Goddess of Theft

Although Li Lin's words seemed somewhat reckless on the surface, he wasn't wrong. Under Li Lin's gaze, the Goddess of Theft helplessly took out a magic ring she had just put in her pocket—it was unclear how she had managed to bypass Li Lin's numerous magical defenses and succeed in stealing it.

Li Lin didn't find anything amiss. Although the fact that the Goddess of Theft could bypass his defenses seemed very unsettling, once he became familiar with her personality and habits, he could judge her methods in another way. Although he was several meters away from the Goddess of Theft just now, Li Lin was certain that Goddess of Theft him as a greeting gift. In fact, she would casually take something from everyone she met as a way of greeting them. She acted as if the item was naturally hers, and if the other person noticed, she would readily return it; if they didn't notice, then the item was hers.

During the Magic Empire era, Li Lin had warned all his subordinates, including the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys, that if you ever encountered the Goddess of Theft, no matter the circumstances, you should immediately ask her for your belongings back. There would be no mistake, and there would be absolutely no wrongful conviction.

As for the reason why the Goddess of Theft was hiding here, Li Lin also got the truth from her.

The Goddess of Theft truly lives up to her reputation as a protector of thieves and swindlers. In fact, when the God of Justice first launched his attack on the other gods of the Upper Planes, the Goddess of Theft immediately sensed the problem. She also discovered the flaw in the source of the God of Justice's power that Li Lin had only just discovered. However, unlike other gods, the Goddess of Theft didn't resist. After exchanging this information with several Greater God of equal allegiance for some divine artifacts, she simply packed up and left, so carefree that she didn't even want her own divine realm. At that time, the Goddess of Theft had already sensed the difficulty of dealing with the God of Justice. Perhaps she had already anticipated that the other gods wouldn't be a match for the God of Justice, so she planned to retreat to the Prime Material Plane to hide and see how things calmed down before making further moves.

Originally, the Goddess of Theft planned to hide in the Magic Empire. Given her relationship with the Arcane Mage, this shouldn't have been a problem. Moreover, Goddess of Theft Arcane Mage would assist the gods. However, when she arrived in the Prime Material Plane, she discovered that even the Magic Empire had been destroyed. This left the Goddess of Theft had taken all her possessions with her, with absolutely no way out.

Let's go back to the Upper Planes. That God of Justice is my mortal enemy in terms of both faction and attribute. There's absolutely no way I can let her live, especially after several Greater God who were originally connected with the Goddess of Theft also died one after another. The Goddess of Theft has become even more determined in this regard.

However, staying on the Prime Material Plane wasn't easy either. The Goddess of Theft had chosen to descend upon her Divine Chosen through Divine Descent, and seeing no hope of returning, she decisively merged the unfortunate chosen one's soul with her own to stabilize her already fragile divine fire on the Prime Material Plane. In other words, the Goddess of Theft borrowed a mortal's body, forcibly leaving herself in this wretched place. Of course, her power was greatly reduced as a result.

After the destruction of the Magic Empire, and seeing that other gods on the continent, and even her own Temple, had been uprooted and utterly destroyed by the God of Justice, the Goddess of Theft immediately implemented the thief's best-kept strategy: a retreat, fleeing to this godforsaken place. In her view, she was, after all, a god, and hiding in such a place for thirty to fifty years shouldn't be a problem. Moreover, the Goddess of Theft's initial thought was that she could win over a group of uncivilized barbarians here. If she could cultivate them into her followers, she could at least absorb some faith power, albeit a small amount, but every little bit helps.

Then, just like in the legend, the Goddess of Theft met the warrior.

Of course, it's absolutely impossible for mortals and gods to develop feelings for each other. This is not only because their identities, ways of thinking, and lifespans are vastly different, but they can even be considered to be of the same kind. Have you ever seen a person fall madly in love with a mouse? So, the Goddess of Theft took a liking to this warrior's power and tried to use him to achieve his own goals.

Although the warrior wasn't stupid, he was no match for the goddess of fraud and theft. Within days, he was completely swayed by Goddess of Theft and willingly became one of her subordinates. And then... then things happened just like in the legends.

Although the Goddess of Theft initially intended to attract followers, she later discovered that this godforsaken place was far too impoverished. Her limited abilities offered no object of worship here; she couldn't very well establish a kingdom of thieves or swindlers. Moreover, since she received no replenishment from the Prime Material Plane, such prolonged periods of depletion would be troublesome for the Goddess of Theft. Therefore, after having the warrior gather manpower, the Goddess of Theft quickly found an excuse to "suddenly fall ill" and die.

