Chapter 346: This is putting me on the spot

For Ang, planting things is his greatest love, but planting depends on the season. It is almost harvest season now, which is not suitable for sowing crops unless he is willing to consume soul flames.

However, Ang actually does not like consuming soul flames to plant things. He uses the Death-Speed Halo mainly to complete comparisons, not to simply force things to grow, unless there is a food shortage.

Only in the original Abyss of Peace, to alleviate famine, did Ang plant all the way through, then in the Pale Sea Plane, where Anthony was short of food and needed rescue, and finally this time.

And what he uses the Death-Speed Halo for most is actually when selecting cereal hybrids in the Saltwater Rice fields, followed by various seed selection and breeding, hybridization, and grafting.

If there is no special need, Ang prefers to let crops grow naturally.

Natural growth requires corresponding to the climate, which is also what Ang is good at. He knows exactly when to sow, when to fertilize, and when to pollinate.

It is almost harvest season, so it is not suitable for sowing again. If it were back in the farm, he would have to prepare to find new bones, replace the ones that were broken beyond repair after the crops were harvested, and then spend the winter.

But that is no longer needed now. Golden bones are sturdy, durable, and never wear out. As long as there is sufficient death aura, golden bones can self-repair.

If that fails, just soak them in a bucket of death-aura liquid for a few days.

"So, you're unemployed now. Stop thinking about planting things. Hurry up and let the Little Ghost try sealing a divine skill. If it's really feasible, seal a few more. Your transformation time is too short right now," Negris urged.

Right, the big pile before this was all Negris's analysis, just to urge Ang to hurry up and get the divine skill sealing done.

Ang wouldn't think about such complex things; he uses them when he wants to.

However, it cannot be said that Negris's summary is wrong. Ang is indeed like what it analyzed, but it is purely post-facto analysis and has nothing to do with what Ang is thinking.

Ang had no choice but to pull his hand out of the space, extend a finger for the Little Ghost to bite, and then transform.

The transformation started from the fingertip but was held by the Little Ghost, so the range of change could not go beyond where the Little Ghost was biting, staying completely at the fingertip.

"Damn it, that works too?" Negris cursed.

"That's a bit impressive. What's the principle?" Du Luo Ken asked.

"I have a great idea. Whoever wants to cast a divine skill, throw the Little Ghost over to bite them, and the divine skill won't be cast," Lei Ting suggested, raising his hand.

"Why do you keep raising your hand when you speak? This isn't a class," Negris said, feeling baffled.

Lei Ting has been raising his hand before speaking lately, just like a well-behaved student raising their hand to answer a question in class. Damn it, he is a Lord of Death; having him act like a well-behaved student puts a lot of pressure on the people around him.

"You're the one who told me to raise my hand before answering questions," Lei Ting replied righteously.

"Me? When did I tell you to raise your hand first? You're framing me."

"When you taught me the mysteries of space-time over a thousand years ago," Lei Ting said.

"That was how many years ago? Why didn't you raise it when we first met?"

"I didn't remember then, but I remember now."

"Can you stop raising it?"

"I can, but it's a habit and I can't change it for a while." As he spoke, Lei Ting raised his hand again.

Negris pounced on him and dismantled his right arm bone: "There, fixed."

Lei Ting raised his left hand and punched Negris in the eye socket.

Amidst their bickering, the transformation time ended, and the Little Ghost spat out a sealed divine skill crystal.

"It really works. How do you use it? Do you just crush it to use it? Can others use it?" Du Luo Ken asked.

"Hiss—give it to others to use? Your idea is too creative. Ang, hurry up and try. If your divine skills can be given to others to use, all of us can transform into Luo Ke or the Dragon God," Negris said excitedly.

He himself could definitely use it, but he didn't know if others could. Ang flipped over a golden skeleton without a soul and stuffed a soul flame into it; it didn't need to drive the skeleton, just lie there.

He crushed the seal and threw it onto the skeleton, but the seal could not merge with the skeleton. It bounced on the bones a few times, fell to the ground, hissed, and dissipated after a while.

"What a pity, it didn't work. Is it because the soul strength isn't enough?" Du Luo Ken asked.

"Not necessarily, it might be due to affinity. When Ang learned the Luo Ke transformation back then, he had to have affinity with the scales for a long time before he wanted to transform into the Dragon God," Negris speculated.

"Then what if we seal a Dragon God transformation for you? You are of the dragon race yourself, you don't need affinity, and you have a soul connection with Ang. If you use the Dragon God transformation divine skill, can you succeed?" Du Luo Ken said.

