The Empire.
The Imperial Palace.
The busy day had ended.
In the quiet night, there were not many people arranged to guard the palace.
At this time, the Emperor usually went to bed.
But today, he was still sitting on that supreme throne. He opened his mouth and said, "Where are the secret guards?"
Two figures silently appeared at the bottom of the stairs and knelt down on one knee, "Your Majesty."
The Emperor said, "There are two tasks now. Carry out one of them and remember the other one."
"First, from now on, immediately increase the number of secret guards. According to the list recommended by the Sequence, focus on selecting people with clean identities and strong abilities to join. They will listen to my orders directly."
"Second, secretly kill all the people who explore the ruins of the Ceylon Kingdom. As for who they are, I don't care, but I believe you will find out soon."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The two figures quietly disappeared.
…
At the edge of the cliff.
A figure quietly appeared.
Liu Ping.
He shook off the snow on his body and quickly moved down the edge of the cliff.
The wind and snow were everywhere.
Soon, the traces he left behind were completely covered.
On the rocky cliff, there were always some places suitable for climbing. The only problem was that these places were often slippery.
Liu Ping was now only a level 3 knight, so he naturally climbed carefully.
After a while, he became impatient.
He let go of his hand, and with a leap, he plunged downwards at a high speed.
When he was about to reach the bottom of the cliff, he called softly, "Zhao Chanyi."
A cat-eared woman appeared from the void and hugged him by the waist. She slowly removed the force of his fall and gently placed him on the ice.
He didn't know how far he was from the top of the cliff. Looking up from below, the cliff was like floating clouds in the sky.
The wind and snow seemed to have been isolated.
It was silent all around.
Liu Ping squatted down and gently knocked on the ice, making a crisp sound.
"This ice is really hard. It actually sealed a complete world. I guess this is definitely not ordinary ice." Zhao Chanyi said with interest.
"Of course not. Pure ice can't do this." Liu Ping said.
"The monster said that there was a Sequence here before it left. Can we believe that?"
"I don't know. Let's use it as a reference first."
Just as Liu Ping finished speaking, something strange happened.
Lines of burning text appeared in the void of space:
[Attention, this Sequence has sensed the aura of a fellow Sequence.]
[If you want to unravel the mystery of this place, you must head towards the southwest. There is a certain truth that you must witness with your own eyes!]
Liu Ping's expression changed as he drew a card from the void of space and tossed it out.
Bang!
The Card turned into a war horse.
He leaped onto his horse and galloped towards the southwest.
Zhao Chanyi flew in the air and circled around the warhorse. She suddenly flew to his ear and said, "When we were running for our lives, you were riding on me. Why did you change horses now?"
"That's because I was running for my life. I had no choice but to do so. The situation now is not urgent. Besides, I have a mount. How can I trouble you all the time?" Liu Ping said.
He thought for a moment, then took out a basket of fresh fish and handed it to her.
"Here, I bought it at the market. It is said that it is a fish unique to the Ice River. It tastes very delicious. Eat some first and take a rest."
Zhao Chanyi listened carefully and then looked at the basket of fresh fish in front of her. Her eyes gradually curved into a crescent moon.
She took the basket with a smile and snorted. "Liu Ping, you've improved."
Bang!
She turned into a Card, and circled around Liu Ping twice before landing in his arms.
Liu Ping put the Card away and shook the reins.
"Hyah!"
He shouted.
The warhorse sped up, galloping on the ice like the wind.
About 15 minutes later.
The warhorse slowly stopped and was put away by Liu Ping again.
He looked at the icy cliff in front of him and spoke: "I've reached the end of the road."
Silence.
There was no response.
The [Sequence] didn't give him any hints either.
Liu Ping thought for a bit, then casually took out a heavy Warhammer and dragged it in front of the cliff. Using all his strength, he raised the Warhammer up high and smashed it at the icy cliff — — -
Dong!
A heavy sound of impact.
The accumulated snow on the cliff started to fall down, turning into an avalanche that swallowed Liu Ping whole.
A while later.
Liu Ping crawled out from the snow and looked forward.
After all the snow on the cliff was shaken off, its true appearance was revealed.
