The house of Selti was merely a simple room atop the temple. In the eyes of outsiders like Ye Dui, the temple building itself was already quite rudimentary, but the house of Selti was even more so. It looked like a hall built from piled stones, with a heavy stone door as the entrance. When Ye Dui slowly pushed open that stone door, a chilling, murderous aura rushed towards them from within.
He entered cautiously with the group, his expression tense.
The room was somewhat dark, making it feel even more vast and empty. Only in front of the inner wall opposite the stone door stood three sculptures: three in front, one behind. The sculptures depicted generals, with stern features and a cold, ruthless air. Ye Dui guessed these were the spirit gods? And the one at the back represented the king of spirit gods?
Spirit gods needed the sand people and divine people in the secret realm to serve them to gain power, but he wondered if these statues were like the water spirit god of the Green Bay tribe, actual embodiments of the spirit gods.
Ye Dui checked the map in his grimoire and saw the four sculptures appear as huge red dots, proving they had consciousness. And their consciousness was radiating strong hostility towards Ye Dui.
Ye Dui was very alert, but not afraid.
Spirit gods were terrifying, but Ye Dui knew that the spirit gods themselves were not frightening. Only when possessing humans could they exert their most terrible power, and due to the rules’ restrictions, they could only possess princes.
Ye Dui’s gaze fell on the stone platform in front of the sculptures, where a stone box was enshrined, with two flickering candle flames burning.
“Is the headless knight’s head in that stone box?” Daibi also spotted the stone box and said curiously, stepping forward.
That one step suddenly triggered some prohibition in the room. With a hum, it felt as if an invisible pressure descended from the heavens onto everyone. Xilaisi let out a startled “ah” and nearly fell. Daibi, Posley, and Green’s bodies also swayed slightly, as if they saw terrifying illusions.
As if a child stood in a pit full of snakes and scorpions.
As if a lamb stood surrounded by wolves.
Their bodies became immensely heavy, breathing difficult, evoking a sense of being trapped in darkness, enveloped by endless loneliness. Their knees trembled, producing an urge to kneel directly.
“It’s that void spirit god…” Green guessed something, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. He said, “This spirit god’s ability is to release pressure. That’s why the slaves fully submit to the divine people, because of the void spirit god’s power. Now it’s targeting us, president… what do we do?”
Pressure was a mental attack, but not magical. It was more like oppression from the food chain hierarchy, so Ye Dui’s mental defence magic had no effect. Though he fared better than the others, it was still tricky. He quickly flipped through his grimoire, searching for a way to counter this pressure.
At that moment, Daibi shook her little head vigorously and said proudly, “What is this pressure? We’ve seen all sorts of storms, fought demons, been wanted by the empire. For powerful adventurers like us, this pressure has no effect at all. Everyone, don’t worry. As long as your mind is firm enough and you endure the initial period, this pressure won’t be scary anymore!”
The little girl confidently waved her small fist at Ye Dui and the others, smiling. As a summoner, she had a deeper understanding of such mental pressure. Hearing her encouragement, Green and Xilaisi showed confident expressions and nodded vigorously.
Then they saw Daibi’s body sway, and with an “ouch,” she toppled to the side…
Well, she had been stunned by that powerful pressure.
Ye Dui’s expression froze. He hurried to her side, holding her in his arms, his face speechless. How had he forgotten? Though Daibi was a summoner, her willpower could not even resist a junior mental mage’s [Daze]…
“Destroying these statues should help.” Posley said, her voice slightly breathless, preparing to attack the four spirit god sculptures.
But at that moment, a strange music sounded from Ye Dui’s grimoire. Posley recognised it as Ye Dui’s BGM, like a chant of believers, providing various buffs. The melodies were oddly not of this world, yet had an indescribable charm.
Posley, Green, and Xilaisi all felt the pressure on them lighten suddenly. Ye Dui’s BGM was reducing the power of the pressure!
As the BGM’s tune built to a climax, the pressure on them became ever lighter. Finally, at the BGM’s peak, they felt as relaxed as usual.
