If one wanted to inquire into a deity's preferences, starting from their alignment and divine portfolio was usually simpler.
Blibdoolpoolp belonged to the Neutral Evil alignment, but whenever her madness flared up, she shifted to Chaotic Evil.
Her followers were much the same. Kuo-toa seemed foolish, yet they were not kind in the slightest. Kuo-toa loved killing and destruction, far beyond what survival demanded. They delighted in slaying other creatures and taking assorted parts to decorate their dwellings or erect idols.
Furthermore, virtually no concept of morality existed among kuo-toa, and their social environment was exceedingly savage.
Thus, Blibdoolpoolp would never do anything good—she was through and through a neurotic troublemaker.
Yet this offered no clue on how to lure Blibdoolpoolp out of her divine realm. One could hardly count on her madness flaring up and driving her to charge out in a frenzy of her own accord, and Anbaixiu's Destiny Weaving could not influence a true deity.
Besides, what Anbaixiu opposed most was doing nothing while waiting for the Goddess of Fate to deliver benefits to his doorstep. His habit was to choose a goal, do everything within his power to achieve it, and grant the Goddess of Fate an opening along the way so she could lend a hand.
Because waiting for good luck usually amounted to waiting for death.
Hence, Anbaixiu did not give up. If no weakness could be found in the Kuo-toa Goddess herself, his only option was to seek a way through her rivals.
After all, the one who knew you best was inevitably your enemy.
"I recall reading a book that mentioned something relevant."
Ninety percent of books concerning deities were wayside apocrypha—either fanatic glorification by devotees or vicious slander by haters. Fact and fiction were hopelessly entangled, making verification exceedingly difficult. Consequently, Anbaixiu treated most deity-related books as fiction, setting them aside once read rather than carrying them around.
All of those books had thus been left behind at his old home.
Stepping through a teleportation array, Anbaixiu arrived at the castle he had not visited in quite some time.
Back then, Anbaixiu had been so impoverished that this castle was all he had left, and its interior furnishings had been rather shabby—to the point where he could only offer guests plain boiled water.
Returning now, the castle held far more signs of life.
A good number of maids were cleaning inside. Catching sight of Anbaixiu, they paused in surprise for only an instant before respectfully bowing and addressing him as the master.
Anbaixiu gave a casual nod. Presumably, Isabel had trained these maids properly so they wouldn't fail to recognize the master of the castle as they had last time.
However, he hadn't come to catch up with Isabel. Heading straight for the haphazardly arranged bookshelves, Anbaixiu began rummaging through them.
Anbaixiu was somewhat unkempt by nature; he never cared about details that did not affect experimental results. As a result, bookshelves were the most abundant sight in the castle.
He was in the habit of reading wherever and shelving whatever, provided books weren't left on the floor. In any case, a lich was immortal, possessing time in boundless supply.
The consequence was that searching for anything now proved exceptionally troublesome, forcing him to rely on memory to comb through them bit by bit.
"Let me think... It seemed to be around here." Anbaixiu leafed through a shelf and pulled out a familiar-looking ancient tome. "*The Ryan Harem's Goblin Guard*... Tsk, sadly not this one."
One after another, Anbaixiu unearthed a heap of lurid unofficial histories—things like *The Sorrows of Young Drow Elf*, *Eighty-Year-Old Loli Elf Wife Part 6*, and so forth. Only after searching for quite a while did he confirm this wasn't the right shelf; everything on it consisted of spicy fiction he had collected before transforming into a lich.
Just as he prepared to search elsewhere, Isabel appeared before him.
"Teacher, long time no see. You finally found time to visit. As I reported to you before, I renovated the laboratory a bit. Now that you're back, you can inspect it and see if it suits your liking."
Not having seen her for a while, Anbaixiu noticed Isabel seemed much more mature, her face free of the restraint and nervousness from her apprentice days.
Even so, seeing Anbaixiu brought unmistakable delight to her eyes.
Anbaixiu shook his head. He no longer needed this castle's laboratory.
"As long as you like it. Isabel, have you ever looked through the books I kept around here?"
His question made Isabel freeze. Looking down at the books scattered on the floor, her face instantly flushed crimson.
"N-no, I... I haven't read them..."
Seeing her stammer, Anbaixiu felt a twinge of disappointment; evidently, he couldn't count on her help here.
"All right, go attend to your work. I only came back to find a few books."
"Teacher, I don't have anything urgent today," Isabel said, as though having made up her mind. "Let me help you look."
An extra pair of hands was naturally welcome, so Anbaixiu said, "*Chronicles of the Gods*, *Memoirs of a Deep One*, *Strife of the Sea Deities*, and *Compendium of Deep-Sea Creatures*. Just those few."
"Huh?" Isabel blinked again. So he wasn't looking for *those* kinds of books? Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, she followed behind Anbaixiu, diligently helping him scour the dust-covered bookshelves.
Many books had sat there for years without Anbaixiu ever opening them a second time.
Not daring to disturb Anbaixiu's collection, Isabel had left them untouched. Carefully brushing away the dust and scrutinizing the titles, Isabel accompanied Anbaixiu through an entire floor, yet they still failed to find the desired volumes.
