Chapter 312

The outer perimeter of the temple was nothing special, just like most temples. Ryan took a quick look around and then followed the witch K inside.

The God of Death does not belong to the Outer Gods, so there are no Chaos Demon here. The entire temple is very well preserved, but due to its age, the air is filled with an ancient and weathered atmosphere.

The temple had three levels, each one incredibly large. Ryan searched based on his past experience, looking everywhere there were statues, but found nothing.

"Strange, isn't it here?"

Ryan was a little puzzled, because he had always found them in the temples of the true gods, so he wasn't sure if only the temples of those gods contained Advancement Fragment.

"Didn't you find it?" witch K asked.

"Not found."

"Didn't the Creator give you any hints?"

"Uh, He only told me to come to the temple to find him, and he didn't go into much detail; his voice was too muffled."

I'd like to give myself some hints, but I really don't know.

"Could it be that only the temples of the true gods possess such things?" Witch K asked. "Janus, the god of time and space; Rhea, the Earth Goddess; Sun God Heross; Castia, the moon goddess; and that mysterious God of Order —five gods in total. The God of Death should be considered an outsider, so what the Creator needs isn't here."

"No, the God of Death is not an alien god; He was born on the Rhea Continent," Ryan retorted.

Hera, the God of Death, is very radiant; that's no exaggeration.

"How do you know?" Witch K asked in surprise. "Did the Creator tell you?"

"Otherwise?" Ryan shrugged. "That's why I'm here. Otherwise, I would have ruled out the temples of the other gods from the start. Besides, the Creator didn't deny that the temples of the Four Great Outer Gods might also contain what He needs, which means we gods have to search them all."

"The Four Great Outer Gods..."

"By the way, K, have you ever heard this saying?"

"What did you say?"

"The Blood God is in Hell, Desire is in the Room, Death has fallen into the Styx, Eeriness is in the Book, Chaos is in the Bottle."

Witch K was slightly moved. "You even know this?"

Ryan smiled, neither confirming nor denying.

Anyway, anything that can't be explained now, just leave it all to the Creator. Is there anything the great Balshatt doesn't know? Of course not!

All that was known was told to me by Balshatt; as for what I didn't know, it was simply that she hadn't told me.

In the name of Jiba!

"I have indeed heard this saying before. It first came from the Eye of Dawn. Later, I went to investigate and eventually discovered a place of worship for the Spirit of Chaos."

"That place isn't the main temple. The people of the Eye of Dawn were performing a sacrifice for the Spirit of Chaos, and the officiant received a divine oracle—this very sentence."

"Later, the people of the Eye of Dawn began to act around this statement. They scattered throughout the Rhea Continent, searching for related clues, but unfortunately, they didn't find much."

"What about you?" Ryan asked. "You must have gone looking for it too, right?"

Given Witch K's personality, she's searched for the Death Temple several times over the past thousand years. How could someone so bored possibly remain unmoved by this statement?

Witch K chuckled, "As you suspected, I did indeed go looking for him, and I even saw the God of Death in the Styx."

"Oh?"

Ryan's eyelids twitched. Had he really seen a god?

"Don't overthink it. That was just a fleeting thought of the God of Death. It's too difficult for mortals to see gods." A profound light shone in the witch K's dark eyes. "I think He inquired about the meaning behind that statement, and He neither denied nor affirmed it."

"So what does that mean?"

"Sometimes, the best answer comes from the silent hints of the divine."

"What if they just happened to show up and then ignored you?"

"..."

Witch K opened her mouth, as if to say something, but in the end said nothing.

Indeed, who truly knows what God is thinking?

The problem now is where to find it. If the Death Temple has it, it must be here; it can't be anywhere else.

Ryan thought so too, so he searched carefully again and finally stopped in front of a pool on the third floor of the temple.

The circular inner ring area has a statue standing in the center. At first glance, it doesn't seem special, but since the other statues are placed alone, the pool of water that suddenly appears here makes him a little curious.

"Um?"

Ryan looked closely at the water in the pool and found that although the water was very clear, he could not see the bottom.

His attention had been focused on the statue, and he hadn't paid any attention to this.

"This pool seems a bit strange." Ryan looked at the witch K, trying to get an answer from her.

But the way Witch K frowned told him that the other party had obviously not noticed this place before.

Aside from not being able to see the bottom, there didn't seem to be anything particularly special about it.

After a moment 'Ryan, Ryan used Lin Qi's Character Card and then released the power of time onto the water's surface.

"Time?"

Witch K asked in surprise, "How do you have this ability?"

"This is a gift from the Creator, the key to finding the fragments."

"I see."

Witch K no longer had any doubts.

At this moment, as the power of time swirled around the entire pool, the scene of fragments appearing as Ryan had anticipated did not occur. Just as he was about to stop, he saw a gray mist suddenly rise on the surface of the water.

This scene reminded him of the image of the Styx boat ferrying people across Vainay used her soul incantation, except that there was no Styx now, only a small pool of water.

"Huh."

Ryan's gaze shifted.

Suddenly, many more figures appeared in the mist.

