Chapter 528: 528
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If the differences between the Goddess of Nature and the Lord of Glory were to be made known . Theologians would not even be able to state all of them in a year . To secular people, there was only one difference which stood out the most .
The Lord of Glory's church was constructed using donations from the believers, while the Goddess of Nature's temple was developed using the goddess' own resources .
The Temple of Grace up ahead was not even sufficiently huge for a temple, it was only a twenty-fourth of a normal temple . This represented the essence of the believers in Lorga City, and all the materials were mostly from other planes .
The black temple with crystal windows was not constrained at all . Rays of mild light descended into the temple, nicely engulfing the goddess' statue . The goddess did not like humans crafting statues of her, so all of the goddess' temples had recorded her centuries of grace in the form of murals .
These creatures from foreign planes had built a statue of the goddess based on their own thoughts . The face of this statue was covered by a layer of yarn-like fog which never dispersed .
At this point in time, Saleen already knew that these creatures from the foreign planes had never seen the face of the goddess before . Nailisi's appearance would have aroused a lot of suspicion otherwise .
Saleen and Lex executed a mage's bow in front of the Goddess of Myers' statue . Saleen was not very anxious in looking for the Divine Crystal, instead, he began observing the architecture of the temple .
The material of the temple contained countless precious items, but Saleen did not want to demolish the temple . He only wanted to obtain the things which could not be found on this plane . Of course, the Divine Crystal remained the most important object . Other than a statue, this huge hall had an altar, and an emerald-green branch was place atop the altar . This tree branch was extremely thick, having a diameter of almost half a yard . As Saleen used his perception to scan it, he felt astounded .
"Could this be thundercloud wood? Such a thick and huge tree branch, but it is only a tiny bud at the end of some kind of plant . "
Eleanor noticed this almost ten yards long tree branch occupying the entire altar then felt agitated . Then, she told Saleen, "This is from the Tree of Eternity . "
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The Tree of Eternity was a plant exclusive to the elf plane . It was not as renowned as the Tree of Life, but it was much more useful than the Tree of Life as equipment material .
The best bows in the elf plane were made from the Tree of Eternity . It seemed that there used to be elves in Lorga City who worshipped the Goddess of Myers .
Everyone waited in silence for Saleen and Lex to take action . Even though it was the era where humans were not fearful of the gods, the Goddess of Myers was still a presence people revered . It did not seem appropriate to be stealing the offering for the goddess in her own temple .
Saleen sighed, then told Lex, "Let's do it . They didn't follow me inside because they knew what we were going to do, but they cannot stop us . "
Saleen was partially correct . Ismail did not want to follow Saleen inside because he could not tolerate seeing the humans destroy the temple in front of him . He was not confident of dealing with Lex .
That being said, Lex's actions held special significance for him . The modern day Lorga had become a cage for all the creatures here . The creatures' souls were still around, but their physical bodies had died . They were not completely exterminated because of the goddess' power . A half-spirit's ability was actually widely different from that of a spirit .
By leaving Lorga, Ismail would be able to regain his powers gradually, he might even get back his life .
Even though the goddess had fallen, some nature Divine spells were still present . These Divine spells, including the Gift of Life, did not need the goddess to bestow anything to be completed .
Many creatures similar to Ismail also yearned to leave Lorga . This was the real reason why Lex and the rest of the people could arrive at the Temple of Grace .
"We must have hearts of reverence," Lex mumbled .
Saleen walked up to the altar, storing the gigantic tree branch into the Dimension Stone . He knew that he had to be in awe, but what had to be done must be done . It was just like how humans challenged the gods in the past and carried out expeditions into the various planes . Saleen never believed that this event occurred due to the desire for power, it was more likely out of desperation .
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The humans who already enjoyed extreme freedom had no need to conquer the gods . The Goddess of Myers also never shackled them, so why would they do such a thankless thing?
Lex did not vie for the Tree of Eternity's branch with Saleen, she only followed Saleen to the altar . Under the tree branch, there was an enormous rack, and Lex loved the materials on it, so she put them away in the God's Ring .
The mages did not move, only Lex and Saleen were taking action .
Saleen released the water flow from the calabash and segmented the materials which he thought were valuable . He did not want to touch the statue of the goddess . The temple had no pillars, and everything was laid out in the open except for the Divine Crystal .
Logically, the Divine Crystal should be on the altar, but the tree branch from the Tree of Eternity was on it . The goddess loved such natural objects . The Divine Crystal was not hidden under the branch, so Saleen could only tear the temple apart bit by bit until the Divine Crystal was found .
Saleen acted cautiously because he did not want the temple to collapse . After about four hours, Saleen had removed all the materials which could be removed from the temple, then he shared them with Lex . The Divine Crystal still had not been found .
"Eleanor, tell me, where will the Divine Crystal be?" Saleen had no choice but to ask this elf who was well versed in holy prose .
"It has the highest possibility of being inside the statue . "
"Statue?" Saleen's perception immediately infiltrated the statue . Suddenly, he discovered that the Divine Crystal was in the head of the goddess' statue . A portion of the Divine Crystal was exposed, which was at the goddess' eyes .
