The ancient castle appeared even more eerie in the deep of night.

In the top tower, Wu Shangpin remained crouched on the ground, hardly daring to move, while the three girls huddled together.

It wasn't that they didn't want to escape; they had tried many times. No matter how they attempted to rush out of the tower's door, they would find themselves back in the next moment.

This door seemed to lead to the tower. Inside was the tower, and outside was also the tower.

This bizarre feeling sent chills down the spines of the three girls and even Wu Shangpin, who had already stepped into the extraordinary and stood at the level of a sage!

The moonlight filtering through the small window seemed to dim slightly, causing the four of them to instinctively look up, their hearts racing!

The young man, who appeared gentle and chatted casually about primal fears, had somehow seated himself in a chair.

He paid no attention to them, casually picking up a book from the shelf and flipping through it. No one knew why there was a bookshelf with books in the tower.

It looked less like a tower and more like a dusty storage room.

The young man picked up a history book from the Eastern Hong Kingdom, flipping through it with interest, learning about its origins and history.

A knowledge demon appeared in the void, and then, to the girls' trembling gazes, the young man casually grabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed it with delight.

Time passed with the sound of pages turning. The beads of sweat on the girls' foreheads became increasingly dense, and Wu Shangpin trembled uncontrollably, feeling utterly hopeless.

Was this really a blessed land? Who knew how these three crazy women thought, coming to summon a taboo!

Even if they summoned a taboo, they summoned this one!!

In his fear, he felt a surge of anger, as if he might go mad.

Wei Tuantuan was the first to lose her composure, swaying as she stood up, mustering her courage:

"C-could you let us go?"

The young man closed the book, glancing at this girl who had freed him from the eternal void, and relevant information naturally surfaced in his mind.

A trace of surprise appeared on his face.

[Wei Tuantuan: Daughter of a minor royal family of the Wei clan.]

His surprise was not only because of the Wei clan but also because the information was too scarce.

This girl was shrouded in a thick and indistinct aura, or perhaps a form of "luck" that blocked the leakage of information. Was it the Wei clan's luck?

"Wei Tuantuan," Chen Xiang said with interest,

"How did you think to summon me? I can sense that when you called for me, you were full of expectation and excitement. Why are you afraid now?"

Wei Tuantuan had no time to think about how this mysterious and terrifying being knew her name; she was nearly in tears:

"I-I don't know."

Chen Xiang chuckled softly, amused.

He placed the history book on the table, pondered for a moment, and decided to be direct:

"Do you know Wei Qingqiu?"

Wei Tuantuan shook her head in confusion:

"I-I don't know her."

"Then what about Wei Qi?"

Wei Tuantuan froze in place, stepping back two paces with a quivering voice:

"Y-you still want to eat my family? Please, I can give you anything, just don't eat my sister Xiao Qi, don't eat my family!"

With tear-filled eyes, she stepped forward, trembling as she extended her pale arms in a gesture of self-sacrifice.

Chen Xiang fell into silence.

After a while,

he helplessly rubbed his forehead:

"Where did you hear that I eat people?"

Wei Tuantuan subconsciously glanced at Wu Shangpin, who was lying on the ground. The latter shivered violently:

"Please, I would never slander you!"

Chen Xiang thought for a moment and understood. This girl had taken his previous appearance of wanting to eat someone too literally.

He chuckled, shaking his head, and said lightly:

"Enough, you need not fear me so. Wei Qingqiu, also known as Wei Qi, is an old friend of mine. Besides, you summoned me from the eternal void; I am not one to repay kindness with malice."

Wei Tuantuan was even more bewildered. Xiao Qi was the old friend of the True Shepherd?

She wiped her tears and cautiously asked:

"Are you… are you the True Shepherd?"

Wei Tuantuan wondered if she had summoned the wrong being.

The young man before her, though mysterious and emanating a terrifying pressure, had a remarkably gentle attitude and even claimed to know Sister Xiao Qi.

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He looked nothing like the legendary True Shepherd.

The terrifying tome had said that the True Shepherd was a terrifying being that devoured the entire outer three rings of the Great City!

Chen Xiang naturally had no idea what she was thinking and said with interest:

"Whether I am or not is up to you to decide. Ultimately, does it matter if I am or am not?"

Wei Tuantuan became a bit confused, getting lost in his words, but she gradually calmed down during the conversation and gained more courage:

"I think you are not. The book says the True Shepherd devoured the entire outer three rings of the Great City and is a forbidden demon walking among men. You don't seem like one."

Chen Xiang fell into another silence.

What had the outside world turned him into?

He found it somewhat laughable, waving his hand:

"Alright, I am indeed an old friend of your Sister Xiao Qi, and I have never devoured any outer three rings. If you want to leave, then go ahead."

However,

Chen Xiang added lightly:

"My name must not be spoken of outside."

At that moment, he briefly transformed into a deity, his words becoming a decree, engraving an unbreakable spiritual seal in the minds of the four!

This was a precaution; Chen Xiang was not bloodthirsty and would not kill to silence them, but he also could not allow the news of the True Shepherd's return to spread widely.

That would attract the gaze and hunting of outer gods, and he was not yet capable of resisting their pursuit.

"Can we… really leave??"

Wei Tuantuan's face lit up with joy. She stepped back a few paces, joining the other two girls with long black hair and glasses, and cautiously inquired once more:

"Do you truly allow us to leave?"

