Chapter 60: The Ascendant Steps! Where on earth did you bring me?!

Snap! Zhou Quan heard the sound of a mirror shattering.

A plastic bag drifted through the air, and everything around them instantly regained its vividness.

The Evil God had departed.

Qin Xue and Fu Qingshan had been resurrected, but they were unconscious and would not wake up for some time.

"From today on, I am your older sister. Whoever bullies you, Sister will settle the score for you!" Zhai Qingwu's voice came from nearby.

Zhai Qingwu hugged Li Muchi, smiling as she said, "You are still small now, so Sister will protect you. When you grow up, you must protect Sister too, okay?"

Her voice was full of bewitching charm, resembling the wicked grandmother in the tale trying to trick Little Red Riding Hood.

Li Muchi looked hesitant. He raised his head to look at Zhou Quan and whispered, "I listen to the God. Whomever the God tells me to protect, I will protect."

"Ahem!" Zhou Quan coughed lightly.

Zhai Qingwu raised her head and rolled her eyes at Zhou Quan from an angle where Li Muchi could not see.

Zhou Quan shrugged and withdrew his gaze.

He turned around, his heart filled with apprehension as he walked toward the brilliant golden light.

Within the radiance, the cold wind of the wintry night quietly dissipated, and Zhou Quan suddenly felt a wave of warmth.

He looked closely.

Right at the center of the light, a dazzling golden palm was floating.

Was this the divine remains?

He was somewhat surprised, as he had expected to see a complete corpse.

He could not help feeling a bit worried.

With only a single palm, would the healing effect for his younger sister be compromised?

"Aserouusaskuli..."

A low voice echoed in the air.

The voice was solemn and dignified, resembling a gentle spring breeze that easily smoothed away the inner agitation in Zhou Quan's heart.

In an instant, Zhou Quan had the illusion of being free from all desires and cravings.

Perhaps he should just leave the divine remains right here...

Yet, in the very next moment, this feeling of desirelessness mutated into a fierce and primitive greed.

Zhou Quan could hardly control himself.

He stared fixedly at the golden palm before him, his mouth hanging open unconsciously, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets in a ludicrous expression.

My precious! Mine!

But the next second, he was free from desire once more.

Perhaps he should just leave the divine remains right here...

Two completely opposing sensations tugged back and forth within Zhou Quan. His head felt as though it were splitting apart, as if tens of thousands of drills were operating on his skull simultaneously.

He was forced to stop in his tracks.

Zhou Quan's face turned pale; merely standing at the edge of the light gave him the terrifying illusion that his head was about to explode...

No, it was not an illusion!

If he took even one more step forward, his head really would blow apart!

Even in death, and even reduced to nothing more than a single palm, a god was not something mortals could easily approach.

"Let's speak Chinese!"

Swish—

All at once, the heart-stirring sensation vanished.

Zhou Quan felt an immense sense of relief, much like a fish baked under the scorching sun that struggled and flopped back into the water.

The source of the pain was the low voice lingering nearby—the voice of a god, which inherently possessed a terrifying power.

"It seems you don't speak Chinese."

Zhou Quan managed a faint smile.

He had to admit that the innate abilities he had obtained from the Evil God were all remarkably potent.

Straightening his back, Zhou Quan walked with brisk steps toward the golden palm.

As he drew closer, he noticed more details.

This was a right palm.

Let's call it the Right Hand of God.

There were numerous coarse and fine lines winding across the Right Hand of God, forming countless intricate symbols.

Zhou Quan stared intently at one of the symbols.

At the end of the symbol, tiny branches formed new symbols, and at the end of those new symbols, even finer branches formed yet other symbols, as if going on into infinity...

One would probably need the most advanced microscope to even have a chance of seeing the end of these symbols.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Zhou Quan's face.

He had seen a similar structure on the giant doors within the underground cavern—large rings enclosing smaller rings, forever containing smaller ones still, making it impossible to discern the smallest of them all.

This infinitely extending structure seemed to be the emblem of deities.

Zhou Quan spotted a ring worn on the pinky finger. Its material was indistinguishable, but it emitted a silver luster that was deeply eye-catching.

Without any warning, a voice sounded right beside his ear, very close, just like someone breathing directly into his ear.

"Giving..."

"The final... gift..."

"Don't go..."

The voice was intermittent, and the meaning of the words was fragmented and hard to discern.

Zhou Quan was startled.

He hurriedly turned his head, but saw no one speaking.

At that moment, the surrounding light contracted inward, eventually gathering entirely within the interior of the Right Hand of God.

The patterns on the Right Hand of God glowed brilliantly, resembling a specially crafted lamp.

Swish—

The force supporting its levitation vanished.

It slowly descended and finally came to rest gently upon the ground. Aside from continuing to emit light, it showed no other special features.

"Can I touch it directly?" Zhou Quan called out.

Zhai Qingwu replied, "I'm not sure, but historical records state that divine remains are completely harmless. Even if you perform destructive research on them, it doesn't matter."

She paused for a moment before continuing to explain, "Divine remains are not actually the corpses of gods, but rather the paths they walked—the tangible crystallization of knowledge and heritage."

"Limbs, books, weapons... they can take any form, which is why divine remains are also called the Stairway to Divinity."

At this point, she added, "The true corpses of gods are located where they perished."

"I see." Zhou Quan nodded.

He looked down at the Right Hand of God on the ground.

So this was not the right hand of a god, but the Stairway to Divinity manifested in this form.

But what about the ring, and what did the voice he had just heard mean?

Zhou Quan pressed his lips together.

He squatted down, first poking the Right Hand of God with a twig. Finding no unexpected changes, he took off his jacket and wrapped the Right Hand of God up.

Carrying the bundle, Zhou Quan walked back.

"Done?" Zhai Qingwu asked, a trace of frustration on her face.

While Zhou Quan was retrieving the divine remains, she had spent quite a while coaxing Li Muchi, but had still failed to get the boy to sweetly call her older sister.

"Both Ulens and Red Hat had transcendental conduits, right? Can they be salvaged?"

Zhou Quan looked at Ulens's tower-like physique, a trace of envy flashing in his eyes.

If I had a powerful transcendental conduit, this battle wouldn't have been so tortuous.

Zhai Qingwu shook her head, a look of regret crossing her face.

"Red Hat's blood was a transcendental conduit, but it has already dried up and deteriorated."

"Ulens's transcendental conduit was his head, which was blown off by you to who knows where."

"Neither of them can be salvaged."

Zhai Qingwu paused for a moment and asked curiously, "By the way, where on earth did you send Ulens's head?"

Hearing this question, Zhou Quan raised his head.

Ever since he put away the divine remains, the darkness enveloping Suian City had dissipated, revealing the bright moon in the sky.

Zhai Qingwu followed Zhou Quan's gaze upward.

After a long moment, as if realizing something, her eyes widened abruptly.

...

In a crater lay a pale, bleached skull. It bit down on a blue-glowing arrow shaft, vibrating incessantly against the ground.

After a while, green, ghostly flames flickered within its eye sockets.

Spit!

It spat the arrow out of its mouth, then drifted up into the air.

Looking around, the grayish-white soil stretched out as far as the eye could see, dotted with impact craters of all sizes.

The air was dead silent.

It forcefully opened and closed its jaw, yet no sound came out.

Where the hell did they send me?

Ulens raised his head, gazing at the gigantic celestial body in the distance, and fell deep into thought.