Chapter 268: Six gods? What six gods?

A steady stream of sea monster fat was placed onto the cocoon, quickly melting and then being absorbed. A three-finger-thick layer of grease was completely absorbed in just a few dozen seconds.

Isn't it lacking calories? Grease is high in calories; why eat meat? Drink the oil instead.

As for the sea monster meat, it was being continuously tossed into a massive stone pot, boiling violently. The wafting aroma of meat made everyone who smelled it swallow involuntarily.

In this day and age, even landlords and nobles couldn't eat meat often. Adventurers, on the other hand, had more opportunities to eat meat because they were always running around.

However, they rarely had the chance to taste sea monster meat.

Vanya pulled out a sack, used a large bowl to scoop up a bowl of salt, and dumped it all into the stone pot in one go. At this, even those adventurers couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

The sea in the Pale Sea Plane was freshwater. There was no shortage of fish, but there was a shortage of salt. Some adventurers had been here for several years, gnawing on fish meat every day; their mouths had long since gone bland. Now, seeing so much salt, they were itching to pounce on it and take a few bites.

Vanya tasted the saltiness, decided it was enough, and pulled out several other sacks, scooping out some spices.

A stir broke out among the onlookers. Some couldn't help but ask, "This... this isn't a last meal for an execution, is it? You're actually using spices?"

In the Main Plane, spices were also incredibly precious, more valuable than gold. Even nobles couldn't eat spices every day, which led to the development of a type of banquet called a "Spice Banquet," where a bunch of high-ranking officials and wealthy people would wear bright, beautiful clothes and gather together to eat spices...

Everyone present was a poor adventurer; what qualifications did they have to eat spices? Could it be a last meal before being beheaded?

Everyone was scared to the point of needing to pee by their own speculation. How could they have imagined that this was just something Vanya mentioned casually, and Ang had simply planted a little for her, so she used it on a whim.

Silver Coin had collected over a thousand types of crop seeds for Ang, and the elves had collected over ten thousand. Everyone should be able to understand the pain of having too many toys in hand and not knowing which one to play with, right?

So Ang just asked everyone casually what crops they wanted. Only Varigu, Sawa, and Vanya raised their hands.

Varigu wanted a few types of wood, saying it was for making constructs. Ang placed the Divine Wood, World Tree, and bamboo in front of him, and he immediately changed his tune: "No need, no need. These woods can be used reluctantly."

Sawa was an alchemist and needed medicinal herbs, and there were a great many types. Ang wasn't willing to go through the trouble, so he only planted a few rare ones and let her buy the rest herself. Anyway, there was a budget every quarter.

Vanya also reported a few types of spices. Although there were also many types of spices, there was no helping it; Vanya had only seen a few commonly used ones. Even if she were given others, she wouldn't know how to use them.

However, having a few commonly used ones was quite good. Putting some cumin on roasted meat and cinnamon or star anise in stewed soup—the things Vanya cooked could kill 99% of the cooks in the entire plane. She could finally count as a cook in name and deed, rather than a Tauren warrior.

A pile of adventurers and Harvest believers licked the meat soup and roasted meat clean. Upon learning that it wasn't a last meal, but Vanya's routine operation, Vanya immediately became the most popular person in the Pale Sea Plane, second only to the Harvest Goddess Miss Lisha.

Those who do the killing are, after all, not as popular as those who provide the food...

Those responsible for the killing were currently surrounding the insect cocoon, watching it absorb the sea monster meat and fat. Everyone could feel the joyful information radiating from it, quite similar to the Little Sapling.

Ang simply took out the Little Sapling and placed it on his head, then let it wave its leaves there: "Exert force—grow—"

The aura of the insect cocoon did indeed rise much faster.

After absorbing a full two or three tons of meat and fat, the insect cocoon cracked open with a "crack, crack" sound, revealing a chubby... little horse.

It really looked like a little horse, except its face and neck weren't that long, its four limbs weren't hooves, it had a pair of small wings on its back, and there were fine scales on its body. Otherwise, it was almost identical to a horse.

Everyone turned their gaze to Flash at the first opportunity.

Flash, who was curiously examining the little horse, saw everyone turning to look at it and couldn't help but be stunned: "What are you looking at me for?"

After saying this, it realized something and hurriedly defended itself: "No, I didn't. Don't frame me, I didn't do anything."

Everyone also felt it was impossible, so they turned their heads to continue observing. Miss Lisha said, "The scales on its body look a bit like dragon scales."

Everyone looked at Naigelis again.

Naigelis was quite calm: "I am a dead dragon."

That was true, too. A dead dragon couldn't do anything. Everyone turned their heads to continue observing. The little horse also stared with its round, big eyes, curiously examining everyone. After looking for a few moments, its attention came to the split cocoon shell.

