Chapter 1783: Invading a civilization
The blade crumbled into ashes in Gu Qing Shan’s hand before being scattered into the wind.
The Tree of Holy Wishes had given up on the summon.
It vanished.
“Your excellency Divine Wizard, what’s going on?” the White Mountain king questioned in shock.
Gu Qing Shan smiled wryly and explained: “The thing that appeared just now was a devil from Huang Quan. Somebody tampered with your clan’s history, if someone managed to pull out this sword, they would immediately summon those monsters and become one of their allies”
…
“WHAT!?” the king was horrified, but then quickly realized something: “If that’s the case, then the many artifacts of this nature across the land were all of the devils’ scheme?”
Gu Qing Shan remained silent.
If artifacts are the only thing that remains, by getting rid of them one by one, there would eventually be a day when all of them are cleaned up.
However…
While he was thinking, lines of b.l.o.o.d.y red text suddenly popped up in front of his vision:
[You’ve witnessed the real circ.u.mstances of this world]
[The Samsara might want to inform you of something, prepare yourself, its will is descending—-]
Everything around him vanished.
The world became void.
Standing in the middle of endless nothingness, Gu Qing Shan suddenly sensed a grand consciousness.
This sensation was the same as when he communicated with the spirits of myriad incomplete worlds in the past.
Unlike before, compared to the world spirits he’d seen in the past, the Samsara’s will was much grander and more overwhelming, incalculable and incredible.
If an a.n.a.logy might be made, the past incomplete world spirits were like insects and worms, while the Samsara’s will felt like boundless s.p.a.ce.
As time went by, thoughts began to form in Gu Qing Shan’s mind.
He understood what the Samsara was trying to say.
Lines of b.l.o.o.d.y red text swiftly followed:
[The Samsara is issuing you a request:]
[The Corruption Sequence has corroded two layers of the Human realm graves, the first is the low-level Magic-type world you’re in, the second is a mid-level Magic-type world]
[Please expel the corrosion of Corruption from these two Human realm graves]
[—-You’ve temporarily gained the ability to travel between these two worlds]
[Attention: Very few Chosen Saints can draw the direct attention of the Samsara, please seize your chance well]
[Once you succeed, you will surely be well rewarded]
The lines of b.l.o.o.d.y red text suddenly flashed.
The boundless emptiness around Gu Qing Shan gradually faded away, replaced by various scenery.
He found himself standing on the street of a city.
Numerous people were walking in both directions of the street.
This was a highly prosperous city.
Two lines of text hovered in the void of s.p.a.ce:
[You’ve arrived at a mid-level Magic-type world]
[You can return to the low-level Magic-type world at any time]
Gu Qing Shan scanned his eyes across the text and couldn’t help but sigh.
So I need to deal with the Corruption issue in two separate Magic-type worlds at once, this really is difficult.
He walked along the busy street and stopped in front of a restaurant.
It was currently the lunch rush, and this restaurant seemed to be quite popular, as there were almost no seats left.
Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help himself from entering as he sat in front of a table.
A waitress swiftly arrived at his table and placed a menu in front of him, asking: “Welcome, what would you like to eat?”
Gu Qing Shan examined the menu.
Only to see that the menu was filled with many exotic dishes that he had never tasted before.
He arbitrarily chose a few of them and handed the menu back to the waitress.
The waitress then pulled several Cards out of thin air and laid them on the table.
“Corruption is the foundation of civilization”
She muttered.
Poof poof poof poof!
The Cards instantly vanished, replaced by the dishes that Gu Qing Shan had ordered.
“Enjoy your meal”
The waitress respectfully bowed, and then left him to himself.
Gu Qing Shan stared down at the steaming hot delicacies in front of him in utter shock.
It wasn’t until a few moments later that he picked up his utensils and used them to sift his food around.
“Hm, no issues… the Cards only acted as a means of storing food…”
He muttered to himself, then began to eat.
The food didn’t taste bad, but Gu Qing Shan’s attention wasn’t focused on the cooking.
He was paying attention to the waitresses.
Each time these girls served the customers’ orders, they would recite a chant, sometimes it would be ‘Corruption exists with you’, other times, it would be ‘Thank the True G.o.d for granting us food’.
More often than not, the customers would also reply to these chants.
After observing for a little bit, Gu Qing Shan gradually lost his appet.i.te.
He casually used magic to manifest a few coins, placed them on the table, then left the restaurant.
“Would you like a ride?” someone asked him as he walked through the door.
Gu Qing Shan paused briefly and replied: “Sure”
“Where would you like to go?”
“It’s my first time here, I’d like to go sightseeing around the city”
“I could tell that you weren’t a local, so you were a tourist as expected—— I can be your guide around our beautiful city, free of charge”
“Thank you”
“You’re welcome, praise the Corruption Codex”
The man smiled as he drew a Card from his pocket and tossed it on the road next to them.
