Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1358 Entering the well
These were words that Klein had taught Angel long ago, used to "get close" to the Daoists of the Western Continent and to ask for their help.

Of course, this wasn't Angel's first time crossing the seal to come here. He had met most of the high-ranking cultivators, including the "Celestial Master," and even acted as a medium for communication between them and gods such as the Goddess of Night, the God of Steam, and Roselle. He could be considered an acquaintance.

Most importantly, the "evil dragon" itself is not tolerated by most righteous cultivators in the Western Continent.

According to the history that Angel learned from his two visits to the Western Continent through the Deep Secret, all seven primal substances sealed there have shown signs of activation to varying degrees, and have had a considerable impact on the entire world.

Because most of the extraordinary properties were kept out of the seal, the Western Continent did not have the opportunity to learn from its mistakes and form a complete potion system. Instead, it developed a very distinctive cultivation model, using the source essence as the core of power. Through "ordination" or "conferment," they sought power from the source essence and continuously increased their ability to receive this blessed power. Finally, they followed the same path and ascended all the way to achieve the effect of "merging with the Dao" of the source essence.

This is essentially the same as believers receiving “gifted” power from the gods. However, a true god of sequence 0 cannot bestow too many high-level powers at the same time, otherwise it would be a burden on the god himself. If too many people need to be granted power, it may even affect the god’s own state.

On the contrary, the Outer Gods outside the barrier, because of their higher rank than ordinary gods and their possession of the power of source matter, are much more generous in their "gifts." In the years since the fall of two gods and the weakening of the barrier, many recipients at the Saint level have appeared inside the Earth. Through large-scale sacrificial rituals, the Outer Gods can even send angel-level power into the barrier, temporarily elevating the most devout and powerful Outer God believers to the rank of Sequence 2.

As for the source essence of the Western Continent, because it only has an internal activated consciousness and does not possess the true "Ancient One" to control this power, it is much more generous in its desire for cultivators, which also allows the "gift" path of the Western Continent to reach the position closest to the source essence.

And this endpoint is the "Fellowships of the Way" before Angel. They themselves possess the gifts of Sequence 1, and if they continue to receive these gifts regardless of their own circumstances, they may even surpass the gods and reach a level close to that of the past in a short period of time.

The price of possessing this level of power is that after the death of each generation of Dao-mergers, their will and spiritual imprints will merge into the source essence, blending and mixing with the activated consciousness within the source essence, giving the source essence certain thoughts and tendencies, which in turn makes the source essence's "gifts" more targeted.

With these cultivation methods and their influence on the consciousness of the source, many cultivation schools have also formed in the Western Continent, such as the Taoism of the "Celestial Masters" and the Buddhism of the "Holy Monks"... On the contrary, the magic potion system, which is regarded as the orthodox means of advancement outside the seal, has become a heretical path in the Western Continent, which lacks extraordinary characteristics and correct formulas and rituals. Extraordinary people who lose control due to incorrect advancement methods are cultivators who have gone mad.

This is also a feasible path that generations of cultivators have explored in the darkness. They did not have an ancient god who gradually expelled impurities and regained his sanity after being mixed with similar characteristics due to the aggregation effect, nor did they have an ancient sun god, Grisha, who appeared out of nowhere and carried the first "blasphemous stone tablet". All they had was the belief that "human will can conquer nature" and the spirit of sacrifice.

Even within this highly distinctive cultivation system, the "City of Calamity" remains an extremely unique one.

Over the long years, the righteous Daoists of "Key of Light," "Land of Chaos," and "River of Eternal Darkness," with their hearts set on the world, have merged their spiritual imprints and acquired similar tendencies; the Daoists of "Shadow World" are both righteous and evil, but they are deeply righteous; although "Wilderland of Knowledge" has been corrupted by the Mother Nest, there are barriers to prevent it from causing major problems other than indirectly corrupting the "Hidden Sages"; and since the "Mother Nest" was torn from the Fallen Mother Goddess, its consciousness has never been destroyed, and the followers of the Luo Cult who are aligned with it sometimes show a maternal side and sometimes become extremely aggressive, and are entangled with multiple sects.

As for the "City of Calamity," although it has not formed a unified sect, its followers include generals who conquered enemy countries and killed countless people, emperors who were arrogant, extravagant, tyrannical, and cruel, beauties with hearts of snakes and scorpions who brought disaster to the country and its people, and concubines who were like hens crowing at dawn and playing tricks on the feudal lords... This stems from the City of Calamity itself being a symbol of conquest and destruction, and is also a tendency formed after generations of Taoist practitioners' spiritual imprints have been mixed with it.

