Chapter 562: The Ninth Rite! (Two-in-One)

Yan Jing closed his eyes.

Pies don't just fall from the sky.

Almost everyone understood this truth.

But not everyone could resist.

It wasn't for a lack of self-control.

It was because the pie was just too sweet.

Everyone in this world had too many troubles. You knew, of course, that this pie might come with a catch.

But if eating this single slice could solve your immediate problems, then risking future trouble wasn't out of the question.

Yan Jing couldn't guarantee he would always be the one to refuse the pie.

But the pie in front of him right now just wasn't sweet enough.

He didn't need it.

The sphere of light slowly faded.

A pair of gloves materialized in Yan Jing's palms.

Much of the patent leather on the exterior had peeled off, exposing frayed threads and electronic circuitry to the air, but all five fingers were intact.

This meant the gloves could fuse five items.

Items that did not exceed his own Tier.

Chaos Gloves (Pinnacle Work)

Yan Jing first took out the three Deity items he had previously obtained from the Divine Envoy Box.

The Ghost Mask, the Everlasting Paper, and the Never-Stopping Watch were all items related to Deities.

Especially the Never-Stopping Watch.

It could resist the erosion of time once, reducing time's influence to a mere ten percent.

This was one of the reasons Yan Jing felt confident he could withstand the River of Time during his current trip to the Inner World.

As for his other source of confidence—

Yan Jing placed his left hand over his right index finger and ruthlessly snapped it.

The entire index finger was twisted right off.

Lying in his left palm, it shed the fleshy shell Yan Jing had given it, reverting into a section of gleaming golden finger bone.

This was his second layer of confidence.

This was also why Wen He had seen Yan Jing's index finger bleeding earlier.

This finger bone wasn't very compatible with Yan Jing's body.

No, it was more accurate to say it was highly incompatible.

Ever since Yan Jing had used it to replace his own bone, he had never been able to completely stabilize it. As soon as his skin grew over it, the flesh would rapidly age, becoming as brittle as paper in just a few short minutes.

In other words, throughout his entire confrontation with Mu Tian, his right index finger had been trapped in a constant cycle of breaking down, repairing, regenerating, and breaking down again.

Back when Yan Jing called out Wen He's name, he had raised his index finger, preparing to use the Pocket Watch to block one instance of the River of Time's erosion before using the finger bone to steal.

It wasn't a foolproof strategy.

But it was the best plan he could come up with at the time.

Yan Jing put the finger bone away.

Then he took out three more items.

Mu Tian's Scythe Blade, the Soul Lamp, and the Black Robe.

Yan Jing looked at the six items laid out before him and fell into thought.

There were six items in total, but the gloves could only fuse a maximum of five.

The three Deity-related items were definitely necessary. No matter how powerful Mu Tian's items were, they still fell short of the Deities.

That meant choosing two from the remaining three.

Yan Jing looked at the three items in front of him, pondered for a moment, and then put away the Black Robe, choosing to fuse the Scythe Blade and the Soul Lamp.

The Scythe Blade was a must. It contained the soul-splitting ability Mu Tian had prepared as a last resort but never got the chance to use.

Between the Black Robe and the Soul Lamp, the Black Robe was clearly geared toward defense.

Yan Jing already had enough defensive methods. What he lacked right now was versatile offensive power, so he ultimately made his choice.

His decision made, Yan Jing slowly channeled weird energy into the Chaos Gloves.

"Buzz—" With a crisp hum, the old-looking circuits on the back of the Chaos Gloves blossomed with a faint white light, lighting up one after another. Then, on the pad of the thumb, a black vortex the size of an egg emerged.

Next was the index finger, then the middle finger—until finally, equally sized vortexes welled up on all five fingers.

Yan Jing pulled the gloves on and touched the five prepared items one by one.

One after another, the items were sucked into the vortexes. Once all five had been absorbed, a scorching smell suddenly permeated the air.

It smelled like burnt circuitry. Yan Jing pursed his lips.

He had followed the system's instructions to the letter. There shouldn't be any problems, right?

The system only stated that the required Tier couldn't exceed his own. Even if the items were related to Deities, their descriptions explicitly stated they were usable at all Tiers.

Just as Yan Jing stared fixedly at the gloves, chaotic, disordered power surged out like turbulent currents, darting wildly around the narrow space.

Here it comes.

Yan Jing watched the overflowing black light, feeling the temperature of the gloves rising rapidly.

The five vortexes gradually expanded, drew closer together, and finally merged into a single, massive vortex.

A sound like a low whimper drifted out from within the vortex. Suddenly, the pitch-black great curtain before him began to tremble violently.