A soft voice sang loudly in divine language: “…I devote my life to nurturing you, hoping only that you pause your wandering gaze. Grant me infinite love and the power to be loved, so I may peacefully contemplate under the bodhi tree…”
Daibi groaned and woke up then. Hearing the lilting tune, her body shuddered: “So powerful, after the pressure comes this terrifying demonic sound… Hmm, I think I smell a stinky foot odour…”
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Ye Dui, sweating profusely, helped Daibi up. “This is my BGM; it resisted the pressure.” In the emergency, he had searched the resource library and found this song about love, unlocking it on a whim. It had not disappointed him…
“Oh, that’s it.” Daibi suddenly realised she had fainted earlier. She glanced at Xilaisi and Green, her face reddening. They were fine, but she had passed out; the vice president’s dignity was lost.
But Green and Xilaisi did not mind at all, given Daibi’s unreliable nature; they had not taken it to heart…
The pressure in the house of Selti had been completely eliminated. The void spirit god releasing it probably knew its power could not overcome Ye Dui and the others, so it withdrew. After confirming the pressure gone, Ye Dui turned off the BGM. He suddenly looked thoughtful, gazing at one side of the house of Selti, where a simple wooden door now stood open.
A person slowly walked out.
This was a man in his thirties, very robust, bald, wearing tattered animal skin clothes. His eyes were deep, skin rough, resembling an ascetic monk who wandered daily, but this world had no such monks. His appearance only showed he was extremely self-disciplined and lived harshly.
Ye Dui recalled the information from Priest Ganong and recognised him.
“One of the three high priests in Divine People City, the Invincible Priest.” Ye Dui said aloud. The ninth prince had notified someone to have the strongest person in Divine People City wait here to intercept Ye Dui, and that was the Invincible Priest.
The trap was not some mechanism; ordinary ones were useless against Ye Dui’s group. But the Invincible Priest was strong enough; waiting here, he was the trap for Ye Dui and the others.
“Correct, I am the Invincible Priest.” The bald man said hoarsely. Using “invincible” as a name suggested arrogance, but the Invincible Priest did not seem arrogant. His voice was hoarse yet slow, carrying faint respect for his enemies. He bowed slightly and continued in that subtle tone, “Because in the secret realm world, I am the most invincible, so I earned this name. In Divine People City, only the Invincible Priest is hereditary. I am the 27th generation.”
His voice suddenly grew colder as he looked at Ye Dui’s group: “So, who among you is Ye Dui? Who is Posley? I hear you are at the pinnacle of power in the outside world. Let me test your strength!”
With that, he stepped forward slowly towards Ye Dui’s group.
This Invincible Priest was indeed very powerful. When Ye Dui first saw him, his expression was calm, but soon his brows furrowed. Using his grimoire to check the Invincible Priest’s score, it started at 100, but as he approached, it rose higher, soon breaking 200 and still increasing.
Scores increasing so rapidly in such short time; Ye Dui had never seen this. The upgraded grimoire could probe scores via three attributes: magic power, skills, experience.
These required hard training to improve, but the Invincible Priest’s magic power attribute, initially B-rank, was now A-rank, the subtitle flickering as if about to become S-rank soon.
At this moment, Green stepped forward.
The Invincible Priest looked at Green, eyes narrowing: “Are you Ye Dui?”
“No, I am not the president.” Green said, his voice slightly trembling.
“I only want to fight the strongest among you. Why do you step out?” The Invincible Priest asked coldly, seeing it as contempt.
But Green was heartbroken, looking down at his hand: “I have no choice; I won the rock-paper-scissors…”
Outside the room, he had suggested rock-paper-scissors to decide who would fight. Ye Dui and the others thought it a good idea and prepared. Green, in a moment of heat, joined, and won the first round against the others… Why did he not have such luck during guild games?
The Invincible Priest did not know what rock-paper-scissors was, this novel game Ye Dui had introduced, but he felt slighted. With a rip, he spread his arms, shattering his animal skin clothes, revealing a muscular, toned upper body.
He clenched his fists, bulging his muscles, looking mighty, striking cold, powerful poses, eyes coldly fixed on Green: “Fine, you are arrogant. Now let me see your power…”
Clang!
A brick suddenly fell from behind his head, smashing onto his forehead instantly. The next moment, his body swayed, and he toppled to the ground beside him…
