Badge in Azure

Ever since Saleen left Ceylon City, nothing had been smooth for him other than discovering the temple. From past experiences, he would surely encounter even more troublesome obstacles, so he kept to himself in the barracks while creating weapon equipment.

Saleen had actually already created a large volume of equipment, but they were mostly semi-finished. Divinecherry wood was an example, he had already refined six divinecherry arrows for Eleanor and also created an entire case of shafts. All that was left would be the final touches.

Aiwa’s shield was destroyed, so a new one would need to be made. The use of a magic shield was more important than the armor that a mage wore. Su’s weapon would need to be upgraded with even more magic equipment, or his fighting ability would drop drastically.

Unexpectedly, the four demons only needed some minor repairs done to their armor and to change a few accessories. The demonic spirit that had been driven out by the four demons was basically not included in Saleen’s fighting forces.

The mages took turns using the Alchemy Binoculars to observe the rivers and mountains that were a long distance away. Throughout these observations, the magic array on the binoculars did not sound off any alarms. This world created by the Goddess was almost too safe and everyone felt paranoid about it.

The purgatory desert had exhausted too much energy from the warriors and mages. Everyone rested for a full day and a half before continuing with their journey again. After slightly more than an hour, Saleen and Lex finally arrived at the river.

The river was approximately half a mile wide and there seemed to be no end to it. Where they were right now seemed to be the narrowest part of the river. A warrior threw a block of wood into the river and it sank.

Boats would not be able to cross the river, so Lex took out a flying puppet. This miniature flying puppet was only one-yard long. Lex threw it out and it began to flap its wings and flew towards the opposite bank. Within less than ten yards, the magic array on the flying puppet began to produce green smoke and disintegrated.

Lex could not help but frown seeing a flying puppet that was worth more than one-thousand gold coins just drop into the river.

Taking out their heavy Alchemy Crossbows once again, the swordmasters began to arm themselves. Heavy Alchemy Crossbows could shoot a distance of one mile with a rope. Across the river was a big tree. By shooting a huge arrow over, a suspension bridge could be created and the swordmasters would be able to move across the two banks freely.

The heavy Alchemy Crossbow was set up and aimed at a big tree on the opposite bank.

Equipment that was six yards wide let out a splitting sound of explosion on the three gigantic golden stands. After some magic modification, the three-yard long arrow created a powerful sonic boom.

The speed of this heavy Alchemy Crossbow exceeded even some magic. The naked eye would not be able to track its path, except to see a pathway. It was half a yard wide, it pierced through the air and could form a hole about one-hundred yards long.

A fish beast suddenly leapt out from the river and bit off the heavy crossbow arrow. The front half of the arrow even dragged the fish beast in the air for a distance before diverging from the original target and eventually dropping into the water.

The mages looked at each other. No one had sensed the presence of such a creature in the river.

Saleen and Lex gave each other a knowing look. They had both figured out the problem. It was not a fish beast, but a phantom. The problem was that this phantom’s attacks were real. Fish beasts were extremely powerful creatures, but not to the extent where they could bite off a flying Alchemy Crossbow arrow in mid-air. The distance between the arrow and the surface of the river was about one-yard high. In normal circumstances, the fish beast would have to start leaping even before the arrow had been shot in order to be able to bite onto the target.

Lex held up her Alchemy Binoculars, mounted a piece of high-quality magic nucleus, and opened up the magic array completely. She observed the upstream and downstream for one full minute each and shook her head, saying, “No bridge.”

A row of people stood in front of the river, feeling helpless that they were blocked by this five-hundred yard wide river.

“Give me a combat puppet.” Saleen pondered for a moment and thought of a solution. This was the Goddess’ world and only those that obeyed her rules would be able to enter. Needless to say, the land that they had been traveling on was not part of the Goddess’ world. This river was the real boundary.

Lex took out a miniature combat puppet. This puppet was only two-yards tall. Saleen released the water shield in his left hand to envelope the combat puppet entirely before pushing it down into the river.

The gigantic bubble contained the combat puppet and floated towards the opposite bank. Everyone stared at the bubble intently. Five-hundred yards was the limit of Saleen’s magic. The bubble depended on inertia to send the combat puppet all the way to the opposite end. The puppet made it to the opposite bank and the puppet burrowed out from the bubble to climb onto land.

With a swoosh, the water temperature system returned without any obstructions.

Saleen’s water shield was completely sealed. After infusing the power of life from the Goddess, the combat puppet did not come under any attack while being protected by the bubble. It was now on the opposite bank, patiently waiting for orders.

Lex finally felt relieved. If crossing a river alone required the use of the power of the God’s ring, then there was basically little to no hope of everyone leaving this world. Although this place looked peaceful, it was actually much more dangerous than the Hell of god’s punishment that Saleen and she entered. The phantom that appeared out of the river was basically equivalent to a grade-7 mage.

