“Dove-Dagger Qing Ji is an offensive deity; its effects are divided into ‘Dagger’, ‘Acclaim(Qing)’, and ‘Terror(Ji)’.”

“‘Dagger’ goes without saying. ‘Acclaim’ is a Mental rule effect-it compels not only the target under attack but also other bystanders to celebrate and welcome the deity’s strike. In other words, if you don’t have a specific Defensive Miracle, you’re not only unable to resist the strike, you’ll even actively open yourself up to it. For example, just now, you actually opened your Sanctuary yourself and allowed the strike to happen.”

“‘Terror’ is also a Mental rule effect. When attacked by Dagger Qing Ji, you’ll fall into such intense fear that you can’t control yourself. But this only takes effect during the attack itself, so you don’t really need to worry about it-if you’re attacked by Dagger Qing Ji, you’d be dead before you even had time to fear.”

“Because Dove controls both physical and Mental rules, he is the only deity you can harm with physical attacks-other than that, mental attacks also work.”

Eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral, in the dense jungle, Ashe and Vesser were rapidly retreating.

They dared not fly like Vichy. At least, standing on the ground, they didn’t have to watch out for attacks from below. And they didn’t need to guard against attacks from the front-since with Vesser as a ‘hostage’, neither Dove, Fire Cat, nor Bluebird dared to attack Ashe head-on.

After listening to Vichy’s explanation of Dove, Ashe was even more careful to keep himself, Silver Lantern, and Dove in a straight line, wishing he could squeeze right into Silver Lantern’s clothes, terrified that Dove might again stretch out his staff and blow his head open.

Dove, also known as Demi-God Dagger Qing Ji. There isn’t much about Dove in wasteland records. All Ashe knows is that he was the founder of the first divine era of the Land of Senlo, his cult was called the Assassin Cult, and the divine era he created was extremely short-lived.

The ideal of Demi-God Dagger Qing Ji was “to unify Senlo and embrace peace.” Because his appearance was that of a dove, the dove has ever since been a symbol of peace.

When the Assassin Cult unified Senlo, after decades of peace, Demi-God Dagger Qing Ji ascended to godhood. Then, after a few more decades, a new Demi-God arose, and the Land of Senlo once again fell into the chaos of faith.

It’s worth mentioning that although the Assassin Cult and the War Temple of the wasteland both pursued unified peace, their methods were entirely different. The latter sought to use even greater violence to destroy war itself, while the former relied on assassination.

In the scattered legends, the sorcerers of the Assassin Cult all mastered stealth and assassination. They avoided all large-scale wars, assassinating enemy Bishops and divine hosts directly, ending wars with minimal casualties.

But now, it appears the legends may be quite mistaken. Just from Dove’s effects, it’s clear-not a single one relates to stealth. Instead, there’s a majestic sense of “don’t move, let me kill you.”

Ashe could almost envision it: fourteen hundred years ago, on the Land of Senlo, a Bishop rallying disciples for war atop the great square, only for a white-robed assassin to descend from the sky and drive a dagger through the Bishop’s head. Whether the assassin escaped or died was irrelevant; the Assassin Cult only wanted everyone to know-all zealots who dared to incite war would be slain by Dove in the open, in front of all, and that was Dagger Qing Ji!

Yet, Demi-God Dagger Qing Ji, entrusted with the peace ideals of countless disciples, is now history from fourteen centuries past. What stands before them now is merely the deity Dagger Qing Ji forged of rules!

Miracle-Heart Pen Splashing Ink!

With a thought, Ashe’s Heart Sword dashed around Dove, trying to make Dove bleed on the spot. Yet Dove’s staff swung casually, seemingly without force, but always striking the Heart Sword at just the right moment. In the dozens of seconds and nearly a thousand clashes, Ashe failed even once to wound Dove’s originals!

