Chapter 1 The Holy Cavern

Hao Ren squinted at the bearded man, "You're saying there's a holy cavern beneath Beinz? And the entrance is at the bottom of the lake?"

The bearded man looked calm and composed. "That's right. This cavern is one of the three holy sites. Each Life Ancestor within its sacred coffin is sealed not far from the place where it was first discovered, which is the holy cavern. This is a requirement explicitly mentioned in the Goddess's decree."

Hao Ren was astonished to find that this Beinz parish was such a special place: it was not only an important relic of the Ancient Goddess's destruction of the world, but also the sealing place of the Life Ancestors, the location of the holy cavern, an important strategic point beside the Dragon Spine Mountains, the Twisted Woods, the Blood Lake, the mad creations of the ancient magic emperor… so many incredible things were gathered in one place!

"You knew the holy cavern would be opened?" Hao Ren looked at the bearded man with a subtle expression. "And that we would open it—what exactly are you planning?"

The bearded man looked blank. "No malice. And initially, I didn't think you could actually open that place. I just wanted you to try. Ever since the first Pope opened the holy cavern and took out some holy objects, the three caverns have re-sealed themselves. His Holiness left a holy decree that the caverns would reopen when they encountered the Chosen Spirit, and a new divine revelation would be revealed from within. According to the decree, the Chosen Spirit comes from beyond the heavens and earth and is a 'guest from the stars'—for the past millennia, no one has guessed what this revelation refers to until recently when the four of us fell into another world. I deduced that the so-called Chosen Spirit must refer to you people who can freely travel between worlds."

Hao Ren was immediately stunned, a strange feeling spreading from the depths of his heart: "Are you telling me that people three thousand years ago could foresee that we would come here from another world?!"

Prophecies, revelations, having one's path calculated, these kinds of mystical things were always something Hao Ren kept away from. No one would like to appear in some ancient prophecy. It made him feel like every move he made was predetermined. If the prophet was a true god, like Raven 12345, a goddess who was powerful and had no restraint, Hao Ren wouldn't mind her calculating things, but now the prophecy was made by an aboriginal old man from a dream dimension three thousand years ago!

It sent chills down his spine.

"The first Pope spoke directly with the Goddess. He obtained great divine power, so it's not strange that he could calculate some things," the bearded man nodded slightly. "You come from another world, which fits the description of 'Chosen Spirits.' The place you're going to is the bottom of the Holy Lake, which matches the entrance location of the holy cavern. What you're going to do is take something from there, which fits the saying in the holy decree, so I decided to let you try—but until the entrance really opened, I couldn't be sure that you were really the people mentioned in the prophecy, so I didn't tell you at first."

"Now that the vortex has appeared, you believe that we are the Chosen Spirits?" Hao Ren felt a little confused. "And then you confessed everything?"

The bearded man nodded. "I hope you can understand our actions. Although I don't know why the Goddess would choose some heretics to open her holy vault, a decree is a decree. As long as it's the Goddess's will, we must complete it unconditionally, and we must ensure that this completion process is perfect."

Hao Ren waved his hand, indicating that his mind was a mess and he needed to calm down. Meanwhile, Vivian, who had been quietly listening all along, looked up at Gerton's direction. "It seems that only the four of you know about this? That parish director looks quite shocked by the great vortex."

"The story of the holy cavern is not a secret," the young nun with the hoarse voice suddenly looked up. "But its location is a secret—only the Popes of each generation and a few ascetics know that beneath each sacred coffin is a holy cavern. Others, even the parish director responsible for guarding the sacred coffin, would not know that the foundation of the Radiant Church is somewhere beneath their feet. If we hadn't confirmed that you were the Chosen Spirits mentioned in the holy decree, we wouldn't have told you about this."

Hao Ren clicked his tongue. Things were developing too fast. He hadn't even reacted yet, and he was inexplicably dragged into the middle of this mess. The bearded man and the other three were the only ones in the entire parish who knew the secrets of the holy cavern. They watched Hao Ren and the others open the cavern step by step, but only now did they explain the reason, not giving people any time to react.

Vivian pointed to Gerton, Aufra, and the others walking ahead. "Since the location of the holy cavern is a secret, why did you let these people get close to the entrance?"

"It doesn't matter. The 'key' to open the real core is in our hands." The bearded man only said this leisurely and didn't explain further.

"What do you guys think about this?" After the four ascetics walked away, Hao Ren immediately seized the time to discuss with his teammates.

