156: Chapter 156 Smashing the False God with a Hammer: It's the Chains That Are Smashed, Not the Image

The weight of Su Shuang's body made Chen Fan's shoulder blades ache. With every step he took onto the fractured runic stone tiles, he could hear the soft crunch of rubble being crushed under his boots.

He had lost all five senses, leaving only eternal darkness before his eyes and the thunderous beat of his own heart in his ears. However, his spiritual body surged in his sea of consciousness like a tide of stars, allowing him to 'see' everything around him clearly in a different way—Su Shuang's soul fire flickered at the nape of his neck like a dying candle wick; Quiet Fire Child's breathing came from the secret passage to the left, carrying a child's characteristic tremor; even the scorch marks on the handle of the hammer of the thunder god glowed with a piercing red in his spiritual perception.

"Chen... Big Brother Chen." Quiet Fire Child's hand suddenly touched his wrist, his temperature as cold as ice shards.

The boy's fingers curled into a small fist as he pressed a hard object into Chen Fan's palm. "The Echo Sacrifice said... true gods... never take life lamps..." His voice grew lower and lower, like paper ash scattered by the wind. "This chain... is fake."

Chen Fan's fingertips brushed across the remnant stele; the rough stone surface was carved with lines of varying depths.

The next second, a blinding light suddenly exploded within his sea of consciousness—[Environmental Perception Critical Hit x 260%].

He 'heard' it. Hidden within those carvings buried by time was the hum of mechanical gears meshing and an electronic voice broadcasting: "Administration Bureau · District 7 · Energy Relay Station."

*Boom—*

A massive sound of crumbling stone chips echoed from the center of the altar.

Chen Fan's spiritual body shuddered as he 'saw' the pseudo-god statue slowly rising, revealing a mechanical shell encased beneath its Stone Skin.

Eerie blue lightning veins pulsed beneath the bronze armor, and the amethyst embedded in its chest throbbed violently. Every tremor tugged at the last spark of fire in his life lamp—that was no god's heart; it was clearly a grinding wheel designed to shred souls.

"We... sacrificed for a hundred years..." A raspy voice spilled from Quiet Fire Child's mouth; he had been possessed by a lingering soul of the Echo Sacrifice. "Only to trade for ten years of peace... but the god never responded... it only eats people." Before his voice could fade, Quiet Fire Child's body slumped over, his forehead hitting the stone tiles and oozing beads of blood.

Chen Fan crouched down and gently placed Su Shuang next to Quiet Fire Child.

He could 'see' Su Shuang's fox tail dissipating, its fluff melting into the air like snowflakes. Yet her heartbeat remained so weak, as fragile as spider silk caught in the wind.

"Kill me."

Mysterious Lady's voice came from near his feet.

Chen Fan looked down. In his spiritual perception, the former priestess's mangled remains were crawling toward his feet, her blood dragging a winding trail across the stone tiles.

When she tore open her chest, the crisp sound of ribs snapping was exceptionally clear to his spiritual body. "Use my blood... to break the chain."

Bone fragments scraped against the ground, throwing sparks. Using her blood as ink, Mysterious Lady drew a runic array that glowed with an eerie red.

When she looked up, blood dripped from the corner of her mouth into the center of the array. "The god I believed in for half my life... was actually just a tube for draining souls." Her hand reached out to touch Chen Fan's boot but fell limp halfway. "If I could start over... I would only want to protect one child... not the whole city."

Chen Fan's Adam's apple bobbed.

He remembered the devotion Mysterious Lady showed when lighting the life lamp on the altar, and the way she knelt before the divine statue for the sake of the Yun Clan.

Now, her blood mixed with the rubble, glowing a dark purple within the runic array like crushed sunset clouds.

"Forgive me," he whispered, thrusting the hammer of the thunder god into the center of the blood array.

The critical hit system vibrated frantically in his sea of consciousness. The resonance between his spiritual body and the hammer's frame nearly tore his meridians apart.

Just as the notification for [Sensory Resonance Ultimate Form—Five Senses Return to Silence, Spiritual Body as Eyes] rang out, Chen Fan 'saw' the scene inside the amethyst: countless points of light struggled within a vortex. Those were the drained souls—an old man's cough, a child's cry, a mother calling a nickname—all ground into fuel to keep the amethyst running.

The system's alarm blared piercingly in his spiritual body, like countless silver needles stabbing into his sea of consciousness.

Chen Fan bit down on the tip of his tongue, the metallic taste of blood flooding his mouth. He injected the last spark of his life lamp's fire into the hammer's body. Mysterious Lady's blood climbed up the handle, burning dark red patterns into the metal surface.

"Go!"

The hammer of the thunder god smashed toward the amethyst with a force that could shatter mountains and sever peaks.

[Chain Critical Hit x Infinite?]

A roar resounded throughout the entire Heart-Burning Altar.

Chen Fan was thrown against a broken pillar by the shockwave, his spiritual body nearly collapsing. But he 'saw' clearly—the amethyst burst like a crushed grape, dark red fluid splashing onto the mechanical shell. The lightning veins instantly backflowed, melting the bronze armor into molten iron.

The pseudo-god statue crashed down, landing in the center of the altar. Flying stone chips grazed his cheek, burning like red-hot coals.

The crisp sound of chains snapping echoed above the Yun Clan.

Chen Fan knelt on one knee and 'looked' up at the sky. A phantom image of a golden chain appeared in his spiritual body, piercing down from the clouds and into the wreckage of the pseudo-god—that was the 'Chain of the Pseudo-God,' the straw the Administration Bureau used to extract souls.

He wiped the blood from his face and raised the hammer of the thunder god high above his head.

The word 'Infinite' flickered on the hammer's body, and the shockwave from his spiritual vibrations sent the surrounding rubble flying.

Chen Fan stared at the phantom chain, his voice raspy yet clear: "You drain souls for fuel... I'll smash you for firewood."

The chain vibrated violently as fine cracks appeared in the golden patterns.

In the distant east wing of the Shadow Pavilion, the Third Seat of the Red Robes suddenly looked up, the teacup in his hand crushed to powder.

His pupils shrank as he looked toward the Yun Clan and whispered, "...The chain moved... Does he intend to slay a god?"

The tremors of the Heart-Burning Altar had not yet subsided as Chen Fan bent over to pick up Su Shuang.

Her body temperature was even colder than before, but her heartbeat was slightly more forceful—perhaps because the soul-draining power had weakened after the pseudo-god's collapse.

Chen Fan stepped over the broken runes toward the edge of the cliff. With every step, he could hear the stone tiles groaning beneath his feet, sounding as if they were about to shatter—a premonition of what was to come.

Wind from the cliff edge swirled with ash. Chen Fan 'saw' the main city of the Yun Clan in the distance; the Sacred Fire Pillar that once pierced the clouds was now nothing but a charred stump.

He looked down at Su Shuang in his arms, reached out to tidy her disheveled hair, and said softly, "Wait for me to smash this chain... then I'll take you to drink the tea from your Teahouse."

Before he could finish, a more violent tremor erupted from deep within the Heart-Burning Altar, and stone chips fell like rain.

Chen Fan quickened his pace. Just as he stood on the edge of the cliff, he heard the roar of the stone structure collapsing behind him—the Heart-Burning Altar was about to fall.