It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"My people have been working hard for me day and night. As the city lord, I can be lazy at ordinary times, but I must be serious at the critical moment. If I really want you to become the Pillar of Eternal Life smoothly, other territories, including Yuxi City, will be out of the question."

Lingwu Lord snorted coldly and said:

"Stupid. Since you have no interest in power, why bother making the people around you suffer so much..."

She did not continue.

Perhaps she remembered her youth and the retainers who died because she was “unwilling to fight.” Countless capable military advisers and generals went north to fight against the giants, but were cut off by their own family and died tragically in the snow outside the Great Wall.

The victors write history, and the losers don't even leave their names. Everyone praises the founding king Ji Yingtian for his civil and military achievements, but who will remember the silly woman who made great contributions to him?

Perhaps he could see her embarrassment, and Lid helped her out with a smile:

"Yes, but this is the reality. I brought my people to you, can you fulfill their wishes? Just to say that He Yue wants the world to be peaceful and everyone to have enough food and warm clothes, you can't give it, you will never give it."

After hearing Lid's words, Lingwu Lord immediately put away his previous sentimentality and refuted with dignity:

"I can manage Lingwu from a population of 10,000 to a territory that can rival the royal family. I can open up such a vast space in the deserted outer frontier. Naturally, I can also manage the already wealthy Yongtian Kingdom to become even more powerful. If you can live to that day, you will naturally know."

Lid still had a smile on his face, enjoying the feeling of the two of them bickering together, and said:

"Yes, yes. I'll wait and see. But to make the world peaceful and the people prosperous is not only a matter of system, but also a matter of productivity. There are some things you can't give after all..."

He and the Lingwu Lord argued slowly and advanced in the heavy rain.

Then, after taking a certain step, the voice of the little ghost suddenly sounded in my mind:

"Well... I know I am the thing called 'light bulb' now. But I still want to say it! Be careful, I can sense the breath of that giant octopus. It's not too far from here, it should be... almost there."

43. Watchdog

The rain gradually subsided.

Because he didn't know if there were other dangers, the Spiritual Lord still supported Lid and walked as fast as possible into the depths of the fog. The little ghost seemed a little restless, hiding in Lid's arms and mumbling. One moment he said something like "The imprisonment play is so heartless, I'll blow its head off this time!", and the next moment he said something like "Wow, I still have some psychological trauma... Can I not go?" Now he seemed to have given up struggling and began to try to pray for Clenus's salvation by chanting sutras.

After listening to a few words, Reed discovered that what she was reciting was not the same as the one in the temple, but the Great Compassion Mantra with clear pronunciation. She probably stole it when she was searching her memory.

It's no wonder that the little ghost is so frightened. Her host, Lid, and the woman who supported Lid, were all injured. They couldn't even walk properly, let alone fight with Clenus.

The little ghost had seen Kleinas in his prime. That guy could even capture an invisible creature like her and lock her up in the deep sea for thousands of years. As for the two little humans in front of him, Kleinas could still beat them up no matter how weak he was.

As the magic of the water element slowly dissipated, the humid air gradually became fresher. There were still occasional drops of water dripping from the top of my head, but it was completely different from the heavy rain that seemed to turn this secret place into an ocean.

I don't know when it started, but pure black velvet grass appeared on the barren ground, and strange flowers bloomed on both sides of the road. The stems and leaves of the flowers were completely black, except for the petals that were spread out one by one, which were bright red. Even in such a dim environment, the red petals seemed to be glowing, adding a charming color to the dark environment.

Lid looked up and saw an open area. He thought the maze had occupied most of the space in the underwater secret realm, but he didn't expect to see such a wide field on the seabed after running all the way.

This place is obviously different from any other area the two have passed through before: the black fog is still there, but it is very quiet; the ground is covered with blood-red flowers, swaying slowly in the breeze; most importantly, there is a particularly large tower-shaped building in the center of the wilderness, covered with dark vines.

