Chapter 727: Lord of Chalk - Fang Cheng

The Eternal City.

A pure white canopy shielded against the icy rain falling from the sky.

The sun, shrouded by dark clouds, occasionally cast a few faint rays of light.

The civilians living here would periodically glance toward the palace, each pair of eyes brimming with genuine faith and gratitude.

This city, bestowed with the name "Eternal," had granted ordinary people like them a lifespan of over a thousand years.

And all of this was because of the king who had given them their current way of life.

The Lord of Chalk - Fang Cheng.

Atop the palace peak.

In the place closest to the sun.

Inside the resplendent hall.

A man wrapped in black aura wearily opened his eyes.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

He coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

The moment the black blood touched the light, it evaporated instantly.

The residents living in the city could never have imagined.

The king, who hadn't appeared for years, had become so frail that he was nothing but skin and bones, like a broken, skeletal corpse.

Every time the radiance within the great hall dispelled the curse from him, it left a fresh burn mark on his body.

And such marks were everywhere on his body.

"My king..."

A minister clad in armor knelt painfully before him, looking at Fang Cheng with tear-filled eyes.

"Your body... is there really no way...?"

Fang Cheng seemed long accustomed to the pain that tormented him every moment without end.

He remained motionless, like a dead man on the verge of passing, yet his voice echoed through the hall.

"Has that person been found?"

"Hua Su was patrolling the western mountain ranges. According to him, he has already found that person."

"Who is he?"

"That person's name is Ye Qiyan."

"...An unfamiliar name."

The hollow voice echoed slowly.

Fang Cheng's body lifted his head with difficulty, gazing at the sun above through his already clouded, turbid eyes.

"How many years has it been since I came to this world?"

The minister wiped his tears and replied in a deep voice.

"One thousand and seventy-one years."

"So... it's been that long..."

Fang Cheng's voice grew increasingly hollow.

As if he might disappear forever at any moment.

"My lifespan is almost at its limit."

"My king!"

"This is inevitable... because I stopped here."

"But! This is clearly the design of those False Gods!"

"Enough. Go wait for that person. He will be the first and last Train Conductor to come to this world in a thousand years, besides myself."

"...My king..."

"Go."

"Yes..."

In the vast space, only the hollow figure bound in armor remained.

Within the radiant hall, trails of black aura brewed.

["Human, are you looking for help?"]

A mocking voice arose from the black aura.

["Do you think a Train Conductor who can only enter level 9 Station Worlds can help you with anything?"]

The black aura gradually condensed until it formed a figure identical to Fang Cheng.

["But guess what? Why would a Train Conductor be able to break through the permission blockade and reach this world after a thousand years have passed?"]

The figure slowly took on color.

Its appearance was exactly like Fang Cheng.

["From a level 11 Station World, falling all the way down until now~ finally, down to level 9~"]

The figure grinned viciously as it approached Fang Cheng, reaching out like an evil ghost to grab his throat.

But it was blocked by the Light Screen.

[Level 9~ Train Conductors who can enter level 9 stations are nothing but weaklings who've just reached level 30 trains! You haven't forgotten who I am, have you~ Want me to remind you!]

A number slowly rose.

[God Number - B-57 - Ritual Rite]

["I am one of the Divine Sequence of the Curse-Sacrifice God! With your strength, you could easily annihilate me, but... hehehehe! You can't leave this world! You're stuck here! Resisting my invasion of you and those humans!

All by yourself~

You've held me back for a thousand years.

But so what?

Fang Cheng~

You can't stop me anymore!"]

The Ritual Rite God.

A subordinate existence of the A-grade Curse-Sacrifice God.

Among the B-grade gods, it was mid-tier.

Fang Cheng looked at it with his clouded eyes.

His mouth, which hadn't opened in many years, produced a sound from his dry throat.

"You're afraid."

The Ritual Rite God's movements froze, then erupted into mad laughter.

["Hahahahaha! You say I'm afraid!? Foolish human! Sitting on that throne for a thousand years has really rotted your brain!

You're strong! Stronger than I can ever hope to defeat!

But who told you to run into me! Into Lord Curse-Sacrifice!

To kill you, I paid Lord Curse-Sacrifice everything I had! In exchange for the chance to completely seal this world, to utterly annihilate it!

Once~ you die, your body becomes mine~

By then, I'll slowly recover until I regain the flesh you shattered!

I will become stronger!!

Oh right, right~

That Train Conductor who came to this world is called Ye Qiyan~

Hehe, I can contact the outside world.

In all these years, no powerful Train Conductor named Ye Qiyan has ever appeared!

He can't give you hope!"]

Fang Cheng's expression still didn't change.

He simply added one last sentence calmly.

"You can't win."

Then, he closed his eyes, ignoring the mad Ritual Rite God.

In his heart, he added to himself:

["Though... I will lose too."]

---

The news of the settlement's destruction quickly spread through the fleeing Night People to the elders of other settlements.

They took it as a signal.

A signal that the Lord of Chalk's city intended to carry out a final purge against them.

The elders of these Night People settlements began using the Night Well to continuously create more adult Night People as combat power.

And they started gathering, preparing to attack the Eternal City under the current weather of icy rain that had shrouded the sun.

Strangely, the Night People emerging from those Night Wells were all far stronger than before.

Each one possessed power no less than that of Assassins who had trained for years.

Moreover.

Among them, some special existences had appeared.

Not only could they use magic that Night People couldn't, but they could also make the sky even darker.

These Night People called themselves the God-Touched.

They erected statues of the Ritual Rite God and continuously worshipped them.

Everything began to stir with undercurrents.

And what happened in the following days.

Accelerated this process.

Because.

Ye Qiyan, heading toward the Eternal City, had collected some basic resources and soil along the way to build island platforms within the Matrix space.

He happened to run into some Assassins.

And Eve happened to detect their malice, taking care of them directly.

Finally.

Two days after leaving that place.

Ye Qiyan stood on a hillside and saw the pure white city standing on the plain.

The Eternal City.

"Looking at it now, it seems I went the wrong way from the very beginning again."