Chapter 339
The two paintings referred to by Liu Li were the legacy of Golden King.
As for why Wang Lu was able to confirm this… it was because the two paintings were made of pure gold, glittering enough to sway even a blind dog’s eyes. In addition to Golden King, no one would probably cling to gold like this; all of his carved murals were also made of pure gold.
The two paintings that the Golden King had left here were painted on the top of the exit—well, with his character, the painting would certainly be left on top. Because the gate was too high and the top was hidden within the clouds, no one had ever noticed it before. Only the bored Liu Li could find it.
Both of these murals showed a rather superb painting, but what really mattered was its content. Both of the two paintings were the self-portrait of Golden King. The left painting showed Golden King building for himself a glittering armored vehicle with casting hammer, and on the right painting, Golden King, in that armored vehicle, bravely marching through in that sea of clouds.
It was difficult to say if the Golden King left these two murals as clues or simply just to show off. Whether it was waving the casting hammer to build an armored vehicle, or to drive the armored vehicle bravely forward, his tyrant king aura simply overflowed both of them. However, Wang Lu soon found out the issue of these two paintings.
Why must the armored vehicle be built?
Although in the first painting, the focus of the painting composed by Golden King was on how to show how wise and brilliant he was—the waving of the forging hammer on his detached demeanor, which in the subtlety of the painting highlight its life-like—however, no matter how wise and brilliant he looked in the painting, what he did was basically a job of a humble craftsman, which was quite inconsistent with his identity.
A king should be proud, noble, and leisurely while ordering his servants to do things, not sweating while waving a forging hammer.
Let alone with Golden King’s power, why would there be a need for an armored vehicle? In the legend, the only thing that was worthy of his attention and that he relied on was a treasure, his Sword of World Splitting. The rest of his treasures in the King’s Treasure House were only collections, nothing that could help him in battle.
And in the second painting, the Golden King, full of grin, drove the armored vehicle all the way through as the full-of-thorns wheels crushed the countless shadowy enemies, which fully embodied the king’s bravery. However, there were many details on the screen that together revealed a secret: the armored vehicle built by Golden King, when braving through the clouds, showed the sparks that appeared caused by high-temperature friction, as if it was in a life and death resistance to the erosion from the cloud.
In addition to these two paintings, Golden King did not leave any more clues. However, these were already enough for Wang Lu to have his own judgment.
Golden King was not being a pain in the ass when he built the armored vehicle; there must be a reason for this. And, combined with the second painting, the resistance of the armored vehicle toward the clouds, it was not difficult to draw the conclusion—without the armored vehicle, even Golden King would find it difficult to move in the sea of clouds. This difficulty was not due to a lack of strength, but because the rules were so.
It was no wonder that Golden King did not carve his experience in crossing the sea of clouds into the murals on the entrance of the fourth entrance for future generations to gaze upon. Because during this process, he was quite forced into a helpless situation, which was not worth showing off.
However, what was exactly the thing that made Golding King have to bow? From the situation of this castle, Golden King was only a traveler, so where was the master of this castle? And the sea of clouds outside the castle… where they naturally formed, or caused by external force?
Upon further thought, this chaotic sea of clouds hid an amazing secret, which was likely to go beyond the human level, into the realm of god… However, now was not the time to decrypt this hypothesis. The problem presented before them was how to break through the sea of clouds and reach Beautiful Unique Pool Peak before Holy Light Religion team.
“Simply put, according to the present situation, if we want to break through the blockade of the sea of clouds, individual power alone will not work. We must rely on… the armored vehicle!”
Upon saying this, Wang Lu’s eyes began to sweep around the castle, while inwardly, he gradually felt eager.
“In other words, the resources in the eighty rooms of this castle are the materials left to us by some good intention people to prepare the armored vehicle… With so many choices, what kind of armored vehicle that needs to be built? Well, first of all, there must be five pairs of wheels…”
—
“Tsk, what bad luck. It turns out we got the black magic big tent.”
At the other end of the sea of clouds, the Holy Light Religion team also came to a transit point. It was just that, where Wang Lu and his teammates were located in a secluded castle, theirs was a huge tent. All kinds of materials, mixed together, were stacked like a mountain in the tent. However, upon seeing this, Paul couldn’t help but complain.
And seeing the confusion of the Supreme Inquisitor, Paul explained to him, “Within the sea of clouds, there were eight transit points. They were the resources warehouses left behind by the eight ancient almighty people in order to break through the blockade of the sea of clouds to explore the deeper secrets.”
The Supreme Inquisitor asked, “Is there a need for these resources warehouses?”
“Yes, we have to make a suitable vehicle here to continue to move forward. This sea of clouds has its special rule, we can’t advance on foot.”
“Can’t advance on foot? What a weird rule. But, a suitable vehicle you say?” The Supreme Inquisitor deeply wrinkled his brows. “What makes a vehicle suitable?”
Paul was somewhat embarrassed. “Well…”
Faceless One lightly interrupted, “If it can reach the Beautiful Unique Pool Peak, then it is suitable. If it can’t, then it’s not. The rules of the sea of clouds are ever-changing, and only the person who travels in it know what is suitable. The reason why there are so many resources in these warehouses is that to give people the opportunity to retry countless times.”
