Start praying—to your Lord.

The brain in the Crown of Bones suddenly twitched, and the "Saint" abruptly sensed immense danger and terror from this sentence—it didn't know the essence of this fear, but the warning conveyed by a dark fate pressed down on its subconscious like a mountain!

It instantly struggled violently, its powerful will even briefly breaking through the layers of restrictions set by the witch within its body. The bone spurs at the edge of the bone cage began to creak, and with this brief loosening of the restraints, its senses finally recovered further, and it finally perceived its surroundings—perceived the familiar aura of Holy Island.

It realized where it had been brought, and in that instant, a thick despair enveloped its already crazed and mutated mind like night!

"Holy Ground!" The horrifying brain swelled and writhed violently, the surrounding air trembling, emitting layers of frantic roars, "Holy Ground! You have defiled the Holy Ground! You heretics... the Lord will punish you, none of you will escape!"

Duncan and Lucretia merely stared blankly at the furious "Saint." After a moment, Duncan raised his right hand, his palm holding a ball of flame. The edge of the flame flickered, and strands of flame flowed down to the ground, some spreading towards the dark, heavy stone door, while others silently extended to the Saint's feet, beginning to slowly scorch.

It wasn't until the flames began to spread that Duncan broke the silence, "Two things. First, your 'Holy Ground' doesn't need others to defile it—your foolish compatriots dug through the surface and awakened the flesh of the ancient gods. They have now 'returned to the Holy Lord' as they wished, in every sense of the word.

"Second, I don't care what your Lord thinks about this, but I do have some things to discuss with your Lord—so start praying, this is probably the only time in your life you'll actually have a chance to share the burden of the 'Abyssal Holy Lord', and from a personal perspective... it might make things a little easier for you in what comes next."

The flames spread, and the ghostly green spirit fire gradually climbed onto the dark, heavy stone door. The flames seeped into the grooves on the stone door like water, burning on its surface, making the entire door appear to be alive, presenting a quivering, shaking illusion. Another flame ignited the "Saint's" skeletal limbs, beginning to spread towards its entire body!

A fear that corroded even the soul swept through the monster's mind. The latter instantly struggled frantically, but the witch's restrictions suppressed all its resistance in the blink of an eye. It could only watch as the flames spread, but even more terrifying and darker "sensation" made it even more desperate than the pain it felt in its body—

It felt that it was establishing a connection with the dark, heavy stone door, a "connection" that was more profound and difficult to understand than physical contact was forming. It felt that it was gradually becoming a part of that door, a part of the world behind that door—its consciousness, its memories, everything rational and that could be used to maintain "self," was turning into the door's... data...

In a daze, a hollow voice echoed, a strange, low hum. On the edge of its crumbling consciousness, the Saint felt the human part of its personality stand up again from this deformed and twisted body. It once again felt its hands and feet, the texture of breathing, and the sensation of sound vibrating its eardrums—those parts of itself that it had once actively abandoned, as a human, seemed to have returned to this world in illusion.

"Pray to your Lord..."

A voice vibrated and echoed in its consciousness, causing it to lift its head in a daze and confusion. However, the resistance in its subconscious remained, causing it to clench its teeth, trying to break free from the influence of that voice—but that voice continued to come, vibrating from all directions, even vibrating in its own subconscious—

"Pray to your Lord..."

It raised its eyes in the darkness, seeing the magnificent black door standing in front, like the beginning and end of all things. The surface of the door writhed and rippled, like a pool of water wrinkling, and between those rippling glimmers, it saw countless blurred and broken images—

It had studied in the city-state, and had once been as busy as an ordinary person walking through the streets and alleys. It had craved many things, and had been swallowed by a greater emptiness the moment it obtained them. It had perceived the falseness of the shell in wanton indulgence, and had received a brief enlightenment in the baptism of blood—it saw its first victim, a small body lying quietly in the bloodletting tank, undergoing its last twitch. It saw its last victim, the pair of eyes filled with fear and despair remaining in that inhuman wreck, reflecting a powerful body that had transcended the mortal form...

And all of this was gradually being swallowed by that black door—everything it was as a human, everything non-human, everything it had experienced, everything it had escaped... was gradually being uploaded to the source...

"Pray to your Lord."

Beside the black door, a giant filled with starlight looked down, the giant having no facial features, countless brilliant galaxies flowing within ta's body. Dazzling star clusters and dim cloud bands outlined ta's indescribable face. Ta bent slightly, and a galaxy like a tentacle extended and flowed to the Saint's eyes. The tip of that glittering starlight tentacle silently opened, countless eyes twinkling and blinking in the starlight, scrutinizing the Saint's soul.

