Chapter 368

Luo De never thought of that.

Luo De never imagined that one day they would become a hot commodity.

Business executives from the other six nations have been looking for him every day these past few days.

Anything that doesn't get along with Mount Meru.

They will try every means to find Luo De to continue the talk, even sending gifts, trying to bribe him into making a decision.

Luo De, who never anticipated this scene, had no choice but to hide in the Pure Benevolence Palace to seek some quiet.

No way.

Don't know which bastard is spreading rumors everywhere.

They say Luo De holds tremendous authority in Mount Meru, to the point that even the Dendro Archon Buer dare not contradict his words.

Those who know the inside story are fine.

Those who don't know the inside story are about to go crazy.

"Anyway, this is the situation; I'm about to get sick of it."

In the Pure Benevolence Palace, Luo De let out a deep sigh: "I originally wanted to relax properly before your birthday."

"Could it be Dottore again?"

Nadixa hasn't been working these days, and finally managed to get some leisure time.

However, her leisure is only relative.

The plan for the three gods to appear together at the Flower God's Birth Festival still needs to be prepared thoroughly in advance.

Especially Dottore lurking in the shadows.

Anyone who knows about Luo De and his feud can realize that Dottore is currently completely at a disadvantage and must be guarded against his desperate counterattack.

Nadixa has worried herself sick over this.

During this period she has been continuously working on emergency plans, combining the Void's calculations, having computed every possible means Dottore might use, all to prevent any sudden situation on the day of the Flower God's Birth Festival that would catch people off guard.

But even so.

She still isn't at ease.

She always feels that there is a loophole somewhere in her calculations.

Luo De, at this time, waved his hand, not really caring about this: "Such underhanded tactics wouldn't be his, and maybe it's not someone deliberately spreading rumors about me; it's just a coincidence."

"Hopefully that's the case."

Nadixa pursed her lips and then said: "Apep has arrived, do you know?"

"I know."

"Those three huge statues over at the Grand Bazaar are hard to miss."

Luo De shrugged and said: "However, I didn't see her; do you know where she went?"

Regarding Luo De's plan to usurp the nest and occupy the Scarlet King's divine position,

Apep expressed approval with both hands raised.

Not only did he break from his usual laziness, but he also busily made two more statues capable of absorbing faith power for this festival.

When I saw these three statues standing side by side at the Grand Bazaar two days ago,

Luo De nearly spat out the bubbly water in his mouth.

Although these statues were covered with opaque black cloth,

but the lingering Apep power on them and the sense of flesh-and-blood connection from Luo De's statue still let him recognize at a glance what these statues were.

This inevitably made Luo De a bit suspicious.

Apep helping the Great Merciful Tree King gather the Flower God's faith power—that he can understand.

After all, from a certain perspective.

The Great Merciful Tree King is her daughter.

Moreover, they have even called each other that in public.

Apep helping her, who is impersonating the Flower God under a false name, is hardly surprising.

But what's going on with Nadixa?

Isn't Apep always looking down on Nadixa? Besides,

Nadixa's divine seat still exists; unlike the Scarlet King and Flower God, whose divine seats are hidden and whose divinity is shattered, she herself has a channel to gather faith power, so she doesn't need Apep's help with this and it's fine.

Such abnormal behavior.

It's hard for Luo De not to suspect what she's doing.

Regarding Apep's whereabouts.

This time Nadixa finally knows.

She readily answered this question: "She has returned to her own palace."

"She went back?"

Luo De blinked: "What is she going back for? Weren't they supposed to come participate in the Flower God's Birth Festival?"

This is what Apep said from the very start when the plan for the three gods to manifest together at the Flower God's Birth Festival was formulated.

She has always been very interested in the Flower God's Birth Festival.

So now she suddenly ran back to her own palace; could it be that something happened to her descendants again?

"I don't know why either."

Nadixa shook her head: "She's always been mysterious; I can't possibly monitor her movements at all times."

"Mm, really a troublesome guy."

Luo De made a complaint, was about to tell Nadixa something else, when suddenly a familiar throbbing surged rapidly from outside the Pure Benevolence Palace.

Shh—

Time was running out; Luo De could only tell Nadixa not to bring up Apep again, and at the same time he looked toward that familiar aura.

I don't know if this Grass Dragon King did it on purpose.

