Based on the Foundation's big data analysis, the ranch owner was about to descend.
Perhaps, they thought, they could stimulate the other party to emerge early and see if they could resolve it.
It was also their parting gift to this world.
Zhong Shenxiu crossed his arms and gazed up at the sky.
He felt that after he casually empowered five Daoist Soldiers to conduct a mass slaughter of those tricksters, this world underwent some inexplicable changes.
After all, he was previously sneaking around, using the Sparrow Warfare technique.
The ranch owner hadn't paid too much attention to this world, allowing him to slip by undetected.
But now, with the ranch owner about to descend, their attention greatly increased, and continuing such actions was as conspicuous as waving a red cloth in front of a bull.
'What, exactly, is the root of this world's suffering?'
Zhong Shenxiu was pondering when he suddenly felt a strong anomaly occurring within an extra-dimensional space!
The Southern Vermilion Bird was incinerating a tide of monsters, its flames suddenly condensed before extinguishing completely.
One by one, dark corroding runes, like little bugs, crawled all over its body.
In the next moment, it completely dissipated, turning to ash, cursed to death!
Not just the Vermilion Bird, the other four Daoist Soldiers on top of the world were also cursed and killed at the same time!
After all, these were just five Daoist Soldiers he had created on a whim, manifested through Divine Skills, without any substantial vessel, their power was inherently limited.
Their destruction was unsurprising, but their eerie deaths were somewhat unexpected.
Zhong Shenxiu's intuition reached out, sensing layers upon layers of extra-dimensional spaces.
And in the deepest part of those spaces was a ... bizarre world!
A world born of a curse, a terrifying world formed from the ethereal to the tangible!
The people of that world were fully aware of the existence of the monsters, living in floating cities, and were required to undergo trials collectively after certain periods, surviving the torment of numerous creatures!
While the humans of the real world suffered, if the Foundation saw how people lived in that extra-dimensional space, they would probably think the real world was paradise!
And at that moment, the greatest trial in that extra-dimensional space was also coming to an end.
An ordinary trialist had survived through a series of bizarre and unusual games, making it alive to the very end!
In that strange world, humans coexisted with monsters, also learning many methods.
The paranormal items that Shenxiu had developed, even the techniques to transplant monsters' abilities, all existed there.
They had even innovated, creating beings with human thought processes but otherwise entirely monstrous!
That ordinary human, from being just a regular person, fell into terrifying games, grew stronger, acquired paranormal items, gained monster abilities, and altered himself.
In the end, he completely assembled a monster's body, even died several times, yet eerily revived.
By now, even the only proof he was human, those memories, began to grow increasingly blurred.
Human emotions had almost entirely vanished from him.
All that remained was the most intense and original of wills, the will to survive!
He arrived at the deepest part of the cursed world and pushed open a massive black door.
It was said that those who passed all terrifying trials and opened this door would earn the right to leave for good, ending everything of the peculiar world.
The young man pushed the door open to find nothing behind it ...
But he was not disappointed.
For disappointment, that emotion had long since vanished from him.
In his eyes, the last glimmer of light faded, and the part of him that was human was utterly extinguished.
Immediately after, black curse marks slowly appeared on his skin.
In the real world, countless monsters were stunned, their regular motions halting, then suddenly they burst open, turning into little worms that burrowed into the extra-dimensional space, reaching its deepest region, merging into the young man's body like weary birds returning to the forest.
With every tiny worm that burrowed into the young man's body, his monstrous form grew increasingly powerful, its presence becoming ever more terrifying and mysterious…
Eventually, he even transformed into a vortex, continuously absorbing insects that carried the essence of rationality returning.
Any ordinary person who saw this vortex, or heard its sound, would be cursed and plunged into a painful and despairing death!
The process was so natural, it was even... irreversible!
Although people in the real world were unaware of all this, they all felt a heaviness in their hearts, as though a great disaster were imminent.
Esoteric Buddhism headquarters.
"Holy Daughter, mythological creatures have descended before and destroyed many haunts of resentful spirits…"
At the urgently convened meeting, a senior official reported to Yamamura Xiaoyezi.
"That is a Divine Beast of our Lord… We can all sense it, that close and kindred aura!" Yamamura Xiaoyezi smiled.
"Praise be to our Lord!"
With no further doubts, all the senior officials nodded repeatedly, starting to praise the 'Common Lord.'
"Our Lord is the Lord of Mediocrity, the King of Ruin, and the only Light of Redemption in the apocalypse."
Yamamura Xiaoyezi stressed her words, "Now, as resentful spirits rampage and the end times approach… Our Lord has sent down His radiance, let His angels and Divine Beasts descend to the mortal realm to begin redemption…"
"Gentlemen, judgment is upon us, pray!"
"Before such destruction, we can only ask with the most pious faith for our Lord to bestow His mercy!"
Yamamura Xiaoyezi made this proclamation.
Instantly, the whole of Esoteric Buddhism began to conduct a grand ritual…
"So it turns out… the 'Pasture Owner' has always been here!"
Zhong Shenxiu, having witnessed scene after scene in his inspiration, suddenly understood.
"The 'Pasture Owner' has it even worse than I do, having fallen into complete insanity, not even able to maintain His own mythological body, plunging into fragmentation… No, this fragmentation might also be a Secret Technique, one to counteract the insanity's instincts…
"He divided Himself into countless malevolent beings, cast into this world, then set certain instincts and laws of murder to accumulate rationality…"
"Once rationality surpasses a threshold, can it return and reconstitute the mythological body?"
"After a long period of slaughter, He finally began to awaken…"
"But it seems that I have stimulated it somewhat, hastening this process, hoping it won't bring any catastrophes…"
Zhong Shenxiu stared intently at the enormous body that was gestating within the vortex deep in the otherworldly space.
Using a vessel as a carrier, He had reabsorbed most of the previously dispersed divinity and now had completely reformed the mythological body with mystery.
All the spirits of this world had become part of His body at this time.
And in that deepest, most bizarre world, all humans were shocked for a moment, then promptly died and dissipated…
They were born from a curse, their only purpose to assist that entity's resurrection.
Now that the vessel had been chosen, they no longer had a purpose.
As Zhong Shenxiu stared at the mythological body unattainable to mere mortals, he automatically received pieces of information.
That was the 'Pasture Owner's' revered name.
After all, 'Pasture Owner' was just a codename given by the Foundation's researchers; some speculations had mistakes.
The King of Ten Thousand Demons, the Source of the Curse, the Father of Evil Spirits, the Dark Side of Rationality, the Unsolvable Terror…