Chapter 458: Happy New Year

"By the way, I'm Chu Ying from Dawn's Blade. What should I call you? Which God Hunter team are you from?"

"Su Mu. And what is a God Hunter?"

Chu Ying paused, her expression shifting slightly. "Don't tell me you were assimilated by a Silent Spirit? You really don't know what a God Hunter is?"

"Was the Silent Spirit that lady from just now?" Su Mu asked with a smile.

"You're still calling her a lady? She isn't human at all, she's a monster! She's a divine abomination infected by the aura of a Divine Corpse. She disguises herself as a human and infects anyone who talks to her. Those who converse with her are haunted by terrifying illusions, gradually losing their grip on reality until they're assimilated into a Silent Spirit.

"Silent Spirit is just the collective name for that type of divine abomination.

"You aren't actually infected, are you? It shouldn't be possible. You're at least a Gold transcendent, and you only exchanged a few words with her. Your spiritual energy can't possibly be that weak, right?"

Su Mu: "..."

He felt a bit speechless. This was the first time in his life someone had called his spiritual energy weak.

It gave him the surreal feeling of an emperor being mocked by a beggar for being poor.

Looking tense, Chu Ying took two steps back. Spatial fluctuations faintly surfaced around her, as though she would flee the moment Su Mu showed the slightest abnormality.

"I'm not infected. I've just lost a portion of my memories for various reasons," Su Mu said, pushing up his Tinted Glasses to conceal the crystalline blue light in his eyes.

The very next moment, Chu Ying dropped her guard, believing Su Mu's words far too easily.

"You scared me! I thought you were about to turn into a Silent Spirit. You really are unlucky to have lost your memory, though. While there are plenty of divine abominations in the Divine Ruins, I've never actually encountered one that causes amnesia.

"Don't worry. Running into me is your good luck. We're both God Hunters; it's only right that we help each other out here in the Divine Ruins.

"Come back to the gathering point with me for now. The rest of Dawn's Blade is there, and it's better to stick together so we can look out for one another."

Standing on her tiptoes, Chu Ying patted Su Mu's shoulder with a dirty hand, wearing an expression that seemed to say, 'I've got you covered, no need to thank me.'

Trust between people is a strange thing. Some can work together for years and still remain guarded, while others can trust unconditionally after a single meeting.

Su Mu was exactly that kind of person—anyone with weak resistance to Illusion Techniques would easily put their trust in him.

Led by Chu Ying, the two of them carefully navigated the ruins.

"Why don't you just teleport us back to the gathering point?"

Leading the way, Chu Ying didn't even turn her head as she replied, "Do you think I don't want to? This is the Divine Ruins, the resting place of Divine Corpses. Anything horrifying can happen here, even spatial distortions. If I teleport too far and get caught in a spatial turbulent flow, we might never come back."

Now Su Mu understood why a space-type Gold transcendent could only teleport a hundred meters. It wasn't that she couldn't; she simply didn't dare.

He lightly probed the surrounding space and discovered there was indeed a degree of spatial turbulence, though it wasn't too severe. It was nowhere near as chaotic as the turbulence he caused when utilizing his Twisted Divinity to distort space.

This couldn't help but make him curious. How did a Gold transcendent this frail dare to call herself a God Hunter?

Beneath the surface, down in Hell, countless religions stood tall, and the number of people who worshiped gods was beyond measure. Yet here in Heaven, where gods actually existed, God Hunters had popped up?

He had originally thought that even if large numbers of humans existed in Heaven, the realm would definitely be filled with religions, with faith surpassing even that of Hell. Surprisingly, the exact opposite was true.

Down in Hell, where only the Demigod Realm existed, no one dared to call themselves a God Hunter. Were the people of Heaven really this brave?

"Right, I almost forgot you lost your memory. You probably don't even know what the Divine Ruins are right now. The Divine Ruins are actually alternate dimensions created by chaotic divine power following the divine war. Usually, parts of a god's corpse can be found within them, and these Divine Corpses serve as their cores.

"And divine abominations are monsters corrupted by Divine Corpses. The Silent Spirit from just now was one of them. While Silent Spirits are strong, they're relatively easy to deal with. As long as you don't speak to them and stay far away, you generally won't be in any danger."

Chu Ying patiently explained everything to Su Mu. She herself didn't know why she was explaining so much to a stranger. Perhaps it was because he was quite handsome? Very much her type?

Divine Corpses...

Su Mu's eyes flickered. The divine war back then had indeed been brutal. Did many gods die? Were they beaten into scattered pieces like Xuan Tian?

"Are there still living gods?"

Chu Ying thought for a moment. "There should be, but I've never seen one. I'm guessing that even if gods are still alive, they've long since fallen into a deep slumber. Otherwise, humanity would have been wiped out ages ago."

