Badge in Azure

Just as Lex was about to enter the boundary of the temple, Saleen suddenly bellowed, “Come out!”

A short distance away, a pale green rock cracked gently, and one of its fragments transformed into a mesmerizing woman who turned out to be the demon, Cuisi. Cuisi clearly looked embarrassed, then he said awkwardly, “Sir…”

“Humph, since you know about this secret already, come over and write down your name!” Saleen did not allow Cuisi nor Lex to harbor any more thoughts, then he asked Cuisi to leave his name on the stone tablet.

Cuisi appeared flustered, but he was actually rejoicing in his heart. Even Bain could not discover him, while Saleen could only do so because Saleen knew that he had been following behind all along. Saleen asked him to come out of hiding so that he could be entitled to a portion of the loot from the temple too.

There were only four seeds from the divine trees, but the rest of the items in the temple would have to be shared among the people who entered. Other than Lex herself, it was not very possible for those grade-5 and grade-4 mages to fly up. It was not that a grade-5 mage could not fly, but a normal grade-5 mage could only rely on equipment to fly over short distances, unless they were like Saleen who had created his own spell. They were not much stronger than a Silver Grand Swordmaster otherwise.

Back when Jason was in Ceylon City, he could only fly when he wanted to go over the city walls. At that point in time, Jason was only a grade-5 mage.

Of course, Lex felt that this arrangement was inappropriate. After all, if there was one more person, it would mean that Lex would receive a smaller share of the items in the temple. Since Cuisi had come along, she could not possibly ask Saleen to kill him, and she needed Cuisi keep the secret too. In that case, the best option would be to allow Cuisi into the temple.

At this suitable juncture, Saleen pointed out that Cuisi would not have the right to get a seed because he had come along selfishly. Bain could not raise any further objection either. Bain desperately wanted to enter the temple just so that Lex could obtain one more seed.

“If there is an odd number of seeds, then Cuisi will have the right to get the last seed.” Sika was not dumb, as her suggestion was seconded by Lex and Bain. Anyway, according to Lex’s deductions, there was definitely an even number of seeds.

Sika did not think that way. As long as there was a glimmer of hope, she would help Saleen seize one more seed.

Cuisi was not worried about the one-thousand year restraint. If Saleen did not fulfill the contract, Nailisi would also drag Cuisi down. Cuisi was very clear about this, so he would rather enter the temple and become Saleen’s confidante. With the restraints of the contract, Nailisi would definitely aid Saleen unreservedly. She would summon sufficient manpower from the demonic plane and initiate a campaign on the Myers mainland.

That way, it was possible that the famous myth circulating the demonic plane could turn into reality.

Five people walked to the entrance of the temple. Other than Saleen himself, the rest of the people would have to be transported in with his help. Saleen’s Divine spell was really pathetic, each person could only enter the temple’s gates with his Water Shield which possessed divinity. The stone tablet made it very clear, if one was not a believer of the goddess, they would be prohibited from entering. As long as one was engulfed in the Goddess of Myer’s exclusive divinity, they would be acknowledged as a believer.

Even Lex knew that this was no loophole, it was actually a backdoor left behind by the goddess. She did not know how Saleen had acquired divinity, but she knew that Saleen was definitely not a believer.

The architecture of this temple was not flamboyant. The Goddess of Myers never allowed her believers to adorn the temple with precious objects. Other than the steel rocks as the material for the temple, the rest of the design was very simple. Those exquisite patterns and carvings were easily achieved by humans of the past, as they could be attained using divinity or intermediate level magic. The stone pillars in front of the temple were over thirty yards in height, which was very astonishing for humans. If they had been built by giants, they would be just a toy though.

Giants over one-hundred yards tall were aplenty, it would be simple for them to build a temple for the goddess.

The temple’s gates were wide open, a stone wall was engraved with numerous murals welcoming the guests. These murals were of no use to a normal person, but to a believer, they would be able to receive large amounts of information just by glancing at them. Humans tens of thousands of years ago were not any less intelligent than modern humans, their absorption ability was immense. The sizeable amount of information hidden in a mural allowed a believer to receive knowledge swiftly. When the goddess was still around, these murals would change constantly. At the moment, the murals were fixated on one scene, there were no more alterations.

Lex explained this to Saleen, and led everyone around the stone wall before entering a hall. This temple was constructed atop the Mountain Without End. This mountain might seem tapered, but with the goddess’ powers a temple as big as the ones built on flat ground could still be developed, it did not lose out in size.

There was utter silence in the temple. These five people passed through dozens of barren halls before arriving at the core area.

The façade of this hall was astonishingly huge, while its height had exceeded that of the surrounding halls. When Saleen looked up, he had to use the Icy Sight to observe the ceiling. The interior of this temple was also unlike the temples Saleen had been to in the past. This hall was not barren, there were four dead trees standing upright.

