“Stop, I don’t want to hear your memories. There are still many things to do!”
Muxuan hurriedly cut Qiansitelin off and turned to leave.
‘If this continues, who knows what kind of trouble Qiansitelin will stir up next.’
Seeing Muxuan leave, Qiansitelin pursed her lips in boredom. She hadn’t even said anything yet!
However, Muxuan had no intention of giving Qiansitelin a chance to speak.
He walked quickly to the rear of the stronghold, where a large warehouse had been built. Due to the recent Eerie Wave incident, it was now filled with the bodies of those who had died in battle.
The smell of blood hung thick in the air, causing Muxuan to frown. This was not good.
He raised the Crosier in his hand, and a halo spread out, instantly eliminating most of the bloody scent.
Looking at the piled-up corpses, Muxuan let out a heavy sigh.
It was indeed time to hold a memorial service for them. Furthermore, these bodies could not be haphazardly thrown outside or buried in the ground.
Doing so carried a high risk of them turning into The Strange!
“Goddess?”
Muxuan attempted to contact the Goddess, hoping to get some answers from her.
“Aha~ Why have you summoned Us~?”
This time, the Goddess was no longer in her disconnected state. However, hearing her lazy voice, Muxuan felt a surge of inexplicable anger.
‘How can I give this Goddess a punch? I’m waiting for an answer online; it’s quite urgent!’
“Their souls,” Muxuan said in a low voice, suppressing the urge to strike her.
“Ara? Their souls… We have no way…”
“You have no way to deal with the souls of your own Faithful?”
Muxuan’s eyebrows shot up, his tone growing even deeper.
“Alas… My little Highness… Do you know the essence of a soul?”
‘The essence of a soul?’
Muxuan did not understand, but based on the novels he had read in his previous life, there were only a few possibilities.
“In theory, the essence of a soul is a type of container, as well as a special energy body… But even as a God, We cannot analyze the existence of a soul…”
‘What? The Goddess cannot analyze the existence of a soul?’
Though he was a bit surprised, Muxuan strangely did not find it that odd.
“Originally, souls would gradually dissipate after the death of the physical body. But now, under the influence of a certain terrifying existence… souls either linger to form The Strange, or they are drawn to the terrifying high altitudes.”
This made Muxuan’s frown deepen.
This meant souls could no longer dissipate naturally. They either became The Strange or… were possibly devoured by some existence?
Muxuan’s mood soured instantly.
“Is there no way at all?”
“You know… We died a long time ago… However…”
There was a hint of helplessness in the Goddess’s voice, but she seemed to have a suggestion.
“What should I do!” Muxuan asked urgently.
No matter what, these people had died for the Church. He could not allow them to become The Strange or be drawn into the sky.
“A memorial service… During the service, purify their bodies and souls together…”
Muxuan fell silent.
‘Purify… Heh, that’s just a nice way of putting it.’
Perhaps for those who were only mildly or moderately corrupted, it was a purification in the true sense. But for these dead… it meant total destruction.
“My little Saintess… Are you alright?”
Sensing Muxuan’s bad mood, the Goddess asked hesitantly.
“Of course, I’m in a great mood! Lady Goddess… Did you just call me ‘little Saintess’?”
Sensing Muxuan’s dangerous expression, the Goddess immediately felt something was wrong.
‘He only went to fetch a Divine Artifact. Why does it feel like my little Saintess has become so much more terrifying?’
Shuddering, the Goddess denied it. “How could that be? We were just calling you the ‘little Pope’~”
“You had better be.”
Muxuan did not press the matter.
His power had now reached the Initial Deep Sea Level. Now that the Goddess had responded to him, Muxuan could enter the space where she resided at any time.
Feeling that space—which was clearly filled with Lightforce yet felt like a rickety, collapsing building—Muxuan still had no intention of entering of his own accord.
His current power was no longer something that fragile space could withstand.
Furthermore, Muxuan always felt that something he didn’t want to encounter was hidden in that space… things that would drive one to madness.
‘Forget it, I shouldn’t think about it too much…’
With the Goddess there, nothing should go wrong.
Even if the Goddess was dead and had only recently awakened, she was still a God! Even if there were dangerous things inside, it was for the Goddess to worry about, not him.
“Why couldn’t I reach you earlier?”
After a moment of thought, Muxuan asked the question.
“Little Pope, the Crosier couldn’t even get in there. How could We possibly establish contact with you? Ehe~”
“No, you know what I’m referring to.”
Muxuan had no intention of letting the Goddess act cute to get away with it.
“Fine, We were afraid of being discovered by Qiansitelin,” the Goddess said helplessly.
‘How could We possibly say that out loud! And you just had to ask! That Qiansitelin acts like she’s been brainwashed by the Saintess. Mention the Saintess, and she becomes like a mad dog!’
In the vast white space, the Goddess stomped her feet in annoyance. Her own little Saintess really didn’t leave her any dignity!
Ultimately, the Goddess simply closed her eyes and kicked her legs, refusing to pay Muxuan any more mind.
However, the Goddess’s words left Muxuan silent once again.
‘Isn’t Qiansitelin your believer? As a God, you’re afraid of your own believer?’
‘At least try to act like a God!!!’
‘What can I do? That ethereal and holy image of a God from the beginning is gone forever!!!’
“I really don’t know how you became a God…”
After吐槽ing speechlessly, Muxuan closed the warehouse doors.
When the time came, he would need to prepare a decent and respectable setting to hold the memorial for these fallen men.
‘Sigh… Purifying them is still better than letting them twist into The Strange or be devoured.’
However, things like flowers for the memorial… there were none here, and certainly none within the Black Mist!
There might be some at the main base. At the very least, the base had not been affected by the Eerie Wave and was still relatively safe.
Rubbing his head with a headache, Muxuan called for Buzhaqi. After handing the task to him, Muxuan walked toward Gelifende once again.
“Make a list of the Faithful who performed well this time. Once all the believers have arrived, I will hold a memorial service to perform the purification ritual for the deceased and grant the Goddess’s grace to the Faithful.”
“Additionally, arrange tasks for this new batch of believers as soon as possible. At the same time, assign more personnel to keep an eye on them. They are Remnants of the Old Era, and many of them are dishonest.”
It wasn’t that Muxuan was unwilling to trust them, but rather that they had never been beaten down by the calamities of The Strange. If they continued to live their lives in a daze as they had before, they would not only waste already scarce resources but also very likely cause resentment among the original Faithful.
Naturally, Muxuan had to be strict with these people.
Of course, if they performed well, there would be no lack of rewards.
The operation of a power system must consist of both reality and spirituality.
Currently, Faith in the Goddess within the Church served as the spiritual level. Now that the Church was expanding day by day, it was time to start utilizing some force as well.
Those dishonest individuals had no Faith in the Goddess to speak of, nor did they think of turning over a new leaf. They were parasites in the past, and they were even more so now!
Muxuan would not act before they committed a crime. But once they did, he would not be soft-hearted.