Chapter 86: Knowledge Chases People
"The embodiment of spirit and numbers,
The source of all knowledge,
The Hidden Sage above the wilderness."
As Lu Ze finished chanting the honorific name of the Hidden Sage, a mysterious aura descended. The service attitude of evil gods was far better than that of righteous gods. It would be even better if They didn't crave the souls of their supplicants.
Lu Ze heard voices whispering in his ear.
Initially, the voices were just a faint buzz, like a swarm of mosquitoes by his ear. But very quickly, these mosquitoes began to gather in groups, their sounds comparable to roars. Countless voices mixed together, yet each one was incredibly clear, understandable, and comprehensible.
These voices carried knowledge.
Simply listening to any single voice would provide a certain amount of information. However, when this knowledge accumulated in large quantities, as if solidifying into blocks and being crammed into his head, the experience became unbearable.
Lu Ze felt his mind being rapidly filled with knowledge and information. Suddenly, he instinctively looked at the back of his hand, only to see that the eyelash-less eye pattern he had carved with his dagger had come alive at some point. The pattern formed by the scars moved on his skin, like a real eyeball!
This eye rotated indifferently until it noticed Lu Ze's gaze, then it stopped, staring directly into Lu Ze's eyes.
"Boom!"
The moment their eyes met, blood immediately flowed from Lu Ze's nose and eyes. He endured the pain and continued to recite the prayer to the eyeball:
"Great Sage, esteemed mentor! I implore You for power;"
"I implore You to grant me the power to change the current situation;"
"Grant me the power to save Your innocent believers, and the power to restrain evil enemies."
Lu Ze basically repeated to the Hidden Sage what he had said to the Goddess.
The eyelash-less eye looked at him without a trace of emotion, showing no reaction.
Just as Lu Ze thought he was going to fail again, he saw the eye quickly turn blood-red. Then, a massive amount of knowledge emerged from the invisible void, rushing to squeeze into Lu Ze's head!
"Ah!"
Lu Ze cried out in pain and fell to his knees.
Information, countless pieces of information, burrowed into Lu Ze's brain like living creatures seeking a host, greedily occupying his every cell. The Hidden Sage was like a fanatical and generous mad teacher, forcefully prying open a student's skull and pouring an excessive amount of knowledge into it!
Among this knowledge, was there anything Lu Ze wanted?
Heaven knows.
"Creak—"
This was the sound of Lu Ze's fingernails scraping against the floor.
He felt like he was being overwhelmed, his consciousness drowning in endless knowledge, like a small boat adrift on a stormy sea, tiny and fragile. Knowledge greedily gnawed at his mind, and terrible pain swept over him. His fingernails were bloody and thickened, and his ears stretched out like trumpets.
"Whoosh—"
Until the sound of illusory tides echoed, his cheat arrived, protecting his brain.
Accompanying the sound of the tide, the rampant flow of knowledge suddenly paused, then its speed slowed down. Although a large amount was still pouring in, making his head ache intensely, it was now bearable. Lu Ze could finally shift his attention to analyzing this information, sifting through it, trying to find what he needed.
The black threads before his eyes slowly receded, leaving him with less and less time.
"Found it!"
Finally, Lu Ze found what he needed in the knowledge bestowed by the Hidden Sage!
He did indeed respond to Lu Ze's prayer, granting him the knowledge he sought. But this knowledge was submerged in a sea of information. An ordinary Beyonder would not be able to endure until the end of the ritual; they would either let go of their consciousness and allow Him to transform them, or lose control and turn into a Monster.
Evil gods are truly twisted.
"Swish!"
After obtaining the knowledge, Lu Ze dared not delay. He immediately picked up his dagger and pressed it against the back of his hand, gritting his teeth, and shaved off a layer of skin and flesh containing the indifferent eye pattern!
"Plop."
The bloody skin fell to the ground. Lu Ze picked up the silver dagger and carved hermes script and strange patterns onto the flesh. The power of the Hidden Sage flowed into it along the dagger until he made the last stroke. After a burst of black light, the piece of skin rapidly shrank, turning into a flesh-colored charm.
The charm was about the size of a coin; when picked up, it was flexible and elastic.
This was one of the powers bestowed upon Lu Ze by the Hidden Sage: once activated and hitting an enemy, it would make the target receive the attention of the Hidden Sage, hear His teachings, and be infused with a large amount of knowledge. For a Beyonder, this infusion was definitely a huge shock, enough to cause loss of control.
Lu Ze named this charm "Sage's Enlightenment."
He picked up the charm and thought for a moment, wondering where to hide it. After all, Ms. M was constantly monitoring him, and it would be bad if it was accidentally discovered.
At this moment, he suddenly had an idea. He pressed the human skin charm onto the back of his hand where a layer of flesh had been shaved off. As the wound quickly healed, the charm was buried within the back of his hand. This was good; it was hidden so well it couldn't be found. The only downside was that he would have to injure himself again when he wanted to use it.
After all this, the power of the Hidden Sage had almost completely dissipated.
Lu Ze took advantage of the remaining black threads to quickly clean up the scene. Just as he finished, the last few black threads wrapped around his head slowly retracted behind the Charnes Gate.
The time free from surveillance is over, he thought with some regret.
Just then, a few strands of thread, as if severed, floated out of the Door and wrapped around his finger, transforming into a black ring.
This is...
Lu Ze looked at the ring, and his spiritual intuition told him that by using it, he could once again gain the ability to temporarily shield himself from Ms. M's surveillance.
Is this another chance the Goddess is giving me?
I must think carefully about when to use it.
Lu Ze was not prepared to use this ring to ask the captain for help, because the Goddess's attitude was already very clear. It was possible that even if the captain reported to the Holy Cathedral, no aid would come, or if aid did come and Ms. M was dealt with, Lu Ze himself would be arrested for Judgement and directly purified.
All other black threads retreated behind the Charnes Gate, and the black iron Door slowly closed.
Lu Ze sat back in his chair. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that the previously suppressed blood energy floated up again, and the translucent eyeballs and ears reconnected with his vision.
But at this moment, seeing them again, Lu Ze felt less worry and more confidence.
Because he now had an extra trump card.