Eating bizarre things in public upgrades my status; the Special Affairs Bureau wants me to join them

Stepping out of the fire-lit settlement, He Li and his companions entered the absolute darkness of the night, accompanied by the rustling whispers around them, seemingly never to be heard...

A strong sense of oppression followed, accompanied by a tidal wave of malice that enveloped them from all directions.

He Li and the other three immediately frowned.

The atmosphere in the night was so strange.

Surrounded by darkness, he felt a sense of unease, as if he were being watched by countless ferocious creatures, causing his muscles to tense, his hair to stand on end, and him to be unable to calm down—an instinctive reaction.

This situation is like a frightened cat, its fur standing on end, and it simply cannot easily calm down.

"I originally thought that before the separation of heaven and earth, this world was free of monsters and calamities from the middle and upper realms, so it should be more peaceful and safer than our later generations..."

"But it seems that's not the case now."

In the darkness, He Li spoke.

Facing the endless darkness ahead, he turned back as he spoke to look at the settlement with its burning campfire behind him...

The campfires in the settlement are very tall, and together with the countless torches of all sizes scattered around and inside the settlement, the whole settlement looks like a sunset hidden in the mountain valley from a distance.

However, something strange happened...

Although the fire in the settlement was extremely bright, it was not enough to dispel the darkness in the surrounding area.

The firelight could only illuminate a distance of less than two meters.

Two meters away, it was still pitch black.

Seeing this situation, He Li continued, "Although there were no monsters or calamities in the era before the separation of heaven and earth, there was such extreme darkness that is completely incomprehensible to people."

"The danger lurks in this darkness..."

"I think it's probably not much weaker than the monsters and the calamities that will occur in the upper and middle realms in later generations."

After he finished speaking, Jiang Hongxian continued.

"Every era has its own dangers to face."

"What we are facing now is this strange, unknown darkness."

"The afterlife will be filled with incomprehensible calamities."

"Perhaps in the future, there will be descendants who can completely eliminate the suffering that monsters and calamities bring to all living beings, but when that time comes, new dangers will inevitably emerge."

"This is the destiny of our times!"

Her voice was calm, but her tone conveyed a clear sense of pessimism.

Yu Qingge chimed in, "Even without unknown dangers, creatures will create them; the inescapable destiny of our times has already been written into the pages of history."

"The era after the separation of heaven and earth..."

"A brief period in ancient times free from calamities and strange occurrences."

"That was the end of the Dharma era, yet living beings still had to face endless wars and slaughter..."

"There are also natural disasters that cannot be avoided."

"Once we have the capacity to solve these problems, new issues such as monsters and calamities will arise... So, in my view, it's less a matter of historical destiny..."

"It's not that it's the fate of intelligent races."

Yu Qingge's tone was somewhat mocking.

As He Li listened to their words, something suddenly flashed through his mind as if a lightbulb had broken through his fingers...

"Fate?" he murmured to himself. "I've been thinking about the depletion of spiritual energy and the occurrence of calamities, after all, I've gathered quite a bit of information about these two things..."

"But I still can't figure it out."

"But now I wonder, could this be the will of Heaven or a mechanism inherent in the world itself?"

As he pondered, Jiang Hongxian frowned.

She vaguely guessed what He Li was thinking.

"Are you saying that the Way of Heaven... or that the world itself is hostile to all intelligent races?" she asked, but He Li shook his head after hearing this.

"No, what I mean is..."

He Li paused for a moment, then continued, "Could there be some kind of special mechanism within the world itself?"

"The passive kind?"

"When intelligent races do something that triggers this mechanism, spiritual energy will be depleted and calamities will occur, and the fundamental purpose of these events is..."

"Is it about correcting the world, or addressing the problems inherent in intelligent races, to ensure the world's healthy development?"

Passive mechanism? Positive development?

The other three were stunned by He Li's words.

Yu Qingge then subconsciously asked, "If that's really the case, doesn't that mean that the depletion of spiritual energy and the occurrence of calamities are actually good things, not bad things?"