This primal will, the "evil dragon," gradually developed the idea of ​​spreading disasters and disrupting the world. This aroused the suspicion of other primal beings who were in harmony with the Dao. Under the organization of the fifth generation of the Daoist "Celestial Master," the power of the world was gathered, and a large number of high-ranking people were sacrificed to seal the consciousness of the city of disaster. This made it difficult for the extraordinary people who believed in Him to receive the corresponding blessings, thus reducing the calamities in the world.

To use a Sequence 1 level to deal with the consciousness of the Source itself is no different from a mortal fighting against a god. The sacrifice at that time was unimaginable. Even so, it only sealed the evil dragon, rather than truly killing it. This allowed Angel to prepare in advance for the difficulty of the upcoming battle.

But no matter how difficult it is, she must face this battle. After all, at this stage, only the "Goddess of Calamity," who can form deep bonds with the Western Continent, can come here. Rather than waiting for the unknown end of the world, she should defeat the evil dragon in advance, absorb the source matter, and become the "Destruction Calamity."

Anyway, if I drag this out any longer, I, who have already become a god, will have no more means to improve myself and increase my chances of success, unless I give up the best old path of advancement and first merge with the "Red Priest" to become a dual-path true god. Although that would make it easier for me to defeat the evil dragon, the side effects would be very obvious. Moreover, if I am not careful, the yin and yang aspects of the original creator will be out of control... She pondered, her gaze sweeping over the elderly Daoists who still insisted on receiving the gift of source matter and protecting the Western Continent.

If they can truly survive the apocalypse and the seal on the Western Continent is broken, the magic potions and cultivation system should be able to truly merge, so that neither side will suffer so much... Just as she was beginning to understand, the "Celestial Master," with a face as beautiful as jade but a withered appearance and carrying a whisk, spoke up:

"The Fool has already informed us of this matter in advance, and all of you fellow Daoists will do your utmost to help you kill the Evil Dragon."

So Klein has already been able to contact the high-ranking extraordinary beings inside the seal… Is this because he has a preliminary grasp of the “Source Castle” and can already exert some influence on the seal? Speaking of which, the term “Fool” has another meaning in both English and Chinese; I wonder if the Celestial Master and the other Dao-merging beings will misunderstand it… Angel breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, saying:
"Do I need to make any other preparations?"

The "holy monk," with a scar on his head and a round face, answered with a smile:
"We cannot participate in the battle inside the seal. We can only use the seal itself to weaken the 'evil dragon'. But young friend, there is no need to worry. The evil dragon has been sealed for thousands of years and cannot leave the seal. Its strength must be greatly reduced."

"So good..."

Angel blurted out a sentence in Chinese, then asked in confusion:

"Why didn't that Celestial Master and the cultivators who participated in the battle actually kill the 'Evil Dragon'? Why did they go to great lengths to seal it here?"

The sect leader, Hao Li, whose long black robe was embroidered with numerous patterns resembling flowing rivers, and whose face was pale but whose eyes seemed to absorb even the light, answered in a somber tone:

"The consciousness of the evil dragon cannot be truly killed. Even if the physical entity that resides in this city is destroyed, its spirit will be reborn within the source matter. This is actually an opportunity for it to break free from the seal."

"Unless a being who has attained the Dao can surpass His spirit and truly merge with Him, but that would be tantamount to the emergence of a new evil dragon, which is meaningless."

Therefore, unless a true god through the path of a witch or a red priestess appears, directly challenges and defeats the evil dragon, merges with it, and incorporates its source matter, the spirit of the evil dragon, or rather, all source matter, is immortal. Expecting a Dao-merger from the "City of Calamity" to subdue the evil dragon is nothing short of wishful thinking… Angel nodded slightly and said:

"I understand."

As she spoke, she turned to look at the ancient well that connected to the seal of the "evil dragon," and was about to jump into the well to face the consciousness of the "city of calamity" of the source material.

"Wait a moment." The first to appear here, the Dark Lodge Master who had accepted Napolidisli's spirit and consciousness, spoke up, "Are you going to challenge the evil dragon in your current state?" With the help of the consciousness of the Fabuti clone that had briefly stayed on Angel, He could see that Angel at this moment not only did not have the status of a true god, but was even inferior to the Dao Masters, but was only a substitute at the Sequence 2 level.

Moreover, what broke through the seal and came to the Western Continent was only the spirit and soul of the substitute.

"Don't worry, I'm not the only one working on this..."

