Chapter 008: Battle Spear

As thoughts raced through his mind, Du Fan became even more curious about what lay hidden here. He took a slight breath and asked, “What should we do next?”
Chenchen replied, “What else can we do? We obviously have to go down. If I’m guessing correctly, the passage we entered has already been sealed. What other choice do we have but to keep going?”
With that, Chenchen leaped down immediately. She was quite bold—her jump landed her on a “step” made of books in midair.
The step shook for a moment before stopping. After stabilizing herself, Chenchen looked up and said, “Hurry up! If this passage disappears at any moment, then… you won’t even have a chance to regret it.”
Du Fan and Feray exchanged a glance, smiled bitterly, and said, “Let’s go… What’s there to see? Even if it’s a sea of knives and fire below, we still have to go down.”
Du Fan then walked down the steps. However, he didn’t have Chenchen’s boldness. He carefully found the first step of the spiral staircase above the circular bookshelves and quickly descended.
The spiral staircase, made of books, felt soft underfoot and unsteady at all. Not only were the steps far apart, but there were no handrails either. Walking here meant that even a small mistake could lead to disaster.
Du Fan walked with trepidation, but fortunately, he had already gotten used to this feeling of walking on the night sky during the previous journey, so he wasn’t too surprised.
After walking for a while, Du Fan finally caught up with Chenchen at the front. Feray, Tasia, and the others followed slowly behind.
Books kept falling around them. Du Fan looked up and noticed that Tasia, who was at the back, caused each step she left behind to lose its support, causing the books to float everywhere.
It truly was a path with no turning back!
As they continued walking, it was hard to tell how much time had passed. It seemed as though this endless path would never end. Frustrated, Du Fan couldn’t help but ask, “What place is this exactly?”
Chenchen turned to look at him and said calmly, “The Emerald Dream. Didn’t you already know that?”
Du Fan was stunned, almost unable to speak. After holding back for a moment, he couldn’t help but ask again, “Chenchen, I mean, where exactly are we going?”

Chenchen shook her head and said, “I don’t know either. All I know is that this situation has arisen entirely because of an unstable rotating star magic array. The effect of this magic array is to connect spaces. If I’m guessing correctly, the place we’re heading to next isn’t within this Emerald Dream. Dragon creatures like to play tricks, but they can’t create such ultimate methods on their own. I guess the Green Dragons must have made some kind of deal with someone else; otherwise, they wouldn’t have left that Ithela to guard outside and given her the role of ‘key.’ But anyway, none of this matters now. As long as we can obtain that Divine Origin, all these arrangements become meaningless.”

Du Fan let out a soft sigh. Although he had seen a lot, what Chenchen was talking about clearly belonged to a world he couldn’t comprehend at all. Knowing his limits, he stopped asking questions and simply closed his eyes.

There were no days or nights in the Emerald Dream, and people didn’t feel tired even when walking there. Only the bone-chilling cold made one feel a slight sense of dread.

In such an environment, no one knew how far they had walked. The endless spiral staircase seemed to lead to the deepest part of the Emerald Dream.

Finally, after a long time, a glimmer of light appeared in their sight, like a star seen in the dark universe. Their steps quickened involuntarily, and soon they reached the illuminated area.

It was a fairly small platform, with a fractured spatial rift right in the center. When Tasia stepped onto the platform, the rift suddenly emitted a dazzling light and, moments later, formed an oval-shaped passage.

The others were puzzled and didn’t know what to do for a while.

Chenchen walked up to the spatial passage, took a look, and suddenly smiled lightly. “We’ve finally arrived… But inside… Hmph… Never mind. Let’s go in and discuss it.”

With that, she slowly stepped inside.

Du Fan hurried in as well, followed by Tasia and Ferre, who was holding Nicholas. This time, the Green Dragon Ithela was last to enter.

Once everyone had entered the spatial passage, the space behind them trembled briefly before disappearing quickly.

