The Villain Saint is my secondary account

"Why are you taking so long?"

Ye Xiao saw Reinaldo come down and criticized him without hesitation.

"The wall is a bit slippery."

Reinaldo said casually, then his gaze swept across the dark bottom of the well.

The space below is much larger than it appears above, seemingly a closed plaza with a hemispherical structure.

On the ground was a shallow riverbed, long since dried up and overgrown with weeds, running across the bottom of the well and stretching into the darkness where no one could see far into the distance.

While the Templar Knights were still descending the ropes, Ye Xiao held up his staff and looked around.

Among the weeds and rocks, there are many broken statues of gods. Some only have half a body, and some are headless, but their overall appearance is similar to the dusty goddess statues placed in the corners of the houses of the villagers in Jingshang.

The villagers were definitely not praying to this god, otherwise it wouldn't seem respectful to just leave it in a corner to gather dust.

After a moment's thought, Ye Xiao could roughly guess that this must be some abandoned deity. Seeing the resemblance between the statue's round face and the image of the sea goddess Undine, Ye Xiao roughly had the answer in his mind.

He glanced at the black dog beside him, who was also looking down at the statue and remaining silent, and said softly, seemingly casually, "What, do you know this person?"

"……do not know."

The black dog snorted coldly, "Just a piece of trash that's been abandoned."

"Perhaps we can look for the altar dedicated to that evil god."

Ye Xiao didn't delve into that topic any further. "The villagers say they pray to Him, but there isn't a shrine for that strange deity directly placed in the village. I guess it's placed here."

"But how did they get down from that well?"

Reinaldo, who was also exploring the area, casually remarked, "The well walls are covered in moss; it doesn't look like people usually come down from there."

"Perhaps there is another entrance hidden in the village."

Ye Xiao slightly increased the magic power he poured into the staff, and the range of the glow expanded accordingly.

"Ok?"

He immediately noticed some whitish stones scattered in the corner. Following that direction, he saw that they were actually fragments of animal bones.

The further you go, the more numerous and densely packed the broken bones become. Dried blood congeals in the soil into a nauseating dark red, like old scars crisscrossing this ancient land.

The tiny bone fragments piled up at the end of the road, arching against the wall to form a small hill.

When Reinaldo saw that Ye Xiao had found something strange, he brought over some of the Templar Knights who had already gone down to the bottom of the well.

"This looks like something used in a sacrificial ceremony."

Ye Xiao nodded. "Yes, but where is the statue?"

He shone the fluorescent light on the wall covered with piled-up bones, but could only see some pitted and uneven patterns, not the statues of the gods worshipped by the villagers.

"They can't just pray to a wall and summon an evil god, can they?"

"Hey, look up here..."

Upon hearing Reinaldo's voice, Ye Xiao adjusted the angle of his staff's beam and discovered that the pitted patterns on the wall were not irregular natural formations, but rather appeared to be densely arranged in a pattern that spread upwards from the base of the wall.

He followed the direction of the patterns and gradually scanned the fluorescent light up, only then realizing that the so-called patterns were actually huge tentacles.

They gathered on this wall, which was as big as a basketball court, like black snakes surging from all directions, and coiled around a towering headless statue.

The statue was so enormous that Ye Xiao and the others, who were initially standing at its feet, couldn't discern its true form at first glance. Now, as they looked up in astonishment, they felt like tiny ants, only now able to see the entire statue.

"This large statue... was it originally supposed to be the ocean goddess Undine?"

Ye Xiao said in a low voice.

He could tell that this large goddess statue was different from the smaller goddess statues that had fallen to the ground, except that it was now covered with stone tentacles.

Unlike the gentle and kind-looking Undine statue in the Ocean Sanctuary, which holds a water bottle, this statue is distorted, with hollow and elongated features that are ferocious and terrifying, like Munch's painting "The Scream".

This was not the first time Ye Xiao had seen a statue desecrated by tentacles. He vaguely remembered that in the Royal City of Loren, the first group of Dark Templars who summoned Ella used a statue of light covered in tentacles.

The idol is now kept by the mad bishop Evans in the church dungeon.

Now I see a statue of a sea goddess covered in tentacles. I wonder if there is any connection between the two?

"Gods above, what blasphemy this is!"

Reinaldo frowned, slowly reaching out as if to touch the wall. "What a despicable stone sculptor, daring to transform a goddess statue into a statue of an evil god?"

"It's best not to touch them... these may not all be stones."

Ye Xiao spoke up, offering a quiet reminder.

Reinaldo's outstretched hand suddenly paused, as if he had realized something, and immediately withdrew it.

