The void trembled, then space collapsed. A glittering golden spatial passage a thousand meters in diameter surged into existence out of nowhere. A beautiful woman in a purple robe, her entire body dripping with jewels, danced and flailed as she shot out of the passage. Like one mourning her dead parents, she raged and shrieked atop the former ruins of the Temple of the Goddess of Wealth.
Among the gods worshipped by the Church, the Goddess of Wealth was one of the deities most beloved by the people. She governed commerce, wealth, brewing, and all manner of other crafts. Her divine power was not particularly formidable; she was still far from an existence at the rank of a chief god like Mudel, the God of War. Yet compared to ordinary High-Gods, she was more than a cut above.
Thousands of gods followed at her side, most of them low-low-rank and low-mid-rank divine servants. Every one of them was dressed like a merchant, and many were potbellied, their faces bloated with fat. They had all been famous great merchants in the history of the Western Continent, transformed into her subordinate gods by the Goddess of Wealth after their deaths.
These fellows were weak, but like the Goddess of Wealth, their attire gleamed so brilliantly with gold that it dazzled the eyes. Like a pack of crazed wild boars, they raced back and forth through the skies above the city, howling curses at the criminal audacious enough to sweep away every scrap of wealth donated by their followers through the generations.
Lin Qi watched these gods, spitting as they roared themselves hoarse, with a genial smile. Then he raised his right hand.
The entire city suddenly shuddered. The defensive divine formation the Goddess of Wealth had set beneath the city shattered with