Chapter 618: Snake of Rebirth Altar, Crack and Feedback, Faith Disguise and Infiltration

"Master, I found him!" Upon hearing Zhi Zhi, a sharp gleam shot through Yu Yuan's eyes.

"Let's go!"

Following Zhi Zhi's guidance, Yu Yuan arrived about one kilometer from the battle between Artus and Shadow Wolf.

He saw a corner already surrounded by shadow rats.

But an invisible barrier seemed to hold all the shadow rats back.

An arc-shaped empty area had formed.

"Master, there's something here that prevents my power from approaching. Other areas don't have this," Zhi Zhi explained.

Yu Yuan was already certain Artus was hiding here.

His eyes began to glow, and a faint blue halo radiated from his palms as spiritual energy flowed and arranged across his eyes and hands.

This was the effect of his titles.

In Yu Yuan's sight, that area which had been disguised to match the surroundings now changed.

The effects of the Peering Eye and Empowering Hands titles activated.

Peering Eye gave Yu Yuan the ability to see through energy operation circuits.

Empowering Hands granted him the ability to alter those energy operation circuits.

Although Artus's barrier featured strong camouflage and isolation effects, under Yu Yuan's Peering Eye perfected to the Perfect development stage, all the disguise dissolved and revealed its true form.

Only then did Yu Yuan see that this was actually an altar, and at its center stood a serpent statue.

The statue looked roughly a meter tall.

Below was the base, above it a single-bodied giant snake reared up, tongue flicking, fangs bared, one huge eye blazing.

It was the Snake of Rebirth worshipped by the Snake Kiss organization.

In that strange pupil of the Snake of Rebirth, a faint blue light now emitted.

It was this blue light that formed the barrier, isolating the area.

Although Yu Yuan could see the serpent altar's shape, he still could not clearly observe what lay inside the barrier.

When he looked toward the altar's interior, a hazy, unreal feeling washed over him.

A few thoughts flashed across his eyes, his mouth pressed into a slight line.

"Zhi Zhi, I'm going in. Heighten alertness."

"Understood, Master!"

The shadow rats withdrew a path, and Yu Yuan approached the barrier.

His eyes brightened further, as if trying to perceive the laws that governed the world.

The energy operation circuit of this barrier became clearer in Yu Yuan's sight.

Correspondingly, an invisible pressure appeared.

Veins rose on his forehead and at his temples.

Fine beads of sweat dotted his skin.

Although this altar held only a fraction of the Snake of Rebirth's original power, that deity's force was so immense that even a sliver was dangerous to Yu Yuan.

As the Peering Eye analyzed the energy circuits, forbidden knowledge unique to the Snake of Rebirth—energies laced with madness and distortion—slid into his mind along his probing vision.

These energies and taboo knowledge took the form of phantom snakes of rebirth, snapping and lunging at Yu Yuan's consciousness.

This was the altar's defense: any prying mind would be devoured by the Snake of Rebirth.

Because of the previous impact from the Rotten Eye, Yu Yuan had grown highly sensitive to polluted energy, but that shock had also strengthened his control over his inner mindspace.

Seeing how active and frenzied the Snake of Rebirth's energy was, a faint curve lifted the corner of his mouth.

"Heh, reckless fools!"

Sure enough.

As the Snake of Rebirth's energies swarmed and rushed toward Yu Yuan's consciousness, prepared to feast, a hum—

A golden net-like shield suddenly sprang up around his consciousness.

The golden web quickly expanded, lengthened, and rose; in an instant it enveloped his entire mental space like heaven-and-earth nets.

Yu Yuan's strongest talent revealed itself;

the nemesis of all pollution and forbidden knowledge;

the defender, guardian, punisher, and purifier of Yu Yuan's consciousness;

—Mysticist bared its fangs.

Sssss—

Mysticist radiated outward from Yu Yuan's consciousness as the core.

Wherever it passed, the Snake of Rebirth's energies were shredded and returned to raw energy form.

Those energies were then further shattered and purified by Mysticist.

All aura tainted with pollution and distortion dissipated entirely.

Only small fragments of informational essence remained, slipping through the fine meshes of Mysticist's net, recombining and rearranging into pure, usable knowledge.

These data bits were unmistakably altar information about the Snake of Rebirth, including the barrier's energy circuit parameters.

There were also hidden details about the faith channel of the Snake of Rebirth, ritual procedures, and methods of establishing communication.

Although these bits were scattered and disordered, each one was undoubtedly core secret material of the Snake of Rebirth.

As this knowledge surfaced, Yu Yuan's decryption accelerated and the pressure on him eased.

At the same time, more and more polluted energies and corrupted knowledge appeared in his mind.

Yet Mysticist, the tireless purifier, neutralized any pollution immediately upon its arrival.

New pieces of knowledge were then absorbed by Yu Yuan one by one.

His cracking speed increased again.

For a moment, Yu Yuan felt trapped in a dizzying loop.

He found himself unable to stop, a compulsive sensation settling in.

Finally.

Fed by those scattered, strange pieces of knowledge, Yu Yuan evolved… no… he ultimately decrypted the barrier's energy circuit.

He managed to lift… no, push open the altar's sealed door.

Yu Yuan: Oh my god, thought it would be a closed-book test, but halfway through it just handed me the answers—love it, love it!

Right as Yu Yuan decrypted this altar's energy circuit:

[Ding, Decrypted 'Snake of Rebirth' altar energy circuit, gained a large amount of 'Snake of Rebirth' ritual knowledge, gained a large amount of 'Snake of Rebirth' faith fluctuations]

[Title 'Devout Believer' triggered Faith Disguise effect, intercepted faith identity: 'Snake of Rebirth' Divine Envoy]

[Title 'Devout Believer' triggered 'Faith Infiltration' effect, successfully infiltrated 'Snake of Rebirth', gained faith diversion permissions of 3.1%, gained faith interception permissions, gained faith power mobilization permissions, 'Snake of Rebirth' trust level +1]

Hiss—

Yu Yuan paused.

His pupils trembled violently.

"Fuck..."

He froze and carefully stared at the information on the virtual light screen.

Over and over.

"Fuck… fuck…"

That's right!

He hadn't misheard.

Yu Yuan was stunned.

Hadn't he just decrypted the barrier's energy circuit?

Hadn't he just absorbed a heap of bizarre knowledge?

How did that make him a "Divine Envoy"?

And those faith diversion permissions, faith interception permissions, and faith power mobilization permissions—were they really what he thought they meant?

Yu Yuan could hardly believe it.

While he was still bewildered,

A strange, inexplicable presence drifted into his mental space and, while moving toward his consciousness, touched Mysticist's shield.

This time, however, Mysticist seemed not to sense it at all, remaining motionless.

That odd presence slowly slipped into Yu Yuan's consciousness.

A sudden voice sounded in his head.

It sounded like a prayer, or a specific chant directed toward some entity…

"Great, immortal Snake of Rebirth, your most loyal servant Wellen offers you the most sincere sacrifice…"