Chapter 327

In a hotel in the dock area of Bai Ya Mu.

Yi Sang, who had drunk several cups of coffee, helplessly rubbed his forehead; he somewhat regretted waiting for a possible follow‑up, now wanting to sleep, but because he'd drunk too much coffee, he felt no sleepiness at all.

The downfall of the Sea God will inevitably cause the indigenous people here to lose their faith, leading to mass suicides; Bai Ya Mu, no, the entire Luo Si De archipelago will soon face a severe shortage of labor.

Not only that, but some fanatical believers will refuse to accept the fact that the Sea God has fallen; they will madly carry out live sacrifices, trying to obtain a response from the divine.

Just like those lunatics of the Artificial Death God faction within our Spirit Sect.

Yi Sang half‑lay in the chair, speaking in a flat tone.

We have already left the Spirit Sect.

Fei Nikesi slightly raised his head and corrected a sentence.

What a pity, whether it's the Spirit Sect or other forces of the southern continent, they obviously don't think so.

Yi Sang let out a sigh full of helplessness.

Fei Nikesi no longer responded to the topic; he pulled a brass‑colored whistle from the inner pocket of his clothes, blew it hard, but no sound came out.

Moments later, a tall white skeleton extended a hand from beneath the floor.

Before it could crawl out, Fei Nikesi placed the freshly written letter into its bone‑white palm.

The great bone messenger's movement paused; it seemed somewhat aggrieved as it clenched its hand, the head that had just emerged sank back into the floor, carrying the letter as it shuttled through the spirit world.

Seeing the messenger off, Fei Nikesi sat back in the chair, his gaze through the glass window toward the clear night sky outside.

His eyes suddenly turned deep and mysterious, as if he were communicating with something intangible.

After a moment, he lowered his eyes and spoke in a monotone:

The surrounding spirits brought news: the statue of the Sea God, Ka Wei Tu Wa, has been shattered and cannot be reassembled.

Somewhere in the spirit realm of this sea region, a fierce battle has taken place, and there they dislike the aura of the sun.

Yi Sang stared blankly at Fei Nikesi, after a dazed moment he slowly opened his mouth:

When did you reclaim the spirits of this sea region? And have them help you monitor this sea area?

Fei Nikesi spoke in an even tone:

Just by coming to Bai Ya Mu, I've been doing that.

At the location corresponding to Kavituwa's hiding place in reality, the Storm Church's penitents arrived late.

Before they could get close, they heard an angry snort, and then a hurricane swept them up and carried them away from here.

"Sea King" Ya En·Kao Te Man's deep‑blue eyes were filled with anger that had solidified into substance; his loose Storm Church robes were fully stretched out, his chest rising and falling, the anger on his body about to erupt.

The surrounding penitents dared not even breathe, all lowered their heads, silently awaiting the orders of the Luo Si De Sea Diocese's archbishop and senior steward of the penitents.

After a moment of silence, Ya En·Kao Te Man slightly raised his right hand; deep‑blue light fell around him, sending ripples that condensed into a watery mirror around him.

Within it appeared Lei Ke Dun's figure tinged with golden light, and another blurry silhouette that could not be made out, holding a white short staff inlaid with cyan‑blue gems.

Ya En·Kao Te Man drew a deep breath, controlled his emotions, and spoke solemnly:

Throughout the Luo Si De sea region, we are issuing a warrant for the arrest of this sage of the Knowledge Church; he has not yet left.

Find the person who took this white short staff and retrieve it!

Dock area, Azure Wind Inn.

Ke Lai En, in the room, quickly restored his own spirit through meditation.

When his spirit had mostly recovered, he returned once more to the magnificent ancient palace above the gray mist.

He sat in the high‑back chair belonging to the Fool, right hand gripping the Sea God's scepter, eyes closed, and performed a simple divination.

The effects of this Sea God's scepter, as well as its negative influences, quickly surfaced in his mind.

It is very powerful; even among first‑grade sealed items it belongs to the stronger type. Unfortunately, its negative effects are also great, making it nearly impossible to use it outside the gray mist.

After pondering for a moment, Ke Lai En intended to respond to those who follow the Sea God.

This is not only a reminder from the "Red Light" Ai Er·Mo Luo Ya, preparing faith in advance for future demigod ascension, but also a means to steady the Sea God's followers so they do not act rashly.

It is also meant for role‑playing; pretending to be an ordinary person is far better than pretending to be a Sea God.

In his thoughts, he manifested a suitable scene through the gray mist:

A somewhat blurry figure strides on the waves, wrapped in a howling hurricane, with heavy dark clouds overhead.

Overall it appears sacred and solemn; this inspiration came from the mural of the elf ruin where Kavituwa hides.

He then extended his spirit, infusing it into the Sea God's scepter, establishing a link with several of its brighter faith points.

