Holy Maiden Xia Lian put down her teacup and shrugged at Mo Tan, who seemed a little curious: "I think you must have known Wang Yu before she became a God-blessed one, right?"
"Wrong, she was already a God-blessed one at that gathering, the kind that crushed everyone at the table."
Mo Tan thought to himself, but on the surface, he nodded seriously: "Yes, we haven't seen each other for many years. I was quite startled when I learned through letters that she had become a God-blessed one."
"Mm-hmm, I understand, I understand." Xia Lian nodded vigorously, covering her mouth with a light chuckle: "It must be particularly overwhelming to suddenly find out your childhood friend has become a big shot, especially since you are both followers of the Goddess, yet she became a Holy Maiden while you're still a little novice."
Yu Cheng pouted, stammering as if she wanted to say something, but after a long while, no words came out.
After all, according to the story she and Mo Tan had agreed upon earlier, what Xia Lian had just said wasn't entirely wrong.
"It's a good thing for a friend to become outstanding." Mo Tan, however, replied with a normal expression: "It's fortunate to receive the Goddess's favor, and I also believe that Wang Yu's character is suitable for a Holy Maiden. Yes, she is the pride of our entire village."
Yu Cheng buried her face in her chest, looking particularly embarrassed.
"As for myself..." Mo Tan smiled at Xia Lian, gently pressing the cross on his wrist to his chest, and said with a solemn expression: "I am already content to have the opportunity to become an ordinary priest."
It must be said that his expression, demeanor, and tone were all spot on at this moment. From every angle, he looked like a pure and devout believer.
Although his acting skills were still far from those of a certain period of himself, dealing with such small situations was no problem at all.
"Tsk tsk, it can truly be said to be very excellent." Xia Lian couldn't help but look at this young man in a new light, and quickly consoled him: "Don't underestimate yourself. You should know that priests who can use Law divine spells are almost extinct now, of course, mainly because that thing is indeed a bit of a trap..."
Mo Tan gave a dry laugh, unable to think of how to continue the conversation.
This Holy Maiden just killed the conversation.
Meanwhile, Yu Cheng sat there, reacting blankly for several seconds, then said softly to Xia Lian with a bitter face: "Holy Maiden, if you really can't comfort people, then don't say anything..."
"Hehe, it's fine, it's fine. I think this kid is quite open-minded. Now, let's talk about serious matters." Xia Lian waved her hand dismissively, then adjusted her expression, and asked Mo Tan quite seriously: "Can Yu Cheng and I trust you?"
Mo Tan nodded: "I think you can."
"Alright." Xia Lian glanced at Yu Cheng again, and after getting an affirmative reply from her, she stopped beating around the bush and directly told Mo Tan: "Yu Cheng's divine spells have a problem, a very big problem."
Mo Tan was a bit confused: "What problem?"
"Unstable, extremely unstable." Xia Lian sighed, and stroked Yu Cheng's head: "It is precisely because of this that I rarely allow this girl to use divine spells casually in most situations."
Yu Cheng nodded somewhat awkwardly, shrunk her body, and whispered: "I've caused a lot of trouble for Holy Maiden."
"So how exactly is it unstable?" Mo Tan's curiosity was also piqued. He had never heard the other party tell him about this before.
Xia Lian patted her disciple's little head: "Show him."
Yu Cheng nodded, then extended her small hand, which had been tucked in her sleeve, and pointed at Mo Tan.
The next second, a faint golden glow emanated from Mo Tan, and he immediately felt a warmth spread through his body. This feeling was not unfamiliar.
"Holy Healing?" Mo Tan asked, not entirely sure. He had also used this skill on himself before, which was why he could make a judgment at the first moment, but he wasn't entirely certain.
"It's an enhanced healing spell, a very excellent enhanced healing spell." Xia Lian expressed satisfaction with Yu Cheng's skilled casting, and said softly: "Continue."
Yu Cheng nodded and flicked a Condensing Light Arrow towards the corner of the room.
"Scatter." Xia Lian snapped her fingers, and the light arrow disappeared out of thin air. She looked at Yu Cheng: "Has it come?"
"Not yet." The girl shook her head.
"Tsk tsk, then continue." Xia Lian clicked her tongue, and spread her hands towards Mo Tan: "Wait a little longer, it should be soon."
