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Chapter 391 - Mark of the Spirit Bearer
Whoosh...
Firelight ignited in the dim space, spiraling upward along the walls like climbing vines. Pale flames hovered in mid-air, gradually illuminating the interior of the tower.
This was a spacious area of several hundred square meters. The walls were devoid of any fancy decorations and were solid, thick, and gray. The entire space was empty, except for a pentagram-shaped altar about the size of a room in the center.
A metal pillar half a person's height stood erect at each point of the pentagram. They shimmered with a matte sheen under the illumination of the firelight. Beside the altar stood a humanoid statue. Its surface was already full of cracks and its face was indistinct. It was the one that had just spoken in the darkness, seemingly welcoming Cassius.
After a quick glance at the first floor of the tower, Cassius immediately walked toward the statue. It was the only entity here capable of communication.
"The holder of the Rune of Wisdom..."
"My energy is nearly depleted."
"Everything you wish to know is in the Library of Misfortune on the second floor..."
The statue fell silent. The cracks on its surface seemed to have increased.
Cassius's eyes flickered. Eventually, he headed toward the stairs and reached the second floor. Pale flames lit up, again illuminating the entire space.
Cassius found rows upon rows of densely packed bookshelves. They were filled with many ancient, heavy hardcover books.
After searching around, Cassius unexpectedly found a desk at the far end on the right side of the second-floor stairway. On the desk lay a metal-textured journal, covered in dust.
He wiped it clean and opened it to read the contents inside.
Maps relating to the origin of the World of Calamity...
Classification of Calamity Creatures...
Spirit bearers and Dead Spirits...
Complete guide to using the Tower of Refuge...
Each item had a corresponding book location noted beside it. Cassius only needed to find them on the bookshelves.
Five minutes later, he sat at the desk with a few books. At first, Cassius thought he had arrived in a twisted domain, similar to the special zone defined by the neo-humans.
Now, he realized the two were incomparable. The World of Calamity was the flip side of the entire real world. If the real world was daytime, then the World of Calamity was night.
It was akin to the relationship between the surface world and the underground world.
The surface real world represented human reason, while the deep World of Calamity was filled with bestial madness. It was more like a bizarre and terrifying nightmare; a grotesque hell. Beasts roamed and a blood moon hung high; it was a forbidden zone for the living.
Yet, in the beginning, there was no World of Calamity! This planet was peacefully undergoing the evolution of civilization. Until calamity descended in some ancient era. The world fell into turmoil and chaos as various strange events occurred one after another. That bloody era lasted a long time until humanity paid a great price to temporarily suppress the calamity.
However, the danger continued to silently accumulate strength in the darkness. The book mentioned that the emergence of the calamity seemed related to Black Rain Manor. There was a Black Rain Manor in the real world, but there was also one in the World of Calamity. That might be why the Black Rain Manor couldn't be completely destroyed. It always had a counterpart in the World of Calamity!
Cassius then looked at the map of the World of Calamity. It was a piece of parchment tucked inside the book, bearing an ancient light-yellow hue. It was tough, without a trace of damage, and convenient to carry.
The World of Calamity was a boundless, eerie continent. It was divided into several representative regions.
They had names like Pale Lands, Silent Rain Zone, Despair Skeletal Forest, Pitch Black Mountains, Scarlet Lake, Rotting Marshes, Crystal Sand Sea, and so on...
All together, there were well over a dozen such regions. These environments covered a vast area, and each region had an iconic location. For example, Ash City, where Cassius currently was, situated on the northwest side of Pale Lands.
The Black Rain Manor of the World of Calamity was located in the Silent Rain Zone.
Cassius only glanced briefly at them before moving on to read more information. Calamity creatures, that is, dark creatures, were essentially deformed, twisted, and incomplete.
The Threefold Gate of physique, Qi, and mind represented the world's three fundamental rules. Any creature born into the world should possess these three essences, since they were the pillars that sustain life. If a creature lacked any one of them, life ceases to exist.
However, the descent of calamity formed the World of Calamity. Life born in this world was twisted by calamity and lacked one of the three essences. Thus, the creatures took on bizarre forms and were constantly influenced by the world's calamity. They become more extreme, chaotic, and bestial.