Negris couldn't help but say: "How does your soul grow? You have so many good ideas. That makes sense. Ang, seal another Dragon God transformation for me to try."

Ang shook his head: "Can't transform."

"Oh, right, your ultimate transformation needs to recover, we can only try again tomorrow," Negris felt as if his heart was being clawed at, and said disappointedly.

A good idea that cannot be verified immediately is like a good book that cannot be read immediately, or a smart student that cannot be taught immediately; it is too uncomfortable.

"My lord, my lord." Ang tilted his head. He felt a call and listened intently; it was Anthony calling him: "My lord, the food distribution is starting. Do you want to come over to harvest faith?"

Every act of distributing life-saving food could be turned into a grand event for harvesting faith. Anthony would naturally not miss such an opportunity.

Now that he had food in his hands, not only did he want to do it in a big way, but he also wanted to ask Ang to come and harvest faith, so as not to let the Church of Light take all the credit for doing good deeds.

This was also something they had originally discussed. Hearing that it was starting, everyone set off immediately and rushed to the refugee camp.

Anthony had set up a series of refugee camps at the pass between the eastern and western dioceses to accommodate those refugees who could not survive. As long as they could escape to the refugee camps, they could get some food to sustain their lives.

However, the most severely affected areas were often not the border between the two dioceses, but the interior of the western diocese. Anthony's reach could not extend to these places.

But it didn't matter. As long as there were refugee camps, there was hope. Refugees who couldn't survive would try every possible way to escape rather than give up on themselves.

There were actually many restrictions and dangers on the road, such as some noble landlords who would rather let the farmers starve to death on their land than let the refugees escape.

Because if a portion died, the ones who survived would become cheap labor next year.

But if they escaped, all the people in the entire territory might flee. If no one farmed next year, it would be meaningless for them to annex more land, and they would eventually have to spend money to buy people from the slave market.

Facing such inhumane noble landlords, Anthony adopted the simplest method—bounties.

The Mercenary Guild posted many bounties, and the ones being hunted were those who hindered the movement of refugees. The person offering the bounty was Anthony himself.

As the acting Pope of the Holy Church, his name was a credit endorsement. No one would worry that he couldn't afford the bounty.

However, Anthony was really broke. He had borrowed everything he could borrow and mortgaged everything he could mortgage. Before the grain was harvested, he was a pauper who couldn't even pay the interest.

But he was also very cunning. The bounty he offered wasn't money, but...

"A chance for limb regeneration in exchange for the head of Viscount Truk? Viscount Truk hindered the movement of refugees, refused to provide disaster relief, allowed the people to starve to death, and is guilty of heinous crimes. Whoever cuts off the head of Viscount Truk can exchange it for a chance at limb regeneration."

"My god, limb regeneration? Great Restoration Art? This is a divine skill at the Archbishop level."

"Anthony was an Archbishop before, could it be that he is doing it himself?"

"A Viscount can be exchanged for the Great Restoration Art of limb regeneration, then what if it's a Count? What is the bounty?"

"Hey, there really is one. Count Hess, this Count Hess let people pretend to be thieves and killed more than six hundred civilians in his territory. The bounty for his head is... is... a chance at resurrection? Resurrection?"

"The... the legendary Great Resurrection Art? Are you kidding? Didn't the Church of Light say that the Great Resurrection Art couldn't be performed because of a lack of materials?"

"Could it be that Anthony has found the materials? Let's see what the conditions are. Let's take this mission and resurrect my grandfather. My grandfather was a Sword Saint, but he died early and didn't teach me the Dou Qi cultivation method, otherwise I would have been a Sword Saint long ago."

"Even if you were a Sword Saint, you couldn't kill a Count. Stop dreaming. Let's see what the conditions are... death not exceeding one day?"

"Death not exceeding one day? My grandfather has no chance. He's been dead for fifty years."

It had to be said that Anthony's bounty still caused a sensation. What was even more sensational was the interior of the Church of Light. The reappearance of the Great Resurrection Art, which had been lost for thousands of years, had a huge impact on all devout divine skill practitioners.

They told the outside world that it was because of a lack of materials, so it couldn't be performed, but only these divine skill practitioners knew that the Great Resurrection Art had been lost long ago. Because about nine hundred years ago, the Church suffered some disasters, and many classics were burned, so no one knew how to use the Great Resurrection Art.

Saying it was a lack of materials to the outside world was just to save some face for the Church. Now, Anthony was actually using this as a bounty? Had he learned the Great Resurrection Art?

After receiving the news, inside the Church, some divine officials, bishops, pastors, priests, holy attendants, and holy maidens who had a good relationship with Anthony in the past all came looking for him.