It opened its mouth wide, revealing a mouthful of fine, sharp teeth, took a bite of the cocoon shell, easily bit the shell into pieces, and swallowed it.

"Many oviparous animals have the habit of eating their own eggshells. Does it count as oviparous now? Didn't you say it was an Insect God?" Sawa curiously leaned her head in and poked the cocoon shell.

With such a large head leaning in, the chubby Insect God naturally didn't stand on ceremony and opened its mouth wide to bite down. With that mouthful of fine, sharp teeth, if she were bitten, Sawa wouldn't need to think about putting herself back together; being able to reincarnate as a headless zombie would be quite good.

Ang's mind stirred, and the chubby Insect God suddenly stiffened. Its round, big eyes revealed panic; it discovered that its mouth wouldn't close.

What to do, what to do? The Insect God panicked and used its front claws to support its chin, trying to close it, but no matter how hard it tried, its claws couldn't reach its chin. It wasn't until Ang released the soul control that it could close its mouth.

The Insect God clearly knew the severity of the situation now. It lay down obediently, its eyes cautiously looking around, and finally landed on Ang. It instinctively revealed a fawning expression; clearly, it had already discovered who had launched soul control on it.

Ang looked at it, it was obedient. Ang looked at it, it was obedient. Ang looked at it, and the Insect God finally lowered its head, not daring to look at Ang again.

Only then did Ang wave his hand, signaling it to continue eating.

As the Insect God gnawed on the cocoon shell, it was Naigelis's turn to take the stage. It flew in front of the Insect God and tentatively asked, "Do you still remember who you are?"

The Insect God, holding a piece of cocoon shell in its mouth, looked at Naigelis blankly.

"Do you still remember what your name is?" Naigelis probed again.

The Insect God shook its head and lay back into the cocoon shell to gnaw intently.

Naigelis put its small claws behind its back, signaled to Ang, and then said to the Insect God, "Your name is Hemuer."

The Insect God raised its head, holding the cocoon shell, its eyes blank.

"Your name is Hemuer, Hemuer is you. Do you remember? Do you know? From now on, if someone calls Hemuer, they are calling you." Naigelis repeated its name three times in one breath.

The Insect God nodded blankly and then buried its head back into the cocoon shell. For it now, nothing could be more important than eating.

Naigelis flew back and quietly asked Ang, "How is it? When you called its name just now, did its soul fluctuate?"

Ang shook his head.

"Then it seems it really has lost its previous memories, or rather, it is already a new soul," Naigelis concluded.

Ang had soul control over it, so even the faintest soul fluctuation couldn't be hidden from Ang, and the Insect God had no reaction at all to the name Hemuer. The greatest possibility was that it simply didn't remember this name.

"But, this is a god. Is it that easy to lose memories? Isn't it said that gods are hard to kill? If it can't even keep its memories, can it still be called hard to kill?" Miss Lisha leaned over and asked suspiciously.

Naigelis explained, "Gods being hard to kill means that if they have a large number of believers, pious believers, and undying faith, even if they die, as long as the believers haven't all died out, they can reignite their divine fire. That's why gods are hard to kill."

"However, whether the one who reignites the divine fire is the original god is open to question. This is a bit like you liches. Theoretically, liches have soul caskets and can be reborn repeatedly, but what about those liches who don't know how to make soul caskets? If the soul dissipates, won't they die just the same?"

"Gods are the same. They have many ways to preserve memories; they can seal them, engrave them, or reincarnate. But if they don't know these techniques, when the divine spark shatters and the reignited divine fire loses its memories, it is still an Insect God, but is it still Hemuer?"

"Don't forget, this Hemuer was originally just a farmer who became an Insect God through the chance of raising insects. In terms of techniques, he might not even have as many as you."

Miss Lisha suddenly realized and admired, "My Lord Naigelis, you know so much."

"Small matter, small matter." Naigelis waved its hand with a calm face, trying hard to control its small tail from sticking up: "You need to learn more theoretical knowledge in this area. With the Harvest Goddess's one hundred thousand believers, we can try to see if we can steal the Harvest Goddess's faith and let you become a false god."

"This... is it that exciting? I... I'm a little scared." Miss Lisha, who had lived for over a thousand years and seen big scenes, couldn't help but feel a little flustered, her legs feeling a bit weak.

Becoming a god? Even a false god was something she had never thought of in her life.

"What are you afraid of? Even if you are a god, you are only Ang's subordinate god. Any benefits are still his; you are at most borrowing his power," Naigelis said irritably.

It was currently a subordinate god, and any benefits were Ang's; it only had the pot.

"Phew, that's good, that's good. That's good, that's good. I'll listen to my Lord." Miss Lisha let out a long breath, the pressure on her body instantly vanished, and her waist no longer ached, nor were her legs weak.

