Chapter 457: Rescue Failed
“Does your world have things like pill refining or artifact forging techniques?” Jiang Li described the concepts of pill refining and artifact forging.
“That sounds similar to forging magic and potion brewing spells,” Lance tried to correlate the concepts.
“Forging magic belongs to the Flame God, while potion brewing magic belongs to the Water God. Forging magic requires strength, and potion brewing requires the Water God’s blessing—neither of which I qualify for.”
“But for someone like you, the gods might be willing to grant you such skills.”
Jiang Li cupped his hands respectfully toward the Flame God’s statue: “Great…”
The Flame God’s statue emitted faint starlight as if preparing to grant Jiang Li a skill, but before the light could leave the statue, it began trembling violently.
Boom—
The Flame God’s statue exploded.
Jiang Li then cupped his hands toward the Water God: “Please…”
Boom—
The Water God’s statue exploded directly.
Lance: “…”
Phyllis: “…”
Their small town couldn’t afford to carve new statues.
And why would statues explode just from you respectfully cupping your hands at them!
The siblings couldn’t comprehend this situation.
Jiang Li analyzed rationally: “Perhaps these two gods felt I wasn’t suited for artifact forging or pill refining, but didn’t want to refuse outright, so they made the statues explode to save face.”
Lance thought Jiang Li’s analysis couldn’t be called reasonable—it was pure nonsense.
Jiang Li pieced the two statues back together and persisted: “Mastering spatial magic requires approval from four gods—which four?”
Lance cautiously pointed at four statues: “The Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water gods.”
“So it’s you four.”
Jiang Li bowed slightly.
The four statues exploded one after another in rapid succession.
Jiang Li clicked his tongue—how rude. Is learning spatial magic really this difficult?
Don’t panic—still haven’t tried time magic yet. There’s still hope.
“How does one master time magic?”
Lance pondered before answering: “Time magic is the most difficult. Historically only two adventurers received this blessing—children favored by the gods. They prayed before the imperial capital’s statues, receiving blessings from all seven gods, ultimately obtaining the ultimate skill—’Time Freeze,’ which can pause time for five seconds.”
“I’ll try again.”
Jiang Li kindly reassembled all seven statues and bowed respectfully.
The seven statues turned to dust beyond repair.
Phyllis felt it might be time for her to retire.
…
“Wind God, Earth God, you’ve arrived. We were waiting for you.” The Light God slowly opened his radiant eyes from meditation.
The Light God appeared exactly as his statue depicted—sacred, majestic, omniscient and omnipotent, the backbone of all deities.
The seven gods gathered to discuss important matters.
“Wind God, why are you trembling?” The Flame God asked with concern. He and the Wind God shared a good relationship—there was even a mortal phrase describing their bond: “adding wind to the flames.”
The Flame God wore red robes, his hair literally made of fire, radiating intense heat.
The trembling Wind God recounted recent events, hoping the Light God could provide answers.
Even the Light God had never heard of such a situation—where gods dared not let a powerful believer worship them because they felt unworthy.
Was this possible?
They were the world’s most powerful beings, the source of all faith. How could anything surpass them?
Unless… it was an outsider, like that self-proclaimed Executor of Honghu?
“Let’s discuss this later. First, today’s main agenda…”
Pfft—
Before the Light God could finish, the Flame God suddenly vomited blood, his crimson liquid bubbling like magma.
“Flame God, what’s—pfft!” The Water God moved to help but suffered the same fate, vomiting blood violently.
“What’s happening?”
The panicked gods rushed to aid their colleagues. Everything had been fine—how did things turn like this?
The Flame God and Water God exchanged terrified glances. They now understood the Wind God’s experience—no, the Wind God had merely been frightened without actual harm, while they were literally vomiting blood.
“We… we couldn’t resist…”
“A believer wanted me to grant him forging magic. Before I could react, my body acted automatically to bestow—no, gift him the magic.”
“But no matter how much power I summoned, I couldn’t grant it. My body kept forcing the attempt until I vomited blood.”
“Same for me—this believer wanted potion brewing magic,” the Water God added.
The Light God sighed: “Our strength comes from faith, but faith also binds us. While gaining great power, we often perform involuntary actions.”
He continued analyzing: “Perhaps this believer’s talent in forging and potion brewing is so terrible it exceeds our capabilities, causing this reaction.”
Despite his words, the Light God felt uneasy. Even if the believer’s talent exceeded their abilities, they should simply refuse. No matter how much faith controlled them, it shouldn’t lead to vomiting blood.
And how to explain the Wind God’s experience?
Unless that person’s power overwhelmed even faith itself.
“This is just a minor incident. Let’s continue our discussion…”
Pfft—
Four simultaneous sounds of vomiting blood echoed.
The Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water gods collapsed while vomiting blood, then struggled to rise.
“Spatial magic… that believer forcibly demanded spatial magic. But this truly exceeds our capabilities,” the four gods groaned.
When would this faith-controlled torment end?
The Beast God and Elf God watched with horrified fascination—this situation was too bizarre.
The Light God cleared his throat: “Precisely to escape faith’s control did we collaborate with demons on this mortal-deceiving plan. Today we discuss next steps…”
Suddenly, all seven gods sensed impending disaster—that believer sought the most difficult magic: Time Freeze.
The problem was they genuinely couldn’t perform Time Freeze. The two historical cases were fabrications to demonstrate their power.
Of course, they wouldn’t admit this to believers, instead claiming Time Freeze truly existed—that activating it could stop all time, including their own perception, for five seconds.
They even told believers Time Freeze’s true power lay in making users unaware during those five seconds.
“Find this person quickly! Beg him to spare us!” The Light God shouted, but no one answered.
Six gods collapsed unconscious.
The Light God swayed, finally experiencing what others had felt, then fell.
Thud—
All seven gods lay comatose.
Before losing consciousness, the Light God had one thought: This believer is too terrifying.