Chapter 123: Chaos Sea
The sound of the tides echoed clearly, and a moist sensation lapped at the soles of his feet, again and again...
Lu Ze opened his eyes and found himself standing before a strange, vast sea.
What met his eyes was an infinite expanse of water; the seawater was pitch-black and viscous, as if it contained all colors and all possibilities. Yet, the water appeared incredibly illusory, as if it didn't exist in the real world at all.
Mysterious, chaotic, lofty, and deep.
At the edge of the sea, and above the space where Lu Ze stood, everything was shrouded in a hazy white mist, making it impossible to see clearly. All he could see was this chaotic and illusory ocean.
This sea, and this sound of the tide...
The sound of the tide felt incredibly familiar to Lu Ze. He immediately recalled that it was this very sound that had blocked out the pollution of evil gods and mental shocks for him multiple times.
Is this its true form?
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Someone spoke softly beside him.
"Who's there!"
Lu Ze turned around abruptly.
By the illusory and chaotic shore, a woman stood barefoot, gazing at it all in a daze. The wind blew through her blood-red hair, outlining her graceful body beneath her white robe—Madam M.
"You again!"
Lu Ze cursed angrily. The instant he recognized Madam M, he lunged at her fiercely.
Splash!
Madam M was knocked down by him, falling into the shallow seawater. He pinned her down and reached into his coat, naturally finding the Silver Ritual Dagger he usually used.
"You bastard!"
Lu Ze roared, raising the silver dagger high and stabbing it ruthlessly into her chest, once, then twice!
The illusory seawater soaked Madam M's white robe, the wet fabric clinging to her body, revealing her slender waist and full curves. Her long red hair floated and spread across the water's surface like a blooming flower; blood seeped into the sea, mixing with her red hair until they were indistinguishable.
Lu Ze's dagger rose and fell, and blood filled the surface of the water around him and Madam M. It added a splash of brilliant crimson to this illusory, monotonous sea.
Madam M did not struggle; instead, she watched Lu Ze with a gentle smile.
"...Why won't you just die?"
After stabbing her an unknown number of times, Lu Ze finally grew tired. He stopped, stared into Madam M's eyes, and asked coldly.
His face was reflected in Madam M's golden eyes.
"It really is beautiful here, isn't it?" She didn't answer Lu Ze, instead saying with a smile, "Do you know? To reach this place, I gave up almost everything."
"So your real goal was to come here?" Lu Ze sneered. "This is the mission your Lord gave you? What a stupid mission."
Only then did he finally understand the true intention behind Madam M's actions.
Madam M slowly shook her head.
"It has nothing to do with the True Creator."
She spoke with a voice full of pleasure.
Lu Ze was stunned.
The True Creator?
She actually called the deity she worshipped by his name instead of calling him 'Lord'?
Lu Ze faintly felt that something was wrong.
Back in Enmat Port, Madam M was a standard fanatic, willing to sacrifice everything for the Lord. But the version of her he met in Tingen had become less fanatical. She seemed to care more about herself than the god, even changing out of her white robe into various styles of women's clothing.
"Are you surprised?"
He heard Madam M's laughter. "I stopped being his believer long ago, and it's all thanks to you... I should thank you."
"Thank me?"
"Yes."
Madam M touched her chest. Her body, which had been stabbed by Lu Ze, had already healed, but the torn white robe could not be restored, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin. "Do you remember? In the warehouse at Enmat Port, you stabbed me."
"I only regret that I couldn't kill you then," Lu Ze said.
Back then, he had used a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact to pierce Madam M, pinning her to a bomb made of a large mass of flesh and blood, which then exploded at close range. Unfortunately, that explosion didn't kill Madam M; instead, it caused her to haunt him until now.
"When you pierced me with that cane, a trace of the aura from here was mixed into it."
Madam M acted as if she hadn't heard Lu Ze's venomous words and continued. When she said "here," she naturally meant this ocean where they both currently stood.
"Here?"
Lu Ze was startled.
Back then, to resist the erosion of the True Creator, the sound of the tide had echoed in his mind... Could it be that this aura had followed the cane and entered Madam M's body?
"What a magnificent Authority..."
Madam M murmured, her golden eyes shimmering with a dazed haze, as if filled with a magnificent mist. "It actually allowed me to escape the True Creator's control... After so many years, I have regained a clear consciousness once again."
Her words left Lu Ze feeling incredibly confused.
In other words, by the time she arrived in Tingen, Madam M no longer believed in the True Creator. Everything she did was entirely for herself?
So, that's why she craved Lu Ze's body?
So, that's why she didn't go to the Aurora Order to heal her injuries?
So, that's why she used all those schemes, eventually occupying Lu Ze's body to come to this space...?
"Does this place have such great charm that it was worth you putting in so much effort, even giving up your own body?"
Lu Ze could not understand.
"Of course," Madam M smiled.
"It turns out my sacrifice was worth it. This sea hides the opportunity to reach the top of the Sequences, and even beyond the top."
Her smile gradually widened, growing broader until it was brilliant and fanatical.
"My guess was absolutely correct; this is the existence that 'They' say cannot be mentioned!"
Madam M murmured to herself, intoxicated as she felt the touch of the seawater, utterly ecstatic.
Lu Ze gleaned some information from her words.
It seemed this place was something extraordinary.
My 'cheat' seems to be an extremely powerful existence... but so far, besides resisting the erosion of evil gods, it doesn't seem to have any other uses... Could it be because my Sequence is too low that I can't mobilize the Authority here?
He deduced this using his existing knowledge of mysticism and came up with a rough guess.
"Lu Ze rondall."
In that moment of distraction, Madam M had stopped her murmuring. She looked at Lu Ze, her eyes filled with greed.
"Please, give everything you have to me."
Splash!
From the blood-filled water on the sea's surface, several distorted humanoid Monsters suddenly emerged. Lu Ze could vaguely recognize their faces—they were the six people who had sacrificed their lives, bodies, and souls for Madam M!
"Aaaah!"
The Monsters roared and lunged at Lu Ze, pinning his body down in layers and then frantically devouring his flesh.
Looking past the Monsters, Lu Ze saw Madam M slowly rising from the water.
She watched Lu Ze, her beautiful face wearing a sublime smile.