Volume 1 The Tower of Flesh Chapter 15 The Road to Survival
Maybe you can find some clues in those plants.
After knowing the origin of the plants, Li Ben didn't want to touch them anymore, but in order to find a way out of his own predicament, what he had to do had to do.
If you are a prophet, how can you make it possible for all people to be parasitized by that kind of sub-parasitism?
He couldn't think of an answer. The only known fact is that the Prophet succeeded, and he made this cannibalistic hell disappear and people no longer suffer from madness.
Lee used his steel sword to pluck through the plants, and found rotting clothes, shoes, and some ornaments in them. After continuously investigating more than half of the glowing plants, he found many pieces of broken parchment.
Putting these pieces together gives you the recipe for a complete soul enhancement potion.
Why are these papers so scattered? One can imagine what happened to Gwa after he committed suicide.
As he was about to leave, a sharp blade of grass cut through his skin.
It's not good! It's alive! When he realized this, the world in front of his eyes began to distort. The plants disappeared from his field of vision, turning into vivid figures.
It's an illusion...
These people walked around the tribe, and almost every one of them had a word in their mouth, and from time to time they suddenly shouted.
But they don't speak the language of this world. It was a strange syllable that had never been heard of before. When you think it's human language, it sounds like the roar of a beast, and when you think it's the roar of a beast, you feel that these sounds are full of meaningful regularity, as if they were the language of some highly intelligent being.
If you have to describe it, these staccato syllables are the only ones that can be barely transliterated—"A", "Za", "Tho", and "Th".
Li Ben's perspective is attached to one of them, witnessing this crazy and strange time together.
A man and a woman, naked, stood in the middle of a campfire and stabbed themselves in the heart with sharp knives. After death, it is poured into a campfire and eaten by others.
The people who ate the meat were grateful, muttering into the air, "We're together! I can feel everything about you!"
And somewhere in the corner of the field of vision, a middle-aged man watched all this from afar.
Someone brought meat to him, and the middle-aged man refused with a stiff smile, and reflexively entered his tent. He was the prophet of this tribe.
All of a sudden, all of this was gone.
Li Ben woke up as if in a dream.
He looked at the plant, "Are you trying to tell me something?"
I don't know if I'm wrong, but I always feel that the branches and leaves of the plant are swaying up and down as if they are nodding, but if I look at it carefully, it hasn't moved at all.
"It seems that it can only convey some vague information by creating illusions. ”
The scene is clearly a retrace of the events that took place here, and he is just a first-person viewer who is able to maintain his own independent consciousness. And did not feel any negative emotions affecting him. It seems understandable that these plants are not hostile.
Since it's harmless, it doesn't hurt to try again.
Li Ben pricked his finger and touched the plant, re-entering the world of the past.
This time, the perspective is obviously different from the previous one, and it is a little girl. She ran to the Prophet's tent and brought food for the owner of the tent.
The Prophet looked haggard. The little girl urged him to eat what she had brought.
The middle-aged man's eyes revealed fear and struggle, grief and helplessness. He reached out and touched the little girl's head, barely showing a loving face.
Under the expectant eyes of the little girl, the middle-aged man ate the first piece of meat.
Immediately afterwards he began to vomit.
The little girl stared at him with puzzled eyes, and the middle-aged man turned back and defended himself that he had a strange illness and could not eat now.
The little girl simply believed and cared.
It's like a short movie, and it's over quickly. When he woke up, he looked at his watch, and only two or three minutes had passed.
It is clear that these humanized plants are trying to reveal the truth of the past to him.
Since we've all reached this point, how can we not finish reading it? So he started the third short film.
This time, it seems to be the perspective of a warehouse manager.
During the night, he heard strange movements coming from the warehouse, so he went in to check it out. It was discovered that the prophets of the tribe were in there, mixing something into the food.
He immediately stopped the Prophet and pushed him to the ground. The prophet who fell to the ground was in great pain.
It stands to reason that it is impossible for an ordinary person to overthrow a prophet with a power that is not weaker than that of a Chaos Hunter so easily.
The storekeeper rummaged through the food and soon found the parasitic seeds, and he instantly became furious.
Coming out of the warehouse and shouting loudly, everyone was summoned. When the people learned of the Prophet's actions, they looked at him with disgust, saying that he had been infected by chaos and wanted to kill them.
The people tied him up and took him to the middle of the square to kill. The Prophet did not resist, he was weak, and on his deathbed he had a relieved expression.
The Prophet was killed and eaten.
It didn't take long for green plant shoots to grow on their bodies.
Seeing this, Li Ben finally understood what the prophet's so-called method of "making hell disappear" was.
He first parasitized the seeds on himself, allowing them to germinate and multiply in various parts of his body, and then removed the branches and leaves with obvious marks.
In the end, give the crazy people an excuse to deliberately get caught by them and let people kill themselves.
He knew that these people whose souls were polluted would surely eat themselves. Then the seeds of plants all over your body will enter everyone's body.
