Unknown-Level Existence, an Immortal Treading Through Flames.

A lone cloud emerges from the mountain peak, and mist shrouds the high mountains.

This is already deep within the Shennongjia area.

Although it could be described as a place where no one could walk, the place the nun desired was still in a more distant place.

Flora was well aware of humanity's intentions; she had learned the full story of their operation before her spies were eliminated one by one.

The little girl who had mastered the Key of Consciousness was assigned a mission along with several Mental Perception Type Fusion Warrior.

The opponent's minimum objective is to eliminate all informants about them in the human capital city area at once, in order to prevent the assassination attempt in Haiyuan City from happening again.

Clearly, the inescapable trap set up with the Thousand Herrscher last time has paid off.

She had already planned for the benefits of success and the consequences of failure, as well as the risks and gains, from the very beginning.

Flora never underestimated her opponent, but she still didn't expect that even with her cautious and stealthy approach, she could still be caught off guard and have her weaknesses and movement restricted.

She was originally from a town in the Far East, and her prepared identity was that of the wife of a local government official. The reason she was able to travel directly to the land of Shenzhou within half an hour of realizing she was being targeted was because she used human technology—a quantum teleportation portal.

The Shennongjia area is filled with dense Honkai Energy phenomena. After its external informants were cut off and abandoned, and all its advanced sub-entities committed suicide, the only way for the enemy to find it was to use instruments to search for Nuclear Radiation.

However, that minute amount of radiation can naturally be detected and located by sensitive instruments in areas where humans can live for extended periods.

However, in this vast Shennongjia area, the influence of the Honkai Energy phenomenon is deeply rooted. The once-developed peripheral areas, which were tourist attractions with traces of human intervention, are now the best breeding ground for Honkai Beast.

Its harsh environment means that the Celestial Phenomenon change extremely strangely almost every ten kilometers or so.

Looking out from the high mountain, the nun could almost piece together dozens of strange celestial Celestial Phenomenon in her field of vision.

The clouds, like a light veil, carrying the warm sunlight and enveloping the earth, moved slowly and leisurely, while not far away, a terrifying downpour, like a great river crashing down from the sky, poured down.

Immediately following was a thunderstorm, as black as ink and surging like a tide.

Looking westward from the thunderstorm area, a clear dividing line is formed by ancient trees that grow so tall they reach the Clouds. These trees and shrubs seem to grow endlessly, creating a vast and magnificent landscape where forests and mountains rise to the same height.

Further away, fiery flames descended from the sky, while to the east, frost covered the land.

The bizarre field of Honkai Energy, combined with the chemical effects of physical phenomena, has turned Shennongjia into a forbidden zone.

Amidst these Celestial Phenomenon that defy the laws of nature, there lurk nearly double-digit numbers of Emperor-class Honkai Beast and countless Honkai Energy Beast races, as numerous as drops of water in an ocean current.

For example, the pure white mist that surrounds Flora.

These seemingly harmless white mists in the mountains, which are not limited to the outside world, are actually a group of Honkai Beast, like mayflies or dust particles, in an environment rich in Honkai Energy.

They were like ordinary mist in front of this special Honkai Apostle, but in front of the rest of the beings, the threat level of these Honkai Beasts could not be measured by individuals.

Furthermore, the mountain beneath the nun's feet was only three thousand meters high before the Great Honkai, but now it has doubled in height, and the hidden dangers and secrets within it are even more profound and cannot be pondered too closely.

Within this terrifyingly forbidden realm, instruments for detecting Nuclear Radiation are rendered useless.

Even if a large number of Fusion Warrior arrive, what can they do?

Flora would inevitably leave traces of her coordinates by using that quantum portal, but the fact that she dared to come knowing this shows that this area is indeed very troublesome.

Humans may have the ability to flatten it, but the cost-effectiveness and time involved are another matter entirely.

The missionaries decisively abandoned all their informants and went directly to this deserted natural area, which was actually a good thing for the enemy.

After all, her powers have a very high probability of causing mass casualties in the city, and preventing the enemy from resorting to desperate measures before death can avoid many unnecessary sacrifices.

However, this resulted in killing missionaries becoming an extremely difficult task.

It may be extremely difficult, but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

Flora clearly has a good grasp of this.

Her most distinctive advantage is that all the Honkai creatures here will detour around her, even forming her strongest defensive perimeter and hindering the enemy's advance.

Furthermore, without relying on instruments to detect Nuclear Radiation, finding a single person in such a vast area would be an extremely demanding task.

However, once the fact that the team specifically tasked with eliminating him contains multiple Herrscher- level individuals and the diverse Gene Ability of the Fusion Warrior is taken into account, the situation becomes highly uncertain.

That's why she kept going deeper and deeper into the land, without stopping for even a moment.

The missionary's policies, bottom lines, and predictions about the Moth to Fire were all very accurate. She believed that the ultimate goal of this mission targeting her was naturally to kill her.

There might even be a requirement to "ensure the retrieval of the Pseudo-Herrscher Core containing [Seduction]" in order to guard against his previous resurrection.