"From a macro perspective, it might be!"

He Li nodded and continued, "But from the perspective of all living beings, this is not necessarily a good thing."

"Furthermore, if I were to guess..."

"The danger lurking in the darkness of this night..."

"It is very likely that some mechanism of the Heavenly Dao itself is suppressing the growth of intelligent races, or giving them some unknown warning."

"Indeed, it's possible..." Jiang Hongxian listened to He Li's words and nodded after thinking for a while.

Despite the problems with He Li's statement.

However, based on what they already know, He Li's guess is very much in line with historical development.

Especially this kind of speculation...

This is based on the premise that the world itself is conscious.

Because a conscious world itself will certainly try to proactively remind those intelligent races to develop cautiously and not easily trigger this destructive mechanism.

And those beings like Wa glimpsed the secrets of the world...

That might be the reason.

After all, if the world itself intended to hide all its secrets...

Even an existence like Nuwa would probably have little chance of understanding the core secrets of the world.

As for why the world itself didn't reveal these secrets to more powerful individuals, there are many reasons, but the most important one is probably the separation of heaven and earth.

If we put ourselves in their shoes...

If you yourself are the Heavenly Way, then when you are scheming to protect all living beings under your protection...

The result is that people are not grateful to you, and even think about draining your marrow and then running away. Not to mention the will of Heaven, anyone would feel disappointed and angry.

They even showed signs of hatred.

Furthermore, knowing the world's secrets might even pose a threat to the world itself...

The ways of Heaven should not be revealed to too many people.

These things were on Jiang Hongxian's mind...

She suddenly had a strong desire to communicate directly with the world's consciousness or the Way of Heaven. She wanted to know the world's mechanisms and secrets that He Li had guessed.

"The connection between heaven and earth has not yet been severed in this era, and beings like Nuwa are still alive and well."

"Since Nuwa could glimpse the secrets of the world..."

"Then in this era, I might also have the opportunity to come into contact with and communicate with the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao itself."

Jiang Hongxian thought to himself.

After arriving in this era, she never figured out what she should do or what she should do. She was just acting instinctively because she was confused.

But now, she has a clear goal.

So next, she also had to start taking action.

Of course, even if we take action, we'll have to wait until after tonight when we meet the descendant of Suiren.

After calming himself down, Jiang Hongxian prepared to carefully sense the surrounding flame power and then confirm the exact location of the suspected descendant of Suirenshi.

But just as she was about to do so...

hum! ! !

Suddenly, a ripple appeared in the darkness.

It moved swiftly toward He Li and his group, like a stone dropped into still water, creating ripples.

He Li and Jiang Hongxian both frowned, because they clearly felt the approaching fluctuations that emanated a strong malice that sent chills down their spines.

The person is not good!

The four people made their judgments almost simultaneously.

Sure enough, just as they were on guard...

Whoosh! A hoarse, low cry, like waves or the writhing of a mollusk, crashed fiercely down on the four of them in the darkness.

In an instant, Jiang Hongxian felt his hair stand on end.

Although in the boundless darkness, she couldn't see clearly what was attacking them...

But in her perception, she "saw" that what was in front of her was a strange thing that was constantly writhing and twisting, covered with indescribable eyes, ears, nose, mouth and limbs.

What made her heart pound even more than ever before was...

The eyes, ears, mouth, and nose on this thing really seem to be independent, each talking and doing its own thing, to the point that they emit a noisy, hoarse whisper...

They are all filled with spiritual erosion and oppression.

It makes people feel dazed and confused, and also makes them feel nauseous and want to vomit.

"What the hell is this...?"

Jiang Hongxian's face was pale.

However, realizing the monster was so close, she had no time to think and could only retreat quickly, while He Li had already raised his hand and unleashed the scorching solar fire he had obtained from devouring the Golden Crow...

boom!!!

A blinding burst of fire erupted instantly.

In the light, Jiang Hongxian and the others could clearly see once again that the monster looked exactly the same as she had sensed. However, just after the solar fire struck the monster...

What made their expressions even worse...

Appeared!