Chapter 447: The Strange Array

The Church of Light has no deity of Truth; in the Prime Material Plane, there is a title called the God of Truth's Law, a mage beyond arcane mysteries who has mastered Truth itself.

Here, in this Church of Light, there is an additional deity—the God of Truth—and he is the only subordinate god, which is strange.

"The Light illuminates the earth but cannot reach the realm of the undead. The God of Truth, using the Truth he commands, created alchemy, constructs, sorcerers, and Starburst Arrays, and forged the holy heaven that protects us. Your daughter has a sacred affinity with Holy Light; she is the chosen saintess selected by the god."

Negrilis, projected onto Ang, had already vomited blood all over the floor—he had always been curious about what excuse sorcerers used to deceive these followers of Light.

Because according to the information Ang obtained, the gods were destroyed by Starburst Arrays—in other words, even the God of Light himself was slain by a Starburst Array.

Yet now, this high priestess claims the Starburst Array was created by the God of Truth to protect their holy realm?

Hehehe, these claims are utterly absurd and brim with endless depth—no, no, stop!

Negrilis forcibly suppressed the urge to analyze further, planning to return and study it with Anthony and Silver.

Now it clearly understood its own weakness and no longer dared claim omniscience—at least, it did not understand human hearts; in this regard, merchants and old charlatans were ten thousand times more skilled than it.

Turning its attention back, Negrilis observed the surrounding architecture and found the style extremely classical.

Classical often links with simplicity; if something is old enough, it must be crude—in eras of underdeveloped productivity, all impractical decorations were eliminated whenever possible.

What? Aren't the great cathedrals of the Prime Material Plane lavish? They aren't ancient—they've been constantly renovated and rebuilt over the past few centuries. You've never seen the oldest churches—they're just broken caves.

This cathedral is the same: its walls are entirely white, with little decoration, and two statues hang from the ceiling.

Monica awkwardly explained: "We're in the Void, where space should be horizontal, but now it's vertical, so it feels odd—please don't mind."

Ang's three faces remained expressionless, but Negrilis was about to burst out laughing—just imagining believers and priests kneeling on the ground, looking up at the ceiling to pray, it couldn't help but chuckle—wouldn't they all develop cervical spondylosis after a while?

The two statues: one was the God of Light, the other unfamiliar—probably the God of Truth.

Ang's entire attention focused on the unfamiliar God of Truth, because he could see that all soul-flames generated by prayers flowed entirely into the God of Truth's statue—the God of Light's statue received none.

Normally, deities outside the same belief system cannot perceive soul-flames or faith—but Ang could, because he possessed the Divine Core of the Scale God, which also meant the Scale God and this world's God of Light belonged to the same belief system.

Case solved! They're one and the same—this God of Light is truly the will of the primary divine core that was driven out by the Prime Material Plane's pantheon of Light gods.

Yet here, it doesn't seem to be faring well—all faith is being stolen by this God of Truth, who appeared out of nowhere, leaving nothing for it. Could it be because it has already perished?

Ang stared blankly for a while, doing nothing.

Seeing his expression, Monica knew she had failed—Mr. Ang had not been moved by the Light. This was troublesome: Light didn't attract him, food didn't attract him—how could they be persuaded to stay?

If even all the activities failed to attract him, what then? Buy them with money?

No, a saintess sold by her parents could never have a pure heart—if she lacked pure Holy Light, what difference would she make from ordinary clerics and priests?

Similarly, she couldn't force it—Monica hoped little Ao was a child who voluntarily stayed with her father, filled with love and Light, possessing a pure heart.

Not someone who stayed out of money or force, harboring resentment, eventually losing pure Holy Light and sinking into an ordinary cleric or priest—or worse, an unstable element.

Sigh, I hope tonight's activities will attract them.

After leaving the church, Ang suddenly reached out silently, grasping a wisp of yellow light into his palm, then quietly pressed it into his heart.

"What's that? What did you pick up again?" Negrilis gasped, immediately focusing its awareness on his heart.

