The Villain Saint is my secondary account

Greta, who was perched on Ye Xiao's collar, patted his chest with her paw.

"What does it mean."

Ye Xiao frowned.

"It's hard for me to explain clearly. It's some subtle changes, and I can't see what they are here. I'm afraid I'll have to go outside to find out."

Ye Xiaoyun was confused by what he heard, but he knew that Greta wasn't the kind of goddess who liked to speak in riddles. Since she couldn't explain it clearly in a short time, there must be a complicated reason behind it.

The group continued their inspection, but found nothing.

Apart from this giant tree that grows tentacles, there seems to be nothing else here.

"Why don't we just burn this tree down?"

Reinaldo became somewhat impatient as he thought about Teresa still fighting for her life outside while things remained unclear on his side.

"There's no need for that; the tree is already dead."

"Greedy spoke up."

As she said, when the soul in the black dog dissipated, the tentacles and roots of the entire tree also lost their vitality.

Ye Xiao casually threw a fireball at the surrounding dark tentacles, burning them to ashes. However, the other connected parts remained unmoved, still clinging to the wall, showing no sign of trying to dodge even as sparks burned towards them.

This is completely different from the previous behavior where it shrank when burned; it seems to be truly dead.

"Then... doesn't that mean nothing has changed?"

Reinaldo covered his forehead.

"The corrupted on the island have not yet been freed from brainwashing. Finding a group of Dark Shepherd corpses is not enough to put an end to the battle in which the young lady is involved."

"It shouldn't be that all the Dark Shepherds on this island died there. At least, some of the ones I've seen weren't among those corpses."

Ye Xiao was referring to the Dark Priest who had previously imprisoned him; the girl with her face wrapped in bandages did not appear among the pile of corpses at the bottom of the cabin.

"It seems we can only search elsewhere for any more dens of the Dark Shepherds."

Despite their complaints, the group had no choice but to take Prince Aslan, their only prize from the trip, out of the cabin and return across the lake via the same route.

Perhaps due to exhaustion, the Templar Knights accidentally disturbed a group of shrimp that were dozing by the lake. The commotion spread quickly, waking up who knows how many shrimp.

These giant prawns spewed out thick water jets from their mouths, capable of spanning half the lake's surface, accurate and powerful, causing the group to flee in terror.

"What a disgusting beast, it truly deserves to be cursed by the gods."

Reinaldo, who had been sprayed in the face, couldn't help but curse.

His Grandmaster-level Templar Knight was still quite tanky, but his reach was too short, making it difficult to dodge in the water. Although being sprayed by this thing a couple of times wouldn't cause any real damage, it was like someone spitting in his face and he couldn't retaliate, which was truly infuriating.

However, the other ordinary Templar Knights fared even worse. Their Holy Light Armor was not enough to completely block the thing, and they could only float on the lake, desperately trying to avoid it like gophers.

Finally, Ye Xiao picked up his staff and, after sniping and taking down several nearby shrimp, the group managed to reach the original waterfall cliff amidst the chaotic spray of water arrows.

"We've come this far, and you still have to pull this stunt."

Reinaldo hid half his body behind a rock and was quite annoyed to see the shrimp in the lake still spitting water jets at him.

"That's good, at least everyone is back safe and sound."

Ye Xiao comforted him.

If two more people were to be lost on these prawns, that would truly be the most abstract of all.

The way back was marked, so there was no need to deliberately look for directions, making it much faster than the way there.

The group did not continue westward, mainly because the terrain was complex with numerous waterways, and without a destination, it would be pointless to wander in and explore like headless flies.

Ye Xiao saw through the raven familiar that the battle on Theresa's side had come to an end, but the orc army had not been defeated by Theresa; instead, they had organized their own retreat.

Although the reason is unknown, this at least makes the current situation less urgent. Perhaps it would be more prudent to return to the village, wait for the main force to arrive, regroup, rest, and then proceed with the next step.

Reinaldo had been thinking this way, but as everyone returned to the plaza below the well, while he waited for the knights to climb back up to the ground via the ropes hanging from the well, his gaze inadvertently fell upon the tentacle goddess statue that everyone had seen earlier.

Unlike the ferocious and menacing appearance of the statue when we first saw it, the goddess statue now has a gentle and kind face. The tentacles that were originally wrapped around her seem to have become part of the stone statue, as if they were extending from the hem of the goddess's dress.

Reinaldo thought he was seeing things. Holding the holy light, he stepped forward and touched the tentacles on the statues. The rough texture came from his palm, clearly indicating that they were real stone.

"Strange, did this statue... look like this before?"

Chapter Fifty: Root Cause Pollution

"Hey, you over there, come here for a second."

Reinaldo shouted casually.

"Yes, Captain. What are your orders?"

A Templar Knight responded and came.

"Is this what the statue looked like when we first came down?"

"Ok?"

The Templar Knight looked up at the statue. "I don't see any changes, Captain."

"How could there be no change?"

Reinaldo tapped the stone-carved tentacle with his index finger. "This disgusting thing has turned into stone. It wasn't like this at all in the first place."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Reinaldo's words, the Templar Knight's face showed a look of shock.

"Captain... Captain, isn't it inappropriate for you to say that?"

"What's inappropriate?"

Reinaldo looked confused, completely bewildered as to what he had just said.

