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第164章：暂且平息的风波

“Xi Fu Lin, are you okay?”

Vilyric greeted the blue-haired, blue-eyed girl who had floated away beside her. Xi Fu Lin now looked very substantial; if it weren’t for the green statue floating below, she would seem no different from having returned to a physical form.

Having transformed into a new deity, she was no longer merely a remnant of the sealed Earth Mother Goddess.

“Hmm… don’t worry, although it’s a bit sad, this was our goal after all. The Withering Goddess… it’s only natural that she gets this result after doing so many bad things.”

Xi Fu Lin sighed.

“I just didn’t expect her obsession to run this deep; she would rather go to this extent to resist the world’s malice. I really… ended up going crazy with her…”

The Priestess did not comment.

“Didn’t she say it herself? At the end of the day, she’s just a fragment of a deity. In that situation, there really weren’t any better solutions, were there?”

“Speaking of which, what would have happened if we hadn’t sealed that state of Xi Fu just now?”

After pondering for a moment, the newly appointed Life Goddess spoke uncertainly.

“The forms of the world’s malice are varied; I can’t be sure, but from the shared memories and information from the Withering Goddess, that scene just now was likely the world preparing to summon [Reckoners] from another world to forcibly confront the Earth Mother Goddess, who was plagued by evil.”

“Whoa… that means…”

“What is it?”

Xi Fu Lin tilted her head in confusion.

“Uh, it’s nothing, nothing at all! By the way! You mentioned there were issues with the technology provided by the Abyss; what kind of issues are we talking about?”

Though the topic shift was concerning, the Life Goddess’s gaze clearly became more peculiar, but Vilyric’s question had indeed piqued her interest.

“I’m not sure how to put it, Vilyric, do you remember that phenomenon we talked about before called [Information Flow Pollution]?”

“Ah, you mean…”

Once this was mentioned, the Priestess immediately understood, but… the Earth Mother Goddess, that’s a suspected level 100 supreme being; what on earth could affect her?

Having spent a long time together, Xi Fu Lin—who had effectively lived for tens of thousands of years—understood Vilyric’s thoughts from her tone and expression and quickly added.

“This is just a metaphor, the actual situation is slightly different. To put it another way, you should have come across something called poison among mundane objects, right? That’s what’s hidden within that technological information—an incorporeal mental poison.”

“Uh, that’s so abstract?”

Xi Fu Lin nodded thoughtfully.

“These are all problems I’ve gradually understood since meeting you, sparked by what you mentioned about [High-level magic causing mental pollution to lowly beings].”

“I don’t fully grasp the specific methods yet; this kind of pollution is quite subtle. In theory, beings of a divine level shouldn’t be affected, but during that time, Xi Fu’s divine power cycle had caused a mental shift that left her exhausted, giving the other side an opportunity.”

The Priestess opened her mouth, but before she could ask her question, Xi Fu Lin seemingly predicted her inquiry and spoke up first.

“As for the specific effect, it likely made Xi Fu more anxious, and while mentally fatigued, she threw herself entirely into the research of [God-Made Beasts]. As for whether the subsequent world malice that caused the God-Made Beasts to turn into Abyss Beasts was influenced by this force, there’s still no clear conclusion.”

Wow, I have this feeling that after reclaiming her divine spark and becoming the new Life Goddess, this gal suddenly became a lot more forceful.

“Are you still affected by this… pollution? Do you need my help in healing?”

The Goddess smiled lightly and shook her head.

“The core essence of a deity is the divine spark, and I’m no longer the Earth Mother Goddess. [Life] is a brand-new, unprecedented divine spark; the Withering Goddess helped me shoulder everything, including that pollution from the Abyss.”

“That’s good… it seems like everything is a new beginning.”

“Hmm, if only that were true. I have an idea; let’s go down and talk. With the Withering Goddess resealed, the chaos in this city should be reaching its end.”

With a flicker of blue light, the Life Goddess, who had already become a deity yet still lingered in her seal, returned to the statue and jumped back into the palm of the black-haired girl.

Shaking her head, she pocketed it and glanced back at the now de-fused and nearly yawning Giant Dragon. The two girls then turned to leave the battlefield that had once led even deities to fall.

…

Upon returning to the Temple of Sky, floating above the Spire, there weren’t many people left inside; the gray vines coiling around the entire building had disappeared with the sealing of Xi Fu, and only the shattered crystal in the center and several large dents in the transparent walls remained to give the place a somewhat tragic appearance.

The Guardian of Heaven, Lucas, was quietly waiting in a corner, having pressed the now-weakened Half-Dragon, Losa, back to legendary level due to the deity’s disappearance and the sealing of the Withering authority.

Upon seeing the black-haired girl and Little Dragon Daughter return from the sky, the Golden-armored warrior immediately stepped forward, kneeling on one knee and speaking in a deep, neutral tone.

“My lord, I have honored my duty and dealt with the enemy you instructed me to, but this fellow… suddenly became weaker halfway through the fight, which is a bit strange.”

As Vilyric hadn’t explicitly said to kill it, Lucas merely knocked Losa unconscious and left it on the ground, while the Priestess didn’t plan to handle it personally, letting Wing Emperor Aistini deal with the headache.

“Hmm, you’ve worked hard.”

Just as Vilyric was about to send Lucas back, she suddenly remembered what Xi Fu had said earlier.

Heaven… and the inexplicable transformation into genuine divine ranks and divine realms within these game functions. Out of curiosity, the Priestess decided to ask a bit.

“Lucas, what’s the Heaven you speak of like?”

“?”

The Golden-armored warrior, as expected, looked taken aback, pondering for a moment before cautiously answering.

“I’m not quite sure what you mean. If you’re referring to the daily lives of the guardians, it’s just normal living, fighting, and so on… I’m sorry, could you ask something more specific?”

Well, that makes sense…

For a being that lives in its own world and hasn’t really seen the customs of other places, this question must seem quite strange.

Forget it; I can research it slowly over time.

After dismissing the summon, Vilyric let Little Dragon Daughter carry the unconscious Losa out of the now unprotected temple.

As it turned out, it was still unclear why Minerva initially referred to herself as the God of Sky, and what had actually transpired during the sealing of the Abyss and that skirmish at dusk.

However, even though she learned that the God of Sky was merely the Archangel of the Earth Mother Goddess and had fallen during the Dusk War, unable to provide Vilyric with answers, she now had new clues.

Those who had released the Withering Goddess, coming from beneath the Abyss, were definitely not individuals; they clearly belonged to a defined organization, and even had the support of the Abyss, this world called Aibus as a whole.

The specific situation still needed investigation, but whether it was the release of sealed God-Made Beasts or those attacks from the Abyss referred to as [Doom Cannons] by Xi Fu, these were evidently strong evidence supporting this notion.

This we can slowly discuss with Xi Fu Lin later.

 

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