Chapter 67
As one of the few strong captains in the Star Guild, Shen Li’s reputation and power had been forged in countless battles.
His network spanned all five major guilds—not just because of his logistics skills.
But whenever he was in Lu Chuan’s party, he could never showcase his true ability. His formidable [Creation] power was reduced to backline support.
In truth, Shen Li had developed [Creation] extensively.
The premise of [Creation] was understanding the structure and principles of objects. Only by knowing how something was made could he recreate it.
To this end, before becoming a top player, Shen Li had studied everything he could: firearms, ammunition, melee weapons, metals, cement, soil, even household tools and blueprints. He had devoted most of his early career to this learning, which was why his reputation had remained low for so long.
But true gold fears no fire.
After Shen Li fully developed his [Creation] ability—able to draw on his surroundings anytime, anywhere to craft tools—his reputation instantly rose. He quickly surpassed many of his peers in the Star Guild and became regarded as a reliable captain in many people’s hearts.
After all, with Shen Li around, no one had to worry about being without a handy weapon, nor about being caught off guard in a surprise attack.
Other guilds had often tried to poach Shen Li, but he was loyal to the vice-guildmaster, unshakably so. No one could lure him away.
Even so, Shen Li remained one of the Star Guild’s most outstanding all-rounders.
The problem was, his luck wasn’t good. He happened to meet Lu Chuan—a man who never played by the rules.
Either Shen Li had no chance to rush into battle at all, or when he did, the enemies were far too strong, leaving him unable to make the most of his advantages.
This time, however, Shen Li wasn’t teamed up with Lu Chuan, but with Lilus instead. His strengths immediately came out in full force.
Lilus himself was surprised.
To be honest, when teaming with Shen Li, he hadn’t sensed much of an intimidating aura from this “uncle.” Shen Li looked like a nagging old housekeeper, always fussing over every little detail, considering things too carefully.
He hadn’t expected this uncle’s fighting style to be so bold and unrestrained.
Lilus’s scythe had been specially prepared for him by the Resurrection Guild, tailored to his ability and physique. From a young age, he had wielded it with such vigor that it felt like a third arm—swift and deadly in combat.
But Shen Li’s fighting style was completely different. He used whatever came to hand, since he could make anything himself.
For instance, though there were five “god-descended” players before them, three went after Shen Li while only two targeted Lilus.
Shen Li first used rubble and sand from the ground to form an earthen dragon, riding atop it as it darted around, “encircling” his three opponents from all directions.
Next, he conjured a Gatling gun in his left hand and a long blade in his right—dual-wielding two completely different weapons.
When the players tried to retreat, Shen Li stomped his foot, raising wall after wall around them, sealing off every escape route.
Then he manipulated the surrounding greenery, producing thick vines.
The vines lashed in the air, forcing the players apart, driving them toward separate directions.
He had pushed multitasking to the extreme.
He even managed to create little traps to assist Lilus in battle—entangling the players’ legs for a moment, just long enough to help Lilus land a decapitating strike.
Lilus had never fought such a smooth battle before.
These players’ bodies were hard as stone and fast as lightning, seemingly born for combat. Yet under Shen Li’s endless interference, they stumbled as if lost, each step leading them straight into the path of Lilus’s scythe.
“Lilus, these guys are tough as hell. Bullets won’t pierce them, and my blade’s already chipped.” Shen Li cursed as he “remelted” his nicked blade, sharpening it anew.
He kept striking at the faint wounds he had managed to carve into their hardened bodies, relentless and agile beyond belief.
For once, Lilus felt a pang of envy.
This man’s ability was just too versatile.
So damn useful.
With a sharp “crack,” Lilus finally managed to sever a player’s head.
“Damn, what the hell did the gods do to these bodies? They’re harder than diamonds…” Lilus’s hand went numb from gripping his scythe.
“Careful, they’re still moving.” Shen Li conjured vines to wrap around Lilus’s waist, yanking him several steps back.
The headless player was already lunging, one hand gripping its severed head, the other swinging at Lilus.
Though their bodies were covered in wounds, they showed no sign of self-awareness. Their forms had been grotesquely modified—heads severed, legs hacked off—yet they still fought on.
“No wonder god-dungeons are so damn brutal,” Lilus muttered in awe. “Any other players would barely even manage to run.”
