Chapter 267

The sky gradually brightened, and Ang, accompanied by the little angel and the little zombie, cheerfully collected insect corpses—each one burned into super fertilizer.

Nagelis and Lamor, however, stood silently observing a cocoon on the beach.

After Ang removed the insect god's heart, all the insects went mad, surging desperately toward the heart; Ang used every spell he had, yet could not stop them.

This made Ang deeply realize his firepower was still far too weak…

In the end, he barely managed to slap a soul imprint onto the heart before being completely overwhelmed by the insects.

The insects bit into the heart but did not break it; instead, they liquefied and stuck to its surface.

The liquid accumulated, forcibly pushing Ang out, until countless insects clung to the heart, forming a massive sphere at least ten meters in diameter.

Unfortunately, they underestimated Ang's sense of public virtue; while the liquid was still soft, Ang swiftly scraped it off, forcibly removing more than half, leaving only about five meters in diameter.

Calculating by the volume of a sphere, a five-meter-diameter sphere is only one-eighth the volume of a ten-meter-diameter sphere.

Eventually, the liquid hardened into a cocoon five meters in size, but before it fully solidified, Ang pried off two sections of its shell…

Throughout the entire process, the insects behaved like mad creatures, completely ignoring someone's orders; Ang saw a humanoid figure struggling in the pile, a handsome face twisted with terror, helplessly swept forward and finally stuck to the cocoon.

"It seems the insect god's attraction to insects has the highest priority," Nagelis murmured.

"What a miraculous thing—its body pulses with endless vitality, the exact opposite of us," Lamor touched the cocoon shell, scanning it with his mind, marveling: "Is it reviving through the heart? Is this its phylactery? Like our liches?"

"Probably not—it's just unusually resilient vitality, not the same concept as a lich's phylactery," Nagelis analyzed.

He turned to Ang and shouted: "Ang, I'm not an expert on this—call Sawa over."

Ang nodded, then continued gathering his fertilizer; only after a full hour did he take out the Heavenly Scepter and open a portal.

The Heavenly Scepter activates the Heavenly Stairway's teleportation function: those transported must first gather in Demon Valley, ascend the Heavenly Stairway into Holy Heaven, then pass through a portal from the temple's rooftop.

If not in Demon Valley, one must first teleport there, making multiple jumps—time-consuming and laborious—but it remains the most convenient method of travel.

Alchemist Sawa, the bullwoman cook Vanya, Gearmaster Valigu, and even Ouk all arrived together.

Sawa was dragged before the cocoon to study it; Valigu was hauled into the soilless rice waterways to design a machine for rapid harvesting; Vanya was taken to the detention area to cook for the imprisoned adventurers, lest they starve.

But Vanya didn't light a fire—she handed each person a rock-hard dry biscuit, then punched two adventurers who complained; soon everyone realized Vanya was unfit as a cook, better suited as a prison warden.

After punching two adventurers to establish authority, she began selecting people—two adventurers who could cook but clearly had no combat ability—to handle the meals.

A group of adventurers, half-starved and parched from chewing dry biscuits, finally got hot food at noon—boiled dry biscuits.

"At least you've got something to eat! Don't you see our leader and commanders haven't eaten yet!" Vanya bellowed, hands on hips.

Those in the know couldn't help but glare at her: your leader eating would be the real problem.

Under the banner of the Bone-Chef Mercenary Company, Ang's group began taking control of the Light Sands Continent; once they seized the teleportation array, this plane effectively belonged to Ang.

Others could come too, but without using the teleportation array, they'd have to find their own way to transport here—something beyond ordinary people's capability.

Where could they go even if they arrived? The sands were already occupied; unlike the Church of Light, Ang had a convenient method to monitor all sand islands—bury a single skeleton on each.

Teleport into the sea? Then figure out how not to drown.

But no major power would likely be interested—everywhere you looked was water, unsuitable for farming, devoid of minerals, with almost no unique products; no wonder, after two hundred years, the Light Sands had only a thousand or so adventurers.

Ang was busy processing insect corpses, Nagelis studying the insect cocoon, Valigu researching the harvester; three days later, Valigu came to Ang with his machine.

"My lord, please observe: a simple rolling guillotine. First, press the gel plate to maintain its height under the blade, then the blade rolls over, and the rear barrier pushes the rice stalks onto shore, where people can tie them up."