He stared intently, and the textures of the tentacles on the statue still had a dim luster. So lifelike, it seemed that it really wasn't made of stone.

This filled him with dread, as did the knights watching from the surrounding area.

Wait a minute, could it be that all those tentacles covering the entire wall... are real?

Reinaldo felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, cold sweat broke out, and it felt as if ants were crawling on the back of his neck.

"Don't worry, it doesn't seem to be very active yet, like it's hibernating."

Ye Xiao added, "But if you touch them, I can't say whether they'll wake up."

The Templar Knights instinctively took a half-step back, moving away from the wall.

“The roots of these tentacles come out of the wall, but a large part of them should still be buried behind the stone wall.”

Ye Xiao examined them carefully, then looked at the black dog on the ground, "Can you smell where they came from?"

"You really think I'm a dog, don't you, you stupid human?"

The black dog said that, but its nose obediently sniffed the air before turning its head to look at one side of the river, "This way."

Ye Xiao recognized the direction the black dog was pointing and rubbed his chin. "Looks like we still have to head west."

……

While Ye Xiao and his group were exploring deeper into the well, on the other side of the island, Theresa's battle with the orc army had finally come to an end.

Under the leadership of the eldest daughter of the Boromeo family, a portion of the Holy Temple and Dwarven alliance was eventually able to break through the chaos and regroup at the pass at the entrance to the Shattered Stone Mountains.

Under Elder Cassius's command, the defensive line set up on the mountain withstood the onslaught of several waves of orc knights. As the retreating dwarves deployed a series of powerful siege weapons, such as the "rapid-fire cannons," outside the defensive line, they finally managed to temporarily repel the vicious greenskins.

In the newly set-up military camp, Elder Cassius finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Theresa return with her clothes stained with blood.

Beside the girl stood Stonehurst, the dwarf general. His left arm had been severed, leaving only a bandaged opening, but his bearded face still wore a rough smile. "Exciting, hahaha! I never thought I could fight such an exciting battle on this wretched little island!"

"We cannot relax yet, gentlemen,"

Theresa wiped the blood from her face, her voice still cold, "We need to find a way to identify the corrupted, otherwise, the same thing might happen again."

Chapter Forty-Five: The Medium

"That's true, but how do we identify it?"

Stonehett was passionate about fighting, but he struggled in this kind of situation.

The problem is indeed tricky: how do you tell if a teammate who once fought alongside you suddenly has the intention to kill you?

“They are indistinguishable from each other in appearance. Since they are brainwashed rather than replaced, their personality, memory, and other aspects will not change.”

Theresa stroked her chin and whispered.

"But in any case, they harbored great hostility toward their fellow countrymen and the holy light they should have believed in after being corrupted; their souls also formed a deep connection with that evil god, which is why they were able to incite internal strife at just the right time when the armies launched their charge."

"And the sword of judgment I have been given can represent the Inquisition in making an oath, linking the void to open a channel to see directly into the soul. At that time, it will be clear at a glance who has a connection with an unknown god in their soul."

In other words, Theresa planned to conduct a large-scale heretical trial ritual that would cover the entire army, revealing the souls of everyone, and then briefly communicating with the void to open her spiritual vision and find those who were associated with the evil god.

That was indeed a solution, but Elder Cassius frowned upon hearing this. “But these corrupted beings are currently being watched by the evil god. If they were in the Holy City’s Inquisition, they would be safe with the protection of our Lord, fearless of any evil invasion… But this place is located in their territory. If you attract their attention after communicating with the void, the consequences will be unimaginable…”

The present world is but a drop in the ocean compared to the void, a realm where countless indescribable things exist.

On this southern island far from the protection of light, if Theresa, a mortal, were to make eye contact with the true form of the evil god hidden in the high void while communicating with the void, the other party could easily drag her soul into the abyss.

“But this is the only way. Don’t worry, Elder Cassius, I know what I’m doing.”

Theresa was well aware of the dangers involved, but even so, she had to give it a try.

To have one's consciousness drift beyond the mortal realm and look directly at an evil god, or to be looked at by an evil god, is certain death. But she doesn't need to look at that evil god; she only needs to see if the dwarves and Templars in the allied forces have any connection to the void, and to remember those with such connections in the shortest possible time.

The key is to look at He Ji quickly enough when the evil god isn't paying attention, and then shut down her spiritual vision so that she can be safe and sound.

After all, if the corrupted individuals who might still exist in the army are not removed, the next charge by the orc army after it has finished preparing will be the day when the Holy Alliance is completely annihilated.

Even if others can communicate with the void and open their spiritual vision, they cannot use the protection of the Judgment to carry out such a large-scale heretical trial ritual in a place without a venue array. Without this ritual to reveal the soul in their vision, simply opening their spiritual vision will not reveal anything.

