Divine Oracle

Chapter 168 Divine Oracle

The blond man's words did not cause any change in the vast gray vortex of stars before him.

It seems that the specifics were already known.

The man seemed used to this kind of report and waited quietly until the white-haired boy beside him suddenly turned his eyes into a chaotic gray.

"Um."

The boy could only utter a single word, yet it resonated like heavenly music, echoing throughout the billions of universes.

Qiao Yuan was suddenly taken aback. So that's how it is. This white-haired boy is the human messenger of the Eternal Ash King, probably similar to a holy son in esoteric Buddhism. They communicate with each other as if by telepathy, conveying divine messages.

An excitement flickered across the man's face as he continued his detailed account of the plan to destroy the Church of Hell.

"Back when our master was on his way to contact the source, he was ambushed by Satan, the king of hell. Now, he is weak and has no time to care about us. It is the perfect time to wipe us out in one fell swoop."

"The ultimate goal is to completely eradicate the Time Layer located in Base Zero on Planes Avenue in St. John's District, the second main city of Silvermoon, and destroy the rotten roots belonging to Satan."

"The plan took a month."

"Having gained a sliver of Satan's authority and absolute control, the Pioneer Potion is being digested more rapidly; I'm six steps away from advancing to the second-tier Pioneer of Destiny [Awakening]."

"Having learned the secrets of the city's powerful and influential, and uncovered crucial clues, I've accelerated the digestion of the Pioneer Potion, and am five steps away from advancing to the second-tier Heavenly Destiny Pioneer [Awakening]."

Qiao Yuan's breathing became rapid for the first time.

But it wasn't because of the exhilaration of quickly clearing five breakthroughs within today's timeline, but because I never expected that there would be time layers within the city!

What exactly is going on?

If the area outside the city is protected by a spiritual Helium-6 barrier, the main city is even more so. How could the authority of Satan appear there?

Through keen observation and intuition, it's clear this couldn't possibly be some kind of power advantage. Otherwise, these evil gods could easily dismantle the Silvermoon capital city over time by arbitrarily spreading their authority, and humanity's last bulwark would simply vanish into thin air.

After a moment's thought, Qiao Yuan made a guess: it was probably some kind of high-level transaction.

These guys are really crazy!

He continued listening and gradually learned that the time layer where the root of Caesar's corrupting authority lay was all related to the interstellar behemoth, Paradise.

This even involves shady dealings like raising treacherous pets, using the power of Satan to scheme for the benefit of the powerful and wealthy, and even partially rewriting the current fate of the people.

In addition, the amusement park itself is a highly private industry, which can be carried out in a very discreet manner.

"What Caesar could do, the master can do as well, and more directly and subtly, gradually changing their long-held beliefs."

The blond man's voice was restless; without the French family's approval, this replacement plan would be virtually impossible to complete.

But now, with the cooperation of the Legalists, we can take the opportunity to settle both old and new scores.

"Having learned the secrets of the paradise and grasped key clues, I've accelerated the digestion of the Pioneer Potion. I'm four steps away from advancing to the second-tier Celestial Pioneer [Awakening]."

Wow, another breakthrough?

I really hit the jackpot today. I got to encounter the Lord of Eternal Ashes six times in a row after just one encounter. I never expected this.

There are only 4 more chances left for the second-tier awakening. This means that with the snowball effect of the afternoon matches, I can advance to the second-tier awakening after school!

He reached the second-tier Overlord level early Monday morning, and now it's Thursday, only 4 days later!

Indeed, as Commander Gao said, his promotion speed was too fast, unbelievably fast.

Normally, it takes 16 breakthroughs. Most pioneers who ascend through this path will likely need one or two years, or at least several months.

In addition, after reaching the awakening stage, you can directly advance to the next higher rank.

Breaking through the limits is to gain a greater advantage at a higher level.

There is also a theory of perfect sublimation, where each stage reaches its limit, ultimately leading to a qualitative change upon ascending to godhood, but the specifics are still unclear.

The last 10 minutes or so were spent finalizing the details of the man's plan and obtaining permission.

He memorized the appearances of both the man and the boy, as well as some information about the ash creatures, which matched those in the virtual world.

The will of Nidher can petrify the dead and imprison souls on the verge of dissipation.

Why is that? Because the interior of that previous statue of the Virgin Mary was made of flesh and blood.

By petrifying and imprisoning the dead, the deceased are sent to the dimension of eternal ashes, where resentment accumulates continuously and awakens at night, emitting a piercing sound of bones grinding together. This can affect a person's sanity and cause petrification disease.

As petrified corpses, they can protect their loved ones from calamities to some extent, but their resentment will also escalate, requiring...

We must continually fulfill the wishes of the deceased to resolve their regrets in life, thus maintaining a connection between them and the deceased.