This was good news for Su Mu. If the gods were either dead or asleep, he wouldn't have to put so much effort into hiding himself. He could act more freely, and retrieving Xuan Tian's origin essence scattered across the world would be much easier.

However, he wasn't going to just take Chu Ying's word for it. Although she was definitely telling the truth under the influence of the Illusion Technique, her meager strength meant she only had access to a very low level of information. Some of her sources were bound to be inaccurate.

"If gods are so powerful, why do you still call yourselves God Hunters?"

Upon hearing this question, Chu Ying's expression suddenly turned solemn. She stopped walking, looked back at Su Mu, and said earnestly, "Because the gods are heartless, treating humans like stray dogs. They are the source of chaos, a tumor upon the world. It is precisely because the gods exist that the world has been reduced to such a ruined state.

"I heard from the older generation that a long, long time ago, the world wasn't like this. It used to be beautiful and prosperous, with people living and working in peace. But ever since the divine war began, the gods attacked each other, shattering the world. Even the human race was nearly driven to extinction.

"The gods don't care about humanity, so naturally, humans must pursue God-Slaying!

"That is the origin of the God Hunters. Humanity may be weak, but courage is our greatest hymn. We have the courage to hunt the gods!"

So that was it. Courage?

The corners of Su Mu's mouth curled up. He liked this kind of hymn. Compared to a world with countless religions where endless people were enslaved by gods, he preferred the current Heaven. Even though it was filled with ruin and suffering, the hymn of courage echoed across this land, enduring and undiminishing.

"It's a pity..." Chu Ying's expression darkened. "Nowadays, more and more God Hunters no longer fight for the survival of the human race, but for their own selfish interests. They treat being a God Hunter as just a way to make a living, allowing divine abominations to plague the world. Only those who can afford their prices can get them to act.

"Sometimes they even deliberately capture weak divine abominations and release them into residential areas. After letting them wreak havoc for a bit, the people naturally cough up money. Then, the God Hunters will step in, capture the divine abominations, and drop them in another place."

Su Mu smiled faintly. Humanity's light and darkness always coexisted; this was nothing new.

"There's a briar patch ahead. Those blood briars will drain the blood of anyone who steps inside. I'll teleport us across."

Chu Ying pointed into the distance at an area of ruins entangled with blood-red briars. The briars exuded an eerie, bloody glow. Their thick and twisted branches looked like countless living venomous snakes, winding around each other, clinging, and slowly extending in all directions.

As she spoke, Chu Ying reached out to grab Su Mu's hand, but Su Mu stopped her.

Under Chu Ying's puzzled gaze, Su Mu pulled out a bottle of clear water and a clean white handkerchief. "Hold out your hands."

Chu Ying looked at her grimy little hands. She blanked for a second before her brows shot up. "What is that supposed to mean!? You think I'm dirty? At a time like this, you still care about these details?"

A gentle smile hung on Su Mu's face. "First of all, there is no danger right now, nor are there any divine abomination monsters chasing us. We have plenty of time to wash our hands. Secondly, yes, I do think they're dirty."

"You!"

Splash, splash...

The clean water poured over Chu Ying's hands, and a moment later, she subconsciously began scrubbing them.

The water flowing over her palms quickly turned black. When the bottle was empty and she had wiped her hands with the white handkerchief, a pair of fair, delicate hands with pale pink nails came into view.

"Much cleaner. Let's go."

"Hmph!" Chu Ying snorted. Without another word, she grabbed Su Mu's hand, and the two of them teleported past the briar patch.

In truth, Su Mu could have executed a teleportation of this level himself. All he needed to do was use his Twisted Divinity to distort space, but he chose not to.

From what he could tell, the people of Heaven were extremely hostile toward gods. Divinity was not something he should use lightly unless absolutely necessary. After all, no one could be sure whether there were any powerful entities hiding within these Divine Ruins.

The power of the nightmare was the same. Otherwise, with a single thought, he could have completely hypnotized and controlled a Gold transcendent like Chu Ying, rather than just planting a few simple psychological suggestions like he was doing now.

In other words, until he fully understood Heaven, the smartest course of action was to only utilize the Giant Demon.

With his realm as a Gold King, now combining both the bloodline and soul of a Giant Demon, plus the countless times he had used Supreme Heaven to make wishes and elevate his physique to an unparalleled peak, he was more than capable of handling ordinary Saint Grade experts.

After crossing the briar patch, the two continued forward. The surrounding city ruins began to thin out, as if they had reached the outskirts of this ruined city.

Scattered about were some low-slung civilian houses, still relatively intact.

A long while later, Chu Ying stopped in front of a house that resembled a courtyard.