Hey, borrowing the power of my Lord—Miss Lisha was familiar with this. And encountering a main god as generous as Ang, being a subordinate god wasn't bad, and she didn't have to bear the pressure.

In the Holy Light Temple, Guli Anni held the scepter in one hand and the holy scripture in the other, praying before the statue. Such homework was a daily requirement for the Pope. As he prayed, an invisible bridge was built between the statue and Guli Anni, and some invisible power was transmitted between them.

I don't know how long it had been, but Guli Anni slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of golden pupils. His entire aura had a feeling of being ready to move, ready to break out of his body.

Guli Anni stood there steadily, waiting for this impulse to fade. The gold in his eyes dissipated, and only then did he lower his hands, murmuring to himself, "The power is getting stronger and stronger. When I control the divine spark, I will surely bring down divine punishment and judge you, Anthony."

Anthony was so busy his feet didn't touch the ground. With Ang's steady supply of food, Anthony suddenly had the confidence to suppress grain prices and deal with those unscrupulous merchants who were hoarding for speculation.

However, before that, he issued the highest administrative order, requiring strict inspections everywhere, and not a single grain was allowed to flow out of the Eastern Diocese.

Then he began to continuously transport grain back from the Pale Sea Plane, generously letting the soldiers and merchant caravans of the major nations help transport the grain. Even if a grain bag was accidentally broken and the plump rice flowed out, he didn't care.

Almost overnight, the news that Archbishop Anthony had obtained a large amount of grain spread throughout the Eastern Diocese, and grain prices began to fluctuate.

The noble landlords and merchants who had been hoarding grain acted quickly, attempting to transport their grain to the western dioceses where grain prices were higher, but they were unable to move it due to Anthony's administrative order.

Watching the grain prices loosen day by day, some people feared the grain would be stuck in their hands and were forced to lower their prices to sell.

As long as the price dropped to a reasonable range, Anthony would accept everything that came his way, taking as much as there was; if he didn't have enough money, he would borrow from the Silver Chamber of Commerce.

Ku Ba Da, if Nage Lisi knew, he would definitely scold Anthony again; this was no longer eating from both ends, but eating from three.

Because of the permits, the Silver Chamber of Commerce almost monopolized the bulk trade between humans and elves. Backed by elves who had mines at home, the Silver Chamber of Commerce had an incredibly sufficient cash flow.

And Anthony was a high-quality borrower, holding a pile of high-quality real estate in his hands; if he could, Anthony would even dare to mortgage churches and temples.

Of course, the Silver Chamber of Commerce didn't dare to accept those, only things like manors and mines.

With sufficient funds and a steady stream of grain acquisitions, Anthony's confidence grew, the cards in his hand became thicker, and the space for him to maneuver became larger.

All of this only required a little bit of initial investment; Ang's one hundred thousand tons of grain was the lever to pry all of this open.

Now, it was only necessary to allocate the grain to the disaster-stricken areas nearby, and the Eastern Diocese might be able to survive this disaster year.

However, all of this required very meticulous paperwork. Anthony had been signing documents for the past few days—releasing grain, transferring personnel, giving money, etc. —all of which required signatures, signing until his fingers were stiff, and he had to cast a Healing Holy Light on himself from time to time.

A black shadow entered the room silently.

Anthony decisively flipped the table in front of him, unleashed all his defensive skills, and then shouted in his heart: My lord, help me!!!

Being able to enter his room silently meant the intruder was definitely not an easy opponent. Under these circumstances, if they dared to come and assassinate him, they must have had absolute certainty. No matter what, he had to shout for help first; anyway, Ang didn't charge for it.

The black shadow gently caught the table and said awkwardly, "Uh, Bishop Anthony, it's me."

Anthony looked closely: "Shaya, why is it you? You want to scare me to death."

Besides an assassin, indeed only Shaya, that fellow with the ability of premonition, could run in silently.

The guards outside heard the commotion and rushed in, but were immediately stopped by Anthony: "Do not come in, close your eyes, and retreat."

Shaya was a Fallen Angel; seeing her appear in his room, Anthony wouldn't be able to wash himself clean even with holy water.

The guards hurriedly retreated, only seeing a graceful back, and suddenly felt a chill in their hearts: It's over, we've interrupted the Bishop's good deed.

Shaya said awkwardly: "I just wanted to come and find you, hoping you could relay to Lord Ang that he needs six gods."

"Six gods? What thing needs six gods?" Anthony asked in confusion.

Shaya was even more awkward: "I don't know either. When I was practicing Holy Spirit Possession with Luna, my power greatly increased, and that voice in my heart desperately told me that it wanted them."

"It's too late, tell him yourself," Anthony said irritably.