Therefore, only Teresa could simultaneously fulfill the requirements of "manifesting the soul" and "communicating with the void through observational links".

Furthermore, the allied forces are now heavily surrounded on a mountaintop and have no chance of withdrawing from the Shattered Stone Mountains. If they do not win this battle, their fate will be annihilation.

However, before that, Teresa also informed the elders of her family through the casket and performed a separation ritual to sever her connection with the casket.

Because her soul could still be corrupted by an unknown evil god, and because she is connected to the casket, if something goes wrong with her, the evil god could use her to corrupt the casket and all the souls connected to it.

She cannot risk the destruction of her entire family by taking action.

As a beam of light descended, Teresa looked up at the cloud-covered sky, and all the sounds that had once lingered in her heart—the knowledge accumulated by her family and the tireless teachings of her elders—vanished like smoke.

Although most mortals are born relying solely on their own consciousness, Teresa, born with a silver spoon in her mouth from the Boromeo family, experienced for the first time the sudden feeling of loneliness and helplessness in her heart.

From then on, she would no longer inherit the Boromeo family's legacy, nor would she be able to readily access and master knowledge beyond her understanding... This might only be temporary, but if the Holy Casket is never found, this break in connection could be permanent.

Theresa felt as if she had fallen into an infinitely silent ice cave. She held her breath slightly, and could barely hear the sparse sounds of the mountain wind blowing through the forest.

The hearts of ordinary people, though lonely, seem not so bad.

Due to the urgency of the situation, while Teresa was removing the Holy Casket, Elder Cassius also seized the time to organize the people in the army.

This heretical trial ceremony ultimately needs to be conducted in two rounds. On the one hand, the scope that the trial ceremony can cover is ultimately limited. On the other hand, if everyone holds the ceremony together, the orc army at the foot of the mountain might take the opportunity to attack, and everyone won't even have time to set up defenses.

But performing the ceremony twice in a row meant that the risks for Theresa personally more than doubled.

If you sneak a peek once, that unknown evil god might not notice, but if you spy a second time, things could get very complicated.

Even so, Theresa still resolutely stood on the makeshift platform.

Rows of Templar Knights and Dwarves stood below the platform. Theresa did not explain to them in detail what was happening, only vaguely referring to it as a blessing ritual in preparation for the upcoming battle, lest the evil god sense through the connection between the corrupted and Theresa's actions.

But frankly, it was just that Theresa was betting that the other party wouldn't think of it—after all, she had never been a god and didn't know how gods thought.

With her gaze sweeping over the crowd below, Theresa raised the Sword of Judgment and recited a prayer of blessing with holy light. In reality, she used the power of the Sword of Judgment to create a barrier that covered the entire arena.

"Supreme God of Light, Father of the Gods, Great Lord. In this moment of utmost peril, we humbly come before You..."

As Teresa recited her prayers, she observed the souls of the people appearing within the barrier, like translucent phantoms overlapping with their physical bodies.

This soul can only be seen by her as the officiant of the ceremony; the people below the stage are unaware of it.

But simply appearing in their field of vision is not enough. Teresa will then communicate with the void to open her spiritual vision in order to observe whether these souls have any connection with the outside world.

This was the most dangerous step. Perhaps it was the fatigue of presiding over a large ceremony after the battle, or the tension of facing the unknown, but a bead of cold sweat rolled down Theresa's beautiful face.

But she still had a slight thought, and with her magic, she guided her soul's perception to slowly cross the stable dimensions of the present world, silently touching that vast and boundless chaotic void.

Chapter Forty-Six: Linking the Void

Theresa's eyes were filled with a deep, flowing light; she saw disordered and chaotic dimensions intertwined, like colorful watercolors.

Although she hadn't yet aroused any unspeakable sense of being spied on, Theresa was already starting to feel nervous.

“Strange images, like those from an absurd nightmare, appeared: spider legs sprouted from an old house, countless eyes whispered invisibly in a tunnel, and laughing babies were eating crows…”

No, don't look, don't listen, don't pay attention to those unnecessary things...

Theresa kept telling herself to focus her spiritual vision on the souls of the people below the stage.

Sure enough, some of the phantom souls seemed to sprout a crooked umbilical cord, winding its way towards...

No, don't look at where it leads, absolutely do not look at where it leads.

Theresa pulled herself back to her senses, which had almost drifted away, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

Just one wrong decision could have led to her utter ruin.

She seized the time, focusing on recording each of the strange souls that had been born with an "umbilical cord," one, two, three, four... eighty-six.