Chapter 391: So annoying, missing the Brass Dragon

Ang felt a point in the distance that was completely different from other nodes in the soul network. Out of curiosity, he didn't think much and projected over.

He had done this kind of thing many times, projecting onto Silver Coin, Anthony, and Ou Ke, but this projection process felt particularly long, and finally, he arrived in a body.

The sleeping soul heart resumed beating, and the hollow eye sockets ignited with ghostly blue flames. Then Ang discovered that he had arrived in a gray-boned skeleton body wearing armor.

This skeleton was curled up in a small square grid, holding its knees with both hands, not knowing how long it had been sleeping, until Ang's arrival, only then did it reignite its soul.

Some residual thoughts were transmitted from the skeleton to Ang's heart: Luo Ke! Invincible! Luo Ke! Hard Bone! Luo Ke!...

Luo Ke? A big question mark rose in Ang's heart. Why would residual thoughts of Hard Bone Luo Ke remain in this skeleton? Could it be that Hard Bone Luo Ke didn't actually die, but followed the 'King' here?

Ang checked this skeleton and found a few more residual thoughts.

It was indeed the thoughts left by Hard Bone Luo Ke. Luo Ke didn't die; its soul followed the Undead King and projected over, so its body remained in the Palace of Rest.

Or rather, it didn't die before, but now it had dissipated, leaving only a few residual thoughts and a shell with a soul heart.

Ang moved his body, climbed out of the square grid, and then discovered that there was more than one square grid like the one he was in. Instead, it was the entire wall... the entire basement, all four walls, were all like this.

Each square grid contained a skeleton. Some shapes were complete, but more were scattered and piled into the square grid messily, just like after death, someone had messily put the skeletons in.

Could this be a cemetery specifically for storing skeletons and remains?

Ang turned around and looked, and besides the square grids for storing skeletons, he only saw a door and two characters on the door.

What characters? Ang tilted his head habitually.

However, after waiting for a while, there was no response. Only then did Ang react: he was projecting over, and Nage lisi wasn't there.

If Ang projected to his own node, Nage lisi could follow, but this node belonged to Luo Ke. Because the power source was the same, Nage lisi couldn't.

Nage lisi wasn't there, and no one answered for him. Fine, he couldn't understand. Ang moved his gaze to the door lock.

The door was locked from the outside, and there was no keyhole or handle inside. If he wanted to go out, he was afraid he would have to smash the door. Should he smash it?

Just as he was hesitating, a murmur and footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door.

Someone walked quickly toward the door, occasionally muttering in a low voice: "Holy Spirit bless, there is no bread, I'll just take a little money to buy bread, please don't blame me, Holy Spirit, don't blame me."

Very quickly, that person walked to the door, first the sound of a key being inserted into the door lock, then with a click, the door opened. A priest in a white robe slipped in quickly, turned around and closed the door, leaving only a crack.

After finishing all this, the white-robed priest let out a breath of relief in his heart, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, turned around and stood up, and then saw Ang with ghostly blue flames in his eye sockets.

A large amount of cold sweat appeared on the priest's face, merging into several streams and flowing down, and his whole body began to tremble.

Ang tilted his head.

The priest didn't say a word, knelt down with a thud: "Sorry, Holy Spirit, I didn't mean to disturb your sleep, sorry, sorry, I'll leave immediately, I'll leave immediately."

As he spoke, he didn't dare to raise his head, knelt and turned back, fumbled to the crack of the door, and was about to open the door when Ang's hand pressed on his shoulder.

"Ah—!" The priest let out an earth-shattering scream, his body went soft, and he fainted.

Ang looked at his hand in confusion, not finding anything special. Why did he faint? Low blood sugar?

Ang flipped the fainted priest over and slapped him on the face. The guys under Ang's command seemed to wake people up like this.

The priest opened his eyes in a daze, saw it was a skeleton grabbing him, and his whole body began to tremble:

"Ho... Holy Spirit, please... please forgive me, I won't dare to do it again, I won't dare to do it again, I confess, I repent, I took a few gold ornaments from the stone room and sold them, I won't dare to do it again, don't judge me."

Ang tilted his head in confusion.

If it were Nage lisi, he would understand what Ang's head-tilting meant. But this priest didn't understand, thinking Ang was unwilling, and argued urgently:

"My lord, I was forced by circumstances. No supplies have been sent down from above for a long time. I am the only one guarding the holy room, with no money and no food. If I don't take things to exchange for food, I will starve to death. I really didn't mean it, please forgive me, Holy Spirit, I won't dare to do it again."

Ang thought for a while and asked: "Who are you?"

"Ah?!" This question made Abot stunned: "You? You are not the Holy Spirit? You? You are not the Holy Spirit?"

Ang tilted his head. Such a familiar tune, Church of Light? Is there a Church of Light here too?

Ang, who was somewhat blank, immediately knew what to do. Don't forget he had another identity—the ascetic Ang. He was too familiar with pretending to be a Light priest. This immediately returned him to his familiar rhythm.

Ang looked at Abot and said: "You have sin."

