I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

The person on the wall was in very poor condition.

It seems he paid a heavy price in his battle against the flesh and blood, and the crown; he's probably almost at his limit.

The head formed from gray mist stared intently at Lu Yuan with its eyes wide open.

Lu Yuan also looked at him, and neither of them spoke immediately.

Lu Yuan was not in a hurry. The connection between him and the Sea of ​​Knowledge remained, and he could withdraw at any time.

In contrast, the one who should be anxious is the one on the other side. He himself can give up the current state of Bronze City and reach the maximum level, but can the person on the wall give up his huge head?

Judging from what happened in Bronze City before, it is clear that the person on the wall would never abandon the head that is still residing at the top of the Tower of Learning.

Finally, the person on the wall spoke first, his voice emanating from the head formed of gray mist. This time, it lacked the ancient and dry tone of before, instead revealing a sense of weakness in his words.

"Why do you...call me by my name?"

Lu Yuan ignored his words, only looking at the increasing cracks on the skull. After a few breaths, he slowly spoke.

"Did you take the last fragment?"

The figure on the wall fell silent for a moment. "Have you come to retrieve the last fragment?"

Lu Yuan did not answer.

The person on the wall finally nodded. "Yes, I took it."

"How did you get it?"

The person on the wall made no attempt to hide anything. "They used the Gray Contract Society to forcibly take it away."

Lu Yuan's expression didn't change much.

The things the Gray Pact members did, every step they took, seemed somewhat comical, unlike what one would expect from assassins:

Instead of going to the Bronze City to take lives, they're hiding there, I wonder what they're plotting.

Looking back now, they were probably deceived by the man on the wall and signed some kind of unequal contract with him.

Lu Yuan had sensed this long ago, and now, with the response from the person on the wall, his suspicions were confirmed.

Why did you take it?

The person on the wall narrowed their eyes, which were formed from gray mist and had no pupils, and two more cracks silently appeared on their head.

"I saw a vision of the future," his voice tinged with melancholy. "In that vision, only by removing this fragment could I see a better path."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan smiled incredulously.

"So, what you saw, did it come true?"

The person on the wall stared at Lu Yuan's face for a long time without moving before finally speaking.

"No."

The answer came dryly from his cracked jaw. He continued, "The future has undergone subtle changes, and these changes are all because of you."

Lu Yuan remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"Bronze City should have been destroyed in that scene, reduced to ruins," the person on the wall said, emphasizing each word. "But your existence tore the original scene apart. Those who should have appeared didn't, and the Gray Pact members who should have survived didn't survive either."

He paused, and a few more cracks appeared on his body.

"Flesh and blood, along with plants, should have engulfed the entire city, but that world ruled by plants was not opened up."

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes.

He immediately thought of the scene he had seen when he first came into contact with the forest seedlings; the sense of oppression was extremely strong.

Lu Yuan strongly suspected that the world was a forbidden existence similar to the Sea of ​​Knowledge, only hidden deeper or not as famous as the Sea of ​​Knowledge.

The person on the wall actually wanted to open that forbidden sea.

"The Gray Contract Society will cooperate with you." Lu Yuan stared at the enormous head, his tone tinged with skepticism. "Is it just to open that plant world? Have they lost their minds?"

The person on the wall did not answer this time.

His eyes flickered slightly, and the cracks on his body deepened, but he didn't seem to care. He nodded.

"Yes. Because I promised them conditions they couldn't refuse."

Lu Yuan's expression gradually darkened.

The Forest Seed, the Gray Contract Society, the Sea of ​​Knowledge, and that fishing plan are all related to the head in front of him. Lu Yuan even suspects that the reason why the flesh and blood underground were released out of control so quickly is also related to the person on the wall.

Now that it has been confirmed, it is sufficient to conclude that the people on the wall were involved in at least half of the entire disaster that befell the Bronze City, from the inside out.

"Then why should I help you?"

Lu Yuan uttered a question, his voice echoing across the boundless plain.

The person on the wall looked at him, their ancient and empty eye sockets completely calm.

"If you don't help me, Bronze City will undoubtedly be destroyed; there's no other possibility. Only by obtaining the last fragment will we have a glimmer of hope."

The voice of the person on the wall echoed across the wasteland, carrying a certain certainty.

"The only variable in the scene I saw was this fragment."

As soon as he finished speaking, a black fragment appeared in front of him.

Lu Yuan looked at the fragment, but felt no connection to it whatsoever.

Clearly, the person on the wall had tampered with it, making it impossible for Lu Yuan to connect with it or take it away.

Lu Yuan did not give an answer immediately, but squinted and quickly calculated in his mind.

