Chapter 238 The Twin-tailed Mermaid Appears Again
Li Wen stood on high ground, gazing in the direction of the church. Although Victoria had stated that she would use her means to mobilize the personnel the Disciplinary Bureau had stationed in Port Beren, Li Wen was not one to completely rely on others. Therefore, she continued to wait, waiting for the moment the conflict would erupt.
Her wait was not long. Just as Li Wen was lost in thought, a muffled loud noise suddenly tore through the relatively peaceful daytime of Port Beren. The sound was heavy and distant, like the roaring of some huge object being violently impacted, or perhaps an extremely violent explosion, or… magic.
Li Wen suddenly looked up, her gaze following the sound. The loud noise seemed to originate from the east of the port, the area where the shipyards were concentrated. “So it was there? This is no surprise.” She murmured to herself. If this explosion indeed came from the Disciplinary Bureau, it seemed their first target was to prevent ships from sailing, which was in line with those guys’ usual modus operandi.
However, Li Wen had no intention of getting involved in that mess. Instead, she planned to take advantage of the chaos to investigate the Eternal Blessing Divine Cult’s base, or rather, their apparent front – that exceptionally perfunctory-looking church. She did not believe that the Eternal Life Divine Church would assign a Phase Three Transcendent to guard an unimportant building.
With this thought, Li Wen leaned forward. Her small body plummeted freely through the air, but just before she touched the ground, the mana of twilight instantly boiled, and Li Wen, suspended in the air, landed with light and elegant footsteps. “Let me see what secrets this nonsensical Eternal Blessing Divine Cult is hiding.”
Li Wen’s figure weaved through the intricate alleys of Port Beren. The aftermath of the explosion in the distance still echoed in the air, and the bustle of the port district became even more chaotic due to this sudden event. Merchants hurriedly packed up their stalls, sailors gathered in groups, looking towards the direction of the commotion, and several sneaky figures took the opportunity to snatch goods from the stalls. The entire port, like a disturbed anthill, revealed its true colors in the disorder.
When the gray-white spires of the church became faintly visible, Li Wen slowed her pace. She acted like an ordinary lost traveler, blending naturally into the sparse flow of people on the street, her gaze sharp as she scanned the target building. Unlike her previous investigation late at night, the church doors were now tightly shut, and the crude red cross on the doors appeared exceptionally glaring under the dim daylight. The surroundings were unusually quiet, with no cultists or guards standing watch. Clearly, the huge commotion originating from the shipyards had drawn away the already limited guard force here.
Li Wen did not hesitate. Her figure flashed, and she approached the side wall of the church. While no one was paying attention, she leaped into the air, broke through a window, and slipped inside, landing lightly. The action was smooth and seamless.
The interior of the church was even more desolate and cold than she remembered. The air was filled with the damp smell of decaying seaweed, which even cheap incense could not mask. The gray-white stone walls were bare, the floor was paved with rough wooden planks, and several rows of benches were empty. The huge red cross on the podium cast distorted shadows in the dim light. There were no guards, no traps; the entire worship hall was as silent as a graveyard.
“Too quiet…” Li Wen frowned slightly. This level of alertness was not what one would expect from a stronghold guarded by a Phase Three Transcendent. Or perhaps, in the face of the pressure from the Disciplinary Bureau, the core strength of the Eternal Blessing Divine Cult had truly been mobilized. “That’s fine.”
Based on her previous memory, Li Wen walked to the wooden door behind the cross. After prying it open with a dagger, a secret passage leading underground appeared before her. A more pungent, more primal smell of saltiness and decay wafted towards her, carrying the damp cold of seawater and the earthy smell of rocks. The passage was narrow and steep, carved extremely crudely. The rock walls were covered with traces of condensed water droplets, and the stone steps underfoot were unusually slippery, clearly utilizing natural geological structures directly.
Li Wen moved stealthily, while also being vigilant for any possible traps or guards. However, apart from the monotonous echo of dripping water falling into puddles below, there was no other sound. The passage was not deep. After descending only a few dozen steps, it suddenly opened up.
Before her was a naturally formed cave. The space was not too large, with several strangely shaped stalactites hanging from the ceiling. A shallow layer of seawater covered the ground, reflecting the faint daylight filtering in from the passage entrance, barely illuminating the center of the cave.
There, stood something that made Li Wen’s pupils contract sharply. A statue of a Twin-tailed Mermaid. It was almost identical to the one she had seen on the Adventurer, with its twisted and alluring posture, its fine scales shimmering with a dark blue light under the dim illumination, and its beautiful yet infinitely greedy face wearing a slightly smiling, eerie expression.
“Why is it here?” Li Wen raised an eyebrow. She remembered very clearly that Moria’s sword had indeed turned the statue in Joseph’s hand into powder. Or perhaps, this one before her was another replica? According to Joseph, the Twin-tailed Mermaid statue was originally the legacy of the great pirate Roberts. Now that the same statue had appeared here, did it mean that the Eternal Blessing Divine Cult had a connection with Roberts’ former subordinates? And was their expedition to Black Reef Bay related to this?
As she delved deeper, the mysteries were not resolved but only multiplied…
Confirming that there were no obvious traps, Li Wen stepped forward and carefully examined the statue. Its material seemed no different from the previous one, neither gold nor stone. It felt cold and slippery to the touch, like the hard bone of some deep-sea creature. The base was mottled and engraved with indecipherable ancient symbols. The saline and rotting smell of seaweed emanated from it.
Li Wen’s fingers brushed across the cold surface of the statue, trying to sense more information. The moment her fingertips touched the gap between the statue’s scales, an extremely faint, yet intensely malicious and decayed, chilling thought, like a cold venomous snake, suddenly climbed up her perception! The thought was greedy, resentful, filled with the mad yearning of long-term confinement. It was not an attack, but more like an instinctive grab, or perhaps… a resonance?
“Let me out!!!” A terrifying, maddened, heart-wrenching shriek that pierced the soul echoed repeatedly in Li Wen’s mind.
Li Wen felt as if she had been electrocuted and instinctively retracted her hand. She instantly activated her Witch Form, and the power of twilight flowed within her, forming an invisible barrier that blocked the nauseating mental erosion. She stared sharply at the statue, her heart beating heavily in her chest. This statue did not seem to be an relic of ancient civilization as she had guessed; it contained some residue highly related to the Soul Lord path, possessing an independent consciousness. Considering everything that had happened and been experienced during this period, there was no doubt that this statue was likely a carrier of the Soul Lord’s extended power, or perhaps it even contained a stripped fragment of his soul.
Its appearance here meant that the core of the Eternal Life Divine Church had likely established some form of connection with this sealed terrifying existence, and might even be guided or utilized by its partial will. If Li Wen had not possessed the identity of a Player, she might have had her mind taken over by the lurking will the moment she touched the statue.
Wait, since that wisp of incomplete will was still trapped within the statue, did that mean…
As Li Wen pondered, a very faint sound of anxious and hurried footsteps came from the direction of the church above. Someone was coming.
