I've Become the King of Villains in the Game-Chapter 780 - 479: A Painting Within a Painting

Chen Lun’s face was grave as he began to walk on foot through the desert of endless yellow sand.

He pulled his hat brim down to shield from the sandstorm and the harsh sunrays. He stretched out his hand to feel the strong wind, the touch of tiny grains colliding, clear and real.

’What kind of place is this really?’

Chen Lun looked around at the desolate surroundings and couldn’t help but think of the Immortal Realm.

’Did Clarence’ painting create an independent space similar to the Immortal Realm? And who could that voice in my mind belong to just earlier?’

Reflecting on the ancient voice he’d heard, Chen Lun boldly guessed that this place might represent a replica of some historical period, preserved by Clarence using mythical power, which had become contaminated and undergone unknown changes...

The mentioned "God of Magic" likely referred to Mr. Jing Yao, given that Clarence was his Sub-God, fitting the description of "under his angels."

’As for the multiple historical layers... and the Deification Ritual that Clarence intended to stop...’

Chen Lun frowned tightly, feeling utterly confused.

He became quietly cautious, sensing he might be experiencing a highly secretive and incredibly dangerous history involving a past truth about the deities.

Stepping unevenly on the scorching sand, Chen Lun continued for about half an hour, not encountering a single soul or living creature in the sands... This place seemed devoid of life, with nothing but endless windblown sand, the blazing sun, and that solitary colossal stone pillar.

Seeing this, Chen Lun gradually grew bolder and tried to use Aerial Walk to fly forward; instantly, his speed increased dramatically. The stone pillar, initially always seeming distant, quickly enlarged in his view as he approached it at a visible speed.

A moment later.

He reached the foot of the gigantic stone pillar.

It was hard to measure from afar, but now up close, he realized it was excessively large... Chen Lun quickly estimated its radius to be more than a kilometer.

The pillar’s overall material was indeterminate, but its surface felt highly granular to the touch, colored dark yellow with evenly distributed spiral patterns wrapping around the body upwards to the clouds.

Chen Lun couldn’t help but be astounded by such a majestic and spectacular construction, certainly not man-made...

’But could Carmen be above this stone pillar?’

He looked around, finding nothing but boundless windblown sand.

Shaking his head, it seemed he had no other choice at the moment.

Chen Lun focused his mind and cast Aerial Walk to fly straight upward. His body defied physical laws, leaning at ninety degrees, stepping on the pillar as he walked, each step propelling him across dozens of meters through the sky like an arrow.

His figure seemed tiny against the vast pillar, but his movement was incredibly fast. Because of this, the oncoming wind-driven sand felt like tiny needles, slightly stinging his exposed skin.

Chen Lun’s face remained calm, unaffected by the sensation, and he even sped up his flight.

Bam!

His footsteps on the surface of the pillar made a loud noise.

The blast waved out like ripples on a lake after a stone is thrown, scattering the sands as Chen Lun used the recoil to rocket himself even higher. The pillar material was extraordinarily hard; even his forceful step caused no damage.

Soon, he reached a few hundred meters in the air, where the harsh windblown sand was less intense, but his Spiritual Intuition sent him a faint warning.

"Hmm?"

Chen Lun’s brows furrowed slightly as he noticed countless sand grains floating still around him, eerily motionless.

As he arrived, these sand grains began to drift on their own, gathering into sand streams and forming vague human shapes. frёewebηovel.cѳm

Whoo!

A gust of wind struck from behind his head.

Chen Lun, agile as a deep-sea shark, moved sideways through the air, dodging the attack. Not only this, but he also counterattacked with his staff, striking the enemy like a silver snake lashing out.

With a muffled thud and countless sand grains flying, Chen Lun finally saw clearly that his attacker was indeed one of those "sand-formed monsters," wielding a scythe and tremendously slender. The target he struck, half of its body reverted to floating sand grains but still didn’t die. The "wound" was even absorbing the surrounding sand grains to slowly regenerate.

He looked grim, using Peek Life to examine the details of these sand grain monsters, but only obtained the name "Contaminated Sand Grains" and some partial panel information.

’The description states that these sand grains are contaminated with mythology, possessing some form of activity... even embodying powers related to Earth and conspiracy.’

Thinking this, Chen Lun’s form flickered as he dodged the attacks of three more "sand people". Flinging several Spade cards, he collided with them, resulting in huge explosions.

Boom!

Chen Lun glanced down as his eyes narrowed.

The "sand people" hit by the Spade cards exploded into sand grains, scattering in all directions but swiftly regrouped with incredible speed, seemingly undying and immortal.

’These monsters aren’t very powerful, but eliminating them completely would probably require destroying all the floating sand, a waste of time and energy...’