Once the basic objective— that Flora's spies no longer exist in human cities—is achieved, the Moth to Fire will inevitably begin to weigh the cost-effectiveness of its subsequent actions.

The reason for launching the first batch of experiments involving a thousand people was to deal with the escalating Honkai events worldwide, in order to minimize the human sacrifices caused by such events.

Flora was unaware of Fuxi's existence, but even if she didn't understand the real reason behind his actions, it didn't prevent her from discerning his current priorities.

That is why these Fusion Warriors, who must travel to all parts of the world at any time, have no time to engage in a war of attrition with the missionaries.

In this scenario, assuming the other side doesn't enter the Shennongjia area and entrusts everything to Mechanical Force for reconnaissance, then it can be said that the crisis is over.

However, if these teams still choose to enter this area, it could mean that someone within it possesses the Gene Ability to lock onto a certain range of themselves without any intermediary.

Otherwise, there is absolutely no need for the other party to waste manpower and time.

Flora's surveillance network had completely disappeared. She had no idea whether any Fusion Warrior were already on their way, or what kind of situation she was facing.

Therefore, the monster could only venture into the deepest part, driven by a strong sense of crisis.

The missionary wasn't unaware that if the other party truly came, it would be pointless to advance even to the deepest part, but the words of the Honkai Consciousness turned her actions into this stubborn forward march.

[My apostle, you cannot die until your true potential is confirmed and recorded.]

[Deepest within lies your kin, these dust-like Honkai Beast, a race composed of their shed fur and the swirling currents of their breath.]

Therefore, there's no need to worry; just keep moving forward.

The closer the nun got to that mysterious area, the more she noticed the strangeness and mystery of her "compatriot."

The mountain path and the road ahead are constantly undergoing wondrous changes, and one can completely lose one's sense of distance and direction amidst the ever-changing layers of steps and scenery.

However, it seems that because the missionary is connected to the Honkai Consciousness, even such a being did not deliberately harm her, but instead opened up the mystery of the path ahead, allowing her to walk on the right path.

That's precisely why Flora was puzzled. After all, she wasn't a true Apostle and didn't have the same authority Herrscher to take the lead in the Honkai world. If the being in front of her was Emperor-class being, it would be normal for her to act in this way.

However, if those Fusion Warriors are to be deterred, they must at least be Judgment-class Honkai Beast, or even far more powerful than any Judgment-class that have appeared before, to fit the meaning behind the Honkai Consciousness's words.

While Judgment-class Honkai Beast might obey the Herrscher, they would never deliberately show respect or any special treatment to Pseudo-Herrscher.

Even if Flora is connected to the Honkai Consciousness, this is still true as long as she does not actively demonstrate her own will.

That's why the scene before us seemed so bizarre.

Flora looked up into the increasingly dark distance ahead. The clouds and mist still carried a chilly moisture around the fields, but she could vaguely tell that she was getting closer and closer to her destination.

"What level of Honkai Beast is that fellow Honkai Beast ahead?"

[It cannot be encompassed by the vocabulary currently defined by humankind.]

The missionary understood the implication of the other party's words, and she then asked:

"Does it possess intelligence? Unlike ordinary Honkai Beast, it seems quiet and serene."

[Like most Honkai Beast, it exists only in its own instincts and lacks clear intelligence; it cannot understand or possess emotions. However, unlike most Honkai Beasts, its instincts are more aligned with a natural ecosystem.]

[According to the conventional definition of human civilization, it might not be considered a Honkai Beast.]

That's why it's your compatriot.

It is neither Honkai Beast nor a human.

The meaning of "compatriot" became very broad at this time; as long as it met these two criteria, it seemed that it could be classified into one category.

According to Flora, beneath the surface of description and explanation lies a subtle ranking of values by the divine.

Let's analyze this using her own example.

It is abnormal that a Pseudo-Herrscher can enjoy the same treatment as the other Apostles.

The stated reason given by the Honkai Consciousness is to record possibilities and outcomes that have never been shown.

The answers to these so-called possibilities and outcomes can be found upon closer examination.

That is, Flora's continuous devouring of her true kin could potentially lead to an evolutionary outcome that ultimately reaches the essence of self-generating power.

--That is, to elevate the shallow power of [bewitchment] to an existence that is almost close to the rule.

This is different from the Herrscher created by the Honkai Consciousness mechanism that shares the power belonging to "oneself". Upon closer examination, the limits of the Missionary are terrifying and outrageous.

In essence, a conventional Herrscher is someone who uses the Herrscher Core medium and power to form contracts and connections, thereby squandering and inefficiently utilizing the Honkai Energy of the Imaginary Space.

Such a powerful being, posing a great threat to civilization, is in essence, a tool that can be mass-produced in a certain sense.

Because the essence of power itself does not disappear with the death of Herrscher or the plundering of the Herrscher Core.

The Herrscher Core is merely a key closely linked to power and Imaginary Space.

The Divine Key Project took advantage of this, replicating and reproducing the way power is used.

