Chapter 345: A New Storm Has Taken Shape

"What the—!?" The God of the Dark Side barely had time to let out a shriek before the little ghost swallowed him whole.

"What the—!?" Nai Ge Li Si, sensing something was wrong, also cried out in shock. Seeing Ange suddenly leapt to his feet, and the Ring of the Balance manifested on his back.

Dai Sen was killed, so his divine fire naturally fell into Seeing Ange's hands. Seeing Ange fed all these unusable divine fires and fragments of divine rank to the little ghost.

But there was too much good stuff, and the little ghost couldn't eat it all at once, so Dai Sen's divine fire was left until now to be eaten. What a coincidence — the moment it opened its mouth wide, the God of the Dark Side's consciousness came projecting over.

The imprint left by the divine fire ignited using Guli Anni's light-dark-side technique was incomparably hidden; before the God of the Dark Side projected over, no one could detect its existence.

So Guli Anni wouldn't casually investigate Dai Sen's situation, afraid of arousing his vigilance. He never expected that, precisely because of this, he was fooled by the substitute, leading to a bizarre chain of events — the divine fire reached Seeing Ange's hands without being noticed, and then the God of the Dark Side crashed right in.

Put yourself in the God of the Dark Side's shoes — faced with this situation, what would it be thinking?

"Damnable! Guli Anni set me up!" Amid its roar, the dark side's divine power erupted, slamming into the little ghost's body.

The divine fire had already been swallowed by the little ghost, so this wave of force blasted from the inside out. The little ghost, like it had swallowed a magic egg that burst open, swelled up its entire form and let out a huge belch.

Seeing Ange hurriedly summoned Holy Light, channeling it into the little ghost's body.

"Huh? It didn't break? What is this thing? A seal?" The God of the Dark Side was utterly shocked, summoned all its power, and blasted out again.

The little ghost swelled up once more, puffing into a big balloon, but still didn't break.

Now not only was the God of the Dark Side shocked, even Nai Ge Li Si was stunned. Sensing the intensity of the collision between these two forces, Nai Ge Li Si gaped: "This hard?"

It withstood two blasts of divine power — was this still that same little ghost that had nearly popped from a single breath before? When did it become so freakishly strong?

"Probably ate too much divine power. Sigh, these wasteful things — I have to ration every single four-winged angel feather I use, but this one, look at it — it eats nothing but fragments of divine rank and divine fire. If you gave that stuff to me, I don't know how many divine artifacts I could forge. Such a waste." Du Luo Ken muttered jealously from the side.

Fair enough — having eaten so many fragments of divine rank and divine fire of faith, and recently even digging up the three great Gods of Light to eat, it's no wonder it's this freakishly strong.

But then, what's the deal with the consciousness inside this divine fire?

"I know, I know!" The withered skeleton beside them hurriedly raised its hand: "Whatever's inscribed in the divine fire that could fool so many of us — I know one guy who could do it, the dark side of the God of Light and Darkness."

"The God of Light and Darkness? Never heard of it. Who is that?" Nai Ge Li Si.

"That's a long story." Flash Flash Feiti glanced at the little ghost, watching it swell up once more, then let out a big belch — still unbroken.

Seeing Ange pressed both hands against it, palms flashing nonstop, as an endless stream of Holy Light power poured into the little ghost's body, rapidly replenishing its drained strength.

He was reinforcing it from the outside while the God of the Dark Side blasted from within — for the moment, the two sides were locked in a stalemate.

Seeing it wouldn't break anytime soon, Flash Flash Feiti continued: "You haven't heard of the God of the Dark Side, but surely you've heard of the God of Shadows?"

"It's that one? The Shadow of Light? The 'master' of the Shadow Knights?" Nai Ge Li Si was greatly shocked.

The God of Shadows was quite famous — not because it was powerful, but because it was treacherous, the only one among the Gods of Light that did dirty work.

There were plenty of gods with strong combat power — the God of Arbitration, for instance — but it wouldn't strike you for no reason; you had to be a heretic, an infidel, or have violated the Holy Law.

The God of Shadows was different — all kinds of schemes and tricks; even if you had no grudge against it, it would still come after you. Very annoying. Although the Church of Light had never acknowledged the God of Shadows' existence, the very existence of the Shadow Knights was ironclad proof.

Speaking of Shadow Knights, Seeing Ange had actually run into one before — that's when he met Big Cat. Was its name something like You Li An?

It was that Shadow Knight who drove Big Cat across planes to spread the undead plague — such a treacherous method. If Seeing Ange hadn't known Holy Light, that plague would probably have spread throughout the Resting Abyss.

"So the God of the Dark Side is the God of Shadows? Then I know it." Nai Ge Li Si said.

The dignified dark side of the God of Shadows, just like that, was swallowed in one gulp by the little ghost. Although it struggled desperately, Seeing Ange's "thigh" was simply too thick — power poured into the little ghost's body as if it were free. As long as it couldn't be blown apart in one hit, Seeing Ange could rapidly heal it back up.

