Chapter 322: Receding Tide and Forgiveness

The fish-man, hammered to the ground, his mind briefly blank, stared at Wu Chang with sunken eyes and cursed:

"Damn it, I, Dagang, curse you and that bitch! You keep desecrating the sea—my lord will make you regret it."

Wu Chang halted the hammer poised to strike again and asked curiously, "Which bitch?"

The fish-man calling himself Dagang spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with sharp teeth and mumbled:

"Of course, the one ruling over your Ogrer heads."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow. "You mean the Great Mother?"

Dagang snorted, his body swelling again, growing to five meters tall; he emitted a deep, ancient cry through throat and chest resonance.

As Dagang's cry spread, the Briver islanders clutched their bodies in agony, their coarse cloth garments splitting open—through the tears, scales rapidly sprouted across their skin.

Seeing this, Wu Chang did not drive his coral hammer into Dagang's mouth to interrupt the chant; he stood aside and let the fish-man proceed.

It wasn't his turn yet.

Just as the fish-man curse within the islanders fully detonated, transforming them into fish-men, a pale golden light spread outward from Elin.

The once damp, chilly cathedral, its air dyed deep blue by moisture, regained its colors under the light.

Where the light passed, puddles on floor and walls evaporated instantly; the dim candle flames flared brightly; the faded stained-glass windows shimmered back to life.

The light struck the townsfolk, and their agonized trembling ceased; the tight wrinkles on their faces slowly smoothed.

One moment they were submerged in icy winter seawater; the next, they lay on spring grass, bathed in warm sunlight.

The scales on their bodies dissolved under the light; the slender slits at their necks and bulging eyes returned to normal.

Only Dagang, lying on the ground, remained in his fish-man form.

Dagang's cry did not stop, but no matter how hard he screamed, no one in the chamber would answer him or change.

Under the angry stares of the islanders, Dagang was like an action movie instructor performing alone—his own shouts felt meaningless.

He ended with a symbolic sub-bass grunt and awkwardly fell silent.

Wu Chang asked from the side, "Finished?"

Dagang nodded.

Wu Chang swung his coral hammer and smashed Dagang's head back into the ground.

"You scream like garbage."

Dagang shouted in frustration, "Who the hell are you?!"

He had recognized Elin earlier—in his memory, she was merely the Great Mother's puppet, a failed creation, at most half-god tier.

Yet just now, Elin had effortlessly purified his true god's curse—her power level was clearly higher.

This he could not understand.

Besides Elin, the boy with the hammer was also strange—he felt no divine power from the man, yet he'd shattered Dagang's divine body with sheer physical force alone.

This was not the world he knew; he felt he'd lain too long in the deep sea, fallen out of touch with the surface.

In response to Dagang's question, Wu Chang said nothing, only swung the hammer again.

Dealing with the small fry before him, he couldn't even be bothered to use the Mamba elbow strike; brute force and the God-defier alone were enough to smash him into fish balls.

Dagang, driven frantic by the blows, realized if Wu Chang kept this up, he'd surely be pounded to death.

"You think clearing my curse will make this island safe? I am my lord's emissary—strike me, and you defy my lord! You will suffer the ocean's wrath!"

The Briver Cathedral stood at the island's center, far from the shore, built of thick stone, highly soundproofed.

Yet at this moment, everyone heard the sound of waves crashing against rocks, and heavy footsteps approaching land from the sea.

Along Briver's coastline, towering fish-men over three meters tall rode black waves ashore, wielding blades forged from shells, their eyes glowing with bloodlust.

If living believers cannot be fully absorbed, turn them into sacrificial offerings.

They had received their god's command: kill every living thing on the island, then sink it utterly into the deep sea.

The first fish-men to land at Briver Pier were led by an especially powerful individual.

His name was Ernst, once a notorious sea pirate during the age of three-masted ships.

In his youth, he had faced countless storms and tsunamis; no matter how wild the conditions, he always escaped with his ship.

When he returned once more to the underground tavern of Freeport, shouting, "The sea cannot kill me!" he believed he had conquered the ocean.