With this in mind, Lee Ben returned to reality from the past.
"Why are you telling me this, and what's the point of doing that?"
Leeben's question goes unanswered, like some patients seeking medical treatment but not being able to accurately describe their symptoms.
There are a lot of possibilities, maybe it's just an obsession after people die, or maybe it's just some special property inherent in these plants.
Why do you care so much about this? Now that you have what you want, there is no benefit in continuing to think about these inexplicable things. Isn't it too funny to think about it and talk to plants to yourself... Good thing no one saw it...
Li Ben went out by water.
"Dragon's beard, epimedium, folded ear root, blackcurrant, cloves... Well,It seems to be used to enhance the effect.,But it seems that there is also some restraint in it.,It is estimated that there are still some unknown risks in taking those mysterious substances directly.,At this point, I still can't be sure... If only there were test animals..."
Although the harmfulness of the hedron extract could not be completely ruled out from the excipients in the formulation, he was able to determine that even if it was, it would not be particularly harmful. Because none of those excipients can interact with the soul itself, but more to stabilize the physical form of the user from the influence of chaotic forces.
If the harm of the mysterious extract is acting on the body, then Li Ben can rely on his own ability to worry about it at all.
I have done everything I can, and it doesn't help to keep hesitating.
He simply swallowed the small drop of glowing liquid. As a result, nothing was felt.
Is it ineffective? Or is it too small?
Just when he was wondering, he found that he was already standing in a familiar place—the golden ocean of the world of will. This is a world that should only be entered with hypnotic guidance and psychedelic incense.
Li Ben, who found out about this situation, first thought was how to get out?
With the thought of it, he returned to reality.
That's right, how can one's own soul be embarrassed by one's own consciousness...
There is no discomfort in the body, and there may be a delay in the effect. Lee Ben decided to wait and see.
While waiting, he carefully looked through the books he had brought out of the prophet's tent, searching for the rituals and conditions of becoming a prophet.
This knowledge is not something hidden, for the humans of today wish there were as many Prophets and Chaos Hunters as possible.
However, within the same tribe, it is common for the next one to be elected after the death of the previous prophet. This is because if two prophets are too close together, their ability to foreknowledge will be affected by the other.
It didn't take much effort for him to find the specific method and the key information from the relevant accounts.
"To sacrifice yourself?"
The contract used to conclude a contract with the god of fate cannot exist in any matter, and must be sacrificed with the soul of a human being. There is no doubt that no one is willing to give up their soul for the sake of others.
So, there is only one way for those who want to become prophets – to use their own soul as a covenant and their own soul as a sacrifice.
In order for the god of fate to give him the power to foresee the future, he must write in the contract that his soul will belong to the god of fate after death.
Such a price was something Li Ben never expected. He began to admire those who volunteered to become prophets and lead humanity.
Don't look at the price so heavy, it is not easy to sign a contract with the god of fate.
You must prove to the god of fate that your soul is strong enough and worth enough to be taken from him, and you must pass the so-called soul trial.
This trial has three parts: pain, pleasure, and vanity. It proves that you can not be defeated by pain, that you can not indulge in pleasure, that you can not be deceived by falsehood.
Holding a trial ceremony is not complicated, it can even be said to be very simple. All you need to do is draw a specific magic circle and shout the true name of the god of fate to open the soul trial.
It's just that if the soul trial fails, there is basically only one outcome, and that is the kind of death that scatters the soul.
Li Ben didn't dwell too much on this, because there was only one way for him.
If he can't gain more abilities and more powerful powers, with the environment he is in now, it will be a matter of time before he dies.
As for the price to pay, his ultimate goal is to return to the original world, and if he is lucky enough to succeed, it is impossible for the gods of this world to chase down his own world to ask for the price. If you can't go back, and now there is no place for yourself in this world, whether or not to leave your soul at the mercy of the so-called gods is meaningless to your current self.
All in all, it's a death story, and a desperate fight for a trapped beast is the only option at the moment.
What you want to avoid is that the failure of the soul trial will cause your soul to fall apart.
However, from those sources, we know that the specific content of the trials encountered by each person is different, so the only thing that can be prepared is to increase the strength of one's soul as much as possible.
"Phew!"
Li Ben suddenly spat out thick phlegm, which was sticky and dark black, which is only possible for patients who have advanced lung cancer due to heavy smoking.
He realized that this was the consequence of taking the mysterious substance directly.
I got up and moved with all my might, but there was no pain or other strange sensations in the whole part of my body.
He turned on the hunter's perception ability again, sensing the activities of various internal organs and blood in the body, but there was still no abnormality, and the appearance of the body did not change.
So he went to study the black phlegm, which had no smell, just sticky and dark.
It looks like some kind of toxin is being removed by the body. Since it can be expelled, it means that it is not particularly harmful, at least for itself at the beginning.
After understanding this, Li Ben began to chisel a large number of luminous crystals, and finally refined about a handful of mysterious droplets.