Vichy continued, “Fire Cat-Knowing Guard Fire is a functional deity, split into ‘Knowing Fire’ and ‘Guarding Fire’. She may not excel at offense, but she can wield every universal fire rule, and even her ordinary flames have the power of a Four-winged Spirit. You all know the effect of ‘Guarding Fire’: anything illuminated by her flames cannot escape its protection. ‘Knowing Fire’ lets her acquire information on everything within the glow-your bodies, souls, spirits, and all intelligence-essentially a divine intervention of scouting. But in the absence of sorcerer domination, deities act almost purely on instinct, so even with all that intelligence, it won’t change much.”

“Knowing Fire is the rule of prophecy, while Guarding Fire is the rule of truth. It’s basically impossible to harm her through these two rules. Luckily, she has a clear weakness: fire. Just counter her directly with water spells.”

Fire Cat leapt through the jungle, and after a moment seemed to forget she’d shrunk, returning to her energetic self. She didn’t randomly unleash flames-otherwise the entire jungle would burn. Only her hair still blazed, the light of Knowing Guard Fire trapping everyone on the eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral.

Fire Cat was perhaps the deity Ashe’s group knew best. The Fire Cat Divine Era’s impact on the people of Senlo was incalculable-closer and more profound than even Bluebird or Gray Fox in modern times. She was the white moonlight and red rose of all Senlo folk, sung by countless people, romanticized by myriad books; the Tribulation Fire Chapel was full of die-hard fans yearning for the Fire Cat Divine Era.

What does that mean? A simple analogy: it’s like a political party formed by dynasty fans, campaigning to become the ruling party with the slogan of restoring a certain Dynasty’s glory-and actually winning a high percentage of the vote…

Never give up, eternally passionate, never say impossible, always forging ahead. Ashe had never pictured Fire Cat before, but seeing this energetic cat-fire girl, he felt Fire Cat should be just like this.

But sadly, she was no longer the Demi-God scientist devoted to allowing ordinary people to wield spirits.

Spirit-Riptide!

Vesser seized the opportunity to unleash the Riptide spirit against Fire Cat. Suddenly, a stream of water surged through the air, seemingly about to drench Fire Cat. However, when it was still two meters away, the water was abruptly evaporated into vapor, not a single drop touching Fire Cat!

Fire Cat raised her head proudly, looking at Vesser with a snort.

Deities act on instinct, but having instincts also means she knows fear! Having been doused once before, how could she not be more cautious?

“The Bluebird, the Wish-Granting Deity, is an auxiliary deity.” Vichy’s tone was somewhat peculiar as he spoke, as if he wanted to laugh but was also excited, like discovering a wife inside a wife cake: “She can achieve almost any effect, but it requires willpower to drive it. In other words, without a sorcerer’s control, she is essentially a blank slate and won’t even harm you.”

“She belongs to the Mental rules, so mental attacks are effective against her.”

Hearing this, Ashe and Vesser couldn’t help but glance at Bluebird but quickly turned their attention back to Misty White and Fire Cat. Interestingly, they weren’t particularly surprised by Bluebird’s effects.

The Bluebird Divine Era, also known as the Era of Ease, the Era of Happiness, and the Beautiful New Era. Bluebird’s ideal is very fairy-tale-like, almost something only a child would say: “Let everyone be happy.”

This is not some harem protagonist’s scummy declaration, but a genuine desire to make everyone in Senlo happy.

Under normal circumstances, Bluebird would never have been able to rule a divine era. However, the Fire Cat sorcerer created the divine fire system, and the succession of divine eras no longer relied on war but on electoral voting. Additionally, the high-intensity nation-building of the Fire Cat Divine Era over the past five hundred years had exhausted society.

After working for five hundred years, it was time to enjoy life.

So, besides Bluebird, other Demi-Gods of the same era, like Misty White, were also welfare-type Demi-Gods offering “high-quality life extension.” Therefore, in terms of offensiveness, Bluebird, named “Wish-Granting,” was naturally the least aggressive among the three deities. Even when Ashe pierced her a few times with the Heart Sword, she showed little reaction.