What appeared before them was a dilapidated chapel. Two rows of prayer seats had long decayed, and the stained glass around it only revealed darkness. The cracked walls were covered in fissures, with only the small altar remaining relatively intact.

A palm-sized statue of an angel was placed at the center of the altar. The angel was kneeling slightly, with countless wings spread behind him. His hands were in a praying position, but at the palms there was a tiny, extremely sacred glow, as if it were this glow that maintained the purity of the entire altar, giving off a sense of immense warmth.

Where the deity statue should have been was now a semi-transparent war spear. One end of the spear had a strange cross shape, while the other end was connected to a silver chain, with a small hammer at the end, seemingly still stained with blood. The spear’s body was eerily transparent, as if blood was flowing within it, with a deep red hue constantly swirling without any sign of stopping.

The intricate patterns on the spear were classical and elegant, clearly carved by an art master from some ancient era. Although Du Fan wasn’t sure if that glow was the essence of a deity, he knew that even if this spear wasn’t a divine artifact, it was very close to one.

Suddenly, everyone felt their breathing quicken. After all the hardships, being able to obtain all this was somewhat comforting.

Du Fan wanted to step forward, but Chenchen waved her hand slightly. With a light touch of her fingertips, a beam of combat energy shot out and reached the spear’s body in moments, but the spear showed no significant reaction.

Chenchen’s face lit up with joy as she murmured, “The Pitfire Spear… It truly is the Pitfire Spear. I never thought such a spear actually existed in the world.”

Du Fan asked, “Is this spear valuable?”

Chenchen smiled faintly and said in a voice only Du Fan could hear, “Of course it’s valuable. Anyway, I’m taking this spear. As for what to do with the rest, it’s up to you. As for dealing with the others, that’s also your concern. I won’t get involved at all.”

With that, Chenchen waved her hand, and the Pitfire Spear flew directly into her hands. She fiddled with it for a while, clearly enamored with it. When she swung it, faint dark red lightning flashes appeared, highlighting its extraordinary nature.

After a while, Chenchen finally nodded in satisfaction. With a casual flick of her hand, the spear disappeared.

“Wait!”

Tasia, who had remained silent until then, suddenly said, “Miss, although you appeared out of nowhere earlier and saved our lives, bringing us to this place, you absolutely must not take this gun. All sacred objects in this world belong to the Holy Church. Though this weapon may be useful, carrying it brings even greater trouble. For your own good, I hope you leave it here and let us return it to the Holy Church.”

Chenchen stared at Tasia for a moment before suddenly laughing and saying, “Oh! If I can’t take this gun, then can you? There are two of you here—ask their opinions. If they think it should be given to you, shall I hand it over right away?”

Tasia glanced at Ferre. At this moment, Ferre truly understood the importance of playing dumb to the end. He kept his eyes fixed on his nose, as if asleep.

Tasia’s expression changed slightly, but she then looked at Du Fan.

Du Fan sighed softly and said, “Miss Tasia, even if this war gun is a divine artifact, we have no right to take it. Although Chenchen’s behavior is a bit overbearing, you know well that without her, we wouldn’t even be able to enter this place. Anyway, as long as we can bring back something to report, that’s enough. There are so many things in this sanctuary—why worry about just one war gun? Besides, if you try to force it from her, do you really think you have a chance of winning?”

Tasia could clearly see that Chenchen and Du Fan had a close relationship. If they really fought over these things, Du Fan would naturally side with Chenchen. It was already good enough that Ferre was willing to remain neutral.

Thinking of this, Tasia sighed slightly and immediately gave up the idea of taking back the war gun.

Seeing her expression, Du Fan realized that Tasia was at least sensible enough to know when to back down. He didn’t want to waste any more time on this matter. He stepped back a few steps, signaling to Ferre to keep an eye on Tasia, then slowly walked toward the angel statue.

Standing in front of the altar, he gazed at that source of divine power that could make countless people risk their lives, and sighed softly, “Chenchen, what should I do?”