“…” The Supreme Inquisitor was silent for a while, then he went straight outside the tent, stepping into the sea of clouds. However, he quickly ran into a dead end, unable to move forward no matter how hard he tried.
Paul said, “No need to try it. If using brute force is useful, then in the past, we wouldn’t have to waste so many years exploring here. Unfortunately, at that time we were in the dark crypt, which contained ten times as much resources as here. Now, even rebuilding the level eight armored vehicle would be hard for us.”
“Level eight?”
Paul explained, “Before entering the sea of clouds, the vehicles that are built here would be rated according to their quality, to get the overall rating. Only vehicles that, after the evaluation, reach level seven or above are possible to cross the many obstacles and reach the end of Beautiful Unique Pool Peak. If the level is too low, halfway through, it would encounter insurmountable obstacles, causing it to disintegrate and fall apart.”
“After the collapse of the vehicle, what would happen to the people inside it?”
Faceless One lightly said, “Rest assured, the passengers would go straight back to the starting point, they will not die in the sea of clouds.” There was a bit of sarcasm in his tone of voice. “However, after you came to the transit station, you can never go out unless you can reach the Beautiful Unique Pool Peak. So, there is no difference in being stuck here and being dead.”
This was apparently an unexpected news, which caused the five archbishops to slightly shake in fear. However, the Supreme Inquisitor actually nodded. “Yes, as a faithful servant of the Holy Light, basking in the grace of the Holy Light, I would be a waste if I can’t finish a task, not qualified to survive!”
Then the Supreme Inquisitor asked Paul, “You once went through this fourth pass, therefore, this time, making a vehicle that can pass through the sea of clouds should not be difficult, right?”
Paul said, “Naturally it’s not difficult. Previously, we were lucky enough to imitate the historically famous Glorious Extreme Speed of Holy Light Religion, which has level eight rating and thus able to bring us all the way to the end.”
“Glorious Extreme Speed?” The Supreme Inquisitor gasped a mouthful of cold air. “That’s the legendary vehicle of the child of the Holy Light from time immemorial that have been destroyed for thousands of years. Currently, the only remaining wreckage is kept in the Origin Cathedral. Even the most skillful craftsman can’t explain its secret, yet you guys can actually imitate it?”
Paul said with some embarrassment, “Of course it’s not me…”
The Supreme Inquisitor paused and then realized that it was impossible to expect Paul to do it, this waste, to imitate the Glorious Extreme Speed. Then…
“Faceless, was it you? Can you recreate the vehicle?”
Faceless One laughed. “Certainly not. The resources in the black magic big tent are completely different than in the dark crypt. There are many key materials for the Glorious Extreme Speed that are not here, how can I recreate it? Moreover, when the imitation of the Glorious Extreme Speed was first built, the materials in the dark crypt have been used up, so it is impossible to build the second vehicle.”
Paul was surprised to hear these words. “What? There’s no way to have a second vehicle?”
The Supreme Inquisitor was actually not surprised by this. “So, in addition to Glorious Extreme Speed, will you build another level eight vehicle?”
Faceless One said, “Is there a vehicle of Holy Light Religion that can match the Glorious Extreme Speed?”
The Supreme Inquisitor went silent. In Holy Light Religion history, there were countless glorious devices, but on the vehicle class, there was only Glorious Extreme Speed. All the other vehicles beside it were inferior.
“So, what exactly are you going to do?”
“Very simple, if we can’t make it, then we can’t.” Faceless One said, “Why do we have to build level seven or eight vehicle? If we want to really build that legendary level vehicle, we would not be able to build it in just a few months. This is a racing game, so we simply can’t waste a few months of our time.”
“Then…”
Faceless One said, “Since this is a racing game, then there are two ways for us to win. The first is that you are faster than your opponent, and the second is to make your opponent slower than you. The topography of Beautiful Unique Pool Peak is generally like a set of corrugated rings. The closer you are to the Beautiful Unique Pool Peak, the stronger the resistance that you will encounter. Conversely, the more peripheral you are, the easier it is to travel. The eight transit stations on the outskirts of the sea of clouds are on the same perimeter ring. Therefore, we just need to use the shortest amount of time to create a vehicle that can barely break through the cloud blockade and move freely on the periphery—level one or two should suffice. Then we find the opponent with the fastest speed and destroy them so that they can never reach the endpoint, which is basically winning the game.”
The Supreme Inquisitor Ferdinand asked, “Will the other side just quietly wait at their transit station and let you find them?”
Faceless One said, “As long as we move fast enough, it would be too late for them to leave. They don’t have the past experience as us. In theory, simply cracking the puzzle of the ‘need to continue to advance using the vehicle’ will take them some time, and it would take even more time for them to build a vehicle. And even if they can actually build a vehicle in just a few days and leave the transit station… I still have the means to lock their position within the sea of clouds.”
Finding the last sentence a bit strange, Ferdinand asked, “The sea of clouds isolated all of our perceptions, how would you able to lock their position?”
Faceless One coldly smiled. “Because the Holy Light will guide me to go forward.”