The statue of the goddess was about eight yards tall while the head was less than a yard long, it had the perfect ratio . It was unknown what material the statue was made from . The Divine Crystal in the head had been accumulated naturally after a very long time . As the goddess had fallen, the Divine Crystal had lost its prestige, so Saleen could determine its size .
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In the head of the statue, the irregularly shaped Divine Crystal had a diameter of more than half a yard . This Divine Crystal was not complete, it was formed by hundreds of crystals connected together . The part of the Divine Crystal at the eyes had an emerald-green hue, just like Nailisi's eyes .
"To take or not to take?" Saleen was still hesitant . "Should I have a heart of reverence or not?"
"Master, the goddess' own temple never had a statue . " Nailisi suddenly opened her mouth .
Saleen had a moment of epiphany . This statue had been established by the believers of the goddess from the other planes, the goddess herself had never descended on this place . Since the goddess never allowed her believers to carve statues, then Saleen was not being disrespectful by tearing this statue down .
"Nailisi, come over . " Saleen controlled the water flow, immediately encircling it around the statue's legs . He was going to remove the statue from its base .
Lex hesitated . Saleen smiled at her, then said, "Let's hurry up and leave this place, we will divide it when we get back . " As his mental strength had been slightly depleted and the statue had a huge surface area, Saleen asked Nailisi to collect the Divine Crystal . The aptitude of one's mental strength would determine how many items one could store in the Dimension Stone .
"Should the statue be left with Lex?" It was not that Saleen did not trust Lex, but he had noticed the look of greed on the faces of Lex's mages .
Mages were not guaranteed to be nobel . This piece of gigantic Divine Crystal was much more valuable than a high level magic nucleus of the same surface area . Any mage would be afraid of depleting their mental strength . Without mental strength, one could not cast any spell no matter how many magic chords they had . With mental strength, one could still force out level-1 magic even if they had consumed all their magic chords . To a mage, the value of this Divine Crystal could not even be measured in terms of gold coins .
The water flow finally managed to remove the statue about an hour later, Nailisi then swiftly stored the statue in the Dimension Stone . Those mages stared at Nailisi helplessly . Since Lex did not raise any objection, they could not say anything either . Luckily, Saleen had been cooperating happily with Lex before this . This young mage never did anything which reneged on his promises .
Ka…
Out of the blue, a tiny crack appeared in the ground . Even though the ground here was not paved with steel rocks, colored granite rocks were used . They had been fused into one with a Divine spell . Even if low level magic bombarded it haphazardly, it also would not crack .
"Let's hurry…" Before Saleen could finish his sentence, the temple shook, causing the rocks on the ceiling to fall abruptly . Saleen swiftly blessed everyone around him with the Water Shield . Lex's mages also cast magic, charging outside the temple .
Ismail waited patiently in the small square . When he noticed the temple crumbling, a hint of grief appeared in his eyes . Purgatory creatures should not have emotions, but when Ismail saw the Temple of Grace collapsing, a single tear flowed down involuntarily .
As the tear fell from the corner of his eye, Ismail caught it with his hand, then he took out a bottle carved from a gemstone and stored the tear in it . He might be the first purgatory creature who ever cried, this tear was one-of-kind in this world . Ismail could use this tear droplet to exchange for whatever he wanted from Saleen in the future .
Saleen and the rest made a beeline for the square . The temple behind had already crumbled, sending dust flying into the air . Saleen looked at the ruins regretfully . If he knew earlier that the temple would collapse after removing the statue, he would have emptied the temple first . Saleen took out a piece of material from the Dimension Stone cautiously . Seeing that it did not transform into powder like the rest of the materials in the temple, he felt much more relieved .
"Lex, we…" Before Saleen could finish speaking, the buildings surrounding the temple ruins began crumbling, the collapse spread outwards in the shape of a ring . Incessant thunderous booms filled the ears, even the sky gave off the sounds of breaking glass .
"Sir Saleen, Lorga City was destined for destruction the moment all of you arrived," Ismail said nonchalantly on the sidelines . At this point in time, not even a hint of sadness was detected in him .
Lorga City was a maze which had been built out of space . Following the collapse of the buildings, countless spaces gave out crisp bursting sounds as they shattered, as though they were bubbles . Those creatures which could not escape from the bubbles in time were utterly obliterated .
Saleen was greatly astonished, "This Ismail is so evil . In order to leave Lorga, he doesn't mind sacrificing so many lives . "
As though he knew what Saleen was thinking about, Ismail said, "Sir, you have freed them . Without a religion as a goal, it will be painful even if the soul is eternal . "
Gradually, Saleen straightened his thoughts . Other than relying on the Divine spell cast by the goddess, those souls, whose bodies were dead, could carry on living because of the crystals produced by their faith . Since the crystals had been taken away by Saleen, those creatures would definitely be destroyed unless they had signed a contract .
If given time, it was not impossible for the statue to have become a true god .
It was thus likely a lie when the Lord of Glory said that he could grant humans eternal life in heaven . Did the gods gift eternal life to humans, or did humans gift it to the gods?