway had almost thrown him into the air. Although he was now unharmed, his body was still ice-cold.

He lowered his voice, afraid of triggering some terrifying mechanism again: "My lord... that Grand Patriarch, did he... did he escape through the sewers? The sewer system of Far East City is not an ordinary pipe."

Monford swallowed hard, pointed to the dark opening, and continued:

“The city’s foundation has three layers of drainage rings, which are intertwined like a maze; the city management has built its own stone canals, the church has reinforced its own secret passages, and there are smuggling waterways that the private chambers of commerce have secretly expanded... If he were to turn into sewage, it would take him ten days or half a month to get around. If he really gets inside, I’m afraid... it would be harder than climbing to heaven for us to catch him again.”

Xia Xiu simply smiled, a slight curve appearing at the corners of his lips.

"Don't worry, that old man won't get away."

As he finished speaking, he raised the silver cane in his hand—[The Lever of Heaven].

In the reflection of the night fire and the remaining water, the patterns on the lever shimmered with an enigmatic luster. Since the "Opening Ceremony," this staff had been completed and acquired new powers—not only could it leverage ether, but it now also possessed three vital elements:
[Lightning]: Summon the thunder of the ether, with electricity as the law and anger as the drum, to form an absolute command of electric judgment;
[Clouds and Fog]: Dragging the clouds in the sky, they condense into walls and take the form of fog, weaving illusions, obscuring perception, and constructing their own weather shield;
[Earth]: It cracks the earth's core, awakens the earth's scales, and the earth collapses when stepped on, and mountains move when a staff is waved.

Xia Xiu raised the silver cane in his hand.

The silver cane flashed a cold light in the misty air, followed by faint ripples spreading from its tip.

“Water molecules…are also a subcategory of clouds and mist,” he murmured.

As the words fell, the surrounding moisture seemed to be summoned.

Tiny water droplets rose little by little from the broken streets, the gaps between the bricks, and even between people's sleeves and breaths, as if drawn by an invisible hand, gathering around the staff.

The air suddenly became humid, and the fog thickened, making the whole street seem as if it had been submerged in a thin, floating sea.

“Monford, you stay here.” Xia Xiu turned his head. “I’ll be right back.”

He twirled his cane, and for no apparent reason, he thought to himself: Mr. Night was once the master of controlling the clouds and mist, and now he too can control the clouds and mist...

As he thought about it, a misty haze began to spread around him.

The fog moved incredibly fast, swallowing half of his figure in an instant, and his entire body was being gradually erased by the white cloud curtain.

Mr. Night Trial Card - Activated!
In the fog, Xia Xiu's figure gradually blurred, and his silver cane drew an arc of light in the air one last time before disappearing completely.

The next moment, only thick fog remained, slowly flowing through the streets, carrying a strange sense of direction, unaffected by the wind, and directly following the traces of those special water molecules.

……

……

The Patriarch had no regard for dignity at this moment.

He became completely one with his avatar, his entire being dissolving into a surging torrent of water, his icy consciousness dissolving into the turbid waves.

With each turn, he was swept along by the filthy sewers, rotting oil stains, decaying fish bones, and rotten leaf debris all being swallowed by the water.

The pungent stench pierced his senses like poisonous thorns, but he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

He kept telling himself: all of this is for the great fifth truth, for a sacred mission.

He surged through the dark sewer system, his heartbeat turning into the rapid sound of water, pounding against the pipe walls.

The dark, damp tunnel was like an endless intestine, and he became a rapidly fleeing stream of blood within it.

"Once I escape, once I reach the outer river, the sky will be high and the sea will be wide. At that time, the sea will be my refuge, and among billions of water molecules, he will not be able to find me again."

In the distance, a round manhole cover came into view.

The rusty iron lettering on it had been washed away by sewage, but the inscription was still faintly discernible: "Outward discharge - leading to the sea".

The Patriarch felt a sudden tremor in his heart, followed by a surge of wild joy.

opportunity!

He was almost moved to tears.

As long as you push open this passage, you can escape this narrow cage and enter the vast and boundless world.

He suppressed his nausea and transformed his body into a stream of water, slowly lifting the rusty manhole cover.

With a creak, light suddenly poured down from the well opening—it was the other side of the day-night sphere, the world of daylight.

The blinding sunlight instantly illuminated his body. Long confined in the dark pipes, he was almost intoxicated by the radiance, as if he had been reborn.

"I'm free... I'm free!"

However, just as he broke through the well, a clear voice suddenly rang out from above.

"Hi, we meet again."

Under the sunlight, a blond youth casually squatted on the edge of a manhole cover, half of his figure bathed in golden light. His smile was warm and radiant, like an unsuspecting boy next door, tilting his head to look at the Patriarch.

"Where are you going?" the young man asked softly, his tone slightly teasing.

Then, as if genuinely concerned, he smiled and added:
"Do you need any help?"

The water molecules in the Patriarch's entire body trembled simultaneously. At that moment, what chilled him more than darkness and filth was that smile.