Poof!
A hovering horse carriage appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan.
The man sat down on the coachman seat in front, then gestured to Gu Qing Shan: “Please go ahead and sit inside”
Gu Qing Shan embarked and firmly sat down.
The carriage began to move.
He leaned on the window and silently observed the scenery outside.
—-in this city, everyone was used to using magic in the form of Cards for many aspects of their daily lives.
Gu Qing Shan even saw several stores that placed Cards of various kinds in their display window.
Whenever people would greet one another, they would first say something to praise the Corruption Sequence.
In fact, by focusing his mind as the horse carriage rode across a school, Gu Qing Shan managed to hear a teacher explaining the world’s history, in which the role of Corruption had been exaggerated to extreme ends.
At the city center, several merchants had just walked out of the city lord’s manor.
They praised: “The city lord’s Corruption Arts are getting more profound day by day, being able to promote trade to this degree”
“Indeed, his understanding of Corruption is far deeper compared to ours”
“Highly respectable”
The horse carriage rode past the merchants and continued forward.
Just a bit further ahead of them was the Divine Church.
——similar to the low-level Magic-type world, this was also a Church belonging to the Corruption Sequence.
Many people were gathered around the main square of the church, openly singing gospels of praise to the True G.o.d of Corruption for blessing them with a good life.
In the graveyard behind the church, a funeral was being conducted.
The holy father recited: “—And his body shall return to rot, while his soul belong to Corruption”
Everyone loudly cheered.
The family members of the dead appeared glad.
The horse carriage continued.
Gu Qing Shan felt more and more uneasy as he watched on, finally unable to help himself: “Stop for a moment”
The horse carriage slowly stopped.
“What’s wrong, sir?” the coachman asked.
“Is that a bookstore over there?”
“Yes”
“Help me buy a few books, anything related to history and military will be fine, preferably some bestsellers” Gu Qing Shan casually used magic to condense some mana silver coins.
“Very well, please wait a few moments”
The coachman swiftly bought the books and brought them back to Gu Qing Shan.
The carriage continued forward.
Sitting in the carriage, several books were hovering in front of Gu Qing Shan, quickly flipping through their pages.
After about 5 minutes, he had finished reading all of its contents.
The books fell down by themselves and neatly lined up on a small table next to him.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and muttered: “To this degree, it’s even more terrifying compared to the previous world…”
He couldn’t help but feel a chill on his back.
——-Gu Qing Shan wouldn’t bat an eyelid regardless of how gory or horrible a battle would be.
But the current circ.u.mstances were making him s.h.i.+ver.
This sense of terror was even heavier compared to him having to face two Unfathomable Apocalypses.
—-Corruption had thoroughly integrated itself into the heart of every person, turning into a value that they all recognized.
Every single person in this world, from generation to generation, followed the will of Corruption as they lived their daily lives, matured, and built their civilization.
From birth to death, everyone respected it, maintained it, and revered it without being told to.
——because Corruption was their civilization, it taught all the people here how to exist.
These living beings willingly gave everything to Corruption, the thought of retaliating against the will of Corruption didn’t even exist in their minds.
“A cultural invasion? No… the invasion has already succeeded…”
“This is a thorough distortion of civilization”
Gu Qing Shan sighed full of emotions.
This world is even more prosperous compared to the previous low-level Magic-type world.
The worldview and beliefs of living beings here have been thoroughly set in stone.
How exactly should I do this?
Trying to convince them is useless.
Murder…
Murder can eliminate the living beings, but not their beliefs——- they essentially are part of the Corruption faction already.
This is more terrifying compared to the Apocalypse.
An Apocalypse only kills people, sometimes a few, sometimes a lot.
During the process of destruction, living beings would inevitably struggle, risking their lives to retaliate, even attempting to overcome the Apocalypse.
But Corruption doesn’t kill anyone.
It only alters everything and turns all living beings into its servants.
—–so that they wors.h.i.+p it as a G.o.d.
After thinking for a while, he told the coachman to stop again.
“How are you feeling, would you like to continue riding, sir?” the coachman asked.
“This is fine, thank you” Gu Qing Shan replied.
He disembarked from the carriage, made his way into a secluded alley, then took flight while there wasn’t anyone around him.
For the next while, he visited each of the countries he saw in the books to personally examine their circ.u.mstances.
Everything wasn’t too different from how the history books described them.
Frankly speaking, such a conclusion could be drawn right now:
This world’s sky, earth, and all of its resources belonged to the Samsara, but its living beings already belonged to the Corruption faction.
——this was a world belonging to the Corruption Sequence!