Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

After Lin Yi and Edwin completely broke off relations, Edwin had just tried to influence Lin Yi using his abilities.

Unfortunately, Anna's blessing is not just for show. Unless Edwin's power can affect the House of the Dead, Lin Yi is basically invincible.

Just as Lin Yi was about to make his move, footsteps suddenly sounded at the palace gate.

At the very instant the footsteps came from outside the porch, Edwin's face, which was about to completely lose its human form, seemed to be suddenly gripped by something at the throat.

It's not a chain.

It's a deeper fear.

That fear was etched into his bones and seeped into his blood. Even though he was only one step away from the gods, even though he had just been cursing everything in front of him with vicious words, when the footsteps sounded, all his pretense, all his anger, and all the resentment that had been accumulating for three thousand years collapsed into the most primal tremor in that instant.

Its massive, mountain-like body began to shrink.

The tentacles that had extended from his body frantically retracted, the melted flesh reformed, and the outward-curling bones snapped back into place.

Lin Yi watched the process without interrupting.

He simply stood there calmly, his gaze passing over the rapidly collapsing mass of flesh and landing on the open palace door.

The footsteps were slow.

Each step was firm and steady, unhurried, like taking a stroll in one's own backyard.

The first thing that caught Lin Yi's eye was an oil lamp.

The lamp body is made of brass, with fine scratches and dark stains covering the surface, and several cracks along the edge of the lampshade.

The flames burned quietly inside, displaying a murky orange-yellow hue, unlike the flickering flames of ordinary fires, more like a piece of amber being continuously heated.

The hand carrying the oil lamp was withered and thin.

His skin was dark brown, covered with age spots and crisscrossing wrinkles; his knuckles were large and deformed; his nails were grayish-white and thick, with several pieces already fallen off.

The robe peeking out from the wrist was an old gray, coarse and stiff, with severely worn edges and stains of varying shades.

Then it's about the whole person.

The old woman was more hunched over than Lin Yi had expected.

Her back was deeply hunched, and her shoulder blades were noticeably higher than the top of her head, making her look like an old bow bent by the weight of time.

His head was full of white hair, messy and split, dry like reeds in late autumn, with some parts clumped together and some parts so sparse that his scalp was showing.

She was carrying a square wooden box on her back.

The box was also old; the original color of the wood had been stained almost blackish-brown by time, and the corners were covered with rusty iron sheets. The straps were made of thick hemp rope twisted repeatedly, digging deeply into her thin shoulders.

But what's most striking is her mouth.

The lips were completely stitched up.

Black silk thread enters from the lower lip and exits from the upper lip, with fine and neat stitches, firmly fastening the two thin lips together.

The end of the silk thread was not knotted, but hung down to one side of the mouth like a living thing, and twisted slightly under Lin Yi's gaze.

Like a tiny black worm awakened from its slumber.

Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.

He had never seen this woman before.

But he had seen beings of the same nature as her.

That was a long time ago, on the outskirts of the Black Abyss, on the demon race's train that crossed the border.

An equally unremarkable old woman, with an equally eerie aura, sat quietly in the corner of the carriage. All the passengers around her kept their distance and dared not even make eye contact with her.

Later, Lin Yi learned from Lilim that the old woman was one of the taboos within the demon race.

No one knows how long she has lived, no one knows where she came from, and no one can even say for sure which race she belongs to.

All that is known is that she is referred to as an "alien being".

That's not a title of honor, not an official rank, not even a qualitative description in any sense—it's just a helpless label used to refer to those beings that cannot be explained by any existing power system.

Even the strongest experts have fallen to her.

This information was revealed by Lilim after careful consideration.

As for whether any supreme-level beings had ever fallen, Lilim didn't say, and Lin Yi didn't ask either.

Supreme level.

In the discourse of the void, this word itself represents an insurmountable boundary.

It is a pillar of strength for all ethnic groups, a term that usually only appears in ancient books and in awe.

If even those at that level could fail in the face of such "alien beings," then what exactly is this hunchbacked, sewn-mouthed old woman carrying an old oil lamp?
Edwin asked the question on Lin Yi's behalf, the one he already knew the answer to.

Where did I break the rules?

Edwin's voice has been fully restored.

It not only restored the human voice, but also the original slightly tired quality.

But his expression wasn't like that.

His handsome face, which had just been reconstructed, was now as pale as paper.

He stood inside the shell that had collapsed back to its normal size, the chains binding him still swaying gently, but he no longer cared about them.

He looked at the old woman, his light gray pupils contracted sharply, and his lips trembled slightly, but he still tried his best to keep his tone steady.

"I negotiated with the participants according to the rules..."

His voice rose slightly at the end, carrying a hint of pleading that he himself was unaware of.

