This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 318 Tree

...The Return Church chose to conduct such a dangerous experiment here precisely because of the sensory shielding barrier naturally formed by the Kaligan Crystal.

It can perfectly conceal the energy fluctuations and mental pollution generated by the experiment. Unless a person with inexplicably off-the-charts super-high mental strength inexplicably runs to the East African savanna, inexplicably is near the Rift Valley, and inexplicably senses those echoes... The most inexplicable thing is that such a powerful person would actually meddle in other people's business. In the logic of the Returning Sect, this is simply too damn illogical. It is impossible for such a thing to happen!
...Then Nie Weiyang arrived.

Look at what this has done.

Nie Weiyang opened his system panel and glanced at it. The name of the sound just now was [Painful Shock], which dealt him 3,000 points of damage and temporarily added several negative effects such as [Dizziness] and [Disorientation]... Even with his resistance, it still caused 3,000 damage and strong control effects. No wonder the Returning Cultists were all dead.

If that had happened in the open field above, it would probably have been enough to shatter the spirits of all the weak creatures within a five-kilometer radius!

Here, however, it is weakened layer by layer by the Kaligan Crystal, and its power is imprisoned. Only those who are close to the core area will be directly affected.

Given that Nie Weiyang was positioned on the outer edge, he was the last one to be dragged into the cave.

The two cult members, who were cursing and swearing, were rough and violent. Nie Weiyang was doing his best to cooperate with them, putting in almost 80% of his strength for them, but he was still complained about several times: "He doesn't look fat, so why is he so heavy?" The rough ground rubbed against his back, but he maintained the appearance of relaxation in all his muscles and even controlled his breathing to a weak and steady state.

Before he was dragged into deeper darkness, he glimpsed Bai Yu in a dark corner not far away, leaning against the rock wall, trying to stand up unsteadily.

He was still clutching the oxygen tank tightly, his face still pale, clearly struggling to fight off the aftershocks of the mental shock and trying to keep up with Nie Weiyang.

Nie Weiyang made a subtle gesture with his fingers at his side, stopping him.

Now is not the time to be reckless. Bai Yu needs time to recover, and he needs to go and see what is hidden deep in this cave as soon as possible. If the other party rashly follows in, there is a high chance of trouble.

The two must split up.

Bai Yu paused, slowly retreating into the shadows to continue recovering.

Nie Weiyang was dragged along through the winding, narrow passage.

The deeper you go, the denser the Kaligan crystals become on the surrounding rock walls, but the air temperature drops, which must be some kind of magical effect.

The soft, dazzling light emitted by these crystals intertwined to form hazy, deep blue curtains, still interfering with mental perception.

However, as he went deeper, Nie Weiyang noticed that the interference actually weakened in the core area.

His senses were adjusting to the crystal's influence, while a more powerful entity ahead emanated energy fluctuations, which to some extent neutralized the crystal's shielding effect.

His senses gradually became clearer.

Finally, after passing several hundred meters, penetrating layers of mist, a huge and hazy outline appeared on the edge of his perception.

It was a tree, a tree located in a vast underground space.

Its golden branches are composed of gracefully twisted human figures, and the remains of dead men and women are piled at its roots, inefficiently feeding it. A group of singers are chanting something to it, while the tree sways gently…

Golden leaves fluttered down.

Nie Weiyang's heart sank.

Pain, empathy, resource gathering, life sacrifice, gold creation...

...Golden Lord.

This is a 'tree' left behind by God. It has been growing here for countless years.

Nie Weiyang was dragged under the tree, brushing past corpses. He saw faces of men, women, and children, skin tones of yellow, white, black, and brown. One corpse, wearing half a pair of shattered glasses, slept in the embrace of its compatriots. In the eyes of traitors and beasts who see people as mere materials, race, age, gender, origin… all labels are unimportant. What people were like in the past is unimportant; their minds are unimportant, their hearts are unimportant, their professions are unimportant—nothing matters. They are materials.

It's just the materials.

Before they died, did they call for human help or pray for God's salvation?
Nie Weiyang slowly opened his eyes, his disguised brown eyes reflecting gold, a color of nature, a color close to eternity...

The magnificent golden tree sways gently.

So beautiful, so... sinful.

Nie Weiyang did not die, so he was not thrown under the tree, but was dragged further in, towards a deep cave.

He did not act rashly, but closed his eyes again, listening to the voices of believers from all directions.

In the core area, besides the singers who were still chanting softly and seemed indifferent to the changes in the outside world, there were also more than a dozen high-ranking Christians who were busy or on guard.

Nie Weiyang roughly sensed that their levels were around level 35, which would be considered elite at this point in time.

Each of them wore a uniform ornament around their neck, made of some kind of dark metal and tiny shards of Caligan crystal.

These ornaments emanate a calming energy, clearly amplifying the effects of the Kalika crystal. It is likely they that helped the wearer resist the previous painful shocks.

Nie Weiyang focused his mind, trying to catch the scattered thoughts of these believers; most of them were filled with lingering fear and complaints.
'Damn it, I almost died here... May the Lord protect me, and may this kind of mistake not happen again...'

'These lunatics! They don't care if we live or die!'

"For a split second just now, I felt like my head was going to explode... It was terrifying..."

A few believers who appeared to be technical or managerial were attempting rational analysis:
'There's definitely something wrong with the resonance frequency; some energy nodes are exceeding their safety thresholds... This sacred tree can't be faulty. Is it due to insufficient material purity, or has the carrier reached its limit?'

'I need to recalibrate the sympathetic sensor and try sympathizing with the Sacred Tree again. But given the current conditions… sigh, I'll have to wait until everything is sorted out.'

'The shielding power of the Caligan crystal needs to be recalculated; the leakage just now was more severe than expected. This shouldn't be the case; isn't its output constant?'

Two of the leaders, who were relatively distant from Nie Weiyang and seemed to hold some position, harbored even darker and more pragmatic thoughts:

'We must maintain a consistent story… We won't mention it unless they ask, but if they do, we'll feign surprise, have someone investigate, and report that the experimental materials weren't good enough, causing a minor accident. We absolutely cannot let the authorities know it was our operational error. Absolutely not!'

'The new Sun Lord has only recently awakened, and he's incredibly ruthless… If he finds out we've messed up something so important, we'll all be turned into nourishment. We need to find a way to shift the blame to the equipment or materials provided by logistics…'

Nie Weiyang sneered inwardly.

Internal disagreements and shirking of responsibility are weaknesses that can be exploited.

He remained unconscious, allowing the two cultists to drag him towards the place known as the 'Circular Cave,' waiting for the perfect moment to strike. But in a fleeting instant, his gaze swept across the cave from the shadows—

—He saw that silver-haired, blue-eyed girl again.

This time, she stood inside the crystal, her gaze passing over the crowd, past the bones beneath the tree—looking at him across life and death.

As the golden leaves fell, she vanished without a trace once more.

(End of this chapter)