The words of the Axiom Core left Chen Xu in a heavy silence.
Faced with a question so difficult to answer, he chose to say nothing.
Indeed, no one would ever want to provoke a powerhouse like the Mother of Hell unless absolutely necessary.
To have faced dozens of Dao Lords... such a combat record was no longer just astonishing; it was terrifying.
If the Mother of Hell hadn't already set her sights on the Land of the Undead, Chen Xu wouldn't have wanted to entangle himself with such a troublesome character either.
Seeing Chen Xu lapse into silence, the Axiom Core did not wait for his reply before continuing.
“The Dao Lords have their own factions and their own considerations. None are willing to face such a ferocious existence.
“The myriad worlds are vast—vast enough for those Dao Lords to ignore the Mother of Hell's madness.
“But the myriad worlds are also small—too small to contain the madness of the Mother of Hell.
“The Great Sage once said that something went wrong with the ritual. The source of this madness is a horrific existence, and the living beings within a world cannot directly withstand that power.”
“A horrific existence? Is the source of the ritual a Dao Lord?” Chen Xu asked.
“Unknown. The Fate Typewriter, another of the thirty-five miracle creations, once asked the Great Sage this same question, but the Sage only replied that he did not know.
“Perhaps it is a mysterious Dao Lord, or perhaps it is some even more powerful entity. The Sage only suspected; he was never certain.
“He even gave them a title: the Audience.”
The gears on the Axiom Core's body spun rapidly. It seemed the contents of this conversation were quite ancient, requiring significant effort to retrieve from the depths of its database.
“The Audience? Is it because the ritual is like a performance? Also, why use the plural 'them'? Is there more than one source for the ritual?”
“Correct. The origin of the ritual cannot be traced, but one thing is certain: it did not originate from any single transcendent civilization. Instead, it appeared across multiple transcendent civilizations simultaneously.
“The source is mysterious, and the execution is simple. Even an ordinary creature can receive a gift if its actions are recognized by the 'Audience' as a performance.
“Some of the transcendent anomalies that appear in ordinary worlds are actually the result of 'tips' from the Audience.”
After answering the first question, the Axiom Core's gears spun rapidly again, searching another part of its data storage space.
“As for why he used 'them,' it was merely a hypothesis of the Great Sage.
“The Sage spent over a thousand years observing the rituals that occurred across the myriad worlds, recording every one of them, regardless of size. If you are interested, you may look at them yourself.
“The Sage discovered that the same ritual, when performed in different civilizations, at different times, or by different architects, resulted in different ritual gifts.
“Therefore, the Sage conjectured that the mysterious existence at the source of the ritual might be a group rather than a single entity.”
In the distance, an old, yellowed parchment book flew toward the Axiom Core and then drifted in front of Chen Xu.
Chen Xu caught the book with his mental strength and discovered it was a handwritten manuscript. It was filled with descriptions of various rituals personally observed by the Sage.
Everything was there: the type of ritual, its scale, the architect, the guidance, and every minor detail.
After skimming through it, Chen Xu asked the question he cared about most.
“Axiom Core, what exactly was the Great Sage's realm?”
Chen Xu suspected that this ancient Sage might have stepped into an even higher realm long ago; otherwise, how could he have discovered so many secrets?
“Realm? According to the common terminology of the myriad worlds, he was the same as you: the Unique-tier.
“However, the Sage was not keen on fighting. He only increased his realm to better explore the truths of the world.
“After all, many places in the myriad worlds are extremely dangerous—such as the Original Blood Sea in Hell or the Angel Holy Pool in Heaven.
“These places contain the mysteries of the universe, but they are not open to outsiders, and their masters possess extraordinary strength.
“With sufficient power, it was easier for the Sage to conduct his research in secret.”
Soon, the Axiom Core led Chen Xu through several massive doors and into a dim little room.
There was a bookshelf in the room filled with various books. In front of the bookshelf was a wooden desk, upon which sat an old typewriter.
Suddenly, the typewriter emitted an aged voice.
“Axiom, why have you brought an outsider into the Sage's room?”
“Fate, this is the current Lord of the Undead. He has come for the sake of Hell.”
The Axiom Core turned toward Chen Xu.
“Lord of the Undead, this is also a miracle creation of the Great Sage: the Fate Typewriter.”
Chen Xu sensed a gaze of scrutiny coming from the direction of the typewriter.
“I didn't expect anyone would still be willing to deal with the mess that is Hell.”
The Fate Typewriter began to operate with a series of clacks and dings.
Soon, sheets of white paper filled with information were spat out by the typewriter, stacking themselves in the air.
One book, two books... thirty-four, thirty-five.
Chen Xu's scalp tingled. It was just insider information regarding a ritual; how did it manage to write thirty-five books without saying a single word?
“There, that should be enough. Based on the keyword tags marked by the Sage, these are the retrieved volumes regarding the records of rituals.”
The Fate Typewriter stopped running, and a faint white smoke drifted from its mechanical axle.
Then, a little green man jumped out of the typewriter. He sat on the typewriter's hot bearing, his rear sizzling, yet his face wore an expression of immense satisfaction as he spoke.
“Of these thirty-five books, thirty-four are for you to supplement your knowledge of rituals. The last one is the most critical: 《Role-Stealing Method》. That is the solution left by the Sage.”
Seeing this little green man, the Axiom Core showed an expression of disdain, grumbling in its mechanical voice.
“Fate, according to the rules, we can only imprison outsiders who stay illegally. This kind of control and torture is a violation of the regulations.”
“Pah.” The little green man let out a scoff of contempt. “This little green fellow has violated the library's regulations more than once. He has long since forfeited his right to protection.”
It seemed the relationship between the Axiom Core and the Fate Typewriter was not a friendly one. The two creations ignored the outsiders, Chen Xu and Thor, and began to bicker in the Sage's room.
However, Chen Xu and Thor had no time to mind them. Instead, they began to look through the dozens of books together.
“As expected of the Sage. His understanding of rituals is truly unique,” Thor said, wagging his tail and nodding repeatedly.
“The process and arrangement of a ritual affect the final attribute of the ritual source? Thor, is this the reason why the six special worlds have defects?” Chen Xu pointed to a passage and looked at Thor.
“That shouldn't be right. Those rituals were performed voluntarily by the worlds themselves. No one forced them.”
“But in the process of the worlds becoming extreme, every living being within them went extinct.”
“Master, to the world itself, the living beings within it are no different from lice on a mortal's head.
“Have you ever seen a mortal fall into madness or feel guilty for killing lice while washing their hair?”
Thor's words held some truth.
As far as a world itself was concerned, the quality of life for the beings within it did not affect it.
Before many worlds gave birth to transcendent civilizations, they had already undergone countless extinctions and replaced their dominant species many times over.
“Then what happened with the six worlds?”
“Heh, who knows? Anyway, it's not recorded in these books. Maybe even the Sage didn't figure out the specific reason. We should look at this 《Role-Stealing Method》 instead. It contains the legendary feat of the Sage stealing the chess piece!”
Thor used his tail to pull over the book titled 《Role-Stealing Method》 and flipped to the first page.
【Every ritual is a grand performance. Setting the stage and having multiple performers act out a good show for the mysterious is how one obtains a mysterious gift.】
【But the mysterious is somewhat stingy. It will only reward the unique 'Protagonist.' To stop a ritual, one must contend for the identity of the 'Protagonist.'】
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