The Inescapable Ritual

Jörmungandr, whom we had previously heard about from the bear-men during interrogation. According to the teachings given to the bear-men, Jörmungandr is about to descend and rule the world, bringing eternal calamity.

Only those who submit to it can be spared. Those who serve it wholeheartedly will also gain eternal life!

"Who is Jörmungandr?" Su Ming asked.

"This is the second question!" Ruogejin's soul fluctuations grew even more triumphant, and strange energy began to entwine his spirit, slowly pulling him towards the sky. "Thank you for your cooperation. The ritual is complete. I'm leaving!"

Zijin tried to imprison Ruogejin's soul, but found that the seemingly weak energy easily tore through her spell.

Upon seeing this, Qiluo immediately spurred her horse and galloped away. Ruogejin was drawn upwards by the strange energy,

She had already run more than a hundred meters away when she suddenly collapsed into a snowdrift, covering her head with her hooves.

Sure enough, as Ruogejin's soul became ethereal and transparent, rising higher and higher, he passed the Divine Favor Scepter suspended in the sky.

The scepter gave him a disdainful sip, Ruogejin's soul immediately flew out with a snap, shattering into pieces after a heart-wrenching cry of anguish.

Even Su Ming was startled by the eerie spiritual energy, feeling a pang of discomfort in his heart and goosebumps rising all over his body.

Before long, everything returned to calm. Ruogejin's soul shattered, and the Divine Favor Staff disappeared with it.

Although the result was not entirely satisfactory, it did reveal that the core members of the Plundering Clock possessed a mysterious religious ritual: their souls would be forcibly separated by answering a single question.

"Is the condition for establishing this ceremony to be answered any question?" The scholar began to ponder the details just now.

"Not necessarily. Next time, we can try if the killer wasn't present," Newman suggested, glancing at Qiluo a hundred meters away.

The unicorn poked its head out of the snow, shaking its mane and flicking away the snow that had gotten on it.

"Phew, it's finally over. Why do they all like to blow up poop?" she grumbled.

"What exactly is this Jörmungandr?" Su Ming frowned. "And what is 'return'?"

"It's possible that they've returned to the organization's members," Zijin speculated. "The necromancy school has many soul-based reconstruction spells; choosing one with fewer side effects and regaining mobility wouldn't be surprising."

"Soul escape and reconstruction, it seems to be this technological configuration," Newman analyzed. "I remember the Temple of Light also has something like this, right?" He turned to Zijin, "Don't the Divine Covenant Faction have a chance to be resurrected if they die unexpectedly?"

"That doesn't count as resurrection," Zijin said. "It's actually a transformation into a light puppet, which comes at a high cost and has significant side effects."

"That's for sure." Newman tapped his skull with his bony fingers. "The fact that I can maintain consciousness for several years is entirely due to this Deep Soul Cocoon inside."

****

Everyone began to return to the train, leaving a crunching sound on the snow.

"Back then, did you ask Yexiya a question too?" Su Ming suddenly remembered this and asked Zijin.

Zijin gently tapped her chin with her slender fingers, recalling carefully for a moment, "Yes, Yexiya only answered one valid question of mine."

Then I performed a ritual to help her pass on to the afterlife." She quickly realized the problem, "That was the first time I used ' Holy Rebirth' —now that I think about it, her ascension shouldn't be the effect of my spell!"

"So, Yexiya's soul completed the 'ritual' and attempted to escape," Su Ming murmured, "And then the Divine Favor Scepter swallowed her whole!"

"It seems so." Zijin nodded.

Qiluo excitedly clapped her front hooves, making a crisp clattering sound, "Yay! Yay! The will of the plane is indeed normal!"

"In short, with the Divine Favor Scepter, we can deal with this scum without any repercussions," Newman said. "No matter how technologically advanced this cult is, they'll be heartbroken if we do this."

"Ideally, they'd be so annoyed they'd avoid us!" Zijin stood with her hands behind her back, holding her bone staff horizontally, swaying it with her steps. "How annoying! I've killed four Saint Rank so far—this will damage my reputation!"

"What reputation?" Su Ming didn't understand.

"Bloodlust, huh?" Zijin said seriously, straightening her back with her hands. "As a proper scholar, I can't possibly ask someone to discuss academic matters, only to have them run away the moment they hear my name, can I?"

