CHAPTER 429: CHAPTER 340: THE ERA HAS TURNED_2

At the same time, outside...

The members of the ’Deceit Bureau’ had already learned from Zhou’s description about the cause and effect of chanting the full, revered name of the ’Divine Sovereign.’ However, the true identity of the ’lamp holder’ had been deliberately concealed. At this moment, all eyes were fixed on the depths of the Deceit Prison, anticipating the arrival of the ’Divine Sovereign’ to calm the turmoil.

But suddenly, crimson light filled the entire world. Everything in sight changed colors—red, eerie, sinister. At this moment, it seemed like they had become the dominant melody of the world.

This made the members of the ’Deceit Bureau,’ who had been relatively calm, suddenly descend into panic.

"Zhou, look quickly! Why has the sun turned blood-red?"

"The surrounding aura is so violent... All spirits are restless, as though a catastrophe is about to unfold."

"It’s the depths of the Deceit Prison. There, unimaginably powerful forces are converging. If left unchecked, it won’t just damage nearby cities—no, it’ll devastate the entire continental plate."

A sense of unease filled their voices.

’Zhou Xu,’ leveraging his high reputation, quickly calmed the anxious team members. He turned his gaze toward the origin of the bizarre chaos, yet a trace of worry emerged in his heart, and he murmured, "Good luck, Lord ’lamp holder.’"

At that moment, an excited voice rang out,

"It didn’t erupt. This force didn’t erupt—it’s Lord ’lamp holder.’ He suppressed this terrifying and evil power."

The multitude of ’Deceit Bureau’ members looked over and saw a massive, jet-black ring suddenly materialize, entwining the light sphere. Strands of silver-white light seeped out, and the force powerful enough to wreak havoc on a continental plate gradually dissolved into nothingness.

Crisis averted.

Many members of the ’Deceit Bureau’ collapsed onto the ground in relief. Even ’Zhou Xu’ silently let out a long sigh of relief and sincerely muttered, "Thank you."

Meanwhile, in the depths of the Deceit Prison, the blood sea and the corpses had disappeared. The vessel of the ’Chaos Angel’—a woman’s head with long hair suspended mid-air by six blood vessels—dissolved into nothingness as well. Everything strange, everything terrifying seemed like a fleeting nightmare.

Yang Qizhou stashed away the [Residual Ring of the King of Truth], and as he thought of the terrifying energy just earlier, he couldn’t help but feel lingering fear. "Was that necessary? All it wanted was to taint and dominate your essence. To self-destruct without hesitation and even drag countless people down as collateral? Luckily, I reacted quickly, or the consequences could have been catastrophic. Hmph! You escaped fast this time, but next time we meet, I’ll make you understand what true cruelty is."

With the crisis in the Deceit Prison resolved,

the impact brought about by the fusion of the ’Ancient Homeland’ and the real world was further validated by the ’Chaos Angel’ itself. Naturally, Yang Qizhou had no reason to linger here and prepared to shift his attention back to the game,

but before withdrawing the ’Iron Blood God,’ he courteously sent a telepathic message to ’Zhou Xu’: "The crisis has been resolved, but such matters won’t be the last. ’Destiny Shiny’—the gaze of the Ancient Gods—they’re all fixed on this planet now. In the future, more incidents like this may arise. The ’Deceit Bureau’ should prepare in advance."

At this moment, Zhou Xu was anxiously waiting for the exalted figure bathed in crimson light to emerge from the depths of the Deceit Prison. Upon hearing the telepathic message, he froze for an instant, before breaking into uncontrollable elation. Yet, the subsequent warning brought him back into a melancholy silence.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Zhou Xu, regardless of whether the ’lamp holder’ could hear him or not, repeated his words: "Thank you."

At this moment, all members of the ’Deceit Bureau’ were waiting for the final result. As such, the surroundings were unusually quiet, and Zhou Xu’s utterance of thanks naturally drew their attention. All eyes turned toward him, filled with confusion, unease, and anticipation. Still, these individuals had already pieced together the underlying reason for Zhou Xu’s gratitude.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Zhou Xu’s lips curved into a faint smile as he said, "Everyone—the crisis is over."