Angel turned around and smiled slightly, which stunned the four Dao Masters inside the Tower of Dragon Locking, as well as the "Heavenly Emperor" who was monitoring the ground from the sky. It was as if they had seen the most famous and beautiful Dao Masters of the "City of Calamity" in history.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"...This is the sealed 'Western Continent' and the situation of the seven portions of the Origin Essence. Our understanding of that world, which shares the same planet as us but has been sealed for thousands of years, is limited to the information shared by Mr. 'The Fool,' and is even less than our understanding of the starry sky and the universe."

In a country estate in West Vellas, Mr. Door, dressed in a loose robe and wearing fur slippers, like a retired old man with nothing to do, spoke to his students.

Wearing an orange dress and with slightly wavy brown hair, Fors Wall nodded repeatedly, but then asked in confusion:
"Since the power of primal matter broke through the seal and came to the outside as early as the second era before the ancient gods fell, why didn't any gods try to enter the seal in reverse and obtain the power of primal matter?"

After becoming the third member of the Tarot Society to become an angel after "Queen" and "World", Fors finally learned a lot about "Source Matter", the seal of the Western Continent and other knowledge that she shouldn't have known before from her teacher. However, her doubts did not decrease, but instead increased.

“Of course there are,” Bethel smiled slightly, his azure eyes losing focus as if lost in memories. “‘Phoenix Ancestor’ Gretchen and ‘Death’ Salinger both considered using the ‘River of Eternal Darkness’ that initially seeped out of the seal, but the most insane and daring one was undoubtedly His Majesty—‘Blood Emperor’ Tudor.”

The one who had a daughter with the "Primordial Witch"... Fors' first thought was gossip she'd heard from the Tarot Society, followed by the god who founded the Tudor Empire and perished in the War of the Four Emperors. She couldn't help but ask:

"What did He do? Did He succeed?"

Bethel shook his head:
"I have no way of knowing that. Ever since we helped Him separate the special mirror world and placed Him and the 'Primordial Witch' Chick inside... His Majesty has become increasingly distant from us and has begun some unknown research. I can only deduce from the details that He and Chick have successfully obtained information from the Western Continent and used it to create some magical items using special methods..."

“You can try asking the goddess of calamity. She inherited everything from Chik and should know something about it, and you have contributed a lot to her spreading of faith.”

Spreading faith... Fors felt a tightness in his chest. He was about to change the subject, which was a little embarrassing, when he saw his teacher's expression turn serious and look up in a certain direction.

"What's wrong?" she asked nervously, then relaxed. Who but a god could possibly harm the highly mobile "Gate" pathway archangel?
"The fallen sun... has risen again!"

Bethel spoke with an expression of piety that Fors had never seen before, rising from his chair to face east, his eyes seemingly shining.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Within the astral plane, formed by various abstract authorities and symbols, the realm of the "Goddess of Calamity," like a mirror reflecting the starry sky, lingers near the barrier along a rigid and sluggish path. Yet, every Outer God can sense that the deity is no longer in the astral plane.

In other words, there are only five gods left to maintain the astral plane, and one of them is already struggling to continue due to the influence of the "Fallen Mother Goddess," so he can only be considered half a god!

The Outer Gods were overjoyed and were about to launch a new attack through a brief collaboration, creating more gaps in the already fragile barrier, when they discovered a blinding light shining among the other divine kingdoms that had hastily gathered to resist them.

The sun that replaced the "Eternal Sun" hanging in the astral plane, like a hand-painted oil painting, had abstract authorities and concepts lighting up around it. A kingdom full of flowers and with an ever-bright sky seemed to appear out of thin air, filling the vacancy left by the "Goddess of Calamity's" kingdom.

It was even brighter and more solid than the "Eternal Sun" was before it fell!
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Beside the Dragon-Locking Well.

Angel opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the several Western Continent Dao Masters who had suddenly become serious. The smile from before slowly disappeared from his face. He turned around and leaped directly into the ancient well, where the blood water was as calm as a mirror.

Behind her, a figure that looked identical but had subtle differences followed closely into the room.

Sensing the immense destructive power descending upon them, which even caused the seal below to loosen slightly, the "Celestial Master" and the other Dao-merging practitioners exchanged glances, their expressions becoming much more relaxed.

"Everyone, let's get started."

He flicked his whisk, pointing it at the blood-red ancient well that sealed the "evil dragon".

P.S.: Today, some readers in the group gave feedback that the Western Continent part wasn't explained in enough detail... I also reviewed the plot and found that it was indeed written somewhat roughly, making it difficult for many readers who haven't read The Ring to understand... Do you think it would be better to slow down the pace a bit, or to explain this part of the setting in more detail?

(End of this chapter)