"How about we kill a few more?" Su Ming suggested, "So that if others hear you're here, they won't dare to run away?"

Zijin slapped his back with her bone staff.

****

"Wait, since the plane's will is normal!" Qiluo finally realized, "That means this Jörmungandr's problem is very serious!"

"Otherwise?" Newman rolled his eyes at her. "Your reaction time is too slow—when have you ever seen Divine Favor take sides in a conflict?"

Qiluo's ears perked up at these words. "Why are you causing more and more trouble?" she lamented. "The free auspicious beast has been completely implicated!"

"The evil god is right there," Su Ming corrected her logical fallacy. "It's not like he won't show up just because we don't provoke him."

"Shouldn't Queen Ghostly Flower take action now that things are in this situation?" Newman said.

"... I've already told my mother," Qiluo replied. "She said she's already handling it. Hmm, I also need to send her a message about today's matter."

Qiluo's Ghostly Flower, the "Millennial" Queen of the Silver Moon Forest, leads the combined forces of elves and unicorns.

Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief. This kind of inexplicable organization should be dealt with by the major powers together.

[Su Ming, what are your thoughts?] Zijin suddenly asked Mind Synchronization.

Su Ming sighed inwardly, [If I had a choice, I would want to stay away from this.]

His and Zijin's goal was to build a portal back to Earth, and bring back some local specialties as gifts. They were already facing enough difficulties. Zijin agreed, "[Things involving evil gods are hard to handle. Several major powers have already intervened; there's no need for us to be reckless.]"

[Hmm.] Su Ming nodded.

[But if the Plundering Clock and the Jackal on Earth are proven to be connected,] he continued, a hint of worry in his voice, [then we'll probably have to find out the truth!]

****

The repaired Youth Civilization set off that night, the roar of the steam locomotive breaking the silence of the snowfield as it roared into the Pagni Canyon.

The canyon floor was riddled with potholes, causing even the modified Doomsday Locomotive to bounce violently on the road.

The furnishings and objects inside the carriage were jumping wildly.

"Slow down to 15 kilometers per hour!" Su Ming felt like he was about to boil from being shaken so much.

Sure enough, once the speed decreased, the bumpiness also decreased significantly. That's the advantage of electric drive; you can adjust the speed however you like.

About three hours later, the Youth Civilization finally traversed this most rugged section of the road, its wheels rolling over the last protruding rock.

We have officially stepped onto the highest level of the ice field: the third step.

Su Ming had originally prepared many contingency plans for crossing the Upper Ridge Mountains, such as a twin-engine formation traveling in a zigzag pattern, or splitting the load into two runs. But all these plans became meaningless after acquiring the Doomsday Locomotive.

The rugged mountain road became a negligible distance in the face of the new locomotive.

The train then turned south, taking a detour to the Lorencia Volcano.

This place was not on Su Ming's original planned route, but according to the adjusted plan, he would be there to accept the terms of the deal agreed upon by Princess Dafulin: 123 necromancers, a technical support team, and building materials.

****

The following afternoon, the Youth Civilization had traveled 600 kilometers in a day and night and was about to arrive at the rendezvous point.

From the perspective of a modern train, the distance is incredibly short on Earth, but under the transportation conditions of another world, it is an astonishing existence.

In the workshop, Su Ming carefully calculated the load data. There were still 1,500 kilometers to go to their destination at the foot of the Sacred Mountain. The road was relatively flat, and they could arrive in two days.

There was enough fuel, but Su Ming needed to control the amount of cargo carried this time.

Jielusi has recovered considerably; although her face is still pale, she is now able to move. At this moment, she is holding a book, leaning against a soft cushion, and slowly turning the pages.

"Should I apologize to Miss Yise?" Su Ming suddenly asked.

When they parted ways at the Him Cavern, Yise appeared remarkably calm. But Su Ming had a gut feeling: this matter would definitely not end so well.

Jielusi the book, thought seriously for a while, and gently shook her head. "Mr. Su didn't do anything wrong in that matter. And if he were to apologize, he should say: 'I'm sorry I shouldn't have stripped you of your armor and left you in front of everyone wearing only Doll pajama.'"

Upon hearing this, Zijin couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh out loud, her long, light brown hair swaying gently as her shoulders shook.

Su Ming about it and agreed, "But she's clearly still angry! And she can use the incident in Shafeng'er Town as an excuse to make trouble!"