In other words, even if the previous Herrscher of Flames died, or even if her core was transformed into the Judgment of Shamash.

However, this does not prevent the Honkai Consciousness from creating a new Herrscher of Flames in the next generation.

The factors that prevent the Honkai Consciousness from mass-producing are simply the rules of this large-scale mechanism, not the irreplaceable nature of the Herrscher's physical body and core.

This is why Su Qing'an became a target of the Honkai after that incident.

To put it more simply...

Even if the user of the Judgment of Shamash were to engage in a death match with the new Herrscher of Flames, neither would be able to use their full strength.

Given the vastness of its power to accelerate molecular operations, even the separation and use of two users will not cause an imbalance.

This is like two people who both own the same lake, but if they both drink from the same cup, there will be no problem even if they keep drinking from the same lake.

It all comes down to who's stronger and who's weaker—it's just a matter of how big their cups are.

In conclusion, power is essentially an existence of extremely high status.

If a missionary could reach that level on her own, it would be perfectly reasonable for all of humanity to be instantly bewitched and become her subservient.

Theoretically speaking, it is clearly impossible for Flora to reach that level.

But even as an object of record-keeping, she already qualifies as something the Honkai Consciousness would be interested in.

The missionary herself was well aware of this, so she understood that, given the structure of Honkai Consciousness, only those levels involving the essence of power were worthy of the other party's attention.

Following this logic, the so-called compatriots ahead must be similar beings.

This is a good thing.

She thought for a moment and asked:

How does he compare to Su Qing'an?

[There's no room or meaning in comparing them; currently, the likely scenario is that neither side can gain the upper hand.]

[Their abilities are all very special; neither your fellow human nor that other human can easily escape death.]

Flora stepped onto the new mountaintop, glanced at the distant thunderstorm, and continued to ask:

"Is it because of the power of the Herrscher of Death?"

The Honkai Consciousness denied this reason, stating:

[That human is advancing towards a special realm. If he takes just a few more steps to achieve a complete Soul State, he will be naturally invincible against most beings.]

[Your fellow human beings were unable to escape those constraints and circumstances, so to that human being, they were no different from air.]

The nun paused for a moment, clearly unaware of this.

Even though she observed the entire battle through the eyes and ears of the Power Seed, she couldn't see through Su Qing'an's true changes like the Honkai Consciousness could.

She said with certainty:

"But that doesn't include you, my god."

He did not answer the question directly, but instead said indifferently:

[The Soul State can only prevent what exists there, but conversely, it will lose all its special properties.]

[And even at the level of an apostle, unless your evolution approaches one percent of the magnitude of the essence of power, the possibility of fulfilling your desires through that person is zero percent.]

The missionary thought for a moment, and this roughly meant that the possibility of forced mating was ruled out.

The girl frowned. Of course, she didn't care that the gods knew her thoughts. The piety that was rooted in her soul from birth was the original origin of the word "missionary".

As a monster devoid of morality and ethics, she feels no shame for it.

Flora only lamented the increased difficulty in achieving her goal after incorporating the Soul State into her thinking.

But only a moment later, she smiled and said earnestly:

"I will try my best."

Regarding how to create genuine compatriots and establish a record, missionaries already had several routes in mind to achieve their goal.

Although her plan to join forces with Thousand Herrscher failed and all her informants were forced to be removed, she still had other ways to achieve the outcome she desired.

The prerequisite is to leave Shennongjia safely.

The nun stood in the center of the thick fog, looking up at the sky.

It's very high here, so high that it feels like the clouds are slowly descending towards us.

Sunlight filtered through the fluffy white clouds, casting a gradient of golden hues, and the path forward had become obscured.

Unbeknownst to her, Flora had reached the end of her journey. She inexplicably felt a chill run down her spine. Cracks spread across her body like ripples on water, and countless eyeballs of varying sizes rushed out, weaving together a dense and horrifying picture.

Who could have imagined that the monster that created this scene would instinctively tremble with unease under the presence of another, even greater and more terrifying being?

The missionary couldn't understand what fear was, but her body tried to tell her what fear was; she gazed around but still found nothing.

Where is it?

It is everywhere.

Before Flora could even process those words and grasp their true meaning, a melodious and moving song enveloped her ears, and in an instant, it was as if multiple great terrors descended through this medium.

Ten thousand steel needles pierced the brain and spine, pulling out one's own soul.

It felt like being engulfed in flames, or being torn to pieces.

It's like being in a hell of tongue-pulling, between the highest heavens and the deepest hells.

Intense suffering shattered the body, and complex emotions threw the soul into chaos.

She wanted to roar and scream, hoping to plead for negotiation.

She was willing to give up her bargaining chips in exchange for a glimmer of hope.

But even the monster's right to speak was bound by a mysterious force; in a daze, she gazed at the distant clouds that had been parted.

There, the white-haired, red-eyed immortal raised his hand and carved out a clearly visible path from the complex Celestial Phenomenon that covered tens of kilometers.

The girl then strode across the raging flames.

The patterns on the Yumei Ren blade hanging in her hand grew even more intense.