"Bong! Bong! Bong!"

The tolling of an ancient grand bell echoed out.

Yan Jing was stunned. He clearly remembered hearing this kind of sound once before when he first entered the Land Before the Curtain.

Before he could react, the tolling of the ancient bell grew louder, and the low whimpering, refusing to be outdone, grew far more intense in response.

The two sounds intertwined. The terrifying roar seemed to shake the entire Land Before the Curtain.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Finally, the sound from the great curtain weakened first, followed by the whimpering, which gradually ground to a halt.

By this point, the vortex was almost the size of the entire Land Before the Curtain itself.

As the noise ceased, the vortex abruptly shattered. An object slowly descended from its center and hovered in midair.

The entire object emanated a golden light, but surrounding that gold was a streak of multicolored brilliance about the thickness of a pinky finger.

That was—

Yan Jing reached out and parted the light, revealing the object's appearance.

It looked like a watch. It was circular, with concentric rings of markings and a single pointer right in the very center.

But this thing was far larger than a normal watch, and it had no strap. Furthermore, there were far too many markings. They were densely packed circle after circle, exuding a unique beauty. Engraved beneath every single marking was a complex rune.

A Compass?

Yan Jing made his judgment and looked at the system prompt before him.

{Item Name: Universal (Unique True Name) (Gold-Color)}

{Usable Tier: Ninth Tier}

Item Effect: Gently flick it, and it will guide you to where you wish to go. {Item Description: An item that never should have existed. A 'monster' formed by gathering five items of great origin, possessing unimaginable power, though the price is equally steep. The item used to create it was originally a replica of the most successful [Creation] in this world, and it nearly perished midway during its birth, exhausting everything to be successfully forged.} Yan Jing looked at this ambiguous introduction, hesitated no longer, and placed it directly between the incense burner and the praying mat before crushing the Ritual Blessing Coupon.

The familiar bell chime echoed again. He sat back on the praying mat and slowly closed his eyes.

Before his eyes, everything plunged into darkness.

This time, the slurping sounds were missing. The sensations of ice and heat were gone, and he didn't even have to lift a finger—and neither did the Ritual or Fei Yu.

It was as if nothing had happened at all.

Yan Jing only felt trickles of warm currents flowing into his body. About ten minutes later, he opened his eyes, having already exited the Land Before the Curtain and returned to his room.

It was over?

Yan Jing released a wisp of weird energy, and behind him, a massive Compass manifested.

It still glowed with golden light, but that streak of color seemed thicker than before.

[Sheji Rite: Universal (Gold-Color) (Unique)]

[Ability 1: Universal: Fear and Dread]

[When you face fear, the Universal pointer will automatically turn to the direction of fear and dread for you. Your fear-related abilities will automatically receive a one-Tier enhancement, and the opponent's fear-related abilities will automatically drop by one Tier. You can freely choose to enter the Universal—Fear state, shielding you from all fear (no consumption). Universal: Fear and Dread can be used actively to draw the opponent into the abyss of fear.]

[Ability 2: Universal: All Arts]

[When you face arts, the Universal pointer will automatically turn to the direction of all arts for you. Your art-related abilities will automatically receive a one-Tier enhancement, and the opponent's art-related abilities will automatically drop by one Tier. You can freely choose to enter the Universal—Art state, mastering any of the opponent's art-related abilities you have witnessed (no consumption). Universal: All Arts can be used actively to reveal your strongest art to the opponent.]

[Ability 3: Universal: Minute and Second]

[When you face time, the Universal pointer will automatically turn to the direction of minute and second for you. Your time-related abilities will automatically receive a one-Tier enhancement, and the opponent's time-related abilities will automatically drop by one Tier. You can freely choose to enter the Universal—Time state, resisting 99% of time's erosion (no consumption). Universal: Minute and Second can be used actively to draw the opponent toward the end of time.]

[Ability 4: Universal: Soul Binding]

[When you face the soul, the Universal pointer will automatically turn to the direction of soul binding for you. Your soul-related abilities will automatically receive a one-Tier enhancement, and the opponent's soul-related abilities will automatically drop by one Tier. You can freely choose to enter the Universal—Soul state, rendering your soul extremely difficult to kill. Universal: Soul Binding can be used actively to harvest the opponent's soul and carry it into the river of souls.]

[Sheji Rite Extra Trait: Universal: Curtain. No great entity is offering you an additional gift this time, but the great curtain was shocked by the items you presented. It has decided to expend some of its source power to make up for this gift, hoping to forge a good relationship with you. You have received a Screen, containing an extra world within whose capacity limit is tied to your Tier. You can absorb people into the Screen, and you may freely choose to enter the Universal—Curtain state, gaining the sum total of the power of all entities existing within the Screen.]

