Chapter 11

After making up his mind, the old high priest gave the assistant priests some necessary instructions while taking off his shirt.

He began drawing spells onto his aged, shriveled body with refined chicken blood. He had drawn these spells countless times before, but this was the first time he had drawn them on himself, so he seemed rather clumsy. Realizing this, he sighed in frustration, deeply regretting his lack of preparation, then ordered the assistant priests to come help him.

The assistant priests were greatly shocked. They knew the purpose of these spells and never expected such a thing to happen. But in the church of an evil god, orders from superiors to subordinates were absolute and not to be questioned. Before long, the old high priest's chest and back were covered in crimson spells, forming a strange magic circle.

After trying a circuit of magic through the formation, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Do you remember everything I told you?" he asked.

The assistant priests nodded repeatedly.

"Good. In a moment, pray to our lord together, and let Him decide who shall succeed me. My shallow wisdom is insufficient to see the future, but remember this: only by dedicating your entire body and soul to our lord can you transcend death and attain true eternity!"

The gaunt old man smiled, his expression full of contentment.

"You see, I am the best example."

With that, he faced the Shrine, gripped the wooden staff known as the "Sacrificial Offering" with both hands, and viciously thrust it into his own chest.

The enchanted hardwood was harder than steel. Its sharp tip pierced flesh like a spear, driving straight into his heart.

Blood gushed out, soaking the staff. The black stains transformed into crimson runes that surfaced in rings through the air. They were passages written in magical script, hymns of praise offered to the evil god.

Though mortally wounded, the old high priest did not fall. Instead, he seemed more energetic than ever. As if he felt no pain at all, he smiled and spread his arms, as though about to embrace something.

He smiled happily, with the bright cheerfulness of sunlight. To the assistant priests, who had always known him as gloomy and inscrutable, it was an unbelievable miracle.

Then his body withered rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it took on the appearance of rotten wood.

"My lord, I am finally going to Your kingdom..."

With a whisper too faint to hear, the body, now so withered it no longer looked human, began collapsing from the head down and turned to ashes. In the time it took to say a single sentence, accompanied by the sound of the wooden staff falling to the floor, the old high priest had become a pile of ashes, leaving behind no trace of his existence.

But the Shrine before him emitted a dazzling red light, scarlet as blood and deep as the sea.

The eldest of the assistant priests took a deep breath, steadied herself, walked to the Shrine, raised her holy emblem, closed her eyes, and began chanting a spell. The other assistant priests formed a circle around the Shrine and sang a hymn in unison.

The statue on the roof emitted a dazzling red glow, and a powerful evil aura rose up, chilling hearts, weakening limbs, and making everyone tremble in fear.

Sui Xiong naturally noticed that aura at once, and he could not help frowning inwardly.

He did not know anything about concepts like "good alignment" or "evil alignment," but those who walked different paths could never work together; that was the instinct of all living things. This evil aura was so powerful that it immediately filled him, a good-hearted being, with disgust.

"These bastards! They clearly had such a powerful method, yet they kept it hidden all this time..."

He glared viciously at the statue, remaining secretly on guard, but his attacks did not pause in the slightest as he continued wreaking havoc among the skeletal army.

But in the next instant, he realized he had made a huge mistake.

A dazzling red beam shot from the statue, but its target was not the skeletons—it was him!

The moment the red beam fired, Sui Xiong accurately judged its trajectory and instinctively dodged. He was strong and quick to react, but he had forgotten something important—his current body was not human, but that of a Giant Jellyfish. At human speed, he could indeed have dodged the beam, but the Giant Jellyfish's body was simply too enormous. Even though he shifted several meters in an instant, he was still too late and was struck by the red beam.

After the red beam hit him, a strange force descended from nowhere, vast and boundless, filled with a terrifying authority. Along with it came chaotic, vicious thoughts, as though tens of millions of people were shouting angrily at once, demanding that he kneel and submit.

Though he still knew little about this world, his instincts told him that he absolutely could not yield now. Otherwise, he would be doomed beyond redemption!

Sui Xiong's instincts were naturally correct. The spell that had struck him was called Enslavement, a powerful spell unique to evil deities. This spell had severe restrictions: it could only be cast near a holy residence receiving a deity's special attention. Its cost was equally immense, requiring the sacrifice of a devout high priest to communicate with the divine kingdom and borrow divine power to force the target into submission. Yet its power was tremendous as well. If the victim could not withstand the immense pressure from the divine kingdom, their mind would be twisted and they would become a loyal servant of that deity.

For powerful humans, this spell was generally not very effective. What great expert had not emerged from countless hardships? What path to power had not been paved with blood and sweat? The majesty of a divine kingdom might be powerful, but those experts possessed no ordinary will. The chances of subduing them with this move were not great.

But for enormous creatures that had grown through talent and time, lacking powerful hearts, this spell was extremely formidable and difficult to resist.

Many churches of evil deities kept several enslaved giant creatures as powerful enforcers.

What the old high priest of White Leaf Village had intended was precisely to cast Enslavement, brainwash that powerful Giant Jellyfish, and turn it into an enforcer for his church.

With such an enforcer, his church could use violence to crush the other nearby churches and completely rule this region.

For that, he had not hesitated to sacrifice himself. He truly was ruthless!

