The Pale Kingdom

With a heavy, tearing sound as the Wooden Planks, which hadn't been moved for a long time, the large, brown door slowly opened outwards.

The first thing that caught Lumian's Eyes was a dim light, unlike the darkness of other areas Depths the Underworld.

This doesn't come from a golden, human-shaped street lamp, but rather from the combined emanation of everything in front of it.

Immediately afterwards, Lumian got a clear look at the scene outside.

It was a Palace complex that seemed to be half-submerged in the void, with a majestic main hall, many Tower, and aerial corridors connecting the various Palace and Tower.

The Depths the Palace complex, the more it seems to sink into nothingness, while the edges stand out solidly in the Wilderness.

Even so, the main hall in the Core Area is still much, much taller than the other buildings in the Palace complex.

Today, most of the buildings here have completely collapsed, leaving only ruins and rubble. The few remaining relatively intact Palace and Tower are mainly concentrated on the periphery. The only building still visible in the Core Area is the main hall and the four Spire attached to it.

At this moment, everything—from the ruined Palace complex to the surrounding Wilderness and the sky high above—has lost its other colors, presenting a dim, Paleness that envelops and Paleness the entire world.

They brought light.

A few other colors remain in this Paleness world: the Golden inlaid on the surfaces of the buildings and the black at the base of the Palace complex, representing the void.

The latter has two other sources: one is the illusory, dark River of the Underworld that falls silently from the sky and flows into the back of the main hall like a waterfall; the other is a Monster that is long enough to be described as a hundred meters long and is perched between the four Spire on the top of the majestic main hall.

It was an exaggeratedly Giant Bird, its wings woven from Pale Flame and mysterious patterns, lying quietly on the roof of the main hall. Much of the Pale Flame on its body had peeled off, revealing its Pitch-Black, rotting skin.

Even from a considerable distance, even after only a couple of glances, and even though the view was very blurry, Lumian could not help but feel himself being accelerated toward "death."

He lowered his head and looked at his hands, discovering that his skin, already Paleness, dull, and dry from becoming Undead, now had patches of bluish-black rotten marks.

These marks slowly crept and deepened.

In addition, his clothes were also initially "infected" by the Paleness of this world, and all the colors became dull.

"What kind of Monster is that? And the Library?" Lumian dared not look at the Giant Bird in the distance any longer, and could only look straight at the Palace complex itself.

After a few seconds, the increasingly ethereal voice of "Knight of Swords" Maric rang out:

"It might be Gregrace's Corpse."

Gregrace? That One Ancestor of the Phoenixes among the eight Ancient God of the Second Epoch, the Ancient Death God? Lumian blurted out in astonishment:

How did His Corpse end up here?

After asking the question, Lumian felt that it seemed like a meaningless question:

This is the Underworld, so it's not surprising to find the Corpse of any dead here. Moreover, the Ancient Death God, the Phoenix Ancestor of the Phoenixes, perished before the Mutation in the Underworld.

On the contrary, the Corpse of That One "Death God" from the Aegis Family did not appear, and it is unknown where it is hidden, which is an abnormal phenomenon.

Lumian was surprised that the "Knight of Swords" actually answered his question:

"It was probably placed here by the Ancestors of the Aegis Family, the former ' Death God '."

Uh... does that mean the Death God of the Eggers family not only acquired the extraordinary characteristics of the Phoenix Ancestor, Greta Garley, but also brought Her corpse back to the Underworld and hid it somewhere in the palace complex? It—no, how did it end up on the palace rooftop? It's just a corpse! Was it placed there from the beginning? Or, is the anomaly in the Underworld caused by this ancient god's corpse? With the current 'Death God's' fall, the ancient Death God has become a zombie? Lumian suddenly had some connections.

Just then, he heard the "Knight of Swords" add, "Sharon just saw the egg."

That egg? The egg the Goat-Faced Devil wanted? Sharon refers to the Temperance Faction Half-God within me? Lumian's heart leaped with joy, and she immediately asked, "Where is that egg?"

"Beneath the abdomen of what appears to Ancestor of the Phoenixes Corpse, there is a Pitch-Black shell Burning with Paleness Flames, and it is about one meter in diameter," the Knight of Swords briefly described the egg.

Protected by the Corpse of Ancient Death God? Lumian's scalp tingled.

How am I supposed to get it?

This is no different from going and killing the Demon Monarch Farbauti!

Of course, for those in High-Ranking Being, an Ancient God is still alive and an Ancient God who has lost his Beyonder Characteristic and is only a rotting Corpse are obviously not on the same level. The difficulty of the two tasks is as different as Heaven and Abyss. But for Lumian, they are the same. They are both in the category of "cannot be completed even if he sacrifices himself".

Raised by a sow, that sheep-faced creature is truly Undead transformed from Devil!

Okay, if we can't finish it, we don't finish it. If we kill the Commissioner, we'll pretend this mission never happened!

As Lumian's malice spread throughout his body, the "Knight of Swords" said again, "It's not impossible to get that egg; the state of the Ancestor of the Phoenixes's Corpse is a bit strange."

