"Guh..."
Su Zhou expressionlessly tightened the belt in his hand. He then looked away from the two bodies before him, strangled by that very belt. They had stopped struggling and lay completely still, breathless. He nodded thoughtfully.
'The Holy Snake Spirit Prayer Association, huh? To think an organization like this still exists in modern society.'
On this planet, all ancient religions had ended themselves a thousand years ago. According to the last generation of Clergy, "Our historical mission is complete. Henceforth, the world will no longer have need for deities." Afterward, they collectively disbanded and vanished, leaving behind only buildings and books as cultural relics.
But while the religions had vanished, the 'mysteries' they had hidden—or even suppressed—did not completely dissipate.
Western exorcisms and Eastern campaigns to 'raze mountains and destroy temples' had admittedly wiped out the vast majority of ancient mysteries, but some still survived. Among them was the predecessor to the organization the two dead men had spoken of: the Holy Snake Spirit Prayer Association.
This mysterious organization, the Holy Snake Spirit Prayer Association, was, as its name implied, an ancient secret society that worshiped the 'Holy Snake Spirit.' They pursued arcane knowledge from otherworlds, practiced free love, and sought eternal life. For the past several hundred years, the Continuous Prayer Meeting had been persistently attempting to communicate with a Great Being in the Void, hoping to trade for various mystical powers and knowledge.
The organization's influence wasn't vast, but its members were deeply embedded in society. Take the two corpses at his feet—they were farmers from the central American Federation. On a normal day, they rarely interacted with others and didn't visit big cities, so naturally, no one suspected their identities. For a Federation citizen, the occasional trip abroad for "tourism" was not at all strange.
Furthermore, the organization had the backing of many wealthy individuals and high-ranking officials who desired longevity.
Of course, aside from the rumored 'immortality,' many others joined in order to become 'Extraordinary' and gain the power to protect themselves in the coming New Era.
For the past thousand years, magic had faded from the world and religion had declined. The myths and legends of old all devolved into urban Kaidan and Anomalies, or even dissolved into history, their traditions completely severed.
But the Holy Snake Spirit Prayer Association had preserved an ancient prophecy:
[One day, the departed shall return, the silent shall reawaken, and that which was driven away shall once again descend upon the world.]
In essence, the prophecy had been useless. For the last thousand years, the world had been exceptionally peaceful. Even the Continuous Prayer Meeting could only perform its rituals in secret. As for their success rate? Ninety-nine out of a hundred attempts were failures, and the best that could be said for the one success was that at least no one died.
Logically, the Continuous Prayer Meeting should have faded with the passage of time.
However, over the past fifty years, a great number of Spirit Bodies began to appear, and evil creatures started to reemerge across the globe. It was also from this point on that the success rate of their rituals skyrocketed. Spells began to work again, and as it happened, the Continuous Prayer Meeting had a farsighted leader at its helm. He led the entire organization to seize this opportunity, recruiting masses of new members from all over the world. They organized Orbits and acquired a vast amount of esoteric knowledge.
The two unlucky bastards he had just strangled had joined the organization for that very reason: they had witnessed the power of the Continuous Prayer Meeting and were drawn in by the future foretold in the prophecy.
'According to those two, the past decade—from '04 to '14, the present day—has seen the most intense wave of Extraordinary Awakenings. Apparently, even ordinary people who die without any lingering resentment can now coalesce into a Spirit Body and wander in places with dense Spiritual Qi.'
Su Zhou compared this information, which he had coerced out of them, with his own experiences and immediately seized on a key point—ten years ago. Wasn't that exactly when he had started being able to see Ghosts and hear Spirit Sounds?
'So I was one of the first ordinary people to become aware of the Extraordinary Awakening?'
In any case, Su Zhou now knew that the Continuous Prayer Meeting was initiating the Void Orbit to hold one final, large-scale ritual before the Spiritual Energy Revival. Their goal was to communicate with the Great Being and obtain the 'Holy Snake Spirit Blood'—the so-called 'Elixir of Immortality'!
For this purpose, all of the organization's major branches across the globe were pooling their resources, all to ensure the success of this transaction.