Until, during a treasure hunt, he encountered fish-men.

Before the fish-men, his vast sea-fighting experience made him as naive as a raw recruit.

Any single fish-man was stronger, swam better, and was more cruel than he.

Twenty fish-men capsized his fleet—ten ships, over a thousand men—all lost forever in that sea.

Watching the fish-men sacrifice nine ships as blood offerings, leaving not a single survivor, Ernst and his men surrendered, joining the fish-men to worship the great being beneath the deep.

Under the lord's power, he and his men became fish-men.

Though the lord commanded temporary silence, no unnecessary noise, Ernst had secretly raided ships for years, devouring lives to grow stronger.

He grew more powerful than any fish-man.

The fish-men who once crushed him like a child in the sea—he now defeated with one hand alone.

Aside from the fish-man leader, the Deep Abyss God Dagang, he was now the strongest in the fish-man race.

He had seen too much in the deep sea, challenged countless deep-sea races; now he could confidently say he had conquered the ocean.

The lord and the leader were gods of the sea—he was the King of the Sea.

Now, the King of the Sea would return to land, making these land-dwellers taste the nightmares he once endured.

He relished this feeling—those who had been drenched in rain must knock every passerby's umbrella away.

Ernst landed at Briver Pier with thirty of his most loyal, and strongest, fish-man followers.

The sea followed behind them; wherever they walked, black oceans swallowed the land.

When they killed all resistance on the island and turned the survivors into fish-men, Briver Island would sink utterly.

Ernst crossed the pier and finally stood on Briver Island.

He shook his body, seawater sliding off his scales to form a puddle beneath his feet.

The next moment, his foot dropped into emptiness, plunging him into seawater.

After ruling out the possibility that he had stepped through a collapsed floor and fallen into the sea, he quickly realized someone was using seawater against him.

Upon realizing this, Ernst nearly laughed out loud—what joke was this? Didn't the opponent know he was a fishman?

Besides the master's bedroom, he had entered the deepest trenches; what sea had he not seen? Entering water was like returning home.

But before long, he realized something was wrong—he had never seen this sea before.

It was filled with the purest darkness.

Fishmen's eyes were structurally unique, capable of seeing into the ocean floor where light could not penetrate, yet here, he sensed nothing.

Not just vision—his hearing, smell, and touch were all fading.

It was less a sea than a void.

What terrified him more was that after the sounds around him vanished, he began hearing sounds from within his own body.

He heard his heartbeat, the flow of his blood, the movement of air through his lungs.

Finally, he heard his own brain speaking.

The voices grew denser, louder, and harder to understand.

Just before his own mind drove him mad, he realized he had never truly conquered the sea—he was still far below the enemy who had trapped him in this sea.

Even more so than when he was human and first encountered the fishmen.

"My lord, spare my life! I surrender!"

"I'll do anything—just let me live!"

That was piracy: surrendering wasn't shameful; dying was.

Everyone fails. Every legendary pirate king has failed; many were captured and enslaved, or nearly hanged by the navy.

They became legends not because they were strong or had vast sea experience, but because they survived after failure.

In response to Ernst, there was only endless silence and darkness.

Just as he gave up and prepared to obey the voices in his mind and end himself, he suddenly felt pain in his mouth, then a tremendous force yanked him swiftly forward.

When he came to his senses, he was no longer in that black sea—he was back on Briver Island.

A fishhook hung from his lip; following the fishing line, he saw a burly man walking toward him, holding a fishing rod.

Wu Chang said coldly: "If you want to live, don't resist. Open your mind."

Ernst knew this routine well—he immediately complied, without hesitation.

As he opened himself, he added: "My mind has already been marked. My lord, if you imprint now, the effect may be weakened."

Wu Chang paused for a moment, then after several seconds, a beam of light shot from the cathedral and pierced Ernst's mind.

The mark left by Dagang was instantly purified by Ailin.

Then Wu Chang took out Mind Resonance and carved his own mark into Ernst's mind.