As soon as the words fell, a thin, long chain popped up from the ground and tied to the other party. Ang looked carefully; it was the Chain of Greed.

Only one original sin chain? Then this priest was quite devout and poor.

Having pretended to be an ascetic for a long time, Ang already had experience. The seven original sins in the Original Sin Chain were all instincts that creatures were born with and didn't count as evil at all.

Is gluttony a sin? No, it just makes people fat. Is greed a sin? No, robbery and theft are.

If a greedy person can control themselves and work hard to earn money to satisfy their desires, is this a sin?

As for lust and laziness, it's even more ridiculous. Without lust, how can creatures reproduce? Without laziness, how can society develop?

Ang looked at Albert and said, "You are guilty."

No sooner had the words fallen than a thin, long chain sprang up from the ground and bound itself to the other party. Ang looked closely; it was a Chain of Greed.

Only one Chain of Original Sin? Then this priest is quite pious and ascetic.

Having played the part of an ascetic monk for so long, Ang was already very experienced. The seven original sins within the Chains of Original Sin are all innate instincts of living beings and are not sins at all.

Is gluttony a sin? No, it only makes people obese. Is greed a sin? No, robbery and theft are.

If a greedy person can control themselves and work hard to earn money to satisfy their desires, is that a sin?

As for lust and sloth, that is even more ridiculous. Without lust, how would living beings reproduce? Without sloth, how would society develop?

However, the Church of Light defines them as "sins" in the hope that all clerics and believers will overcome their desires and serve the gods of light piously.

Ascetic monks are the paragons who overcome their desires through arduous practice.

So, in principle, all living beings possess original sin. Perhaps only a skeleton like Ang, who has no desires, is free of original sin.

But why do some people trigger the Chains of Original Sin while others do not? There is a very clever aspect to this: only if you believe you are guilty will you trigger the Chains of Original Sin.

In other words, when Ang shouts "You are guilty," if you firmly believe you are not guilty, the chains will not be triggered.

This is a principle Ang discovered after judging many people; it is not Ang who convicts them, but they who convict themselves.

This is also why many of those who trigger the Chains of Original Sin are believers of Light and members of the clergy, because they know what original sin is and subconsciously believe they are guilty.

Yet, back in the slums of the Fallen Land, the guy who kidnapped children did not trigger the Chains of Original Sin because he did not think he was guilty; on the contrary, he felt he was doing a good deed.

He felt that bringing children from poor places to wealthy ones was a good deed, and some children were even sold to him by their own parents. His mutterings were nothing more than words like "finding you a good home."

Now, only one Chain of Original Sin has been triggered on this priest, so his subconscious believes he has only one sin. If that is truly the case, then the life he leads must be very ascetic.

The Chain of Original Sin did not last long before it vanished. Ang was projecting himself, and his power was not sufficient to sustain this divine art for too long.

Albert was a bit stunned and knelt there, not daring to move. Ang, however, nudged him aside with his foot and walked out after opening the door.

Although the priest had said earlier that he was guarding the stone chamber alone, implying he might be the only one here, Ang did not really care.

Because he was only projecting himself, even if someone were to hack him to pieces, it would not harm his foundation, so he had no major concerns.

Once outside, there was a long stone corridor. Similar doors extended all the way down; there were at least four or five doors like the one he had emerged from, meaning there might be as many as four or five such stone chambers.

One side of the stone corridor was sealed, while the other had light. Ang walked toward the light, and around the corner was a staircase. Going up the stairs and turning left and right, he arrived at a semi-open cave.

Standing in the cave and looking out, below the slope were dozens of acres of abandoned farmland.

Ang walked out of the cave to take a look. Beyond the abandoned farmland at the cave entrance, everything in the distance was yellow desert, stretching as far as the eye could see. This cave seemed to be on the edge of a desert.

There were footsteps. Ang turned his head to look, and the priest cautiously arrived at the corner, poking his head out to peer at Ang. As soon as he saw Ang turn back, he retracted his head with a 'whoosh'.

After a while, he poked his head out again. After repeating this several times, he seemed to realize that Ang did not intend to do anything to him, so he moved out step by step, slowly.

"Where is this?" Ang asked.

"Returning to my lord Holy Spirit, this is the Yellow Sand Wilderness," the priest replied hurriedly.

"I am not..." Ang wanted to say he was not a Holy Spirit. He was clearly in a skeleton's body; why did he call him Lord Holy Spirit?

But after saying only three words, Ang stopped. To explain it clearly would require a very, very long speech. Just thinking about it made him tired. Forget it, he wouldn't explain.

At this moment, he missed Negris a little. With the Brass Dragon around, he never had to speak for himself.

The priest waited for a while, but hearing no follow-up, he felt a bit strange. However, after thinking for a moment, he took the initiative to explain: "It is very remote, but safe. This is the safest stone chamber cemetery; even the Church of Light rarely knows about this place, let alone those undead creatures. So, my lord, you are very safe here."

Ang tilted his head. What did that mean? Very safe? Undead creatures couldn't find this place, so it was very safe?

The Church of Light being enemies with undead creatures was normal, but wasn't he also a skeleton now? Could it be that the skeletons here didn't count as undead creatures?