"Okay."
...
It wasn't until ten minutes later that Yu Cheng, panting, nodded to the two of them: "Alright."
During this time, she had been continuously casting various divine spells, and now her magic and faith values were already at rock bottom.
Mo Tan, who had been intently observing the girl's casting, was stunned for a moment: "Hmm?"
"Phew, it's finally done." Xia Lian, who was almost asleep, yawned and pouted: "Last time, it went wrong after only two divine spells, but today it took so long, sigh."
Mo Tan, who had already initially confirmed the 'problem' with Yu Cheng through friend messages during the past ten minutes, now reacted and immediately asked with great interest: "And then?"
"Then you should cast a shield on yourself first." Xia Lian thought for a moment, then smiled and instructed Mo Tan: "It's better to experience it firsthand, but Wang Yu's power is much stronger than yours, so you still need to defend yourself a little."
Mo Tan didn't ask further, he just shook his cross and casually cast a Law Decree Shield on himself: "Done."
Xia Lian tilted her head towards Yu Cheng: "This time, try Life Link, the targets are the two of us. Begin."
The girl hummed in agreement, then softly cautioned Mo Tan: "Be careful."
"Don't worry." Mo Tan smiled: "I'm fine."
"Biased." Xia Lian pouted, complaining to Yu Cheng: "Wang Yu, you don't even care about me!"
The girl gave a sheepish smile to the Holy Maiden, who was second only to the Dawn Pope in the Holy Church United: "Holy Maiden, you be careful too."
The next second, a golden band of light abruptly appeared between Yu Cheng's hands.
This skill was called Life Link, one of the divine spells Yu Cheng had just used, which could restore a small amount of health to the caster's target and a friendly unit nearby.
It was just that, whether it was a misconception this time or not, the flowing, radiant divine spell, like a silk ribbon, which was in the chanting phase, seemed to faintly exude a chilling aura...
Two seconds later, Yu Cheng finished casting. With a gentle wave of her delicate hand, the light band, now several meters long, immediately flew towards Xia Lian, then erupted with a burst of holy light upon contact with her, before instantly turning towards Mo Tan in mid-air.
It seemed no different from before, but...
Buzz!
An almost imperceptible ripple spread in front of Mo Tan. The Law Decree Shield around him lasted less than half a second before being silently pierced by that 'Life Link'. Then Mo Tan felt a pain in his chest, and he unexpectedly fell off the chair, his health instantly dropping by 10%.
The light receded, but the chill and cold that Mo Tan had felt in that instant lingered in his body.
"Are you alright?!"
Yu Cheng had already quickly gotten up and run to Mo Tan's side, frantically raising her small hand to heal him.
Two flashes of holy light successively passed over him.
【Enhanced Holy Healing】 + 【Enhanced Recovery Prayer】
One hot, one cold.
"Phew, thanks...ugh!"
Mo Tan's health was instantly maxed out, then began to drop at a rate of 1.5% every two seconds.
Yu Cheng only then belatedly realized the 【Dark Interference Triggered】 message that had just sounded in her ear. The little girl looked at the constantly flickering 'holy light' on Mo Tan, so anxious that tears were almost coming down. She quickly cast another safe and harmless Dawn Nova, refilling Mo Tan's health while also making the room golden, and then heard another 【Dark Interference Triggered】...
The 'Enhanced Recovery Prayer', whose duration had not yet ended, made Mo Tan shiver again. The lingering holy light was warm and dazzling, yet chilling to the bone.
"Holy Maiden!" Yu Cheng, not daring to cast any more spells, immediately panicked. She grabbed Mo Tan's hand and anxiously turned to Xia Lian, whispering: "That happened twice in a row again, what do I do...?"
Xia Lian, like an experienced rogue, squatted on the ground watching the show. Hearing Yu Cheng's cry, she just rolled her eyes: "What do you mean 'what do I do'? Although he's pretty weak, he's not so weak that he can't even take two hits. Just wait."
Yu Cheng was a bit anxious: "But I..."
"I'm fine, the divine spell's effect has disappeared." Mo Tan had already stood up by now, shaking his head: "I was just caught off guard earlier, there's nothing serious."
Yu Cheng looked him over for a long time, and only when she saw that the light from her previous 'Enhanced Recovery Prayer' had indeed completely faded did she finally breathe a sigh of relief. The little girl patted her chest with lingering fear and apologized to Mo Tan: "I was wrong..."