While climbing the stairs, Isabel couldn't help asking, "Teacher, have you run into some trouble?"
Anbaixiu nodded and answered casually, "Preparing to deal with a shrimp-headed goddess, so I came back to look up some information. Sigh, I really should have cataloged them properly back then. Searching like this is an utter nuisance."
Isabel showed no surprise. In her eyes, Anbaixiu was hardly different from an omnipotent deity. Over this period, her teacher's name had spread across the continent, elevating him to a heroic figure out of epic tales.
With such renown, ascending to godhood wouldn't be surprising in the slightest.
How wonderful it was. What a pity she couldn't stay by Anbaixiu's side all the time.
Noticing Isabel's faint sigh, Anbaixiu asked, "What is it? Run into some trouble lately?"
Isabel brought in massive profits for Anbaixiu every month now. The potion known as the Fountain of Youth had become his best-selling product, yielding higher margins than selling undead armaments.
She was a little hen that laid golden eggs; naturally, Anbaixiu showed some concern.
Isabel hesitated a moment before finally opening up to Anbaixiu.
"Everything is fine with me. It's my brother. He argued with me several times recently. He wants to enter the slave trade in the Dwarf Kingdom and hopes I can support him."
Anbaixiu said quizzically, "The slave trade? You can't say it doesn't make money, but doing it successfully is hardly easy. Why would he think of getting into that?"
The slave trade could be considered one of the bloodiest businesses, but if managed well, it not only brought in coin but also forged connections across social strata.
However, it wasn't something just anyone could pull off. First, one needed official permits to become a 'legitimate' slaver.
Freemen were always precious. For a kingdom to remain stable, turning freemen into slaves en masse was out of the question, nor were commoners permitted to be enslaved at whim. Common slaves traded for dozens of copper coins, but if a freeman sold themselves into slavery, the price was extraordinarily high and the procedures exceedingly complicated. If someone forcibly captured freemen, they generally faced severe punishment, including but not limited to their entire family being demoted to slaves.
Second, one needed sufficient martial force. Otherwise, how could one capture slaves, transport them, and pen them up?
Only then came distribution channels—which buyers suited different slaves, and how to offload them quickly to save on provisions. All of these required meticulous know-how that ordinary people simply couldn't handle.
Raul had likely never touched this business before. For him to suddenly want to dive into it was rather strange.
Isabel explained, "Brother has always yearned for power and influence. In his eyes, being a slaver gives him a sense of psychological fulfillment. I originally wanted to arrange other work for him, but he refused outright. So, we had an argument."
Isabel felt somewhat sorrowful. After becoming Anbaixiu's student, the bond between brother and sister had grown increasingly distant. Back then, Raul had been willing to brave a lich's domain for her sake, yet today he had a fierce row with her over trafficking slaves.
Isabel could not understand her brother's thinking. She had nearly been sold into slavery herself, so she loathed the industry from the bottom of her heart. Who could have imagined that one day her own brother would aspire to become a slaver?
"To each their own ambitions. You're both adults; the future of your lives should be decided by yourselves. Since your brother has this idea, let him pursue it. If you don't support it, just ignore him. If he gives up over a minor setback like that, then he didn't care for it that much anyway."
Anbaixiu was very open-minded; so long as it didn't affect him, he didn't care what others thought.
Nor did he possess any moral squeamishness. The slave trade was an age-old tradition in this world, and Raul was a local; wanting to enter that industry wasn't anything to make a fuss about.
Isabel said, "But I feel Brother is being influenced by someone else. A woman has been getting very close to him lately. And my intuition tells me she has ulterior motives."
"That's even more normal. You've achieved success, wealth, and status, and Raul is affected by that. Once a man gains money and power, countless women with hidden agendas naturally flock to his side."
Anbaixiu's nonchalant attitude made Isabel anxious. She couldn't help asking, "Teacher, I can't just stand by and watch my brother get deceived."
"Then solve it your own way. Isabel, you are already the most outstanding alchemist of the younger generation. Gustavo Fring has dropped hints more than once about wanting to take you as his disciple. That old fellow may be black-hearted, but his eye for alchemy is far sharper than mine. Isabel, stop viewing yourself as a helpless little girl. A petty problem like this shouldn't stump you."
While Isabel stood lost in thought, Anbaixiu suddenly strode over to a bookshelf and pulled out a thick ancient volume from within.
"*Compendium of Deep-Sea Creatures*. Finally found it."
Anbaixiu flipped through the pages in delight, quickly finding the section on kuo-toa. Skimming the text and breezing past the facts he already knew, he at last found this passage:
'During the zenith of the Mind Flayer Empire, vast numbers of kuo-toa were enslaved as servants and sustenance. According to the author's research, no records of a Kuo-toa Goddess existed during the era of the Mind Flayer Empire. It is suspected that the birth of this deity is tied to the kuo-toa's history of enslavement.'
Anbaixiu let out a hearty laugh. He had finally found the Kuo-toa Goddess's greatest enemy.
Chapter 455