Although it has an air of danger, it is undeniable that this underwater garden is truly beautiful.

The puzzling thing was the swaying sea of ​​red flowers. Reed always felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

After the two stopped, Lord Lingwu took his hand away from behind his neck, stretched his shoulders, straightened his hair, and said:

"Sure enough, just as I thought, Clenus cannot absorb such a large number of blood souls. It needs two conditions to awaken, blood souls and heavenly hatred, and only one of these two conditions is met. What do you think of this sea of ​​flowers? Is it beautiful? They are all made of blood."

The Lingwu Lord lightly lifted her jade foot and stepped on a newly blossoming red flower with her toes. Strands of bloody juice immediately flowed out from between her toes, making her already red nails even more gorgeous. When the white jade arch of her foot was raised, the sticky and fragrant juice slid down. She was merciless when she stepped on it, but light and graceful when she lifted her foot, full of a beauty that matched this place.

"Is that the short board effect?"

Reed glanced at the tall tower in the middle of the field, which should be the place where Clenus rests.

Because he had come into contact with the reincarnated goddess before, Lid had some understanding of the aura of the three tribes. However, if the old gods, who always showed a noble and sacred appearance, were compared to a mountain, then the tower in front of him was sealed with an abyss that could not be seen to the bottom. Although he was still a long way from the tower, Lid felt a chill on his back for no reason, as if something invisible and intangible was pouring out of the tower and approaching him silently.

"The blood of humans, the blood of giants. The imprisoned souls bloom into painful flowers."

The Lingwu Lord narrowed his eyes and suddenly lowered his voice, stopping Lid who was about to move forward:

"Wait a minute."

Lid stopped and looked in the direction of the Lingwu Lord's sight. There seemed to be several dark shadows standing in the swaying flowers, staring at them silently. However, he did not feel any breath of living things from them. After waiting for a while, the Lingwu Lord took Lid to that side.

In front of the two people were several rotting mermaids, with human upper bodies and fish tails in the lower bodies. However, unlike the mermaids that Lid had imagined, these mermaids were all muscular men, and their chest muscles looked big, but Lid just felt that they were boring.

There was only one female mermaid, but her face and chest were almost rotten, and her skin was green and blue, which looked quite scary.

As if he had seen similar records in history books, Lid frowned and said:

"This is... the Ocean Clan?"

The Lingwu Lord gently took off the crown on the head of the golden-haired mermaid in front. This was an extremely delicate and gorgeous crown, inlaid with many rare treasures that could only be found on the bottom of the South China Sea. Even though the pearl had been covered in dust for thousands of years, it still exuded a dazzling luster, and it was obvious at a glance that it was not an ordinary thing.

Lord Lingwu looked at the crown carefully and said:

"They should be the marine tribe living in the South China Sea. They were once the last guardians of this secret realm. It seems that they wanted to wait for Clenus to revive here, but they didn't expect that their lifespan would come to an end first. Their oil can be used to make eternal lamps, but their lifespan is only two to three hundred years."

Lid asked:

"Like Jiaolong, was he kidnapped by that collector?"

Lingwu Lord shook his head:

"It shouldn't be, otherwise it would have been made into a living machine like the dragon... Just like humans believe in the old gods, the middle six tribes and the lower nine tribes have their own beliefs. Most of these ocean tribes came here voluntarily to guard the tomb of Clenus."

Lord Lingwu said as he wiped the dust off the crown but did not put it back immediately.

Lid could see her love for the crown. Although Lingwu Territory was at the forefront in terms of strength and its treasury was full, most of it was equipment and props related to battle. A crown like this, which was purely for luxury and embellished with many precious gems, was probably rare in Lingwu Territory.

Reed reached out and gently pinched the crown. Lord Lingwu thought he wanted to take it for inspection, so he handed it to him generously.

