Chapter 51

It was only after waking up that Xia Xifeng began to get a headache.

Silver Moon’s harassment had made yesterday’s act a complete waste.

Given that Siger, as a bishop who could pray directly to the Sea God, couldn’t possibly have missed last night’s unusual moonlight…

Even if the act was wasted, it wasn’t a huge problem, but it was so embarrassing.

Just yesterday he’d told Suer, “I need to work hard on my own.” And today, Xia Xifeng was already breaking his vow, hoping his teacher would find a chance to beat up Hope’s Sun for him.

That bastard only knows how to cause trouble!

“He really is a ball that only knows how to cause trouble.” Amuruo very much agreed with Xia Xifeng’s assessment.

Xia Xifeng, heedless of Perila and Leo’s awkwardness, frantically ranted to the two Sun divine champions about their unreliable god.

Perila had already known about this before Xia Xifeng contacted him.

Hope’s Sun had long since sent Perila a message to relay: He was not causing trouble. Since the Sea God would definitely ally with Him after learning the truth anyway, showing His regard for Xia Xifeng was the perfect way to back Xia Xifeng up.

See? What a great excuse I came up with!

This excuse, not only failed to fool Xia Xifeng, it couldn’t even convince Perila.

There were countless ways to show regard. You sneaked over in the middle of the night to set off a moon-flashbang on the sleeping Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang. This is called “regard”?

Perila’s heart was so tired.

He’d once thought gods were omnipotent, that as long as you became a god, you could change everything bad in the world.

This world had gods, yet bad things still existed; it must be a trial the gods set for mortals.

When Xia Xifeng told him that gods were born after “concepts,” and gods who protected living beings were born only after living beings generated the thought, “We need gods to protect us,” he realized gods couldn’t be omnipotent.

And now?

What omnipotence? Even I am more reliable than the gods!

Perila finally understood the true meaning of the phrase “Gods are merely more powerful living beings.”

That true meaning was: just as there are fools among living beings, there are fools among gods.

Like his god.

Stop embarrassing yourself! I can barely lift my head in front of Xia Xifeng anymore!

Also, stop burning Leo’s hair! Leo didn’t do anything to you!

Birth’s Sun, control your little brother! Isn’t Leo your God’s Favored? Can you protect Leo just a little?!

Birth’s Sun was very busy. He was currently doing the work of two gods by Himself. So He pretended not to hear.

Suer truly couldn’t stand it anymore either.

Since he was about to be captured by Fate anyway, what was one more thing?

Suer said seriously, “I will pray to the Heavenly Father to send Amuruo and me to the Sun God’s Divine Domain once.”

Not to tattle to the Heavenly Father, but to ask the Heavenly Father to permit them to go to the Divine Domain?

Xia Xifeng’s face was full of worship.

After ending the communication, Xia Xifeng jabbed the yawning Qin Lang’s shoulder forcefully. “See that? See that? That’s what a Guardian Knight should aspire to—be like your teacher!”

Qin Lang slapped Xia Xifeng’s hand away. “I’m confident I can become as strong as Teacher Amuruo. So, can you learn even half of Mr. Suer’s composure?”

Xia Xifeng crossed his arms and spoke with righteous confidence. “A disciple learns from his teacher to learn his teacher’s skills, not his teacher’s personality!”

“Heh heh.” Qin Lang couldn’t be bothered to argue with Xia Xifeng anymore.

As long as Xia Xifeng was shameless enough, he was invincible.

After finishing his tattling, Xia Xifeng stiffened his scalp and dragged Qin Lang to breakfast.

Even if it was awkward, they still had to eat.

Siger pretended to know nothing. His attitude toward Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang was no different from yesterday’s.

Xia Xifeng became even more certain that Siger understood exactly what last night’s moonlight was about.

If he only half-understood, Siger would have asked Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang. The fact that he seemed to have already determined what happened last night and was deliberately pretending not to have noticed…

This attitude clearly stated his stance and position.

Xia Xifeng rubbed his chest and crumpled his embarrassment into a ball to toss away.

Since Siger wasn’t bringing it up, he’d just keep acting.

Qin Lang had a point: as long as he was shameless enough, he was invincible.

And Qin Lang? Still deliberately maintaining that poker face, as if none of it had anything to do with him.

“Please wait a few more days. I will personally escort you to see my Lord.” Now knowing that the danger the Sea God faced was greater than he’d imagined, Siger dared not let his daughters go into the ocean nor allow his wife to sail out alone.

Xia Xifeng said, “Thank you, Bishop.”

