Chapter 2195: A Favor to Ask
The atmosphere in the Holy Land was vastly different from Purple Lake City. They lacked that kind of confident assurance; instead, they were sharp, tense, and noticeably distinct from the Goddess Cult followers seen before.
This wasn’t to say they weren’t true believers, but this state of mind was very telling.
Aside from changing the Goddess’s Birthday, the cognition of the Holy Land’s believers had likely been thoroughly cleansed from top to bottom.
Normally, changing a Goddess’s Birthday wasn’t that significant.
Because the starting point of the Goddess’s descent was long ago, and by now, there were no strict bloodline distinctions. Most people probably carried the genes of that lame girl. The Divine Envoy’s status within the Goddess Cult was already unparalleled. Using “ancestral records” would have sufficed; there was no need to change the Goddess’s Birthday as well. For one, not all believers would accept it. For another, the long-established, unshakable faith might tilt due to a rash correction—this would be a loss outweighing any gain.
But why did the Divine Envoy do this? Besides consolidating their own position and brainwashing ordinary believers, even risking shaking the Goddess Cult’s foundation to exclude the original heroic ancestors, it could only mean a major internal conflict within the Goddess Cult’s upper echelons.
The upper echelons of the Goddess Cult, aside from the Divine Envoy and the Holy Maiden, consisted of a group of players.
Since the Holy Maiden, who represented the heroic ancestors, was being sidelined, it indicated an irreconcilable conflict between the Holy Maiden and the Divine Envoy, reaching a point where one side had to suppress the other.
From this perspective, it was reasonable that the Holy Land was completely unaware of the Holy Maiden’s death. Whether it was fishing or who was fishing, the Divine Envoy would block the news. At least here in the Holy Land, the Divine Envoy had the upper hand.
What kind of conflict would escalate to the point of digging up one’s own foundation?
Xu Huo was stopped outside the temple gate. It wasn’t the patterns on the door that blocked him, but two players.
“You showed disrespect to the Divine Envoy. Come back tomorrow.”
The incident in the restaurant earlier had already reached the temple through various channels.
“The Goddess didn’t shut me out, but the Divine Envoy wants to stop me, is that right?” Xu Huo deliberately raised his voice. Unless the Divine Envoy and the Holy Land believers no longer recognized the Goddess, they couldn’t remain indifferent.
The players blocking him indeed looked grim, but under the gaze of many believers, they still made way.
As Xu Huo entered, one of them said, “Rushing to die. Let’s see if you can still come out.”
The other used an item, so those around couldn’t hear, and Xu Huo pretended not to notice.
The moment he stepped through the temple gate, he felt a mental pressure several times greater than that of the satellite city temple. And this wasn’t simply two branch temples. There were numerous towers, Goddess halls, side halls, lecture halls, auditoriums, and landscapes—nearly a hundred in total, far exceeding Xu Huo’s spatial perception range.
In this vast space, eye patterns were carved everywhere. Unlike the dense, overlapping complexity of the satellite city, the patterns here were less concentrated but ensured every wall and every floor was watched by “eyes.”
Even without deliberately observing the patterns, the ubiquitous mental interference was taxing. This was without entering an instance. What would real instance players face…
He caught a glimpse of a player in the main hall suddenly disappearing into the wall. He frowned slightly. This was indeed a multi-layered space.
After pausing for a moment, Xu Huo’s expression suddenly changed, and he instantly teleported to the entrance of a Goddess hall a thousand meters away. Beneath the covered Goddess statue, Ahai knelt on the ground, eyes closed, waiting for something. To his right stood two players, and to his left, a Holy Maiden veiled in silk. They faced each other, seemingly in a standoff.
“I’m here to pick up a friend.” Interrupting them, Xu Huo forcefully entered the hall, ignoring both sides, and gently patted Ahai’s shoulder. “Get up.”
Ahai looked up at the Goddess statue ahead, stood up somewhat dejectedly. At that moment, the Holy Maiden beside him suddenly walked over, took his hand, and asked, “Would you be willing to participate in the Holy Maiden trial?”
Ahai was stunned. “You know I am…”
“The Holy Maiden is guided by the Goddess. I can tell at a glance that you are a hermaphrodite.” The Holy Maiden seemed to be smiling. “You must have been called by the Goddess, traveling a long way to reach the Holy Land.”
Ahai was certainly happy, but amidst the joy, he couldn’t help feeling uneasy. “But I didn’t receive the Goddess just now…”
The Holy Maiden squeezed his hand firmly. “The Goddess’s guidance isn’t limited to words. It could be a sudden thought that arises in the void, or a devout prayer.”
This was too broad to refute.
Ahai’s goal was to become the Holy Maiden, but his experiences over the past few days had stripped this sudden good fortune of its pure joy. He had come to the end of his faith and the Holy Land, only to find at the doorstep that the end wasn’t perfect, and the Holy Land wasn’t sublime.
“Are you willing?” the Holy Maiden asked.
“I… am willing…” Ahai hesitated, then made up his mind. “What do I need to prepare for the trial?”
“Come, I’ll tell you everything.” The Holy Maiden took his hand to lead him away. Ahai looked back at Xu Huo, stopped, and said, “Can I say goodbye to my friend?”
The Holy Maiden released him.
Ahai walked back a few steps to Xu Huo, took out some wound medicine and bandaging tools from his backpack. “These are for you… Use them if you can; if not, forget it. Thank you for bringing me to the Holy Land. You’re a good person. Your family must miss you a lot. Go home soon.”
Xu Huo caught the goodwill in his words and smiled. “I’ll be staying at the Stone Pool Hotel outside for a few days to recover. You can come find me if you have time.”
Ahai’s lips moved, but he didn’t urge him to leave. Instead, he followed the Holy Maiden.
Once they left, the two players also prepared to go.
Xu Huo raised his hand and gently hooked it in the air. Space Ray Blades surrounded them from all directions.
Alerted by the suddenly triggered defense barrier, the two spun around.
“Under the Goddess statue, don’t be so fierce.” Xu Huo pointed at the covered object behind him. “I’m not looking for trouble. I just want to ask you a favor.”
“Please convey this to the Divine Envoy and your other colleagues,” he said, the smile on his face slowly fading, his eyes turning cold. “The person taken away by the Holy Maiden just now is my friend. Please, under no circumstances, make a move against him. Otherwise, before I leave this district, I will take a group of people with me.”
“You guard the temple and the instance grounds. You are closest to the Goddess and the truth of the Goddess. You should know better than anyone whether the Goddess is omnipotent.”
“No matter what internal disputes the Goddess Cult has, if everyone is dead, there’s no point in fighting over anything, right?”
(Chapter End)