Chapter 287
Left with no other choice, Kachia had to retrace her steps and return to the castle.
"So? Are you one of the Blood Cult?"
Kachina, who was fiddling with the stone slab in the room, asked without looking up.
She had certainly sensed the power fluctuations earlier, after all, she was now stronger than Kachia (hands on hips), but she didn't plan to go. If anything happened, Kachia alone would be enough, especially since this was the Imperial Capital Arcadia.
"It's nothing. It's probably the people from Gate of Janus fighting the Blood Cult. There are remnants of both powers at the scene."
Kachia doesn't intend to tell Kachina that Ryan has a problem.
Because saying it won't make a difference.
Kachina has already taken on the shape of Rider!
"Heh, the people of Gate of Janus are really something... Oh well, let's consider that they just helped the Empire. Kachia, look, this stone tablet should look like this, right? Do you remember the missing part? I remember it was complete when Father Emperor obtained it."
"I don't remember. It seems my father went somewhere back then, and this stone slab was damaged when he came back."
"Oh dear, Father, you've ruined something so valuable."
"We don't even know what it is yet, and it might not even matter. Rider deciphered the contents of the stone tablet before, but it didn't change anything for us."
Kachia tried to lower Ryan's standing in Kachina's eyes, but failed. The latter didn't care whether the contents of the stone tablet were useful or not; she only knew that Ryan had done what others couldn't, and that her Prince was awesome.
Kachia sighed inwardly. What kind of mess had this made? If Ryan really had a problem, then they were doomed. If the twins weren't of one mind, were they still twins?
"No, I must find out about Rider's situation! Is he truly helping Arcadia? If there's something wrong with him, even if Kachia blames me, I'll get rid of him."
Kachia still felt she should do something quickly, even if Kachia found out later, as long as it confirmed Ryan was the problem. If not...
She still had one last trick up her sleeve: she could simply agree to Ryan's absurd suggestion, and then Kachina, in a good mood, wouldn't blame her.
Given her situation, it's impossible for her to accept Ryan. At most, she could try it with Ryan once while fused with Kachina, but that's it.
Kachia was confident she could resist Ryan's 'temptation' even when they were apart; after all, she wasn't Kachina, who only thought with her body.
"Rider, watch how I catch you red-handed!"
Achoo!
Meanwhile, Ryan, who had already rushed back to his room, couldn't help but sneeze.
Who's insulting me?
He rubbed his nose, not paying any attention, his eyes fixed on a prompt on the game interface—the character information for 'Shally'.
[Blood Hand Butcher Barton is dead. Do you wish to accept the title of 'Blood Hand Butcher' and gain the power of faith?]
"Holy crap, the God of Desire just killed Barton???"
Huffing and puffing, huffing and puffing, recommending a friend's book.
Chapter 174 Holy Blood Angel Shally! Kachia has caught Ryan red-handed.
"He's dead? Was Patton really that bad?"
To be honest, Ryan was a little surprised. He had only planned to use the God of Desire to help 'Shally' escape; he hadn't even considered killing Barton.
After all, Desire Aphrodite is in a sealed state. Even if her power is enhanced inside the Chaos Space, she probably wouldn't be able to kill the Eighth Tier Blood God Great Demon Barton, right?
If he truly possessed the power to kill Eighth Tier, he wouldn't have been able to escape back then.
Or is it that desire wasn't exerted at its full potential?
However, Ryan reconsidered. Gods are beings that transcend the level of ordinary life forms. So what if they are at the Eighth Tier? The power of the Eighth Tier is only in the eyes of mortals on the Rhea Continent. No one even knows what realm lies above the Eighth Tier. What if they are not gods?
"Who cares, I made a profit anyway."
Ryan was initially saddened by the loss of a precious necklace, but now he was overjoyed. Without Barton's threat, he wouldn't have to worry so much about his Second Wife using the Chaos Channel anymore.
Moreover, Barton is already dead, and the Faith Power gathered by the enemy will directly merge into 'Shally'. If 'Shally' is not Game Character, then this means that she will no longer worry about the Eighth Tier like the twins.
You can give Shally a new title.
A message pops up.
Ryan was slightly taken aback.
"A new title?"
[Shally can promote her new name simultaneously without affecting the Blood Hand Butcher's rallying cry.]