"Just drag those gel plates through the waterways into this slot—your gel plates are all uniform, so future ones must follow this standard," Valigu explained.

Ang tested it—it was indeed convenient. Plant along the waterways; when harvesting, link the gel plates with ropes and pull them like a convoy.

"Build several more guillotines—harvesting a hundred thousand tons won't be too hard. Start harvesting now and send the grain to Antony gradually; with enough food, he'll find it easier to deceive people."

Nagelis crossed his arms, smirking: "I'm just curious—what trick will he use to send a hundred thousand people out of the main plane?"

Soon, Nagelis found out: "What? Holy War? These are heretics?"

Nagelis stared, eyes bulging, as farmer-clad humans emerged one by one from the teleportation array—heretics among humans in the main plane?

"Of course there are—many of them. Some small nations have ideal terrain—easy to defend, deeply devout—hard to convert; these are followers of the Harvest Goddess," said Patrice, the Holy Servant, an old acquaintance of Silver Coin, also explaining Antony's plan.

"But this year they suffered disaster, fleeing to the Eastern Diocese. The High One cannot aid them directly—both Eastern and Western Dioceses are suffering; if he aids heretics, the Church will condemn him to death," Patrice said.

Nagelis nodded understandingly—heretics were a thorny issue; though Harvest Goddess followers were harmless, aiding them while your own people starved would surely get Antony lynched by his own clergy.

"But the High One didn't want them to die, so he showed mercy—sent agents to spread rumors among the heretics that we planned to exterminate them to save grain, causing panic," Patrice added, tone dismissive, always calling them "heretics."

Clearly, she was the type who didn't care about heretics—she was merely fulfilling Antony's orders.

"Meanwhile, the High One mobilized the Church internally, declaring a Holy War to exterminate these heretics—but he found a channel: one healthy heretic exchanges for one ton of grain. So he instructed everyone to spare their bodies and lives during the Holy War," Patrice said.

Nagelis spat: "Pfft—this works? Antony's shameless!"

Patrice pretended not to hear, continuing: "Daisen thought this deal was brilliant and demanded to join, but the High One refused. Then Daisen asked: what about non-heretics? One person per ton of grain—even Church members could be sold. So the High One asked me to ask you: do you want Church followers?"

Nagelis smiled: "No. Antony wants us to feed people for free again—shameless."

Patrice continued as if she hadn't heard: "Then the High One sent agents again to the Harvest Goddess followers, spreading rumors that the Harvest Goddess had been found here—come here, eat your fill, and serve the Goddess. So the High One asked you: could you show a miracle to make them believe you are the Harvest Goddess?"

"That's doable—but Ang won't have time for this. Lisa Lisa, come here—you're best at pretending to be divine."

…

High Priest Dakwen stared despairingly at the sand island, waterways, adventurers, and strange creatures before him—he knew he'd been tricked by the Church of Light.

Those people had come only to deceive and lure them here to die—how could such a barren world hold the footsteps of the Harvest Goddess?

As a priest of the Harvest Goddess, Dakwen's faith was absolute—he would unhesitatingly give his life for her.

But this year, for reasons unknown, the Goddess had not blessed them—this year's land yielded no harvest. Had the Harvest Goddess abandoned them?

For ordinary believers, faith couldn't feed them; starving, no god mattered. Under the crowd's pressure, Dakwen followed them to heretic lands.

But even heretic life was harsh—sometimes they threatened extermination, sometimes they spoke of trading them for grain; eventually, rumors twisted into: the Harvest Goddess was exchanging grain for these devout followers.

Dakwen sneered—if the Goddess truly wanted to trade them, why not speak directly to him, the High Priest? Why rely on heretics to relay the message?

But did Dakwen have a choice? No. His only option was to tell everyone he'd go ahead to scout—if he found the Goddess, he'd return to summon them.

If he didn't return, never enter the teleportation array—better to fight the heretics to death than step into it; at least then they'd die on the main plane, their bodies nourishing the earth.

Of course, he harbored a sliver of hope—what if the rumor were true?

But that one-in-ten-thousand hope shattered now—this barren world was all unsuitable sand and gravel; how could the Harvest Goddess's footsteps exist here?

As Dakwen hesitated, wondering whether to just bash his head against the ground, a long line of gel plates sprouting rice stalks slowly glided past, drifting before Dakwen and the others.

