Chapter 55: Crisis

Chapter 55: Crisis

Yu Sheng'an raised his head, squinting at the towering Music Goddess's Divine Palace in the distance as the colossal phantom of the giant behind him gradually faded and vanished.

Truly, this was the Divine Kingdom on Earth that the Music Goddess had painstakingly built over centuries!

Here, the difficulty of summoning contracted creatures was nearly ten times greater than in the outside world.

Of course, he could forcibly summon them by burning a massive amount of Source Essence.

Aphnora could also burn Source Essence to forcibly block him.

However, doing so would inevitably escalate into a tug-of-war, and there was even a risk of sparks flying—potentially igniting a divine war.

This was clearly not something Yu Sheng'an wanted to see.

Though he now had many internet users, his development time was still short, and his reserves of Source Essence were limited.

As the saying goes: When the cannons roar, ten thousand taels of gold are spent.

The same principle applied to gods.

Accumulating Source Essence was no easy feat for anyone, so naturally, no one was willing to expend it lightly. Even if it had to be spent, it had to be worth the cost.

At this moment, the crowd in front of the embassy fell silent.

No—it would be more accurate to say that most of them were utterly dumbfounded.

Some were even so terrified that their legs trembled, collapsing to the ground in weakness.

They had been sheltered too well by the Music Goddess, like fattened chickens in a farm—seemingly plump and strong, but in reality, a single clap of thunder could scare a whole flock to death.

Yu Sheng'an exhaled and softened his tone:

"I understand your devotion to Her Grace, the Goddess. But I also hope you realize that the only reason you can stand here is under her protection—not because of any merit of your own. So you have no right to dictate to me!"

"If you truly care, you should focus on cultivating magic, studying divine music, and standing ready with your swords for the Goddess's call! Not bickering here like this."

"Look at the world outside. The Five Great Righteous Gods are sharpening their blades, and deities of all stripes are forming alliances. Demons run rampant, dark sorcery spreads unchecked, war rages everywhere, and the people suffer endlessly. That you have this haven of peace should make you all the more grateful to Her Grace—and all the more determined to strive!"

"Don’t be like the frog at the bottom of a well, thinking the world is only as big as the mouth of the well! The day a boulder falls, your sky will collapse!"

As a practitioner of the Keyboard Dao from Blue Star, Yu Sheng'an's verbal prowess had been honed through battles waged over mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

He had even dared to venture into the trenches of the Internet’s most toxic battlegrounds!

Did he fear these locals, whose lifetime of information intake couldn’t match what he scrolled through in a single day of short videos?

If grand rhetoric couldn’t crush them, what would?

As his words fell, Yu Sheng'an glanced at the Music Goddess's Divine Palace. These words were less for the people of Vias and more for Aphnora’s ears.

At this moment, the crowd gathered before the embassy stood frozen in shock!

Truthfully, most of them didn’t fully grasp what Yu Sheng'an was saying—they only sensed it was profound and seemingly reasonable.

They were simply terrified by the colossal phantom of the giant behind him.

For these sheltered, narrow-minded folk, visual impact was far more effective than any words.

Only a handful of enlightened individuals truly understood Yu Sheng'an’s message, and they, too, were deeply shaken.

No one had ever spoken to them like this before, and they had rarely pondered such matters.

Their knowledge of the outside world was limited to the tales brought back by noble students who had gone abroad to study.

They had never considered that the peaceful life before their eyes was actually hard-won.

Nor had they ever thought that their ability to stand here was merely a case of the fox borrowing the tiger's might—relying on borrowed power.

If this weren’t Vias, if they didn’t have Aphnora backing them, would they dare to blockade the embassy?

The answer was self-evident.

They had no right to be angry!

Watching the stunned citizens of Vias, Yu Sheng'an shook his head, feeling a sense of listlessness, as if he had drawn his sword only to find no worthy opponent.

Compared to the battlefields of the past, these people were far inferior. He couldn’t be bothered to lecture them further and simply turned to walk back into the embassy.

Belock, who had broken out in a cold sweat, slowly regained his composure as he watched Lord Ajef.

