Chapter 49

Once Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang decided on their next tourist destination, they were ready to depart immediately.

Taylor joked, half-complaining, “You’re not even going to see us off on our journey?”

Xia Xifeng replied, “It just occurred to me: once Qin Lang and I get a bit stronger, we can just come find you guys in the Divine Domain to hang out. This isn’t a final farewell. We’ll see each other again very soon.”

Taylor hadn’t expected that answer.

By all conventional wisdom, once he entered the Divine Domain, his connection to the mortal plane would be severed.

While it was true that he might reunite with mortal friends during future campaigns, he sincerely hoped that those friends would never encounter the kind of danger that would necessitate such a meeting.

Coming to the Divine Domain just to… hang out, huh?

Taylor’s smile bloomed brilliantly. “Alright. I’ll be waiting for you.”

With absolute confidence, Xia Xifeng declared, “Don’t worry. It won’t take long at all.”

Leo cut in, “You should hope it takes long. Every single time you and Qin Lang have spiked in strength in a short period, it’s been because you faced an Evil God’s scheme head-on.”

Taylor and Eigg—who now knew full well that Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had just foiled the Blood Moon’s plot for the second time—exchanged a look with Leo and Perila that was half speechless, half filled with lingering dread.

“Then I sincerely hope I have to wait a very long time,” Taylor said. “Please, stay safe.”

Shrugging helplessly, Xia Xifeng said, “That’s not up to me or Qin Lang. Go tell your god to work a little harder, and then we wouldn’t be so busy. Confronting gods should be the gods’ job anyway. And He still has the nerve to be mad at us? Shouldn’t He be the one feeling ashamed? When Qin Lang and I make it to His Divine Domain, He should be thanking us and apologizing to us! And He wants to burn our hair off?! What kind of ungrateful, scummy, trash god?!”

Taylor knew perfectly well he shouldn’t laugh right now, but he couldn’t help it.

Even Eigg was struggling mightily to hold back his laughter.

After spending just a few more days with Xia Xifeng, his reverence for the divine was practically nonexistent.

Though, of course, it didn’t help that Hope’s Sun was using Leo as a daily megaphone.

Gods, please, stay far away from mortals. Only distance creates “mystery.” Get too close, and they stop looking like gods.

Hope’s Sun immediately joined the conversation through Leo, as usual.

One thing at a time: both thanks and an apology would certainly be given. But Xia Xifeng’s transgressions against Him? Those were a grudge now. And that grudge would be settled.

He was definitely going to beat Xia Xifeng up one day.

Xia Xifeng made obnoxious faces at the sky.

By the time I get to Your Divine Domain, we’ll see who beats up who! Nyah-nyah-nyah!

Leo rubbed his own smooth, gleaming scalp.

Sure, he still looked plenty handsome bald. But he was starting to seriously worry that he’d never be allowed to grow a full, flowing head of golden hair ever again.

Blackstone Town had now transformed completely into the Holy City of the Silver Moon. From now on, they’d never have to worry about economic transition plans again.

The Blackstone Town Mayor was utterly petrified.

Could she really handle being the lord of a Holy City? Just her, alone?

A Holy City’s lord should at least be Legendary Class, right?

Leo comforted her.

A Holy City’s “Lord” was merely an administrator, not a sovereign ruler. As long as she could manage the city’s civilian population well, that was enough. For now, Silver Moon Holy City was not open to external immigration; its primary population was, and would remain, the original residents of Blackstone Town. So naturally, the Blackstone Town Mayor was the most appropriate person to take on this role.

Susan, too, no longer needed to agonize over whether or not to become a warrior. She spent every day alongside her mother, cramming data on city management in a frantic effort to catch up. It was so grueling, in fact, that sneaking away to practice her swordsmanship had somehow become her primary method of relaxation.

Susan had also fallen deeply in love with crafting potions.

So many seemingly mundane ingredients, passing through her hands, could be transformed into brilliantly, beautifully colored elixirs. It was utterly mesmerizing.

And as it turned out, she possessed a true talent for potion-making.

Eigg’s affection for this descendant of his sister only grew deeper. Because his sister—though skilled in so many things, like forging—had loved potion-making most of all.

Eigg’s sister had not been cursed.

