Louis advanced into the darkness. In everyone's subconsciousness, there is a field of life - the place where the spirit, soul, and body are connected. This is often thought of as the mind or heart of a person. Louis was currently in the field of life. In order to fully take over the body, he had to cut off its connection between the spirit and body then devour the other's soul.
The field of life is different for each person. In each individual's field of life, whatever they think of as beautiful, ideal, and impressive normally appears. Each person has a different ideal, therefore everyone's field of life is different. This was the first time that Louis saw such a dark field of life - this endless, empty darkness is like a rejection of everything in the world.
Because it was dark, Louis couldn't see anything; he couldn't even find the connection between the spirit and the body. He paused and began to think about countermeasures. As he gazed at a certain point in the darkness, Louis was surprised to discover that there were countless words in the dark.
The words were so dense that they overlapped each other. Louis carefully examined the words for a while before realizing that they were countless repetitions of two words filling the entire field of life.
"Ze... Du Ze ...?"
Du Ze, Zu Zedu Zedu Zedu Zedu Ze ...
The sound in his ear was like a dark broken voice. Louis recovered from his dazed state and found himself standing in the middle of a round platform. This had never happened to him before. Louis looked around and tried to quickly sort out the situation.
A round platform was floating in the darkness. Eight tall, slender torches stood all around the edges of the platform. One was plain but the others all had scarlet totems carved on their handles. No matter how hard the tried, Louis wasn't able to understand the meaning of the scarlet totems. Suddenly, the torch in front of him burst into flame. The flame was a strange color - a demonic purple. It flared up then took the shape of a demon.
The flame demon, who was just a silhouette with no detailed features, laughed softly: "You really came in."
Louis did not react. The purple flame demon moved behind him and languidly shouted: "Hey, you have a guest."
The purple flame suddenly died down. Louis turned around. A torch was lit up. Its flame was gray and it quietly burned. Strangely, even though it was clearly a flame, it made people feel colder - this is a feeling that Louis is familiar with. The cold feeling with an undertone of decay and decadence is unmistakably the death aura of an undead spirit.
The gray flame rose higher and took on the shape of a human standing on the torch and looking silently at Louis. Louis looked at it and said hoarsely: "Are you one of the undead?"
The flame undead did not answer but just descended from the torch in silence. Louis' instincts cried out that there was danger; because he himself is undead he is keenly aware of how terrifying the undead can be. He wanted to leave this strange place, but he was shackled by an invisible force that wouldn't allow him to move. Even his eyeballs were frozen in place. Louis can only watch as the flame undead came to him. The burning face came closer and said: "I only allow one person to enter here. You do not have the qualifications to be here."
The gray flame swept over to the immobile Louis and devoured him.
"- Xiu!"
Xiu opened his eyes. Du Ze's panicked voice was in his ear and he was being held by Du Ze. It seemed as though what had just happened took a long time but in reality it only took a moment.
A gray pillar of light materialized in front of them. Du Ze was quite startled by the sudden appearance of the exit portal. All he knew was that Xiu collapsed on his shoulder. He was thrown into confusion and he hastily embraced Xiu as the latter changed shape from a demon into an undead.
Xiu leaned against Du Ze's shoulder. He lowered his eyes and held Du Ze tighter.
His heart is very narrow. Except for the man in his arms, he will never let others into that tiny crevice.
"It's all right."
After hearing Xiu speak, the nervous Du Ze finally relaxed. Although he didn't know what had happened, if the Moe Lord said it was alright then everything must be fine.
The undead that Louis summoned had all disappeared. Except for the fact that this was the first time that Rachel saw Xiu transform, the others easily accepted Xiu's new form. They didn't have time to talk to each other since the hall of bones was rapidly tumbling down, just like the demon god arena.
The group returned to the hall through the gray pillar of light. Du Ze looked around and saw that one of the empty stone platforms now held a statue of the undead. There was no need to think too much about this. Clearly the Tower of God had a specific process: enter the door of light - complete the trial of one race - a stone statue signifies they have cleared a trial - and so on. Once all of the statues are collected they can reach the top.
After returning to the hall, Xiu soon fell into a coma. The demon sisters filled Rachel in so that she had a rough idea of the situation. Her attitude towards Xiu did not change much.
Du Ze sighed in relief and stared at Xiu's face. Even for one of the undead, his face was too pale. The Tower of God gave them no time to breathe and this person was always pushing himself, desperately climbing the tower so he can become a god.
********
Translator's Comment:
This is one my favorite chapters. What a way to defeat Louis! And Xiu's life space was just full of nothing but Du Ze. I melted from happiness! How can Xiu be so yandere and cute at the same time?! Don't be shy, let me know what your reaction was. Do you think this chapter is fluffy or scary? If you had a field of life, what would be in it?
(Uploader:I agree with the translator's comment, isn't it quite cute that only Du Ze is in Xiu's field of Life? Heheh so cute!)
To avoid the saddest outcome, Du Ze began to ask the others about the God of Creation. He asked the demon sisters, Ariel, Muir and Old John. The information they gave him was from the legends and it was mostly the same except for minor details; to them, the God of Creation is too remote. Du Ze's only hope lay with Rachel. As the agent of the Thunder Regiment, surely she knew more.
