If she wanted to review the battle against the Goddess of Life, Truth wouldn’t have needed her system’s screenshot feature and one-touch recording function anyway—she only needed to blink, and the scene before the Players’ eyes would be instantly captured.
So back then, Truth simply took a few casual photos of Di Lisha…
The purpose of taking those photos was simple—she wanted to use her to extract information about her father, to add some bargaining chips for her own negotiations.
But right after taking them, she ran into the Beast God and Vira, so she no longer needed Di Lun’s commercial intelligence.
Vira was a clever cat, and Truth believed she would definitely come to support Deya City with aid soon enough.
And compared to the Northern Empire, what was Wangsheng City? Just a poor neighbor!
If Di Lun wanted it later, Truth could still consider letting Wangsheng City participate in the Mist’s market.
As for any deeper cooperation, there was no need to even think about it.
Besides, as the Life Saintess, Truth sitting down to talk with those Blasphemers was already giving them plenty of face.
But since she’d already taken Di Lisha’s photos, Truth decided to have her go find out where Wangsheng City’s Legendary weapons were hidden.
After all, Wangsheng City was fairly close to Deya City—if she could get Legendary weapons from both there and the capital, that would be even better.
One Legendary weapon was good, but dual-wielding two was even better, wasn’t it?
Though Truth was still a bit nervous about searching for the first Legendary weapon.
If she really went to the capital, who would manage the Mist? She’d need to work from behind the scenes…
After returning to the cathedral, Truth simply told the Priestlings that she needed some rest, then went upstairs to her room and lay down.
Meanwhile, Nimrod and Vira, who had been hidden in the shadows, gradually shifted their attention from Truth’s room to the entire cathedral surroundings.
Since the Holy Maiden was resting in her room, they needed to stay alert elsewhere…
Then Truth, lying in bed, began commanding Tia within the Mist:
“Tia, go to a quiet place where no one can notice you, then follow my instructions one by one.”
Inside the Mist Gate Plaza, Tia was momentarily startled, then immediately nodded. “Yes, Hermit!”
She quickly walked toward the depths of the Mist without drawing much attention.
Arriving at a secluded spot in the Mist, Tia bit her finger according to Truth’s guidance, using her blood to draw a twisted symbol on the ground.
Then she pressed her index fingers together in a strange gesture and chanted:
“Lord of the Abyss, grant me an audience!”
The Prayer to the Abyss and Its Response
This was an ancient prayer calling upon the Abyss, known only to a few remaining demon cultists.
If the Abyss Demon that had been shouting on the public channel at the Dea Plateau was the current Lord of the Abyss, then it would definitely receive Tia’s prayer.
But after a few breaths passed, Truth noticed that despite Tia following her guidance, the Abyss still gave no response. What was going on? Tia’s prayer wasn’t wrong!
Or were the demons unwilling to acknowledge a Priest? Or did they think Tia was too weak to bother with? Tsk, what a hassle!
If it weren’t for the Saintess ankle bracelet, Truth would have already run straight to the Abyss to meet those demons face to face.
Fine, let’s try another method. Truth had Tia attempt the forbidden prayer ritual to summon the Abyss again, but this time the prayer was different:
“Soros, the Abyss Demon, the Life Goddess’s plaything, the waste among demons!”
The moment Tia finished speaking, the demonic forbidden symbol drawn in blood instantly burst with crimson light! Soros the Abyss Demon’s consciousness directly invaded Tia’s mind through the ritual, his voice filled with extreme fury:
“You insolent wretch!”
Having lived for centuries, this was the first time Soros had been directly cursed at to his face by a Priest.
Were Priests this bold nowadays?
When this Priest had called him earlier, he’d ignored her, and he’d been merciful enough not to cast a curse on this contemptible Priest.
Yet she actually dared to push her luck and insult him!
In truth, even for demons, the Priests serving the Goddess of Life had little direct conflict of interest with demons.
Most demons attacked Priests merely to take revenge on the Goddess of Life.
But rather than wasting time seeking revenge on these tasteless pawns, demons would be better off thinking about how to kidnap a Saintess or trick powerful High-Rank Adventurers into signing Contracts!
This gold-haired Priest was far too arrogant. This time, Soros decided he would have to torment her thoroughly!
But just as Soros was about to invade Tia’s consciousness, just like when he’d communicated with Heavenly Fire through Ariel before, Truth directly intervened through Tia’s consciousness to speak with Soros:
“Hold it!”
Truth stopped Soros just in time, and the latter showed a hint of confusion. What was this—there was someone else hiding in this Priest’s mind?
It was then that Soros suddenly realized why this Priest had privately violated Church regulations to perform a Forbidden Ritual—it was because some mysterious being was using her as a medium to meet him!
And using a Priest as a medium… Could it be that this being also despised the Goddess of Life?
“Who are you?” Soros asked tentatively.
The Conditions of Hell
“Blood Demon, what do you want from me?”…
5 minutes later, at the bottom of the Abyss, Ruined Hell.
Just as the Eighth Saintess, Mary, was staring blankly at the large Hell Portal still under repair in the distance, the massive vertical pupil of Soros the Abyss Demon suddenly descended above her head.
Mary wasn’t frightened, but asked curiously:
“What’s wrong?”
Soros let out a long sigh and said, “I’ve already made contact with the mysterious Blood Demon over in Deya City.”
“What?!” Mary stood up excitedly:
“How did your talk with it go?”
Having Soros contact the Blood Demon in Deya City had been Mary’s idea.
After witnessing the Blood Demon’s battle with the Goddess of Life, Mary believed that with the Blood Demon’s help, their combat strength against the Goddess of Life would increase dramatically.
Moreover, the Shadow Demon had been severely wounded by the Goddess of Life and wouldn’t recover to full strength for at least ten to twenty years.
But if another Assassin-type Blood Demon could temporarily fill the Shadow Demon’s position, that would be absolutely perfect!
So Mary had always wanted to invite the Blood Demon to join her cause of Hell Restoration.
However, Soros sighed again and said:
“I conveyed your words to it. It didn’t directly refuse, but instead made a condition.”
“What condition?”
“It said it wants us to provide it with a Legendary weapon…”
“What?!” Mary frowned deeply. That was truly a Lion’s Open Mouth!
Their Hell was so poor, where would they get a Legendary weapon?
Though the ancient battlefield ruins in Hell might yield some Legendary-grade ancient remains, who would want garbage…
“Did you try bargaining with it? Say we could provide other things of equivalent value to a Legendary weapon?” Mary asked again.
“I did. But I’d barely gotten two sentences out when it learned we couldn’t provide a Legendary weapon, called us Poor Ghosts, and cut off contact.”
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