“That’s right. And this is still considered one of the easier ones,” Shen Li sighed. “Once, I accidentally led my team into a high-level god instance. We never even saw the god’s true form before half my team was dead. Only when the dungeon timer ran out and the system forcefully ejected us did the rest survive. Gods that haven’t evolved to higher tiers are still somewhat manageable. But high-level gods… their forms are indistinguishable from humans. They have their own thoughts and can assimilate the minds of those around them. That’s true terror.”
“My master died like that,” Shen Li said quietly. “He barely escaped from a high-level god, but his sanity plummeted. In the end, he turned himself into a mushroom.”
That was why, when Lu Chuan had asked earlier, Shen Li knew he could never pick a god-dungeon tied to himself.
Those could truly be fatal.
Shen Li had a hunch—once this god challenge dungeon ended, he might finally brush against the real, hidden secret of the Master Rankings.
“Let’s not talk about that now. Sooner or later, my sister and I will reach the Master Rankings anyway. At Lu Chuan’s pace, he’ll probably get there before us,” Lilus said, swinging his scythe and shaking off his numbed wrist. “Looks like this will be a war of attrition. Try to get a message to Lu Chuan and the others—warn them. There are only five players here. The rest of the Pro-God faction must have gone after them.”
If the gods had chosen divine descent to wipe out obstacles, it wasn’t reasonable that only the two of them were targeted.
Messiah sighed.
The palace he was in began to twist in space.
Clearly, this was to prevent his escape and keep others out.
His “fiancée” in a previous dungeon had done the same thing.
Here it was again.
“Have you already struck at them?” Messiah lifted the divine card.
It had transformed into a small figurine—its face bearing a seven- or eight-tenths resemblance to his own.
Of course. If the divine marriage succeeded, he and the god would merge into one, and the god’s vessel in the mortal realm would naturally take on his likeness.
The other party really did treat him as their property.
[Messiah, I am only removing the obstacles that stand in the way of our union.]
[No one can separate you and me.]
[You are mine, you are mine, you are mine.]
Messiah could hear the lack of confidence behind those words.
“If I truly belonged to you, you wouldn’t need to repeat it again and again,” Messiah smiled. “These days, I can feel your attention drifting away from me. You’ve begun to fear, haven’t you?”
[Messiah, I am only working for our future.]
“You mean for your own future.” Messiah’s tone was gentle, but his words stabbed right at the god’s heart. “You’re still far from becoming a high-level god with a body of your own in the human world. So you’re trying to take a shortcut—marry me, seize my body, and cheat your way to high-level godhood.”
“You fear being discovered by the system. You fear the Burial Squad, don’t you? You don’t even dare to forcibly seize my body and annihilate my soul. Instead, under the guise of love, you try to gain my vessel this way. A god who acts like you… truly pathetic.”
[Messiah, human taunts have no effect on me.]
“Is that so? I think it’s working quite well.” Messiah brushed back the hair by his ear. “You never used to answer such foolish questions. If taunts didn’t affect you, you wouldn’t even bother replying. The fact that you are means they already do.”
The divine card fell silent.
Messiah waited quietly, then smiled.
For the first time in this dungeon, he had seen the other side falter.
It seemed this dungeon really did pose a threat to the god.
Perfect.
Cynthia emerged slowly from the Church of Light’s cathedral, with two lackey players in tow.
Dealing with the pope wasn’t so difficult.
With Messiah as her backing, the pope had no choice but to grant her an audience.
And once they met, the rest was easy.
“Don’t take the main road—use the side streets, head for the suburbs,” Cynthia instructed one of the lackeys driving the carriage.
“Yes.”
The two lackeys were useless in combat but obedient enough. They never asked questions they shouldn’t.
That made them barely serviceable.
Cynthia rubbed her eyes, weary.
In the classification of player abilities, special eye-related powers were relatively common. After all, the eyes were the foundation of “seeing” the world, capable of achieving many unexpected feats. Many players hoped to awaken such powers before developing their class abilities.
But although she was called the [Eye of Rebirth], the ability Cynthia had gained from the game wasn’t related to her eyes at all.
Her eyes were natural.
Rumor had it her ruthless mother had once chosen a powerful NPC with ocular powers as a breeding partner. That man was likely her biological father, and Cynthia had inherited a sliver of his ability.
She closed her eyes to rest.
The enemy’s ambush had come earlier than she expected.
