Chapter: Chapter 526
The Guardian Goddess immediately showed a nervous expression, and the aura surrounding her became dangerous. She was about to attack.
However, before she could act, several thin golden chains appeared behind her, binding her limbs and neck, forcibly suppressing the attack she was preparing.
Miss Inphino was quite professional when it came to sneak attacks. Several deities had been tricked by her before. Naturally, subduing this young girl who was not yet at the deity level was an easy task.
The Guardian Goddess, entangled by the golden chains, stumbled and fell to the ground. She twisted her body, trying to break free from Inphino’s restraints, but Inphino’s chains were not easily broken. Without sufficient strength, the effect of these chains could rival Xiao Ya’s magic-sealing ability.
When the girl, panting, stopped struggling, Leticia stepped forward to explain that she was not a lackey of the elves. Her intention in going to the elves was to cause them trouble.
“That’s how it is. We just arrived in this world and are unfamiliar with the surroundings, so we wanted to ask you for directions.”
“If you are going to the elves, you can head in this direction. When they previously invaded my territory, I considered whether to exterminate them all, but after pursuing them, I was stopped by someone similar to you.” After realizing that Leticia and the others were not from the elves, the Guardian Goddess’s attitude softened, and she pointed the way to the elves for them.
Another piece of information from her words caught Leticia’s attention: someone similar to them had stopped the Guardian Goddess when she was in pursuit. Who could that person be?
“I didn’t face that person directly, but from the protective barrier she set up, I could tell her strength was definitely immense. If I had provoked her, I probably wouldn’t have won.”
“A barrier?” The elves also had a barrier? Was there something here that needed to be blocked?
“Yes, but it seems only I can see this barrier. Other, weaker individuals seem unable to sense it,” the Guardian Goddess nodded, recounting what had happened years ago in detail.
Now that she was being controlled, her life in the hands of others, she naturally wanted to perform well.
What happened back then was simple: the elves felt they had outgrown their great forest and planned to clear new land outside. As a result, they stumbled into the Guardian Goddess’s territory.
Her territory was invaded, and the Guardian Goddess naturally couldn’t tolerate it. Although she was called a ‘goddess,’ she was essentially just a slightly smarter wild beast. She possessed all the instincts of a normal animal.
Moreover, judging by the pair of orange cat ears on her head and the faint ‘king’ character on her forehead, Leticia could probably guess the Guardian Goddess’s original form.
She was a tigress.
The Guardian Goddess’s strength back then was about the same as it was now. In her own words, she had been hovering at this level for a very, very long time, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t climb even one step higher.
To prolong her lifespan, after years of fruitless pursuit of strength, she could only choose to enter a prolonged slumber to slow down the loss of her life force.
As for how long it had been since she drove away the elves, the Guardian Goddess couldn’t provide an answer. She wasn’t very sensitive to the passage of time, and coupled with years of slumber, she was genuinely unaware of the current year.
“It’s very strange. Her talent isn’t very high. Normally, she would be absolutely unable to cultivate to this level,” Inphino said, standing aside and pondering something. “Demigod, Leticia, how many demigod-level powerhouses do you recall?”
Demigod-level powerhouses? Leticia wore a confused expression. Demigods? It seemed there was only that giant octopus they encountered before.
However, that giant octopus wasn’t a normal creature; it seemed to have persisted since the Age of Gods.
Besides that, in Leticia’s known history, there had never been a demigod-level powerhouse. Yes, not a single one.
It went without saying for humans, whose superpowers were only developed in recent years.
The demon race fared slightly better, but even the most powerful demon king of the past was still a bit short of the demigod level. Most demon kings advanced rapidly in the early stages, their strength stagnated in the later stages, and then, due to lifespan issues, they couldn’t advance further.
Even Leticia, without her recent fortunate encounters, would likely have peaked at the same level as her ancestors.
“No, there shouldn’t be any from the beastmen either,” Leticia shook her head. Before the widespread appearance of unreasonable beings like deities, she was undoubtedly one of the strongest in the world.
“Yes, now, who in this world has broken through to the combat power of a deity? Leticia, think about it.”
“Me, one. Bai Ling, one. That’s it.” This question was simple, and Leticia answered it with two fingers.
“Leticia, you inherited a divine seat, and as for Bai Ling… her situation is special.” Inphino stated that in reality, there was no one, because Leticia was now a deity, and Bai Ling was more like a transfer point.
Not to mention anything else, Leticia had a high degree of control over her abilities and understood the reasons behind them, but Bai Ling was different. The Sword Saint was completely clueless about the principles and origins of her stellar aura. She only knew how to summon these energies from the distant starry sky and then use them to smash people.
Bai Ling was not a strong person in the traditional sense. Her status was more like an earthly representative of that mysterious starry sky. This starry sky could choose anyone, and it just happened to pick Bai Ling this time.
“I have a theory. Perhaps the strength ceiling of this world has been sealed. The maximum one can achieve is her current strength. To move beyond that, it might require more than just talent.”
Currently, only deities possessed divine-level strength. For mortals to reach parity with deities was, for the moment, just a dream.
“Sealed?” Leticia pondered thoughtfully. Inphino’s conjecture was very reasonable. In so many years of history, there had been countless exceptionally talented individuals, but they had all failed to achieve such powerful strength without exception. It was hard not to suspect that there truly was an existence that had set a limit.
A limit that prevented people of the new era from becoming deities.