"Yay..."

At these words, cheers instantly resounded across the heavens.

...

At Sky Mountain Garden No. 10,

Yang Qizhou had already withdrawn the ’Iron Blood God,’ and paid little attention to the follow-up reactions of the ’Deceit Bureau.’ Instead, the influence of ’Destiny Shiny’ on the world brought a surge of urgency to his heart.

"In the past, this planet amidst countless galaxies and boundless stars of the cosmos was unremarkable. So even if someone secretly chanted the full, revered name of a ’Divine Sovereign,’ it would scarcely draw attention. But now—things have changed. Destiny Shiny... All the gods know that the power left behind by the ’Lord of Blasphemy’ resides on this planet. Perhaps due to the presence of ’Destiny Ripple,’ divine entities are temporarily unable to descend. Yet the moment someone chants the complete name of a Divine Sovereign again, they will inevitably be answered—even those occupying symbols or wielding authority will use their powers to influence relevant channels or prepare for their own arrival."

"What transpired in the Deceit Prison was merely the beginning."

"This world is about to be turned upside down."

As Yang Qizhou’s thoughts surged, a trace of confusion appeared in the eyes of ’Death Sir.’

He didn’t know that the mysterious and unfathomable ’lamp holder’ in front of him had manipulated a god to resolve a disaster that could have killed countless people. From ’Death Sir’s perspective, the ’lamp holder’s gaze had suddenly lost focus, occasionally frowning, as though his attention had drifted away from this dimension.

But out of instinctive fear, ’Death Sir’ dared not interrupt.

Now, seeing Yang Qizhou’s gaze gradually refocus on the present, ’Death Sir’ could no longer contain his curiosity and asked, "Lord ’lamp holder,’ what just happened?"

"Nothing—just handling some small troubles..."

Yang Qizhou casually dismissed the question, uninterested in giving a detailed explanation, and took out his phone to check the updated in-game text.

"Your heart is filled with excitement. The ritual for ’Destiny’ to ascend has finally been completed. You can now consume Old Sacrifices to occupy more symbols of ’Destiny,’ thereby enhancing your own rank."

"Of course, this pales in comparison to the gains from shepherding the ’King of Nature.’"

"Even though the words of the ’Divine Curse’ and the ’King of Nature’ before their dissipation still leave you full of doubts, now is not the time to explore these mysteries."

"You prepare to continue elevating the rank of the ’God of Victory.’"

"Breaking through from ’Star Spirit’ to ’Angel’ requires 50,000 Old Sacrifices. Thereafter, occupying even the smallest unit of a symbolic star requires 50,000 Old Sacrifices each. Including those you occupied at the ’Star Spirit’ level, you need to ignite forty stars in total to ascend to the level of ’Divine Sovereign.’"

"This exorbitant cost feels hard to accept."

"The Old Sacrifices created through the faith drawn from ’Demon Lord’ and ’Iron Blood God,’ combined with exploiting ’Destiny Store,’ add up to only a little over one million. This is only sufficient to occupy around twenty stars, far short of the Angel Level’s upper limit."

"You had hoped to break through to the Angel Level in one fell swoop, but reality leaves you disappointed."

"Nonetheless, rank ascension is always a positive development. You quickly regain your composure and prepare to consume Old Sacrifices to ignite the corresponding ’Destiny’ stars."

"You..."

The automatically updated text slowed down again. The time lost due to resolving the Deceit Prison crisis coincided well with this point—the ’game character’ was about to ascend but had not yet taken a corresponding action.

Yang Qizhou, initially worried about missing critical plot points, finally felt somewhat reassured.

’Death Sir’ suddenly remembered another incident and said, "By the way, Lord ’lamp holder,’ earlier there was a dazzling burst of light—it was earth-shaking. Even the sun’s rays dimmed against it. The terrifying waves of energy... I genuinely thought some apocalyptic calamity was about to occur. Luckily, nothing happened. Do you know what happened when the ’Ancient Homeland’ and the real world fused again?"