This is a good thing.
Because it meant their team’s dungeon progress had already advanced so quickly that if no interruption came soon, they might actually clear it.
In other words, the god that was about to revive was starting to feel threatened, starting to panic.
And that made sense.
A few little ants could indeed be crushed easily.
But what if an ant crawled up your shirt and bit you on the back?
Maybe ants could bite you in your blind spot and scurry off before you even noticed.
At that point, with the vast earth and countless ants, where would you even begin to look?
“Big Sis Cynthia, we’ve reached the outskirts now. Feels like someone’s been following us.” Even those two dim-witted lackeys had finally noticed something was off.
In crowded places, footsteps blended together, easy to miss.
But here in the desolate suburbs, every step rang out loud and clear.
“Mm. Stop up ahead—we’re surrounded.” Cynthia nodded, signaling the two lackeys to halt the carriage.
The carriage they’d bought was plain enough, but Cynthia had chosen the horse herself.
And faced with these inhuman creatures, the horse wasn’t the least bit panicked—still nibbling fresh grass by the roadside.
Cynthia lifted her head, looking at the noodle-limbed players closing in on her, and sighed helplessly.
“Sometimes, I feel rather powerless too.”
“After all, gods really do underestimate humans too much.”
She pulled off the black cloth covering her eyes, opening them to face the “god-descended” players around her.
Ability: [Amplify].
As long as she willed it, she could raise the profession skills of every ally in her faction by one tier for a short time, duration depending on her development of the power.
And when certain conditions, ranges, or targets were fixed, [Amplify] could double again.
Her inherited eyes already carried potent powers of confusion and physical destruction.
With [Amplify], their effect turned terrifying.
The two lackeys beside her didn’t even know what her true ability was.
They only knew that when Big Sis Cynthia tore off her blindfold and slowly opened her eyes—
—the monsters attacking them suddenly exploded into clouds of powder, one after another.
Bang bang bang.
Like fireworks bursting.
The two lackeys nearly collapsed from fright.
But Cynthia only covered her eyes again, got back in the carriage, and said softly, “Let’s go home.”
She rubbed at her eyes, aching faintly.
Those monsters still carried plenty of divine power.
Looked like the god behind them was truly growing desperate.
Before revival, every ounce of divine power had to be rationed carefully.
But now, the god would rather burn that power creating monsters just to harass and warn them. That meant the enemy couldn’t bear to let them keep advancing.
The advantage was slowly tipping in their favor.
—Inside the folded space.
The colossal statue began weeping blood.
Within the ritual circle, a handful of players still undergoing their final bodily modifications writhed.
Divine power—still not enough.
Not enough to kill the heretics. Not enough to erase the obstacles.
More power was needed!
The ritual flared with blinding light. Countless sparks of power poured into the unconscious players, driving violent transformations.
The grotesque deformities bulging from their bodies shrank back in.
Brains already consumed slowly knit themselves whole again.
And with them, sanity crept back—just a little.
The game system blared warnings:
[Player detected under godly invasion]
[Body modification initiated]
[Sanity dropping! Sanity dropping!]
[Sanity down to 89!]
[Sanity down to 71!]
[Warning: sanity below 60, mutation beginning]
[Forcibly stabilizing sanity]
…
[God-conversion successful]
No one knew how much time had passed when two or three players opened their eyes again.
Their pupils glowed crimson, brimming with malice.
Gone were the traces of timidity—replaced with chilling confidence.
“This feels incredible.”
“Like being reborn. Praise Father for His gift.”
“Come on, brothers.”
“We need to protect our Mother.”
——
Lu Chuan, leading his paladin regiment, had already reached the royal capital’s outskirts.
Mm, Messiah should be arriving soon as well.
To be honest, though they’d spoken at length remotely, he hadn’t actually seen Messiah in person yet.
He was curious.
What kind of person could catch the eye of a god?
What if he turned out to be stunningly beautiful?
“Not here yet?” Lu Chuan flipped open his pocket watch.
They’d agreed on this time—had that god managed to block him?
“Sorry, I’m a little late. Took me a while to find some tools on the way out of the palace.”
Just as he spoke, a strikingly beautiful youth vaulted in through the window.
The palace Messiah had just left was already reduced to ruins.
The god had twisted its space to trap him.
So Messiah had simply destroyed the palace altogether.
