Chapter 1 A Gigantic Structure

The Spirit Realm Clock Tower was a massive and magnificent structure—though its appearance was filled with distorted and bizarrely mismatched features, its scale was still awe-inspiring. Just thinking about the complete view of the building he had seen from outside the tower, Hao Ren could tell that the circular hall they were currently in was far from the entire first floor; it should only be a small part of it. He stood in the center of this faded, eerily atmospheric circular hall, looking up at the high vaulted ceiling, seeing a structure so crisscrossed that it made one's head spin. A large number of haphazard, capillary-like supports and beams intertwined overhead. Some seemed to be the original roof structure of the hall, but others looked like skeletons crudely fused from other buildings. And behind these crisscrossing beams and supports was a dim, circular dome, so high it could almost be described as distant. Hao Ren squinted, focusing his attention, and saw that the dome was faintly covered with exquisite patterns and designs. Some of these patterns seemed to depict a massive creature with numerous tentacles covering an entire planet.

It was the scene of the First Born's sowing.

There was no doubt that this twisted, bizarre tower was indeed a creation of the Goddess of Creation, and Hao Ren believed that the tower wasn't originally in this terrifying state. Something must have happened after the goddess fell that caused it to become so distorted.

Lily wandered around the hall, holding her ice-fire double claws. She hunched over, occasionally twitching her nose to sniff at the ancient, dilapidated murals and the demon hunter artifacts on the wooden shelves. Although the eerie atmosphere made her look nervous, the husky girl was still diligently fulfilling her duties. She stopped beside a shelf filled with magical artifacts, her tail wagging unconsciously. "Someone touched these things recently… They have a very fresh scent on them."

Hao Ren turned his gaze from the ceiling. "How recently?"

"At most a day ago," Lily chirped as she ran back. "Landlord, landlord, do you have any spicy sticks left?"

Hao Ren was about to nag her for not forgetting to eat no matter what the situation, but he suddenly realized something when he saw Lily's expression. "Are you planning to transform in here?!"

"Better safe than sorry," Lily said, sharpening her claws. "If we really face those Saints, I don't think I can handle them without transforming…"

Hao Ren casually pulled a pack of spicy sticks from his dimensional pocket and threw it to her. Bai Huo happened to walk over, and after hearing Lily's words, the demon hunter girl said faintly, "Even if you transform, you probably still can't beat them if you really face the Saints. The Elders are already as powerful as ancient gods, and the Saints have even more forbidden knowledge and experience…"

Before Bai Huo could finish, Vivian interrupted with a snort. "And they also have lumbar disc herniation and old cold leg problems from being shut-ins for thousands of years—those old guys haven't fought in thousands of years, just holed up in this damn black tower. To be honest, I doubt how much combat power they have left. I believe they have wisdom, but I don't believe they have good health."

Lily glanced at Vivian. "Don't forget you're from the same era as them…"

"Alright, stop talking nonsense," Hao Ren interrupted them, looking up at Bai Huo. "What's the probability of a Saint taking action personally?"

"If it were under normal circumstances in the past, it would be almost impossible for them to take action—their forms have been ruined by forbidden knowledge. Every time they take action, it's not only a huge threat to the outside world, but also a great pain to themselves. But now… it's hard to say. The people we brought this time are just the vanguard, meant to deal with the regular guards in the tower according to the plan, and then attack the upper levels after the main force comes in. But this place…"

"But this place is like a haunted house," Hao Ren said, looking at the empty circular hall and the demon hunter masters who were scattered around searching for clues. "We can't see a single guard. To be honest, this 'safe' state makes me feel even more uneasy."

Tutan and the demon hunter masters were familiar with the structure of the Spirit Realm Clock Tower, so they quickly completed the search of the first floor. The scattered demon hunters regrouped, and no one had found any enemies.

"There's no one on the first floor. There are faint auras above the second floor, but they haven't reacted to our arrival in any way," a demon hunter with a rough voice reported. "In the tower keeper's house, there's a set of hunting crossbows that have just been maintained, looking like they were preparing for a battle, but for some reason, the owner of the weapons has disappeared."

