[God]

William had never conceived of such a being in his knowledge,

even in the Old World, the highest existence in the Source Epidemic Area was only referred to as the "Plague Master."

The Plague Masters were not as aloof and elusive as the so-called gods, nor did they require the afflicted to place shrines of the plague in their homes for daily worship.

They administered much like small nations would, prioritizing the elite cultivation of every potent Patient. And Plague Masters like the Duke mingled daily with merchants, attending events in various Neutral Cities, big and small.

The first time William truly grasped the concept of gods was when Yi Chen shared his real memories while en route to the Tenth Abyss,

As a child, Yi Chen often got into trouble;

the dark room served as his second home.

Getting used to the darkness, silence, and solitude, Yi Chen unexpectedly found a Hidden Compartment in the cramped, sealed space that even the Orphanage staff were unaware of.

However, this compartment wasn’t a secret passage to the outside world, but was merely one meter deep,

inside lay an exceedingly strange black Divine Statue,

From then on, whenever Yi Chen was locked in the dark room, he would kneel before the statue, and even taught himself the skills of prostration using the literature available in the Orphanage.

Even though the Divine Statue never manifested, even though he never felt the grace bestowed upon him, Yi Chen always maintained a pure and devout heart.

It wasn’t until the moment Yi Chen calmly committed suicide that grace truly descended—the blessed Death.

Thus, William became curious about the world Yi Chen lived in, the entities those Divine Statues represented, wondering what kind of existence these gods really were.

This time, he arrived here through the nightmares of Catherine as a passage by chance. Along the way, all William had seen were shrines and divine statues, at most statues like the "Fertility Guanyin" that had been consecrated.

And now, the more concrete presence of[God]stood before him.

As the Buddha statue, constructed over hundreds of years, perennially submerged in sea caves, drawing from countless offerings and towering over thirty meters tall, split open at the center, an aura spread forth.

This humanoid shell was the Physical form of the Buddha Mother of Flower Sea Village born in the mortal realm. Although it was not fully formed, it was enough to carry a portion of Her divinity.

After swallowing Catherine’s White Jade Bottle, it also shrunk to a normal size, and was suspended above Her shoulders.

Between the hands adorned with lotus seals, a unique Pupil was born, shaped like an eight-petaled flower.

When William locked eyes with these two pupils, his body instantly became weak. Looking down, he saw roots writhing across the surface of his Physical form.

The entity had managed to complete the Sowing inside him just by "making eye contact,"

and at the same time, an intense pressure spread within him, compelling William to want to kneel on the cushion beside him.

Snap! William plunged his right Arm into his body, yanking out all the roots that had been planted inside. The excitement from the Pain snapped him out of it, and he immediately asked Yi Chen, a local expert, for advice.

"Yi Chen, should we fight it out here?"

"Without your Madness Brain, has your mind broken? This is their turf... If the sea water rushes in, we won’t stand a chance.

Follow me, let’s retreat to an area more favorable for combat.

We’ve made quite a mess on their turf;

they’re bound to follow us. Let’s run for it while They are not fully awake!"

With that, Yi Chen took off running, unbelievably fast, back through the cave the way they had come.

"Huh?"

Although William was somewhat bewildered, he immediately followed suit.

Almost at the same moment the two fled, the temple collapsed, large volumes of seawater gushed in, and the Buddha Mother’s Physical form was completely submerged. Under the pressing force, it was swept into the passage, giving chase.

Fortunately, William’s Physical form had continued to grow upon arriving in this world, and coupled with wrestling exercises with the Investigators for a complete warm-up, his current pace of escape was extremely fast.

Perhaps due to the absence of other plagues during this time, which allowed for full immersion in the Abyss and the Physical form,

William naturally kept a Rhythm as he fled,

his footsteps landing perfectly on the beat, in tune with a kind of melody that greatly improved his running efficiency, reaching more than twice his usual Speed.

Furthermore, the Abyss within his abdomen was also spinning faster during this process, expelling not only the remnants of plants but also the seawater from his body.

Moreover, William seemed to have not noticed one thing himself,

and that was the connection between the physical and the Abyss seemed to have deepened, as if the ’link’ between them was about to become a reality.

Before leaving the cave, William actually caught up with Yi Chen, who was ahead.

"Hmm?"

Yi Chen, wrapped in a yellow raincoat, suddenly turned his head, casting a surprised glance, and then began to increase his speed, not willing to fall behind William.

Just like that, the two of them almost simultaneously burst out of the cave entrance and into the woods,

"Yi Chen, where are we heading next?"

"A place far from the coast where we won’t be disturbed by others. Although still an unformed pseudo-deity, we must proceed with caution given our current state."

Yi Chen seemed to have anticipated such a situation and had already scouted out a location in advance,

a desolate mountain outside the boundaries of Flower Sea Village that had been burned. There, few plants survived and even the ground appeared scorched black.

As the two fled towards this desolate mountain,

a miracle was revealed on the shores of Flower Sea Village. All the petals scattered across the sea’s surface converged to one point, eventually forming a blue lotus platform that carried a woman from the seabed to the shore.

All the villagers knelt along the shore, their fisheye structure eyes exuding absolute devotion,

and as the woman passed by each of them, the white jade bottle on her shoulder connected by flower stems generated a powerful suction, directly drawing these pitiful individuals into it, turning them into nutrients for the woman’s sustenance.

These villagers were devoted believers, far more valuable than sacrifices, and they had always carried on their ancestors’ bloodline.

As she absorbed this group of villagers, the divine statue of the Buddha Mother was further completed.

The flowers budding on her face began to slowly fall off, revealing facial features similar to humans, except that her eye sockets were streaming with seawater, empty and void.

The Buddha Mother crossed her hands, branded with the lotus mark, over her face, embedding her eyeballs into them.

When she removed her palms,

a soul-stirringly beautiful visage was revealed under the night sky,

treading forward with elegant and slow steps towards the desolate mountain,

every step leaving behind a footprint full of seawater, as her body continued to exude the ocean’s essence.

By the time she left the beach, her physical form had completely dissolved into seawater.

...

[Desolate Mountain]

When the two youths with similar appearances but clearly different expressions in their eyes reached the desolate mountain at the fastest speed, they were suddenly taken aback, the yellow raincoat on Yi Chen also shook slightly.

In front of them, where the foothills of the burned mountain should be, improbably stood a stone well.

Snap!

An alabaster arm, moist and pale, suddenly stretched out, and when its palm touched the ground, the scorched earth began to bloom rapidly, and streams of water burst forth from the ground.

As flowers blanketed the mountain, the woman seated at the well’s edge was a vision of fragile beauty.

Tsk~ Yi Chen clicked his tongue, his killing intent emerging.

A yellow figure rushed straight to the well,

raising his arm like drawing a chopper.

With the rise of his hand, the axe fell,

and the woman along with the stone well she sat upon was split down the middle, chopped in half without a trace of tenderness or mercy.

But when the bisected corpse fell to the ground to either side, it still maintained a strange smile, ha-ha-ha~

The flowers that had bloomed all over the mountain began to laugh as well, each one forming the face of a woman in their petals, seemingly mocking the two mortals who had overestimated themselves.