165: Chapter 165 Hell and Heaven, All in a Dream

"What are you all still hesitating for? For the future of our Yanlong Empire! For the continuation of our Legacy! So that our descendants can survive amidst the Terror Resurgence... we have no choice!"

Seeing everyone's hesitation, Dr. Liu hurriedly urged them on.

His tone was impassioned, his voice sharpening as it suddenly rose in pitch.

"Sigh..."

"Dr. Liu is right."

"In this Era of the Five Turbidities and the Terror Resurgence, where do we have any path of retreat?"

Daoist Tianji let out a low, melancholic sigh and was the first to step forward.

As he spoke, he unfurled a red paper umbrella.

The umbrella was bizarre, its surface seeming to be coated in a layer of living blood.

Thirteen Talismans were affixed to the umbrella's shaft, forming a strange Formation, as if suppressing something within the umbrella.

"Blessings of the Boundless Celestial Venerable..."

"EXORCISE!!"

Following Daoist Tianji's incantation, a twisted, sinister shadow, its entire form writhing with bloody light, emerged from beneath the umbrella!!

Clearly, the red paper umbrella unfurled by Daoist Tianji was an extremely malevolent and evil Taboo Item!

In the distance, Lin Chuan, who was currently confronting the 【Illuminating Heaven Turbid Sun】, had long since noticed the arrival of Dr. Liu and the others.

Seeing the two items produced by Dr. Liu and Daoist Tianji, Lin Chuan couldn't help but feel a slight tremor in his heart.

Because the panel deep within his consciousness had already popped up with general information about those two items.

【Damaged Sanqing Bell: One of the shed fragments of a taboo Dominator, containing Curse-Killing Rules! Can suppress and influence other rules over a wide area. Each ring steals the lifespan of the living...】

【Sacrificial God Umbrella: A creation of a Demigod. Even after eons, its divinity long lost, it can still unleash terrifying Rule Power! But the cost of using it is high...】

Observing the information on the panel, Lin Chuan couldn't help but sigh... the Yanlong Empire's foundation was indeed profound!!

It was just that Dr. Liu and the others were too weak themselves. Otherwise, relying on these two items alone would be enough to easily suppress most Dominators, even threaten low-ranking Dominators!

These two items were likely relics left behind by those 'Ancestors' of the Dongsheng Continent.

From the Sanqing Bell and the red paper umbrella, Lin Chuan sensed faint wisps of Rule Power aura originating from the 'Kunlun Ruins'.

"If my Rank increases by two more levels, I might find an opportunity to explore the Kunlun Ruins again..."

Locking onto the Sanqing Bell and the red paper umbrella, thoughts of exploring the 'Kunlun Ruins' again involuntarily surfaced in Lin Chuan's mind.

Clang!!

While Lin Chuan was pondering, the other five Pillar-Level Taboo Masters of the Yanlong Empire also took out various strange items.

One pulled out a wooden long nail, covered in Witch Runes and emanating a dense sense of resentment.

Another took out a blank Imperial Edict and began writing and drawing on it, seemingly intending to issue some kind of decree to this heaven and earth...

Whoosh!!!

The seven pillars of the 749 Bureau unleashed dozens of Taboo Items all at once!

taboo rules spread from these items, forming invisible ripples that swept over the 【Illuminating Heaven Turbid Sun】 like a tidal wave.

"Beneath the high heavens, the turbid sun illuminates the world..."

"Pitiful souls, you shall fall into the Yellow Springs..."

Beneath the black remnant sun, the woman softly chanted.

As her ethereal chant rippled out, the rules on her body began to boil and transform!!

A sense of foreboding arose in the hearts of Dr. Liu and the others!

Even Lin Chuan felt an inexplicable palpitation at this moment.

"Divine Punishment! Shining Descent!"

Crack!!

As the woman's final chant fell, a hair-raising anomaly occurred.

