The Holy Church of Death.
An ancient coin was flying back and forth between his fingers.
His nimble fingers changed their motions and finally flicked it.
[Ting]
The coin flew to the center of the large round table, but didn't fall down right away, instead it continued to spin.
Everyone in the solemn Church's main hall held their breaths without saying a word.
The coin was still spinning, attracting everyone's attention.
After a while, a solemn voice came.
"This used to be one of the most important matters of the Holy Church, but after the appearance of the Path to Godhood, everyone temporarily forgot about it"
The voice went silent.
Still no one said anything.
A black-robed man walked out and knelt down on one knee next to the round table.
"My apologies, Pope, this was my oversight, I, Greyhan, hereby apologize to everyone" he said.
Greyhan, one of the 8 Cardinals of the Holy Church of Death.
He used this gesture to admit his mistake.
The atmosphere in the main hall became a bit more relaxed.
With a bit of concern, the Pope spoke: "Greyhan, I heard that your disciple has died, my condolences"
"He didn't do his job well, he deserved to die" Greyhan replied.
"What do you intend to do next?" the Pope asked.
"I will personally go and find the person who ruined the Holy Church's grand plan, then take back the Card" Greyhan answered.
"Personally? You've already lit your Tree of Divinity? "the Pope asked.
"Still a bit off" Greyhan sighed.
Everyone around couldn't help but whisper to each other.
If Greyhan were to personally do this, he would have no choice but to give up on lighting his Tree of Divinity.
This would be the same as giving up on the path to Godhood, the most severe form of self-punishment.
But who can he blame for this?
In reality, if it weren't for the sake of lighting his Tree of Divinity, Greyhan wouldn't have left Drifting Sand world at all.
If the path to Godhood didn't appear, he would have stayed in that world and continued to protect that extremely important Card.
But now it's been confirmed that all methods to restrain that unique Card have been destroyed.
The Church's several thousand years of blood, sweat, and tears have all gone down the drain.
Greyhan made such a huge mistake, so this was the punishment he deserved.
The Pope silently listened to everything and sighed.
He was very pleased with the current situation.
Greyhan's abilities were quite commendable.
Now was the perfect time to save Gray Hand and gain the gratitude and loyalty of this powerful bishop.
Thinking of this, the Pope said softly, "Summon the oracle."
As soon as these three words came out, everyone present hurriedly got up and knelt on one knee.
The Pope carefully took out a black metal box.
He opened the box.
Buzz!
A heavy curtain of night was released from the box and quickly enveloped the entire hall.
In the night, the oracle that the God of Death had left behind for countless years resounded directly in everyone's hearts.
The dark curtain of night only lasted for a breath of time before disappearing at an extremely fast speed.
Everyone revealed a look of understanding.
"Is everything clear?" the Pope asked.
"Understood," a bishop replied, "Since the appearance of the path to God, believers of all levels must set the path to godhood as their primary goal. They must not go against it or deviate from it."
The Pope looked at Gray Hand and smiled. "The path to godhood is the path designated by God. We cannot go against it, so you should stay here for now. Wait until you light the Tree of Divinity."
Gray Hand immediately revealed a look of deep gratitude.
If given a choice, who would be willing to give up their chance to become a god?
Suddenly, a voice called out: "Your grace the Pope, I object"
Everyone turned to look, only to see that it was a bishop who usually didn't get along with Gray Hand.
He angrily spoke: "After so many years of preparation, the Church finally grasped a rare chance to capture that Card when she was at her weakest. But Gray Hand ruined everything, shouldn't he be punished?"
The Pope kindly replied: "The reason why Gray Hand left Drifting Sand world was because he answered God's call and returned to light the Tree of Divinity"
"And the matter regarding that Card was part of our Church's plan"
"Comparing the two, Gray Hand obeying God's will and returning is the right thing to do"
"Perhaps God also believes that we shouldn't attempt to obtain that secret, so he ordered our devout Bishop Gray Hand to return immediately"
The bishop's lips twitched and spoke with an expression of unwillingness: "But Gray Hand is still — —"
The Pope cut him off and said: "The path to godhood is the will of God, do you believe that your opinion is more important than God's will?"
At the end of his words, the Pope's tone became a bit cold.
The bishop was surprised and hurriedly replied: "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare"
The Pope looked around.
No one objected.
This was a God's will, something that the Death God himself arranged countless years ago.
Who would dare to go against God's will?
Under everyone's silent agreement, Gray Hand slowly stood up and spoke gratefully: "Thank you, Your Holiness"
"No need to be so polite, the will of God is paramount, it cannot be disrespected" the Pope replied.
At this point, the atmosphere in the hall slowly became relaxed.
That's right, God had already arranged all of this countless years ago.
How could God not notice the Church's intentions?
Perhaps God really didn't want the Church to search for that Card's secret.
Everyone silently thought that.
They couldn't help but look back at the round table.
The spinning coin on the table slowly slowed down.
If one's vision was good enough, they would be able to see the engravings on both sides of the coin as it spun.
The front side of the coin depicted a sleeping girl.
The young girl was surrounded by all kinds of complicated and mysterious patterns.
These engravings protected the girl at the center of the coin.
The reverse side of the coin depicted a chaotic mass that would cause one's heart to palpitate if they looked at it for too long.
That's right, this was the third coin among the 1001 coins: Sleeping Maiden.