Yes, the World of Calamity was the source of dark creatures. All the dark creatures in the real world originally came from the World of Calamity, reaching the surface from the deep through breaches.
The book included a classification of dark creatures by level and strength.
The lowest level were Wild Beasts, who fight and kill purely by instinct, devoid of reason, only governed by the chaotic rules of the world.
Next were Savage Beasts, more aggressive and with a stronger desire to kill. They experienced anger and madness. Though still lacking in reason, they displayed simple emotional changes.
Then there are Cataclysmic Spirits, who had begun to regain life's rationality and were no longer chaotic. However, that signified something even more terrifying and dangerous!
Lastly were the Ultimate Dark Forms, also known as Abyssal Primordials. They possessed unimaginably terrifying abilities, with the power to alter terrain and move mountains. Some were even the progenitors of entire species.
Except for the Ultimate Dark Forms, Wild Beasts, Savage Beasts, and Cataclysmic Spirits were divided into lower, middle, and upper ranks to distinguish their strength.
The dark creatures Cassius had encountered before would also fit into this system. For instance, Decay-Rank, Undying-Rank, Indestructible-Rank Dead Blood corresponded to Wild Beasts, Savage Beasts, and Cataclysmic Spirits.
Dark creatures in the World of Calamity were more aggressive and stronger. Dark creatures in the real world that had escaped from the World of Calamity generally possessed more reason and wisdom. While they still retained their twisted nature, they were somewhat more rational after leaving the influence of the World of Calamity.
However, rationality signified weakness in the World of Calamity. At the same level, the more insane a dark creature was, the stronger it was. Dark creatures in special regions of the World of Calamity would have certain environmental characteristics and were classified into different clans such as the Scarlet Clan, the Decay Clan, the Crystalline Clan, the Evil Insect Clan, and so on. Dark creatures were everywhere.
Cassius felt a bit eager as he digested this information. Although it was extremely dangerous, the World of Calamity was a great place to hunt dark creatures and obtain massive amounts of life vibration energy to quickly enhance his strength.
He didn’t delve deeper and moved on to the third book of information.
A spirit bearer was a master who entered the World of Calamity in a Qi form like Cassius. First, becoming a spirit bearer required sufficient Qi. That is, the minimum threshold to be able to condense Qi into a functioning body was the level of a combat artist.
The body needs to resist the omnipresent influence of endless calamity in the air. The Dead Spirit was the spirit bearers’ corresponding entity. These are combat artists who died in the real world. Their Qi bodies, which far surpassed ordinary humans, are difficult to dissipate. So they would gradually fall from the surface world to the underworld and become mindless Dead Spirit.
They wandered aimlessly across the land, following the instincts of Covert Martial Arts Practitioners, either fighting, sleeping, or cultivating. They were all powerful, with strength comparable to Cataclysmic Spirits.
These Dead Spirits are immortal; even if defeated, they would reconstitute themselves in some corner of the World of Calamity. However, they would be weakened and lose some Qi fragments, which contained the combat experience accumulated over millennia. Then, spirit bearers and other Dead Spirit can absorb these. However, precisely because of this trait, spirit bearers and Dead Spirit were mutually attracted to and attacked each other.
Cassius continued on to the last book.
The white tower was called the Tower of Refuge, and it was built by the Aoyin civilization in the World of Calamity. Each special region had such a tower, serving both as a safe house and a guiding beacon.
The Tower of Refuge possessed magical abilities.
For example, it had a revival altar on the first floor. In short, it allowed the user to resurrect, but only for holders of the five keystone runes. Moreover, each resurrection required energy from the owner.
The Rune of Wisdom represented the Blood of the Spirit; a full bar of the Blood of the Spirit would allow Cassius to resurrect once. He just needed to inject the energy into the revival altar in advance.
Cassius wasn't entirely clear on the underlying principles, but it was likely related to the Qi-formed body and the Rune of Wisdom. Qi was not a physical body; even if it disperses, it can re-condense.
The Rune of Wisdom on the Qi body was connected to the revival altar; they can resonate even across great distances. It was likely that the revival altar gradually pulled back the dispersed Qi, taking some time to re-condense the body.