It's hard to tell whether what the person on the wall said is true or false at the moment.

However, there were a few things he was certain of: the person on the wall had very few chips left, while he himself held something that the person on the wall did not know.

Moreover, the person on the wall was in extremely poor condition, his flesh and blood were constantly being eroded, and the gray fog surrounding the Tower of Learning was also collapsing little by little. He really didn't have much time left to waste.

From this perspective, it is highly unlikely that the person on the wall is lying.

However, Lu Yuan didn't actually want to discuss any conditions with him.

But he also knew that if he really pushed this old fox on the wall too far and forced him to swallow his flesh and blood again, he would most likely fight to the death.

Since we're going to die anyway, why should we hand over the fragments?

"Conditions?" Lu Yuan finally spoke, asking the person on the wall.

The person on the wall looked at Lu Yuan, and then their voice came.

"I'll hand over the fifth fragment. After this is done, you can let me go, or help me find another host, and I won't cause you any more trouble in the future."

Lu Yuan was stunned.

He hadn't expected the conditions offered by the person on the wall to be so simple.

He had expected the other party to make some difficult demands, even if it didn't lead to betraying the empire, they would at least try to sabotage the Bronze City. However, he never expected that all the other party wanted was a way out.

Lu Yuan nodded in agreement without hesitation.

The person on the wall stared at Lu Yuan for a long time, seemingly lost in thought.

The cracks on the skull continued to spread, and light kept spilling out from the tiny gaps.

Just as Lu Yuan nodded, the person on the wall uttered two more words.

"A vow must be made."

Lu Yuan agreed to the oath almost without hesitation. After all, he believed he still carried something he himself couldn't quite explain, so the oath was unlikely to fall on him.

If it happens, then just comply; if it doesn't, then don't blame him for turning against you.

However, the person on the wall had no idea what Lu Yuan was thinking.

Lu Yuan could understand these words, but they didn't resemble any of the languages ​​he had ever learned.

"Above the gray fog, beneath the wasteland... we shall keep this covenant... All promises made in this covenant shall not be broken. I swear in your name, I pledge in my own... If I break this covenant, may the wasteland devour me, may the gray fog consume me..."

Lu Yuan followed along and read the last word.

As the oath was recited, an ancient power seeped out from the words, attempting to enter Lu Yuan's body and entangle him.

Lu Yuan did not resist, but simply felt the rejection of the oath within his body.

Clearly, his guess was correct; the force circled around him once and then dissipated without leaving a trace.

This was exactly as he had expected. When he and AM recited the oath to join the Forbidden Society at the Alchemy Workshop, the binding force had lost its effect on him.

Lu Yuan had suspected then that he possessed something unknown to even himself, rendering most oaths and similar constraints ineffective against him. And now, that proved to be true.

Lu Yuan remained expressionless, simply nodding slightly. "It's done."

The person on the wall seemed unaware of anything unusual. He looked at Lu Yuan with a hint of resentment in his eyes, then said nothing more.

The fragment that had been hanging in front of the person on the wall finally floated towards Lu Yuan and slowly rotated in front of him.

The fragment was entirely black, with only faint golden patterns on its surface, quite different from the four dark gold fragments he had obtained before.

Yet the pattern on it clearly shared the same origin as the other four fragments. Lu Yuan reached out to catch it, but before his fingertips even touched the fragment, a sudden burning sensation shot through the depths of his left eye, and the aura of the other four fragments surged forth simultaneously.

The four fragments formed an incomplete arc before him, with a piece missing from the upper right corner. The fifth fragment slowly floated towards the gap and embedded itself in it.

As the five fragments came together, a silent vibration emanated from the junction of the fragments.

Lu Yuan's eyes were scorched by the blinding light before him, and an ancient, heavy aura poured out from the closed fragments, causing the entire wasteland to tremble slightly.

The five fragments completely merged into one, forming a complete, palm-sized dark gold token.

Target detected: Golden Token (Complete)

[An ancient artifact...echoes the phantom of the Crown of Kings...can connect with the phantom of the Crown of Kings...]

Several lines of gray text jumped around, and before Lu Yuan could even read them, his consciousness was once again stripped away.

This time, it wasn't that he wanted to resist and break free, but rather that he was actively drawn into the Golden Token.

The wasteland and the people on the wall vanished simultaneously, replaced by an endless void.

In the void stood a gigantic human figure, or rather, a humanoid creature.

The figure was so large that Lu Yuan could not estimate its height.

It bowed its head slightly, wearing several golden crowns, with some kind of incomprehensible pattern connecting the crowns.

The central position is empty; there should have been a golden crown there, but now there is only a gap.