Chapter 307

Leaving the mental space, Nagris asked about it.

"How did you know?" Lisa asked, puzzled. "It happened over a thousand years ago, and I never told anyone—could it be Lord Anthony? Did Lord Anthony investigate me?"

"No, because you're the only Holy Maiden who got stranded in the Resting Abyss due to the interdimensional transit hub shutting down. Too unlucky, so he glanced at the roster a few extra times when burning it." Nagris said.

Lisa covered her face. A Holy Maiden remembered just because she was that unlucky?

"Yes, I was once the first heir of the Rosha Duchy. The current Rosha Duke should be my brother's… " Lisa counted on her fingers for a long time, then said: "Probably the forty-sixth descendant. Was it Misha or something? Why are we suddenly talking about this? I'm here just to report unrest in the nearby Us Duchy."

Lisa's information was clearly outdated. The intelligence gathered by Meishencheng's clients couldn't match the speed or timeliness of the Holy Church's network.

Nagris recounted the news he'd just received from Anthony, along with Anthony's analysis and calculations.

Lisa immediately panicked: "So sneaky? That's despicable! When Us was founded, we even aided them! Now they're scheming against my descendants? My lord, please grant me leave—I want two years off."

Nagris also panicked, making frantic facial gestures and constantly glancing at Ang.

True to form, Lisa was observant and thoughtful—she instantly understood Nagris's meaning, turned to Ang, and said: "My lord, Nagris is bored and wants me to take you to Rosha to kill off those Us people."

Ang tilted his head: "Can you grow anything in Rosha?"

Lisa ignored Nagris's frantic eye signals and replied honestly: "Rosha Duchy is mostly mountains and hills. Arable land is scarce. You can't grow vegetables."

"Oh, then I won't go. You go." Ang said, effectively granting Lisa's leave.

Nagris complained: "Why are you so honest? Just lie a little—get Ang to help you!"

Lisa glanced at it: "Are you stupid? I'm lying to my own god? By the way, my lord, can you sell me some grain?"

"Sure." Ang nodded. "Carry it yourself."

The grain grown at Zuilong Lake wasn't stored in the Palace of Rest; it was kept in Meishencheng. Lisa had her own key—take as much as you want.

"Yes, thank you, my lord." Lisa beamed. With Ang's word, she now had an endless grain supply. With enough food, couldn't Rosha Duchy handle a few refugees?

Just as he was about to summon Baihou, Nagris—who'd been stifled for too long—couldn't miss this chance and hurriedly said:

"No one else can grow on Rosha's land, but you can—your soilless rice and gravel mushrooms can grow anywhere. If needed, we can go there and plant Holy Mushrooms. Our essence liquid output is falling behind, and dragons will need it too—we need to grow more."

Ang nodded, asking: "Is there plenty of water?"

Holy Mushrooms were indeed a problem. His current territories—the Calm Sea Dimension and Zuilong Lake—were too dry, with too much sunlight. They couldn't grow Holy Mushrooms.

Anmian City was ideal, but lacked water. The lich underground city in the Resting Abyss had reached maximum output; further expansion would require developing new subterranean space.

Since expansion was inevitable anyway, why not just find a spot in the main dimension? If Rosha Duchy wasn't short of water, its hills and mountains would be perfect for mushroom farming.

"Plenty! Much better than underground cities—at least we won't need glow moss for light. Perfect! With my lord's help, we might settle Us Duchy in just a few weeks." Lisa exclaimed excitedly.

"Ah? No rush, no rush—we can take our time." Nagris hurriedly said. As long as it wasn't boring crop farming, she was happy to stay longer in Rosha Duchy.

Ang moved people with ease—he simply packed everyone into the Palace of Rest, mounted Lightning, and headed straight for Rosha Duchy. By that night, they arrived near the duchy's capital.

In this dimension, small states were numerous. They were divided into duchies, earldoms, etc., based on territory size. In densely populated areas, territories were smaller; in remote, poor regions, they were enormous.

Rosha Duchy was a remote but not poor duchy—its territory was vast, entirely mountainous and hilly, ruled by the Rosha Duke, whose family had endured for dozens of generations.

Lisa was the fourth daughter of the Rosha family, shortly after the duchy's founding, and the first heir.

"You don't know how poor we were when we first founded the duchy. My ancestors poured every last coin into buying the title of Duke, then had to conquer the land themselves. Our entire family struggled for decades before we finally stabilized under my mother's generation."

Lisa vented: "We were so poor—I had to swap dresses with my maid, because her mother was an expert dyer and occasionally gave her fabric. She ended up richer than me, with prettier dresses. If not for my status, I'd have worked for her mother."

"Then I was chosen as Holy Maiden. Without hesitation, I gave my inheritance to my brother. Holy Maiden life was far more comfortable than princess life. But in my third year as Holy Maiden, they found a mine—a huge gold deposit. My brother's life instantly improved. It made me furious! Why didn't we find it when I was still heir?!"

Lisa grumbled, but anyone could hear the nostalgia. She hadn't expected to return after a thousand years.

In the main dimension, Lisa never spoke of her family. She knew that after a thousand years, everyone and everything she knew had turned to dust. The current Rosha Duchy had nothing to do with her.

Yet now, because of this, she was tied to it. When she first heard of Us Duchy's unrest, she'd been terrified.

Because when she was still heir, Us Duchy had been founded—and her family had strongly supported them. Now, after a thousand years, Us's descendants were scheming against her family with such treachery?

Lightning snorted: "Clearly your bad luck ruined the family. You left, and their fortune turned."