Beside the starlight giant, the black door slowly opened, a being with a magnificent main body like a tower, surrounded by countless huge tentacles, was casting a worldly glance.

Why refuse to pray? The Lord is there... He has cast billions of merciful gazes.

Immense emotion pried open the Saint's mind—it finally forgot where it came from, forgot what it was supposed to do. It bent down before that majestic existence, then prostrated itself to the ground, murmuring softly, "Lord..."

The ghostly green flames soared into the air, and the dark stone door instantly turned into a slightly rippling black mirror—in the undulations of the mirror, one could vaguely see a vast world in its depths.

Duncan turned his head and saw the shriveled black wreckage burning quietly on the open space in front of the black door. Its vitality had faded, but the remaining part of the wreckage... looked like it could burn for a long time.

"Saints are indeed more resistant to burning."

He sighed casually, then turned his gaze to the "black door" that was rippling like a mirror—on the other side of the door, Sherry and Argo's auras were still active, and becoming clearer.

He took a step forward and touched the black mirror with his finger. The latter rippled, but there was no sensation on his fingertip.

It was like a phantom.

"This is the gate to the Abyssal Deep Sea?" Morris couldn't help but come closer, frowning as he carefully observed the black door. "It looks... somewhat similar to the 'rifts' opened by Abyssal demons, but it's clearly more stable..."

"In essence, this is a rift opened by an Abyssal demon—that Saint was already an Abyssal demon, it naturally has the ability to open a passage to the Abyssal Deep Sea," Duncan said casually. "All I did was forcibly fix this rift after it opened the door, and use the 'connecting point' nature of this cave to locate the gate as close as possible to Sherry and Argo—now I can feel that they are somewhere on the other side."

As he spoke, he looked at Alice beside him, and Morris and Lucretia on the opposite side, already having a plan in mind.

"Alice, you and I will go through the gate together. Morris and Lucy, you stay outside the gate."

"Don't you need me to go in with you?" Lucretia immediately said with some concern.

"No," Duncan shook his head. "I'm not going to fight, just to find people and talk to the Abyssal Holy Lord. Bringing one more person or one less won't make much difference—but someone needs to stay on this side of the gate to guard it."

He paused at this point, thinking as he added, "This rift will be open for a long time. Before we return, some Abyssal demons will definitely notice this passage, and something will run out of the gate—so you and Morris need to guard it. And not just this gate, the entire Holy Island may undergo some changes because of this rift, so you need to notify Vanna and the people of the Deep Sea and Death Church. From now until the gate closes, there may be many 'guests' appearing around here."

Listening to her father's arrangements, Lucretia's expression gradually became serious, and she nodded lightly:

"I understand—Mr. Morris and I will guard this place well."

Duncan nodded, saying nothing more, simply turning to beckon to Alice.

"Hold onto me, don't let go in the middle." He said softly to the doll who came up to him.

Alice immediately nodded, reaching out to tightly grab Duncan's arm, but a smile appeared on her face—there was no tension in that smile, but rather she seemed very happy, as if... she wasn't going to a place that would be terrifying for ordinary people, but rather going on a picnic with the captain.

"Aren't you afraid?" In front of the rippling black mirror, Duncan noticed the smile on Alice's face and couldn't help but ask softly.

Alice smiled happily, "Not afraid!"

"Good."

Duncan nodded, and without hesitation, led the doll through the black door.

A wonderful feeling washed over them.

It was as if they had crossed a layer of illusory fog, without any hindrance, without any discomfort, only a slightly cool aura quickly appearing and then instantly dissipating. This was only a brief moment, but it felt as if they had crossed an infinitely long tunnel in the blink of an eye—

Alice opened her eyes wide in surprise. She held tightly onto the captain's arm, seeing many streamers of light flickering before her eyes, but more surprising than those wonderful streamers was that she seemed to "hear" something.

When crossing the "tunnel," when heading to the other side, a voice entered her mind directly—

"Identity verification, ￥#@￥&%&... passed;

"Identity verification, Lh-03, Navigator Three, passed."

(Time for a book recommendation, from group member Tata, book title is *The Sand Planet and the Iron Oasis*, the genre is road novel, emmmmm... according to the author's own recommendation, it's a story about a white-haired loli driving a huge vehicle on an adventure in a desolate apocalyptic world?)

(End of chapter)