I, the leader of the esoteric sect, am doing great things in the infinite world!

292 Come out and guess the riddle!

Things suddenly became cheerful, and the headquarters of the cult was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

When you are preparing to work hard for the imperial examination, but find that someone has used connections to get in through back channels, you will definitely be extremely indignant; but when you yourself are a person with connections, everything becomes so humane and reasonable.

“It’s not even that,” Nian said persuasively, without any hint that she was stirring things up. “I asked the Baldominians and the Crucible Lord, and before you, no one has ever received such favor from Sichen.”

“You’re practically the son of the Double-Horned Axe.”

If this were a game, Li Lin would have a shining title above his head: the favored son of the Double-Horned Axe.

Upon realizing that he had a powerful backer, Li Lin immediately became arrogant and domineering.

He dared to act recklessly even when he had no background, and now that he knows he is under the protection of the Double-Horned Axe, he has become even more lawless.

"Wait, I remember the double-horned axe was supposed to be a yin-type astrological symbol..." Li Lin's thoughts drifted away, his mind beginning to slide into an irreversible abyss.

Nian could tell at a glance that Li Lin had misunderstood again: "How about we go to the Bucks Gate first?"

In the Mansu, any immortal with the necessary permissions can travel to any place by transferring through a gathering point, as simple as buying a gun at a convenience store on the street in America.

Normally, the gathering point belongs only to the Diviners and those with names, but because Nian is favored by all the Diviners, he is also granted the power to travel through the gathering point.

A blurry, mosaic-like substance rose from Nian's arm, then layered upon layer upon layer. Space and time in Mansu were constantly changing, but Nian's will defined a specific space, and then time was also determined.

This is the application of casting—a temporary support for a space was cast in a year.

From the other end of the space, a cobalt blue light emanated, symbolizing that the path to the central gathering point of the Mansu had been opened.

Nian, holding Li Lin's "arm," passed through the expanded and reinforced spatial passage together. In that instant, the surrounding light seemed to suddenly stop, turning into solidified fog, presenting a magnificent and bizarre shape in their consciousness.

The Mansu has no directions of front, back, left, or right, but it has the relative concepts of up and down and a central axis as a measure. The higher you go, the closer you are to the radiance, while the lower you go, the closer you are to death. It is said that in the lowest realm, even the concept of death dies.

The Gathering Point is actually the meridian of Mansu. Foolish apprentices who sneak into it will get lost and lose control in the ever-changing shape of the Gathering Point. If they encounter Sichen passing by, what awaits them will not be honor, but death brought by the vast mystery.

Fortunately, this time they neither encountered anyone who came forward to block their way, nor did Si Chen try to make his presence known.

Passing through the gathering point was only a moment. When the cobalt blue light dissipated, the scene before them had transformed into a desolate wilderness overgrown with weeds. The withered yellow grass trembled and swayed in the wind. A rugged path meandered up the mountain, and at the edge of the wilderness, on a raised hill, stood a pair of enormous golden antlers.

The path was deserted and seemed long, but in reality, it was over in an instant—everything in the Mansu Inn existed only based on subjective perception.

A door suddenly appeared at the end of the line of sight.

Logically speaking, with the surroundings open and boundless, one could go around to the other side even without this door. But that's wishful thinking. No matter how you change your position, the door is always right in front of you, and even the idea of ​​"going around" disappears.

When the door appeared, all the apprentices had only one thought in their minds: open it.

But is this possible?

Cobalt blue light drifted like mist before my eyes, passing over the scarred door. Huge, blood-stained, spiked antlers stood across the doorway as a roadblock. The ground in front of the door sank, and a rotting head the size of a small mountain lay in the pit.

It was a golden deer head, its jaw shattered, yet it was still almost as tall as the door. Its two antlers must have been cut off long ago, but now hot blood was still gushing from the rotting top of its head.

This is Griby the Named One, the former Named One of the Two-Horned Axe. Although he escaped death, he has lain here since the beginning of history, enduring indescribable torment as punishment for his defeat in the Battle of the Stone of Flesh.

And it wasn't just him who was punished; all the gates of Mansour wept for the defeat, at least the Gate of the Stag suffered the same fate as Gribby—it had been damaged long ago, and its wounds have yet to heal.

Thick fog obscured his decaying face. As one of the oldest knowledgeable members of Mansu and one of the few remaining named individuals before the great war, Gribby still had his pride. Even so, his sorrowful golden eyes still gazed at Li Lin and Nian like a beacon.

“You have arrived… a newly rich immortal, and a… somewhat eccentric apprentice.”

"Hey, I'm not happy about what you're saying." Li Lin took a step forward and was surprised to find that he had turned back into human form.

However, he was not in full human form. A golden-purple twilight suddenly enveloped him, and a pair of white jade-like antlers had grown on Li Lin's head at some unknown time. The rich fragrance of hawthorn blossoms surrounded him.

"How did I end up revealing my true colors like this?" Li Lin was somewhat dissatisfied with his current state, even though he was about to perform a classic scene from the "Dragon Overlord" novel genre—a moment of showing off and getting slapped in the face.

The Bucks Gate teetered on the brink of collapse, and Gribby stared wide-eyed at him. After a moment of silence, he spoke again in a voice as loud as a great bell.

"You are destined to become a new gatekeeper; your destiny is to forge new doors."

After uttering two riddles, Gribby once again spoke his riddle in a mournful, deep, and heavy voice. The language he used was so ancient that if it weren't for Li Lin's dark green desktop translation in real time, this ancient language would have been the first hurdle for the new apprentice.

"The destiny of Mansu has changed; from where will the sun rise?"

"The stones from which the gods were born are now barren, and the woodlands sleep in darkness."

"No door has a dream, the fortress of day has no boundaries."