Even now, the Music Goddess had not appeared. What did that signify? It meant she, too, was unwilling to antagonize Lord Ajef.

Not to mention the Empire backing us, Lord Ajef himself is no small force!

Thinking this, Belock had an idea and began to flatter Ajef:

"Everyone, our Lord Ajef is a once-in-a-millennium genius of Wood Spirit Magic! The black grain he cultivated can grow even in winter, with yields three times that of ordinary black grain. In my homeland, he is already hailed as the God of Agriculture!"

"Moreover, Lord Ajef is not only a master of Wood Spirit Magic but also excels in Thunder Magic. He has unprecedentedly proven the theory that Thunder Magic can be converted into Light Magic! Do you know what this means? It means that mastering Thunder Magic is equivalent to mastering Light Magic!"

"Such a prodigy, pursuing your..."

"Enough!" A reprimanding voice came from inside the embassy, cutting off Belock’s praise.

Hearing this, Belock wasn’t annoyed—instead, his eyes lit up with delight.

This move was the right one!

Lord Ajef didn’t interrupt earlier or later, but now. That meant he was quite pleased with my flattery!

With this thought, Belock swept a haughty glance over the citizens of Vias, flicked his sleeve, and strode proudly into the embassy.

At that moment, the people outside were dumbfounded.

Cold-resistant, high-yield black grain?

God of Agriculture?

Thunder Magic converting to Light Magic?

So this Ajef wasn’t just the envoy of the Empire—he was a formidable figure in his own right! No wonder he dared to pursue the goddess!

The citizens of Vias, who had no real concept of power, recalled the phantom of the nine-zhang giant they had just witnessed. A blasphemous thought suddenly arose in their minds:

Wouldn’t it be a fine match if the goddess married Ajef?

As Yu Sheng'an stepped into the embassy, he didn’t notice that the city guard station still hadn’t arrived.

Meanwhile, Bailier, the head attendant of the Music Goddess's Divine Palace, stood anxiously outside, seeking an audience with the Music Goddess.

But the goddess, who had always been responsive, was uncharacteristically silent today.

The grand Music Goddess's Divine Palace was completely sealed off.

Little did she know, the Music Goddess—Aphnora—was facing an unprecedented challenge!

……

……

"Beast God, this is my domain. Leave now, and I will let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being ruthless!"

Aphnora floated in the air, beneath her stretched an endless primordial forest.

At its center stood a massive city, towering from the earth.

Countless humans within the city prostrated themselves, kneeling in devout worship.

At the pyramid-shaped altar in the center of the city, a group of lavishly dressed worshippers could still be seen, loudly chanting praises to something.

Yet Aphnora paid no heed to the prayers of these Believers.

Her expression calm, she gazed ahead at a towering black vortex portal, over a hundred feet high, looming above the forest.

Giant trees collapsed around it as hordes of tusked orcs shrieked wildly, pouring out from the portal.

Hovering in the air before the portal was the projection of the Beast God—five meters tall, with tusks and clad in crude battle armor.

His greedy eyes swept over this primitive domain, filled with unrestrained delight.

"Gunir told me he discovered a small domain. I nearly crushed his skull—hahaha! Good thing I’m merciful and didn’t."

The Beast God’s gaze suddenly locked onto Aphnora. "Little girl, since I’ve found this place, it’s now my world!"

"You’re courting death!"

Aphnora raised her right arm and swung it down, pressing an invisible force toward the beast horde.

A terrifying primal instinct made countless orcs instinctively look up at the sky—where a bright speck appeared. A massive meteor, streaking from the far horizon, roared toward them!

"Hahaha! In a small domain, no one is a match for the Beastkin!"

The Beast God laughed maniacally, brandishing a colossal hammer as he charged straight toward the meteor.

"Slaughter every insect here!"

The order to massacre the city echoed through the air. Countless orcs ignored Aphnora’s threat, pounding their shields and roaring as they charged toward the distant city.

At the city’s edge, countless earth elementals rose from the ground, advancing to meet the orcs.