"In other words, one can have multiple titles at the same time, but the ultimate faith culminates in Shally for each title?"
Ryan understood. Just as gods have many titles, such as Doklodus being called the Blood God and sometimes the God of War, the names may differ but they all point to the same goal.
"Does this mean that Shally has the potential to become a god?"
Ryan stroked his chin, suddenly realizing that the significance of this step was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.
He opened the character's attributes and saw that 'Shally's' appearance had changed—she was still dressed in a fitted black outfit, holding the Ares Greatsword, with blood-red Magic Power swirling around her. The difference was that she now had a pair of huge blood-red wings unfolding behind her, similar to the wings of Magana when she activated her Chosen form, only the color had changed from black to red.
In addition, 'Shally' has reached level 61!
"Sixth Tier 'Shally,' wow~ her stats are already higher than some seventh-tier ones. Even if she faces Chosen of the Gods, as long as it's not a peak seventh-tier, a Great Perfection, or a Top-tier Great Perfection, she's basically not afraid."
The Second Wife is really something else!
Waaaaah~ Shally, you're my favorite wife!
"What should I call him? Blood Hand Butcher... Blood Angel? Oh, I've got it, Holy Blood Angel!"
These wings make 'Shally' look even more like an angel, and as the leader of the Holy Blood Army, calling her the Holy Blood Angel wouldn't be inappropriate.
[The naming of the Holy Blood Angel is complete. You can now spread the word of the Holy Blood and increase your strength by gathering faith.]
"This is an attempt to create their own religious sect, but unfortunately, the faith on the Rhea Continent is already saturated. Rather than starting from scratch, continuing down the Divine Path is a more reliable option."
'Shally' is only at the Sixth Tier and has broken away from the Blood Divine Path. She cannot bear the weight of a faith. Even if some people believe in her, the number will not be too large. With fewer people, the power of faith will not be very meaningful.
It's obviously better to stay on the Blood Divine Path than to start from scratch; Ryan understands the principle of using someone else's resources to generate wealth.
"When it comes to fighting, the Blood Divine Path is indeed more reliable. Perhaps we can consider crossing the southern seas and attacking the Southern Continent."
Arcadia's situation is basically stable now. The only thing that's left is Kachia's suspicion of him. Originally, the matter was settled, but they encountered the other side halfway through. Ryan's excuses were untenable, so Kachia will definitely suspect him.
But despite her doubts, she was the Chosen of the Earth God and also Kachina's Prince. What could she possibly do?
Ryan was even considering when he and Kachina would find an opportunity to forcefully subdue Kachia and thoroughly humiliate her. With his current hidden charm, it wasn't impossible that under the influence of desire, he could turn Kachia into a foaming-mouthed idiot.
In fact, he was actually helping the other person improve their cultivation!
Master Ryan does good deeds without seeking fame or fortune.
In short, there's no need to worry about the situation in the Arcadia Empire. Ryan can slowly infiltrate it on his own, and later the Twins can advance eastward to eliminate all the forces that have grievances against the Empire, thus achieving true unification of the Eastern Continent.
However, this step is not easy, because there are other church forces present. The Gate of Janus, needless to say, will certainly not sit idly by and watch Arcadia occupy a continental map. As for the other churches, large and small, if they are really pushed to the limit, it is not impossible for them to cooperate with the Gate of Janus.
Therefore, this step requires careful planning and needs the Arcadia Empire to take action.
As for the Northern Continent, the Augustus Empire and the Northern Federation have firmly secured their positions as the top two powers, and he is secretly in control of them. Once the Grand Duke has dealt with the Western Barbarians, there will be virtually no threat left.
Given this situation, Ryan began to consider moving south.
The Southern Continent is vast, and the influence of the Church is complex. They secretly control the countries that fight each other for faith and territory, and there is no single, strictly defined leader.
Even the Gate of Janus only occupies a small piece of land in the Southern Continent.
Ryan's craving it!
As for the Western Continent, he has no plans for the time being, because according to the continent's historical records, the Western Continent was the main place of the War of the Gods. Now it is shrouded in a mysterious power, and anyone who enters the Western Continent gets lost inside. Only a few people have come out.