Du Ze found Rachel standing in front of an empty stone platform. After seeing Du Ze approach her, Rachel showed a polite smiled and pointed at the platform in front of him, saying: "There was a statue of a gnome here, and now it's gone."
He looked at the platform. Xiu did not go to the gnome simulation so there is no gnome statue here. It seems that Rachel's finished trial cannot be transferred to Xiu. This must be one of the tower's restrictions. Although the completion of trail was not transferable, Rachel's information about the test has greatly reduced its difficulty.
"How much do you know about the god who created the world?"
"The creator god?" Rachel thought about Du Ze's question and said: "The creator god is the one who created the Chaos Continent then fell into a deep sleep."
That was pretty much what Ariel and the others said. Regarding what the god looked like, where he was sleeping, and other such details, they had absolutely no idea about it. Now that he has asked everyone about the god, all Du Ze can do is to temporarily put it out of his mind. Right at that moment, he heard Violet cry out in surprise behind him. Xiu had woken up.
Xiu tied up his curly black hair and threw it over his left shoulder. His face is still pale but he seemed a lot better. After he understood their current situation, Xiu did not hesitate to enter the door of light again. Du Ze has been through it twice so now he was not nervous. He began to wonder which race would be featured in the test this time.
The dim light gradually dissipated behind them and Du Ze looked at the two straight rows of bookshelves in front of him. For the first time he felt that his brains were a little inadequate. This seems to be... a library?
Teacher, why are we in a library?!
The strong smell of books permeated the air and wafted over to one's nose. They were between tall bookshelves that were neatly filled with all kinds of books. The left and right sides are like two walls converging to attack people, forming extremely narrow paths. Behind them was a dead end. Du Ze looked up and found that the bookshelves reach all the way up to the ceiling. It's like they are in a sealed box and the only way out was to go forward.
Xiu held Du Ze's hand and went forward silently. After about ten shelves, they come to a dead end. In front of Du Ze and Xiu was a sphinx statue blocking the next section of the library. The statue's eyes lit up when Xiu and the others approached. It opened its mouth, but it wasn't to attack. It was to ask them a question: "What are the four basic natural elements?"
Everyone looked at each other. This is a simple, basic question whose answer can be said to be common sense, so they were all puzzled by the current situation. Seeing that the light in the monster's eye was going to go out, Rachel stepped forward and replied cautiously to the statue's question: "Wind, fire, water, and earth are the four basic natural elements."
Everyone looked at the statue with a watchful eye. After hearing Rachel's answer, the monster statue turned into powder, revealing a portal. Apparently they had passed a checkpoint. Du Ze stared at the portal, filled with a sense of powerlessness about the Tower of God's antics.
First it was a fighting game, then it was a strategy game, now it's a quiz game - what the heck kind of crappy simulation is this?!
Du Ze and the gang walked through the portal. They found themselves between two rows of bookshelves, the same as the first time. This time around, they quickened their pace. After 10 shelves, they did not come to a dead end. Instead, they found that they could turn right at the end of the row of bookshelves, forming a bend like a paper clip. Compared to the first checkpoint, this one was double the length.
They continued to walk forward and saw the same Sphinx statue at the end of the path. The statue also asked them a question when they approached: "What are the four advanced elements of nature?"
"Thunder, inferno, ice, wood." This time Rachel answered without hesitation and they quickly passed the second hurdle.
They continued passing through the checkpoints by answering the Sphinx statue's questions. After the initial shock, Du Ze cannot help but praise this simulation. There was no fighting or physical challenges; it was all mental so the Moe Lord can finally rest. Before Du Ze could be too pleased with the situation, they encountered their first problem. Every time a hurdle is passed, the bookshelf-lined path will add a bend and the questions the statue asked became more and more difficult. This time the statue asked them: "What elements should be added to the combined ice storm magic?"
Is this a chemistry test?!
The silly, cute reader was shocked. Xiu frowned slightly. Rachel and the others were also helpless. Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind them, answering the question for them: "The 6th to 8th order magic adds the light element and the 9th order magic adds the dark element."
The statue turned to powder and disappeared. Du Ze looked back to see the first human Mage God, Antonio, holding a jug of wine. He was leaning on a bookshelf and drunkenly greeted them: "We meet again."
Antonio hiccuped, he appeared to be inebriated and did not seem to recognize Xiu's undead form. With one eye on Xiu, he asked Du Ze: "Have you seen Honey?"
Du Ze shook his head, he did not expect to meet Antonio here. It looked like that Antonio is looking for his granddaughter.
Upon hearing his answer, Antonio was disappointed and waves to them to pass through the checkpoint: "Go through there."
Xiu was looking at Antonio and asked hoarsely: "What about you?"
"This old man is looking for those little bast**ds." Antonio opened his jug and drank a mouthful. He seemed to have a good opinion of Xiu and suggested: "Young people, if they don't understand, they can read more books."
After the first Mage God disappeared into the stacks of books, Du Ze thought over Antonio's words and looked at the rows of bookshelves with a terrifying thought: The Tower of God will not give them a question with no solution and would not have put these books here without a cause.
If they cannot answer the statue's question, should they not seek the answer in this vast sea of books?
(Uploader: if that were me I would be too lazy to read all those books, and I probably wouldn't even understand anyway...
(◡ ω ◡) (ㆁωㆁ).