Swell, shrink, burp, swell again, shrink again, burp again — at some point, the little ghost stopped swelling and just stood there burping.

"Hah… uh… hah… ptooey…" Finally, it spat out a pearl.

Du Luo Ken darted over in a flash, staring at that pearl with blazingly eager eyes, his face unusually out of control: "A Soul Crystal! This is a Soul Crystal! My lord, you must give it to me, you must! I can use it to forge a super divine artifact!"

"Oh." Seeing Ange handed the pearl to him.

Such a casual gesture left Du Luo Ken stunned for a moment. He took it in disbelief, hesitating as he said: "Really giving it to me? Doesn't my lord know what this is? A Soul Crystal — there's a certain probability of learning the opponent's divine technique from it. Just giving it to me like that?"

Seeing Ange tilted his head and reached out as if to take it back.

"No, no, no — that probability is way too low. Leave it to me. I'll forge it into a super divine artifact that can greatly boost the probability of releasing the opponent's divine technique. Leave it to me." Du Luo Ken could have smacked himself — when it's given to you, just take it, why the blabbering.

Seeing Du Luo Ken's face full of regret, Nai Ge Li Si wanted to laugh. Serves you right, running your mouth at that damned skeleton.

"So the God of the Dark Side's divine technique was plundered, then?" Seeing that Seeing Ange wasn't reaching out anymore, Nai Ge Li Si quickly changed the subject to lock in the fait accompli.

"It's not that easy. What projected over was only the dark side's power — at most, that portion of power is lost. The main body is still Dai Sen's divine fire." Du Luo Ken replied while slowly retreating to one side. Seeing that Seeing Ange wasn't reaching out anymore, he let out a long sigh and said:

"I'll take it and forge it — I can absolutely forge a super divine artifact. Serves you right. A Soul Crystal — this stuff is way too rare. My lord, your pet here is the real treasure. Even souls can crystallize." Du Luo Ken marveled.

The little ghost, bloated and a bit dizzy, opened its mouth wide and 'hah'-ed again. Its form slowly shrank, like a deflating balloon, and finally curled back around Seeing Ange's finger.

After a short pause, it poked its head out again and spat out another crystal.

"…" Du Luo Ken and Nai Ge Li Si exchanged a glance, neither knowing what to say.

After a long while, Nai Ge Li Si finally said: "This one seems to be Dai Sen's."

Dai Sen's divine fire plus the power the dark side projected over, crystallizing into two crystals — perfectly reasonable. Mm, yes, perfectly reasonable.

Deeply shaken, Du Luo Ken and Nai Ge Li Si muttered things like "shit luck" and "the Goddess's gigolo" as they walked off cursing.

Seeing Ange raised his finger and looked at the little ghost on it. Du Luo Ken wasn't wrong — to Seeing Ange, the little ghost was just a pet, so whenever there was something tasty, he'd feed it, without caring whether it was precious or not.

Judging by Du Luo Ken's reaction, they should all be quite precious.

But looking at it now, the little ghost didn't seem simple either — it could make souls crystallize?

Tilting his head in thought for a while, Seeing Ange extended the index finger of his other hand, slowly poked it over, and said to the little ghost: "Eat."

The little ghost blankly poked its head out, saw the speck of light on Seeing Ange's fingertip, and immediately bit down on it.

…

Nai Ge Li Si and Du Luo Ken stared at the third Soul Crystal Seeing Ange brought over, faces like they'd seen a ghost: "You're saying you stuffed the Quick-Death Halo into the little ghost to eat, and it just spat this thing out?"

Seeing Ange nodded.

Du Luo Ken dropped onto his backside, saying in anguish: "It's over, it's become commonplace, worthless — every single soul equipment is worthless now."

Nai Ge Li Si curled his lip: "Are you speculating on futures? Worthless? Clearly we've struck it rich, damn it."

Futures were a kind of voucher substitute the Goblin Merchant Guild came up with, used for forward trading and delivery. For example, if next year the Goblin Merchant Guild's land was going to produce ten million tons of grain, they could print ten million in futures, sell them at a low price first, get the money, and then organize production and planting.

Farmers and landlords, having received payment early, could better organize production and reduce risk; grain merchants, having paid early, enjoyed a low price.

But the weather wasn't always favorable. If the weather was bad, grain yields dropped, prices skyrocketed, and futures naturally rose with the tide. Grain merchants could sell in advance and, without ever delivering the grain, still make a killing.

Conversely, in a bumper harvest, grain prices fell. If they dropped below the price the grain merchants had paid in advance, the merchants would actually take a loss.

This line of thinking — the more there is, the cheaper it gets — was clearly the work of those goblin futures traders.

Dai Sen didn't have such complicated schemes as the futures traders. He simply felt that materials once rare were now common, and it left a knot in his chest.

But when he took it and looked, he realized something was off: "This isn't a soul crystal. The power seems to be sealed inside. How do I release it?"

