Chapter 273: The Goddess

It seemed everyone had forgotten the new deity who, with Shamara, competed for faith energy in the place where wind blew at night.

Everyone originally thought it was in the Abyss of Rest, so many rushed back to search, found the Holy Kingdom, but only discovered a tiny wraith and two petrified beings.

Then they kept searching, found the village of the elven druids, found the god-body grown from the earth—but the village of the elven druids had no wind at night, so that god-body was not the one competing with Shamara for faith.

Here, wind blew at night—could it be that the divine core was here?

Ang made no explanation; he dashed straight toward the reef.

"Hey, Skeleton, where are you going? Come back, it's too dangerous!" Alice shouted loudly but dared not chase after him, helplessly watching Ang vanish into the largest entrance of the reef.

Ang chose this entrance because it bubbled the most—gurgle, gurgle—just like the magical fish tanks created by mage fishkeepers.

Negril muttered: "This reef's material would make perfect aquarium décor—let's dig up some and sell it to those old fishkeeping mages later."

"Oh." Ang replied, casually smashing the rock, then grabbed several large shards and stuffed them into the Palace of Rest.

It had been a casual smash—he'd already moved on—but after traveling a distance, Ang suddenly turned back, found the fractured surface of the reef, and examined it.

Negril gasped: "Is this reef alive?"

Ang shook his head: "Petrification Crossbow."

On the fracture surface, patterns resembling biological tissue were visible—but petrified, covered in marine growth or decay; only the break revealed these patterns.

Could this reef once have been a giant creature?

It wasn't impossible—serpent-fish water monsters could breed hundred-meter-long sea creatures; what's strange about a living reef? If it were a bivalve, it could grow even larger.

But Ang had to be cautious—he summoned soul energy, rapidly armorizing his body.

Once armored, Ang plunged into the bubbles.

The channels and holes in the reef continuously spewed bubbles, blowing away the water; as soon as Ang entered the passage, he felt violent gusts slam against him, stripping away his water and sending him sliding backward.

Ang gently manipulated magic, guiding the wind to flow past his sides while he pressed forward against it.

Inside, Negril became certain: this was the interior of a giant sea creature, likely a clam—the outer reef was actually its shell?

Inside the reef, a vast space opened, supported by numerous strangely styled stone pillars.

Countless holes had been carved into the walls; some contained debris, clearly signs of habitation.

Judging by the number of holes, during its peak, the reef's interior could house thousands, even tens of thousands of people.

The lower part of the space was flooded; countless bubbles rose gurgling from the water, then blasted out through channels and holes all around—when the wind stopped tomorrow, seawater would flood back in, rising until it surpassed the water level of every hole.

The air inside the space was compressed into the upper portion, never fully submerged; this dry upper zone was the main living area for the Sea People.

At this height stood a statue of the Goddess of Redemption, her hands resting on her right shoulder, as if pulling an invisible rope—there once may have been a rope, but now it had rotted or fallen away, gone entirely.

The statue remained fixed in this posture, as if dragging some heavy object.

Ang followed the direction of the invisible rope, leapt into the gurgling water, and dove deep, soon spotting a giant pearl.

"Impossible!" Negril shouted the moment he saw the sphere: "It can't be a pearl—how could biological matter survive this long? It should've rotted away long ago."

Pearls form from nacre secreted by clams; they easily decay and degrade—there's no such thing as a thousand-year-old pearl.

Indeed, it wasn't a pearl—Ang pushed through the bubbles to the giant sphere, touched it, and realized it was a stone ball; perhaps once a pearl, now fully petrified.

"Again, the Petrification Crossbow—looks like the Church of Light made many modifications here," Negril said.

The stone ball was seven or eight meters in diameter; Ang pushed hard, and with the water's buoyancy, it moved easily.

Negril directed his awareness toward the source of the air flow and found another hole, seven or eight meters wide—could this stone ball have been blocking that hole?

Negril's awareness returned to the stone ball and immediately spotted a golden rope on the ground where the ball had been—undetected earlier because it had been crushed beneath the stone sphere.

"Ang, pick up that rope—could it be what the Goddess of Redemption's statue was dragging?" Negril wondered.

Ang picked it up, glanced at it, saw nothing unusual, rolled it into a coil, and stuffed it into the Palace of Rest.

"Ssshh, Ang—you've found a treasure! This is the Redemption Rope, the Goddess of Redemption's personal artifact," Negril said, envious and bitter after examining the rope in his space.

How could this dead skeleton have such luck? Everywhere he goes, he finds treasures—is he the bones of the Goddess of Luck?

Ang tilted his head: "What's it for?"

"Don't know—but it can definitely bind people. Though it seems broken, lost its divine power—I'll fix it later, you pour some holy energy into it and see. Hmph, see? You're lucky—you found me, a god who knows how to use the Alchemy Rod. Most people can't repair artifacts like this." Negril boasted.

Ang nodded: "Can bind seaweed."

"..."

After circling the seabed, besides the broken Redemption Rope, there was nothing else to find.

Having confirmed this, Ang finally directed his awareness toward the bubbling hole.

Based on the air volume and duration, this hole must lead to a vast space—perhaps another plane. Should he go in and check?

After only two seconds of thought, Ang made his decision: he pushed the stone ball into the hole, shoved it hard—it fit perfectly, jammed tightly into the opening, blocking the escaping air.

"What? The grain was burned?" In the main plane, Anthony received the news and leapt from his chair in shock.

He quickly closed his eyes and called for Ang—but of course, no response came; Ang was furiously chasing the serpent-fish water monsters who had burned his grain.

Realizing the situation was irreversible, Anthony acted decisively: "Move! Move! Activate the Phoenix Plan immediately!"