"You know, this means Kandar has begun to act."
"Around the ’Wisdom God’s Holy Image,’ the ’Polluted Gatekeepers’ began to awaken one by one, letting out savage and distorted roars, madly charging toward the surrounding light pillars. In an instant, the once densely packed figures were reduced by four-fifths."
"A vast portion of the Sacrificial Altar was suddenly left empty."
"Only about one-fifth of the ’Polluted Gatekeepers’ remained, still skulking near the ’Wisdom God’s Holy Image.’
"You wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by. Utilizing the effect of the ’Hidden God’s Clothes,’ you bypassed the ’Polluted Gatekeepers’ and started approaching the towering Holy Image that reached into the clouds."
"Soon, you stood at the base of the ’Holy Image.’"
"You began the ascent."
"With the Holy Image towering a thousand meters high, it would be an insurmountable peak for ordinary people, but you are a ’Wizard’ who shepherded the ’God of Victory,’ possessing the title of the ’Star Spirit God.’ Just now, you also absorbed two minimum units of ’Fate’ symbols. Climbing to the summit posed no significant difficulty for you."
"You quickly ascended to a third of the way up."
"Thanks to the effect of the ’Hidden God’s Clothes,’ the ’Polluted Gatekeepers’ didn’t notice your presence."
"Halfway through the climb,"
"You faintly caught sight of Kandar’s figure. He was weaving through an unimaginable number of ’Polluted Gatekeepers,’ dodging their relentless pursuit. Several close calls left you sweating nervously."
"He’s a free hitman; he absolutely cannot die."
"You offered him a blessing in the name of the ’God of Victory.’
"At last, you reached the summit of the ’Wisdom God’s Holy Image,’ but the sight before you left you utterly stunned."
"Where is the Boundary Gate?"
"The area before you was barren and desolate. Not a trace of the imagined radiant, resplendent, sacred Boundary Gate existed—not even a shred."
"Could it be that the records in the ’Gate of Realm Book’ were wrong, that the Boundary Gate was never at the summit of the ’Wisdom God’s Holy Image?’ But that doesn’t make sense. Those records date back to the very founding of ’Gate City,’ chronicling all significant events in its history. How could they be mistaken?"
"You believe the ’Boundary Gate’ is indeed at the Holy Image’s summit—it simply hasn’t revealed itself yet."
"You began to ponder."
"You subconsciously glanced upward—just a casual, unintended motion—but that momentary act left you entirely frozen."
"The azure sky had begun to ripple, as though it were merely a draped curtain over the heavens. Upon closer inspection, an indescribable liquid seemed to flow faintly beneath its surface, causing an unsettling disturbance in your heart."
"You raised your hand, pressing against the Sky Dome, and were greeted with a chilling sensation."
"In that instant, everything became clear."
"Gate City doesn’t exist in the real world at all. Instead, it’s trapped in the void that lies between illusion and reality. The Sky Dome above the city is, in truth, the flowing realm of filth and contamination—the dominion of the ’Lord of Filth,’ known as ’Polluted Mountain and Sea.’ Beyond the boundaries of ’Gate City’ lies the Real World."
"The Boundary Gate never referred to any literal gate. The true Boundary Gate is the ’Phase Land’ formed by the interwoven edges where ’Polluted Mountain and Sea’ and the Real World overlap."
"That is what Gate City truly is."
"Another thought struck you immediately."
"The sky remains smooth and unbroken, with no signs of cracks or breaches. The forces of ’dirt’ and ’uncleanness’ from Polluted Mountain and Sea have not spilled over. Clearly, the ’Boundary Gate’ is not damaged and appears even sturdier than you’d imagined."
"So where has the contaminating force polluting Gate City originated?"
"Holding onto the hope that the ’Wisdom God’ might have left some clues, you began a thorough search of the barren summit of the Holy Image."
"Your luck held out—eventually, you discovered a hidden compartment containing a sheepskin scroll."
"You retrieved the sheepskin scroll."
"The Wisdom God’s cryptic message slowly unfolded itself before your eyes."
[The master of ’Polluted Mountain and Sea,’ one of the Old Gods, the Cosmic Pillar itself, once visited me and revealed a terrible truth.]
[The evil forces that had receded due to the rise of the Wizards have once again resurfaced upon the earth; ill omens are already manifesting within ’Polluted Mountain and Sea,’ and these signs will soon propagate into the Real World.]
[The Lord of Filth sought an alliance with me, urging the ’Guardian King City’ and myself to join hands in resisting this terrible calamity.]
[I knew exactly what this evil force referred to by the Lord of Filth was.]
[But still, I refused.]
[The inherent enmity between the Ancient Gods and the Old Gods made it impossible for me to trust anything the Lord of Filth declared.]
[However, what transpired afterward forced me to make an immediate decision.]
[Gate City fell from the Real World into Dream and was on the verge of being devoured by the Dream Realm Sovereign.]