Xia Xifeng: 【Why do I feel like those words are an ill omen? Back where we come from, “escort you to see my Lord” isn’t exactly a good thing to hear.】

Qin Lang: 【Mm.】 He’d had the same strong sense of déjà vu hearing that line, as if seeing a kindly Tang Sanzang hefting a rocket launcher.

While Siger hurriedly handled affairs ashore, delegating all lordly authority to his wife, he also proactively contacted Amuruo.

Siger: “Are those two little knights you sent actually Silver Moon bishops?”

Amuruo: “They are not. They are God’s Favored. Whose Chosen, don’t ask.”

Siger: “I understand. How much can I trust them?”

Amuruo: “Judge for yourself.”

Siger took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose hard. “You know what I hate most about you? Everyone says bishops don’t speak plainly, always putting on airs of mystery to make people overthink. But you, a self-proclaimed faithless one? You’re even worse at speaking plainly than us bishops.”

In this world, a “faithless one” didn’t mean someone who didn’t believe in the gods’ existence. It literally meant someone who didn’t dedicate focused faith and reverence to any one particular deity.

Amuruo said, “I am no faithless one. I believe in the Heavenly Father.”

Siger replied, “Believing only in the Heavenly Father is being a faithless one.” The Heavenly Father was the Creator God who did not interfere with the mortal realm—effectively “transcending” this world. Whether others believed in Him or not was irrelevant to Him.

Believing in a god who would never respond was equivalent to being “faithless.”

Amuruo didn’t explain.

He truly wasn’t lying. He really did believe in the Heavenly Father and wasn’t a “faithless one.”

Whether he was a “faithless one” wasn’t the important matter at hand.

After a slight tangent, Siger insisted that Amuruo reveal whatever intelligence he could.

As a clergy member, Siger knew Amuruo couldn’t say some things outright. Saying them would cause even greater trouble.

For mortals to delve into higher-level secrets, they needed to “decrypt” them step by step, only then could they gradually accept those secrets.

If they abruptly learned higher-level secrets, many outcomes would be worse than knowing nothing at all.

He wondered if discovering the two little knights’ “secret” could be exchanged for Amuruo divulging some intelligence.

Amuruo was very exasperated with Siger’s pestering. “I’ve truly said everything I can. Haven’t you already decided to accompany Little Feng and Little Lang to see the god? What you want to know will be revealed during this journey.”

Siger said, “I only want to know how serious this is. Serious enough that I should send my wife and daughters to take refuge in the Silver Moon Holy City?”

Since Silver Moon had been the first to expose the Evil God’s plot, its defenses should be the tightest.

Hearing that the Sea God’s bishop wanted to send his wife and daughters to the Silver Moon Holy City for refuge, Amuruo—even though he had no fondness for the Sea God—was speechless.

The moment Siger hit the ocean, the Sea God, heedless of expending His own power, would go splash-splash dumping seawater into Siger’s bowl. Siger, do some self-reflection, won’t you?

Amuruo said, “How serious it is, you’ll know once your god responds.”

Siger exhaled in relief. “Good.” He’d finally forced Amuruo to say it.

Even though Amuruo’s assurance suggested the immediate danger might not be great, and his wife wasn’t completely defenseless either, Siger still made every preparation, ensuring the teleportation formation was unobstructed.

If anything happened to Free Port, his wife and daughters could flee immediately.

Siger would fight to the end for the Sea God and Free Port, but he didn’t want his wife and daughters to become tragic heroes.

Lady Kaiti said, “Trust me. I will definitely protect our daughters.”

Siger said, “You are just as important to me as our daughters are.”

Lady Kaiti gently embraced her husband. “And you to us. Though I cannot stop you.”

After bidding his wife farewell, Siger changed into his bishop’s robes and boarded the ship with Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang.

As soon as the ship set sail, he was drenched by a splash of seawater.

Siger took a deep breath, swept his water-soaked bangs back with his hand, and took off his glasses to wipe them.

Xia Xifeng took a step back and whispered to Qin Lang: 【This look gives me major Aizen transformation vibes!】

Qin Lang: 【The Sea God is even more insane than Hope’s Sun.】

Xia Xifeng: 【Isn’t the Sea God publicly acknowledged by players as the number one idiot? Still, I think Hope’s Sun is even more of an idiot. The Sea God might only be a tiny blob left, but at least He hasn’t fallen.】

Qin Lang didn’t agree. Being an idiot was a personality trait, unrelated to strength, luck, or caution.

Hope’s Sun died early only because He was too confident—the Twin Suns were a double deity, so no Evil God dared provoke Them first.

“You all right?” Xia Xifeng asked with concern, clearly enjoying the show.

Siger said coldly, “Fine. I’m used to it.”