"You, you just said this... the Hand of the Ocean..."

"What the hell?"

Reinaldo frowned, his gaze sweeping over the Templar's face before turning to the tentacles carved from the stone statue. "...What did you just call this thing?"

"The Hand of the Ocean... Captain, this is the authority and symbol of the Ocean Goddess."

The Templar Knight looked astonished.

"What are you talking about? Do you know that what you just said is blasphemy?!"

Reinaldo was increasingly shocked. "Didn't you study properly in the sanctuary? How can you say such things like that???"

"But...that's true..."

The young Templar Knight looked completely innocent; it was clearly the captain in front of him who was committing blasphemy, so why was he the one being blamed?

"What happened?"

Ye Xiao, who had been lost in thought in a corner, heard the commotion and came over. He was puzzled to see Reinaldo arguing with his men.

"I do not understand,"

Reinaldo covered his head, and when he saw Ye Xiao approaching, he pointed to the goddess statue on the wall, "Can you believe he actually said that these tentacles are a symbol of the ocean goddess??"

"...Is there such a thing?"

Ye Xiao was secretly pleased to hear this.

If tentacles truly symbolize a goddess, why should Ella be so cautious? Wouldn't it be better to go all out and give everyone in Valenfog a thorough refocusing?

"But... that's clearly it."

The young knight who was reprimanded by Reinaldo was somewhat unconvinced.

"You dare talk back?!"

Reinaldo immediately flew into a rage, "Are you out of your mind?"

"Alright, don't rush."

Ye Xiao patted Reinaldo on the shoulder and looked at the Templar Knight curiously, "Why would you think that?"

"That's what the doctrine says..."

The Templar Knight answered in a low voice.

"Nonsense! Hey, you guys over there, stop climbing and come over here."

Reinaldo gave a loud command.

So the Templars who hadn't yet climbed up the well all gathered around.

“Look at the tentacles on this statue. Is there any mention of these in the knowledge about the sea goddess in the Holy Church’s doctrine?”

The Templar Knights exchanged glances, then nodded in unison, "This... isn't it the Hand of the Ocean?"

"Captain, this is a symbol of the goddess."

"Captain, look."

The reprimanded subordinate said, rather aggrieved, "This is the foundation written at the beginning of the doctrine; I couldn't possibly have misremembered it."

Reinaldo frowned, as if he had realized something, and took out a book of the Church's doctrine from his pocket.

The Church Doctrine is a book that every devout Church believer carries with them, just as the Bible is for Catholics. The Church Doctrine is the cornerstone of the Church believers.

Although Reinaldo couldn't recite it perfectly, he at least remembered the contents of each chapter clearly.

There is absolutely no way that "tentacles are a symbol of the ocean goddess."

But the moment he opened the book, that belief crumbled instantly.

He saw with his own eyes that on his doctrinal book, copied by the bishop of the Holy City, several large words were written in black and white:

"...Following her is Undine, the goddess of the sea and rivers. The tentacles that emerge from beneath her skirt are the authority originating from the deep sea, protecting all things floating on the water..."

"The tentacles that He summoned from beneath His skirt..."

"The summoned tentacles..."

Tentacles... are they truly a symbol of the ocean goddess?

"Snapped"

Reinaldo was jolted awake from his daze by a sudden slap on the shoulder, and he turned his head to glare angrily at Ye Xiao, who had slapped him.

"The sea goddess has no tentacles."

Ye Xiao said decisively, "Don't get involved."

Reinaldo's expression changed several times as the tangled thoughts in his mind gradually became clearer.

If it weren't for Ye Xiao's slap, he would have felt that he had indeed remembered it wrong.

"But that's exactly what the church doctrine says..."

Reinaldo looked at the tome in his hands. "Could it be that my tome has been replaced?"

“No, because that’s how it’s written in the book I have here too. But I think I roughly understand what’s going on. Greta, the ‘change’ you just mentioned, could it be this?”

"I'm afraid so."

The kitten nodded adorably and said in a childish voice, "That evil god, I don't know what means he used, corrupted the 'fate' of this island from the source."

"What do you mean?"

Reinaldo's mind was still preoccupied with the tentacles, sometimes thinking he might have misremembered, sometimes thinking he hadn't, and he was somewhat unable to process what was being said to him.

"To put it simply, I suspect that the origin of the sea goddess worship on this island has been altered. It's just that perhaps your will is relatively strong, and given our delicate position when this happened, your understanding has been able to retain some of the unaltered knowledge."

Ye Xiao tried his best to explain.

"……I do not understand."

However, this matter is somewhat difficult for Reynaldo to understand in the short term.

After all, the other party is not like Ye Xiao. Its true consciousness is actually Ella. Unless the evil god can corrupt Ella as well, it will have no effect on Ye Xiao.

Furthermore, since the records in the books in Ella's possession are all normal, it can be inferred that the scope of this change in fate may currently be limited to this island, and it has no effect on great demon gods like Greta, whose true form transcends the mortal world.

But this method was indeed somewhat strange. Ye Xiao didn't know how the other party had done it, and he was even less sure whether the people on the island would spread this pollution if they left the island.

If it really spreads... does that mean that the evil god can use this method to gradually alter the established history of the world and eventually replace the true ocean goddess?

Thinking of this, Ye Xiao felt a chill run down his spine.