[Ultimately, I chose to accept the Lord of Filth’s proposal. To combat Dream’s corruption, I deliberately guided the forces of dirt and uncleanness to pollute the Gatekeepers of Gate City. This pollution twisted their flesh and minds but spared them the fate of being consumed and eternally damned.]
[It prevented Dream from spreading to the Real World.]
[The plan worked. Harnessing the power of the Lord of Filth’s Cosmic Pillar, we successfully dragged Gate City out of the illusory dreamscape and back into reality. Though the price was its pollution, this was a far better outcome than being devoured entirely by the Dream Realm.]
[I thought the catastrophe had been averted and everything would end there.]
[But Dream’s forces have reappeared on this earth.]
[For a moment, I suspected that the issues stemmed from Gate City again. So I returned here, only to discover something unexpected. The forces of Dream had not reappeared, and the Boundary Gate remained undamaged.]
[This led me to a chilling suspicion: Dream’s infiltration of this earth has never been confined solely to Gate City.]
[I must confront my doubts and journey to the ’City of Ten Thousand Gods,’ home to the Three Ancient God Kings. Perhaps a solution to this calamity lies there.]
The prophecy within this message revealed no shortage of crucial information.
Yang Qizhou straightened his posture and meticulously combed through each line, ensuring no valuable detail escaped his scrutiny.
"So, even though the Wisdom God serves as the ultimate deity of all Gatekeepers, accepting the contamination of dirt and uncleanness seemed utterly implausible—even under divine edict. How could humanity, with its self-awareness, accept such a fate without resistance? It turns out Gate City was compromised by Dream’s invasion. To claw back a sliver of survival in this desperate situation, the Gatekeepers had no other choice."
The mysteries behind Gate City’s fall had been fully unraveled, yet what truly drew Yang Qizhou’s attention lay elsewhere.
"To think that Dream is already corrupting ’Polluted Mountain and Sea,’ with many terrifying signs having already appeared."
"Even the ’Lord of Filth,’ a Cosmic Pillar, sought aid from the Ancient God, the Wisdom God."
"The Wisdom God’s reaction is even stranger. They preferred their followers, the Gatekeepers, to be polluted by dirt and uncleanness, rather than letting them be consumed by Dream—as though the latter posed a far greater danger than the former."
"And one more thing."
"If the Boundary Gate is intact, yet Wisdom’s Edge remains polluted by dirt and uncleanness, could this be a deliberate choice by the Wisdom God? A tacit pact with the Lord of Filth, aimed at fending off Dream’s intrusion into this land?"
Yang Qizhou fell into deep contemplation.
He understood that the ’Dream’ mentioned in the Wisdom God’s sheepskin scroll likely referred to the Dream Realm, one of the Four Indescribable Lands, and its ruler, the Dream Realm Sovereign.
Immediately after, Yang Qizhou’s thoughts turned to another matter.
According to earlier revelations, at the end of the First Epoch, an unprecedented calamity appeared, catching even the Old Gods and Ancient Dominators off guard. To cope with this disaster, deities like the Lord of Night, Shadow Lord, Wind Lord, and other Old Gods ascended their respective ’Unique God Seats,’ becoming Cosmic Pillars.
Meanwhile, among the Four Indescribable Lands, the deities of the Dream Realm—such as the Mother of Beauty and Fertility and the Dream Realm Sovereign—seemed inherently out of place compared to the gods born on the old earth.
This led Yang Qizhou to a conjecture...
Could the catastrophic event during the end of the First Epoch, which caught even the Old Gods and Ancient Dominators unprepared, be related to the Dream Realm—or rather, to the deities of the Four Indescribable Lands?
"The evil forces that waned due to the rise of wizards have re-emerged on this earth."
"Even the ’Lord of Filth’ refers to Dream as an evil force."
"The depth of complexity here is truly staggering."
Of course, these were merely Yang Qizhou’s speculations based on the current storyline. Whether they proved accurate would depend on future developments. After recording the relevant information, he quickly shifted his focus back to the present events.
"The content of the ’sheepskin scroll’ sparked countless conjectures within you—about the relationship between the Dream Realm Sovereign and the Lord of Filth, about the true origins of the Four Indescribable Lands, and so on."
"Yet most importantly... you learned the Wisdom God’s next move. According to the revelations on the sheepskin scroll, after leaving Gate City, the Wisdom God’s destination was the ’City of Ten Thousand Gods,’ home to the Three Ancient God Kings."
"By heading there, you might be able to find the Wisdom God. Conveniently, the ’Truth Hall’s Time-Space Gate contains a node that connects to that place, though it requires ’Power of Time-Space’ to repair."
"Without hesitation, you set that matter aside and shifted your gaze toward the heavens."
"You had not forgotten that the primary reason for coming to the Boundary Gate was to journey into Polluted Mountain and Sea toward the ’Hidden King Wizard Tower,’ to obtain the deactivation material for the ’Hidden God’s Clothes.’"