Xia Xifeng said, “I didn’t expect the Bishop to also be a God’s Favored.”

Siger put his glasses back on, his wet hair still not let down. “I am not.”

Splash. Another scoop of seawater smacked Siger on the head.

Siger: “…” Are you just not going to stop today?!

Xia Xifeng consoled, “It’s fine. I understand. Leo’s also had his hair burned off by the Sun many times. Gods are all like that. I won’t think less of your god because of—”

Splash. A scoop of seawater smacked onto Xia Xifeng’s own head.

Xia Xifeng: “…”

He turned his head to look at Qin Lang.

Qin Lang, at some unknown point, had already put three meters of distance between them.

This dog had stealthily slipped away using Shadowstep the moment he sensed the “divine attack” coming.

Xia Xifeng walked to the ship’s side and shouted at the ocean, “If you’ve got the guts to splash water on the boat, you might as well just come chat right here. Hey, Sea God, you doing okay? You dying or what?”

Siger: “???” How is this guy even braver than me?

This is the ocean! You’re saying this to the Sea God while at sea?!

Though the Sea God wouldn’t kill you, He’d definitely rage.

Fortunately, Siger knew this journey would involve many secrets and had specifically taken an automated ship. With only the three of them aboard and no one else, Xia Xifeng’s disrespect toward the deity wouldn’t cause panic among others.

After Xia Xifeng yelled, the Sea God did indeed rage.

He dumped even more seawater onto Xia Xifeng’s head.

Xia Xifeng wiped his face and turned to Siger and Qin Lang. “The Sea God’s condition really is terrible. If He were in better shape, He’d be blasting me with a water column from the sea surface right now, not chucking little water balls at me.”

He pulled out an umbrella and blocked the next small water ball. “No, these aren’t even small water balls anymore. It’s just splashing water.”

Qin Lang moved even farther away from Xia Xifeng.

The moment he learned the Sea God’s state was poor, Xia Xifeng had become utterly fearless and brazenly provocative.

He knew Xia Xifeng had a “grudge” against the Sea God from the game, but he hadn’t expected the guy to carry that grudge into reality.

This wasn’t just in-game data. This was an actual god.

The Sea God launched a rapid-fire water-splashing barrage.

Xia Xifeng’s expression remained utterly unmoved. The umbrella surface flew rapidly, blocking every last splash with a proficiency so precise it was as if the Sea God’s splashes were deliberately aiming for his umbrella.

“If you’ve got the energy to splash water, you’ve got the energy to open a portal and send me, Qin Lang, and the Bishop straight to your temple.” Xia Xifeng said impatiently. “Isn’t that what you’re here to do? Stop splashing. If you can’t muster the strength to open a teleportation formation, you expect us to swim there ourselves?”

Siger heard the god’s whisper.

Without any prayer ritual set up, he actually heard the Sea God’s exasperated whisper directly.

Siger: “My Lord says… for you to swim there.”

Xia Xifeng raised an eyebrow. “Really? The Sea Race’s legend says their first emperor was seduced and killed by a beauty, which is why the Sea Race never managed to form a unified undersea empire…”

Siger: “The god says to shut up; He’s setting up the teleportation formation. WHAT DOES THAT STORY HAVE TO DO WITH THE SEA GOD?!”

Siger was so shocked he even dropped the “my Lord” title.

The equipment wouldn’t be soaked by seawater. Xia Xifeng switched to a dry costume with one click, though his hair was still wet and very uncomfortable. “I dunno. Isn’t it a well-known historical anecdote?”

Of course, Siger knew it was just a widely circulated, unverified historical anecdote of the Sea Race—he’d even told his daughters that story.

But the instant Xia Xifeng mentioned it, the Sea God changed His attitude. There was definitely something going on!

The historical anecdote was true? And it involved the Sea God?

Siger racked his brains but couldn’t figure out what connection it could have to the Sea God.

Xia Xifeng curled his lip in a smirk.

What connection? The emperor in the story was a projection of the Sea God. The beauty was a projection of the God of Conspiracy.

Back in the era when gods could still descend as avatars, many deities projected themselves into the mortal world to amuse themselves—and left behind offspring with divine blood.

The God of Conspiracy, transformed into a beauty, had seduced and killed the Sea God’s projection, triggering the great Divine War that nearly shattered the world.

After the Divine War, gods could never again project themselves directly into the mortal realm.

Though it was only a divine projection, it still possessed a god’s pride and partial memory. The conceptual embodiment of the ocean, the Sea God, had actually been seduced by beauty—and the “beauty’s” most commonly presented form in daily life was… an old man…

Xia Xifeng tilted his head back and whistled at the sky.

He’d almost died laughing when he did that memory quest.