Cassius could obviously feel much more at ease with the existence of the revival altar. After all, exploring the World of Calamity was extremely dangerous. Dark creatures were everywhere, along with treacherous environments. There might even be Dead Spirit at the level of combat artists who would attack Cassius without a word.
The second floor had the Library of Misfortune, where Cassius currently was. It stored information about the World of Calamity, detailed intelligence on various dangerous regions and evil clans, and also served as guidance.
Then, there was a defense array on the third floor. Its core was a transparent crystal half a person's height, surrounded by circuits that spanned the entire tower. Once it was activated, it would generate a defensive gray membrane similar to a barrier, enveloping the white tower to prevent the most important revival altar from being damaged.
As long it had sufficient energy, it could even hold off an Ultimate Dark Form for some time. This allowed the white tower to function like a safe house, letting spirit bearers rest assured.
Entering the World of Calamity with a Qi body would cause the spirit bearer to be affected by the endless calamity in the air. If they were exposed for a long period of time, they would lose their sense of reason and gradually become a Savage Beast. However, the calamity would be filtered and expelled inside the white tower once the defense array was activated, allowing the spirit bearer to return to a state of normal functioning.
Blood of the Spirit could serve as the energy source for the defense array. Additionally, the core crystal of the defense array could also serve as a locator, working in conjunction with the map Cassius just obtained. No matter where Cassius was in the World of Calamity, there would be two red dots on the map: one fixed—the location of the Tower of Refuge; the other moving—Cassius himself. That way, he could always discern his position and direction. He would never get lost in various bizarre environments.
Lastly, there wasn't just one Tower of Refuge. Each special region in the World of Calamity has a tower that could dispel calamity and serve as a safe house. There was no teleportation function between the towers, but there were two ingenious methods that could allow Cassius to quickly travel between several special regions in the World of Calamity without the peril of arduous journeys.
First was to leave a portion of the Blood of the Spirit in the revival altar of each tower. Then, after death, he could choose to resurrect at any of these towers, re-condensing his Qi body.
Second, there was a magical item called the Mark of the Spirit Bearer on the third floor of the tower. If Cassius obtained it, he wouldn’t need to enter the World of Calamity through fixed tunnels. He only needed to activate the Mark of the Spirit Bearer to enter the World of Calamity from any location in the real world. Moreover, the initial position of the Mark of the Spirit Bearer could be freely chosen, meaning Cassius could designate any activated Tower of Refuge.
A pair of hands closed the ancient book with a snap. Cassius took a deep breath, digesting the information. Suddenly, he realized something was amiss. During his third time-travel, Cassius had been a Hellsing of Black Rain Manor and had hunted many dark creatures. However, he had never heard of or encountered tunnels leading to the World of Calamity.
Though he had interrogated them, all dark creatures claimed to be species from the real world. The Black Ops Agency also had no information related to the World of Calamity.
This was very odd.
Something must have happened during the transition between the Hongli Empire period to the Hongli Federation period, causing a disconnect in information.
No, this wasn't just an information gap. It was more like a conceptual gap. Everyone, including the dark creatures themselves, had forgotten the concept of the World of Calamity. Just like during the third time-travel, Cassius vaguely felt that a pair of mysterious hands were blocking the Covert Martial Arts world from contacting and interacting with other supernatural forces. The Covert Martial Arts world seemed to be an independent existence that didn’t seem to intersect with other forces.
Moreover, Cassius had always been puzzled. Had the Covert Martial Arts community really been declining over the centuries due to technological progress and changing eras? Now it seemed as if those two weren't necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, scientific training movements could provide martial arts practitioners with a better technical and strength foundation.
There seems to be a mysterious force manipulating things behind the scenes. They were like eyes in the mist overlooking the world's operation, occasionally intervening and stirring the threads of the era.
Was it the Gate Organization? Or that immortal Xiadu?
Cassius didn't know.
He only knew that he now needed to go to the third floor to obtain the Mark of the Spirit Bearer. Then, he needed to go to Ash City to hunt dark creatures, use a portion of Blood of the Spirit to activate the tower's defensive array, and proceed step by step.
