Chapter 1 The Beginning

The temple looked even more dilapidated than when they had left it. Although the previous energy storm hadn't completely destroyed the structure, it had clearly left considerable damage: many decorative columns were broken and toppled in the temple's forecourt, many of the stone ceilings above the first corridor had collapsed, the exquisite reliefs on the temple's outer walls were covered in cracks, and some areas that seemed to have been impacted by the energy storm even showed traces of melted and re-solidified glass-like material.

Hesperia found a large hole in the front of the temple, which was precisely the one they had made when escaping from the temple last time. This proved that this was indeed the Cloud Top Temple they had seen before, but this time it wasn't in the sky. Instead, it was fused with the mountain range beneath their feet in a bizarre way: only the front half of the temple protruded from the mountain, while the rear half was completely swallowed by the mountain rock. The point where the two met showed no signs of impact or cracking, as if they had grown together naturally.

Hao Ren took the lead, walking in front of the group while surveying the surroundings. "This ruin is getting more and more confusing. The cloud sea before, and now the desert... how did all this appear?"

"Perhaps this is just a huge illusion, and the scenes we see are projections created by the illusion," Vivian said, releasing small bats to search for clues in every nook and cranny while answering Hao Ren's question. "Whether it's the cloud sea or the desert, the only constant is this temple. Its core should be the heart of the ruins."

Lily looked at Nangong Wuyue with concern. "Are you okay?"

Nangong Wuyue crawled on the ground, a large bump swelling on his head. "...I'm fine, I'm fine. I just need to heal it later."

If this was the core of the entire ruin space, then Bessemo should also be hiding somewhere in this place. But they didn't know if he already knew someone had intruded. Vivian instinctively felt that Bessemo's target must be the temple's "storage," which was the place the group had searched in the long hall last time but ultimately failed to find. So now, everyone was heading towards the long hall, while carefully watching the surroundings: shadow demons were a cunning race, and they were afraid that Bessemo had set traps on the only path outside the long hall.

However, Bessemo probably firmly believed that after destroying the key, no one could enter this space again. The group didn't encounter any traps until they saw the entrance to the long hall appear at the end of the corridor.

Hao Ren raised his shield and was the first to rush into the long hall, only to find it empty, no different from when they had left it last time. But soon his gaze fell to the end of the long hall: there once stood a mysterious statue of Vivian, but it had disintegrated when the energy storm struck. Now, only a bare base remained, and on the circular base, a swirling, flickering mass of light was twisting, with something inside it.

"That's it!" Hesperia exclaimed softly when she saw the light, and ran over first. "This is the entrance!"

"Wait," Vivian quickly grabbed the reckless girl, threw a small bat into the light, and then nodded. "Let's go in."

The group stepped into the light, feeling as if they had crossed a layer of cool water. The surrounding environment changed accordingly, and an unusually vast and dark space appeared before them.

This space seemed to be an extremely wide stone chamber, with darkness all around, making it impossible to see the edges. They could only vaguely see some stone pillars arranged neatly in the distance. The surrounding air was filled with a humid, decaying smell, making it unknown how long this place had been sealed off. About a hundred meters ahead was the only light source here: a strange device, three or four meters high, seemingly composed of several cylinders and ellipsoids, was placed in the center of the space, emitting a faint light. It was this light that prevented this space from being completely dark. As soon as Hao Ren's eyes adjusted to the environment, he immediately saw a sneaky figure in the dim light around the device: Bessemo!

At the same time, others also saw that figure. Everyone immediately prepared for battle, and Bessemo finally noticed the strange movement behind him. He turned his head in surprise and exclaimed when he saw who it was: "How did you get in here?!"

Hao Ren was surprised to find that Bessemo looked like an ordinary human old man: wearing a plain gray cloth robe, with sparse white hair, a wrinkled face, and even a slight hunchback. His human form looked completely harmless. He wouldn't even warrant more than a box lunch if he was an extra. This appearance made it hard to imagine that this old guy was the one who orchestrated the current crisis in the sanctuary. But when Hesperia saw this "human old man," she immediately tightened her grip on her weapon: a black and red whip of unknown material. She shouted sternly, "Bessemo! What exactly do you want to do?!"