Ang's heart held the Divine Core of the God of War and Peace—now, a tiny yellow dot had appeared on it. Negrilis's consciousness swept over it and immediately sensed a dreamlike murmur: Where is Truth… Where is Truth…

"This… is this a spirit?" Negrilis asked hesitantly.

Ang nodded.

…

After dinner came the usual entertainment: watching magical illusions, sharing curiosities, opera, poetry recitals, and simulated array competitions—extremely rich and varied.

Exhausted people returned to the Sorcerer's Ladder to fully relax and enjoy themselves.

The seed of the Sky-Piercing Divine Tree appeared at the Curiosity Sharing event—six ladders descended simultaneously; the Sorcerer's Alliance had collected many strange, unusual items not found on Starburst Arrays.

If something was especially valuable, it would be toured around for exhibition, allowing everyone to share its wonders.

The Sky-Piercing Divine Tree seed clearly belonged to such a rare item—Negrilis had long known of its disappearance and had planned to give it to Ang once they found it, but never imagined it would end up in the Sorcerer's Alliance's hands.

Under Monica's guidance, they arrived at one level of the main pillar—already crowded with people, some chatting, some waiting for companions, others making new friends.

Monica's status was clearly prestigious—many bowed and greeted her upon entry; after seeing the scar on her face, they showed shock, and some women gathered around, whispering to her.

Monica smiled mysteriously, constantly shifting topics, adamantly refusing to reveal anything about the scar.

When the women realized they couldn't get any information, they complained Monica was heartless and finally left in disgruntlement.

Monica sighed in relief, glancing sadly at the little angel—alas, if she couldn't keep the little angel, telling others wouldn't help—it would only bring trouble. If someone tried to use force, these two "farmer father and daughter" would be in trouble.

Suppressing her regret, Monica smiled: "Mr. Ang truly loves planting—even tonight's activity is specifically to see seeds. Our agriculture department also collects seeds—let me see if I can get some free ones as gifts—I hope you won't refuse."

How could Ang refuse? He immediately nodded vigorously.

Seeing this, Monica smiled with relief—even if she couldn't keep the little angel, giving the guest a pleasant memory was still a good thing.

Soon after, the Curiosity Sharing event officially began.

Although called "Curiosity Sharing," the definition of "curiosity" varied for each person—especially for Ang, who carried the Divine Core of Knowledge, almost nothing qualified as curious.

Thus, Ang maintained a blank expression throughout—even when the Sky-Piercing Divine Tree seed was brought out, he showed no surprise, only shook his head.

Monica, who had been closely watching him, asked: "Mr. Ang, is there something wrong with the seed?"

Ang opened his mouth, but realized explaining would require many words—Negrilis dared not speak and couldn't translate for him, so he closed his mouth again.

Monica chuckled—what was she thinking? She expected a farmer who'd never seen the Divine Tree to offer insight? That was too much—probably he just didn't understand.

Failing to get the reaction she expected, Ang indicated he wished to leave after the event ended; Monica reluctantly saw them off.

Before leaving, the classical priestesses gave the little angel many gifts, packed into a large bag taller than the child.

Watching the little angel balance the bag atop its head, Monica wasn't surprised—she just thought farming children were strong.

Monica herself pulled out a leather-bound book and handed it to Ang: "This is a collection of plant seed specimens gathered by the Alliance—I hope you like it."

"This is our teleportation array communication identifier. If you encounter trouble or danger, find any teleportation array, use this identifier to request communication, and ask for High Priestess Monica."

"This is a crate of convenient rice cakes. The order in North Wind City seems stable, but elsewhere has fallen into chaos—if buying food becomes difficult, these cakes will sustain you for a while."

"This is a bit of magic crystal. For healing your scar, this amount is trivial—I hope you won't refuse it."

Monica had prepared many gifts and feared Ang would refuse, saying many kind words.

Setting aside other matters, the little angel healing her scar was a great favor—it was her inner knot, and the little angel had untied it.