This was, on the whole, a fortunate thing. But it also meant they could never meet again. Watching his sister’s descendant, feeling his sister’s memory through her, was the only thing Eigg could do to quiet the ache of missing her.

What else was he supposed to do? Reminisce with Taylor? He’d rather just kill Taylor again.

No matter what schemes the Church of the Silver Moon headquarters was plotting behind closed doors, construction on Silver Moon Holy City proceeded steadily and without a hitch.

The Three Great Nations, naturally constrained by political considerations, had not yet “officially recognized” the Holy City. Only the Free Alliance had promptly dispatched an envoy bearing congratulations.

But this had zero impact on the actual building of Silver Moon Holy City.

The Church of the Silver Moon headquarters dared to defy the god Itself, so there must be a “true God of the Silver Moon” whose authority they recognized.

Once the Twin Suns finished annihilating the Blood Moon, everything would snap back into its proper place.

The people of the Dream World were about to learn a harsh lesson: this time, there would be no politics, no maneuvering for advantage. This time… it was purely, simply, a war of survival. Kill or be killed.

Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had only ever intended to serve as the catalyst. When Amuruo arrived—on behalf of the Free Alliance—to formally congratulate the Silver Moon’s establishment of a Holy City, the two of them quietly slipped away from the small town that was about to become a storm of complications.

They’d planned to leave even earlier, but Amuruo had asked them to wait a few extra days. Suer had something to deliver.

No sooner had the two little dragon hatchlings left the nest than they’d collided with an Outer God yet again. And this time, it had been “real damage,” not just an excursion to a parallel world. Suer was beside himself with worry.

If it weren’t for the fact that, as a Prophet already snared by Fate, Suer was best advised not to move rashly… he would have come personally, sprinting the entire way, just to check every inch of Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang’s bodies for harm.

When a Prophet is captured by Fate, they also become “visible” to the Outer Gods—those alien “Creator Gods.” As long as Suer remained in Green Sand City, the gaze of whatever Outer God had detected his status as a Prophet would be pinned there, unable to look away.

Even if that Outer God suspected that, since Suer’s identity was already known, new Prophets might already be rising elsewhere… it still couldn’t find those new Prophets. Meanwhile, Suer, the “old Prophet,” could continue wielding his prophetic powers unimpeded.

“Here,” Amuruo said, handing Xia Xifeng a Spatial Magic Conduit Device packed full of rare materials. “Even though you can’t yet use high-grade conduit devices, once your strength advances again, these materials will eventually prove useful.”

Amuruo’s expression was somewhat sour, and for good reason. Among the pile of materials were items freshly shed by Suer himself.

As a second-generation Dragon, Suer’s own body was a treasure trove of rare materials. Long ago, after Amuruo’s vehement, furious protests, Suer had stopped gifting away materials derived from his own body—along with any conduit devices crafted from them—even to Leo, Perila, or Amuruo’s own nephew.

This time, however, Suer had not only sent a hoard of Black Dragon materials, but had also stripped half of the rare magical plants Amuruo had personally cultivated.

Xia Xifeng scanned the materials list and immediately understood why Amuruo’s face was so dark.

Pretending he hadn’t noticed a thing, he pulled out a Spatial Magic Conduit Device of his own and pressed it into Amuruo’s hands. Lowering his voice, he said, “Qin Lang and I can now train and strengthen ourselves inside special pocket spaces. You and Mr. Suer might also find these materials… useful.”

Amuruo swept his senses over the contents, and his eyebrows lifted sharply. Any sour jealousy he’d been feeling withered instantly.

What Xia Xifeng had handed over was the primary material for crafting Party Scrolls: Outer God Divinity.

Divinity was not the same as a god’s Authority. Amuruo himself held no Authority, yet the things he personally created still possessed a faint trace of his own divine essence.

Any item or living being directly crafted by a god would contain a sliver of that god’s “Divinity.” It was like the trace residue of sweat, or skin oils, a human leaves behind on something they make. Once Divinity infused an object, even the originating god would find it incredibly difficult to extract that faint trace back.

For the Heavenly Father, extracting Divinity from all things was theoretically easy—but tedious, and required His direct, personal effort.

It seemed that for this round of “saving the world,” the Heavenly Father was truly taking to the battlefield Himself.

“These materials are far more crucial for you two,” Amuruo insisted, pushing the Spatial Magic Conduit Device away. “Given how dangerous your circumstances are, my petty jealousy was truly unwarranted.”