Just as Li Lin thought, the Goddess of Theft intended to consolidate her power by using the worship of her human form.

In fact, this method gradually became less effective over time. After all, although the Goddess of Theft played the role of a queen, as time went on, the worship of her descendants was naturally not as respectful as that of their ancestors. As a result, the power of worship that the Goddess of Theft gained became less and less, and she was eventually forced to even give up maintaining her external form to restrain her divine power. If Li Lin had arrived a few years later, there might not even be a bone left here.

From Li Lin, the Goddess of Theft also obtained information about the God of Justice and the current situation in the Upper Planes, which made her frown.

"Are you planning to send me to my death, Luoxia?"

I only intended for you to steal things.

Faced with accusations from the Goddess of Theft, Li Lin appeared completely innocent.

"I suppose this isn't your forte?"

"But this is dangerous."

The Goddess of Theft clearly wasn't going to agree to Li Lin's request so easily.

"I'm a thief, I would never willingly throw my life away."

"Then that's your problem."

Although the other party did not agree to his request, Li Lin remained completely calm.

"Without the Great Book of Law, I have no way to restore order to the Upper Planes, and your death is only a matter of time, isn't it? Besides, the Lady of Secrets will help you. I think you and she can have an honest conversation. Even if you can't ask the God of Light and the Goddess of Dawn for assistance, you shouldn't worry about the Elf Goddess, right? I remember that many of your followers are elves and half-elves."

"Cut."

Upon hearing this, the Goddess of Theft snorted in dissatisfaction.

Li Lin naturally understood that this was an extremely dangerous mission for the Goddess of Theft. Mount Celestia was the stronghold of good order, and for one of the evil gods, it was like Hell for Goddess of Theft. Just walking there, she probably felt as if she could smell sarin gas in the air. If she were discovered by the God of Justice, the Goddess of Theft would definitely not be able to escape. After all, she was only an Intermediate God, not Greater God, and the difference in their power was already vast, not to mention the faction's counteraction, which would make the Goddess of Theft suffer a lot.

However, this time she had no way out.

The Goddess of Theft relinquished his divine realm and most of his power, which naturally fell into the hands of the God of Justice (strictly speaking, he now also serves as half of the God of Thieves under the God of Justice). Therefore, the Goddess of Theft was essentially homeless, without a place to hide in the Upper Planes. Li Lin's suggestion was that the Goddess of Goddess of Secrets's divine realm could temporarily accommodate her, but on the condition that the Goddess of Theft help them steal the Great Book of Law.

"I really don't know what those damned Supreme God were thinking, actually allowing Arcane Mage to use the Great Book of Law!"

The Goddess of Theft but couldn't come up with a better idea, so he could only grumble and complain.

"That's the rule."

Li Lin merely raised an eyebrow at the Goddess of Theft's complaints.

"As a thief, shouldn't you also abide by the rules?"

"Yeah, that's why I've ended up in this mess, but rules are rules..."

As he spoke, the Goddess of Theft put down his teacup and began to examine the magnificent airship before him for the first time.

"But speaking of which, you've gone back to all this stuff. Is it really feasible, Luoxia? Although I've learned some news about the destruction of the Magic Empire from my followers, I think you also know that if you go too far this time, that damned God of Justice will definitely intervene. Now, you're the only one left of the thirteen Arcane Mage. Are you really confident you can withstand their onslaught?"

"This is the Prime Material Plane, my territory."

Li Lin's expression remained unchanged.

"I think you understand what this means."

"That's true, but weren't you defeated a thousand years ago anyway?"

The Goddess of Theft's expression turned serious. She reached out and played with her long hair as she spoke.

"This is just my guess, Luoxia. Although I don't know if that's actually the case, before I left the Upper Planes, I heard that that damn guy seemed to be able to use 'that'."

"That?"

Although the Goddess of Theft's voice wasn't loud and his speech was rather unclear, Li Lin was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and then his expression immediately darkened. Clearly, he knew exactly what it was that even the Goddess of Theft —a deity—couldn't say directly and had to use "that" to refer to.

"You mean 'that thing'?"

"I'm just guessing, but from what you've said, didn't you Arcane Mage fail to discover that the God of Justice was behind this? I think it might be because of 'that'."

"That's impossible!"

Li Lin's voice suddenly became much louder, startling the little maid who was standing behind him.

"If that's the case, then he should be punished! The power of the rules is absolute! If that's true, then he should have been eliminated before we were wiped out! If it's really as you say, then..."