His sacrifice had not been in vain. Sui Xiong, who had been hit by the spell, had now fallen into the greatest crisis since crossing over.

The immense pressure from the evil god's kingdom left him dizzy, his entire soul trembling. More than once, thoughts of surrender arose in his mind, only for him to suppress them again and again. Yet although he could push down those thoughts that did not belong to him each time, they always returned even stronger.

A raging tempest rose within his spiritual world. He felt as though he had become a tiny boat, floating amid waves formed by countless voices demanding his submission, liable to be overturned at any moment.

This can't go on!

Shocked and enraged, he instinctively unleashed the means that would save his life.

The Magic Core inside the enormous jellyfish suddenly shook and emitted a dazzling blue-white light. In an instant, the jellyfish's massive body turned entirely blue-white, transparent as a gemstone. Unimaginably powerful magic surged forth, forming an almost tangible, solid shield that firmly blocked the mind-bewitching force. Magic and divine power collided madly, producing countless terrifying explosions. Along with those blasts, endless cold spread outward, blanketing several miles around in the blink of an eye. The next moment, whether flesh and blood, skeletons and plants, or rocks and steel, every tangible thing touched by the cold was sealed within solid ice. More than half of them became so brittle from the cold, which had surpassed mortal limits, that one could imagine they would all crumble into powder when the ice melted.

The voices roaring and shouting in Sui Xiong's mind stopped abruptly, and that vast pressure rapidly weakened. Before it could dissipate, Sui Xiong roared, summoned his strength, and shattered the pressure to pieces.

Only then did he finally have the leisure to look around and see what had happened.

What he saw was a desolate sight.

The entire village, along with all the surrounding fields and open land, had been frozen over. Even a large stretch of the distant forest had frozen solid. Within the blue-white ice, all things were silent, devoid of even the slightest life. Though the statue atop the stone house still flickered with red light, the glow was rapidly weakening and soon vanished without a trace.

He was silent for a while, then let out a deep sigh and drew the cold back into his body, storing it within his Magic Core.

In that brief moment, more than thirty percent of the Frost Magic he had accumulated over a long time had been consumed.

And the result of that attack was that the entire village had become a land of death.

Not only had every human and animal perished, even the skeletons hidden deep underground had not escaped. The moon still hung in the sky, but no more skeletons emerged from the earth. Both sides, locked in a desperate battle only moments ago, now lay on the ground as wreckage that would never move again.

"This is... completely different from what I expected!"

Sui Xiong lowered his head with a bitter smile. The Giant Jellyfish's body trembled slightly as it floated silently amid the lingering cold.

After a long time, when the rising sun illuminated the earth, he suddenly came to his senses and began walking toward the stone house.

His instincts told him that all the answers could be found there.

The village was not large, and he reached the stone house in just a few steps. Naturally, the Giant Jellyfish could not squeeze through the narrow doorway, so Sui Xiong chose to dismantle the house.

Several tentacles seized different parts of the roof, then pulled together. The sturdy roof shook once, separated from the walls, and was lifted away. Everything inside the house was revealed before him.

Sui Xiong's gaze swept over the black-clad girls lying lifeless on the floor. He sighed, then focused his attention on the Shrine.

Once again, his instincts told him that this Shrine was the key to the problem.

He set the roof aside and extended a tentacle toward the Shrine.

Before he could touch it, a vicious, icy will descended from nowhere and blocked his way. It was exactly like the will that had tried to enslave him the previous night—coldly authoritative, lofty, and arrogant beyond measure.

Sui Xiong snorted. Before that will could take any real action, Frost Magic suddenly erupted. This time, the blue-white cold covered only a very small area, enveloping nothing but himself and the Shrine.

That will was indeed stopped by the cold. At the same time, Sui Xiong's tentacle curled around the Shrine, wrapped it tightly, and pulled it out of the ground.

Seeing the Shrine taken, that will flew into a rage. Thick dark clouds appeared in the previously clear sky, and endless, grim killing intent shrouded the land like dense fog.

Though this being's origins were unknown, its strength was truly formidable. Before it had even formally attacked, heaven and earth had changed color. Its presence was extraordinary.

But Sui Xiong felt no fear at all. His Frost Magic gathered even more densely, and several streams of magic condensed into sharp blades. He was already holding back a bellyful of anger. Since this fellow dared to come looking for trouble with him, it had better be prepared to get stabbed a few times!

Both sides readied themselves, and a clash seemed ready to erupt at any moment. But before they could fight, a bolt of golden lightning tore through the sky, shredding the dark clouds to pieces. An old voice also laughed heartily from somewhere beyond sight.

The vicious, icy will from before was both shocked and enraged. Naturally unwilling to face enemies on two fronts, it could only retreat resentfully. Meanwhile, the warm, bold will spread toward Sui Xiong, transforming into a golden light that fell upon the barrier of Frost Magic and seeped through it.

That golden light contained endless vitality. It swept away his exhaustion, eased his heavy mood, and even replenished all the magic he had expended.

The golden light vanished in an instant, leaving only that old, bold voice echoing through the air.

It was a language he did not understand, yet it conveyed an unmistakably clear message.

Goodwill, and encouragement.

After reading the update, please remember to vote in support. Everyone's support is what motivates me to keep updating.

Also, the daily update times are fixed at noon and 8 PM—at least until I run out of saved chapters.