Looking at it this way, it does indeed have a similar effect to raising a pet ghost, but it is even more private.

However, the previous design anchor was created 10 days ago, on September 8th.

It happened to be last Monday.

They confirmed that they would meet this Monday, which means they have already met, and the timing is indeed very convenient.

Although it is all in the past, this information is still very valuable.

As the blond man just said, no one will know before the Bloodline Era begins.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that, without their knowledge, the Ash Church has already launched a secret operation, the first step of which is to gradually eliminate the power of the Church of Hell, which will take a month.

Several days have passed now.

He gradually returned to the virtual world and entered the royal city of Yoswell with Tu Shanlin, Charlie and others to search for the Ancient Dragon Blood Crystal.

After this experience, Qiao Yuan was clearly distracted, lost in thought.

Two more boxes popped up in front of him, which was somewhat unexpected.

[Traces from the Past: A trace of the power of the Eternal King of Ashes, influenced by the Eternal Great Luo rank, leaving traces in the past, present, and future. Received three Ash Oracles, available at any time.]

[Effect: Within a radius of ten kilometers, it grants a five-minute telepathic connection to any Ash Child encountered, allowing the user to speak their words without leaving a trace.]

Qiao Yuan subconsciously licked his lips. The divine oracle itself was very powerful, but unfortunately it was only limited to the Ash Saint.

If only anyone could pass it on.

However, the characteristics of this divine power are still very strong. He can see a point of light in front of him just as he is about to use it.

Although it was very blurry, he knew it was the white-haired boy! And he was 297 kilometers away.

Once it's officially used, not only can you find out the exact location of the opponent, but you can also see the surrounding scenery through the opponent's perspective, making it practically a bug.

It's like imposing your will on the other person and making them believe you are a god!

This is very interesting.

Although each session can only last for 5 minutes.

So, from now on, whether it's used for causing trouble or for obtaining first-hand information, it's the best of the best!

In fact, this time the power of the gods was the only one that left no trace. It makes sense, because if it had left a trace, it would have been discovered by the Eternal Ash King immediately, and it would have been over.

The only drawback is the distance limitation; it can only be used within ten kilometers, otherwise it cannot be used.

This 10-kilometer area may seem large, but it's not actually that big. Just the sunset zone alone has a diameter of 30 to 40 kilometers.

Since the divine decree can only be bestowed upon the Holy Son, the number of Holy Sons must be extremely small. He has only seen one so far, and even if the proceedings reach a fever pitch, there will be at most a few more.

Fortunately, the Holy Son is a bridge that can communicate with the Lord of Eternal Ashes, and his authority is extremely high. In fact, having only one is enough!

That's great.

Today I originally planned to spend all my time progressing through the wreckage area and using the Insight skill.

Qiao Yuan then entered the timeline twice more, and stopped after refreshing the Ash Oracle nine times.

I can continue this afternoon. I'll ask Ms. Daisy after school at noon. I feel like I can do more practice in the next few days.

With this, there's basically nothing to worry about; everything is ready except for the final push.

However, he does not intend to use it casually.

An authority is an authority, and a holy son is a holy son, because he is mysterious enough.

We'll talk about it when we need it.

If they keep causing trouble, even if they don't leave any trace, it will most likely arouse suspicion from the Eternal Ash Lord and bring uncontrollable consequences.

However, it is foreseeable that he will have absolute initiative when facing the Ash Cult in the future!

Qiao Yuan suddenly realized that the simplest way to break through was to come into contact with important figures, or even gods. These were the secrets that would normally keep the world completely in the dark, and the conspiracies that were difficult for even the gods to understand. These were the paradises that would allow him to make rapid progress!

This is better than any black mask.

In the past, with the Mask of Night, he could only get two breakthroughs in one timeline at most, and sometimes he couldn't even get a breakthrough in the timeline.

Now you can refresh the timeline six times in one go, this is the real way to use it!

It seems I should try to interact more with important figures and higher-ups in the future.

Upon arriving at the royal city, night fell, and the petrified ghosts all came back to life. Hutu was so frightened that he almost withdrew. Every now and then, a few students in the group would disappear and then come back from behind.

From Tu Shanlin's description, he gradually learned that this petrification disease not only affects the body, but also gradually changes behavior and consciousness, eventually leading to assimilation and becoming neither human nor ghost.

It is said that only family members are immune.

The more he learned, the more he felt that the Ash Church would bring terrible disaster.

I need to talk to my child about this later, subtly hinting at it, since it was provided by the school.

As the night deepened and time passed, he and Tu Shanlin finally found a piece of ancient dragon blood crystal in the stench-filled sewers of the royal city.

Qiao Yuan pushed it directly to the little fox and laughed, "You were the one who discovered it in the first place."

