Zhou Huai looked up at Elder Mo.

"Since you are a master craftsman from the Seventh World, what about your claim that you want to prevent the Sea God from reviving?"

"Aren't you the original inhabitants of this ruin? Logically speaking, the sea god should be your faith."

Old Mo's deeply lined cheeks twitched twice.

He let out a long sigh.

He let out a long sigh.

"Belief?"

Old Mo gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. "That was nothing but a nightmare woven from lies."

He raised his cloudy eyes, looked at the gray sky, and spoke in a low voice.

"Once upon a time, I was also a blind man."

“I was once deceived by a trusted old friend. He told me that the rules of the Seventh World were collapsing and that I had to be the one to forge an artifact that could stabilize the world’s foundation.”

"In order to save that world, I exhausted my life's work and even drained my own magical energy to help it forge eight divine artifacts."

Old Mo's fingers trembled slightly as he gripped the edge of the flatboat tightly.

"But I never expected this..."

"That despicable scoundrel, that liar who keeps spouting 'for the sake of all humanity'!"

"He actually used the eight divine artifacts I forged to set up an earth-shattering array to nourish a greedy and bloodthirsty monster!"

Old Mo bit his lip until it bled, and blood dripped down his chin.

"That monster is the so-called sea god!"

"It's not a god at all! It's a malignant tumor that devours billions of lives!"

"By the time I discover the truth, it will be too late."

Mo Lao turned his head and looked at his wounded followers beside him, his eyes welling up with tears.

"We were unwilling to watch the world be destroyed, so we united and fought a deadly battle against that monster."

"But that monster was too strong. Our entire army was wiped out; we all perished in that battle."

"It can only be sealed with chains at the last moment."

Zhou Huai stood still and quickly grasped the key information.

"Eight divine artifacts".

Zhou Huai chewed on those four words, his Adam's apple bobbing.

In the modern world, the appearance of any divine artifact would be enough to trigger a global bloodbath.

Even he himself, with the Heaven-Suppressing Seal in his hand whose attributes were unfathomable, once displayed the terrifying power to easily suppress all beasts.

And this old man actually forged eight pieces in one go!

Zhou Huai lowered his voice and asked, "What level of equipment is this 'divine artifact' you're talking about?"

The burly man standing beside the flatboat raised his chin and took over the conversation.

"Is there even a need to ask?"

"The so-called equipment rating is already capped at SSS level. But the divine artifact forged by Elder Mo is a treasure that surpasses the system rating limit and truly touches the origin of the world's rules!"

"As long as one possesses a divine artifact, even an ordinary person can invoke the power of higher-dimensional laws!"

As the burly man finished speaking, he lowered his head and clenched his fists.

"Eight items in total..."

"Unfortunately, our world has long since been destroyed. Those eight divine artifacts were also stolen by that beast surnamed Duan long ago!"

"The one surnamed Duan."

Zhou Huai twitched the corner of his mouth.

Everything is inextricably linked to Mr. Duan.

In the Eighth World, Mr. Duan used the Water of Origin to revive powerful beings, and in the Seventh World, he deceived the Divine Craftsman into creating artifacts to nourish monsters.

Every move this old monster makes is extremely strategic.

As Zhou Huai looked at Elder Mo, a flash of inspiration struck him.

He recalled a thrilling battle he had experienced long ago at another ruin.

The mutated behemoth whose belly was tightly bound by dark chains.

That bizarre piece of equipment that almost caused him to capsize in the gutter.

Zhou Huai looked at Elder Mo and tentatively asked, "You just said that you forged eight divine artifacts."

"Then among these eight divine artifacts..."

Zhou Huai deliberately dragged out the last syllable, asking slowly and deliberately, "Is there something called... the pendulum of life?"

As soon as those words were spoken...

Old Master Mo, who had been looking dejected, suddenly shuddered.

His cloudy eyes widened as he stared intently at Zhou Huai in mid-air.

"How...how did you know?!"

Old Master Mo exclaimed in shock, "The Pendulum of Life was a divine artifact to which I poured the most effort! Ever since it was stolen by that Duan fellow, it has never appeared in the world again!"

"How could a young, working professional like you possibly know its name?!"

Old Mo opened his mouth wide, while Zhou Huai sorted out his thoughts.

"I see......"

Zhou Huai quickly pieced together all the fragmented clues into a complete network in his mind.

I see......"

Zhou Huai hovered in mid-air, piecing together the fragmented clues into a net, his eyelids slightly lowered.

All the pieces fit together perfectly.

He had always assumed that Mr. Duan's insane plan to destroy and reshape the world only began in the Eighth World. The truth, however, was far more profound and chilling than he had imagined.

Mr. Duan's scheme actually began in this Seventh World!

Hidden behind the scenes, the transcendent being exploited Elder Mo's compassion, tricking him into forging eight divine artifacts that touched the very essence of the world's rules. Subsequently, Mr. Duan placed these eight artifacts into eight different ruins, using them as the core of an array!

He used the extraordinary power of these artifacts to repeatedly revive the powerful figures of the past era from various ancient ruins throughout the long years.

The ultimate goal of all this is not to establish a new era or preserve the flame of civilization, but to use these resurrected powerful beings as nourishment, devouring the source of rules within them one by one, so as to continuously replenish their own high-dimensional godhood!

It was no accident that back in the Eighth World, the SSS-level powerhouses harbored resentment towards Mr. Duan and joined forces to rebel.

Zhou Huai sneered inwardly.

With Mr. Duan's deep mind, which plans every move carefully and manipulates everyone, how could he possibly tolerate his pawns going out of control?

All of this was absolutely intentional!

Mr. Duan intended to destroy the Eighth World from the very beginning, using the power of Heaven to eliminate all the rebels, thus creating the eight ruins distributed globally in the present world.

And this so-called "Sea God" sleeping in the seventh ruin, that terrifying monster that has gathered the essence of eight divine artifacts and been nourished for countless years, is very likely the most important and core target of absorption in Mr. Duan's grand scheme spanning eras!

Once Mr. Duan successfully devours this sea god, he will complete the final piece of the primordial puzzle...

Then the present world is truly doomed.

Zhou Huai cleared his thoughts. His face remained expressionless, his dark golden eyes undisturbed. He wasn't familiar with this group of remnants of the old era from the Seventh World, nor did he need to explain Mr. Duan's trump cards and the current crisis to them.

Having figured this out, Zhou Huai slightly turned his wrist, which was holding the Abyss Blood Dragon Spear, so that the tip of the spear pointed at Elder Mo on the flat boat below.

"Where exactly is that monster located now?"