Tutan stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and decided to leave a few people in the circular hall to wait for the main force, while the others continued to advance to the upper levels of the Spirit Realm Clock Tower.

The interior of the Spirit Realm Clock Tower was as grand as a palace. There were three different staircases leading from the first floor circular hall to the second floor. After some thought, Tutan chose a relatively safe one: this staircase, which spiraled along the outside of the circular hall, led to the depths of the wine cellar on the second floor, where the defenses were said to be relatively weak.

As for why a "wine cellar" would be set up on the second floor… there was no need to investigate this.

Hao Ren stepped onto this faded, gloomy staircase. Ancient, incomplete murals and reliefs receded gradually beside him. He felt like he was walking in the abdomen of a dying, pale monster, with everything around him permeated with the aura of death. A strange chill blew down from the staircase exit ahead, a chill that seemed to penetrate the soul, making him and Bai Huo beside him shiver slightly.

"You felt it too?" Hao Ren asked, looking at Bai Huo. "There seems to be wind."

"It's the wind of the Spirit Realm," Bai Huo said with a solemn expression. "Some places inside the Spirit Realm Clock Tower are connected to bizarre 'places.' Part of this tower is in Corpus, and another part is located in some twisted, overlapping contradictory spaces. This kind of strange wind often blows out of nowhere. No matter how powerful you are, you will feel an unbearable chill in this wind. The mentor said these winds are the 'winds of the Spirit Realm,' the wails of the original masters of the Corpus space who are imprisoned in the past timeline. Whenever this kind of wind blows… the state of the Clock Tower becomes unstable."

As she spoke, she suddenly mentioned Hasson, who had been captured by the Elder Council and whose vitality was already dwindling. "The mentor might still be imprisoned in this tower…"

"He's still alive?"

"I… I don't believe he would just die like this, die in this ridiculous infighting," Bai Huo said, biting her lip. "The mentor has experienced many hardships in his life, and he survived the most brutal Twilight of the Gods. How could he die in this place?"

At this moment, Lily, who was walking behind Hao Ren, suddenly twitched her ears. "Hey, did you guys hear anything?"

"Sound?" Hao Ren stopped suspiciously. "What?"

Lily closed her eyes, her pointed canine ears twitching lightly in the air, sensitively turning in various directions. Some subtle low-frequency sounds, perhaps only audible to canines, intermittently entered her ears. The sounds buzzed, like many people muttering in their sleep, or like a secret sacrificial ritual, or like some evil creature whispering in the cracks of the shadows, enticing the ignorant to pursue those forbidden, untouchable mysteries. Lily's golden eyes flickered slightly in the darkness. "It sounds like a lot of people are talking…"

Bai Huo immediately tightened her short sword, focusing even more on concealing everyone's aura. "Are they guards from the Elder Council?"

"Doesn't seem like it…" Lily's voice was a little absentminded. "It's buzzing, constantly saying something… It's making me a little dizzy."

Then she suddenly shook her head, grabbed a spicy stick from the snack bag at hand, and chewed it vigorously, her spirits immediately recovering. "It's okay, it might be infrasound. My ears can hear a lot of sounds that ordinary people can't hear~"

"There's still no one ahead," Tutan said, narrowing his eyes slightly to sense the aura at the end of the staircase. The auras he could sense were still very far away. "It might be the influence of the Spirit Realm winds. There are many strange phenomena in this tower. This is your first time here, so be vigilant, but don't be too paranoid."

A few minutes later, the group arrived at the end of the spiral staircase. Tutan disappeared first into the staircase exit, and Hao Ren followed closely behind.

The exit was indeed located deep within a "wine cellar," as Tutan had said. As soon as Hao Ren came out, he smelled an intoxicating aroma of wine wafting around him, and neatly arranged huge wine barrels were lined up all around. He couldn't help but exclaim, "You guys have a pretty good life here. Demon hunters have a lot of hobbies… uh, what's wrong?"

He noticed that Tutan wasn't paying attention to him. The demon hunter master was just standing there blankly, staring up at the architectural structure above.

After a long time, Tutan broke the silence. "…The structure has changed… The structure of the Spirit Realm Clock Tower has changed!"

(Happy New Year, everyone~~)