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Chapter 149: The Path to Godhood

Looking at the perfectly preserved crystal presented before her by the White-armored Guardian, the White Fox Girl did not reach out to take it. Instead, she placed a single palm upon it, causing a faint glimmer of light to flicker.

[Guardian’s Heart]

[An outstanding creation personally crafted by the Spiritual Fox Priestess xx, capable of granting semblances of life and soul to entities that lack true life, along with the protection of the Spiritual Fox Priestess xx’s [Guardian] blessing.

After countless failures and relentless efforts, the Spiritual Fox Priestess xx achieved true semblance of life creation, collaborating with God Fox xx to open up a completely independent stable space somewhere, utilizing her own powers to carry out xx.

But the xx plan was not entirely successful, due to an unexpected awakening, xxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxx……]

“*Smack!*”

Suddenly, an invisible light zipped past like a bolt of electricity, forcefully flicking away the White Fox Girl’s delicate fingers resting on the [Guardian’s Heart]. The information brought by [Information Detection] vanished in an instant.

“…?”

What just happened?

She snapped back to reality, stunned to see the White-armored Warrior still respectfully kneeling on the ground, hands raised, cradling the shimmering miraculous creation. Following the girl’s gaze, she noticed the hollow chest within his armor, utterly devoid of anything.

“…Not an illusion.”

[Information Detection] indeed returned a lot of information to her, but some key content seemed to have been urgently erased by a certain special power, leading to a burst of garbled text.

Though it did not hinder the White Fox Girl from understanding the crystal’s purpose and value, it was hard not to notice.

The Spiritual Fox Priestess… seemed to be engaged in something quite remarkable with God Fox. Could there be some connection to Lucas and this Guardian given the striking similarities?

Moreover, the glance she caught earlier mentioned crucial elements like [the plan was not entirely successful] and [awakening], with the name of the awakened entity even left as a complete blank—something she had only seen once before.

That was back in the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons when the Demon Lord’s jewel was repaired and evolved into a divine artifact, related to certain key components of its evolution.

Mystery is the most fearsome enemy; this hidden existence should not be underestimated…

She attempted to activate [Information Detection] again, but the information came back as if a section had been erased; all those garbled parts had completely disappeared, proving useless no matter how much she investigated.

Oh well, since the lead had vanished, there was no need to force it.

She—naturally was Miss Vilyric, not some miraculous descending Spiritual Fox Priestess, Ming Xi.

There was no intention to be cryptic or deceive the other party into trusting her; it was just that during the surge of power belonging to Ming Xi, when the miracle of [Reconstruction] occurred within the tomb, the [Mask of the God Fox] quietly resting in her backpack, along with the [Spiritual Fox Pendant] she had only recently acquired, seemed to respond to this power at the same time.

They seemed to urge Miss Vilyric to use her own power to connect the two.

It seemed it would bring about some unprecedented change.

Coupled with the influences of that moment, the Priestess ultimately chose to transform once more into [Xi], intervening in the situation.

Indeed, the instant she equipped both the [Mask of the God Fox] and [Spiritual Fox Pendant], a wondrous resonance burst forth.

This made Vilyric realize one thing.

These two pieces of equipment were perhaps meant to be a set, and what she had previously encountered through the [Mask of the God Fox] was merely the tip of the true Spiritual Fox Priestess’s power.

With the two semi-artifacts recombined, Vilyric sensed many new abilities, and using the Cloud Dream Zither gifted by the girl Mengrui on the Riseman, she channeled this newfound power.

Even so, with just one move, or rather one impromptu composition of “Worldly Sigh,” she effortlessly subdued the nearly fully revived [Nameless Demon Lord], which surprised her a bit.

Adding in all the aspects seen within this tomb…

She could now fully confirm that in her prime, the Spiritual Fox Priestess is undoubtedly a true deity, and her status is likely quite high.

Ming Xi was far stronger than the Priestess initially anticipated, and her connection with the God Fox was probably not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

As for this [Guardian’s Heart]…

Though [Information Detection] didn’t classify it as an item, the fact that the White-armored Guardian proactively handed it back upon confirming her identity as the “Spiritual Fox Priestess” was enough to prove its significance.

