"Witch," Yaxiu said seriously. "We're not joking with you. If you get infected with secret poison, you won't be the only one suffering. Our own symptoms will worsen as well, so if you can avoid getting infected, don't get infected."
"All right, that's enough of this topic. But just to keep the Witch from dwelling on it as much as possible, Sword Princess, tickle her armpits."
"Understood."
"No—I'm really ticklish! Hahaha! No, stop, hahaha! Wait, wait, I have something to say too! I've got something to tell you!"
Flushed red, Diya slumped weakly into Sonia's arms, her shoulders twitching and her nose sniffling. It took her quite a while to recover. "It's about my connection to the Gospel Incarnation..."
Both Yaxiu and Sonia perked up, their focus sharpening.
Looking back on their adventure in the cabin of lost memories, the greatest mystery wasn't the true purpose of the Secret Incarnation or the Avatar of the Stars, but rather the connection between Operator Witch and the Empress Heroic Spirit—why did the Gospel Incarnation whom the Empress Heroic Spirit was infatuated with, the Witch, the Witch's grandmother, and the Basement Girl all share the exact same appearance template?
Even if the Witch's appearance was undeniably gorgeous, surely everyone wouldn't choose the same look. Besides, what about genetic diversity? Had meiosis been beaten to death by mitosis?
Compared to a simple "appreciation of beauty," the two leaned toward another conjecture: the Witch's appearance was not a miracle of life brought about by natural selection, but an artificial choice intentionally engineered by sorcerers, which was why it had remained unchanged across several or even dozens of generations.
"First of all, the Gospel Incarnation and I shouldn't be blood-related at all," Diya said. "Aside from the fact that the Gospel Incarnation was active at least a thousand years ago, more importantly... setting aside whether the Gospel Incarnation even had the ability to reproduce, she definitely had no opportunity to do so."
Indeed.
Even now, Yaxiu and the others remembered the Empress Heroic Spirit's dark history from the cabin of lost memories—though in her eyes, it was probably a record of glorious achievements:
"Her believers were slaughtered by you to the last; her glory was twisted and corrupted by you."
"You distorted her doctrines and violated her precepts, until no one in the world could hear her gospel any longer."
"You became her sole believer; she became a deity belonging to you alone."
This meant the Gospel Incarnation had remained under the Empress Heroic Spirit's control all along, trapped by the Empress Heroic Spirit's sterile, possessive love. Even if the Gospel Incarnation possessed reproductive capabilities, there was never any chance to put them to use.
As for whether the Empress Heroic Spirit would resort to a sorcerer miracle to forcibly bear offspring with the Gospel Incarnation... all three of them dismissed that theory.
Whether judged from personal contact or the dark history revealed in the cabin, the Empress Heroic Spirit was not the type to like children. Moreover, a child would inevitably steal the parents' attention, which to the Empress Heroic Spirit would make the child an intolerable love rival—she had wiped out all of the Gospel Incarnation's devoted followers, so how could she possibly allow a child to siphon away any of the Gospel Incarnation's love?
"As for why I look identical to the Gospel Incarnation, it actually relates to a ritual miracle," Diya said. "Its name is Armored Sanctification."
"Armored Sanctification!?"
Sonia asked in surprise, "Does anyone really perform that ritual?"
Yaxiu blinked. "You know about this too?"
"I read about it in a book before. It's an ancient ritual that has long since become obsolete, passed down as rumors senior sorcerers brought back from the Void Realm," Sonia explained. "Put simply, to usurp the authority of a god, a mortal disguises themselves as the god, practices the god's tenets, retraces the god's path, and reenacts the god's deeds... until the world views mortal and god as one and the same. Then, the mortal dons the armor to attain sanctification and shares the god's throne. The reason it requires 'donning armor' is both to mimic the god's appearance and to conceal human nature beneath."
Yaxiu asked, "Doesn't that sound pretty formidable? Why was it abandoned?"
Sonia countered with a question, "Have you ever seen a god? The prerequisite for Armored Sanctification is that you must thoroughly understand the god you're imitating. The sorcerer who recorded 'Armored Sanctification' noted in the book that in the past, many beings known as 'gods' might have walked the earth in reality, which was why sorcerers attempted to usurp their authority..."
