Chapter 489: Let Me Tell You, None of Them Are Normal

A few days later.

Su Mu had fully assimilated Fallen Sin Maitreya.

A minor incident occurred during the fusion process. When the two pieces of the Fallen Sin Maitreya Puzzle merged, their latent divine consciousness showed faint signs of reviving. However, with a soul already in the Demigod Realm, Su Mu easily suppressed the backlash.

This also made him realize that every step from the Saint Grade toward the Demigod Realm was fraught with peril. Even after finding a suitable Divine Corpse, its consciousness would gradually awaken as the fusion progressed. A single misstep, and the newly ascended Demigod would become nothing more than a vessel for a God's resurrection.

Perhaps this was why Huangquan, the girl in the black dress, always seemed so vacant. Was it related to her becoming a Demigod? Had her mind been affected by a complete Demigod?

"Two-thirds of the Fallen Sin Maitreya Puzzle has been collected," he mused. "I only need the final third to advance my physical body to the Demigod Realm."

After some thought, Su Mu decided to rely on the power of the Temple of God Slaying. He had no time to scour the entire world for the Fallen Sin Maitreya Puzzle. Since the Temple needed a favor from him this time, he might as well demand the puzzle piece as his reward.

He took out the Huangquan Clay Figurine with its blurred features and deformed body, then poured his mental energy into it.

Instantly, the clay figurine glowed with an eerie light, and the petite figure of a young girl slowly grew out from the radiance.

"Are you ready?" Huangquan asked expressionlessly, her delicate face covered in cracks.

Su Mu nodded. "I'm ready."

Bang!

Huangquan exploded.

Fine black mud splattered everywhere, accompanied by bursts of a chilling, eerie light. The light formed a pitch-black bridge in the void, one end resting at Su Mu's feet and the other stretching into the endless abyss, as if leading straight into Hell.

Without hesitation, Su Mu stepped onto the black bridge and walked into the depths.

The space before him deepened, growing darker and darker until he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face, as though he were walking through a black hole.

Concepts of time and space seemed nonexistent here. It felt like he had been walking for a minute, yet simultaneously like a year.

Suddenly, a light appeared. It was a white portal, connecting to an unknown space.

After stepping through the portal, Su Mu was greeted by the sight of millions of prismatic crystal pillars hanging from the sky. Each one was hundreds of feet tall, filled with a flowing, quicksilver-like liquid.

This seemed to be an alternate dimension. There was no sun; the only source of light came from the faint silver glow of the crystal pillars.

Numerous crystals also grew from the crimson ground, though they were much smaller. They clustered like patches of grass, scattered randomly and dotting the landscape into a silver ocean.

"Over here," Huangquan's cold voice rang out.

Following the sound, Su Mu saw Huangquan standing beside a black-robed youth next to a cluster of tall crystals. Both watched him with calm expressions.

He walked over slowly, studying them with a faint smile. "Is everyone in the Temple of God Slaying this young?"

Huangquan remained expressionless and didn't answer. The youth in black replied calmly, "We only look young. I am the Master of the Temple of God Slaying, Wuming."

"Wuming?" Su Mu chuckled. "One named Huangquan and one named Wuming. How interesting."

"Names are just codenames. The members of the Temple of God Slaying discarded their mortal names long ago. We only address each other by our codenames."

"Are the two of you the only ones in the Temple of God Slaying?"

Wuming shook his head. "The others are in different Divine Realms."

"Divine Realms?" Su Mu's eyes flickered, a faint guess forming in his mind.

"A Divine Realm is the domain where True Gods reside. It is a higher-dimensional space."

"Did you run into trouble in a Divine Realm?"

"That's right. But our trouble has nothing to do with you. Your task is to help us break an illusion array. In return, we will pay you whatever you desire—whether that is a Divine Puzzle or the chance to join the Temple of God Slaying."

Wuming was as calm as a machine, answering Su Mu's questions concisely without wasting a single word.

"I want the Fallen Sin Maitreya Puzzle."

Wuming nodded calmly. "Agreed."

Just then, a black rift tore open in the sky above. A bald man dressed as a Warrior Monk stepped out, wearing a necklace of one hundred and eight divine bones.

The bald man swept his gaze across the area. When he spotted Su Mu, his eyes immediately lit up.

"A newcomer?"

Whoosh!

The man transformed into a streak of crimson fire, instantly reappearing right next to Su Mu.

Su Mu looked at the bald man impassively. In the exact moment that deep red flame had appeared, the Fallen Sin Maitreya within him had stirred restlessly, as if it had just encountered its natural predator.

"What should we call you?" the bald man asked with a hearty laugh.

"Pride," Su Mu said, offering his codename to follow the local custom.

The bald man blinked in surprise. "That's your codename? You don't look like a Demigod. How did you join the Temple of God Slaying so quickly?

"Master, is he your relative? You actually made an exception to let him join? How can you do that! This is a blatant violation of our rules!

"I'm going to tell the other members about your blatant nepotism! We'll hold a general assembly to denounce you, and then you'll have no choice but to hand your position over to me!"

The bald man's booming voice echoed throughout the vast, empty dimension, the noise incredibly grating.

"Shut up, Warrior Monk!" Wuming snapped, his brow furrowing as his face finally showed some emotion.

"Since everyone is here, let's go."

The Warrior Monk's face fell. "Come on, I just got back! I still have the blood of the Primal Cultists all over me. At least let me change my clothes..."

Before he could finish, a dark light surged from Huangquan, enveloping them all. In the blink of an eye, they vanished.

Clearly, Huangquan couldn't stand listening to him either.

As they hurtled through a dark tunnel, the Warrior Monk's loud voice continued to blare without pause.

Su Mu watched him with curiosity. It was hard to imagine a person who could talk to himself to such an extent, his face cycling through a wildly exaggerated array of expressions.

"New guy, I joined the Temple of God Slaying over a hundred years ago," the monk rambled. "Let me tell you, the Master wasn't always like this. Back then, he actually talked and laughed. He was like a normal person! And little Huangquan over there? Don't let her youthful looks fool you. She's actually older than my grandmother."

Riiip!

The darkness beneath the Warrior Monk's feet suddenly tore open into a bottomless rift. He looked down, his expression instantly freezing. "Ahhh!!"

Losing his footing, he plummeted straight into the chasm.

The rift promptly snapped shut, cutting off his scream entirely. Huangquan expressionlessly withdrew her hand.

"The Temple of God Slaying is even more harmonious than I imagined," Su Mu said with a smile.

A short while later, a burst of deep red flame erupted in the dark tunnel. The Warrior Monk stepped out, a look of profound grievance on his face. Carefully avoiding Huangquan, he shuffled over to Su Mu's side.

"New guy, your name is Pride, right?" He lowered his voice and tapped the side of his own head. "Let me tell you, none of them are right in the head. In this entire Temple, I'm the only normal one. And I guess now there's you, too.

"After all, you aren't a Demigod yet, so you can barely count as normal."

Su Mu was speechless.

Looking at the neurotic Warrior Monk, who acted like a thief while badmouthing their teammates right in front of them, he seriously doubted who the abnormal one really was.