The birthmark on her face was merely unsightly, but the worm-like, writhing scar was truly ugly, causing discomfort to herself and others.

Now, this disturbing thing was gone—she could confidently show her face again.

Since she couldn't keep the little angel to care for it properly, she hoped the benefactor would live happily—so she prepared only practical gifts.

Ang accepted them; following the principle of equivalent exchange, his fingers twitched, ready to offer something in return—but Negrilis frantically stopped him.

"Don't move, don't move—we can compensate her later. You can't reveal your power now. Don't move, absolutely not."

In the end, Ang could not reciprocate equally—he could only drag away the huge pile of gifts, grumbling as he walked out.

Not far from the church, several shadows leapt out.

"My lord, you're finally out—are you alright?" Silver sighed in relief.

"We were terrified! My lord, are you alright?" Anthony also sighed in relief.

Everyone hurriedly took Ang's belongings and swiftly returned to the city.

Back at the governor's mansion, after setting up wards, Anthony and the others finally relaxed.

"We were terrified! Where's Lord Negrilis?" Anthony asked.

Negrilis's voice emerged from Ang's body: "Wait a moment—I'm switching back to my body."

Soon after, a bronze dragon rose from the corner.

Du Luo gave an annoyed look: "Lord Negrilis, couldn't your consciousness just return to tell us you're safe? From morning till now, everyone was frantic enough to wet themselves."

Negrilis rolled its eyes: "Go ahead and wet yourself—don't pretend. If you knew what we encountered, you'd never think that way."

Anthony and the others tensed.

Negrilis recounted the story of the God of Light and the God of Truth, repeating Monica's words verbatim, then had Ang produce the spirit.

"Book." Ang held out his hand.

Fine. Negrilis collapsed onto the floor. Soon after, the Bronze Book fluttered over.

Normally, the Bronze Book hung from Ang's waist; it had been temporarily removed for transport.

Opening the Bronze Book, removing the yellow dot, and slipping it between the pages.

A vigorous, white-haired, disheveled old man materialized within the book—he sat cross-legged, pinching his beard and muttering: "What is Truth… Where is Truth…"

At the corner of the page, Red Star peered out cautiously.

Looked left, looked right—no danger. Red Star tiptoed forward, its red star glowing, then shoved hard: "Red Star—"

Before "Star" could be spoken, a giant dragon's foot came down with a smack, crushing it flat.

Negrilis in dragon form picked up the thin, flattened Red Star with annoyance and tossed it over the page's corner.

But when it turned back, the disheveled old man had risen—he stared at where Red Star vanished, eyes gleaming: "Truth is here! Truth is within the Starburst's range! Starburst…"

The old man spread his arms—behind him instantly manifested a peculiar array, countless lights converging from the array into his body, surging into his hands.

Patsi! Negrilis's giant foot came down, crushing him into a paper-thin sheet.

Negrilis waved its claw irritably—a metal cage materialized, enclosing the disheveled old man.

The page turned—another cage appeared, enclosing Red Star—now they couldn't wander between pages, so they wouldn't fight anymore.

After finishing all this, Negrilis was utterly drained, closed the book, and reprojected itself onto its body.

"Spirit? Who is he? Did you capture a spirit from the Church of Light?" Anthony asked, puzzled.

Even if Ang had captured a god from the Church of Light, he wouldn't be this surprised—why a spirit?

A spirit is a collective of group belief—why would the Church of Light have such a collective belief?

Negrilis shrugged: "Because the Church of Light has been taken over—the God of Truth is stealing its faith. This guy keeps muttering 'Where is Truth'—could he be the God of Truth himself?"

"Impossible, impossible—he's just a spirit." The words had barely left its mouth when Negrilis overturned its own theory, continuing: "Didn't he just cast a Starburst? Could he be the inventor of the Starburst Array? Did you see the array clearly?"

Ang spread his hands, gesturing—soon, a peculiar array appeared in his palm.