"Speaking of which," Yaxiu suddenly interjected, "did you know that when a sorcery spirit ascends to Five-Winged, its life essence sublimates into a god?"
Diya nodded, while Sonia froze for a moment.
"Gods... When a sorcery spirit condenses five wings, it transforms into a god..." Sonia fell into deep thought. "Then the essence of the Armored Sanctification ritual, could it be—"
"Summoning a god."
Diya said, "Just like the rituals we use to summon sorcery spirits, Armored Sanctification is actually a ritual for sorcerers to summon a god.
"Only, while sorcerers can fully control ordinary sorcery spirits, a mortal's soul cannot possibly contain the vastness of a god, let alone unleash a god's authority. Therefore, 'Armored Sanctification' is not merely a summoning ritual, but an activation ritual—when mortal and god become one, they can naturally mobilize one hundred percent of the god's authority.
"That's also why I couldn't possibly be a descendant of the Gospel Incarnation," Diya said. "The Gospel Incarnation whom the Empress Heroic Spirit was infatuated with was actually a god walking the mortal realm."
Yaxiu and Sonia felt somewhat overwhelmed by this massive revelation. After quite a while, Sonia snapped back to reality, hugging Diya intimately as she asked, "So, Witch, you're actually undergoing 'Armored Sanctification,' trying to summon the Gospel Incarnation?"
Sonia's eyes sparkled so brightly she looked ready to lick the Witch. Although the country girl had no idea just how powerful a Five-Winged god was, it had to be stronger than a Four-Winged Legendary Sorcerer, right?
If the Witch successfully completed Armored Sanctification, their team's average combat power would rise to Three-Winged: (2+2+5) / 3 = 3!
The practical effect would be even more absurd. Forget the Time Continent—even once they reached the third level of the Void Realm, the Distant Sky Realm, they could cling to the Witch's coattails and rampage unchecked!
A high-tier combat power advantage jumping two full ranks—that was like a university student doing primary school math problems!
When that time came, she could ride the Watcher and rampage around, hugging the Witch and ruling the roost; life would be even cozier than in reality!
"No. I took on the Bronze Dragon's trial precisely to resist the Armored Sanctification ritual and escape my grandmother's grasp."
As expected, there are no free lunches in this world... Sonia sighed.
Yaxiu asked, "Is it because Armored Sanctification would affect your personality?"
"'Affecting personality' is a bit too naive a way to put it," Diya said with a wry smile. "Actually, I don't know exactly what would happen either... Have you ever read a fairy tale called 'The Wolf and the Sheep'?"
"There are too many fairy tales like that. Just get straight to the conclusion," Yaxiu said.
"All right." Diya seemed eager to tell fairy tales, and having her flow cut off by Yaxiu left her slightly wanting. "Put simply, my grandmother is like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Though she looks human on the outside, her inside no longer has anything to do with humanity. She is... a thinking mass of rules resulting from the fusion of god and human nature."
Sonia gasped in astonishment. "Wait—meaning your grandmother successfully completed the armoring and became... a god in the mortal realm?"
"You could also call her," Diya said, "the Gospel Incarnation."
Sonia said, "I remember the cabin of lost memories mentioned that your grandmother wanted you to become a god in the mortal realm, while you rejected the Armoring Ceremony. So... your current enemy is your grandmother, the previous god in the mortal realm?"
"That's right." Diya rested her hands on her hips with pride. "Fortunately, with the Blessing of the Bronze Dragon, even Grandmother can't pinpoint my whereabouts. But I don't plan on merely scraping by to survive like this. I've already taken first place twice in the Weaving Ceremony. Once I obtain the wish from the Omniscient Weaver, I can completely sever the chains of fate."
"Weaving Ceremony?" It was the first time Sonia had heard the term.
While the two operators began discussing the Weaving Ceremony and the Future Board, Yaxiu, who was driving, fell into profound bewilderment and shock.
The Witch...
in the Weaving Ceremony...
took first place twice?
Chapter 375