"Go and look for traces of ivory, go and smell the intoxicating fragrance, go and pick up the tail feathers of the laughing thrush, go and grip the tongs and the trigger."

“Liquor has existed in three forms, but one cannot look at it a second time; amber is proof that something is dead yet not dead, and it preserves traces of the changes in things.”

"All knowledge has its color, and the next era will also be defined."

"All secrets are sealed by one secret, and this secret itself loses its meaning; the emperor takes off his new clothes."

"On the trajectory of the sun, dawn is always clad in white. It arrives before the sun and departs before it. The most self-destructive thing is not the raging fire, but the silent embers."

"Ascending from the earth to the heavens, descending from the heavens, falling as one ascends, and ascending as one descends. In this way, the philosopher's miracles are accomplished."

"Tell me what never sleeps, that which never ceases and never changes, for that which does not change must come to an end!"

From where will the sun rise?

293 Couple Mixed Doubles

"Are you deliberately picking a fight?"

After a brief moment of calm, Li Lin looked at the huge deer head with suspicion, while casting an unfriendly glance at Nian: Is this the treatment for those with connections?

There was no action taken that year; we remained quiet and focused on reflection.

Gribby must have his reasons for doing this. As the named owner of the Twin-Horned Axe, he couldn't possibly fail to recognize that Li Lin possessed the blessing and power of the Twin-Horned Axe.

Moreover, as a being who personally participated in the Flesh Stone War, although he ultimately failed, he still survived in some way and became one of the guardians of the Mansu Gate. This means that his riddles are very likely his own observations or some kind of prophecy about the future.

Nian Chao Li Lin blinked: "Have you ever heard any prophecies about the sun?"

When Li Lin was playing the game "Cultist Simulator," the game text was filled with worship of the sun, and many texts explicitly or implicitly hinted at the sun's splitting and rebirth.

Upon arriving in the world of Awakening, all sorts of bizarre prophecies naturally existed, which both Nian and Li Lin had heard of.

The most famous of these is the prophecy of the renowned sorcerer Amira Zara regarding the sun. Legend has it that she foresaw the future of the sun being split apart while it was still alive, and also predicted its rebirth, describing in detail the process and rituals of its rebirth.

To be honest, there has never been such an arrogant prophet.

However, half of the prophecy she spoke of has already come true.

In the second half of this prophecy, she concludes with the sentence: "The sun will rise from blood, but it will have neither the color of blood nor the time of night."

But if Li Lin remembered correctly, this was a text recording the highest level of secret transmission...

Under Nian's encouraging gaze and Gribby's watchful eye, Li Lin took a step forward and gave his answer: "The sun will rise from the blood."

There was a deathly silence, and Gribby remained silent for a long time. His golden pupils grew brighter and brighter, like two lanterns hanging by the door. Finally, his booming voice rang out again, filled with a triumphant emotion.

"The answer is not so."

So what constitutes the correct answer?

After some thought, Nian made her choice. She stepped forward and shoved Li Lin, saying, "What are you still standing there for? If I don't beat him until he cries, I'll change my name!"

Her outburst startled Li Lin, who cried out in alarm.

The main reason was that I didn't expect Nian to be even angrier than me.

In fact, this is a common problem among all Cast Immortals—they consider themselves flawless creations and despise the other Immortals, believing that their existence is imperfect. Some Fiery Ones will say this directly, while others will not, but they are all equally arrogant.

Compared to other cast-image immortals, Nian's arrogance was always hidden beneath the surface, concealed by his comical, carefree, and occasional seriousness, but it was not nonexistent.

For example, right now, her confident promise has fallen through, and Gribby is even mocking her with considerable leeway.

Nian led the charge, followed by Li Lin. The two quickly moved forward, and Gribby, who was still mocking and laughing smugly, suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Damn it, beat him up!"

Li Lin pulled out a crowbar and stabbed it into Gribby's eye socket. Nian, standing nearby, kicked Gribby in the cheek, making matters worse for the already battered deer head. The two of them punched and kicked the immobile Gribby, cursing as they beat him, displaying the magnanimity and integrity of the Great Yan Dynasty.

"What kind of rubbish is this, coming here to set questions too!"

Without a doubt, Griby, whose head had been completely dismantled, had no chance to resist. Although he was still a named being, he was merely an empty shell. As a newly emerging and illustrious immortal, Griby's status was far superior to that of Nian.

Gribby tried to scream, but the stick Li Lin had stuck in his eye socket began to vibrate. A sensation between numbness and excruciating pain surged down from the top of Gribby's head, and two streams of hot blood gushed from his already rotting skull.

The blood had cooled upon landing, turning into molten brass.

While they were brutally murdering Griby, some outstanding apprentices from the waking world, who had passed the previous tests and were about to come to the Gates of the Stags to answer questions, witnessed this shocking scene.

Their examiner, the named Gribby who guards the Bucks' gate, is being double-teamed and looks completely helpless.

This shocking scene silenced the apprentices who were watching, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire. But they all undoubtedly remembered the horrific sight before them, and would record it in the form of drawings or text when they returned to the world of the living.

“Come again when you have time,” Li Lin said to Nian, with the dying Gribby beside them.

They couldn't really kill Gribi, and more importantly, it was almost dawn.

The year indicated agreement.

......

When Li Lin awoke, thousands of golden rays were shining on the horizon of Algiers. The metal dome of the Kasbah district mosque reflected a brilliant light. White seagulls flew in from the distant ocean and perched on the tall flagpole. The sound of bells rang out from outside the mosque's prayer hall.

The exile stood by the window, flexing his wrists and nodding to Li Lin. He looked to be in good health.

Xingti was still leaning against the wall. Her eyes were a little blurry and lifeless, clearly indicating that she hadn't slept well last night.