Chapter 247: Spreading his Religion

“What did you just say?”

Eurenia’s voice dropped into a bone-chilling whisper. In a fraction of a second, her indifferent demeanor shattered, replaced by a suffocating, lethal wave of pure bloodlust.

Her pitch-black pupils dilated as a microscopic thread of demonic mana surged beneath her skin.

‘Have our disguises been exposed already?’ she thought, her fingers twitching slightly inside her wide crimson sleeves.

She had already made up her mind to instantly snap the necks of all four disciples, dragging their corpses into the spatial void before they could draw another breath.

But just as her invisible mana blades formed around their throats, she hesitated.

The four youths had completely lost their minds in panic—not toward her, but toward Naen.

“Are you insane, Naen?!” Mayr shrieked in a hushed, terrified voice, slapping Naen hard across the back of his head. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Keep your damn mouth shut!” Peatyr hissed through gritted teeth, grabbing Naen by his collar and shaking him violently. “We swore a sacred oath at the spring! We swore we would take that secret to our graves! Why are you blurting out forbidden names to a total stranger?!”

“I-I couldn’t help it!” Naen cried out, holding his bruised head in shame, his eyes wide with lingering trauma. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, brothers! But what I saw and heard down in that cave… it was too immense! It’s been hammering inside my skull ever since we left! I feel like I’m going to go mad if I keep it locked inside! Now I’m going to pay for my sins…”

Eurenia’s eyebrows furrowed sharply as she observed their genuine, frantic panic.

The sheer terror, shame, and desperation radiating from them were not the acts of cunning investigators setting a trap—they were the raw reactions of foolish mortals who had stumbled onto something far beyond their comprehension.

The lethal bloodlust surrounding Eurenia receded as quickly as it had erupted, replaced by a cool, calculating curiosity.

“Explain yourselves,” Eurenia demanded, her tone cold and commanding. “What exactly are you talking about? What did you see?”

Seeing that the sharp, terrifying aura around the young girl had vanished, the four disciples exhaled shuddering breaths.

Desperate to vent the suffocating dread that had been eating away at them, and realizing Naen had already let the cat out of the bag, Peatyr stepped forward and began explaining everything in hushed, nervous whispers.

He detailed how they had slipped away from the main grounds to bathe in the natural spring down the mountain, how one of them had spotted the hidden fissure beneath the cliffside, and how they had swam through the submerged tunnel into the secret cavern.

“It was horrible, Sister,” Peatyr stammered, his face turning pale again as he recalled the scene. “On the cavern walls… there were ancient, glowing murals. They depicted strange, upright beastmen—rabbits, wolves, tigers, hyenas—all kneeling on their knees in deep worship before a glowing sigil! And then… a voice whispered right inside our heads! It spoke of a ‘God of Beast and Men’ who would devour all! We ran for our lives!”

Naen bowed his head deep in shame, staring at his boots. “I… I had never heard of a ‘God of Beast’ in any of our sect’s scripture records. My mind was in complete chaos, so when I saw you standing here alone, I instinctively asked…”

As Eurenia listened to the full account, every trace of hostility completely evaporated from her heart.

Her lips curled faintly into a subtle, mysterious smile.

‘So that was it,’ she thought, letting out a soft, imperceptible sigh of relief.

“I see,” Eurenia said smoothly, her posture relaxing against the pavilion wall. “You don’t need to be so terrified. I happen to know a few things about the God of Beast.”

The moment those words left her mouth, the faces of all four disciples lit up like lanterns.

The oppressive weight of the unknown that had been crushing their chests instantly lightened.

“You… you know what that entity is?!” Mayr gasped softly, stepping closer with eager, wide eyes. “Is it an ancient evil spirit? A forbidden demon god?”

“Before I answer any of your questions,” Eurenia interrupted smoothly, raising a slender hand to cut him off, “you are going to take me to this underwater cave. I want to see these murals with my own eyes.”

The four disciples exchanged quick, hesitant glances, but seeing the absolute confidence and calm composure in Eurenia’s eyes, they quickly nodded.

Having an knowledgeable inner disciple accompany them made them feel vastly safer.

“Alright,” Peatyr agreed, swallowing hard.

“Follow us. But we must be stealthy—if the patrol elders catch us leaving the inner grounds, we’re finished.”

***

Northern Hashian Mountains — Deep within the Glorious Mythical Sect.

Miles away from the mists of Mount Laobao, across the ruined, ash-covered valleys of the north, Roy—the Peerless Supreme Elder—was walking alone down a completely desolate, abandoned stone street within the inner sect quarters.

The surrounding buildings were quiet, the air thick with the faint scent of charred wood and lingering divine lightning.

Yet, as Roy walked with his hands tucked loosely behind his back, a faint, dark smile curled the corners of his lips.

His preparations across the Hashian continent were unfolding in absolute perfection.

The ancient murals beneath Mount Laobao were not some random, ancient ruins—they were his own handiwork.

Not long after sending his four elite commanders—Manuses, Croak, Eurenia, and Alisa—to infiltrate the Emerald Purity Sect, Roy had secretly dispatched an avatar to carve those very murals into the bedrock of the mountain.

His primary objective had never been mere territorial conquest through brute force.

His ultimate goal was to establish his divine religion directly among the human populations of this world, cultivating a massive, unyielding foundation to harvest immense amounts of Faith Points.

Within his Three Paths Honorifics, his divine title explicitly proclaimed him as the God of Beast and Men.

He was not merely a deity for monsters, beasts, and feral kin; humans were fully included within his divine domain, capable of granting him absolute faith and authority.

Roy paused at the edge of a high balcony overlooking the Northern Hashian range.

His dark eyes glinted with cold, cosmic intelligence as he looked toward the sky, where Cardinal Ryoger’s holy sky-vessels were currently gathering.

The Sky Church believed they were conducting a holy crusade to wipe out a localized cult.

Mauresis believed he was using the mortal army as hounds to hunt down a divine rival.

Neither of them realized that while they were fruitlessly scouring the northern ash for shadows, the seeds of the God of Beast were already taking root inside the pristine, sacred halls of the Eastern Hashian Mountains.

The moment his religion took root, spreading like a wildfire through the cities and sects of the Jura eastern continent until millions of humans bowed their heads to the Feral Primordial, it would mark his absolute, indisputable victory over the God of the Sky.

It would be his ultimate checkmate.