Jielusi didn't deny it at all, "At most, it'll just be you two having a fight."

"I can't beat them!" Su Ming sighed.

If it were a life-or-death battle, that would be a different story. But in terms of pure combat skills, given Yise's quality and level, Su Ming would be completely outmatched.

"Perhaps," Jielusi thought for a moment, "You could give Yise an apology gift?"

Caramel!

The pen in Zijin's hand suddenly broke into several pieces, and ink splattered on the table.

The scholar casually picked up a new pen and explained, "It's nothing, just a slight loss of control over my mental energy."

"Your injury isn't fully healed, so don't force yourself to work," Su Ming said to Zijin.

He continued to consider Jielusi's suggestion and thought it was quite good. "Harmony is the most important thing, and I think Yise is quite reasonable."

Su Ming searched his memory and quickly came up with something suitable.

At his summons, a gleaming object appeared in Su Ming's hand. He handed it to Jielusi, "Take a look at this, what do you think?"

Jielusi took it with a puzzled look. It was only about half the size of her palm, and it felt heavy in her hand. The metal surface had a cold, dark gray sheen.

One side features four interconnected rings arranged in an elegant arc, while the other side has a small tray.

Each ring is also inlaid with a raised, conical spike.

Suddenly, Jielusi had a flash of inspiration. She slipped the four fingers excluding her thumb into the rings and held it in her palm. Sure enough, the support plate rested firmly against her palm, and the curves of the four rings fit her hand perfectly.

When clenched into a fist, the four matte-painted cone tips seemed to gleam with a sharp edge.

"A fistfighting weapon?" Jielusi exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, brass knuckles," Su Ming replied. "Made of high-entropy alloy and metallic glass, it's very sturdy."

"... Why send this?" Jielusi, puzzled.

"After she activates her weapon's special properties, she'll be unarmed, won't she?" Su Ming replied, "That might make up for it a bit."

"But the price Yise paid for using ' Cease Arms ' was that she herself could not use any weapons."

"This isn't 'Ge'," Su Ming said matter-of-factly. "Just giving it a try, it's only borderline, what if it passes the review!"

Testing the limits of censorship is a basic skill on Earth.

"Okay, then."

Jielusi held the brass knuckles, but something felt off.

****

Light flashed again in Su Ming's hand as the materials quickly combined, and a beautiful light coral-red box appeared in his hand.

The box has a delicate peony pattern on its surface, which gleams softly under the light.

"This box is beautiful," Jielusi exclaimed. "It's a great way to package brass knuckles!"

Su Ming was a little surprised. "Packaging? No, it's not." He handed the box to Zijin. "I got you a sturdier pen."

Zijin looked up and glanced at Su Ming before taking the box and opening it. Inside was an elegantly designed ballpoint pen with a metal casing.

Compared to the ordinary pen I swiped from Su Ming before, this pen has a noticeably better quality and feels quite substantial in the hand.

"This one is four-color," Su Ming explained, gesturing for Zijin to hold the pen. "There are four color markings on the pen; you can switch between them by pressing the button at the end."

Zijin tried it out and found that as long as she aligned the desired color mark with one side of her line of sight and gently pressed the same button at the end of the pen,

That will allow you to switch colors.

She quickly figured out the principle. "It uses gravity sensing based on the way I hold the pen to determine the color I want?"

"Mm." Su Ming nodded.

"This structure is quite ingenious." Newman also curiously leaned closer, stretching out his bone claw to take a look. The principle wasn't unusual, but the fact that it could be made so small and exquisite was truly remarkable.

With a flick of her left hand, Zijin summoned the brass knuckles from Jielusi's hand, which flew over and landed on her wrist. With that, she punched Newman away.

The latter rolled to the other end of the carriage.

Rupert, with a pained expression, helped Newman, who also had a pained expression, to his feet.

"Why did you provoke her?" Rupert said in a low voice.

"What did I do to upset her again!" Newman muttered in agreement. "Haven't we moved on from what happened before?"

Rupert shook his head helplessly; this master was truly hopeless.

Rupert was originally supposed to return to Bubing City with the priests' party and then head to Dawn Territory. But that day he was very lucky to find several jars of fine wine in the cave.

Since they were setting off the next day, it would be inconvenient to carry these wine jars, and Rupert, not wanting to waste them, decided to take a small sip to try.