140: Chapter 140 The Decaying Old Master, the First Old Master to Descend
After leaving the Shaven Empire, a wisp of Lin Chuan's consciousness projected back into the coughing ghoul clone.
At this moment, the coughing ghoul clone, which had been wandering blindly across the West Continent, had arrived at the core region of the continent—the nation of Stark!
This small country, once incredibly prosperous and like something out of a fairy tale, had now turned into a land of eerie, scorched earth.
On the desolate streets, the coughing ghoul clone walked slowly forward, its body hunched over.
Suddenly.
A series of distorted, low-pitched chants echoed from ahead.
Lin Chuan controlled the coughing ghoul clone to slowly look up, using those grayish-white eyes to pierce through the mist and look toward the giant plaza in the center of the city.
There, tens of thousands of eerie "White-clothed Figures" were gathered.
They had no facial features, only vague humanoid outlines.
They wore tattered white clothes whose original color could no longer be discerned, and their exposed skin was severely ulcerated, oozing yellow-green pus.
Visible streams of rules, similar to a "plague," coiled around them like poisonous snakes.
"C-rank at the lowest..."
"The leaders are even S-rank Taboos!"
Seeing this, Lin Chuan's heart chilled slightly!
He didn't care about these "White-clothed Figures" alone.
But on the interface deep within his consciousness, prompts were popping up one after another:
[Warning! Old Master Kin detected!]
[Affiliation: Rotten Old Master!]
[Status: Summoning ritual in progress!]
[Rotten Old Master: An ancient existence born from destruction and pain, attempting to infect the entire world into its Diseased Nursery!]
"Cough, cough..."
Seeing the prompts, Lin Chuan controlled the Coughing Ghoul to let out a light cough, tentatively attacking those "White-clothed Figures" with Rule Power.
But those White-clothed Figures remained unaffected, still immersed in some fanatical and distorted ritual.
They formed a massive circle, in the center of which was an altar piled high with countless rotting corpses.
"Ph'nglui... mglw'nafh... Rot... R'lyeh... wgah'nagl... fhtagn..."
Obscure, frenzied incantations issued from their bodies, converging into a sound wave powerful enough to warp reality.
As the chanting progressed.
The space above the altar began to fluctuate violently.
It was like a rotten wound being forcibly torn open.
A chaotic storm of rules immediately poured out from that rift.
Rumble!!!
The earth cracked apart.
An indescribably massive, meatball-like monster slowly squeezed out from the Void Realm.
It had no specific form; its entire body was covered in pustules, ulcers, and constantly writhing yellow slime.
Every drop of slime that fell could corrode hard rock into a pool of poisonous water.
From that gargantuan creature, Lin Chuan felt an extremely intense sense of pressure.
Clearly, that gargantuan creature's Terror Level had already surpassed SS-rank!
It was an SSS-Rank Taboo!
And the first SSS-rank Old Master to truly descend into this world!
Although It hadn't fully descended, with only half of Its body reaching this world, that pressure from a high-tier status still caused the entire sky of the West Continent... to turn dim and lusterless.
As soon as the gargantuan creature appeared, a large block of information refreshed on Lin Chuan's interface again:
[Warning! SSS-rank Old Master descending!]
[Name: Rotten Old Master!]
[Serial Number: 162!]
[Terror Level: SSS-Rank First Order!]
[Type: Faith Taboo · Disease Domain Controller!]
[Description: An ancient Old Master from the depths of the Chaos Void Realm. Its very existence is a form of ultimate distortion, capable of infecting rules and eroding reality!]
"SSS-Rank First Order..."
Lin Chuan controlled the coughing ghoul clone, standing quietly in the distance.
Even though his main body had already reached s-rank eighth tier, he still felt an unprecedented pressure facing a true Old Master like this.
"Wheeze... wheeze..."
That massive meatball monster let out heavy, ragged breaths.
It had no eyes, but Lin Chuan could clearly feel a gaze full of malice and greed watching him.
"Interesting little bug..."
A chaotic, hoarse voice, sounding as if countless sick people were moaning in his ear, rang directly in Lin Chuan's mind.