Having the black-purple pearl wasn't safe—who knew if the God of Corruption's remains would revoke its access after discovering Dagang's death? The safest method was still to find a fishman traitor as an inside agent.

With Ernst, finding the Deep Sea City won't be a problem.

He waved for Ernst to leave, instructing him to wait in the sea, then pulled out the dead fishmen from the Blind Abyss one by one and devoured their vital energy.

The quiet town was merely a C-rank dungeon; the natives were still too weak.

Thirty-five powerful fishmen, each providing only 1.5 strength, allowed Zhenwo to stack his strength attribute to 216.

The quality was poor, but the quantity was sufficient.

Zhenwo entered Sea Giant Transformation, becoming a four-hundred-meter-tall sea behemoth that began hunting along Briver Island's coastline.

Five minutes later, he devoured the last landfalling fishman's vital energy, looked at the pitiful 0.2 increase, and shook his head in disgust.

Thanks to the massive supply, the fishmen brought his strength to 300—but beyond that, the Wasteland Realm's barrier would constrain him.

Feeding on fishmen of this level could no longer increase his strength.

He clicked his tongue—he needed to hunt bigger prey.

The big prey now targeted lay sprawled on the floor, as if all strength had been drained from him.

Dagang's wide, dead fish-eyes were filled with disbelief.

The sound of waves inside the cathedral was fading; the tide was receding.

He hadn't retreated—but the tide had. That meant his master had abandoned him.

Watching Dagang's ashen face, Wu Chang guessed what had happened.

The Sea God was right—the God of Corruption's remains were indeed cowardly; whenever there was risk, He avoided it fiercely.

Yet this cowardly God of Corruption's remains had chosen to strike first—this abnormality proved He had something to hide.

Wu Chang looked at Dagang and asked: "Your master doesn't seem to want to take you. How about we make a deal? Reveal His secrets to me, and I'll help you drag Him away. I'm quick—I might even get you two companions on the road to the underworld."

Dagang differed from Ernst—he did not surrender. Instead, he gathered all his divine power, determined to fight to the death.

"My master hasn't abandoned me—He fears you and that wretched woman. He stays hidden for the greater good! My capture is my own arrogance, my failure to live up to His expectations!"

"If I've ruined His grand plan, then I must eliminate you—to ease His burden as much as I can!"

Wu Chang was stunned—he had never seen anyone self-PUA to this extent.

Seeing Dagang gather divine power and prepare to attack, he couldn't help clicking his tongue.

He thinks I'm weak, so he'll use me as the breakthrough point, huh?

Kid, no one breaks through me.

"Man!"

He swung the Mamba Iron Elbow just before Dagang completed his ability buildup—this elbow carried not only the power of the Blasphemer, but also 256 points of strength-enhanced divine lightning.

One elbow strike not only interrupted Dagan's spell chanting, but Dagan's divine essence acted like the best conductor, allowing the divine lightning to instantly spread throughout his entire body.

A single divine lightning strike rendered Dagan three-tenths cooked.

Before Wu Chang, the low-level native gods of the Wasteland Realm were easier to handle than ordinary bosses with no divinity, only stats and mechanics.

After one elbow strike, while Dagan was still stunned, he delivered two more elbow strikes in succession, then used a spatial teleportation array to send the five-tenths-cooked Dagan before Zhenwo.

Half a minute later, Zhenwo retracted his fist and swallowed Dagan's vital energy in one gulp.

Strength +42.

The native gods of the Wasteland Realm may be weak, but their nutritional value is anything but negligible.

Wu Chang was still immersed in the surge of power and the pumping sensation of his muscles filling with blood when he saw a brilliant crimson light spill from Dagan's body and fly toward the sea.

He barely had time to confirm it was a grudge, with no time to discern the scene within the grudge.

Dagan bore a grudge, but it did not attach to Wu Chang, who killed him; judging by his appearance as a primordial ox-horse sacred body, he had no reason to resent his master.

Could it be that Dagan's grudge attached itself to the Great Mother?

Inside the cathedral, as the threats posed by Dagan and the merfolk vanished, the merfolk curse within the islanders' bodies was purged, and their faith in Elin surged once more.