Don't ask me that.

Perhaps it was because of Li Lin's gloomy expression and the murderous aura he was exuding that the Goddess of Theft nervously fiddled with his teacup.

"I'm just an Intermediate God, I can't even utter 'that's' name. But according to you, your Arcane Mage didn't find any trace of the gods throughout the entire process, so it can only be because of 'that,' right? Otherwise, even if the other Arcane Mage are stupid, would you, who have dealt with gods so many times, have become stupid too? Of course, this is just my guess. After all, your Magic Empire was once the strongest nation in the Prime Material Plane. No matter how powerful those Five-Nation Alliance were, could they really wipe out all of you mages with sheer numbers?"

That's what they say.

Faced with the words of the Goddess of Theft, Li Lin took a long breath and forced himself to calm down. He had never even considered this possibility, because the nature of "that" shouldn't be like this.

"You have to understand, that's something even the Three Supreme Gods and Arcane Mage couldn't control. And back then, the God of Justice wasn't even considered Greater God."

"Only God knows. Even if you ask me, you won't get an answer. I'm not omniscient or omnipotent."

Despite being a deity himself, he still uttered highly disrespectful remarks.

"Furthermore, it's true that 'that' is something neither we nor you can use or manipulate, and even the Three Supreme Gods probably wouldn't touch it. But that doesn't mean there are definitely people who can't use it. If we're going to go by what you say, the appearance of this strange and messy God of Justice is also unbelievable to us gods, isn't it? Absorbing other people's divine power is one thing, but being able to do all sorts of random things is something we gods would never allow."

Although he uttered many complaints, Li Lin quickly discerned another meaning in the Goddess of Theft's words.

"So, does anyone else know about this?"

"Perhaps that old woman who hides all the secrets knows."

The Goddess of Theft shrugged.

"After all, what I heard back then was just a rumor. Even if it were true, only that old woman would probably know the truth. After all, isn't this what she was born to do?"

Faced with the words of the Goddess of Theft, Li Lin fell silent for the first time. Indeed, he had never even considered that possibility, just as humanity on Earth had never imagined that a black hole far beyond the Milky Way would suddenly stroll over and swallow the planet whole. Such an almost impossible event was not within Li Lin's consideration. Even when the Magic Empire was in its most dire straits, Li Lin had not considered this possibility. Because the possibility should have been zero, but now, if it were truly so... then everything made sense.

However, this is only a hypothesis.

"So, you're worried that if the God of Justice uses 'that' again, I'll still lose?"

Li Lin calmed down again. Indeed, if the information brought to him by the Goddess of Theft was true, then even if he had the power to reverse the situation, he would not have been able to stop the destruction of the Magic Empire back then. And if the same thing happened this time, then his defeat was almost inevitable.

Because that's just the nature of "that".

There is no such thing as chance, only inevitability.

But...

"If the God of Justice could truly manipulate 'that,' the Nine Levels of Hell wouldn't have lasted this long, and you gods would probably have perished long ago."

Li Lin accurately identified the loophole.

"That's why I said I'm just a thief, and all I got were rumors."

At this point, the Goddess of Theft stood up and stretched.

"Well then, I should go rest. It's been a long time since I slept on a floating ship of the Magic Empire. How about it, Luoxia? Want to have some fun after all this time?"

"I have no interest in flirting with a guy who was just a skeleton a moment ago."

Watching the Goddess of Theft stand up, revealing his alluring figure, Li Lin decisively rejected his offer.

"Also, hand over what you stole from Yi Aier before you leave."

"... Am I really that untrustworthy in your eyes?"

"If you were any kind of person of integrity, I think this priesthood would have been given to someone else long ago."

As he spoke, Li Lin extended his hand.

"While your revelations are certainly interesting, trying to distract me with this is a complete failure. How many times have you done this? Just hand it over."

"I didn't say I was going to steal your weapon, why are you so nervous? This isn't a greeting, just a small gesture. You really don't know how to joke."

Faced with Li Lin's outstretched right hand, the Goddess of Theft rummaged in his pocket with displeasure and then took out a piece of clean white cloth.

"Aaaaaah!! Those are my underwear!!!"

Upon seeing the item, Yi Aier screamed and jumped up. Disregarding all decorum, she snatched what should have been hers from the Goddess of Theft. Li Lin watched this scene with a strange expression, then sighed helplessly and asked...

"... Why did you steal this?"

"Look, aren't I the Goddess of Theft? What's the point if I don't steal something anytime, anywhere?"