Ang pondered for a while and discovered that to clarify this issue, he needed more information, which meant asking the priest more questions...

So annoying. Forget it, he wouldn't ask.

Changing the subject, he asked: "The field, abandoned."

Albert replied: "Yes, returning to my lord, there has been a drought in recent years, lacking rain and water, so it was abandoned. Relying on the produce from these fields, I could maintain my life here alone, but I didn't expect the water to run out."

"It is also troublesome for the Church of Light to send grain. In the last few months, they haven't sent any at all. I don't know if they were discovered again and are fleeing. I had no choice but to take the gold ornaments in the stone chamber to sell. My lord, I really didn't do it on purpose. Please forgive my sin."

The amount of information in the priest's words was too great. If Negris were present, he would have asked until dark, making sure every detail was clear.

But Ang, after listening, struggled for a moment and instead asked: "The field, can it be planted?"

The priest said blankly: "There is no water." He silently recalled what he had just said. Had he not explained it clearly just now?

Ang walked down, opened his palm, and with a thought, a pattering drizzle of water poured from his palm onto the parched farmland.

With remote projection, power decays significantly; the more powerful the force, the more severe the decay. Conversely, those low-level powers, which were not very strong to begin with, showed no noticeable decay.

Thus, Ang discovered that his Rain-Making Art was about the same as when he had just left the Palace of Rest, enough to thoroughly soak several thousand acres of farmland.

After soaking the twenty or thirty acres of abandoned farmland at the cave entrance, Ang walked back and asked: "The field, can it be planted?"

"Can... can, yes." What else could the priest say? He could only say "can" hurriedly, then thought to himself: Could this Holy Spirit be a fool?

Ang, who couldn't walk away when he saw farmland, happily started farming. He hadn't farmed for over two months, but soon, he discovered a problem: his hand couldn't reach into the Palace of Rest.

This was certain; his consciousness was only projected over, not his body, and the Hand of Dimensional Passage hadn't come along.

However, although his hand couldn't reach into the Palace of Rest, as long as he concentrated his attention, "thought" of the things stored in the Palace of Rest, and reached out to grab, he could grab a "handful" of things.

Ang grabbed a handful of rice seeds, and then he couldn't concentrate his attention for quite a while, not until half an hour later. He concentrated his attention, grabbed again, and caught a handful of Elf Beans.

He could only grab once every half hour, and only a handful at a time. A handful of rice seeds wasn't even enough to sow a fraction of an acre. So slow.

Ang sowed the rice seeds and stepped down hard to leave footprints, then discovered another problem: he couldn't step out a Death-Speed Halo.

What he didn't know was that he had stepped out the halo, but it was triggered on his original body and couldn't be projected over.

Ang stayed blank for a while, then didn't care. Anyway, he had farmed the same way before he had the halo, for over a thousand years, so there was nothing he wasn't used to.

Footsteps came from behind. Albert walked over, took out a bag, and said: "My lord, are you out of seeds? I have some seeds for fast-growing vegetables here. With sufficient water, they can be harvested in a week. Would you like to plant these?"

The handful of rice seeds Ang had grabbed earlier was definitely not enough to plant these dozens of acres, so he hurriedly took them, then habitually took out an Elf Bean and handed it to Albert.

Equivalent exchange was Ang's habit.

Albert took the bean in confusion, not understanding, until Ang said it was for eating. Only then did he put it in his mouth, chewed it a few times like a snack, and swallowed it.

A single bean wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth. Albert, feeling dismissive in his heart, pretended to thank Ang. Before the words were even out of his mouth, a wave of warmth came from his stomach, and a sense of fullness and satiety spread rapidly throughout his body, sweeping away his hunger.

Why did he steal the burial ornaments? Wasn't it because he was starving? A single bean, and he wasn't hungry anymore? What kind of treasure was this?

Ang sowed seeds and watered them. After fiddling with the dozens of acres of farmland, it was already dark. As a skeleton, the night was more comfortable than the day. Then he discovered another problem: his Soul Heart seemed to have grown a little stronger.

He had been projecting for an afternoon. When he first projected over, his Soul Heart had been so shriveled it was almost shattered. Now it had actually grown a little. Although it was only a tiny bit, it explained something: the soul energy of his original body was being projected over.

Just then, a light flashed in the sky. Ang looked up and saw a strange object suspended in the sky. That light was shooting toward the strange object, then was blocked by something.

From the ground, this object looked about the size of a palm. It was a man-made object, thin at one end and thick at the other. The thick end was semicircular, very much like an upright Heavenly Fortress.

However, judging by the height it was suspended at, its true volume might really be as large as a Heavenly Fortress.

"What is that?" Ang pointed at the man-made object and asked Albert.

"Oh, that is the Starburst Array of the Endless Star Power of the warlocks. I heard it was built to destroy the Undead Monarch. The Undead Empire has been attacking it, trying to seize it. It even fired once two months ago, but unfortunately, it missed and hit who knows where."

Warlocks? Monarch? Undead Empire? Which one should he ask about? So annoying. How should he ask people questions? How could he get Negris over here? Ang scratched his head.