Border of the Pure Land

It was a colossal ancient tree burning like fire, countless specks of light cascading down like a waterfall. Its vines resembled the most exquisite silks in the world, standing within the city as if a deity had descended to Earth, overlooking the sorrowful land below.

Skyscrapers were so humble and insignificant in its presence.

How could such a majestic tree appear in the city?

Lu Bu'er had never seen such a magnificent sight.

He was enveloped in the ancient tree's radiance and exotic fragrance, as if his soul had ascended beyond the skies, his breathing and heartbeat becoming vigorous, his spirit filled with an unprecedented vitality.

It was as if he had arrived in Heaven.

Not just him, everyone felt the warmth and the chill.

The warmth came from the Divine Tree.

The chill, from the ancient altar beneath the tree.

The believers knelt before the altar, donning moon-white robes, their backs smeared with blood in the outline of a skeleton. At first glance, they resembled corpses wrapped in shrouds.

An elderly priest stood at the very heart of the altar, a blood-red heart pendant suspended in his palm. It distinctly resembled a fleshy organ encased in a metallic shell. The pendant pulsed like a living being, oozing copious amounts of fresh blood.

The thick blood stained the soil red, about to spread to where the cocoons lay.

"Look, the holy artifact we await is so magnificent. We ants, under its profound mysteries, can only self-mutilate in shame. My possession of it is but fortuitous luck. It is a grand gift from Sacred Mountain, and studies indicate it is a highly unique life form, yet for over a century, no one has truly been able to awaken it,"

the old priest exclaimed fervently, "Today, we shall wield its mighty power to return the Divine Tree to its primordial state and purify this world tainted by false gods!"

Lu Bu'er finally understood—the unburied corpses in the church, that strange diary, the fanatic believers under the Golden Ancient Tree—everything was self-explanatory.

They were entangled in a ritual of apostates.

The chosen cocoons were hence difficult to give birth to, and upon breaking free, they would become bloodthirsty, hideous dried-up corpses, the Specter Fiends the apostates spoke of.

It was their luck that they hadn't been discovered while inside the cocoons; otherwise, they would likely have been sacrificed by now, their bodies reeking of decay.

Wait a minute!

An exclusive plotline that appears only during public testing!

If Lu Bu'er, who had cleared the instance during the initial test, hadn't found any so-called hidden items, then the variable must lie here—the special plotline his parents spoke of!

Could it be that this group of apostates was the hidden plotline?

And the so-called holy artifact in their hands was that ultimate item?

The prayers ceased abruptly.

The elderly priest looked up, half his face sickly pale, the other as decayed and rotten as a dried-up corpse, his eyes devoid of emotion.

The white-robed believers also turned their heads to gaze at them, their faces as rotten as evil spirits risen from hell, their expressions vacant and eyes chilling.

Officer An and Boss Zhang hit the brakes hard, forcibly halting their steps.

"Would you believe us if we said we got lost?"

Lu Bu'er raised his hands high.

Gurgle.

Everyone was terrified by this spectacle.

It seemed they had not arrived in Heaven, but in hell.

A sly smile curled on the lips of the old priest, who hoarsely said, "The Cocoon Breakers who were forgotten in the Land of the Departed? Such excellent sacrifices, seize them!"

The believers rose from the ground, pulling sharp daggers from their sleeves.

Lu Bu'er had been holding onto a sliver of naive hope.

Wondering if they might negotiate.

It seemed hopeless.

"Seize them!"

At the old priest's command, the believers swarmed out.

·

·

"Run!" Officer An bellowed.

"Split up, hurry and scatter!"

Lu Bu'er, leading his companions, scattered and fled in all directions. The graveyard had many tombstones, perfect for hiding. The individual combat strength of the fanatics was strong, but their numbers were few.

Catching them all at once in a short time was definitely not possible.

Yet, the speed of the believers was astonishing; even though they had started running ahead, they were quickly overtaken in a mere instant, and the sound of piercing screams followed as sharp knives stabbed through their backs.

Bang!

Officer An fired again, blasting a believer's head off.

"Wasn't expecting police to be here."

"Take his gun!" the old priest ordered grimly.

Lu Bu'er's eyes flickered, remembering the dried-up corpses in the cemetery, and he shouted, "Quick, run back, those corpses should attack indiscriminately, we can take that chance to escape!"

Officer An and Boss Zhang shouted for the others to run back. However, a cluster of dark figures and chaotic footsteps emerged from the mist.

Lu Bu'er felt a chill in his heart, realizing the path back had been blocked.

Not only that, but he also heard the frenzied stampeding of the dried-up corpses approaching.

This is the end!

As the mist dissipated, the person in the lead stumbled and rolled, as if chased and herded like a duck, and following close behind were the bloodthirsty, fierce dried-up corpses!

Lu Bu'er felt a pang of recognition and wondered if it could be who he thought.

"Brother Lu?"

That guy turned out to be He Sai, now covered with snow and dirt as if he had been rolling in mud, clearly having had a difficult journey.

Sure enough, He Sai had also arrived at this graveyard, drawn by the direction of the light source, eventually joining the other survivors.