Chapter 4344: The Farse

Going back a few hours to the past, back at the Sacred Relic, Rean stared at the scattered remains of the puppet he had intentionally left alone earlier due to Tobao’s request. Only a minute before, while no one was paying attention to him, the puppet had suddenly erupted with violent Godly Energy.

It didn’t attempt to flee.

Nor did it attack anyone nearby.

Instead, it simply exploded.

Without a doubt, it was the most efficient method possible to cause large-scale destruction in the shortest amount of time. The tremendous amount of energy accumulated inside the puppet’s body had clearly been prepared beforehand for exactly this moment. The resulting explosion devastated the ancient runes surrounding the area where the puppet had been working.

As soon as the explosion occurred, the Sacred Relic immediately stopped functioning.

And with that, the Sacred Relic’s influence vanished completely.

The entirety of Besgol Region instantly lost its protection.

Naturally, the surrounding Array Masters immediately panicked.

"There was another puppet!"

"What are we supposed to do now?!"

"What else? Hurry! We need to repair the runes immediately!"

"Repair them how?! We don’t even possess methods to recreate those ancient runes!"

"And even if we did, the destruction is far too severe..."

However, before the chaotic shouting could continue, something unexpected happened.

Earlier, the puppet had been working in a relatively isolated section of the chamber. Because of that, while the explosion injured several nearby Array Masters, it thankfully didn’t kill anyone.

Yet the truly shocking part came afterward.

As the violent Godly Energy slowly dissipated, the destroyed section of the chamber suddenly began to change.

"...What?"

The shattered runes started restoring themselves at an astonishing speed. Broken sections rapidly reconnected while cracks disappeared as if time itself had reversed. In only a few moments, the entire area had returned to normal.

Not a single trace of destruction remained.

All runes were once again in their respective places.

"How is that possible?!"

"It repaired itself..."

Yet it was exactly then that Rean slowly shook his head.

"You’re wrong," he said. "The runes didn’t repair themselves. They were never truly destroyed to begin with."

Everyone turned toward him.

Rean approached the ancient wall where the runes had previously been located and lightly touched its surface. The more he felt the material beneath his fingers, the more impressed he became.

"What you saw destroyed were only the outer structures," Rean explained. "The actual runes had already sunk inside the walls before the explosion reached them."

The surrounding Array Masters quickly approached to examine the area more closely themselves. After several moments of careful observation, they eventually reached the same conclusion. However, they only managed to understand that because they knew what they were looking for. Before this event, none of them knew about it.

"Incredible..." one of the Array Masters muttered.

Jean, one of the senior Array Masters present, looked especially stunned. "I... I didn’t even know the Sacred Relic possessed such a feature," he admitted.

Rean himself was equally surprised.

Until the runes emerged again, he genuinely hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the walls where the array runes were carved. The concealment ability was simply too advanced.

A faint smile appeared on his face afterward. ’That monk really is sly...’

Rean no longer had any doubts. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Tobao absolutely knew the Sacred Relic possessed such a self-protection mechanism from the very beginning. Thinking about it carefully, though, it actually made perfect sense. The Sacred Relic protected an entire region and contained incomparably advanced arrays. If Rean himself had created something this valuable and important, he definitely would’ve prepared emergency measures in case someone attempted to destroy it.

"The arrays inside the Sacred Relic probably possess some automatic defense mechanism," Rean commented aloud. "The moment they detect destructive power approaching, they retreat into the walls to protect themselves."

At that moment, Celis approached Rean. Seeing that Rean still had his Crystal Void Sword in hand, he spoke through their soul connection. ’In the end, you didn’t even need to attack.’

Rean shrugged before putting the Crystal Void Sword away.

’I wasn’t expecting the puppet to self-destruct,’ he replied. ’I thought he would directly attack the runes instead. The plan was for me to kill him immediately after the first strikes landed.’

That was indeed the truth.

Before leaving, Tobao had specifically asked Rean and Celis to intervene on his behalf if the remaining puppet made a move. According to Tobao, the puppet would definitely attempt to damage the Sacred Relic’s runes in order to shut down the relic itself.

However, Tobao had also been extremely emphatic about one thing.

Rean had to let the puppet succeed initially.

Only after the first attacks landed could he interfere.

Even Rean misunderstood Tobao’s intentions at first. He originally assumed Tobao possessed replacement runes capable of repairing whatever damage the puppet caused.

But now the truth was obvious.

The Sacred Relic itself possessed an automatic protection system.

Tobao’s real objective had been to make whoever controlled the puppet believe the attack succeeded in deactivating the Sacred Relic.

"Wait..." another Array Master named Glaguy suddenly pointed out nervously. "T-The Sacred Relic’s power still hasn’t returned yet."

The surrounding Array Masters immediately tensed up again.

Could it be that the puppet truly succeeded in disabling the Sacred Relic after all?

*Kzzzt...*

*Zush...*

*Zush...*

Before anyone could properly investigate the issue, several figures suddenly rushed into the Sacred Relic’s central chamber.

They were members of the Godly Subjugation Guild.

However, these weren’t ordinary guild members. The robes they wore immediately revealed their identities.

"Monks of the Zanmzan Monastery..." Rean quietly murmured.

Tobao himself was a monk and also the spiritual leader of the monastery. The cultivators arriving now were clearly his direct subordinates.

And they were strong.

Very strong.

Most of them were Aura Gods, while several among them were even Zone Gods!

The moment they entered the chamber, they immediately spread out and surrounded all the Array Masters present.

Then, one elderly monk stepped forward calmly.

"Amitabha... Amitabha..." he softly chanted while placing his palms together. "Forgive us for interrupting your work, friends from the Arrays Guild. This humble monk is called Trombe."

He then continued.

"At the request of senior brother Tobao, we have been ordered to gather all of you here and prevent anyone from interfering with the Sacred Relic any further."

The Array Masters were stunned.

Glaguy instantly protested.

"You can’t stop us now!" he shouted. "The Sacred Relic isn’t functioning anymore!"

"Unfortunately," Trombe calmly replied, "there is little we can do about that."

At the same time, his Zone God pressure spread throughout the chamber.

"Our task is simply to ensure no one interferes anymore," Trombe continued peacefully. "Please understand our position. If anyone attempts to force the matter, we will have no choice but to neutralize them."

The atmosphere in the chamber instantly became tense.

And just like that, the Sacred Relic remained inactive.

The Array Masters were given absolutely no opportunity to inspect or repair whatever issue supposedly remained.

Meanwhile, Rean and Celis simply stood quietly to the side, not appearing particularly concerned.

A moment later, the two suddenly received a Celestial Sense message.

’Friends,’ one of the monks transmitted respectfully. ’Senior brother Tobao said you are free to leave if you wish. However, he hopes you might remain here temporarily in case your assistance becomes necessary later.’

Rean and Celis exchanged glances before lightly nodding.

Neither of them minded staying.

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