The Replaced Holy Relic

The prayer for the God-Descending Ritual did not end there; it continued with descriptions of the symbolic objects corresponding to the authority of the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World, but Yang Qizhou found it too tedious and skipped it all.

After all, there was no point in writing those words out.

With the complete honorific name and the God-Descending prayer in hand, the mission was half-complete. The next step was simply to swap out the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood on the altar, though this process would certainly not be smooth.

The game continued.

"You have obtained the complete honorific name and the God-Descending prayer of the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World. Feeling quite pleased, you intend to head to the altar to swap out the holy relic, the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood."

"You suddenly hear the sound of a dog barking."

"You smell a foul, bloody stench—the halitosis of a hound that has fed on flesh and blood for years—yet strangely, you see no such beast."

"You say 'As expected,' and calmly prepare to meet your death."

"Your heart is eaten by the dog."

"You have died."

Death might be late, but it never fails to arrive.

Back at the beginning, Yang Qizhou would have complained about such bizarre ways to die, but now he was quite composed. In fact, he would find it strange if his character didn't repeatedly jump back and forth through death.

Besides, this death was within Yang Qizhou's calculations.

Amidst the narrator's sarcasm, the character's soul arrived once again at the River of Death. The rules remained the same: either choose a normal resurrection or use the power of the Blasphemous Raven to return to the moment before the last choice was made.

Yang Qizhou chose the latter.

"The Blasphemous Raven that defies fate lets out a cry once more. You return to the moment before your last choice, back when you had just used the excuse of going to the washroom to slip away from the Fire-Stealing Priest."

"So, explorer, now that you know the complete honorific name and the God-Descending prayer of the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World, and are brewing a dirty scheme,"

"Will you choose to tediously search the study once again?"

"Or will you immediately rush to the room where the evil altar is set up to swap out the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood?"

Yang Qizhou would certainly not choose the first option. Having already obtained the complete honorific name and the corresponding prayer, searching again would either be a sign of insanity or a sign of deep, twisted love for this evil god.

Without a second thought, Yang Qizhou chose the second option.

"You choose to head to the evil altar."

"You stand before the door. A hazy purple glow still leaks through the cracks, accompanied by a suffocating pressure that makes it hard to breathe."

"Recalling the experience of being bitten to death by that invisible hound several times, your calves tremble, your hands and feet turn cold, and cold sweat streams down your back. It was truly not a pleasant experience; if not for absolute necessity, you would never want to come here again."

"You take a deep breath and push the door open to enter."

"You do not smell the foul, bloody stench. Clearly, the invisible hound is not here."

"You rush to the altar and see the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood. You take it down and place your own, which contains the Mother Goddess Flower Seed of the Dream Realm, in its stead."

"You hear the sound of a dog barking once again."

"You are not surprised at all; in fact, you feel a sense of familiarity. Your kidney is bitten to shreds."

"You have died."

"You return to the surging River of Death, where countless souls slumber at the bottom."

"The light of protection, having rewritten your death twice, has become incredibly faint. You can only resurrect one more time at most."

"Because you have already used the effect of the Doom-Bringing Raven to return to the previous moment of choice, this ability cannot be used again."

"So, will you use the power of fate to rewrite the ending of your death?"

"Or will you let your soul sink into the River of Death?"

In truth, even if he could use the power of the Doom-Bringing Raven, Yang Qizhou would not do so.

Although returning to the previous moment of choice would mean that in the new timeline, he hadn't visited the study or the evil altar—and thus wouldn't alert the enemy—he would still have to wait for the Fire-Stealing Priest to hold the God-Descending Ritual, at which point the character would secretly chant the complete honorific name of the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World.

However, there was another problem.

The "rewind" ability of the Doom-Bringing Raven was indeed a bug; it not only preserved the benefits obtained in the previous timeline but also avoided affecting the game's world line.

For instance, regarding the item "Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood," even though the character had stolen it in the previous timeline, using the rewind ability caused a new "Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood" to appear on the altar, while the one in the character's possession was not taken away.

But this did not mean that the fate of "the character has already swapped the rag on the altar" could be preserved. On the contrary, it would most likely be overwritten by the old fate, resetting the plot line back to the state where "the rag on the evil altar belongs to the Fire-Stealing Priest."

In that case, the theft of the God-Descending Ritual would be a failure.

Therefore, the ability of the Doom-Bringing Raven was not applicable to the current situation.

Yang Qizhou certainly wouldn't let his character's soul sink into the River of Death, either.

He chose a normal resurrection.

"Adventurer with a belly full of schemes, you choose to use the light of fate's protection to rewrite the ending of your death."

"You open your eyes once again in the residence arranged by Yixiu."

"..."

Done and dusted.

Yang Qizhou stopped the text from refreshing, tossed his phone onto the coffee table, and stretched his limbs with a fierce groan.

Although he desperately wanted to continue the game, thwart the Fire-Stealing Priest's conspiracy, and incidentally let the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World taste the sensation of pregnancy, circumstances simply wouldn't allow it.

Up until his last reload, he had already utilized the ability of the Doom-Bringing Raven four times today: once when the community sent their "warmth," once when obtaining the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood, once when Lena died, and once while searching for the complete honorific name of the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World.

His three resurrections had also been exhausted: one used after being mauled to death by an invisible hound in the Fire-Stealing Priest's study, one used after being burned to death by Lena, and one used just moments ago while replacing the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood.

According to the post published by the Secret Cultivator, once the third resurrection is used up, should the character experience death again, they will sink into the River of Death. The result would not only be the permanent disappearance of the character, but the player in reality would also perish alongside them.

In a World of Weirdness, a game where the main melody is the character's repeated deaths, Yang Qizhou dared not guarantee how much longer his character could survive if he kept playing.

Therefore, to be on the safe side, he chose to wait until his resurrection count refreshed tomorrow before grinding the big boss, the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World.

The third point in the Secret Cultivator's post: absolutely do not speak the complete honorific names of those hidden existences from the game in reality; it is best not to even speak their abbreviations.

I do happen to have the complete honorific name of the Lord of the Dreamy Hidden World right now.

I just don't know what the consequences would be if I said it out loud.

Forget it. Unlike a game character, I don't have the protection of fate to rewrite the ending of death. It's better to do fewer things that court death.

Yang Qizhou drifted off into a hazy sleep.