Lisa's eyes flashed coldly, smiling sweetly: "Lightning, your rations are under my control. Aren't you afraid I'll accidentally slip something into your food, so you'll be shitting till dawn?"

Lightning straightened solemnly: "Bad luck is just one form of good fortune—it's because your luck is so extraordinary that it manifests as misfortune. Look now—it proves your luck is still strong! Even after a thousand years!"

"Luck after a thousand years? Hmm, that sounds nice. Say more." Lisa beamed.

"Yes, beautiful Sister Lisa." Lightning sighed, straining to flatter.

She realized her mouth was getting worse—everyone seemed to have a way to control her. How she missed the new recruits—the Insect God, where are you?

Under Lisa's guidance, Lightning landed in a valley thirty kilometers from the duchy's capital.

The valley was unremarkable, nestled between two hills, with low cliffs on both sides and thick shrubbery at the bottom.

Lisa explained: "This is our family's mausoleum. Since my ancestors, every family member has been buried here. Even when I vanished, they placed my belongings inside. I need to find a few personal relics."

"Hmm, necessary? A thousand-year-old items—will your descendants even recognize them?" Nagris asked, confused.

Lisa smiled bitterly: "What else can I do? Walk up and say, 'I'm your great-great-great-great-great-aunt'? They'd throw me out. And after a thousand years, I need to prepare mentally too—they're strangers to me. Maybe my ancestors' tomb and my relics will stir more memories."

Lightning suggested: "Should we resurrect or summon your entire family? Then storm the Duke's palace and introduce them: 'This is the First Rosha Duke, this is the Second…' Oh! Don't hit my face! Stop it!"

Nagris felt no sympathy for the stinking horse, but agreed with the idea: "We should look for souls that haven't dispersed yet—preferably recent ones. Resurrect them and ask about your family's current situation."

Lisa's face darkened. Recent? Fermenting wine? But she couldn't beat Nagris like she could Lightning, so she sighed: "Fine, fine. Look."

Soon they entered a cave at the valley's bottom. The vegetation around it showed no one had visited in years.

Lisa explained: "Unless there's a special reason, no one visits after burial—it prevents leaving traces. There's a magical seal inside. Without the correct sequence of runes, you can't open it. Force it, and the whole cave collapses."

Deep in the cave, a dull stone leaned against the wall. If Lisa hadn't pointed it out, no one would've noticed it concealed a doorway.

Lisa kicked the stone's edge a few times. A faint magical ripple appeared—but the stone didn't move.

Lisa tried again several times, then turned, embarrassed: "The… the password changed."

Not surprising. A thousand years had passed—who knew what had happened? Maybe the password was leaked, or someone just thought the old one was hard to remember. Changing it was normal.

"Then what? Smash it. That rock doesn't look thick." Nagris said.

"No, no! Smash it and the seal triggers—the whole cave collapses!" Lisa quickly waved her hands.

"No problem. Ang can handle it. We hide in the Palace of Rest, let Ang transform into Luo Ke, smash it, and run. Even if the whole hill collapses, it won't damage the Death Skeleton." Nagris shrugged.

Lisa took a deep breath, paused, then roared: "You'll destroy my ancestors' tomb!! I didn't come back to dig up graves!!"

Nagris suddenly remembered—this tomb was Lisa's family's. They weren't here to desecrate graves. How embarrassing.

"Then what? Can you break the seal? Any backdoor?" Nagris asked.

Lisa shook her head, thought a moment, then said: "Forget it. Can't destroy our tomb just for relics. Let's skip it—we'll go straight to the palace and say we have ties to the former Holy Maiden Lisa, here to help."

"Hmm, good idea. Do that." Nagris nodded.

She didn't blame Lisa for the wasted trip. Anything involving family was hard to sort out. Lisa's heart might not have wanted relics at all—maybe she just wanted to visit her parents' graves. Who could truly untangle such feelings?

They turned to leave, having come for nothing. But then, everyone heard a scraping sound—like sharp nails dragging across stone.

Lisa and Nagris exchanged glances, then simultaneously turned toward the large stone.

Everyone realized something was inside—but how to open the seal?

"Don't smash it—it'll trigger the seal. Maybe I should get Bruce, Estoria, and Vaguri to break it?" Lisa ventured.

"Fine. No seal is unbreakable—only weak minds fail. Or find those Star Academy folks—they've studied seals deeper. Ang, wait, don't smash—"

As Nagris spoke, Ang—who'd been planting in the void—suddenly pulled his hand out, walked to the stone, and shoved it hard.

Before Nagris finished speaking, the stone blocking the cave entrance crumbled into straw and tumbled into the cavern behind it with a soft *pop*.

"I… you… damn it, is that even possible? The seal just broke from your Elemental Conversion? Your technique is literally unbeatable for lock-picking."

Nagris didn't know what to say. Death Aura for farming, Meishen Fist for bloodline modification, Elemental Conversion for lock-picking—this wasn't how divine arts were supposed to be used!

But who cared how it was used—if it worked. Ang opened the door without triggering the seal.

A roar echoed from the cave. A grotesque zombie burst from the straw-filled entrance, claws gleaming with metallic sheen, lunging at Ang.

Nagris gasped: "No! Ironskin Zombie!"

Golden Skeletons and Ironskin Zombies were equal-tier undead. In strength, Ironskin Zombies were superior—their flesh was too hard to cut through easily.

This was just Lisa's family tomb—only a few hundred burials at most. There wasn't enough soul energy to spawn an Ironskin Zombie. Where did this one come from?