He projected the manifested image together with a detached, grandiose voice:

"I have returned!"

After communicating with the Sea God's followers and reforging the Sea God's covenant, Ke Lai En lowered the scepter in his hand and wearily rubbed his brow.

Although relying on this gray mist allows me to respond to the faithful, it still imposes a considerable burden on my mind.

Moreover, because the gray mist blocks it, the Sea God's scepter cannot promptly answer the rites, the believers' pleas, and I cannot stay here long; I need to find a solution.

As his thoughts turned, his gaze fell on the deep‑red star representing Lei Ke Dun—shouldn't he still be awake?

After a slight hesitation, he extended his spirit, contacted the deep‑red star representing Lei Ke Dun, and told him his question.

Fei Nei Bo Te, Sai Wei Ya.

Lei Ke Dun had just finished discussing a grain transaction with Bo En; the other party promised to gather grain worth 5,500 pounds within three days and then transport it in batches to this warehouse.

After settling the follow‑up cooperation, he hastily took his two bodyguards to find a lawyer to draft the contract.

He also thoughtfully left the two bodyguards here to guard the warehouse and, by the way, protect Lei Ke Dun's safety.

As one of Fei Nei Bo Te's largest ports, Sai Wei Ya has no shortage of pirates and adventurers; being suburban, a lone person out at night still faces certain danger.

Relying on the wagon Bo En uses to transport grain, Lei Ke Dun's field of vision suddenly filled with thick gray mist; he saw a figure shrouded in the mist, looming as if overlooking the whole world, grand and mighty.

Lei Ke Dun slightly puzzled, raised his head to gaze at the night sky; he didn't quite understand why Ke Lai En was looking for him at this time—had something gone wrong in the process of receiving the Sea God's followers?

Just as a thought stirred in his mind, a leisurely voice of the Fool echoed in his ears:

Do you know how to solve the issue that, above the grey fog, the sea god's scepter cannot promptly answer prayers, and the response ritual fails?

Upon noticing that Klein's connection with him above the grey fog had not been directly severed, Rekton immediately spread out his spirit, sealing off his surroundings so his voice would not leak out.

After doing that, he then spoke:

"Leave an avatar there to watch the pathway's Sequence Four, which can create a virtual persona; based on that, I can try to develop an arcane technique to separate an avatar with a certain self-awareness."

"Given your current mental level, you probably can't support it; at the very least, you need to become a Puppeteer Master."

"At this stage, you can only frequently go to the grey fog to perform the response, or have the sea god's followers pray at a fixed time and hold the ritual."

As soon as Rekton's words fell, Klein's slightly helpless reply came through his ear:

"Puppeteer Master. I still haven't found any leads on the mermaid."

Rekton shrugged his shoulders:

"This can actually be simple: pray to the Goddess of Night for help."

"If you want to rely on yourself, you can only go to the Divine War ruins in the depths of the Su Nia Sea, where some mermaids still live."

"I recommend you take the Star Admiral's ship Future; she has experience exploring that sea area and will be of greater help to you."

After a moment of silence, Klein's voice echoed again in Rekton's ear:

"I will try to make contact with her."

Those words faded away along with the grey fog before Rekton's eyes.

In the early morning, inside Bayam's Sea Wave Church.

A'erjie was summoned by the Church and came here, where he once again saw Bishop Jogeori.

That white-haired old man handed him three portraits:

"Find them."

A'erjie took it dubiously, casually unfolded the paper, and the topmost portrait was of Rekton—a portrait from which the Storm Church had removed the golden radiance enveloping him, then retouched to restore it.

"He is 'Arsonist' Al, formerly a crew member on the flagship Future of the Star Admiral."

"But this is likely just a layer of disguise; his true identity is a Saint of the Church of Knowledge, who planned and participated in the earlier attack on Bayam and also took part in seizing an important item from the Church."

"You just need to find him; even if it's only some information, the Church has already raised his bounty to 150,000 pounds."

150,000 pounds—yet the bounty for one of the Four Kings, the Undying King Agari Tu, is only 100,000 pounds; does the Church consider him more dangerous than the Undying King?

Thinking that this task only required going through the motions, A'erjie had already prepared to slack off.

He casually flipped to the next portrait, which was so blurry that one couldn't tell whether it depicted a man or a woman; from this image, one could only judge that it was a person.

The Hanged Man struggled to keep his composure, thereby preventing himself from laughing out loud.

Jogeori paid no attention to A'erjie's expression or mental state, and introduced in a tone full of anger:

"This is a filthy, despicable thief! He might be connected to the Church of Knowledge!"

The suddenly appeared task is surely related to what happened last night; last night, Kavituwa completely fell, and its remnants were taken beforehand?

A'erjie's expression gradually grew solemn as he turned to the third portrait.

It was a short staff, a short staff with its tip inlaid with fine azure gems.

(End of chapter)