Chapter 400: Can a Blank Divine Essence Be Used Like This?

The divine seal is the mark of a god, serving many purposes: it is the unique identifier of a deity and a beacon for receiving faith energy; Ang's scythe and ear of grain are his divine seal.

And the coins, Lisa, Anthony, and other symbols entwined within Ang's soul are their own unique marks—if they become gods, they will become their divine seals.

The greatest function of a divine seal, besides identifying identity, is receiving faith energy; from the moment Ang grabbed it, countless specks of light surged toward him from all directions.

This force of belief is invisible to ordinary people; Negrilis and Du Luo could only see the shield and sword symbols on Ang's palm.

"Sword and shield? Whose divine seal is this?" Negrilis asked.

Ang said: "The War Goddess."

Negrilis recalled and said: "There is no such deity in the main plane; it must have been born in this plane."

After learning this world also had a Church of Light, Negrilis began paying attention to its divine system, checking for overlaps with the main plane.

"It seems the deity who fell here was the War Goddess. Too bad—only one divine seal remains. Did you sense any part of the divine essence?" Negrilis asked.

A divine seal is merely a marker; the divine essence is the vessel of power. With only the seal, it's like having a door address—but the place is just a patch of muddy ground; the address means nothing.

Though she couldn't see those specks of faith energy, she assumed a fallen deity couldn't have many followers.

Ang shook his head; he had not sensed the divine essence.

"What a pity. A divine seal alone is useless. If there had been a divine essence, we could have claimed it as a subordinate god and gathered all the faith energy belonging to her in this world," Negrilis lamented.

Ang's only subordinate gods he had "collected" were Negrilis and the Redemption Goddess; the rest he had "raised" himself. It always felt unfair to be the only one robbed of faith—if more suffered alongside him, he'd feel much better.

Ang tilted his head, opened the Small Yellow Book, pulled out a blank divine essence, and pressed it firmly onto the seal.

"You… no good!" Negrilis instinctively cried out—but as soon as the words left her mouth, the blank divine essence fused with the seal and erupted with a terrifying tremor.

Ang immediately slammed the Small Yellow Book shut, trapping the essence inside; only a faint ripple escaped.

"Ku Ba Da! Are you creating a god? Can a blank divine essence be used like this? Can the Brass Book shield the wave of divine fire ignition?" Negrilis was stunned.

If a blank divine essence can be used this way, then after acquiring any divine seal, couldn't one easily create gods? And the Brass Book can shield divine fire's waves—how did she not know this? Was this Brass Book even hers?

The divine seal and divine essence were now merging—a process similar to forcibly imprinting a soul mark. Normally, this was impossible; a god's will is unshakable (except for the Redemption Goddess).

But a blank divine essence is different—it has no consciousness, perfectly matching the seal; the process went smoothly.

After the fusion completed, Ang pulled it out of the book—and once again, specks of faith energy surged toward him from all directions.

Ang stamped his soul mark onto this new War Goddess divine essence.

Put back into the Brass Book, the faith energy lost its target; pulled out, it found its node—meaning the divine essence could not be stored.

Ang examined his body; clearly, there was no place to accommodate the divine essence. For the sake of discretion, he had already removed his original Holy Spirit armor, leaving only his bare bones wandering about.

He thought for a moment, then summoned holy light and began smearing it over his body.

His skeleton, like a holy relic, regenerated under holy light—except for the wings, he looked exactly like a Holy Spirit angel.

A continuous stream of holy light spurred flesh and blood to grow; when it was nearly complete, Ang shoved the divine essence into his heart and kept casting holy light until all flesh had fully restored.

Now standing before them was a handsome, tall, imposing… naked man.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you didn't wear clothes when you were just a skeleton, and you didn't think it was odd—but now, walking around like this without clothes feels weird," Negrilis said, puzzled.

"Uh, you don't plan to go like this, do you? Wait, wait."

As Ang was about to walk toward the Fallen God Town, Du Luo, laughing and groaning, quickly stripped off his robe and handed it to Ang, leaving himself shirtless in only shorts.

"Wear this for now. We'll buy proper clothes once we reach town."

Ang, clad in a robe, held a bright golden book in his left hand, walking forward with an expressionless, imposing stride—his demeanor was intimidating.

Arriving at the Fallen God Town, the drawbridge had already been raised; they had learned of the undead flood in Desert Town, and all refugees fleeing from Desert Town were barred outside.

The Fallen God Town bordered a lake, making water access easy, so it was far larger than Desert Town, with several times the population and complete defenses—a moat encircled the town, backed by a great mountain, with only one exit at the front.

Once the drawbridge was raised, it instantly became a fortress easy to defend.

Ang had been busy behind for half the day, but the other residents had arrived long ago and still couldn't enter; several men resembling town guards were arguing with the refugees from Desert Town.

Ang stepped closer and heard one guard, smug and coarse, say: "How do I know you don't carry plague or spies? You'll have to stay outside until tomorrow morning. Only then, if you're cleared, will you be allowed in."

"You… it's freezing here! Do you want us to freeze to death?" someone angrily shouted.

"You can light a fire. I've got firewood—I'll sell it cheap: one silver coin per bundle." The guard spoke with impunity.

"One silver coin buys a whole cart of firewood! Are you robbing us?!" someone cursed.

"Take it or leave it. Freeze to death if you want," the guard muttered, his eyes sweeping back and forth—finally settling on a plump woman in thin clothing.

He smiled sweetly: "Oh my, madam, you look frozen stiff. Come, come, warm yourself in our tent. The sun's about to set; desert nights are unbearable. Don't want you frozen solid by morning."

The plump woman startled, instinctively covering herself with both hands and stepping back—but as she retreated, a look of struggle and hesitation crept onto her face.

