“I’m sorry~ The Church has not currently established a Saintess.”
Seeing the Great Artisan God’s inquiry directed at her young mistress, Qiansitelin roughly understood that the Great Artisan God might have already sensed something.
She glanced at Theodore beside her and immediately answered on Muxuan’s behalf.
When Qiansitelin’s words reached the Great Artisan God’s ears, he abruptly fell silent.
As someone who had lived since before the Black Mist descended, he naturally knew Qiansitelin’s identity.
Compared to the Pope and the Saints, whom he rarely ever saw, this Silver Moon Knight who roamed the entire continent was someone the Great Artisan God recognized.
Putting that aside, he wasn’t so incompetent as to fail to recognize [Lyrasel], a Divine Artifact.
“You seem to be hiding something.”
It was precisely because he knew Qiansitelin’s identity that the Great Artisan God grew even more suspicious of Muxuan.
“But what could I possibly be hiding?”
She could sense that because of her words, the Great Artisan God had developed some hostility.
Qiansitelin narrowed her eyes, simultaneously watching the Great Artisan God with some wariness.
Feeling the gloom in the Great Artisan God’s tone, Muxuan’s brow furrowed slightly, and she understood his meaning.
Just as she was about to speak, Theodore stepped in front of the Great Artisan God.
“Grandfather… the Lightforce within me was given by Uncle Pope… Uncle Pope is a good person…”
After speaking somewhat timidly, Theodore hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to look at the Great Artisan God anymore.
Theodore’s words caused the Great Artisan God to fall silent once more.
An invisible pressure made the air feel thick and heavy.
Qiansitelin’s fingers silently rested on the hilt of [Lyrasel].
Silvery light continuously swirled around it, her gaze fixed tightly on the Great Artisan God.
Muxuan’s heartbeat accelerated slightly as she tightened her grip on the Crosier in her hand.
Lightforce struggled to circulate within her body, trying to soothe the pressure brought on by her power being overdrawn and the tense situation before her.
After a long silence, and under Theodore’s somewhat anxious gaze, the Great Artisan God turned his head toward Muxuan, re-examining her, before finally speaking slowly:
“You may leave. The Church cannot be without a Saintess. This is my advice.”
Having said that, the Great Artisan God no longer looked at Muxuan and Qiansitelin.
He came before Theodore.
His broad, heavy hand patted Theodore’s head, a trace of helplessness in his eyes, before he walked toward the scorching magma within this space.
“Perhaps I can be of help.”
Muxuan’s voice suddenly rang out, carrying a note of certainty, causing the Great Artisan God’s steps to halt.
“You?”
The Great Artisan God shook his head, a hint of barely perceptible regret in his tone.
“How much of the Goddess’s legacy can still be used? Before this, to rebuild the Church, you’ve frequently expended power on a large scale. By now, the power of the Goddess’s legacy is probably almost exhausted. If that’s the case, how could you possibly help me?”
“Then, Great Artisan God, why must the Church establish a Saintess? Moreover, without the Goddess’s appointment, would such a Saintess truly be valid?”
Muxuan’s gaze darkened.
Then, she directly tossed the Crosier aside, raised her palm, and a large amount of Lightforce gathered in her hand.
“Or is it that the Great Artisan God believes all my power comes from this Crosier?”
As Muxuan’s words fell, the Great Artisan God, sensing the gathering Lightforce behind him, sharply turned his head.
Upon seeing the Crosier discarded to the side and the Lightforce coalescing in Muxuan’s hand, a flash of shock and doubt immediately appeared in his eyes.
After weighing the matter repeatedly, the Great Artisan God’s deep eyes looked at Muxuan as he said in a grave voice:
“Follow me.”
Muxuan watched the Great Artisan God turn around again.
Without hesitation, she quickly picked up the Crosier from the ground and followed him.
“Your Holiness… be careful.”
As she passed by Qiansitelin, the knight spoke with concern.
Muxuan nodded, and then Qiansitelin looked toward Theodore, who had been keeping her head down and didn’t dare to speak.
When Muxuan arrived behind the Great Artisan God, a massive gap had already been carved through the flowing, churning magma pool.
Stone steps with a dark red luster slowly rose from the magma pool, blocking the magma on both sides, forming what seemed like walls of flowing lava.
“If possible, I will promise you one request that I am capable of fulfilling.”
The Great Artisan God’s voice had softened considerably.
If one weren’t standing right beside him, it would be almost inaudible amidst the noisy environment of roiling magma.
Muxuan did not respond.
She looked down the staircase, her brow tightly furrowed.
“Corruption… and an abnormally thick, malicious intent.”
This was the true core part of the “Molten Heart”…
Indeed, as she had suspected, the “Molten Heart” had been corrupted.
“Let’s go.”
Seeing Muxuan’s extremely grave expression, the Great Artisan God’s voice, in contrast, sounded flat.
If this ‘Your Holiness’ truly possessed power of her own, then perhaps there really was a chance to extract the core intact.
The Great Artisan God’s words interrupted Muxuan’s contemplation.
She glanced at him, nodded, indicating she was ready.
As the magma slowly receded, the Great Artisan God’s figure was the first to descend into the depths of the staircase flanked by the magma walls, his heavy footsteps echoing in the narrow space.
Muxuan followed closely behind.
Each step on the warm stone steps made her feel a heart-palpitating, sticky sensation transmitted from beneath her feet.
The further down they went, the light became increasingly bizarre.
It was no longer the simple crimson of magma, but mixed with murky, purplish-black, viscous streams of light that twisted and writhed within the boiling magma walls, like the blood vessels of a living creature.
The entire way, Muxuan and the Great Artisan God remained silent.
They walked for an unknown length of time before the end of the staircase suddenly opened up.
However, the sight before them caused Muxuan’s pupils to contract sharply.
This place was still an isolated island surrounded by magma vast beyond imagination.
Only, what churned in the lake was no longer pure magma, but the same dark red, viscous substance the Great Artisan God had previously spewed forth, mixed with countless twisted metal fragments and bones that had not yet fully melted.
These unnerving fragments were carried and tumbled by the filthy slurry, emitting gurgling sounds and faint hisses.
At the center of the island stood an altar constructed from some kind of deep black bedrock.
The altar’s surface was covered in complex, dizzying arrays of runic circuits.
At this moment, these runes were flickering erratically, with most areas covered and eroded by a dark purple substance resembling congealed blood clots.
“There… is our target.”
The Great Artisan God pointed in a direction.
There, at the core of the altar, hovered a rhombus-shaped crystal roughly half a person’s height, shimmering with a crystal-clear, fiery red light.
And at the instant Muxuan looked over, the Great Artisan God also erupted with nearly all his power.
His massive body cracked the ground, and then countless stone spikes erupted from the earth.
His fist instantly blasted apart the black, viscous matter that had suddenly surged toward them.