The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle

Gods Palace... stood tall in the magnificent distant skies, faint and elusive, shimmering in and out of sight, its various radiances making it incredibly splendid.

Countless people gazed upon this scene... and that rainbow-like bridge, their eyes reflecting the brilliance, twinkling with devout light.

"Dang, dang, dang!"

At this very moment, there suddenly rang out a bell, imbued with dignity, loftiness, and solemnity; its sound instantly reached the ears of countless people.

"What is that..."

The huge, mountainous Ancient Bell was at the center of the Gods Palace.

It seemed as if a figure was ringing it.

Su Qi looked at this scene.

"Who is that?"

The Yellow Robed Priest reacted strangely, seemingly guilty, murmured softly, "...Bell-ringer..."

"Could he still be alive..."

"That shouldn't be..."

Su Qi: "Are you afraid of him?"

"Afraid?... What a joke," the Yellow Robed Priest coughed, "I am a priest of the Yellow-robed Master, I've seen more of the world than many."

This was a lie.

Su Qi didn't expose him; the Yellow Robed Priest was not entirely honest and had hidden many things.

"What is the identity of this Bell-ringer? Is he divine?"

The Yellow Robed Priest said gravely, "No, he is one of the proxies elected by the Gods Palace... Among the many powers of the Gods Palace, he presides over summoning."

"When the deities march into the Ancient Battlefield to wage war, he can summon... countless boundaries, whether to deliver commands or to bestow Strength and support, he plays an extraordinary role."

Su Qi nodded.

The Gods Palace was established by many deities in unison, to oppose the Abyss, a vast alliance that assembles various followers, new Power of Faith.

And the deities are hands-off managers, who do not interact with mortals or meddle in lower affairs.

At this time!

"All lives! Revere and seek an Audience!"

A majestic, solemn voice accompanied by the heavy sound of the Ancient Bell arose beside everyone's ears, shaking their souls, and involuntarily leading them to devout prayer.

Tentacle Man murmured, "Now, are we going to have an Audience with the divine?"

One could only say... the promotional material did not quite match the content.

Su Qi looked over.

It seemed that the Audience was supposed to be with the effigies of the Gods, for the leadership of the Gods Palace had long since fallen into slumber, perished, sealed, or been restrained in places unknown.

And the one most reactive was the Yellow Robed Priest.

"Bad..."

The Yellow Robed Priest trembled, "It's really bad! Could he actually be alive..."

"A few seconds ago, someone was saying they were afraid of nothing, claiming to be a priest of the Yellow-robed Master, saying they would have slapped that Bell-ringer."

The Yellow Robed Priest roared, "Spreading rumors, huh! I damn well never said that!"

"It was about the same meaning."

"..."

Su Qi paused for a moment, "But why are you afraid? Is there a grudge? Did you steal his delivery food before?"

The Yellow Robed Priest said sternly, "Knowing too much isn't good for you."

He said solemnly, "Anyway... you first follow the group, and then at the right time, listen to my command and act accordingly."

Su Qi gave him a glance, his thoughts active.

Known to him,

This fellow is a Three Surnames Servant, having served as a priest under three deities, those beings being the Evil God, God Gurbha, and the Yellow-robed Master, also no small figures among the divine.

It's hard to say... if he had served other deities, in any case, this guy surely hid many secrets.

However,

It doesn't matter.

Sooner or later he would uncover the bottom of this guy's story.

Tentacle Man was also somewhat excited at this moment, looking at the people already ascending the Rainbow Bridge, "Should we go too?"

"Let's go."

Su Qi looked around.

There were no players among the people around.

"No other acquaintances, huh."

"Nonsense, having acquaintances would be an extremely small probability, after all... in the vast expanses of the Present World, to be selected from within, is like randomly picking two grains of sand from the countless planets of a galaxy."

The Yellow Robed Priest said calmly, "Of course, this only applies to the Ordinary people who were selected."

"How so?"

The Yellow Robed Priest:

"Apart from some who have very high potential in the Present World, others... are people brought up by major forces, by high-ranking existences."

"There are backdoors? The Eye of Destiny doesn't care?"

"Nonsense."

The Yellow Robed Priest coughed, "Above is the Eye of Destiny, and below... there are channels and strategies; when the Temple opened before... the paths were monitored by the priests... and strictly controlled."

"Of course, many priests would accept huge bribes and quietly let a lot of people join the Audience."

Su Qi said calmly, "This sounds eerily familiar."

Before coming here,

Su Qi had exchanged quite a bit with the Yellow Robed Priest.

In its era,

The war between the Abyss Camp and the Current World Camp lasted for hundreds of years...

And the Audience of the Gods Palace was actually opened to cultivate new forces to oppose the endless Abyss; there was almost one every year back then.

Those selected to participate in the Audience... would have the chance to seize the power of the Temple, naturally derived from the divine; a single ladle from this vast ocean could... transform many from struggling lower-class survivors... into powerful leaders.

Even then, there emerged numerous epic figures who opposed the Abyss and whose tales are still recounted to this day.

Of course.

This is... the version previously recounted by the Yellow Robed Priest.

Now the version has changed again.

It pondered to itself, "The resources of the Temple are limited and precious, and the deities are hands off, always at war. By the middle period... a time came when the Gods Palace was almost completely corrupted, with even 50% or more of the Temple's resources being monopolized by major forces."