Finally, all of their "thorn seals" proved ineffective.

Izhaks's otherworldly demon bloodline directly rejected the Source Blood, making inoculation impossible. Vivian, as a vampire, was immune to all foreign blood factors. Nangong Wuyue and Aersa were elemental sirens, and the Source Blood circled around in their bodies before being rejected by their skin. The others, after inoculation, were like Lily—no rejection, but no effect either.

However, none of them made the Source Blood disappear in their bodies like Hao Ren did.

"It seems a devout faith and long-term spiritual training are required to establish a connection with the goddess," the bearded man said, shaking his head at Lily, before looking at Hao Ren. "As for you, it's completely inexplicable. Perhaps your god can give you some answers."

"Hey, it is what it is," Hao Ren said, taking it in stride. "Anyway, strange things happen to me all the time. In any case, thanks for your help—I know it's not really within your rules to let a group of foreigners receive the thorn seal."

Archbishop Auben remained stone-faced and replied expressionlessly, "It is of no matter. You are connected to our Lord, and the goddess will gladly bestow her grace upon you."

Hao Ren smiled at the archbishop and prepared to take his leave, but before doing so, he asked the bearded man about his next plans.

"The cultists here have been dealt with, and the First Born is no longer a threat. Will you be staying?" Hao Ren asked.

The bearded man nodded calmly. "The Pope has died a martyr, and the situation is volatile. The faithful need comfort and guidance, and the truth about the god-slaying…this is a major event. I'm afraid I can't leave at this time. If the other three contact you after you return, tell them to come back as well. An extra person here would be helpful."

"Should I make a special trip to find them?" Hao Ren asked casually. "They're scattered all over the world."

The bearded man shook his head. "No need. The goddess will guide the path of the ascetics. If they come, it is the goddess's will. If they do not come, then the goddess has other arrangements for them."

Hao Ren scratched his head, feeling that faith was indeed an unpredictable thing. He was truly not afraid of ending up with a goddess like Raven 12345…

After bidding farewell to their friends in Holleta, they went to the crystal core research station to check on the giants and then returned to Earth.

However, Hao Ren didn't have time to enjoy a peaceful rest at home. After only one night, he went straight to Raven 12345 to report the situation and ask for advice.

A flash of teleportation light, and Hao Ren and the data terminal appeared in front of the magnificent mansion floating in an immeasurable space. As soon as the teleportation was complete, the two "people" felt that something was wrong again:

The usually clear, sunny sky of the Divine Realm now looked dim and desolate, and the ever-lush garden had somehow turned into a withered mess. The fountain in front of the mansion had dried up, and only a few water elementals were still wandering in the dry pool. Gusts of almost cold, strange wind blew from all directions, and the wind seemed to carry an aura of decay and decline. The scene was like the arrival of late autumn, when all things wither. Hao Ren was startled by what he saw. "What did that sister break this time…"

"She's probably just changed the theme pack for paradise again," the data terminal muttered beside him. "Look, isn't this scenery also pretty cool? It must be intentional."

"Intentionally changing to such a bleak and miserable theme pack? You don't need to destroy your own garden for an autumn atmosphere," Hao Ren said with a strange expression, looking at the withered and exotic flowers and trees on both sides of the road. "And I don't think Raven 12345's aesthetic sense is like this…"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Raven 12345's energetic voice from the side, "It's really not like this. I just screwed up a little bit."

Hao Ren looked in the direction of the voice and saw the goddess sister coming out from behind a withered bush, her hair and clothes covered in grass clippings, looking like she had just returned from working in the fields. He was surprised. "What…what happened to you?"

"Did a little experiment, messed it up," Raven 12345 waved her hand, not caring at all. "Don't worry, this goddess has been certified to work for so many years…"

Hao Ren was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard the second half of her sentence: "...how many times have I screwed up experiments? I'm used to it."

Hao Ren: "I knew it would be like this!"