Xia Xifeng shook his head and firmly pressed the device back into Amuruo’s hands. “It’s enough for now. And we can just go farm more.”

He added, “If you and Mr. Suer study these, perhaps you could craft some kind of early-warning conduit device? We can’t just keep relying on the gods to quickly turn the tide. For now, we can’t afford to always be on the defensive, reacting to every blow.”

Hearing this, Amuruo finally accepted the gift from his juniors.

He had received countless gifts over his long life. But it had been many, many years since he’d received a gift that was genuinely useful.

Though he and Suer had long since stopped caring about the material value of presents, receiving something “useful” still managed to brighten his mood.

And with that brighter mood came something rarer still: a fresh wave of paternal, protective affection and deep, gnawing worry for this pair of reckless juniors.

These two were still so exceedingly weak. And yet they were already capable of procuring materials that even he and Suer considered “valuable.” The weight on their shoulders, the dangers they would inevitably face in the future… they would only grow heavier.

“Go to the Sea God Temple first,” Amuruo instructed. “Receive the Sea God’s blessing before you go sightseeing elsewhere. Even if an Outer God may have already seized portions of the Sea God’s Authority, the Sea God’s protection will still serve you well.”

Qin Lang carefully committed Amuruo’s words to memory.

“Now go,” Amuruo said. “Before the scouts sniffing around Silver Moon Holy City arrive.”

He also took two Party Scrolls for himself.

Though he was sworn to protect Suer and could never stray far from Suer’s side for long—indeed, he wasn’t even truly completely here right now; what stood before them was an avatar, something akin to a divine projection, while his true body remained vigilantly at Suer’s side—having the ability to instantly appear in a crisis, for both himself and Suer… that was a formidable deterrent in its own right.

“This time, you have to call us over in time,” Leo and Perila both urged Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang. “Even if there are some battles we can’t directly interfere in, we can at least guard your bodies and ensure nothing ambushes you while you’re in your… special state.”

Poking his head out the carriage window, Xia Xifeng promised, “Got it memorized! And if you run into anything interesting, make sure to send me photos!”

“You too! Send lots of photos!” Leo and Perila called back.

And so, Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang set off once more.

This time, they would follow the Oasis Trade Route, cutting across the entire desert toward The Wastelands’ largest port: Free Port.

To avoid wasting any time, their carriage spent most of its journey soaring through the sky, only descending to rest at the oasis waypoints scattered along the route.

Five days later, just as Leo and Perila sent over a photograph of the Silver Moon Knight Order ascending into the sky, the two travelers arrived at Free Port.

The lord of Free Port, Siger, was a pious follower of the Sea God. Though he was not a God’s Favored, he served as the regional Bishop for the Free Alliance within the Sea God Religion.

Following Amuruo’s instructions, Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang first went to pay him a visit, requesting passage aboard the Religion’s internal ships to reach the Sea God Temple.

Siger immediately granted them an audience.

But then, with a deeply troubled expression, he said, “A request bearing Lord Amuruo’s personal endorsement—I should have agreed on the spot, without a single moment’s hesitation. However… the timing is most unfortunate. Recently, there has been a spate of assassination attempts targeting Bishops. At this moment, no non-believers are permitted to make pilgrimage to the Sea God Temple.”

Xia Xifeng asked, astonished, “How have we not heard a single word about this?!”

Such a massive event, and Green Sand City was completely in the dark?!

With a helpless sigh, Siger explained, “Thus far, all the targets of these assassinations have been of the Sea Race. The god commanded us not to inform the surface-dwellers, so word of this hasn’t yet reached the shore. If you two hadn’t specifically requested to visit the Sea God Temple—leaving me no way to keep it hidden—I wouldn’t be telling you now.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Siger let out a deep, exhausted breath. “The god… finds this entire affair deeply shameful. He doesn’t wish for the surface gods to learn of it.”

Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang exchanged a look.

So… because the Sea God cared so much about His pride, He refused to call for help until the absolute last, desperate moment. And this was how most of the Ocean’s Authority had been stolen away in the first place?! They’d finally found the truth!

Are ANY of you indigenous gods even remotely reliable?! How many more useless gods are you going to throw at us?! Just dump them all on us at once, dammit!!!