"What were you wrong about?" Mo Tan looked at the very amusing girl in front of him with a wry smile, sighing: "But I think I understand now what you meant by 'unstable' earlier."
Yu Cheng shrunk her neck, and whispered with a troubled expression: "Completely uncontrollable."
"And there's no pattern to it at all." Xia Lian walked over, pulled Yu Cheng onto a chair, and then turned to Mo Tan, winking: "Fun, isn't it?"
Mo Tan cast Holy Healing on himself, and nodded with a smile: "Fun."
"Fun my foot!" Xia Lian slapped Mo Tan onto the chair, crossing her arms and glaring at him: "You're really broad-minded, aren't you?"
The latter scratched his head, chuckled foolishly twice, and then fell silent.
"Wang Yu's situation is very strange." Xia Lian put away her previous playful demeanor and said seriously to Mo Tan: "Her divine spells will sometimes completely take on another form. Although they still contain the Goddess's power and look no different from normal, their effects will undergo subversive changes, and usually, these are not good changes."
Mo Tan nodded slightly, then whispered: "Have there been such cases before?"
"No." Xia Lian shook her head and smiled bitterly: "Pope and I have almost scoured all the ancient texts, but we haven't found any relevant information. What's happening to Wang Yu is unprecedented."
"So that's why you don't allow her to use divine spells easily, right?" Mo Tan nodded, his expression gradually becoming serious: "It's true that the fewer people who know about this, the better."
Xia Lian rolled her eyes: "Nonsense. The Dawn Sect has finally produced a new God-blessed one, but when she uses divine spells to heal illnesses and alleviate disasters, she might accidentally kill her own people. If too many people know about this, it will definitely cause a huge problem."
"So I've caused a lot of trouble for Holy Maiden and Pope." Yu Cheng slumped her small shoulders, drawing circles on the table.
Xia Lian casually flicked Yu Cheng's forehead, then said to Mo Tan with a serious expression: "Since you already know the seriousness of this matter, you must never tell anyone about it, otherwise Wang Yu is very likely to be treated as a heretic. You should know that not all divine spellcasters are as calm as I or Pope."
"Of course, Wang Yu couldn't possibly be a heretic." Mo Tan nodded slightly, fabricating with an equally serious expression: "She doesn't even dare to kill a cockroach."
'(><﹏><) Actually, I dare!'
Yu Cheng's message lit up.
"What's a cockroach?"
Xia Lian looked bewildered.
Mo Tan sighed: "Nothing..."
"Alright, anyway, that's the situation." Xia Lian didn't dwell on the question. After getting an affirmative reply from Mo Tan, she pulled out a scroll of map from her sleeve and spread it out on the table, pointing at the intricate lines on it as she said to the two of them: "Now, look at this. This is Hofur City."
Yu Cheng / Mo Tan: "?"
Xia Lian's earlobes were a little red: "I drew it myself, just make do with it!"
Then the two of them just said 'Oh'.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to cast a major divine spell in the city center." Xia Lian pointed to the very center of the map, and winked at Yu Cheng: "You should know about this."
The latter nodded obediently.
"Originally, I could have handled it alone, but now there's a bit of a problem." Xia Lian sighed, then pointed to four different locations on the map: "Here, here, and these two places each have a church belonging to the Holy Church United. Logically, my Greater Purification spell could cover the entire Hofur City through these four locations as mediums, but the church in the west seems to have a problem..."
"West?"
"What problem?"
Mo Tan and Yu Cheng each voiced their questions.
"That's right." Xia Lian sighed: "I was too busy before, so I never personally went to check, and only just now discovered that the church in the west has been abandoned. During the early stages of the Plague, it once housed over a thousand infected people, but none of them survived. The lingering resentment turned into a curse, and although it was neutralized by the divine power in the church, still... You know what neutralization means, right? It means they canceled each other out."
The two nodded in silence.
"So tomorrow, when leading the Greater Purification spell..."
Xia Lian patted Yu Cheng's shoulder: "I need your help, Wang Yu."
"Can I?"
"Yes, you will need to temporarily act as the medium for the west, to help me complete the divine spell resonance that will cover the entire city."
Chapter 168: End