She knocked on the rusty iron gate, causing a layer of white ripples to spread across it. It was clear someone had set up some kind of transcendent measure to protect and isolate this courtyard.

Soon, a deep male voice sounded from inside. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Chu Ying."

The man inside didn't open the gate immediately. Instead, he continued to ask, "What was your mission for going out today?"

"To search for transcendent materials to heal the captain."

A series of murmurs echoed from within. "It should be Chu Ying. Not a Silent Spirit."

Chu Ying explained to Su Mu in a low voice, "Silent Spirits disguise themselves as humans and try to hold conversations in all sorts of ways, which is why they're so cautious."

"Who are you talking to!?" the man behind the gate exclaimed.

"A God Hunter I saved while I was out. His name is Su Mu, a Gold transcendent. However, he got into an accident earlier and lost a lot of his memories, so he doesn't remember his own team.

"Don't worry, I've already confirmed it. He isn't a divine abomination. We can trust him," Chu Ying said firmly.

In truth, she hadn't confirmed anything at all, but for some reason, she was absolutely convinced that there was nothing wrong with Su Mu.

The murmurs inside started up again, as if they were discussing the matter.

At that moment, another, slightly older male voice spoke up. "Open the gate. Let them in."

"Yes, Captain."

Clack...

The rusty iron gate was pulled open. Instantly, several pairs of eyes converged on Su Mu. Wary, inquisitive, uneasy—their expressions varied wildly.

Su Mu and Chu Ying stepped inside.

"Don't worry, Captain, he's fine," Chu Ying said to an elderly man sitting on a wooden chair in the center of the room.

The elderly man was clearly the captain of Dawn's Blade. His hair was graying and his figure was gaunt, but from within his sunken sockets, a pair of sharp, falcon-like eyes constantly evaluated Su Mu.

And Su Mu was evaluating them as well.

Counting Chu Ying, there were six members of Dawn's Blade in the room: three Gold transcendents, two Gold Kings, and one Saint Grade.

The Saint Grade was naturally the elderly captain, though obvious bloodstains marked his body, and his aura was incredibly unstable. He was clearly heavily injured.

After sweeping his gaze over them, Su Mu had a rough idea. An injured Saint Grade leading two large ants and three small ants. They posed no threat.

"This is our captain in Dawn's Blade, Zhou Qiong—Captain Zhou. He's a renowned Saint Grade expert from the Dawn Domain."

"Captain, this is Su Mu. I saved him from a Silent Spirit, though he's currently missing some of his memories."

Chu Ying made the introductions, but Zhou Qiong showed no intention of greeting him. His expression remained cold.

He slowly retracted his gaze and said coolly, "He has the aura of malevolent energy. He's a Gold transcendent on the Giant Demon path. There are no signs of contamination from a divine abomination."

With that, he stopped paying attention to Su Mu and simply closed his eyes to rest.

Hearing his words, the other members of Dawn's Blade let out a sigh of relief. Compared to Chu Ying's judgment, they clearly trusted Zhou Qiong far more. Since the captain said there was no issue, then there was no issue.

However, after learning that Su Mu was merely a Giant Demon—the weakest path—their attitudes underwent a noticeable shift.

A buzz-cut man complained to Chu Ying, "Weren't you supposed to go out and look for transcendent materials to heal the captain's injuries? Instead, you brought a person back. Where are the materials? Don't tell me you failed to find any again."

Chu Ying pursed her lips and mumbled, "I didn't find any."

"What were you thinking!? Is saving some stranger more important, or healing the captain more important? If we don't heal the captain, who's going to lead us out of these Divine Ruins?" the buzz-cut man said, exasperated by her failure.

"Of course I want to heal the captain! But what else can I do if I can't find anything?" Chu Ying turned her head away in anger.

At that moment, a long-haired man standing beside Zhou Qiong said coldly, "Chu Ying, you are the only space-type in the team, and the only one with the best hope of finding healing materials. Yet it's been a month already. What have you found?

"It's a pity I don't have the ability to teleport, or the captain's injuries would have been healed long ago."

This long-haired man was a Gold King. His words cowed Chu Ying into silence. She merely stood there with her head bowed, too afraid to talk back.

"Enough." Zhou Qiong slowly opened his eyes. "How many times have I said that our team must remain united? There is an outsider present. Don't make a laughingstock of us."

He cast a scrutinizing gaze toward Su Mu. "Su Mu, was it? Chu Ying saved your life, which means you owe a debt of gratitude to Dawn's Blade. I assume you understand the principle of repaying a favor.

"As a God Hunter braving the Divine Ruins, you must have some Healing Potions on you. We just went through a bitter battle and used up all of ours.

"I hope you can hand over whatever Healing Potions you have on you as repayment. What do you say?"