“But it’s just a guess. Who knows if people in the past simply lacked talent and couldn’t reach the demigod level?” Inphino shrugged, her expression becoming somewhat comical. “If you’re willing to believe it.”
Would Leticia believe it?
Of course not.
There was definitely something fishy going on, but unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out what it was right now.
“Alright, since we know the direction of the elves, we won’t disturb your sleep anymore.” Leticia pulled Xiao Yu, who was still eager to help the Guardian Goddess clean up, back to her side. She then thanked Miss Hu Niang for providing the crucial information.
Inphino also withdrew the chains that controlled the Guardian Goddess’s movements, restoring her freedom.
Stretching her slightly sore wrist, the old tiger miss, who had lived for an unknown number of years, had a complex expression. “Are there many people as strong as you in this world?”
She originally thought she was already very strong. When dealing with the elves back then, she was undefeated. But after waking up, she immediately saw three troublesome individuals standing by her bed. Anyone would feel a sense of disillusionment.
“Not many, but not too few either. We were the overlords of this world, and you’re just a young person of the new era… Speaking of which, how did you cultivate? Your racial talent isn’t really strong.” Inphino had no intention of hiding her identity, and she was indeed very interested in the Guardian Goddess’s cultivation process.
From her perspective, the tiger’s talent was not strong. At any rate, it was definitely not as good as Leticia’s. How could a magical beast like this possibly have such a long lifespan and such immense power?
This was too abnormal.
The Guardian Goddess’s answer was also vague. When she gained clear consciousness, her strength was already immense. As for how she cultivated before that, she didn’t know.
It seemed she just ate and slept like a normal tiger.
Leticia almost wanted to let Xiao Yu go roast this tiger upon hearing that. What kind of words were these? Eating and sleeping to become so powerful? Was she kidding!
If she hadn’t intercepted Miss Meng Shen’s divine seat, she probably wouldn’t be able to defeat this tiger even now. It was truly infuriating to compare oneself to others.
She couldn’t stay in this damned place anymore! Angrily pulling Xiao Yu away from the Guardian Goddess’s sleeping cave, Leticia looked up at the moonlit night sky and muttered softly, “It’s truly annoying to have good talent.”
“Hmm?” Xiao Yu tilted its small golden head, looking confused.
Leticia’s gaze fell on Xiao Yu, and her expression became even more complex. The person with the best talent in this world seemed to be right beside her.
She possessed divine-level power from birth, without any systematic learning. Was this what being a deity was like?
It was truly enough to make one’s teeth itch with envy.
She reached out and roughly ruffled Xiao Yu’s hair, feeling her mood improve slightly.
Then she was bonked on the head by Inphino, who had followed her out.
“Don’t bully Xiao Yu. We still need to hurry to the elves.”
“Understood!” Covering her head, Leticia chuckled.
With an accurate direction, they should be able to find the elves and meet Evangeline and the others soon, right?
…
In the Elven Race, within the palace atop the Mother Tree of Life, two young girls were quietly discussing something.
“The Great Elder seems to be plotting something again. It’s only been less than a month since the last anomaly. Have they found a new divine artifact?” The half-elf girl wearing a gorgeous long dress rested her chin on her hand, a hint of unconcealable fatigue showing on her face. She let out a soft sigh and looked at the purple-haired girl beside her, speaking gently, “Although it’s still a stalemate now, if they gain another deity, this fragile balance might be broken.”
“Even if I go all out, I’m not confident in protecting you from the combined attack of two of our kin, Evangeline.” The purple-haired girl held a cup of steaming hot black tea, her posture exuding elegance. “Since the support from Leticia’s side has disappeared, the situation in the Elven Race seems to be deteriorating day by day.”
Flora, a deity who had previously communicated with Leticia a few times, had been freed from her divine artifact. However, Evangeline, who had a deity as a backer, had not gained much advantage in her confrontations with the elders. The reason was simple: Flora was with Evangeline, and the elders had also found deities willing to help them.
In the Elven Race, a place rich in talented individuals, divine artifacts were indeed rare, but it wasn’t too difficult for the elders to find one or two if they tried hard enough.
Even the Elf Queen possessed a scepter of divine artifacts passed down through generations. Would the elders, the shadow rulers of the Elven Race, not have their own foundations?
It was obvious that this was impossible.
Not long after Evangeline unsealed Flora, Flora sensed another aura not far away that was no weaker than hers. Clearly, this was the elders’ doing.
“Qing needs materials that are truly difficult to collect to leave the seal. Most of the materials are special products of the demon realm, and now there’s no way to contact Leticia’s side. It’s truly… sigh.” Sighing softly, Evangeline leaned back in her chair, her expression gradually turning to despair.
Now, the only deities she could trust were two: one was Flora, and the other was Qing. Even if she encountered other deities, she wouldn’t dare to have 100% trust.
Only those elders who were driven by greed would directly release unfamiliar deities. They didn’t stop to consider that once Flora was defeated by the deities on their side, could the Elven Race still be under their control?
But Flora did not respond. She had been staring blankly into the distance since just now, her face filled with confusion.
“Why is there a spatial transmission fluctuation coming from that place? Such a level of spatial vibration, who exactly has arrived here through a spatial channel?” The elegance on her body instantly vanished. Flora stood up and walked to the window, her eyes fixed on the direction from which the spatial fluctuations originated.
Have new variables appeared?
Nowadays, it seems that more and more deities are breaking free from their seals. And now, a new deity arriving from other worlds is not a good thing.
No one could guarantee whether that deity was friendly.
“Evangeline, I don’t think we can wait any longer.”