The old woman did not answer immediately.

She simply stood at the junction of the threshold and the palace interior, holding the oil lamp, quietly watching Edwin.

That gaze held no anger, no sarcasm, not even any emotion.

It's like watching something whose fate has already been decided.

The silence lasted for about five seconds.

For Edwin, that might be five hundred years.

The old woman finally spoke.

Her lips did not move.

The lips, tightly sewn shut with black thread, remained closed from beginning to end.

But the sound came from deep in her throat.

"Can't you see the blessing emanating from him?"

This is not a question.

Edwin's face went from pale to ashen.

He opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, to argue something, to grasp at the last straw that might be a misunderstanding—but he couldn't say anything.

He saw it.

Of course he saw it.

From the moment Lin Yi stepped into the palace, he saw the faint light enveloping the other person.

That was Anna's scent.

It was the protection personally granted by the owner of the House of Death.

He saw it.

He just...didn't take it seriously.

Or rather, he selectively ignored it.

Three thousand years.

He was locked here for three thousand years, calculating, waiting, and preparing for this moment every minute and every second.

How could he possibly give up just because of a layer of protection?

That was just a blessing.

Even the most powerful blessing from Anna is still just a blessing.

He is Edwin.

He was once the archbishop of the Imperial Cult, a heretic who sacrificed three hundred million souls, and a demigod about to cross that threshold.

How could he possibly back down just because of a mere blessing?
But now, when the old woman stood in front of him and asked in that flat, monotone tone, "Can't you see?", he finally understood.

It's not that he doesn't take blessings seriously.

He takes himself too seriously.

The old woman did not wait for his reply.

She didn't need his answer.

She simply turned her head slightly, her cloudy eyes slowly turning towards Lin Yi.

When that gaze fell on Lin Yi, there was no change in it.

There was no scrutiny, no evaluation, no assessment like the kind of measurement Lin Yi had seen in the eyes of most powerful individuals.

I only glanced at it.

It's like confirming a document that has been stamped, or confirming a visitor that has been entered into a register.

Then she looked away and turned her gaze back to Edwin.

“Anna’s blessing is not just for show. He is a guest of the House of Death. If you lay a hand on him, you are crossing the line.”

Edwin's lips trembled violently.

He wanted to argue, to claim he was merely "testing" the participants, that it was just a standard negotiation tactic—

But those words, once they reached my throat, were all stuck in my throat.

Because he knew it was useless.

Any attempt to explain oneself in front of this old woman is futile.

She has already delivered her verdict.

"You've crossed the line."

The old woman spoke a fourth sentence.

Lin Yi noticed that these four sentences combined used no more than thirty words.

Edwin remained silent for a long time.

Lin Yi thought he would never speak again.

Then, Edwin laughed.

“Cross the line.” He repeated the word, his voice rising from a low laugh. “I crossed the line.” His shoulders began to tremble, his fingers curled spasmodically, and his nails dug into his palms.

"I've been locked up here for three thousand years!" His voice suddenly rose, sharp and piercing as it finally broke free from its pent-up tension. "Three thousand years! I followed every rule, answered every question, and spared every fool who could have devoured me but had to be let go because of 'non-compliance'!"

He took a step forward.

The chains rattled and were taut to their limit.

He ignored it.

"For three thousand years, I am the only prisoner who has ever told the truth!" His voice was almost a roar. "I could have swallowed them all, all of them! But I didn't! I played the game with them according to the rules, gave them a fair chance, and sent them away—"

He suddenly pointed at Lin Yi.

"What about him?"

“He entered my palace, bearing Anna’s blessing, immune to all my abilities from the very beginning! This is unfair! This isn’t a test, this is—”

"That's called the rules."

The old woman interrupted him.

Her voice remained flat and even, yet it was like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing all of Edwin's anger.

“Anna’s blessing is within her authority; she can give it to whomever she wants,” the old woman said. “If you can’t accept it, that’s your problem, not the rules.”

Edwin's mouth was open, and broken breaths came from his throat.

“You never understand.” The old woman looked at him, a hint of helplessness appearing in her cloudy eyes for the first time. “You think you’re following the rules, but you’re just waiting for an opportunity to break them.”

"You think you're being patient."

"You think three thousand years is a long time, but to the House of Death, it's just a moment."

Her voice was soft, yet every word was like a nail, pinning Edwin to the spot.

“You didn’t lose today,” the old woman said. “You lost on day one.”

Edwin stood still, motionless.

All the expressions on his face slowly faded away, like the receding tide.

All that remained was a blank, disorienting feeling.

He looked down at the scattered chains at his feet and the shadow cast by the oil lamp in the distance.

for a long time.

