Chapter 87: Eagerly Awaiting

Finn pulled out his phone and happened to notice that it was picking up a signal from the Myriad Realms Network.

The signal flickered in and out on the etherwave band. Finn breathed a long sigh of relief. As both a Celestial Sojourner and a modern cultivator, life without internet access was miserable.

Thankfully, he could finally connect to the Myriad Realms Network again.

He opened the Myriad Realms Network’s webmail portal, entered his username, then typed in the password 31415926 and successfully logged in.

Celestial Sojourners and interworld organizations generally communicated with one another by email.

Finn opened his unread messages. The first was from Brazzers, claiming he was exceptionally well-endowed and sincerely inviting him to star as the male lead in their next film.

Finn skimmed it, wasn’t interested, and deleted it.

The next few emails were all death threats.

“You little shit, you’d better hope I never get my hands on you! Because if I do, I’m going to make you regret ever being born. Just wait—I’ll fucking end you!”

“Finn, look at all the shit you’ve pulled. And look at you—you don’t even look human anymore, yet you still call yourself a Celestial Sojourner? You’d better hope I don’t run into you in the Immortal Realm. If I do, I’m tearing off your Skybearer Sword and slapping you across the face!”

“The World Lord got her period and was rolling around on the floor in pain. Instead of taking your chance to attack, you ran off and sold out the rest of us! Now the World Lord has forcibly turned me into a woman, and I’ve been sold to a brothel on Planet Alk! Just you wait! Once I’ve saved enough money to buy my freedom, this girl is coming for you!”

“Finn, you little bastard! I’ve sent the assassin ranked 1,007,369th on the leaderboard to kill you. You’re dead!”

Finn had long since grown used to all manner of death threats. He deleted them without a second thought.

In this endless world, this vast and boundless universe. If these people could actually find him, they would have tracked the wireless signal straight to him and killed him already instead of ranting over email and putting their pathetic, impotent rage on full display.

The only useful message came from the Spacetime Destruction Bureau. The sender was Big Sis Avasarala, who said that the king of all show-offs, Chen-Awelon, had spent his stockpiled Contribution Points to post a joint combat mission. Finn was welcome to join if he was interested.

At the end of the message were the world designation—Delta-NINE-D-852426—and a set of cosmic coordinates based on pulsar positioning.

After checking his emails, Finn and Olivia entered Holy City’s administrative center.

With the descent of the Holy Radiance drawing near, the entire city was steeped in celebration. Even the sudden nuclear blasts that had struck several Refuge Cities a few days earlier had done nothing to dampen the joyful atmosphere.

“Halt!”

An armed guard hurried over and barked, “Who are you two? Do you have passes?”

Olivia lunged forward and drove a fist into his stomach. The guard curled up like a shrimp, and his rifle slipped from his hands and clattered to the floor.

Finn kicked the rifle away. He grabbed the guard by the hair, forced his head back and his mouth open, then poured in a bottle of pale blue Veritaserum.

The guard let out a hoarse, gurgling rasp.

Finn stared into his eyes. “Where is Fergus Gould? You don’t have long to live, so don’t waste your final words on lies.”

“The High Priest is on the third floor,” the guard croaked. “The large room at the far end on the right.”

Olivia raised her elegant, swanlike neck, the pattern of the ceiling reflected in her clear blue eyes.

She activated her X-ray vision. Her gaze pierced the concrete floors, wool carpets, tables, and chairs between them before locking onto a figure inside a third-floor room.

“I see him!” Olivia lowered her head, her expression grave.

“Let’s go.”

Finn released the guard and shattered his spine with a palm strike, then headed upstairs with Olivia.

On the staircase, several portly followers of the Radiant Path spotted the unfamiliar pair and approached to question them.

Finn’s sword flashed out, slashing as swiftly as the wind. Blood sprayed as he severed their throats before they could scream.

Swift as the wind, steady as the forest, fierce as fire, sudden as thunder, immovable as a mountain.

That was Finn’s fighting style.

They crossed the blood-soaked corridor. Finn raised his sword and cleaved open a pair of ornately carved boxwood doors.

A stooped old man sat behind a writing desk, absorbed in his work.

He removed his reading glasses. His aged face was furrowed with deep lines as he stared in shock at the murderous man and woman before him, clearly unable to understand what was happening.

“Who are you?” Fergus Gould narrowed his eyes and studied Finn closely. His expression abruptly changed. “It’s you! What are you doing here?!”

“Surprised?”

Finn split the desk in two with a single stroke, then laid the cold blade across the old man’s neck.

“I’ll get straight to the point. Where is the cubic crystal the Holy Pontiff recovered from the Alderon Sea?”

Fergus froze for a moment, his cloudy eyes widening. “How do you know what His Holiness found in the sea? Don’t tell me... You went to Frostcreek Refuge City? Pandora Davis told you?”

His eyes bulged, and his mouth fell open in a perfect O. “The nuclear disaster at Frostcreek Refuge City—you caused it?!”

“That’s right. I’ll ask one last time. Where is the cubic crystal?” Finn demanded impatiently.

If he used Veritaserum, the old man would die after saying only a few words. Finn still wanted to squeeze more information out of him.

Fergus Gould raised his chin, ready to face death.

“You herald of the devil! You sinner! I will never tell you where the gift meant for the Holy Radiance is!”

Without another word, he thrust his neck toward the gleaming edge of Finn’s sword.

Finn was startled, but his reactions were faster. He instantly twisted the blade aside and knocked the old man away with his elbow.

When his suicide attempt failed, Fergus bent down and rummaged through the wreckage of his desk. He pulled out a pistol and tried to shoot himself, but age had sapped his strength, and he could no longer chamber a round.

Seeing that he refused to cooperate, Finn had no choice but to snatch away the pistol, pry open his mouth, and pour in a bottle of Veritaserum.

“Hrrk! Blegh!”

Fergus gagged as if he had just scooped shit out of a toilet and eaten it. He clawed at his throat and retched desperately, but it was no use.

“I asked you a question.” Finn’s face darkened. “Where is the cubic crystal?”

“At the southern sandy bay of the Alderon Sea. The Holy Radiance delivered an oracle declaring that it would descend at that location. His Holiness took the offerings to the southern sandy bay, and the Divine Ark was transported there as well.”

“The southern sandy bay...”

Finn pulled out his phone and opened a three-dimensional map projection. After calculating the travel time, he determined that even at top speed, it would take them around two weeks to reach the Alderon Sea.

If they were lucky, the day they arrived would also be the day the Holy Radiance descended.

“You nuclear devil! You will never succeed!” Fergus roared, his expression twisting with madness. “The day the Holy Radiance descends will be the day you meet your end! I will ascend to heaven beneath its glorious light, while you suffer eternal torment in hell!”

“Is that so?” Finn smiled. “How wonderful. I can’t wait for it to descend.”