According to the Leader of the Continuous Prayer Meeting, this sacrificial ritual was crucial. The offerings could include not only intelligent beings but also mystical artifacts brimming with Spiritual Energy. For this reason, many members who couldn't attend in person had sent a host of extremely precious mystical items, all in hopes of getting a share of the Elixir of Immortality.
The American District, where the two men Su Zhou had killed were from, had sent two mask-like Holy Artifacts. Even so, these items were not the most precious offerings. The Europe District branch had apparently obtained even rarer artifacts from ancient ruins in the Canaan Region, some dating back thousands of years.
For example, a small, mysterious splinter of wood and a fossilized fragment of a tree branch.
'This place is truly bizarre.'
Su Zhou didn't fully trust the information the two Caucasian members had spilled. For example, while they had tearfully revealed the locations of the Continuous Prayer Meeting's warehouse and armory, he was still wondering if it was a trap. Perhaps the locations they had given were actually gathering points for combatants.
But that didn't seem likely. They were clearly just ordinary members, the type who couldn't withstand the slightest bit of torture. While they probably didn't know much sensitive information, it was also unlikely they could have lied so naturally about what they did know.
'Regardless, this place is definitely the ruin where the people of the Ancient Shann Country worshipped the 'Seven-headed Snake God.' The Continuous Prayer Meeting is borrowing the immense residual Spiritual Energy here to communicate with the Great Being in the Void.'
At this thought, Su Zhou turned and peered into the depths of the cavern. The long passage was incredibly deep, making it hard to imagine how ancient people had managed to navigate and hold sacrificial rites here. His expression turned grim. 'Most of the tourists have been designated as offerings for the transaction and are being held in rooms next to the Prayer Hall... It looks like saving them won't be so simple.'
'—But so what? I'll just have to kill my way in first!'
Saving the people would be difficult, but that was a separate issue. First, he had to stop these damn bastards. He absolutely could not allow the Orbit of these madmen from the Continuous Prayer Meeting to succeed!
'Otherwise, even if I manage to rescue everyone and escape this primeval jungle, a powered-up Continuous Prayer Meeting could easily recapture us after their transaction succeeds.'
He must never allow the enemy to achieve its goals. Therefore, Su Zhou had already made 'stopping the Continuous Prayer Meeting from completing their Orbit' his number one priority—a prerequisite for all his other objectives.
He had already steeled himself for the reality of making an enemy of an entire Mysterious Organization back when he first started tailing Sukra's car.
Dragging the two bodies to the edge of a fissure leading to who-knew-where, Su Zhou tossed them into the depths. Then, as if nothing had happened, he started pushing his cart again, continuing deeper into the cavern.
From the depths of the cave, Su Zhou could now hear the sounds of many people walking about, as well as the noise of supplies being moved. The Void Orbit had not yet begun. As offerings for the transaction, the tourists shouldn't have been killed yet. There was still a chance.
Therefore, before making his move, he decided to follow the route those two unlucky bastards had described and check out the Continuous Prayer Meeting's supply depot and armory. Perhaps he could find something there to create a greater diversion, a way to break the current stalemate.
'Even if it's a trap, I have no choice. It's a risk versus reward. I have to make a decision.'
He encountered a few members of the Continuous Prayer Meeting along the way, but because of his disguise and the natural way he greeted them while pushing his cart, they subconsciously overlooked this man who, at a glance, seemed a bit dangerous. As members of the Continuous Prayer Meeting, even those who couldn't use magic possessed high levels of Spiritual Energy themselves. They knew better than to provoke 'dangerous' people.
Of course, some were suspicious of the unfamiliar face. While Su Zhou might not have been a legendary beauty, he was definitely handsome enough to be a campus heartthrob. Combined with his youth, it was impossible that anyone who had met him before would have forgotten him.
However, just as a few members with Asian features furrowed their brows, looking as if they were about to step forward and question Su Zhou's origins, a bell suddenly chimed from deep within the cavern.
The chime was soft and ethereal, as if it had traveled from a distant time and space.