Saleen remained unmoved and silently thought to himself, “My water shield is unique in the sense that it is shaped like a bubble. Will the Goddess figure it out?” The river was clearly a barrier that could not be crossed over by mages from grade-6 and below. If he did not absorb the leaves of the Tree of Life or any special kind of magic, then there was no way he could reach the temple that was far, far away.

Was all this just a trap set by the gods?

She was not a disciple so the Gods would not be able to descend upon her. None of the people in her team were disciples of any faith either. By right, if the Goddess wanted to be revived, she would not have pinned any hopes on this team. Compared to Gods, this team was too insignificant.

“Who will cross first?” Saleen asked.

“I will!” More than ten voices shouted at the same time. Saleen looked and realized they were all Lex’s swordmasters and grand swordmasters. Even Wild Bear was slapping his chest as a form of self-volunteer.

Combat puppets did not possess any life strength and Saleen could not be sure if the bubbles could transport an entire person over. The first person to attempt to cross the river would definitely be taking a risk that could be fatal. Amongst Lex’s subordinates, none were afraid of death.

In comparison, Saleen’s subordinates all kept their mouths shut, unwilling to make such a sacrifice. Saleen was pleased because he knew that if he did give the order, one of them would volunteer to take the risk. At least that unlucky demonic spirit would not be able to escape. Saleen did not have to say anything and these people already knew how to protect themselves.

This was not cowardice nor even intelligence. It was more of an attitude towards survival.

The ten swordmasters all looked to be of the same size, so Saleen randomly picked a person’s name. He came to Saleen. His eyes were hidden under the helmet and blocked by the dark-colored crystals so Saleen could not see his expression.

“I cannot guarantee your safety,” Saleen said.

“I understand, Master Saleen. Please cast the spell,” the swordmaster answered honestly. He somewhat despised the reaction from Saleen’s subordinates. They were all on an adventure together, yet none of them were willing to take risks. He was very clear that Saleen was very much stronger than them though. Even with the Spirit Snake armor, his own team did not possess an overwhelming edge over them. It was not worth it to let the stronger person take the risk.

Without a word, Saleen released the water shield again, enveloping the swordmaster. The swordmaster realized that he was still able to control the forward or backward direction of the bubble through his own actions. There was no need for that though. Wild Bear gave him a hard push from behind and he was in the river.

This was the advantage of the Spirit Snake armor, otherwise Wild Bear’s strength would have just slipped off instead of being exerted on the water shield. If he had pushed with the intention to attack, the force would have been entirely absorbed by the water shield. Of course, the assumption was that Saleen was not controlling this magic.

Lex kept her eyes locked on the swordmaster that was floating towards the opposite bank. The force that Wild Bear used was just nice, so the bubble was just about able to reach the opposite bank without any control from Saleen. Although the river current was calm, in contrast, Lex’s heart was still a little flustered. In order to maintain secrecy, the people that she had brought along were all extremely loyal. Even the mages were those that followed her from the very beginning.

As the bubble reached the opposite bank, the swordmaster exerted strength from his legs and leapt up bursting through the bubble and landing beside the combat puppet.

Over on this side, the swordmasters let out a loud cheer. Lex’s subordinates were often solemn and grave, but after more than a month of anxiety, they finally let loose for a moment.

The water shield that Saleen had newly constructed was the only one that possessed life strength, so he could only send people over the river one at a time. The three water shields that he originally possessed had already been digested by his calabash long ago.

“Take care of safety. The two of you will go over first.” Lex saw that the method worked and decided to send the two black metal grand swordmasters over.

The black metal grand swordmasters were more powerful than a normal swordmaster. After the two of them had crossed the river, Lex immediately arranged for a grade-5 mage to cross as well. With a combination of a mage and grand swordmasters, they would be able to put up a fight should there be any dangerous creatures on the opposite bank.

All her worries were unfounded though. Lex crossed the river and still did not encounter any attacks. Saleen was the last to cross and he did it by holding onto the water shield and flying across directly. After landing on the opposite bank, a small creature suddenly emerged from within the river. The creature was only the size of a palm and it stared directly at Lex’s team. Saleen jerked his head back and discovered him.

If the Goddess’ Oracle, Jessica, was there, she would have been furious. She spent so much energy on catalysis for this creature to guard the temple. Just before she left, she specifically instructed the creature to protect the temple, but it apparently returned back to the river instead without fulfilling its role of protection.

It had no choice. It was too weak and small and was not given enough time to grow. The intelligence of this creature had not fully matured either, so it would take another three-hundred to five-hundred years before it would fully comprehend Jessica’s orders.

What it knew was that the temple belonged to him, and no strangers should get close to it. He was not powerful enough, so he could only tail behind Saleen and company. Who knew that Saleen would discover its presence the moment it emerged. This creature possessed the life strength of the Goddess.