Those few who emerged from the West Continent developed varying degrees of mental health issues; some went mad, while others, though not insane, frequently rambled incoherently. Poets and painters compiled fragmented information about the Western Continent into stories and picture books—they said that mysterious races still served ancient gods, that there were colossal stone castles built with technology far exceeding human capabilities, and that occasionally, enormous black shadows would sweep across the sky. "A dragon! That's a dragon!" the poets cheered.
Because it was too eerie, Ryan made that place his final destination. Anyway, there was much to be done on the Southern Continent, so there was no need to go to the Western Continent to court death.
As he pondered, Ryan turned to look out the window. Dusk was falling, and the sky was painted with fiery clouds.
Kachina went to find the stone tablet, and it's unclear how she is doing. She doesn't seem to have any intention of coming back to find him... Ryan thought for a moment and decided to go to the Earth Temple again. After all, Kachia has already allowed him to come and go freely, seven times in and out.
The main reason was that Ryan wouldn't feel comfortable not getting the fragments there after knowing they were there.
Moreover, if he doesn't go now, he'll have even less time later once Kachina gets attached to him.
Leaving the room, the castle was very quiet at the moment.
Ryan left the castle, walked to the entrance of the back mountain, and used the token given to him by Kachina to enter the barrier.
The guards outside the temple did not obstruct them; Kachina had already instructed them to treat Rider Ryder as if they were seeing her.
Not only did they not encounter any obstacles, but they also had to bow to him.
Ryan walked past the massive array of stone guards, entered the temple, and followed the previous route to the Golden Tree at the end.
"It's still there!"
The Advancement Fragment lay quietly beneath the tree.
Because of the power of time and space blocking them, ordinary people simply cannot see them.
Ryan walked over, reached out and tried to grab it, but as expected, he still couldn't catch it.
However, he didn't rush to retrieve the Advancement Fragment. Instead, he leisurely walked around the Golden Tree.
"What's this guy doing here again?"
Not far behind, Kachia hid behind a stone guard, quietly observing everything.
Once she figured out how to get something on Ryan, she immediately took action. She thought that since she had caught Ryan sneaking around doing something today, he would stay in his room and sleep it off. But to her surprise, Ryan turned around and left the castle again.
You're rushing to the Earth Temple like this? You don't think there's anything special about it?
Kachia didn't believe it. After all, if something really happened, she and Kachina had already done it at the temple. The fact that Ryan came alone meant that he couldn't let Kachina see what he was going to do!
After some deliberation, Kachia felt it was a good idea, and she couldn't help but feel excited. If she could catch Ryan red-handed, he would have no way to defend himself. She could even send Morse Code to Kachina on the spot!
But.
Kachia stared for a while, only to see Ryan swaying back and forth, sometimes looking up at the tree, sometimes making a few grabbing motions at the air, which left her somewhat confused.
"Could this guy have discovered me? Impossible, I'm Seventh Tier Transcendent, and he seems to be only third-tier. Even if the Chosen of the Earth God some special abilities, there's no way he could have discovered me."
"But what is he doing? Could it be some kind of ritual?"
Kachia frowned slightly.
Although I was puzzled, I wasn't in a hurry.
The more this is the case, the more it indicates something is strange.
Just as she was thinking this, Kachia suddenly felt something strange coming from her body.
Kachina sent her the password to contact her.
Kachina: Where are you? I found a broken stone slab in the secret room. Come and take a look.
Kachia: I'm busy right now, I have something to take care of.
Kachina: What could it be?
Kachia laughed in exasperation.
What could possibly be wrong with me? Kachina, shouldn't I be the one asking you that?
Normally, I handle all the affairs of the Arcadia Empire. Even if it were your turn to be on duty, you wouldn't put in any effort.
Kachina: Wait, you're not secretly investigating Rider, are you? You're being very suspicious today!
Kachia: You'll find out, Kachina. I'll tell you the truth soon.
Kachia had just finished filming her own Great Scholar when she suddenly sensed a peculiar Magic Power fluctuation—it was... the Power of the Janus Path!
She suddenly looked up at the tree and saw Ryan using the power of Janus to do something. Because his back was to her, Kachia couldn't see clearly, but this power of Janus immediately reminded her of the ritual she had discovered outside the castle!
Kachia was almost overflowing with emotion, and she rushed over without hesitation!