The wind was blowing louder from the depths of the cave.
After drinking the extract, he saw a pale blue rain in the sky in the world of his will.
This is the third color after the gold on the surface and the black on the depths.
However, the third person was soon swallowed up by gold and lost its color. There is nothing else to be done.
Lee Ben is back to reality again. This time he visibly felt his perception strengthening.
There is a clearer understanding of the distribution and intensity of chaos around it.
When he rejoiced in his success and rejoiced in it, black pus began to flow from all seven orifices in his head.
This process lasted nearly a minute. Li Bendao didn't feel any pain, just a little nauseous, and when he was done, he buried his head in the water and washed himself.
Judging from the final result, there was no big mistake, and he felt that there was no problem with his thoughts.
What he didn't know was that if it weren't for his special abilities and the Flamin's Heart that he had accidentally eaten before, he would most likely be possessed and distorted by these black substances and turn into an inhuman monster.
He repeated the process several times until he didn't feel any noticeable lift when he took the substances again.
Greed can lead a person to ruin in normal times, but it is also possible to help a person live under certain circumstances.
All the spars within a hundred meters of Li Ben's surroundings had been taken down by him, and everything had fallen into the embrace of darkness. Not to mention ordinary people, even seasoned Chaos Hunters are here, they can't perceive the world with their eyes.
However, the current Li Ben is not among them. He gained the vision of the soul, what is often called the eye of the heart.
All tangible and intangible things cannot escape his eyes, there is nothing hidden in his perspective, and any details and textures, as long as he wants to, can be seen clearly and clearly.
He was ready to be tested by the god of fate.
He performed a ritual and shouted the true name of the god of fate - Unifers.
Nothing happened.
Li Bencai remembered that in the records of the prophet, his many divinations were fruitless, and it seemed that the power of the gods could not reach this place, this mysterious underground cavern that buried an entire tribe.
Looks like we'll have to go out and give it a try.
Li Ben looked at the time and found that it was noon the next day before he knew it. More than 30 hours have passed since the escape and the battle, and he has not rested at all.
When I realized this, I felt a sense of exhaustion. It stands to reason that the strengthened flesh should not be so fragile. In the past, when he was trained by Jeffrey, three days and three nights of continuous high-intensity work training was the norm.
This exhaustion comes from the soul.
It seems that it is the result of using too much ability, and maybe it has something to do with the liquid that is ingested.
"Anyway, now is not the time to rest. ”
Preparing the pure water he had picked up from the ruins of the tribe and taking the silver sword he had just obtained, Li Ben walked back to the surface world following the mark he had made.
The sunlight shines through the green vegetation at the entrance of the cave, leaving a few bits of light in the dim world, and reflecting through the currents of water, leaving a sparkling shadow on the rock wall.
Li Ben didn't dare to go too far, even if there was pure water to cover his breath, there was no guarantee that there would be no monsters with normal vision. Judging from the records of the underground tribes, there is more than just gluttony and a terrifying thing around.
He performed a second ritual by drawing a perfect circle with a large cross in the center, and the cross line broke through the circle, symbolizing "unrestrained".
After that, he made a cross wound in the palm of his hand and pressed it in the center, calling on the name of God.
"I hereby sacrifice myself and call upon fate to come to Uniphus. "It doesn't matter what the language used to say the greetings is, the key is to convey one's will to the world.
Then, the "blood" flowing from the palm of Li Ben's hand flowed in all directions along the cross, and he had just come out of the darkness, and fate once again plunged him into darkness.
Three doors emerged from the darkness, and in the center were red, green, and blue vortices, forming a triangle around Li Ben.
The red one is topped by a goat's skull and framed by a human hand, which is a painful trial.
The green one is decorated with violet, and its bottom is framed by green vines, which is a trial of joy.
The blue fan, unadorned, is an unknown brown wooden frame, which is a test of reality and fiction.
These are the same as written, but it seems that there is no need to follow the order in the book, or is there any particular emphasis on the order in the book? "Lee Ben didn't want to make any personalized choices at such a serious moment, so as not to trap himself to death.
However, he did not rush in, but closed his eyes and quietly perceived. Because the place where he is now is an imaginary realm constructed by the god Uniferus with his power, and his own body is still in reality, he must make sure that he can sense the outside world, so he has set up some warning traps, and once he is touched, he will make a strange noise to remind himself.
"I can hear the wind and the water... Although you can't see it visually, it's enough, and it's up to you. ”
When the trial is mentioned in those texts, it also describes the temporal relationship between the inside and outside of the trial, which is about one day inside and one minute outside.
It is not possible to leave during the official trial, but after completing a trial, you can leave for a while, and you only need to perform the same ceremony within three days and complete it all. Otherwise, the god of fate will impose the price you have promised.
Li Ben only hoped that those monsters would not just happen to approach him during the trial.
He took a deep breath and walked to the red door, though there was no air in the world he was in.