But compared to the three deities, Ashe and Vesser were more focused on Vichy at this moment. From the beginning, Vichy had displayed strength no greater than three wings in the Sanctuary, but his intelligence far exceeded the vision of a sanctuary sorcerer.

“Mr. Vichy,” Ashe said, “is there any more important information?”

“No, that’s all I know, sorry.”

“That’s already a lot,” Vesser said. “Besides Misty White and Fire Cat, you’ve even figured out the details of Bluebird, who has never acted, which is quite surprising.”

Honestly, Ashe and Vesser could vaguely guess the effects of Misty White Dagger Qing Ji and Fire Cat Knowing Guard Fire. But Bluebird Wish-Granting had been touching fish since her appearance, seemingly just there to make up the numbers. How did Vichy know Bluebird’s abilities?

Moreover, Vichy knew how to harm deities, making Ashe and Vesser feel even more peculiar. It was as if he was there specifically to deal with deities.

But how did he know the three deities would appear on the eighteenth level of the Silent Spiral?

Ashe and Vesser exchanged a glance, seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes, confirming that this Uninvited Guest was not a friend of Silver Lantern or the Cult Leader. Since Vichy had no relation to them and was there to deal with deities, could he be a hidden card of the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo? Or perhaps, another Divine Sovereign’s…

“Oh.” Vichy extended his index finger and thumb, indicating a small interval: “I just know a little bit of prophecy spellcasting, so I can understand these deities’ effects.”

He wasn’t lying. The reason he was there was that he had seen in a Prophetic Dream that Silver Lantern would come to the eighteenth level of the Silent Spiral and encounter the three deities: Misty White, Fire Cat, and Bluebird. The abilities of the three deities were also something Vichy knew in advance from the Prophetic Dream.

This is the power of a prophecy sorcerer. While others play the First Cycle, prophecy sorcerers can play the Second Cycle, or even the Third Cycle.

The Specter Seer’s downfall was due to being plotted against by multiple Divine Sovereigns-prophecy sect Demigods were truly feared.

The peculiarity of the prophecy sect lies in the fact that you don’t even know you’ve been prophesied about. Sometimes, when you encounter disaster, you don’t realize it’s the result of a prophecy sorcerer’s machinations.

However, there was something that puzzled Vichy: in his Prophetic Dream, the situation was entirely different from now.

Although Ashe and Silver Lantern were present, many others had also come to the eighteenth level, and even the Four Pillars Cult had become Silver Lantern’s subordinates. Moreover, the Ashe in the Prophetic Dream appeared more sinister, even making Vichy see his own shadow.

After Silver Lantern became the Dream Master of Senlo, and the three deities appeared, the Four Pillars Cult engaged in a fierce battle with the three deities but ultimately couldn’t defeat them. However, Silver Lantern and Ashe brazenly revealed their most wicked trump card, plunging the deities into despair, ultimately succeeding in slaying the deities with mortal bodies!

Now, not only had Silver Lantern betrayed the Four Pillars Cult, but Ashe’s personality had also become like Lala Fatty’s. They lacked the resources and tactics from the Prophetic Dream.

Vichy remembered clearly that Silver Lantern lacked the courage to reveal the most wicked trump card; it was Ashe’s constant goading and encouragement that created the opportunity to slay the deities.

Vichy hadn’t intended to intervene, thinking he could reap the benefits as a bystander. Who would have thought he would have to step in personally? He had given them the chance, but they were useless!

However, Prophetic Dreams inherently have accuracy issues. Perhaps due to his severely fragmented soul and the presence of deities and Divine Sovereigns among the prophesied subjects, there was such a significant deviation.

As for why Vichy would help Ashe and Vesser, it wasn’t to save the world, nor was it out of any far-sighted vision, but rather a very simple, superficial, and shortsighted reason…

He wanted to seize these three deities!