If Vilyric was not mistaken, that miraculous [Reconstruction] just now was likely driven by this thing at its core, which was fundamentally different from the cores of those straw warriors before—it was of a higher tier, and its conferred life wouldn’t dissipate upon separation.

The evidence lay in the fact that even after removing it from his body, the White-armored Guardian still remained standing, indicating that he was merely safeguarding this item on behalf of the Spiritual Fox Priestess or simply drawing power from it.

Thinking this way, Vilyric suppressed her curiosity and returned the brilliantly glowing [Guardian’s Heart] back to him.

“…?”

The White-armored Warrior lifted his head, confusion and bewilderment flickering in the contours of his hollow armor.

“Keep it; it’s more important to you than to me. Use it wisely and guard this place well. Don’t worry… I won’t be gone forever this time.”

“!”

Just a simple verbal assurance seemed to bestow upon the nameless warrior, who had guarded the tomb for a millennium, some form of supreme honor and encouragement, lifting his spirits greatly.

He nodded vigorously and carefully placed the [Guardian’s Heart] back inside himself for safekeeping, and in the air, once more echoed the vow that seemed to resonate with energy vibration.

“I… will not fail my duty!”

No need to make it so solemn; after all, it was initially yours, right…

At the end of the day, Vilyric did not think that because she could temporarily “transform” into that Spiritual Fox Priestess, it meant she could freely take what was left behind for others without burden. A gentleman pursues wealth but does so justly; how much more for a Priestess who views external possessions lightly?

Watching the White-armored Warrior created by the Spiritual Fox Priestess return to his original position, standing guard in front of the massive statue as if fallen into a deep slumber, the White Fox Girl, now aware of the general situation regarding this peculiar life form, shook her head and shifted her focus back to the floating orb of white light in her palm.

Though a bit abstract, this might be what they call “existence.”

Or rather, it is a materialized product formed when the Nameless Demon Lord extracts [existence] from others and gathers it, forcibly pulled out in the resonant sound of the White Fox Girl’s song that holds power resonant to the soul.

A person’s existence is a byproduct created over years of living, intertwined with countless relationships—an embodiment of [cause and effect].

In fact, whether it be [cause and effect] or the [faith] encountered in the Holy Empire, these forces, which do not belong to the foundational energies of [material] and [void], seem difficult to explain or describe, all lead to one destination.

To put it simply, this is divine power; it is the foundational requirement for becoming a deity.

But its form is too complex; Vilyric wasn’t sure how to label it, so she decided to temporarily unify it under the term [Source Power]—the [Source] that constitutes the true essence of divinity.

Speaking of which, Vilyric recalled another question she had long pondered—what exactly is sp?

For a long period after arriving in this world, the Priestess believed that sp was similar to soul energy, but later, in the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, she encountered the concepts of [Upper Dimension] and [Lower Dimension], proving that the essence of biological souls is actually [void] energy, which greatly differs from what Vilyric knew as sp.

Yet sp still represents an extension of the soul as known by the Priestess; how could that be?

This question was just answered.

—This [Source Power] formed by gathering [existence] is astonishingly close to sp!

Why can deities manipulate souls in the form of divine thoughts as freely as weapons, while an ordinary person’s soul remains stagnant, unable even to sense its existence?

Perhaps it is because the [divine] soul fundamentally differs from that of ordinary creatures.

In other words, the soul of a god, or what Vilyric refers to as sp, is constituted by [Source Power].

While the souls of ordinary creatures are a lower-tier manifestation of [void] energy.

Thus, those truly powerful abilities, like extraordinary magic, can only be powered by sp, for the [Source Power] that constitutes [divine thought] is fundamentally at a higher tier than the two foundational energies, capable of sustaining such powerful attacks.

And the Nameless Demon Lord’s seizure of [existence] is essentially distilling that scarce essence.

So, it’s almost impossible for ordinary creatures to become deities; that insurmountable chasm represents a fundamental evolution in the life form’s essence.

“Exotic… Void Exotic…”

Incredible yet reasonable…

Back in the Holy Empire, that energy harvested from [faith] by the [Divine Network] used to solidify [Divine Light Attribute], with the remainder turned into light elemental force, might also be [Source Power].

Different paths… leading to the same end?