He hadn’t spent these days passively waiting, after all.
“Your paladin regiment outside is really troublesome.” Messiah smiled faintly at Lu Chuan. “I nearly got caught.”
Lu Chuan blinked, studying him.
Long straight black hair, delicate and gentle features—indeed, a breathtaking beauty.
Among humans Lu Chuan had seen, easily one of the most beautiful.
If it had been his old world, Messiah’s face would’ve been plastered across every “rare pretty boy compilation” for centuries, baiting clicks.
But Lu Chuan wasn’t amazed.
He’d seen better.
He couldn’t help thinking of Number 9.
Honestly, that Executor’s beauty far outstripped humanity.
If all gods looked like that, they wouldn’t even need to beguile people. Just standing there would be enough.
“System, gods don’t pick their candidates based on looks, right?” Lu Chuan asked curiously.
[Of course not, Host. And once you become a god, you can look however you want.] #888 replied. [Most gods either take on forms pleasing to their believers or simply keep their human guise.]
When appearance could be reshaped at will, it lost its value.
“But if I wanted to design a face beyond human standards of beauty, I’d have to have seen it first, right?” Lu Chuan muttered. No way could he craft Number 9’s proportions.
[Host, divine power is far beyond your imagination. Once you ascend, you can travel through parallel worlds, witness any timeline, any being. What you can’t picture now doesn’t mean you never will.] #888 explained patiently.
“I see.” Lu Chuan still couldn’t picture it.
But having expectations for the future—that was one of the things keeping him going.
“Humans really can’t compare with nonhumans.” Lu Chuan said earnestly. “Messiah isn’t as good-looking as Number 9.”
#888 fell silent.
[Host, you can’t compare beings from different dimensions. Messiah already surpasses most lesser gods’ disguises.]
“True.” Lu Chuan nodded, then extended his hand to Messiah. “Hello, Messiah. I’m Lu Chuan. Nice to finally meet you.”
Messiah shook it warmly.
“Before coming here, I had another exchange with the [God of Desire]. He’s panicking already. Next, we just need to find and destroy His ritual first—that’ll block His revival.”
“His ritual’s probably hidden by the righteous-side players,” Lu Chuan agreed. “Game balance means we won’t find it easily. We’ll have to wait until they bring it to us.”
Otherwise, this dungeon would be too easy—unworthy of its difficulty rating.
“Mm. The [God of Desire] is a borderline intermediate-high deity. Thanks to this divine marriage, I know secrets most can’t. The system can’t stop me from speaking them inside the dungeon.” Messiah’s tone slowed. “He once showed me an ability that alters hearts.”
“Oh?” Lu Chuan’s eyes lit up. “Like warping cognition?”
“Something like that.” Messiah thought a moment. “He can destroy and rebuild a player’s mind. The result is still human—but their way of thinking is utterly transformed. Once, in a dungeon, a hostile player was hunting me. Then the [God of Desire] warped his cognition.”
“His sanity dropped below 60, mutation began—then stopped. His sanity rose again.”
“After his sanity rose again, that player was utterly convinced he was my dog. No matter what I told him, he carried it out.” Messiah spoke in a low voice. “Later, I told him not to appear before me again.”
“He killed himself without hesitation.”
Back then, that player’s blood had splattered vividly across Messiah’s face.
From that moment on, Messiah began distancing himself from his teammates.
Because he was afraid they might suffer the same fate.
“Oh, that kind of ability sounds terrifying, but it shouldn’t happen to us. If the other side really tried to alter our thoughts like that, it would break the game’s balance. The system would detect it immediately and erase it.” Lu Chuan wasn’t too worried about this one—if dungeons were played that way, they’d fall apart.
Most likely the Burial Squad would show up again.
That so-called [God of Desire] wouldn’t be stupid enough to go that far.
“There’s some kind of sound outside.” Messiah frowned. “Should we go check?”
“No need.” Lu Chuan kindly poured him a cup of tea, signaling not to be so suspicious.
He walked to the drawer, pulled out the Omniscience Church banner, and hung it out the window.
That was his way of telling the Paladin regiment: the enemy is here, go all out.
“My Paladin regiment is very strong, you can rest assured.” Lu Chuan said solemnly. “They cost me quite a bit, you know.”
———-
Author’s Note:
Lu Chuan: I’ve got money power [heart] [heart] [heart]