Anyway, whenever someone schemes against her behind her back, she always appears very 'fittingly', and then she lets the schemer know she heard everything.

Just like now.

After she appears, her first action is to lightly cough twice, expressing her meaning very clearly.

Then.

Apep then looked at Luo De, raising an eyebrow and said, 'Your perception has become much more sensitive.'

Hehe.

Luo De bared his teeth and smiled.

Honestly.

He also didn't know just how strong he was now.

Anyway, Kěnzhèng is stronger than an ordinary Archon.

He might even be much stronger.

At the very least.

In the past, when Apep played mysterious, he had never noticed where Apep would appear from.

But now.

When Apep's aura first reached Xu Mi Cheng, he noticed it.

This, compared to before,

is completely incomparable.

The only pity is that

Luo De glanced at Nadixa.

Nadixa still looks the same.

The Divine Throne, for the Seven Archons of the mortal world, is both a glorious symbol of their status and a shackle that binds them.

As long as one accepts the Divine Throne of the Seven Archons,

from then on, the source of power can only rely on the people's faith, and there is hardly any room for personal advancement.

And Nadixa happens to be a deity with extremely weak faith power.

During her imprisonment,

In the Xu Mi Cheng rainforest region, faith basically still resides with the Great Merciful Tree King, so when the Great Merciful Tree King just recovers, it can regain a considerable portion of its strength; if it weren't for its own weak foundation, it could likely step straight back to its peak strength from five hundred years ago.

As for the desert region, there's no need to say more.

The people there regard the Dendro Archon as the source of calamity and the origin of hatred.

They would rather not believe in gods than entrust their faith to the Dendro Archon, the actual ruler of Xu Mi Cheng.

Thus, when Nadixa returns to the Divine Throne,

the faith power she gains from her followers is extremely meager.

Originally,

If according to plan, the Great Merciful Tree King dies and the Dendro Archon's position on the World Tree smoothly passes to Nadixa, then the faith offered to the Great Merciful Tree King by the rainforest region could still be received by her.

But the Great Merciful Tree King's success made this situation absolutely impossible to occur.

Moreover, Nadixa herself has weak divine power.

Being weak in both aspects, her strength naturally ranks at the bottom among the Seven Archons, possibly not much different from that weak Salt Archon Hèwūlīyà. Under these circumstances,

Actually, Nadixa's situation is very dangerous.

As the guardian and partial incarnation of the contemporary World Tree, yet with such feeble strength, if another Dark Calamity disaster were to occur, she would probably be unable to resist it at all.

This is not alarmist talk.

Previously, Luo De never felt that terrifying Dark Calamity would happen again, but after hearing from Kelinsor that the world is false and the outside is real,

Luo De deep down had a premonition that the Dark Calamity might very well break out again.

Under such a crisis warning,

he increasingly felt that Nadixa should seize the time and quickly become stronger.

Given that the strength of the Seven Archons is mainly based on faith power,

Thinking of this,

Luo De asked Apep, 'Did you make a faith statue of Nadixa?'

'Indeed, I casually made one.'

Apep replied with a normal expression: 'No need to thank me; I just used some scrap materials, it's not much trouble.'

As usual, saying one thing while meaning another.

Without Luo De speaking, Nadixa, aware of her own situation, spoke first: 'Thank you.'

'Tch, hypocritical deity.'

After muttering a sentence, Apep beckoned to Nadixa: 'Get me a Void Terminal worthy of my status, not those shoddy ones for humans.'

'Void Terminal?'

'What do you want to use it for?'

Upon mentioning this, Nadixa couldn't help but become wary.

A Void Terminal can connect to the Void; given Apep's abilities, it's not impossible for her to inversely intrude into the Void and cause adverse effects.

Now, the Void is even more important to Sumeru than before.

It is not only the source of knowledge for all Sumeru people, but also bears the responsibility of monitoring Sumeru's safety, leaving no room for the slightest oversight.

However, what surprised Nadixa was.

Luo De, who also knew the importance of the Void, unexpectedly said to her: "Don't worry, give it to her."

」.

After a brief silence, Nadixa, following Luo De's words, handed over a Void terminal she herself used to Apep.

Tsk tsk.

After playing with the Void terminal in his hand for a moment and seeing Nadixa's troubled gaze, Apep tsked and said: "The rumors outside are indeed true; you really are listening to this kid's words."