At the front of the line stood a woman in a green gauze dress, fair and beautiful, resembling the Harvest Goddess—her skin dewy, her presence serene.

As she passed Dakwen, she rose into the air, floating before them, radiating holy light, smiling with compassion, and softly spoke: "You've come."

At her words, the green plants on the gel plates behind her suddenly grew at astonishing speed.

On the distant shore, Ang quietly stepped on a footprint; to maximize the spectacle, he'd chosen plants about to enter grain-filling, flowering, and fruiting stages—under the Rapid Death Aura, they surged into full growth, creating a stunning visual effect.

Against this backdrop, Lisa smiled: "I shall bring you harvest."

This was the most common phrase in the Harvest Goddess's holy scripture—clearly a direct claim of identity.

Without the backdrop, it would merely be flattery—like the Church of Light's "May the Holy Light protect you."

But with the rapidly growing crops behind her, even Dakwen no longer doubted—he trembled with awe and knelt: "Goddess bless us! Abundant harvest!"

…

Dakwen returned to the main plane via the teleportation array, shouting excitedly to all believers: "We found the Goddess! The Harvest Goddess has brought us harvest! And miraculous soilless rice! Hurry! Bring your tools! Serve the Harvest Goddess!"

Followers of the Harvest Goddess flooded into the Pale Sea plane; Ang soon realized they were stealing his farming work.

Harvest Goddess followers were the most skilled farmers—they grasped soilless rice cultivation in two days and tended it far more meticulously than Ang ever could.

In large-scale planting, Ang couldn't be meticulous—sowing was done by magic, spacing sufficient but never perfectly optimal like a true farmer.

On one gel plate, Ang might plant nine rows; they could plant ten—adding a full extra row, a ten percent increase in yield.

Their finer techniques meant Ang's main role became preparing gel plates; once those were ready, the farmers took over everything else—soon, floating gel plates covered every waterway on the entire sand island, leaving only a few main channels for boats.

Ang lost his greatest joy…

"You can't reclaim the land like in the Abyss of Rest—yourself, you can't feed this many people. Let them farm; otherwise, we can't sustain a hundred thousand mouths."

After Nagelis's earnest pleading, Ang abandoned the idea of driving them off to farm himself, sulking on the edge of a sand island, gazing at the distant sea.

The little angel and little zombie squatted beside him, a large cat perched atop the little angel's head.

This was the outermost sand island—everywhere, water stretched to the horizon; the setting sun glinted on the waves.

Nagelis flew over, sighed, unsure what to say—given Ang's nature, if he was idle enough to watch the sunset, he must be unbearably bored: "Maybe you should…"

Before he finished, a distant dot rapidly expanded—sail silhouette unmistakably belonged to Jelis's ground-effect airship.

The airship skimmed at two or three meters, its underpressure creating a white wake—but behind it, a larger white trail churned: a colossal sea beast was closing in.

Finally, something to play with—Ang flipped over, plopped onto Nagelis's back, and waved his hand forward.

Nagelis panicked: Lightning? Where's Lightning? He looked around—no sign of Lightning—reluctantly took flight toward the airship.

The beast chasing the airship was the Gulu Gulu tribe's Sea God—a hundred-meter-long marine creature resembling an eel but shorter and stockier—and unfortunately, it wasn't a demon beast.

So when it met the invincible Bone-Lock, it was crushed in two or three punches; while his transformation still lasted a few seconds, Ang grabbed the beast's neck bone and dragged it swiftly to the shallows.

All the Gulu Gulu clinging to the sea monster were shaken off, stunned—watching their invincible "Sea God" crushed and dragged away by the purple-gold skeleton—they froze, then scattered in panic.

"What a fat sea monster! This fat can be lamp oil, this skin can make clothes, this meat can feed a hundred thousand people for several meals—ha! Dinner's on us!" Nagelis laughed gleefully.

Sawa rode Lightning over, froze at the sight of the giant sea monster, and jumped up excitedly: "My lords, you already know? You brought it back so fast? I was coming to tell you!"

Nagelis blinked: "Know what? Know what?"

"The insect god cocoon is about to hatch—but it lacks enough heat, so it can't break free, only wither. I was coming to ask you to catch some fish—surely you didn't…"

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