Anthony naturally dealt with them by laughing it off. If they insisted on pestering him for an answer, he would ask them to donate money and grain. Most of them started laughing it off when they heard this.

Of course, Anthony didn't know any Great Resurrection Art. It was Ang's Purification Rebirth Art. The necessary material was essence liquid. Even if twenty liters were consumed, it would only cost two hundred thousand magic crystals, which was much cheaper than the normal bounty for a Count.

As for the casting problem, there was no need to worry. Ang could do it himself in the name of "Ascetic Monk An."

Of course, because of the time limit, the Great Resurrection Art was actually just a gimmick. After all, who would be so lucky to have just died for a day and also happen to have the strength to kill a Count?

By using the Great Resurrection Art and the bounty for a Count to cause a sensation, the focus of the plane was concentrated on this matter, spreading to the entire plane, letting everyone know: don't kill people indiscriminately, don't hinder refugees from fleeing, and don't even let too many people die in your territory, otherwise His Excellency Anthony will offer a bounty for you.

For many old slippery people who were already connected with the Church, the Church's punishment was far less deterrent than the Mercenary Guild's bounty.

In the past, their ancestors often did this, and it wasn't like there was only a disaster this year. There had been plagues, earthquakes, floods, and other natural and man-made disasters before, and many people had died, but there had never been any punishment. Obviously, the gods didn't care about these things.

On the contrary, the Mercenary Guild's bounty was real. Especially after Viscount Truk had his head cut off at night, Anthony rushed to the Mercenary Guild in person to perform limb regeneration for the person who claimed the bounty.

The person claiming the bounty had their face covered, but their left hand was empty. Anthony performed the regeneration in full view of everyone, and when they came out, the person had already grown a left hand.

The entire process took place under the witness of President Kaiqi of the Mercenary Guild. Kaiqi even saw with his own eyes the other party's left hand growing out.

"It's too magical, it's too magical. His Excellency Anthony, the Great Restoration Art is truly too magical." President Kaiqi was shocked.

Anthony put away the nutrient solution and chuckled: "This is the power of the gods."

He let Kaiqi observe it generously because he was confident that even if Gu Li An Ni stood here, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Purification Rebirth Art and the Purification Art. After all, they were originally the same divine skill.

Unless a heretic was brought over, one would be able to tell from the lack of purification effect that this was not the Purification Art.

Besides that, there was the nutrient solution. No one could recognize that it was nutrient solution from a bottle. Even if the person being treated recognized it, if they went back and tried it with nutrient solution and Purification Art, it wouldn't have the effect of limb regeneration.

At that time, they would only suspect that the medicine was used incorrectly, and would not feel that there was anything wrong with the Purification Art.

"Oh, praise the gods." Kaiqi hurriedly echoed, and then tentatively asked: "His Excellency Anthony, have you really mastered the Great Resurrection Art?"

Anthony smiled slightly and answered the question with another question: "Why? Do you have someone who has been dead for less than a day that needs to be resurrected?"

As soon as Kaiqi heard this, he felt Anthony's cunning, because his question was purposeful. If Anthony admitted it, they would have to re-evaluate Anthony's strength.

If Anthony didn't admit it, it meant that he had a strong person who could use the Great Resurrection Art, and the Mercenary Guild would have to re-evaluate the strength of the Holy Church. These were all major pieces of information, and some clients would be willing to pay a huge price to buy them.

Unexpectedly, Anthony used a rhetorical question to brush it off, neither admitting nor denying it.

Facing such a cunning... experienced opponent, Kaiqi said honestly: "If this quota can be transferred at will, someone is willing to take this bounty, and then they will entrust us to specify the resurrection target."

Anthony looked at Kaiqi approvingly. What a good calculation. In this way, it was equivalent to the Mercenary Guild holding a resurrection quota, which was too useful.

As for why people were willing to entrust them to specify? Hey, the Mercenary Guild itself had a bunch of teams doing dirty work, so there was no need to bother outsiders.

Anthony thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes."

On the same night he said yes, Anthony received news that Count Hess's castle had been attacked and the Count had gone missing.

When Kaiqi came to visit the next day, Anthony couldn't help but tease: "You guys move fast."

Kaiqi smiled bitterly: "It wasn't us."

"Not you? Then who?" Anthony was stunned.

Kaiqi smiled bitterly: "I don't know, but someone came to claim the bounty. He carried a coffin and set up a tent at the gate of the guild, specifying that he wanted to resurrect the person in the coffin inside the tent. Now the tent is surrounded by mercenaries who heard the news."

"Good heavens, this is putting me on the spot."