His shoulders began to tremble slightly.

It wasn't a trembling of anger.

Lin Yi couldn't tell what it was.

Then, Edwin looked up.

"Do you know what I feared most during my three thousand years of being locked here?"

“It’s not death,” he said. “It’s not being able to leave forever.”

"It is...forgotten."

His voice became unusually calm at that moment.

"The empire is gone. Three hundred million people are gone. The thirty-six gods devoured each other, and the last one to survive has long forgotten me, the archbishop."

“You’ve locked me up here for three thousand years. Occasionally someone comes, occasionally someone dies in those stone houses, and occasionally someone can walk up to me.”

He paused.

"But as long as I'm still here, it means that someone still remembers me."

"I remember the Empire, I remember those 300 million people, I remember the things I did...

He said the last word very softly, as if it were a wound he dared not touch.

The old woman watched him quietly.

“So for the past three thousand years,” Edwin continued, “I have not been most afraid of you, not Anna, not even these chains.”

"What I fear most is that one day, you won't even bother to punish me anymore."

“Drag me out of here, dump me somewhere, close the door to the Death House, and never look back at me.”

"That was the real... end."

His voice was very low, so low that it was almost inaudible.

The old woman remained silent for a long time.

So long that Edwin thought she wouldn't answer anymore.

Then she spoke.

"Will not."

Edwin suddenly looked up.

The old woman remained expressionless, her cloudy eyes devoid of any emotion.

“You will become a candle,” she said, “and be placed in my box by the fireplace.”

“You’ll know it every time someone sets you on fire.”

"You are not forgotten."

Edwin was stunned.

He looked at the old woman, at her mouth that was sewn shut with black silk thread, and at her eyes that were devoid of any emotion.

Then he smiled.

“…Okay,” he said.

"Then let it become a candle."

Lin Yi remained silent throughout the entire process.

He simply stood there quietly, watching this conversation, which wasn't his to begin with, go from erupting to subsiding, from fierce accusations to an almost peaceful farewell.

He knew he was just an observer.

This is a grudge compressed to its extreme by three thousand years of waiting, and it is not something he has the right to comment on.

The old woman walked up to Edwin.

Her movements were slow, and each step was steady.

The oil lamp swayed gently in her hand, its light casting flickering shadows on Edwin's pale face.

She stopped in front of Edwin.

Then, she raised her withered hand.

He gently pressed it on Edwin's forehead.

Edwin closed his eyes.

Lin Yi saw his lips move, but no sound came out.

Then, Edwin's body began to melt.

His skin, starting from his forehead, gradually lost its color and became translucent.

Then came his facial features, his torso, and his limbs.

Like a candle placed by a gentle fire, it slowly returns to its most original form.

About three minutes later, Edwin was no longer in front of Lin Yi.

Only the white wax stick in the old woman's palm.

The candle is about one meter tall and as thick as an adult's arm. It is a warm, milky white color with a smooth and delicate surface.

It lay quietly in the old woman's withered palm, the wick golden, with a faint but steady flame at the tip.

The flame had no heat, no smoke, it just burned quietly.

The old woman carefully placed the candle at her feet and untied the square wooden box behind her.

The wooden box made a deep, resonant sound when it was placed on the ground.

She opened the box.

Lin Yi saw the contents of the box.

The neatly arranged white wax beads, one next to the other, are tightly packed in a specially made groove.

Each candle is not exactly the same in height, thickness, or color.

Some are clearly older, with fine ice cracks appearing on their surfaces.

Some are relatively new and clean, with the wick still retaining a light golden hue.

Lin Yi counted them roughly.

There are about forty of them.

The old woman picked up the newly made one and examined it carefully for a moment.

Her fingers traced the smooth surface of the candle, pausing for a moment at one spot.

There was a dark line there that was almost imperceptible.

It's not a flaw.

Lin Yi suddenly realized that it was Edwin's forehead.

The old woman placed the candle in an empty slot in the wooden box.

Click.

A slight settling sound.

She closed the lid of the box and picked it up again.

She didn't say a word throughout the entire process.

At this moment, a notification popped up from Lin Yi's Reincarnation Paradise imprint.

[You have obtained information about a special item: White Beeswax]

White wax

Origin: House of Death
Type: Consumables
Quality: Epic

Effect 1: Lighting this candle will dispel black fog within a 10-meter radius for 30 minutes. The dispelling effect has absolute priority if the black fog level is not higher than the Death House threshold.

Effect 2: Within the range of the burning candle, the user's mental resistance is increased by 200%, making them immune to most mental attacks originating from negative emotions such as darkness, death, and despair.

Note: A candle will eventually burn out. But before that, it was a ray of light.

(End of this chapter)