Chapter 19 The Heretic’s Bargain
Nightshade Ashnar walked out wearing casual clothes. The hut had produced these extra clothes according to Lan Chi's requirements.
After washing up, Ashnar looked like a different person. His matted, ear-length short hair had returned to its original dark brown, now smoothly falling against his ears. His face, with its sharp features and slightly pale complexion, was now visible—the high nose bridge and deep-set eye sockets bore typical characteristics of northern nobility. However, those dark brown eyes held too many things, appearing extraordinarily deep and quiet. Though his figure remained thin, his straight spine and slightly raised chin subtly revealed the pride and resilience of fallen nobility.
He pulled out a chair and sat down across from Lan Chi.
"A talk?" Lan Chi asked.
"Alright." Nightshade Ashnar nodded. He also wanted to understand his current situation. "My name is Nightshade Ashnar. Alchemist, Tier 3. But my strength hasn't recovered yet—I'm currently at early Tier 2."
Lan Chi and the hut exchanged glances. This guy was quite sensible. "Cough. I'm Lan Chi. This is Little Hut." Lan Chi pointed at the large eyeball. "The entire house is the hut's original form. If you need anything, you can directly ask Little Hut."
He then pointed at the two tool monsters waking up in the corner. "These two are Little Axe and Little Pickaxe. There are also five scorpion-tailed bees outside."
After finishing the introductions, Lan Chi paused, his gaze sweeping over Nightshade from head to toe. He asked directly: "What are your plans?"
Nightshade Ashnar swept his gaze across everyone in the room and said, "I want to know what's happening now. You resurrected me, didn't you? I can feel a force in my body connecting me to you. It's this force that allows me to live. I'm very curious about what kind of force this is."
Lan Chi thought for a moment and replied, "Little Hut, open the map. We're in the trial ground now."
He pointed to a boundary line on the map. "We're currently at the border between the Elves and the Bloodstained Inquisition. Our goal is to enter the Elves' external market and, through there, escape the battle on both sides."
Nightshade looked at the map and nodded. "The Elves and the Bloodstained Cult—those two will definitely fight to the death if they're together. You really should leave."
Lan Chi and the hut exchanged glances, communicating mentally: "Looks like he knows quite a bit."
"More than both of us combined. Should we ask him to share more?" the hut replied.
"You two can ask directly. No need to communicate through thought," Nightshade interjected.
"Cough." Lan Chi coughed. "We don't know much about this place. We didn't enter this trial ground voluntarily. Can you introduce it?"
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Nightshade was somewhat surprised. The Gods' Trial Ground wasn't somewhere anyone could just enter. "This is the Gods' Trial Ground. This world is one marked by the deities, specifically used for their followers or the races that serve them. Those who can enter here are all the young elites from various races. This world has abundant resources, all used to train newcomers."
He glanced at the man and the hut listening attentively and continued: "This isn't the main world. It's a dimensional world. It's usually inhabited by intelligent races that don't worship deities, or worlds ruled by foreign gods. To leave here, you either wait for the trial to end when the various factions' dimensional passages open, or you get a teleportation scroll and leave."
"This is troublesome." Lan Chi's head suddenly hurt. Neither option seemed easy. He was afraid of using the various factions' teleportation arrays, worried they might investigate his identity. Teleportation scrolls sounded like high-level goods. He didn't know if that unscrupulous merchant had any for sale. That guy had now blocked him. Unscrupulous merchants were easy to find, but ones who dared to sell anything were harder to come by.
Hearing Lan Chi's words, Nightshade was curious about what trouble they had encountered. He asked, "What's your situation?"
"How should I put this." Lan Chi was reluctant to say. After all, the fewer people who knew about the abomination matter, the better. He was silent for a few seconds, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table. This guy was resurrected by him and should be like the hut—his life bound to Lan Chi's. He took a deep breath, looked up, and met Nightshade's eyes directly: "Let's put it this way—I'm an abomination. Do you know what an abomination is?"
Nightshade's eyes widened as he stared at Lan Chi. There was nothing special about this young man. He couldn't even sense any special power. He never expected this to be the legendary abomination? "Are you sure? Do you have the light screen that only trial participants can use?"
"Ah, yes." Lan Chi replied very casually. "Also, resurrecting you is my ability."
Nightshade's pupils suddenly contracted. His body tensed almost imperceptibly for a moment. He looked Lan Chi up and down, his gaze like a scalpel, trying to scrape out the legendary terror from this seemingly ordinary body. After a long moment, he said quietly: "Altering divine power, resurrection, creating heretics. No wonder... all factions hunt abominations and then sacrifice them. So that's it... special."
Before Lan Chi could ask, he continued: "I've seen abominations executed before, abominations sacrificed... but none were like you. You can erase other gods' divine power. No, that's not right—it's not erasing. Your ability is very similar to the bestowals of those deities. It seems the so-called abominations I saw before weren't real abominations. I can feel that my life is bound to yours. If you die, I'll die too."
"Heh, so what are your plans?" Lan Chi looked at him with a half-smile. He really hoped Nightshade would willingly help. If not... he was also prepared to "handle" unstable factors.
Nightshade looked at him, slowly closing his eyes as if seeing that face again in the endless darkness—the enemy who had pushed him into the alchemical furnace, stripping his life and dignity inch by inch. He took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, only an icy stillness remained at the bottom. His voice was low but clear: "Don't worry. I'll follow you. After all, I've died once. Having been resurrected, I don't want to die a second time."
Hearing this, Lan Chi raised an eyebrow. His smile became much more sincere. Nightshade continued: "But I have one condition. I want revenge. I hope you won't stop me. When I seek revenge in the future, I'll go alone and won't involve you."
Lan Chi nodded. Thinking that this guy had been a puppet just a few hours ago, he found him rather pitiful. "Alright, I have no objection to that."
He extended his hand. "Then, welcome aboard, Nightshade Ashnar. From now on, we're companions."
Nightshade looked at that hand, paused for a moment, then reached out and shook it. His palm was cold, but firm. "Pleasure working together."
"Good." Lan Chi pointed at the map on the wall. "Now, let's talk about our next plan. See if you can help us with some advice?"