If this # 999th coin appeared in the real world, no one would be able to recognize its true name.
Because only one of the top 3 coins were ever issued.
— — -and because this coin didn't even have the most basic information about the coin.
This was one of the three most mysterious coins in the entire Strife Zones.
This coin didn't represent wealth.
It represented a secret that couldn't even be measured by money.
If Gu Qing Shan was here, he would be surprised to find that the girl depicted on this coin looked exactly the same as the girl he saved.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to find out about this for a very long time.
In the hall, the Pope's voice came again.
"Then, this matter has been decided. Gray Hand will stay and continue to light the Tree of Divinity according to the God's will. The rest of you will also do the same, before lighting the Tree of Divinity, no one is allowed to leave"
"Immediately put up a high bounty on that person's head in the entire Strife Zones"
"All believers should focus on becoming a God, everything else can be put aside for now!"
"Next."
"Anna is about to return"
"The path to Godhood was opened by her and the Holy Church of Fate's Su Ke Er, this is the favor of the Gods, as well as the greatest glory"
"Everyone, please discuss how we should reward her"
…
Drifting Sand world.
The great desert.
A sand dune surrounded by layers upon layers of concealment formations.
Gu Qing Shan formed a hand seal.
The sand and rocks parted to both sides. The blue ice crystal appeared in front of him and the white-clothed girl.
Inside the ice crystal, a beautiful woman covered in blood had her eyes closed, seemingly on the verge of death, in a deep coma.
Lord-class Combatant, Yun Ji.
"This is the person you wanted me to save?" the white-clothed girl asked.
"That's right, please take a look" Gu Qing Shan replied.
The white-clothed girl walked forward and knelt down in front of the blue ice crystal.
"Divine Power Frost Crystal. It's been a long time."
The white-clothed girl lightly stroked the surface of the ice crystal and sighed emotionally.
Gu Qing Shan's eyebrows twitched a bit and hurriedly asked: "You know about this? Then do you know the person who cast this technique? "
The girl shook her head: "This Divine Technique is very old, there are quite a few Divinities who know how to use it, so I can't tell for sure who it was"
"I'm going to try to heal her now, don't say anything for now"
"Got it" Gu Qing Shan replied.
The girl continued to draw Cards from the void of space.
She stuck each Card onto the surface of the ice crystal, then quickly put them away.
Inside the ice crystal, Yun Ji's complexion was getting better, her wounds were also showing signs of healing.
Seeing that, Gu Qing Shan was overjoyed.
But the girl put all the Cards away and stood up: "I can't, I can't save her"
Gu Qing Shan froze.
He encouraged her: "You seemed to have healed some of her wounds just now, don't lose heart, try again"
The girl shook her head: "The current me alone won't be able to do anything"
She took out a book and drew a Card from it.
The girl stared at Gu Qing Shan and sighed: "Since you've saved me, I'll release my wisdom"
The Card scattered into a cluster of light and slowly entered the girl's body.
The girl stood still.
However, her entire temperament had changed.
Her expression became solemn, her every movement exuded a sense of dignity and holiness.
The girl didn't say anything else and placed her hand on the ice crystal again.
"Show me your secret, Divine Technique" she whispered.
Following the girl's actions, the ice crystal became unstable and began to shake intensely several times.
Gu Qing Shan was shocked to see this.
If the ice crystal broke, Yun Ji would die without a doubt.
But the girl was able to shake the ice crystal made from Divine Technique just by touching it. This meant that she had found some sort of method.
For a while, Gu Qing Shan wasn't sure if it was the right decision to bring the girl here.
While he was feeling anxious, the girl had pulled her hand back and stood up again.
She wiped the sweat off her forehead and told Gu Qing Shan: "The situation is very complicated, you have to carefully listen to what I'm going to say next"
Gu Qing Shan nodded.
The girl continued: "On the surface, this seems like a single ice crystal, but there are actually more than one of these ice crystals. According to the Divine power I sensed from the ice crystal, there are a total of 381 of them"
Gu Qing Shan went silent briefly.
This was most likely the number of people that Lady Black Sea saved, the others had most likely died in battle or had their souls eaten by that monster.
The girl continued: "These 381 pieces of Divine power ice crystals form a circular structure. This structure forms a unique energy absorption tool — — - similar to your cultivator's formation"
"This formation-like tool can absorb various types of power from the void of the Strife Zones to replenish itself"
"This way, the ice crystal can last for a very long time, and the people inside will also retain their last bit of vitality without dying"
"But that's where the problem lies. Unless you have the ability to heal these 381 heavily wounded people at once, all the ice crystals will be undone at the same time, only then will these people awaken and come back to life"
Gu Qing Shan was a bit confused: "Why is that? Why can't I save them one by one?"
The girl stared closely at the ice crystal with an expression of praise.
"In truth, this Divine Technique can be set to save them one by one, but the other party purposely made it so that they have to be saved at the same time, this is a deeper meaning"
"What deeper meaning?" Gu Qing Shan asked.
"Unless your power reaches an unimaginable level and is able to save everyone at once, even if you save them all, it would still be useless. It would be better to have these people temporarily hide and not be discovered — — - I believe this is what the other party wanted to say" the girl replied.
"How can you deduce so much? That doesn't make sense at all "Gu Qing Shan refuted.
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