Watching Elin fold her wings and descend slowly, Mo Leina murmured dazedly:

"You are… Saintess Elin, my lord?"

Elin smiled. "I am Elin, but I am no longer the Church's saintess."

Mo Leina shook her head, trembling violently as she prepared to kneel. "It doesn't matter—thank you for coming to save us, thank you for hearing our prayers."

Before Mo Leina could kneel, Elin stepped forward and embraced her, her motion mirroring the Great Mother embracing a lost lamb in the stained-glass window.

Elin held Mo Leina close and whispered:

"I should be thanking you—for being willing to give your life to protect me."

Hearing these words, Mo Leina broke down. The guilt and self-reproach she had accumulated over this time erupted, and she sobbed uncontrollably, repeating "I'm sorry" over and over.

Moved by Mo Leina, the islanders spontaneously knelt on the ground, confessing to Elin as if worshipping a god.

For the people of Briver, before seeing Elin, they had no faith, just as they had no concept of good or evil.

Whether they revered the strong, the Ogri state religion, or the Ganzhi Sect Sect, it was only out of others' demands.

Though the grandest building in town was the Ogri state religion's cathedral, faith meant nothing to the islanders.

After Elin arrived, the islanders began to break free from Count Jemein's control; they learned what was right and wrong, truly understanding virtue and kindness.

They began to desire to escape their past resentment, earning wealth through labor and work rather than through violence and plunder.

The islanders' transformation came from Elin; the one they truly believed in was always Elin, not the Great Mother.

Their actions toward Elin had been like killing their own faith; even after attempting to make amends, their hearts remained filled with guilt.

Even when uncertain whether Elin had truly returned, merely suspecting a possibility, they chose to believe it true and immediately turned their faith to Elin.

They could accept outsiders simply because someone said "for the sake of the saintess," and offer aid based solely on unverified rumors of the saintess.

They even endured the merfolk's death threat, clinging to their last shred of faith for Elin—who had never forgiven them.

All of this was to atone, to fill the hollow void in their hearts.

Only now, having confirmed Elin's resurrection and her willingness to forgive their sins and return to Briver, did the hollows in their hearts slowly begin to grow flesh again.

In this state, the islanders' faith in Elin crystallized into absolute devotion; each became the most fervent zealot.

The roots of the Miracle Tree, which had previously struggled to take hold, now pierced straight through the cathedral's courtyard square, growing independently into a massive tree that firmly anchored the Quiet Town's plane within the Divine Realm.

Under the calming influence of the Miracle Tree and Elin, the crowd gradually stabilized, emerging from their near-collapse of confession.

Elin led them to the square and formally declared forgiveness for their past sins, urging them not to dwell in the past but to look toward the future.

Seeing the situation under control and his transformation pill just wearing off, Wu Chang, as the twenty-second town councilor of Briver Town, Xiao En, walked toward Mo Leina with a smile.

The letter of recommendation that had approved his council position bore three signatures: Harrison, Mo Leina, and Mati. Now, only Mo Leina remained alive.

They were old acquaintances; he intended to use this chance to ask Mo Leina what had happened in town during this time.

"Chief Mo Leina, do you remember me?"

Mo Leina turned to look at Wu Chang; she had been so stunned by Elin's appearance that she had ignored Wu Chang's presence.

Now she recalled: Wu Chang had slain Dagan—whom the islanders had been powerless against—without any help from Elin, yet she had once mistaken him for a traitor and planned to attack him.

"I'm sorry—I misunderstood you just now…" She began to apologize, but as she studied his familiar face after the transformation, something clicked.

"You're Xiao En?"

Wu Chang smiled. "Yes."

Having an acquaintance was good—it meant he didn't have to explain his identity, saving unnecessary trouble.

Mo Leina exclaimed happily: "That night after you left my house, you vanished from town. I searched for you everywhere and thought you'd died in the chaos at the count's manor that day—I never imagined you'd still be alive, let alone grown this strong."

Wu Chang: …

Elin:?

(End of Chapter)