The prayer for the descent ritual didn't end there. The rest described symbolic things corresponding to the authority of the "Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World," but Yang Qizhou thought it was too boring and skipped all of it.
After all, there was no point in writing those words down.
He had the full title and descent prayer. The mission was halfway complete. Next, he only had to swap out the "Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood" on the altar. Of course, the process wasn't going to go smoothly.
The game continued.
"You obtained the full title and descent prayer of the 'Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World.' Overjoyed, you then decided to go to the altar and replace the holy relic, the 'Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood.'"
"You suddenly heard a dog barking."
"You caught a foul, bloody stench—the bad breath of a hound that had spent years gnawing on flesh and blood. Strangely, though, you couldn't see any vicious dogs."
"You said, 'As expected,' and calmly prepared to face death."
"The dog ate your heart."
"You died."
Death might be late, but it would never be absent.
At first, Yang Qizhou had complained about the game's various bizarre ways to die. Now he was used to them. In fact, if his character ever stopped bouncing between deaths, that would be what truly surprised him.
Besides, this time, Yang Qizhou had expected to die.
As the narration mocked him, the character's soul once again arrived at the River of Death. The rules were the same as ever: either choose to revive normally, or use the power of the "Blasphemous Raven" to return to the last moment when he had made a choice.
Yang Qizhou chose the latter.
"The black raven that blasphemes against fate cawed again. You returned to the last moment when you made a choice. You had just used going to the washroom as an excuse to get away from the Fire-Stealing Priest."
"So, explorer, you already know the full title and descent prayer of the 'Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World' and are hatching a foul scheme."
"Will you go back to the study for another boring search?"
"Or will you hurry to the room where the Evil Altar is set up and replace the 'Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood'?"
Yang Qizhou certainly wouldn't choose the first option. He already knew the full title and corresponding descent prayer of the "Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World." Searching again would mean either he had something wrong with him or he was deeply in love with this evil god.
There was no need to think it over. Yang Qizhou immediately chose the second option.
"You chose to go to the Evil Altar."
"You stood before the door. A hazy purple glow still seeped through the gap, along with a suffocating pressure that made it hard to breathe."
"You remembered being killed several times by that invisible hound. Your calves trembled, your hands and feet went cold, and sweat ran down your back. It had been a truly unpleasant experience. You really didn't want to come back here unless you had no choice."
"You took a deep breath and pushed the door open."
"You didn't smell the foul, bloody stench. Clearly, the invisible hound wasn't here."
"You hurried to the altar and saw the 'Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood' lying on it. You took it and placed your own item, the one containing the 'Mother Goddess Flower Seed of the Dream Realm,' in its place."
"You heard the dog barking again."
"You weren't surprised at all. You even felt a little fond of it. Your kidneys were bitten to pieces."
"You died."
"You returned to the surging River of Death, where countless dead slept on the riverbed."
"The protective light had grown incredibly weak after rewriting the outcomes of your deaths twice. You could revive at most one more time."
"Because you used the 'Doom-Bringing Raven' to return to the last moment when you made a choice, you can no longer use that ability again."
"So, will you use the power of fate to rewrite the outcome of your death?"
"Or will you let your soul sink into the River of Death?"
Even if he could still use the "Doom-Bringing Raven," Yang Qizhou wouldn't.
Although returning to the last moment when he had made a choice would mean that, in the new story line, he hadn't gone to the study or the Evil Altar and wouldn't have alerted anyone, he could simply wait for the Fire-Stealing Priest to perform the descent ritual and have the character secretly recite the full title of the "Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World."
But there was another problem.
The "Doom-Bringing Raven's" ability to rewind time was certainly a bug. It let him keep the benefits he'd gained in the previous timeline without affecting the game's world line.
For example, the "Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood." In the previous timeline, the character had already stolen it, but after using the "Doom-Bringing Raven" to rewind time, a new "Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood" appeared on the Evil Altar, and the one in the character's hands wasn't taken away.
But that didn't mean the fate of "the character having replaced the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood on the Evil Altar" could also be retained. On the contrary, it would most likely be overwritten by the old fate, returning the story line to the point where "the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood on the Evil Altar belongs to the Fire-Stealing Priest."
If that happened, his attempt to sabotage the descent ritual would fail, too.
So the "Doom-Bringing Raven's" ability wasn't suitable for the current situation.
Yang Qizhou certainly wouldn't let the character's soul sink into the River of Death, either.
He chose to revive normally.
"Scheming adventurer, you chose to rely on the protective light of fate to rewrite the outcome of your death."
"You opened your eyes again in the lodgings Yixiu had arranged for you."
"..."
That's it. Done.
Yang Qizhou stopped the text from scrolling and tossed his phone onto the coffee table, stretching mightily.
He wanted to keep playing, foil the Fire-Stealing Priest's scheme, and let the "Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World" experience what it was like to be pregnant. Unfortunately, circumstances wouldn't allow it.
By the time he reached his last rewind, he had already used the "Doom-Bringing Raven" four times that day: once while "bringing warmth to the community," once when he obtained the "Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood," once when Lena died, and once while searching for the full title of the "Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World."
He had also used up all three revivals: once when the invisible hound killed him in the Fire-Stealing Priest's study, once when Lena burned him to death, and once just now, when he died replacing the "Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood."
According to the post by the "Secret Cultivator," after the third revival was used up, another death would cause the character to sink into the River of Death. The character would disappear for good, and the player in the real world would die along with him.
And in "World of Weirdness," a game whose central theme was the character dying over and over, Yang Qizhou couldn't be sure how much longer his character would survive if he kept playing.
To be safe, he decided to wait until his revival count refreshed tomorrow before taking on the "Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World," the game's big boss.
"Rule three from the Secret Cultivator's post: Never say the full titles of the hidden beings in the game out loud in the real world. It's best not to say even their shortened names."
"Now I do know the full title of the 'Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World.'"
"I just don't know what would happen if I said it."
"Forget it. Unlike the game character, I don't have fate's protection to rewrite the outcome of my death. I'd better not do anything reckless."
Yang Qizhou drifted off to sleep.
Before you continue