As more and more sand grain monsters appeared in the high altitude, Chen Lun made up his mind and continued to fly upward without looking back.

To create enough distance, he used Instantaneous Movement several times consecutively, rapidly blinking a hundred meters at a time, finally shaking off the persistence of the sand grain monsters.

Not long after, he finally reached the top of the stone pillar.

It was as if a huge circular platform plaza stretched beneath his feet, the ground smooth and flat, resembling the cross-section left after a stone pillar had been cleaved by some mighty force.

In the distance, at the center of the platform, stood a dilapidated spire, which was exactly the scene Chen Lun had observed from outside the Mural World.

He had an intuition that Carmen was most likely inside!

Chen Lun remained vigilant and headed straight for the spire.

This platform was atop the stone pillars, situated very high in midair, so looking up might even give one the illusion that they could touch the dim and expansive heavens.

As he approached the spire, the warnings conveyed by his Spiritual Intuition became increasingly evident, as if telling him that some terrifying monster hid within the building.

Finally, Chen Lun stood before the spire, where the closed double stone doors were engraved with an esoteric pattern made of circles and complex triangles, which he could not quite understand. To be safe, however, he split off an arm and transformed it into a white python to push the doors open.

Creak... rumble...

As the stone doors slowly opened, a stale, musty air filled with dust from countless ages wafted out. Chen Lun could even see fleeting, distorted images in the dusty yellow air: a diminutive man confronting a vast figure in a yellow robe in the sky.

Whoosh.

The dust settled, and the images vanished.

Chen Lun’s solemnity reached an extreme.

’The yellow-robed figure that blots out the sun... could it be the same entity that once appeared over Cat Town Kazt? Who indeed is it?’

Covering his mouth and nose, he leaned on his Silver Staff, careful as he entered the spire.

The interior was somewhat dim. Chen Lun took out a kerosene lamp from the Blood Poem Ring and lit it for illumination. Looking around, the place seemed quite empty. Decorative hangings had long since decayed, turning into gray-black heaps in the corners. Only a seemingly stable stone staircase twisted upward.

He found no valuable clues on this level, so he ascended the staircase. As he delved deeper, Chen Lun increasingly felt that the inside of the spire bore a strong resemblance to Madame Fleurette’s Meteor Tower.

’Could it be that this spire once belonged to Clarence?’

Chen Lun speculated.

He felt that this possibility was very likely by piecing together various pieces of information.

The spire had twenty-two floors, but each level was utterly empty until Chen Lun reached the top...

"What is this...?"

Chen Lun raised an eyebrow in surprise.

The walls and ceiling here had vanished, as if open to the air, allowing a clear view of the dim heavens. Yet when he had looked at the spire from the outside earlier, it had been enclosed.

Chen Lun tentatively walked to the edge of the room and then reached out to touch something solid—it was an invisible wall.

’It must be some kind of magical means to hide the walls and ceiling to better observe the celestial bodies...’

He felt assured.

Turning around, in the center of the room, there was a large easel and a tower-like chair about three meters tall. Chen Lun could almost see a man sitting on it, from some long-ago time, gazing up at the heavens, quietly painting.

Approaching the gigantic easel, Chen Lun saw its depicted content.

His expression suddenly changed.

The canvas was filled with a wax-yellow base color, most likely representing the sky. From a viewing angle that looked upward, one could vaguely see an enormous figure in a yellow robe, seemingly standing right in front of the stone pillar and spire, His hood covering nothingness yet also seeming to loom over those outside the painting. A lifted corner of the yellow robe revealed twisted, profound, bizarre colors underneath, with His left hand clutching a tombstone bearing many names:

Gorswaxi...

Bankroth...

Audriscoll...

...

At first glance, there were no fewer than a dozen names, with some inscriptions blurred and indistinct, but Chen Lun inexplicably understood their deeper meaning:

’Profound Mother of the Black Sun, Death the Old Man of Buried Bones, the King of Giants, and a host of Sub-God level Angels... the names of these deities are all engraved on that tombstone, and this yellow-robed figure is the True God of the Earth, the Veil Rope Muddler!’

Boom!

Chen Lun’s mind reeled, and he felt the world spin around him. Had he not leaned on his Silver Staff for support, he might have already collapsed. However, fresh blood uncontrollably flowed from his nose and eyes.

’Clarence was intending to confront the Muddler...’

He was utterly shaken and hurriedly used the Sanity Points stored in the Maggie Statue to replenish himself. After a few minutes of adjustment, he managed to stand upright again.

Looking back at the canvas, his gaze shifted to one corner.

There, unmistakably, was a huddled, haggard, and skeletal elderly figure...

’Carmen.’

Chen Lun was certain in his heart.

’He is trapped within this painting...’