Yan Jing looked at the system introduction before him.

Almost every ability was incredibly astonishing.

Setting aside the active abilities, just the four states alone—shielding fear, instant imitation, resisting time, and immortal soul—were each enough to make someone's jaw drop.

But what surprised him the most was the final Screen.

He hadn't expected the Screen to take the initiative to offer him assistance.

From the looks of it, this Screen, much like the River of Time, might be an entity with its own consciousness.

"Forge a good relationship..."

Yan Jing chuckled.

He didn't think getting involved with him would be a good thing.

But free things were free, and he wasn't going to turn them down.

He closed his eyes and re-entered the Inner World under the identity of Wen Xu.

Meanwhile, Within the Great Curtain.

The elderly figure walked toward the distance for a while before stopping in his tracks.

He turned his head, gazing at the sphere of light hovering in the distance. His mouth, wrinkled like a crumpled ball of paper, twitched as a smile appeared.

"Youngsters still can't bear loneliness..."

He found a place to sit down, quietly waiting for Yan Jing to pick up the "pie" he had left behind.

He wasn't surprised by this outcome in the slightest.

He had seen far too many breathtakingly talented individuals leave their footprints in the river of history, but the vast majority of those people had had things go too smoothly for them.

When they encountered problems they couldn't handle, the sensation of plunging from heaven straight to hell would make them desperately eager to resolve the issue quickly.

Yet they didn't realize that some problems couldn't be resolved quickly.

They were destined to require time to polish, and Fate to settle them.

Having experienced too much good luck in their lives, those people could no longer distinguish between serendipity and a trap.

It was just that Yan Jing choosing to accept it so quickly left the elderly figure somewhat surprised.

"This old man didn't scam you, though..."

The elderly figure murmured softly.

As long as that sphere of light was absorbed by Yan Jing, Yan Jing would indeed gain the power of the great curtain, but by the same token, he would also have to bear the karma of the great curtain.

As for what would happen after bearing the great curtain's karma—

The elderly figure raised his eyes and looked around.

Towering figures like stone statues stood frozen, preserved in the very last moments of their lives.

Not just one or two, but entire clusters and swaths of them, along the path he had just walked, suspended in midair, scattered across the hills and plains, stretching all the way into the distance.

And they were merely the entities Within the Great Curtain who had been tainted by the least amount of karma.

People who were even slightly stronger didn't even have the right to become stone statues; they could only plunge step by step into the abyss.

"There's no other way... There's no other way... Someone always has to be the one..."

The Old Man murmured, "But it can't be me."

The Old Man sat on a rock, waiting quietly.

Time passed minute by minute, second by second, until finally—the Old Man saw the sphere of light begin to flicker.

It's happening!

The Old Man's eyes, buried in wrinkles, seemed to open a fraction wider. Although he didn't go so far as to stand up from the rock, his slightly trembling hands were enough to prove his excitement at this moment.

How many years had it been since he'd felt like this?

The flickering sphere of light indicated that it was currently transferring energy over to the other side.

As soon as the sphere of light vanished, his torment would finally be over.

"Buzz."

A trickle of fresh blood seeped from the corner of the elderly figure's mouth, and the wrinkles on his face appeared a few shades deeper.

His life had long been bound to the Spirit of the Curtain. Now that the Spirit of the Curtain was damaged, he would suffer a considerable degree of backlash, but he couldn't care less about that right now.

As long as he could obtain his freedom, he was willing to sacrifice everything.

As long as he got out, he would still be able to sweep through an entire era.

But—

As time slipped by, the sphere of light in midair stopped flickering, yet the elderly figure still didn't feel the slightest bit of relief. On the contrary, due to the decrease in the sphere's power, his pain had actually worsened.

How could this be?!

The elderly figure could no longer sit still and bolted upright from the rock. The next second, his body trembled violently as he spat out a mouthful of blood, his entire person withering away.

He raised his eyes in disbelief, staring at the sphere of light. After realizing what had actually happened, anger surged straight to his head. He looked at the significantly dimmed sphere of light, his eyes brimming with deep resentment.

"Why!!!"

"Why!!"

"You cheap, rotten slut! You actually threw yourself at him! How dare you!! How dare you!!!"

"How dare you!!!!"

"I refuse to accept this! I won't accept this!!!"

The figure's resentful and furious voice echoed through the air.

Meanwhile, the surrounding stone statues remained entirely silent.