Unexpectedly, Lid picked up the crown and put it on the Lingwu Lord's head. He looked left and right, and said with a smile:

"Isn't this quite fitting? Holding the things you like in your hands is what makes you a queen."

Lord Lingwu was stunned for a moment, shook his head, took off the crown and put it back on the mermaid's head.

She hesitated and said:

"If everything goes well, come back and get it."

Lid said "hmm". The two of them raised their heads at the same time, shifting their attention away from the dead mermaid and looking at the quiet tower in the middle of the field, and then walked towards it.

Every step you take will step on the blooming flowers, and every stepped flower will turn into a bloody footprint.

On the dark field, red footprints gathered into a flowing river of blood.

44. Pillar of Eternal Life

The tower in the middle of the wilderness was made of a type of brick and stone that Lid had never seen before. From a distance, it looked like black steel, but when he touched it, he found it was a cold, round stone. The tower was extremely smooth, with only one line of words engraved on the door:

“This is the place of origin and end, the final destination of all glory.”

But there was no way to tell whether it was carved by Clenus himself or a codeword left by the fanatical fishmen guarding outside before they died. Lid's fingers stroked the words. The marks were already uneven and full of the sense of time. It was impossible to tell the specific age.

This tower was much larger than any tower that Lid had seen before, and its scale even far exceeded the palace of the tall giants that Lid had seen. The two people standing here were already half defeated in terms of momentum. After all, the human body was like an ant in front of such a magnificent building. The solemn and majestic gate was like a small mountain blocking the two people outside.

The closer he got to the cold tower, the more danger signals Reed's keen intuition sent him.

But this time, even though I knew there was a tiger in the mountain, I still had to touch the tiger's butt.

"There's no obvious food source nearby. It looks like we can't rest outside for a few days. Let's go directly into the tower and see what that giant octopus is while we can still walk."

Lingwu Lord nodded, put his hand on the door, and whispered:

"Then I'll open the door."

She didn't use force at the first moment, because when the doors in front of them opened, the two of them would have no way out - although there was no way out now, they still had the power to stagnate, that is, the space to stop and breathe. Once the two doors were opened, they would completely enter the territory of Clenus.

The three upper tribes, the Pillar of Eternal Life, the existence that created the giants, and the object of worship by countless Abyss followers day and night, all lived in this tower. Humans could no longer measure its strength. Lid and the Lingwu Lord had no idea what kind of monster was inside, but the indescribable fear was like a poisonous snake slowly gnawing at the sanity of the two.

Just staying here has already affected your sanity, and the sharper your intuition, the greater the pain you endure.

Ignorance is meaningless, but the real torture is to grit your teeth and move forward when your inner alarm bells are ringing.

After Lid nodded, Lingwu Lord put some more strength into his slender jade hands. The door was not as difficult to push open as he had imagined. Lingwu Lord only used about 40% of his strength, and heard the stone door make a creaking sound and slowly open inwards.

A beam of light shone out from inside the tower.

It was not sunlight in the usual sense, but a purple-black glimmer. It was brighter than the courtyard, but still not as brightly lit. It was almost the same as the light from the lampshade in the bedroom. At first glance, it was full of a sense of tranquility and peace, but after looking at it for a long time, I felt dizzy. The light seemed to be twisted and bent, with circles of lines.

It was very quiet inside the tower, without any sound.

Lid and Lingwu Lord exchanged a glance. Lingwu Lord added a little more strength, pushed one of the doors open completely, and then stepped in.

Nothing happened. But my heart suddenly started beating wildly for no reason.

Boom, boom, boom.

Boom, boom, boom.

The extremely quiet atmosphere was the most discordant place. Everything was silent, only the sound of heartbeats could be heard. I knew there was something horrible inside, but none of my five senses could detect its existence. It was hard to describe the weird feeling, as if a ghost face was staring at me from behind when I turned my head.

Lid took a deep breath, followed the Lingwu Lord in, and said:

"Don't be nervous, maybe that guy is still sleeping."

