Chapter 599: What? The Origin of the Cult? Yu Yuan’s Determination

"Hic."

The quiet atmosphere inside the Hidden Library was interrupted by Zhi Zhi’s sudden, full-bodied belch.

Yu Yuan’s gaze turned to Zhi Zhi.

He saw Zhi Zhi looking a little embarrassed, baring its big teeth, one paw shielding its face, grinning awkwardly.

Yu Yuan couldn’t help but chuckle.

Obviously, the amount of information in that passage had been overwhelming.

And the moment he viewed that content, his mind was occupied by countless grotesquely modified organisms: fluttering intestines, tentacles resembling "Bobbit worms."

In Yu Yuan’s mind, those demons and monsters surged toward his consciousness. Yet without exception, just as they approached his awareness, they were intercepted by the golden light net created by the Mysticist, all forbidden and insane elements shattered to pieces.

The useful content was then reassembled.

That was how he obtained the insights just now.

"Zhi Zhi, are you okay? Do you need a break?"

Hearing Yu Yuan’s question, Zhi Zhi quickly shook its head.

Then its two front paws thumped hard on its chest, and it pointed at the Civilization Ladder publication.

"Zhi Zhi!"

The meaning was clear: no problem, it could continue.

Seeing that, Yu Yuan naturally didn’t stop.

After all, he had read less than half of this inside information.

He was also eager to learn what exactly had happened to "Stern Father" Mortarian.

A Gold-tier King-level battle had been so intense, and the Wild Throne’s internal unity seemed fragile.

For instance, Mortarian’s sudden misfortune and Morphis being attacked—everything about these events seemed to Yu Yuan like an invisible hand was pushing developments behind the scenes.

Even people inside the Wild Throne must have been involved; the biggest mystery was how the Fallen Abyss had even found Morphis.

"This intel doesn’t clarify things..." Yu Yuan’s headache came from these half-explained facts.

He continued reading down.

- Mortarian’s soul reached the verge of disintegration and fell into slumber.

Morphis’s residual consciousness sensed Mortarian’s lingering obsession before he slept.

Those obsessions fused with Morphis’s remaining awareness and Mortarian’s residual spiritual imprint, forming a somewhat chaotic, mad spiritual thought-entity.

That spiritual thought-entity used the Spiritual Dimension to slowly radiate spiritual influence into small to mid-tier worlds.

Gradually, around the Civilization Ladder, a group called the cult began to appear.

They tirelessly conducted biological modification and mutation research with the goal of receiving Mortarian’s legacy.

Not long ago, this spiritual thought-entity suddenly neared collapse.

At the final critical moment, Mortarian’s soul seed abruptly awakened, sensed the danger, absorbed the thought-entity’s energy, and with its last strength transferred part of a Civilization Relic out of the Spiritual Dimension and gave it to the Civilization Ladder, releasing eight Civilization Relic Invitation Letters, while restricting entry to lifeforms below Gold-tier.

This Civilization Relic belonged to Morphis and was the area second only to its core mainframe.

It contained abundant high-value supplies and treasures.

Genetic modification blueprints, neural evolution algorithm units, directed evolution induction technology, a repository of living organs from Legendary creatures, an ecological weapon modification library, interdimensional gene fusion laboratories, and other heavyweight knowledge and labs.

There were also many trinkets Mortarian had made during his idle time.

For example, the Promiz Virus, battle beast symbiote larvae, and so on...

But there were also enormous dangers.

The interior of the Civilization Relic was saturated with chaotic, maddening spiritual storms, filled with the muttered remnants of the spiritual thought-entity, fragmented consciousness, and forbidden, insane knowledge.

Lifeforms inside the relic could at any time suffer consciousness erosion by madness, or have their will collapse.

Moreover, players entering with an Invitation Letter were limited to specific activity zones; to go to other areas they would have to seize additional invitation letters and upgrade their access permissions.

Otherwise they would trigger the relic’s defense mechanisms.

They might face environmental infection, mutated creature threats, or parasitic erosion at any moment.

Some areas required passing a legacy trial to enter.

In short, Morphis’s Civilization Relic was Mortarian’s last hope.

"Bearer of the legacy, collect all the Invitation Letters! Come find me in the Spiritual Dimension! Time is short."

————————

The final piece of intel was an internal map of the Civilization Relic.

It was clear the original map should have been massive; even the portion shown now contained astonishing amounts of information.

Yu Yuan opened his Positioning Watch and scanned the map with a beam, beginning to log it.

Special coordinate points gradually appeared one by one, progress slow.

After more than ten minutes, the map was finally recorded, and Yu Yuan let out a long, coarse breath.

His expression toward this intel had shifted.

"I see, I see... the cult..."

Yu Yuan would never have guessed that this Civilization Relic would be connected to the cult.

And that the cult’s creator was actually a spiritual thought-entity teetering on the edge of madness and collapse.

That also explained why cults across different worlds specialized in biological modification technologies.

Feelings were the directed cultivation target of a spiritual consciousness!

Yu Yuan thought of Jiu Feng again.

In that light, Jiu Feng’s accidental acquisition of the Bio-Modification Maniac talent from half a ritual blueprint made more sense; it wasn’t necessarily a coincidence and likely linked to Mortarian’s obsessions.

"Mortarian seemed to place great importance on the legacy... Jiu Feng said what he absorbed was the drifting consciousness of a great being; that great being was clearly Mortarian."

Yu Yuan now suspected this so-called legacy might not be entirely safe. Mortarian had reached the brink of disintegration yet remained fixated on passing something on.

That made Yu Yuan question Mortarian’s motives.

Was this truly a legacy, or a prelude to possession?

After all, before entering the game, he had seen in cultivation novels and films how old entities used temptation to seize some unfortunate soul.

Even in the wasteland game, the people he encountered were increasingly malicious.

He had seen many selfish people, and plenty of extreme evil.

But he had never seen someone still clinging to a legacy even at death.

No one acts without motive.

If Mortarian was so obsessed, there had to be a huge agenda.

Yu Yuan etched that thought firmly into his mind.

Finished.

Yu Yuan collected his thoughts.

Watching the Civilization Relic map information hovering over his Positioning Watch, he couldn’t help but curve his lips.

He opened the Book of Fate and looked at the few intel cards and Celestial Phenomena cards within.

"If you were intact, even with just an ordinary Gold-tier strength, I’d avoid you. But your soul is nearly gone... I’m actually looking forward to our meeting."

"Collect all the Civilization Relic Invitation Letters together, and you can obtain Morphis’s relic hidden coordinates in the Spiritual Dimension?"

"I’m looking forward to it!"