Tu Shanlin has never been one to haggle, and now, in front of Hu Tu and his classmates, he appeared even more reserved. He simply accepted the money and muttered, "There might be more at the end of this sewer."

"Okay." Qiao Yuan nodded.

Although their goal is to obtain the Blood Crystal as their ultimate objective, Blood Crystals are extremely rare, and not everyone can obtain them.

In addition, Qiao Yuan also calculated the time.

Today's F1 aerial race starts at 1:20 PM, and betting closes at 12:30 PM.

There's no rush.

According to the information on the holographic helmet, they also learned that they could leave for lunch at noon and continue exploring this world after afternoon classes until the end of the evening.

There is still plenty of time.

The sewers of this royal city are interconnected. Just now, in order to find more blood crystals, they were separated from Charlie and the others. At this moment, there were only six people: him, Little Fox, Hu Tu, Ye Yutang, Kevin, and Xu Youwei.

During this time, they met Luca Silvio, who seemed to be with Bae Ok-taek the whole time.

Hu Tu, panting, muttered, "These monsters are terrifying. The class monitor just mentioned something about the Eternal Ash King. Could it possibly exist in reality?"

Qiao Yuan coughed twice: "Who knows? Maybe there are some in Silver Moon City, but we just can't get our hands on them."

Ye Yutang was stunned by these words: "Really? I've never heard of that before."

Kevin shook his head: "Who cares? Since the school is using it, it's probably happened before, right?"

They chatted and laughed as they continued their search, and before they knew it, it was lunchtime and school was letting out.

The first thing Qiao Yuan did after taking off his helmet was to place a bet on F1 racing and predict the future using the timeline.

He then went all in and lost the 800 million in his account.

After meeting up with Yan Baobao, he indirectly mentioned some things on the way to the cafeteria.

"Petrification disease? I don't know much about it, and I've never heard of the Eternal Ash Lord either," Baby pursed her lips. "But these are somewhat similar to the powers of the Church of Hell, so we can take a look."

"Yes, I think so too. Maybe it's like Simon, who seems ordinary on the surface but has been secretly plotting something." Qiao Yuan then emphasized, "Since the school specifically brought out such a scene of evil god power, perhaps there is a deeper meaning."

"I'll ask my master later," Yan Baobao said with a smile. "You seem to care a lot about these things."

Qiao Yuan shrugged slightly: "That's right, ever since the Night Operation."

"Don't overthink it, I've got your back."

"good!"

After having lunch with his child in the cafeteria, he watched his child go to work before returning to the classroom.

Less than half an hour later, he answered a call from the baby next to the little fox and learned that he could finally go to the Embers to receive his award at 7:10 p.m. tonight.

After ending the call, Tu Shanlin was genuinely happy for him and clapped her hands slightly.

Qiao Yuan smiled warmly and continued reading the visual novel with the little fox.

In the afternoon, they continued their exploration of the dark royal city and gradually made some discoveries.

In the final ranking of the entire grade, Tu Shanlin was first, Yan Baobao was second, and he was tenth.

The water release was finally successful.

Ranking rewards will be distributed tomorrow.

He specifically asked Ms. Daisy and learned that the trials of this Ash World would continue for the next few days, until next week, but would become increasingly difficult, constantly testing their reflexes.

Compared to the precision required to deal with physical injuries, dealing with the mental pollution of reason requires more speed and decisiveness in reaction.

Qiao Yuan felt relieved. He would just wait until tomorrow or next week to farm more Ash Oracle attempts.

Finally, the total betting volume for this competition snowballed to 4986 million, more than six times the initial investment.

Since I stopped buying medicine for the power of the Night Breathing Technique, I suddenly had so much money and didn't know what to do with it.

"Buy some potions, the most important thing is to break through to level 30 in physique," Qiao Yuan murmured to himself.

After school, he and Hu Tu ate in the cafeteria and then went to Yaoguang University together. Along the way, they met Hu Tu's father and Qin Xue's parents and had a brief chat.

Faced with the enthusiasm of the uncles and aunts, Qiao Yuan waved his hand casually and said, "It's nothing, just a small favor. Anyway, I'm glad you're alright."

He left after a short while and declined Hutu's father's invitation to dinner.

It's only 18:41 PM now, and it will only take seven or eight minutes to get to the Tiandu branch by taxi.

Even if there's traffic congestion during rush hour, it will only take about ten minutes, no need to rush.

only--

As soon as he left the New Oasis Garden, Qiao Yuan's eyelids suddenly twitched.

A black robotic dog was lingering next to a black hovercar ahead.

Mechanical creatures are nothing special.

But he had just seen him at the school gate once, and now he was there again!

He didn't think it was a coincidence; an obvious coincidence must be suspicious.

At the same time, the seagull-shaped door of the hovercar slowly opened, and a long, snow-white leg clad in silver-blue mecha boots stepped out.