"Oh, it seems I underestimated you a bit," Bessemo said, looking at the group of people glaring at him, but without any sign of nervousness. He simply pointed to the strange device emitting a faint light behind him as if discussing the weather. "You probably can't understand, but I'm researching the ultimate knowledge and answers in this world, so could you please be quiet for a moment?"

As Bessemo's voice fell, a cold wave came from the surrounding darkness. One by one, huge shadow demons emerged from the shadows!

"I didn't run in here alone," Bessemo shrugged.

Hesperia tightened her whip, first confirmed the number of enemies, and then looked at Bessemo. "Do you think these scraps are enough? Do you know that the forces outside have already been wiped out by us? Your castle, your family, all the power you've accumulated over these thousands of years is gone!"

The shadow demons blocking the way seemed a little shaken when they heard this, but Bessemo just stared blankly at the device next to him. "Small problems... they're all small problems, insignificant compared to what I'm studying... but you wouldn't understand this kind of thing, so just die."

As Bessemo finished speaking, the shadow demons suddenly attacked!

"Full power!" Hao Ren saw that Bessemo was fiddling with the device, and the latter was emitting more and more intense light. He immediately knew that they had to act quickly, so he ignored the fact that his right hand hadn't fully recovered and took out his pistol again, shouting loudly—then pulled away to a safe distance from the enemy to start taking potshots.

The scene immediately turned into a chaotic battle. This time, the shadow demons they encountered were obviously not comparable to the previous waves of trash mobs. These ones brought in by Bessemo were the elite of the shadow demon family. As soon as they engaged, everyone felt the pressure increase sharply. Bessemo watched with satisfaction as his subordinates entangled everyone, muttered something in a low voice, and then turned around to continue fiddling with the strange device.

Izhaks saw this scene out of the corner of his eye. This gentle giant finally couldn't help but roar: "Everyone get out of the way!"

Amazing heat rose from Izhaks' body with this roar. Without him saying so, everyone instinctively retreated under the impact of this high temperature. Magnificent flames and splashing lava exploded beneath Izhaks' feet, and with a heart-wrenching roar, a lava demon five or six meters tall stood up from the sea of fire!

The shadow demons were stunned by this unbelievable change. Although Izhaks' appearance was obviously a demon, there were actually no demons in this world that were completely consistent with his image. So these shadow demons were like seeing a little green man in a spacesuit suddenly shooting lasers at them on the street, and they didn't react at all. How could Izhaks give up this good opportunity? He waved his big hand, and the lava lake under his feet spread madly to the surroundings, and several shadow demons closest to him were almost swallowed by the lava.

The other shadow demons then reacted and immediately poured all their firepower on Izhaks. But could a demon king with full power be defeated by mere numbers?

The battle actually only lasted a few minutes. The last shadow demon was turned into a lump of high carbon compounds in Izhaks' hands.

Bessemo stared blankly at all this. Hao Ren put away his pistol and walked in front of him. "So—didn't your mother teach you not to provoke guys who don't share your art style?"

Bessemo's gaze lingered on Izhaks for a long time. The powerful power possessed by this strange demon filled his face with greed. Izhaks even felt goosebumps on his body—if his current body structure still had the function of goosebumps.

But just as everyone felt that this farce was about to end, a low hum suddenly came from the device behind Bessemo.

A beam of light appeared out of thin air, completely protecting Bessemo and the device itself!

"Aha! Fate has finally favored this old man!" Bessemo suddenly burst into loud laughter, and then he stared at Izhaks. "Very interesting, you are all very interesting fellows, especially with the unseen demonic power… I will be back. When I find even more powerful power in the Land of Origin, I will personally return to dissect you interesting specimens... Haha!"