The Lingwu Lord panted hard, one hand on his plump chest, his voice slightly hoarse:

"No. I can feel it. It's awake, it's in this tower..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lord Lingwu suddenly raised his head and looked upwards.

The originally hollow tower suddenly had bluestones popping out from the stone walls around it, forming spiral stairs in an orderly manner. At the top of the tower, there was a purple-black shadow fluttering. It was too far away to see clearly, but just looking at it from a distance made my head hurt as if it was torn apart. My consciousness seemed to be hit by a huge hammer, and if I looked at it a few more times, I would go completely crazy.

Lingwu Lord opened his mouth, trying to suppress the dizziness, and spoke intermittently:

"Right there."

"The Pillar of Eternal Life, Clenus, is right there."

"Let's go."

She lowered her head, tightly clutched the clothes on her chest, and forced herself to calm the panic in her heart.

Even in the face of such a thing, the Spiritual Martial Lord was still able to maintain his sanity. Lid knocked on his head twice, looking like he was encouraged by her. Along the way, the Spiritual Martial Lord was almost always in a dominant position, and did not show any fear in front of the final BOSS.

The two men walked upwards.

The stone steps are stable, but the sound of stepping on them is ethereal.

The closer he got to the purple-black light suspended in the sky, the heavier the air became, and cold sweat kept flowing down his cheeks. All kinds of thoughts kept pouring out from the depths of his mind, his consciousness became anxious, his reason became fragile, and all means of resistance seemed so absurd and powerless in the face of such a degree of pressure.

——I want to crawl on the ground, kowtow continuously, and beg the existence in the shadow to forgive my ignorance.

——I wanted to turn around and run away from here, or simply jump down from the stone steps without guardrails.

——I want to scratch my eyes with my nails, I want to dig out my cheeks, I want to use the pain of my body to ease the pain of my soul.

——I want to use my own blood to write about this unspeakable horror and shocking greatness.

Countless thoughts that would never occur normally are like a storm attacking the last clarity in the soul, and the high wall built by reason is slowly being broken. Once the depths of their hearts are conquered, they will completely forget the purpose of this trip and turn into violent and desolate monsters. The Lingwu Lord's lips were bitten by her teeth, and blood oozed from her veil. She suddenly stopped by leaning against the wall and looked at Lid.

Lid looked even worse, and began to press his temples with red eyes, as if he wanted to pinch his head open. The Lingwu Lord grabbed his wrist and pulled him up.

Pain, fear, anxiety, all kinds of negative emotions tortured her.

But so what?

After hundreds of years of persistence and hard work, we are now only one step away from realizing this dream that was born out of blood and tears!

When she finally stepped onto the last step, the purple-black light cast a long shadow on her stunning figure.

Lord Lingwu almost burst into tears in an instant, but he gritted his teeth and showed no sign of stopping.

At the end of the stone steps is a stone platform as big as a football field. At the edge of the platform and in the center of the tower, a ball of light wrapped in mist is floating there.

Lord Lingwu walked towards that direction step by step.

As if in response to her determination. In the mist, a sharp whistle almost pierced the eardrums of Lid and Lingwu Lord. Lid spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground, and his body swayed and almost fell directly from the top of the tower; Lingwu Lord also had blood flowing from all his orifices, but he just held on and did not fall down.

After a moment, another voice that was a little childish but contained a terrifying pressure came from the mist:

"I almost forgot...lower races can't stand this way of speaking, but I think you can understand it now. I'm glad you're here."

The fog gradually dissipated, and Lid and Lingwu Lord all widened their eyes, with visible shock on their faces.

What appeared in the purple-black light was not a giant octopus, but a hotbed made up of countless wriggling pieces of flesh. In the center of the hotbed, a baby girl in swaddling clothes lay quietly, with a pair of purple-brown eyes like a dark abyss.

Sixteen octopus-like tentacles extended from her back.

45. It’s my gift