92: Chapter 92 The Sleeping Throne

Cthylla raised her trident.

The dome cracked with spiderweb-like patterns. Countless twisted runes crawled out from the cracks, writhing and intertwining like living things, forming a massive magic circle dozens of zhang in diameter in the blink of an eye.

The runes rotated, emitting a "click-clack" sound like interlocking gears. The air was compressed, causing sonic booms, and the black stone floor beneath their feet began to tremble slightly.

Cthylla raised both hands, dark green liquid flowing beneath her skin.

Dark green light seeped from her pores, slowly drifting toward the magic circle in the air.

The rotation speed of the magic circle accelerated abruptly, a fierce wind rose from the ground, and Wu Xi's clothes snapped in the gale.

His body began to feel light, as if someone had hooked his brain with an iron hook and was forcefully pulling it out.

"Relax," Cthylla's voice echoed directly in his mind. "Do not resist."

Veins bulged on Wu Xi's forehead; he could feel his Soul slowly detaching from his physical body.

He took a deep breath and suddenly relaxed every muscle in his body.

"Pop!" It sounded like a wine bottle being uncorked. His Soul suddenly detached from his body, floating in mid-air.

Looking down, his physical body was still standing in place, eyes tightly shut, expressionless.

Cthylla's face was as pale as paper, and the dark green light had faded significantly; clearly, casting the spell had consumed a great deal.

Deep within the hall, on the throne built from countless bones, Cthulhu slept quietly.

His body was covered in dark green scales, and on his octopus-like head, countless tentacles hung down over his chest, rising and falling slightly with his breathing.

"Go," Cthylla's voice sounded again, carrying a hint of exhaustion.

An irresistible force surged from behind, pushing Wu Xi's Soul toward Cthulhu's body.

The speed increased, and the wind whistled in his ears. He saw Cthulhu's massive head enlarging before his eyes, saw his tightly closed eyes, and saw the dense suction cups on his tentacles.

Just as he was about to collide with Cthulhu's body, a cold barrier suddenly appeared before him.

"Hum!" The barrier emitted a low, resonant sound. Wu Xi felt as if he had crashed into a block of ten-thousand-year-old ice, his Soul trembling violently.

Immediately after, ripples spread across the barrier, and a massive suction force pulled him inside.

The world spun around him.

When Wu Xi regained consciousness, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar world.

A star exploded before his eyes, scorching plasma sweeping over everything, burning planets to ash.

A civilization was born beneath his feet, developing from primitive tribes to an interstellar Empire, only to be wiped out in a war, leaving behind nothing but debris floating in space.

An infant was born, grew up, fell in love, married, had children, and then took their last breath on a hospital bed.

A war erupted, countless soldiers slaughtered each other on the battlefield, blood dyed the earth red, and corpses piled up like mountains.

Love, hate, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

Life, death, rise, and fall.

Everything, all of it, rushed into his consciousness like a burst dam, without any logic or order, mixed together into a tangled mess.

Wu Xi's head felt like it was about to explode.

He clutched his head, rolling frantically in the Void Realm, letting out a silent scream. Cracks began to appear in his Soul, like glass struck by a hammer, ready to shatter completely at any moment.

He was going insane.

"Hold on!" Cthylla's voice suddenly echoed in his mind like a thunderclap, splitting the chaotic fog. "This is my father's Sea of Consciousness! Chaos is the main theme here! You must find order to survive!"

Wu Xi was stunned.

His remaining sanity made him clench his teeth. He focused all his Mental Energy, like clenching a fist, and tightly grasped his core consciousness to resist the erosion of chaos.

Just as he was about to fail, on the verge of total collapse, a voice whispered in his ear.

"Welcome to the Secret Realm of Chaos."

He turned around abruptly, but the Void Realm was empty.

"Who?" Wu Xi demanded sharply, his voice trembling slightly from tension.

"Who I am is not important," the voice replied, still gentle. "What matters is that I am the master here."

"Did you design this place?" Wu Xi asked, while vigilantly observing his surroundings.

"Yes," the voice answered crisply. "A hundred years ago, when Cthulhu and Great Old Ones like Hastur were at war, I seized the opportunity to infiltrate his Sea of Consciousness and created this Secret Realm of Chaos. I trapped his consciousness here."

Wu Xi's pupils contracted.

What kind of entity was Cthulhu? He was the Great Old One sleeping in Rlyeh, a terrifying existence capable of destroying the world.

Someone had actually managed to infiltrate his Sea of Consciousness and trap his mind?

How was that possible?

"Why?" Wu Xi asked, suppressing the shock in his heart.

"Why?" The voice chuckled, the laughter carrying a hint of childlike innocence, yet also a chilling cruelty. "Because it's fun, of course."

"Fun?" Wu Xi was stunned.