Lili thought for a while, "I'm a little hungry."

Vivian glared at her and conveniently took out a bag of spicy sticks and stuffed it into Lili's arms. "Go, go, go, this is none of your business."

"I don't think the Chosen Spirit thing is reliable," Izaaks said seriously. "I don't believe that a mortal three thousand years ago could predict this kind of thing. Even the so-called Creation Goddess they speak of is, at best, a native pseudo-god limited to this world. Even that 'god's' power can't jump out of this world, so how could an ordinary believer of hers predict someone coming from another world three thousand years later?"

"But things are indeed strange," Vivian frowned. "We really did come as the prophecy said, and we opened the entrance to the holy cavern. I believe the Popes of the Radiant Church over the generations should have tried to open the cavern in other ways, but they certainly didn't succeed, so they were so sure that only the Chosen Spirit could open the entrance. And the current situation is…"

Hao Ren swallowed. "We really opened it…"

Becky blinked, swallowing even louder than Hao Ren. "Do you think someone will kill me to silence me?"

She was just a small mercenary. She was dragged into this kind of thing in a daze, and she was trembling like a vibrating phone.

Hao Ren thought about it and felt it was really dangerous. The bearded man and the others were tied to the same boat as him, so he didn't have to worry about them having any conspiracies. But who knew what was waiting for him in the holy cavern? What if the so-called "Goddess" needed a few Chosen Spirits to sacrifice in order to open some treasure vault? That sister killed the ecosystem without batting an eye back then! Compared to Raven 12345, she was definitely not a kind soul!

What if he and the others were really "Chosen Spirits"? That would be a hidden danger!

He took the data terminal out of his pocket. "Be vigilant later. If you find any traps, forcibly cut off the connection with the dream dimension. Also, monitor May's situation at any time to prevent her from having an accident. This Beinz parish is getting stranger and stranger."

"Understood. But you're holding me upside down—you forgot that the side with the production serial number should be facing up?"

Hao Ren frowned and flipped the data terminal over. "You're so fussy for a PDA."

"Of course. You're pretty casual about talking to someone's chrysanthemum."

Hao Ren: "..."

While they were talking, the team had actually approached the great vortex in the center of the Blood Lake.

The water-type magic mentors created a wide road on the lake surface. The team walked on the water to the vortex. Although this method of controlling water was crude and stiff, far less beautiful than Nangong Wuyue's, it was more in line with the habits of a group of land creatures. Hao Ren looked at the turbulent lake water beneath his feet and felt this experience was novel. Lili was next to him, holding a bag of spicy sticks, muttering, "I think we're going to jump into the vortex later..."

"Eat less, so you don't have to hold it in and transform later." Hao Ren tried to take the spicy sticks away from Lili's mouth, but he was met with a burst of gnashing teeth and a muffled sound. It was really difficult to snatch food from a dog's mouth.

Lili licked her lips and hugged her beloved spicy sticks. "I'm accumulating transformation energy. My sixth sense tells me that I must be prepared to fight."

The great vortex rumbled, sounding like thunder. The giant funnel a kilometer in diameter spread out before the team's eyes. Just looking at it was terrifying. Dozens of people stood beside the vortex like ants, as if they could be swallowed by the vortex at any time. The magic mentors paved the road on the water to the edge of the vortex, which was the limit. At this time, they began to set up magic arrays in place to stabilize the "foundation" that everyone was standing on.

Becky stretched her head forward, took a look at the vortex, and then cowered back with limp limbs. "Damn it, can I really quit the team at this time?!"

"The bottom of the vortex… seems to lead somewhere?" Gerton stood fearlessly next to the vortex, surrounded by a layer of holy golden light, as if a divine envoy had really descended. He looked down at the center of the vortex, his turbid eyes seeming to see through the deep blood water. "This is the scene when the lake water flows downward. There should be a cave below."

Aufra leaned on her knight's sword next to Gerton. "It looks like we have to go down there, but the deep water of the Blood Lake will suppress magic, and the water flow below is turbulent, so the magic mentors probably can't help. If there is a hole at the bottom of the lake, it's good. If it's just a water vortex below… we may be trapped inside."

Gerton looked solemn. "I'm already old…"

Aufra raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Gerton did not answer, but stepped into the vortex.

(Recommending a book, "Fantasy Ship Girl," um, ship girl type, currently in good condition, other introductions omitted, because I really can't think of any introductions.)