Her husband had been killed by bandits; the meteor strike had destroyed her home; she hadn't even saved her clothes or bedding. One night in the desert wind might leave her unable to rise tomorrow.

But even if she rose tomorrow, what then? Entering town, a woman like her could only become a slave or a wet nurse for some noble—if luck ran out, then…

On the edge of the desert, women like her had no power to decide their own fate.

But if dragged into the guard's tent, her fate was obvious: if they exploited her and then offered a way out, that'd be mercy—but more likely, they'd use her up and discard her.

"Oh heavens, what should I do? Goddess of Peace, please give me a sign," the woman wept, collapsing to the ground, helpless.

Ang glanced curiously at his chest and said: "She called for Peace. I heard her."

"You heard her? So the divine seal you picked up is actually the full name: War and Peace Goddess?" Negrilis asked, puzzled.

Ang tilted his head, bewildered.

Negrilis thought for a moment and deduced: "Likely, the divine seal you found is incomplete—it's missing half the Peace divine seal. What now? The drawbridge is closed; we can't enter the town."

Du Luo shrugged indifferently: "Just break in. I hate these town guards."

"Huh? Break in? Won't that make too much noise? Isn't that bad?" Negrilis said cautiously.

"What's bad? Didn't you hear Tina say this world is dominated by undead? What's the point of being careful? If needed, I'll evaporate all the water and call on the undead to crush whoever bothers us."

Du Luo added, slightly disgruntled: "Besides, you underestimate the Alchemy King. Except for Locke, that freak, I've never feared anyone. Witches aren't fighters—I'm not afraid of them in a duel."

Negrilis snorted: "Who's the one who couldn't even leave the bucket when Ang was watching?" She meant Du Luo's early days after rebirth.

Du Luo's face flushed, but his words stuck with Negrilis: "You're right—this world is dominated by undead. If needed, I'll shed my skin and call on the undead for help."

Realizing this, Negrilis's courage surged. Honestly, since being transported here, she'd felt deeply uncomfortable; used to ruling the main plane with impunity, now she was being cautious.

Ang couldn't transform. If he acted as recklessly as before, what if he encountered someone strong enough to burn his Small Yellow Book?

But as Du Luo said, they were undead themselves. In a world dominated by undead, there was no need for caution—just call on the undead for help, like the undead flood.

"Fine, let's do it. Ang, go ahead, beat them up," Negrilis said.

Ang nodded—but before he moved, the coarse guard turned his attention to Ang—or rather, to the golden Small Yellow Book.

"Hey, you in the robe—your book isn't made of gold, is it? Where'd you steal it? Your pathetic Desert Town couldn't possibly have such a valuable book. Did you steal it from our Fallen God Territory? Don't move—we're searching you." The guard barked.

A refugee from Desert Town weakly said: "He's not from our town…"

But before he finished, Ang swung the Small Yellow Book and smashed it into the guard's face, sending him flying.

"Ku Ba Da! You used me to hit someone?! What if you break me?!" Negrilis screamed inside Ang's soul.

"Oh." Ang reluctantly held the Brass Book and used the Gold Rod as a staff, sweeping it forward—a row of fireballs appeared before him.

He didn't need the whole row; one fireball struck each guard. Four fireballs knocked out the remaining four guards.

Walking to the drawbridge, Ang shouted to those above: "Open it."

"Right away, right away, noble mage! We didn't know of your arrival—please forgive our rudeness. Please wait, we're lowering the drawbridge immediately!" the people above hurriedly replied.

They dared bar refugees from Desert Town, but they would never dare block a noble mage—especially one who looked so powerful.

The drawbridge creaked open. Ang turned and pointed at the plump woman: "Peace, protect you. Enter."

"Ah? Thank you, Goddess of Peace! Thank you, Goddess of Peace!" The woman, finally realizing, thanked repeatedly.

She sprinted across the bridge; only when her feet touched the drawbridge did she snap back to awareness—she was safe. But why? She was still confused.

She had prayed to the Goddess of Peace before, but never received a response. If not for the Fallen God Territory's proximity and the goddess's fame, she wouldn't have chosen her.

No—the Goddess of Peace had never answered her. It couldn't suddenly send a divine emissary to save her.

Could it be… this strong man fancied her, using the Goddess of Peace as an excuse to help her?

The plump woman's heart stirred. She studied Ang carefully—and the moment she saw him clearly, her heart pounded, her cheeks flushed red, and only two words filled her mind: so handsome…

Blushing, she cast one last deep look at Ang, then walked shakily across the drawbridge into the Fallen God Town.

Having answered a believer, Ang ignored the others and walked into town alone. The rest rushed in before the drawbridge could be raised.

Inside the town, night hadn't fully fallen. Ang and Du Luo searched around but found no tailor shop—only a leather shop.

In remote towns like this, leather shops had a single function: buying hides to transport to big cities; local sales were minimal.

Seeing Ang and Du Luo approach, the shopkeeper didn't look up and waved them off: "Closed for the day. Come back tomorrow…"

Before he finished, a clinking sound of metal rang out—the shopkeeper, used to handling money, instantly recognized it: the sound of gold coins.

He snapped his head up—and sure enough, Du Luo was idly tossing a handful of gold coins.

"Honored guests!" The shopkeeper's face changed instantly; he warmly ushered Ang and Du Luo inside.

They selected suitable leather to take to the inn for processing. Du Luo, as the Alchemy King, could shape them into perfect armor by hand—even imbued with magic properties or special functions.

Leaving the leather shop, they turned a corner and saw the plump woman again. She was overjoyed to see Ang and dropped to her knees: "Noble… noble divine emissary, please let me follow your footsteps and serve the great Goddess of Peace!"