In the shattered sky, that black remnant sun suddenly stopped rotating.

From the cracks on its surface, no longer did corrosive pus drip, but something even more terrifying mutated!

Thick tentacles, massive as mountain ranges and covered in countless grayish-white eyeballs, emerged from within!

The woman beneath the black remnant sun gradually mutated, twisted, dissolved...

Her flesh, her bones, her everything... rose like billowing black smoke, slowly ascending, ultimately merging with that broken black sun!

A scene indescribable by any human language unfolded between the dark, chaotic sea and sky.

Sanctity and depravity, sublime beauty and grotesque distortion, reality and illusion... were all kneaded onto that broken black sun.

Rule fluctuations, transcending cognition, capable of driving even ancient Old Masters mad, continuously spilled forth from that black remnant sun.

【Warning!!】

【Illuminating Heaven Turbid Sun Second Form has appeared!】

【My great and noble master... Immediate evacuation is advised! Evacuate immediately!!】

【Do not gaze upon the Fallen Sun! Do not gaze upon the Fallen Sun!!】

Within Lin Chuan's consciousness, the panel displayed a series of crimson warning messages.

The 'book of omniscience', which he always carried with him, sealed within his Rule space, began frantically flipping its pages.

On its cover, its densely packed eyeballs rolled and trembled incessantly.

"Boss, we should scram!"

"If we don't run now, we're all dead."

"No... once trapped, death will become a luxury."

Perhaps due to extreme fear, the book of omniscience's voice became sharp and distorted.

"Shut up!!"

Lin Chuan used a Rule-Infused Buddhist Chant to reprimand it.

Hearing the displeasure in Lin Chuan's tone, it immediately dared not continue wailing.

But on its opened pages, lines of bizarre text still appeared.

【A nightmare is like a besieged city...】

【When the nightmare sleeps, Hell is Heaven.】

【When the nightmare half-awakens, Heaven becomes Hell.】

【When the nightmare fully awakens, both Heaven and Hell return to the void.】

【Truth is not truth, illusion not illusion, emptiness not emptiness, substance not substance...】

"Ah!!"

As the writing continued to appear, the 'book of omniscience' suddenly began trembling and screaming uncontrollably.

Whoosh...

Its pages flipped wildly.

Then, it directly crashed.

Snap!!

On the cover of the book of omniscience, all its eyeballs instantly closed, as if restricted by some kind of Rule Power.

Simultaneously, the words on its pages faded away one by one, disappearing...

"What's going on?"

Lin Chuan, looking at the now motionless book of omniscience, felt endless confusion surge in his heart.

Just now, it seemed the Rule fluctuations from the 【Illuminating Heaven Turbid Sun】 had triggered some rule mechanism of the 'book of omniscience', causing it to begin self-recovery.

But before it could continue recovering... it was interrupted!

"Was some entity not permitting it?"

"Or perhaps..."

The more Lin Chuan pondered, the more confused he became.

He once thought that becoming an S-rank Taboo would allow him to glimpse part of the world's truth.

Yet, even after becoming an SS-Rank Taboo, even an SSS-Rank Taboo Old Master... he still found his understanding of this world remained like a frog at the bottom of a well.

"The cause has not arrived, the effect has not manifested."

"Only by walking to greater heights can one finally clear the fog and see clearly."

Lin Chuan did not dwell on it for long.

Soon, he redirected his attention to the Second Form 【Illuminating Heaven Turbid Sun】.

He did not follow the panel's suggestion and flee immediately.

If it were just him alone, he naturally wouldn't stay here to clash head-on with the 【Illuminating Heaven Turbid Sun】.

But now, the Yanlong Empire's 749 Bureau had entered the fray.

By leveraging the foundation of the Yanlong Empire's 749 Bureau, with proper handling, today it wasn't impossible not just to suppress the 【Illuminating Heaven Turbid Sun】, but even to swallow a piece of its body!!