And was Amber, that femme fatale, dead yet?!
He tried to struggle awake and return to his body, but no matter how he urged his spiritual sense, his consciousness remained as heavy as lead.
Could it be that he was going to be trapped in his Sea of Consciousness forever?!
Just then, he sensed a familiar aura deep within his Sea of Consciousness.
Lin Chen instantly grew alert;
Something was wrong!
This was clearly his own spiritual platform—why had another presence mixed into it?
But it seemed to bear no hostility.
Lin Chen slowly began to recall this familiar aura...
He remembered!
When he had turned the Door Gods summoned in the Myriad Ghosts Night Parade Capital into cards, he had briefly glimpsed an ancient gaze—crossing the void, piercing myriad worlds, and locking eyes with him from afar.
The aura of that ancient being had actually remained deep within his Sea of Consciousness?!
Because Lin Chen's reason had collapsed and his spiritual platform had shaken, the hidden presence had instead surfaced!
And it had sensed Lin Chen, enveloping him.
It was clearly only a faint wisp of aura, yet it made Lin Chen dazedly feel—as if a colossal form spanning heaven and earth stood before him!
And the form's appearance was constantly changing;
At times, it became the mighty Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong;
At times, it became the furious, bristling-bearded Zhong Kui;
In the blink of an eye, it became the two baleful generals, Shen Tu and Yu Lei;
Strangest of all, it even transformed into the old security guard at the entrance of the residential compound where Lin Chen had lived in his previous life!
A thousand faces and ten thousand forms, each one different.
Yet no matter how wildly its appearance changed, this ancient being gave Lin Chen one unchanging impression:
It was sealing, guarding, a barrier, protection...
That impression grew clearer and more tangible...
Lin Chen finally understood;
It was a "door"!
What he sensed was the concept of a "door"!
The aura left behind by this ancient being was actually a "door."
Combined with the feeling produced when he had summoned the Door Gods to create his card, it was not difficult to guess that this ancient being—
Was the Door God!
He was not any specific Door God;
He was the Door God itself, a god who governed the rules, authority, and concept of "doors"!
No wonder when Lin Chen looked at him, he saw every image related to "doors."
The Yuchi Gong and Qin Qiong he had summoned and created were equivalent to incarnate avatars of him, the "forms" he reflected throughout the myriad heavens and worlds!
"So that's how it is!"
No wonder Amber had said back then that he did not understand the true power of gods;
His cards merely possessed divine power in name, without touching or mastering divinity on the level of authority.
Shock, enlightenment, terror, and countless other emotions exploded in Lin Chen's heart.
That accidental card creation and spirit summoning had actually drawn the gaze of a true god!
And he had even obtained a wisp of his aura.
Lin Chen first laughed joyfully, then began to feel frightened, like a child clutching a golden ingot;
Because in the Western hero stories of his previous life, there was a famous saying—"With great power comes great responsibility."
But in the Eastern fantasy culture of China, it ought to be changed to: "With greater power comes greater karma!"
The Door God's lowering his gaze upon Lin Chen surely carried immense karma!
Could Lin Chen bear it?
But then he recalled the bone-deep regret and self-reproach he had felt before his reason collapsed;
I was too weak...
It was my fault, Xiao Diao...
Besides, this world was not one where only he could summon gods;
Dungeons devoured people, Outer Gods nurtured offspring, the God of Wine hid sacrifices...
There might be even more unknown and bizarre existences lurking right around him!
Having crossed into this world, Lin Chen did not seek fame among the various nations. He only wanted to preserve his life in this foreign world and protect the people he cared about.
But his strength was still far too weak!
So weak that he could not even protect the person before his eyes.
Did the Door God's authority before him not represent protection and shelter perfectly?
Was that not precisely what Lin Chen wanted?!
First protect himself, so calamity could not reach him and he could live freely; if he had strength to spare, then shelter all the people, so all the poor scholars under heaven might smile!
Lin Chen had sorted out his thoughts and made up his mind.
Then he would accept this karma and carry out the duty of protection!
The author has brought the Door God Temple to beg for monthly tickets and follows!
What offering could burn more fiercely than a monthly ticket?
What tribute could be more exalted than the supreme readers' follows?
Use the readers' monthly tickets as kindling and forge an incense fire that will burn forever for this book!
You readers are incredible! We're number 69 on the New Book Ranking! Top ten on the New Fantasy Ranking!
I believe our ranking will climb higher and higher from here!
Let us quietly await the day we pluck the laurel in the Moon Palace and ride through Chang'an admiring all the flowers!
Hello, I have killed my way back from hell!
Lin Chen had already thought it through. In this world's bizarre domain, moving against the current was like sailing upstream—if one did not advance, one fell back!
The humiliation of defeat had to be remembered; only by knowing shame could one summon courage!
He had to seize the Door God's favor!
So he opened his mind and boldly faced the Door God;
The Door God also gazed at Lin Chen, seemingly wanting to say something to him.
But when this god opened his mouth, it was as though mountains collapsed and seas overturned. Lin Chen's Sea of Consciousness trembled, and his spiritual platform teetered on the verge of collapse!
He could not hear what the Door God was trying to convey at all!
Was the strength of his spiritual sense still insufficient?
And just at that moment, Lin Chen sensed a divine resonance coming from the outside world!
It was as though something had advanced!
A warm divine power surged into his Sea of Consciousness and stabilized his mind at the instant his spiritual platform was about to collapse!
The purifying divinity granted Lin Chen a momentary boost. At last, he could clearly hear the words conveyed by the ancient deity before him!
But Lin Chen only had time to make out one word—
"Open."
Then his mind shook violently, and his spiritual sense seemed to be blasted three thousand miles away. The Door God's aura also gradually dispersed...
Once his mind had stabilized, Lin Chen opened his eyes and found that he had returned to the real world. His reason had actually recovered!
Moreover, his spiritual platform was exceptionally stable, and his Sea of Consciousness had broadened considerably. His mental power had surged along with it, reaching the point where he could "look inward."
Lin Chen looked at Yuchi Gong and Qin Qiong again. Unlike before, he now felt a certain intimacy;
He simply felt that these two Door Gods were truly his natural-born martial retinue and guards.
The two Door Gods felt the same way. When Yuchi Gong and Qin Qiong saw Lin Chen awaken, they were overjoyed as well!
They only felt that their lord had become even more dignified and divine. But because they were in the middle of a fierce battle and could not break away, they could only express themselves through spiritual sense:
The thoughts of the two divine generals came blazing like flames, conveying concern and worry.
They were concerned about Lin Chen's current condition, and worried that Chen Xiao Diao had fallen asleep from contamination;
They looked exactly like parents who had exhausted themselves worrying over their child!
Chen Xiao Diao had not been devoured after all! But she was not far from death, either.
Lin Chen carefully examined Chen Xiao Diao's condition. Her face was deathly pale, and bizarre energy had entered her body!
More frighteningly, faint, fine black lines had surfaced on her skin, as though some bizarre creature had already occupied her blood vessels.
Her hair was no longer the sharp, short cut she wore before. It had grown much longer;
Her fingernails also looked as if they had not been trimmed in ages—they had grown longer and harder, with tiny hoof-like patches of keratin emerging at the tips;
She had clearly only been unconscious for a short while, yet she looked as though she had been asleep for several months;
Her body was growing and developing at an accelerated rate!
It was the "breeding" contamination of the Black Goat cub!
Before you continue