Seeing Ange held the crystal, led everyone to a rice paddy, crushed it and slammed it onto the ground. A single footprint was stamped into the earth, and the Instant Death Aura was released in a flash.

"Hiss— this is a sealing of a divine technique? You can seal a divine technique and release it whenever you want?" Lord Nai Ge asked in shock.

"It." Seeing Ange raised a finger.

"This… this… the little wraith is way too amazing, isn't it? How did it do that? Try it again." Lord Nai Ge said eagerly.

Seeing Ange shook his head: "It's tired."

"Oh oh oh, alright, alright, let it rest, rest first. Next time you seal something, remember to call me. I want to see how it's done.

Lord Nai Ge said hurriedly, lowering his voice by a whole notch, afraid of disturbing the little wraith.

In the past, the little wraith had never enjoyed such treatment. It ate a lot but was of little use, always the object of Lord Nai Ge's disdain. Now, in an instant, it had transformed into a devotee praying to Lord Nai Ge before an exam, terrified that if it didn't sleep well, it would bomb the test tomorrow.

The first thing Seeing Ange thought of when he realized the little wraith's ability was the Instant Death Aura. Lord Nai Ge wouldn't — the first thing he thought of was: "Can your Ultimate Transformation be sealed up like this?"

Seeing Ange tilted his head.

Lord Nai Ge said softly: "Do you know who this reminds me of? The Goddess of Redemption. She can also seal her own or others' divine techniques away and use them when needed."

……

In the Mystic World, the black flames that had just dimmed slightly blazed back to life, and a low roar from the Dark Side echoed through the entire space: "Guli Anni! You ambushed me!"

Guli Anni, who had stepped into this space at the same time, got a terrible fright and hastily retorted: "No! I didn't! Don't talk nonsense! What happened? How could I have ambushed you?"

"You made me project myself right into a giant mouth, causing the portion of my power I projected to be devoured. You ambushed me!" The black flames coalesced into a black face, a body, limbs, as if a person were crawling out from within the black flames.

"No, absolutely not. I was wondering myself why Dai Sen went in and there was no movement, so I came back to ask you. Don't get worked up first — tell me what happened?" Guli Anni said sincerely.

"How would I know what's going on? I projected over and all I saw was a giant mouth that swallowed me in one gulp. How could it be such a coincidence? The other side clearly had it prepared, waiting for me to fall for it. If it wasn't you, how could the other side possibly know I would project over?!"

If the timing hadn't been so uncanny, the Dark Side wouldn't have suspected anything. But the timing was just too perfect — one second earlier, the other side couldn't have swallowed its power; one second later, it would have reacted in time and could have recalled the projected power.

Yet the moment it projected over, it was swallowed, as if it had all been calculated.

Guli Anni was utterly wronged: "I really didn't. I'm willing to swear a divine oath to prove my innocence."

"Don't think I don't know — you're already a false god. A divine oath is useless against you." The Dark Side's form completely broke free from the torch, transforming into a giant of black flames, and pressed toward Guli Anni.

"I really didn't, I'm not lying to you." Even as he said this, his hands and feet didn't dare slack off. He slapped his chest, and light flowed down — whether the Dark Side believed him or not, he'd protect himself first.

Just as the two sides were about to come to blows, a thought swept across both of them.

The Dark Side and Guli Anni looked at the holy torch in unison, and saw a face materialize upon the holy torch.

"Light Side?! Oh heavens, you've finally awoken." The Dark Side cried out excitedly. It had never felt the Light Side was this adorable before. In the past, the Light Side was always the one dealing with humans; it was merely a shadow beneath the holy light.

In recent decades, the Light Side had suddenly fallen into slumber, forcing it to deal with humans, and it immediately discovered how difficult humans were to handle. Take Guli Anni, for instance — it couldn't tell if what he said was true or false.

How wonderful — the Light Side had finally awoken. It could once again lie flat beneath the holy light, a lump of idle shadow.

Guli Anni also hurriedly dropped his defenses and knelt: "I pay respects to the great Lord Light Side."

The Light Side's thought swept across him: "You are Lai'en Xiete. You have been reborn."

"Yes, my lord Light Side. There was a traitor in the Church. I am working with Lord Dark Side to deal with it, but Lord Dark Side has misunderstood me. Please, my lord, discern the truth for me." Guli Anni said respectfully.

"No need. It's meaningless. A new Faith Storm is already brewing. All gods will face a new baptism. Betrayal or not no longer matters. Have you ignited your divine fire?" the Light Side asked.

Guli Anni felt a chill shoot straight from his tailbone to the crown of his head. A Faith Storm? The legendary Faith Storm that wiped out the gods?

"N-no, I haven't ignited my divine fire."

"Then you are fortunate. Beneath the Faith Storm, possessing a divine spark is dangerous — the more divine sparks, the more dangerous. We, of Light and Dark as one… go find the Arbiter. He survived back then; perhaps he has a way to withstand the storm."