"On you... is the scent of my kind."
"Though very weak... it is very pure."
Crash!!
As Its voice fell.
The surrounding White-clothed Figures, who were still chanting, suddenly turned around in unison.
Tens of thousands of faceless countenances aimed themselves at the Coughing Ghoul simultaneously.
"Submit... little bug."
The Rotten Old Master's voice carried a sense of high-and-mighty charity.
"Join the great [Fallen Light Court] and become my Master's servant."
"You shall receive... eternal ascension and supreme glory."
Fallen Light Court?
Lin Chuan's heart stirred.
He faintly guessed that this so-called "Fallen Light Court" must be some taboo faction within the Chaos Void Realm!
In the "Chaos Void Realm," besides those "Chaos-type taboos," other categories of taboos possessed distorted wisdom beyond imagination. They would construct their own domains and even create terrifying "Kingdoms."
With this in mind, Lin Chuan controlled the coughing ghoul clone and slowly asked:
"The Fallen Light Court... what is it?"
The voice came through the Coughing Ghoul's throat, hoarse and low.
"Heh heh..."
The Rotten Old Master let out a bone-chilling laugh, then responded to Lin Chuan:
"The Fallen Light Court... it is a supreme forbidden domain located in the third dimension, near the depths of the Chaos Dream!"
"It was created by the great [Fallen Angel] Dominator personally!"
"Within the Fallen Light Court, there are thirteen Old Masters like myself, as well as... five supreme Dominators!"
"And my Master, the [Fallen Angel]..."
At this point, the Rotten Old Master's voice was filled with fanaticism and awe.
"He is a Middle-tier Dominator of SSS-rank eighth tier!"
SSS-rank eighth tier!
Thirteen Old Masters!
Five Dominators!
Hearing this information, Lin Chuan suppressed the shock in his heart and continued to ask:
"Then..."
"Why exactly have you descended into this world?"
Lin Chuan's inquiry was actually to further verify the conjecture in his heart.
"For what?"
The Rotten Old Master seemed to have heard a funny joke, and the pustules on Its body trembled violently.
"Naturally, it is to... welcome my Master's descent!"
"In one more year... at most one year!"
"The barriers of the real world will completely shatter, and my Master, the [Fallen Angel], will cross dimensions and personally grace this realm!"
"When that time comes..."
Its voice became increasingly frenzied and excited.
"This folded, distorted world will be completely spread out, like a crumpled piece of paper being flattened!"
"All falsehoods shall dissipate, and all truths shall be revealed!"
"That... is the beginning of a new era!"
One year!
The world spread out like a crumpled paper ball!
Although the Rotten Old Master had hidden some answers, Lin Chuan still keenly captured some key information.
The "Dream Awakening" mentioned by that old woman calling herself "Granny Meng" might refer to this world heading toward an irreversible endgame.
The dream wakes, dimensions annihilate layer by layer... until finally, everything comes to naught!!
"How about it, little bug?"
While Lin Chuan was deep in thought, the Rotten Old Master suddenly extended a massive, slime-dripping tentacle, hovering it over the Coughing Ghoul's head.
"There is only one chance."
"Submit to my Master... or... become my nourishment."
Facing this naked threat.
Lin Chuan did not panic.
He controlled the Coughing Ghoul, slowly swaying its paper-like body.
"In that case..."
"I... refuse."
Before the words had even faded.
Boom!!!
The Coughing Ghoul's body instantly exploded.
But in the next moment... the shattered Coughing Ghoul reformed on the ruins hundreds of meters away!
Immediately after, an S-rank Taboo's Rule Power instantly spread out from the Coughing Ghoul, directly binding and devouring several nearby White-clothed Figures... "Puny bug!!!"
"You have provoked me..."
The Rotten Old Master let out a furious roar.
It hadn't expected that this seemingly weak bug would actually dare to toy with It like this.
However, before It could activate Its rules to attack the Coughing Ghoul, Lin Chuan had already controlled the coughing ghoul clone to vanish without a trace in an instant.