」.

Nadixa continued to remain silent, only her eyes showing a hint of inexplicable emotion.

"Please don't listen to those outsiders gossiping."

Luo De quickly replied: "Those are just baseless accusations hatched by people trying to cause trouble for me."

Really?

I think what they say is quite right.

Apep made another tsking sound, stopped spouting nonsense, and began to study the Void terminal intently.

At the same time.

Nadixa also remained silent, her pink fists clenched tightly, her eyes continually flashing with images from the Void.

Luo De couldn't intervene in this situation; he could only step aside and watch their duel.

Without a doubt.

Apep's demand for the Void terminal was to launch a reverse intrusion into the Void, gaining some permissions that Nadixa would absolutely not grant her.

Nadixa, meanwhile, was mustering all her permissions to resist Apep's intrusion as much as possible.

Such a standoff.

Luo De naturally couldn't intervene.

What he could do.

was to stay quietly aside, waiting for them to reach a result.

However, his face showed no worry; he simply observed calmly.

Because he knew very well.

Apep was not truly trying to seize control of the Void.

Otherwise, given her strength.

There was no need to wait until now to cause trouble; when she had just rescued the Great Merciful Tree King, she could have acted against Nadixa directly, rather than waiting until now, when Luo De even has the ability to interrupt her, to come here and stir things up.

I just don't know what Apep actually intends to do.

After waiting quietly for a while.

The struggle over Void control between Apep and Nadixa thus ended.

Looking at their expressions.

Nadixa should have lost.

Luo De stepped forward, intending to comfort her with a few words.

But before he could even open his mouth to speak.

He heard Apep say softly: "Alright, I lost; don't bother doing this just to annoy me here."

"Huh?"

Luo De paused, then tilted his head, looking at Apep and then at Nadixa.

Apep lost? What's the situation? And if Apep lost, why does she have a happy face while Nadixa looks utterly exhausted and defeated? Soon.

Nadixa's words then explained this.

"I, I could only safeguard the core control authority, but she still managed to seize part of the monitoring function."

That indeed makes sense.

Luo De understood.

Then, while he was pondering how to continue the conversation, Apep put Nadixa's Void terminal on her ear, turned, waved, and said: "This little thing is not bad; I like it, consider it your thank-you gift, hahaha——"

Having said that.

Her figure flickered, and she swiftly passed through the Pure Virtue Palace's defenses again, her presence vanishing in an instant.

Watching her come and go from the Pure Virtue Palace as freely as returning home.

Luo De couldn't help but sigh: "Should the protective barrier of the Pure Virtue Palace be strengthened?"

"Indeed."

Nadixa also felt it necessary to do so; at the very least, a warning system is needed, otherwise Apep's intrusion would be too easy, and although we are now allies, there remains a potential danger.

Next.

Nadixa then told Luo De: "Actually, she never intended to seize the core control of the Void; her goal from the start was the monitoring authority."

"Monitoring authority?"

That was an unexpected statement; Luo De wondered: "Who does she want to monitor?"

I don't know.

"But I guess."

Either the Abyss Order, or Dottore, or

Nadixa thought for a moment: "Either the Water Dragon King from Fontaine."

Water Dragon King?

Neuvillette?

Why is Apep monitoring him?

Rod was a bit confused.

Neuvillette is the second-generation Water Dragon King, or a Dragon King who cooperates with humans.

Such a Dragon King is the one Apep looks down on the most, yet she pays so much attention to Neuvillette and even went out of her way to obtain the authority to monitor him—what is she planning?

I guess.

It's probably related to that Water God.

Nahida fully exercised her wisdom as the God of Wisdom and speculated: "That Water God is highly unnatural; I caught the scent of a curse on her, or perhaps it's a curse emanating from the Water God itself—this is odd. She appears even weaker than me, and she even cursed herself. Apep probably noticed this as well, so she likely wants to use Neuvillette as a means to uncover some truths. After all, she has never abandoned her steps to defy the heavenly principles; perhaps she intends to start from the strange aspects of that Water God in order to probe the secret of the Water God's divine throne."

The topic turned to Furina.

Rod inevitably got a headache.

Why does every god-level being seem interested in Furina?

He had just promised Egeria that he would help Fucalos break the divine throne.

If these gods cause unexpected complications, who knows what unpredictable variables could arise.

(End of chapter)