These figures were indistinct and hidden in the mist, appearing chaotic and disordered, like ownerless souls drifting aimlessly.

After a while, the sound of crashing waves rang out, and then Ryan saw a boat slowly emerging from the mist.

After the ship appeared, the souls in the mist involuntarily drifted over. Witch K looked solemn; she realized that she actually sensed a threat from the ship.

That's the Styx Ship that sucks in souls!

The ship of the God of Death?

Is God up there?

The question is, why is it here? I've been here several times before and never encountered it. Could it be due to the power of time?

A series of questions popped into Witch K's mind. Just as she was thinking, she suddenly saw Ryan reach out his hand towards the small boat.

"Wait..." Witch K tried to stop her, but it was too late. The moment Ryan approached the boat, he was sucked in.

Damn it!

Witch K's expression shifted, and without thinking twice, she reached out her hand as well.

Suddenly, a tearing sensation from soul to body assaulted me!

Even though Witch K possessed the strength of Eighth Tier Supernatural Being, she was powerless to resist the pull of the ship's power, and her soul was instantly sucked in.

Swish!

Cold, icy cold.

It felt like being inside an ice cave.

Consciousness is enveloped by chaos and separated from the body, making it impossible to concentrate on thinking.

After an unknown amount of time, Ryan slowly opened his eyes and found himself sitting on a Wooden Boat.

The ship wasn't large, and the dead souls were all around him, their heads bowed, their faces obscured.

Directly in front of the boat, a figure shrouded in black was rowing the boat at a leisurely pace.

Silence.

The only sound was the splashing water from the oars.

Suddenly, someone tugged at his sleeve.

Ryan turned his head and saw that Witch K had appeared to his right.

"How did you get in here?" He paused for a moment, then whispered, "You were pulled in too?"

"Me too?" Witch K was even more stunned than him. "Didn't you figure something out and come in on your own?"

Ryan: "What could I possibly see? Even the Witch of Death couldn't tell, and you expect me to? My body just went out of control; I was pulled in here."

Witch K: "??????"

Is anyone there who can help?

She thought Ryan had discovered some clues and was risking coming in to try it out. If that was the case, she would come in too, hoping to be of help in a pinch.

Now things have gotten really messed up. Neither of them has figured it out. If she were outside, she could have managed to pull Ryan back at a crucial moment, but now... great, fantastic, this is going to be a team wipe.

Although Witch K didn't know how the ship appeared, there was no doubt that it was the power of the God of Death, and even the figure rowing the ship at this moment was the manifestation of the God of Death's will!

If it were Janus or another righteous god, this situation wouldn't be too bad, since righteous gods all follow Balshatt.

But the God of Death —although Ryan just said he was born on the Rhea Continent —death is an ominous sign. Who knows if, after thousands of years, this god of death will still respect Balshatt?

As the witch K quietly approached the boat, she glanced outside and found the river water murky and murky, obscuring everything except for an endless aura of death that swirled around the vessel.

Meanwhile, outside, souls would occasionally try to board the ship. Some were pushed off and fell into the water, where they sank deeper and deeper, no matter how much they struggled.

Once you fall, you're gone forever!

Witch K quietly moved back.

It's safer inside.

Ryan kept watching her, casting questioning glances at her behavior.

Witch K said in a low voice, "I can't use my power anymore."

"It seems we are all spirits."

"Yes, our bodies didn't come in, but our souls were pulled in, so we must find a way out as soon as possible. If the soul is separated from the body for too long, things could get very bad."

Ryan wanted to ask how bad things were, but it seemed pointless. Their biggest asset, Witch K, had been instantly killed at the start. What could they do now?

K, oh K, really, what use are you?

He looked around, and finally his eyes fell on the figure rowing the boat.

There must have been a reason why he was inexplicably pulled into this situation. This ship appeared because of the power of time. If it wasn't due to any other unexpected circumstances, then it proves that his reasoning was correct.

Although no Advancement Fragment were found directly, these weren't the friendly gods from before. The God of Death had been corrupted; who knew if he might hold a grudge?

That being said, there was no other way but to bite the bullet and make contact with them first, so Ryan made a decisive move—

"K, hurry up!"

Witch K: "?"

I? Up?

"You're the Death Witch, the God of Death is too good for you to do anything to you."

Witch K's lips twitched slightly. She thought to herself, "You really know how to fool people. If the God of Death liked me, would she have dragged me into this? Besides, she's no longer the Death Witch, but the Witch of Balshatt."

The conversion ceremony was conducted.

However, her primary mission was to protect Ryan and ensure the mission's success, so if she didn't step up now, who would?

The Wooden Boat wasn't big, and everyone was squatting, including the witch K. She didn't stand up, but instead slowly moved towards the figure rowing the boat.

For some reason, the spirits I encountered during that time would all make way for me.

Finally, witch K reached the very front of the Wooden Boat. She looked up at the black-clad figure and realized it was more like a black cloth draped over her body, with irregular breaks at the end and black threads swaying in the breeze as the boat moved forward.

With neither feet nor hands visible, the witch K bowed respectfully to the figure.