Countless people were sealed within the transparent blue ice crystals.
A man with a crown on his head, surrounded by a group of people, appeared to be running away with all his might.
He was holding a Card in his hand, reaching it towards Liu Ping. Everyone's eyes were focused on this Card.
Just one more step.
Just one more step and the man with the crown would have broken through the ice seal and arrived in front of Liu Ping.
How regretful.
That one step was like heaven and earth.
Both him and the Card in his hand had been completely sealed away by the ice.
Liu Ping sighed and looked at the man with the crown. From the look of despair on his face, he could almost feel the terrible fate of this entire human world.
— — -Not a single person managed to escape from the ice.
"What exactly …"
Liu Ping's gaze slowly moved towards the Card.
There was a black key drawn on the card.
— — -A blank Card with only a single black key.
What does that mean?
Suddenly, lines of burning text appeared in front of Liu Ping's eyes:
[Special reminder!]
[You've seen an ownerless incomplete Sequence, it hibernates in the Eternal Night like a dead life]
[Its first Card is right in front of your eyes. Based on this Card, we can deduce the name of its previous Sequence:]
[The Land of Exile]
[We've discovered a new Sequence, given this situation — —]
[This Sequence is about to issue an official Mission for the first time]
[You've entered the Sequence Mission:]
[Secret fusion]
[Take that Card, enter the incomplete 'Land of Exile', secretly collect every Card of this Sequence and return them to this Sequence]
[If you complete this Mission, this Sequence will evolve]
[This is a great opportunity for you to increase your strength, as well as this Sequence's secret path to survival in the Eternal Night]
[Begin!]
In an instant, the Key Card that was sealed in ice gave off a gentle glow.
Crack crack — —
The ice shattered as the Card left the corpse's hand, gently flew up and landed in front of Liu Ping.
"Seems like this is the secret of the Ceylon Kingdom …"
Liu Ping muttered.
He reached his hand out and grabbed the Card with the black key drawn on it.
A line of text popped out:
[Attention!]
[Space-Time has changed]
[You're entering an era that belongs to the Ceylon Kingdom!]
[Everything starts from here, please proceed with caution]
The scenery around him rapidly changed.
The snow, ice, and cliffs all disappeared.
Liu Ping stayed in the white light for a few moments, until the blinding white light gradually faded away, only then did he see everything around him again.
A church.
A black church was surrounded by raging flames, many panicked voices could be heard from inside:
"The door is locked!"
"Open the door, quickly think of a way to open the door!"
"Break it open!"
"No, this is a secret door, you must use the key."
"Fire!"
"Fire! "
"Help!"
Liu Ping stood outside the church in a daze, looking up at the top of the church.
At the top of the church, there was a metal statue, using a wide dark cloak to hide the figure of the Deity, only revealing a skeletal arm, holding a small scale.
— — -That Evil God!
In the history of the Ceylon Kingdom, it once controlled this place!
Liu Ping's heart was suddenly enlightened.
No wonder It did not allow people to investigate the history, all of this made sense now.
A line of small burning words quickly appeared:
[Open the door to save people, or let the first batch of believers of the Evil God be burned to death, you need to choose between these two, the beginning of your destiny.]
[According to your choice, you will join different forces and explore the future from different destinies.]
Liu Ping looked at the black key in his hand and said in realization, "So this is how it is used."
Then, how should he choose?
Let them be burned to death, and the Kingdom would gain more time to breathe.
If he saved them, would he infiltrate them?
No …
The Deity would never accept a false believer.
— — How should he choose?
Liu Ping stood still and fell into deep thought.
Time passed slowly.
He seemed to think for a long time.
Until the fire in the church grew bigger and the cries for help became weaker, he slapped his head hard.
"It's about time … There must be many people in there who are 'seriously injured' and need me to save them."
Liu Ping murmured, casually placing the Holy Knight's 'Divine Halo' on his head and straightening it.
He took a deep breath and said loudly, "Everyone, don't be afraid, in the name of justice and mercy, I'm here to save everyone!"
He inserted the key into the big iron door and twisted the lock forcefully.