No matter who this person before them was, they were undoubtedly a mysterious and powerful being, and the evil wizard still lay prostrate on the ground!

"Go ahead, I am not stopping you."

Chen Xiang casually dispelled the time loop, watching with amusement as the three girls fled in panic, catching a glimpse of some scattered information.

Information 1: They were filled with boundless curiosity amidst their panic.

Information 2: The three fervent extraordinary enthusiasts would visit again.

Information 3: This member of the Wei royal family was surrounded by an ominous aura, and disaster was about to befall her.

Chen Xiang frowned slightly, and as his thoughts turned, he said lightly,

"I let them go, but I didn't let you go."

Wu Shangpin was frozen at the door, his face a mask of despair as he turned back in fear:

"I... I am just a humble ant. Please, spare me."

He understood far better than those three madwomen how terrifying and powerful this figure was!

Chen Xiang looked at Wu Shangpin with great interest, relevant information popping into his mind one by one. After sifting through it, he began to review what piqued his interest and roughly understood the sequence of events.

This guy had excellent luck, sneaking into the sixth ring before divine punishment arrived. Not long after, he left the Great City, came to the Eastern Hong Kingdom, and, by sheer fortune, obtained the legacy of an extraordinary being in a graveyard. He then inherited the legacy of a sage in this ancient castle. Now he was already a sage and, according to the information, was the vice president of some extraordinary association in Tianshuai City.

"Alright,"

Chen Xiang said calmly,

"you and I can be considered old acquaintances in a foreign land. You know who I am, so you should also know that I give every lost lamb a chance for redemption. Do you want it?"

Without hesitation, Wu Shangpin knelt on the ground:

"I, your servant, heed your call."

Chen Xiang nodded slightly. He had not fully descended; the ritual was too crude. For now, he could only stay in the ancient castle. If he left the castle by a hundred meters, he would be pulled back into the Eternal Void. The only place he could go was the meeting venue, where there was a strong suppressive force that the Eternal Void could not drag him away from. Thus, he truly needed a servant.

"Go outside. I usually stay here; do not disturb me without my summons."

"Yes, yes!" Wu Shangpin hurriedly fled outside.

After he left,

Chen Xiang gently exhaled and waved his hand, causing a crack on his wrist to transform into a mirror.

"Did you see the time image from just now?"

"In response to your question, I did!" the mirror replied respectfully. "I don't understand what's going on, so it would be useless to ask me. I suggest you don't."

Chen Xiang's eyelids twitched, and he swallowed the words that were about to escape his mouth.

He suppressed the urge to slap the mirror and said irritably,

"Release the Disaster Bull and gather more!"

"As you wish."

In the Eternal Void, there were no dead people, nor could ghosts be summoned. The Disaster Bull factory had not hired any new employees for six years, and the number of old employees had remained constant at four hundred thousand.

That was too few.

Chen Xiang had now risen to the third stage of the God Ascension Ladder, situated at the Flame Rising stage. He possessed a complete divine body and was not far from the fourth stage, Starry Sky. Once he stepped into this stage, it would signify the beginning of soul shaping, and those in the middle third stage who were pseudo-gods would no longer be called so. The entire middle third stage was referred to as Titans.

This was because the transition from the fourth stage to the third was a thorough transformation, where the soul began to take shape, allowing one to gain insight into the world's rules. With just a thought, one could reshape and reorganize basic particles within certain limits, transforming stone into gold, creating from the void, or turning water into stone—all of which would be mere trifles!

This marked the true beginning of possessing divine abilities.

Currently, his soul origin couldn't quite support this massive physique. The forty thousand ghost employees produced over a thousand soul origins daily. Excluding one-third that was returned to the Disaster Bull, over the past six years, he had absorbed less than two million soul origins.

That sounded significant, but in reality, it was just that.

With each major realm ascended, both the quality and quantity of soul origins increased exponentially.

"At my current level, if I don't use Observation or Forbidden Powers, I can at best contend with an ordinary titan.

Even if I transform into a forbidden entity and unleash my full form, I'd estimate I'd only be comparable to a god of the upper third stage."

"Dominating reality would be no problem, but opposing an Outer God... ha."

At that moment, the glossy red bull emerged from the mirror realm. The mirror emitted a faint glow, illuminating the entire castle. In Wu Shangpin's terrified gaze, one after another, terrifying ghosts crawled out from within.

"This ancient castle indeed has issues."

As the castle shook violently, the sky above transformed dramatically; the clouds swirled, and an extremely terrifying existence was awakening!

Chen Xiang gazed at this newly awakened ghost, whose realm was even higher than his—at least at the fifth stage, Stars. He squinted slightly.

Ghosts not exceeding three levels below himself were under the mirror's control.

As the castle shook violently, the awakened deity crawled down before its new master.

"Uh, Wu Shangpin seems to be of no further use?" Chen Xiang said with a smile, causing one of his servants to shiver violently.

...

In Tianshuai City, at the city center.

"A strong extraordinary wave has been detected in the outskirts of the city; the true god particles there seem to be in a state of agitation!"

An enforcer exclaimed in alarm:

"The extraordinary fluctuations are rising exponentially!"

"At least angel-level beings have appeared in the outskirts of the city!"

The entire building suddenly descended into chaos.