The Corpse's condition is strange? Aren't there only two states for Corpse: eternal slumber and reanimation? Lumian dared not examine the rotting Corpse of the Ancient Death God Gregrace with his own eyes, and could only ask the only person present who could observe the body of Ancient God to a certain extent, namely That One Temperance Faction Half-God Sharon:

"What's strange?"

The one who answered was still the "Knight of Swords":

It is Slumber, the kind of Slumber that is hard to wake up from.

"This doesn't reflect the current state of this Pale Kingdom."

Slumber? They're all dead, turned into zombies, why would they need to Slumber? Lumian frowned slightly and said, "Why do you say it doesn't fit the current situation here?"

After a few seconds, the "Knight of Swords" explained, "Judging from the current situation, one of the reasons for the Mutation in the Underworld was the resurrection of the Ancestor of the Phoenixes. It destroyed the ' Death God's' Palace, killed all the ' Death God's ' Attendant present, and turned this place into Paleness kingdom."

"We've met several Half-God from the ' Death God ' realm before. After the Underworld's Mutation, they could still accomplish some things by using the Underworld, or even enter it directly. But none of them dared to venture deep into the Underworld to search for the treasures left behind in the ' Death God's ' Palace. Their intuition told them that it was dangerous and they absolutely could not get close."

"Sharon didn't have any Danger Premonition, which is why she agreed to come here."

In other words, for a long time after the Mutation in the Underworld, the Ancestor of the Phoenixes' Corpse lingered in this Paleness kingdom, preventing the High-Ranking Being in the "Death God" realm from approaching. But now, it Slumber... Lumian found that strange detail in the description of "Knight of Swords" Maric.

"When was the last time High-Ranking Being with the ' Death God ' Pathway approached the Depths the Underworld and sensed danger?" Lumian tried to determine the approximate timeframe.

"I don't know," the "Knight of Swords" answered quickly.

I don't know... Judging from this, the Ancestor of the Phoenixes' Corpse Slumber in the last few years. Otherwise, High-Ranking Being on the "Death God" Pathway would have found this place less dangerous after entering the Underworld and would have been able to explore it. They wouldn't have left no trace, and no news would have leaked out... What happened in the last few years? Lumian pondered, unable to help but complain, "Why did the 'Grim Death God ' of the Aegis Family bring back the Ancestor of the Phoenixes' Corpse, leaving such a huge hidden danger? As True God, He should have been able to destroy this Corpse directly!"

The Knight of Swords responded to Lumian's complaint:

"The Underworld was created and established by the Ancient Death God in the Spirit World. As Ancient God, he did not only possess the power of the ' Death God ' Pathway, nor did he use only the power of the 'god of Death God ' Pathway when creating the Underworld."

"The ' Death God ' of the Aegis Family may not have had an easy time controlling the Underworld at first; he needed to rely on the Corpse left behind by the Ancestor of the Phoenixes. By the time he truly gained control, his condition may have deteriorated, and he might no longer pay attention to such trivial matters."

Does this mean that the "Death God" of the Aegis Family went mad? So the Underworld wasn't formed naturally, but created by the Ancient Death God Gregrace... This Ancient God was truly powerful; no wonder she might have turned into a zombie... Lumian thought to himself.

The "Sword Knight" seemed to sense his sigh and simply said, "It is said that even among those mad ancient gods, the Phoenix Ancestor, Greta Gari, was one of the most fond of causing trouble and had created quite a few incidents, much like the 'Blood Emperor' Arista Tudor of the Fourth Age."

Your analogy makes it much easier for me to understand... Lumian's gaze kept shifting between the Paleness sky, the Wilderness, and the collapsed Palace complex, pondering whether he should take advantage of the Ancient Death God's Slumber Corpse to steal the giant Pitch-Black egg Burning with Pale Flame.

Suddenly, he spotted a figure that was still able to move.

It was a Monster with a human head but a body like Giant Bird.

The Monster's limbs were bent, revealing gleaming, cold fingernails. Its back was covered with wings that were half Paleness and half brownish-white. Its head seemed to be underdeveloped, like several infant heads slowly fusing together.

"Oseto, that Premature Child? It really is here!" Lumian recognized the Monster.

That was the target he and the Temperance Faction Member were tracking!

At this moment, Oseto's Monster child was flapping its wings, circling and hovering, slowly and quietly approaching the Slumber Corpse of the Ancient God.

Its target also seems to be that giant Pitch-Black egg lying beneath the Corpse!

It must be stopped!

"Sharon is in charge of Curse it and controlling it; we're in charge of attacking it!"

The voice of the "Knight of Swords" echoed in Lumian's mind.

"Okay." This time, Lumian didn't hesitate and ran out of the Pitch-Black Church's basement.

As soon as he stepped into that Paleness land, his entire being was stained Paleness, devoid of any other color.

This made him tremble with fear, and he only wanted to kneel down and lie prostrate on the ground.

Without a sound, Lumian drew the "Sword of Courage".

Blazing White blue Flames suddenly burst forth from the Paleness, faded blade.