"Yes," the voice said. "Think about it. Watching a Great Old One, powerful beyond imagination, lose his way in a maze I created, never finding the exit, never waking up—isn't that a very interesting thing?"

Wu Xi fell silent.

Treating the imprisonment of a Great Old One as a game simply because it was fun—this kind of madness was beyond his comprehension.

"What do you want?" Wu Xi asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't want anything," the voice said. "I just want to play a game with you."

"What game?"

"A game about choices," the voice replied. "In this Secret Realm of Chaos, there are countless paths. Each path leads to a different ending.

Some paths lead to Cthulhu's consciousness, some lead to death, and some lead to madness far worse than death. All you have to do is choose a path and walk it."

"What if I refuse?" Wu Xi said.

"You have no right to refuse," the voice remained gentle, but the tone carried an unquestionable certainty. "From the moment you entered this place, the game began. Unless you find Cthulhu's consciousness or die here, the game will never end."

Wu Xi clenched his fists.

His nails dug deep into his palms.

What he hated most was this feeling of being played like a puppet.

It was like a mouse caught by a cat; no matter how much it struggled, it couldn't escape the other's grasp.

But he had no choice; here, the other party was the absolute Dominator. He didn't even know where they were, let alone how to resist.

"The game begins."

The moment the voice finished, three paths suddenly appeared before Wu Xi.

The first path was bright, with warm sunlight at its end. Golden sunlight bathed the earth, green grass was lush, flowers were in bloom, and everything seemed so beautiful and peaceful, like the paradise of legends.

The second path was dark, with pitch-black darkness at its end, like a massive black hole capable of devouring everything.

The third path was twisted, its very shape constantly changing. It bent upward, folded downward, extended left, and twisted right. The stones on the path constantly rearranged themselves, and the trees by the roadside constantly deformed. Everything was in a state of eternal change, with no rules to speak of.

"Choose," the voice said. "I give you ten seconds to think. Ten, nine, eight..."

Wu Xi's gaze swept quickly over the three paths. The path of light looked the safest, but the safer a place appeared, the more dangerous it often was.

That mysterious person couldn't be so kind as to give him a path straight to the destination. The end of this path was likely not paradise, but Hell.

Cthulhu himself was a dark entity; his consciousness was likely hidden within this endless darkness.

Although the darkness was terrifying, at least it was pure. Pure danger was always better than disguised safety.

The twisted path looked the most bizarre; no one knew where it led.

It could be the shortest path or the longest. It could be the safest path or the most insane.

One wrong step, and every step thereafter would be wrong. "Three, two, one..."

The moment the countdown ended.

Wu Xi lunged forward, choosing the dark path.

Without the slightest hesitation, the moment he stepped into the darkness, the path of light and the twisted path behind him vanished simultaneously.

The surroundings were instantly plunged into absolute darkness.

Loneliness, despair, cold.

These emotions surged like a tide, attempting to drown his consciousness.

Wu Xi took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

He took a step and walked forward.

The darkness around him did not change at all.

No end, no direction.

Just as he began to wonder if he would walk like this forever, a faint light suddenly appeared ahead.

Wu Xi felt a surge of joy and quickened his pace toward the faint light.

Getting closer, he finally saw what it was.

An ancient bronze oil lamp, placed on a dilapidated wooden table. The flame of the oil lamp flickered weakly, emitting a dim, yellow light.

And sitting beside the wooden table was a person, a person wearing a black robe.

He had his back to Wu Xi, his appearance unclear.

"You have come," the mysterious person's voice came from the mouth of the robed figure.

Wu Xi stopped and looked at him vigilantly.

"You truly chose the dark path," the robed figure said, slowly turning around.

"Don't be agitated," the robed figure said. "The game has only just begun. Did you think that by choosing the dark path, you were closer to Cthulhu's consciousness? You were wrong. What you chose was the path to me."

"What do you mean?" Wu Xi asked, an ominous premonition rising in his heart.

"It means," the robed figure smiled, a hint of cruelty in the smile, "Cthulhu's consciousness is not here at all."

Wu Xi's expression changed drastically.

"Then where is it?"

"It is at the end of the path of light," the robed figure said. "I told you that the safest path is often the most dangerous. But I didn't tell you that the most dangerous path can also be the most useless."

The robed figure said, "Who told you to trust your own judgment so easily? You thought you were smart, thought you could see through my trap. But in reality, you fell into the snare I carefully designed for you from the very beginning."

"But it doesn't matter," the robed figure said. "The game isn't over yet. Now, I will give you a chance. You can play a game with me.

If you win, I will tell you the true location of Cthulhu's consciousness. If you lose, your body and your Soul will belong to me."

The robed figure extended a hand, making a gesture of invitation. "How about it? Do you dare to make a wager?"

Wu Xi looked up, his gaze locked onto the robed figure. "I'll bet."