A colossal podium was situated behind the four dead trees, with hundreds of boxes carved from tremolite placed atop it. These boxes had an unchanged style, it was used to store ashes. This was also the first time Saleen had seen an extravagant item in a goddess’ temple.

The quality of the tremolite used was very high, it was not some normal nephrite. The stone with the lousiest quality was jasper. Mosaicked into the top of these ash-carrying jade boxes was sheet gold, which was more precious than refined gold. Sheet gold was the essence of refined gold, moreover, rhenium gold had to be added in accordance to a certain ratio.

If one wanted to abstract these precious metals, they would need an astronomical amount of gold coins to do so. Even the mainland plane could not provide any more gold coins.

Even though Saleen was very tempted by the precious sheet gold, he did not dare touch it. These ashes were left behind by the goddess’ oracles.

A mage would not rob an expert’s grave, even a death mage would not do that. If one did not respect an expert, they would receive retribution. Saleen did not believe that these ashes would not have any protection.

What made Saleen more intrigued were the four dead trees. If there was no mistake, these four dead trees were the four divine trees created by the goddess; the Tree of Life, the Tree of Element, the Tree of Knowledge, and the Tree of Taboo.

A hint of flush appeared on the face of the ever-composed Lex. A little agitated, she told Saleen, “The seed of a divine tree is different from a normal plant, it is found in the trunk. Even though these four divine trees are withered, only your left hand will be able to break them. We would require many years and almost one-hundred sorcerers to get the seeds out otherwise.”

Saleen did not even realize the mystical feature of these dead divine trees. With Lex’s reminder, he used the Icicle Spell to test them out. When an icicle with the offensive power of level-3 magic crashed into a dead tree, it disintegrated instantly.

Saleen was aghast, “This thing is sturdier than the pan’s turtle shell! It would be too tedious to use this material to craft armor. Even the water flame may not be able to deal with such a solid material.”

Saleen put his left hand on a withered divine tree, and green light seeped into it. An unexpected event happened. He could clearly feel the pulse of the divine tree. Within the trunk of this withered divine tree, a seed containing an immense power of life behaved like the human heart, beating slowly.

Solely relying on the goddess’ perception, the seed suddenly broke through the trunk, flying into Saleen’s hand at the speed of light.

Lex also pressed her hand against another divine tree. Her God’s Ring glowed with a pale golden hue, and a seed flew out, landing in her hand.

Without hesitation, Saleen went to collect a second seed. Indeed, there was only one seed in each divine tree. “Seems like I have to depend on luck, I hope to obtain the seeds of the Tree of Element and the Tree of Knowledge. With these two items, it will not be impossible for me to become the mightiest mage.”

The seeds of the divine trees were all green in color with a diameter of about half a yard. In hand, the seeds felt weightless. On each seed, there were dark green patterns, and holy words were veiled within the patterns. As Saleen held onto two seeds reading them meticulously, he grew disappointed.

He had gotten seeds of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Taboo. The seeds he desired were in Lex’s possession. Since Lex was also a mage, she would never exchange with him.

Even though Lex did not understand holy words, Saleen could not possibly deceive her. The Tree of Life was good, if it could be grown, Saleen would attain an endless supply of the Power of Life, which was much stronger than magic liquid. As long as he was not killed in an instant, Saleen would not need to be afraid of getting injured anymore.

What could the Tree of Taboo be used for? To become a god? Saleen had never thought of becoming a god. A mage knew clearly that a god was simply a type of creature, there were still many other taboos. For example, the Lord of Glory could never enter the plane of the Myers mainland. Humans were different, as long as they possessed sufficient power, they could travel to any location.

The power of a human did not rely on any faith, it stemmed from the individual. The potential of humans was exemplified when the ancient humans moved the sun from another plane to put it in the sky above the Myers mainland.

“I will study it slowly.” Helpless, Saleen stored the two seeds into the Demonic Ring. He did not even exchange opinions with Lex. As the goddess’ space was a little odd, Saleen did not want to loiter around, he wanted to leave as soon as possible. “I have been gone for six months already, right? I wonder what has become of Metatrin City.”

Lex looked at the four dead divine trees. In slight exasperation, she told Saleen, “Only your Ring of Gifts can collect them, even my God’s Ring cannot do it.”

Saleen glanced at Sika. Sika then placed her hand on one withered divine tree, and another event which made Saleen astounded occurred. Just like that, Sika had put away the one-hundred yard long divine tree into the Ring of Gifts.

These withered divine trees were items which could not be valued in terms of money, not to mention the preciousness of the trunk’s material. The leaves at the crown had also withered, but every leaf had hidden holy prose in them, so there could be another use for them.

“These were the benefits the goddess has left for me, but I will have to pay a humongous price for it in the future by unifying the mainland and spreading the goddess’ religion. With a huge number of believers, and as long as time is abundant, it will not be impossible for the goddess to be resurrected.”