"Just get used to it, get used to it," Raven 12345 said in her usual carefree manner, casually diverting Hao Ren's attention and abruptly changing the subject. "Let's not talk about my garden for now. You just got back from the Dream Plane? If I'm not mistaken…you made some incredible discoveries this time, right?"

Hao Ren thought that she was at least accurate with her intuition, and then followed the goddess sister into the depths of the garden, recounting his experiences in the Dream Plane in detail. When she heard about the Dream Plane goddess's fall, even this unreliable female psychopath became serious. She stopped joking and nodded as she listened carefully, occasionally mentioning some minor issues with details. Obviously, even she had to take this matter seriously.

The two of them walked along the path, stepping on fallen leaves and grass clippings, and soon arrived at the depths of the garden, a place Hao Ren was familiar with: Raven 12345 often set up a pot to cook noodles on this small open space… there was nothing high-end about anything related to this "God".

In fact, as the data terminal said, the withered "Heavenly Garden" had a unique scenery, but Hao Ren was not in the mood to appreciate it. He only saw that this once flower-filled open space, like other places, was now shrouded in a withered and desolate scene. The three green walls that were originally covered with flowers and vines now had only some withered vines left, and the shrubs and flowers beside them had only messy branches. A layer of withered leaves covered the delicate carved round table.

Obviously, everything here had just withered recently, and Raven 12345 had not had time to rebuild her garden, or even clean it up.

"Although you changed the subject, I still want to ask…was this really just an experimental accident?" Hao Ren frowned as he looked around. "What kind of experimental accident can make the goddess's garden wither?"

"An accident that the goddess personally messed up," Raven 12345 casually pressed Hao Ren into a chair, and then unceremoniously patted the fallen leaves off the chair and sat down. "Don't worry, don't worry, I'll reshape it later and it will all be restored, it'll only take a few seconds. More importantly, you said that the goddess of the Dream Plane was killed by a group of mortals? About what level of mortals?"

"That guardian didn't make it clear, but according to his description, those mortals could open the goddess's space-time defense, could attack the 'God Kingdom' located in a special dimension, and could resist divine magic to a certain extent, so they should have mastered mathematical rate weapons, and they stole the goddess's power… I didn't understand this 'theft' either, but I think it started with the Source Blood. Maybe they used the Source Blood to create their own 'divine magic'."

"Don't make such detailed speculations with insufficient information," Raven 12345 rarely gave Hao Ren serious advice. "Divine magic is not so easy to copy. The power of God is not just 'power', it's as simple as that. God's management of the world is like humans managing a computer system, and the difficulty of mortals resisting God is no less than a computer program wanting to kill the operator sitting in front of the computer and typing on the keyboard. You can imagine it."

Hao Ren stared for a long time. "...Damn, how is that possible?"

"It's possible, as long as there are enough conditions, but the success rate of these conditions is close to zero. I don't think an indigenous race in the Dream Plane can grasp this string of zeros after the decimal point," Raven 12345 sat upright, her expression serious. "Unless the god they are dealing with has huge loopholes… a half-baked god, one who hasn't received formal education, doesn't even know how to use their divine power, and even manages all things in a clumsy way, it won't be so difficult to kill."

Hao Ren was surprised. "Didn't you say that the Dream Plane goddess was a true god? And from the Xiling or Starfield God System?"

"The identity of the true god has been confirmed, but I still can't grasp the specific identity," Raven 12345 scratched her head, her expression a little embarrassed. "So I can't answer your questions either. You should continue to talk about your discoveries. Don't miss any details about what happened when the goddess of the Dream Plane was killed."

Hao Ren said oh and continued to tell his superior the story of this "ungrateful son blowing up his own mother," until Raven 12345 suddenly interrupted. "Wait! You said that the goddess called out to her people for help when she was dying, asking those people to provide her with power through prayer?"

Hao Ren nodded, puzzled. "Yeah. Is there a problem?"

"That's a big problem!" Raven 12345 tapped the table. "True gods don't need the prayers of believers to provide power—because mortal prayers are useless to us!"

(Asking for tickets at the beginning of the month!)