Chapter 715: Section 502: Trick Them to Death
Cang Xu wore a faint smile as he looked at the Fishman youth before him and offered sincere praise.
He knew that at this very moment, the Fishman youth had undergone a critical transformation!
This transformation was akin to the youth publicly admitting his identity on Mysterious Monster Island—not as a Holy Knight, but as a Beast Knight.
It was also similar to the time during the naval battle at Snake Rat Island when the youth publicly proclaimed his righteousness and affirmed the correctness of the Redemption Road.
And now, within the Ocean Nest, the Fishman youth had completely transformed from a Beast Knight into a mature leader of the Mercenary Group.
This transformation was neither sudden nor without basis. There were signs before this, a gradual evolution, with the quantitative change that laid the foundation for this qualitative leap.
“Leader, you can always break through your limits, pushing beyond your own constraints,” Cang Xu admired earnestly in his heart.
To some extent, Cang Xu’s confidence in the Fishman youth surpassed even that in himself.
In the renowned writings of the Earl of the wall stove in the Holy Bright Empire, “Monarch and Minister,” there is a classic saying: The monarch chooses the minister, and the minister also chooses the monarch!
Cang Xu had thoroughly chosen the Fishman youth to be his leader, and had begun assisting the latter to the best of his abilities.
This assistance was not merely following orders, but a heartfelt desire, seeking out ways to help the Fishman youth.
Just like this time, Cang Xu intentionally controlled his information, providing the youth with an opportunity to grow, and was also pleased to witness the Fishman youth’s personal breakthrough, seeing his more mature side.
By this point, Cang Xu did not hold back anymore.
He said to the Fishman youth, “Leader, we indeed must take action against these Fishmen. But this time, it’s not to kill them, to use them as Undead Materials, and then to collect the Bloodline of the Corpse Hanging Tree.”
“There has been a joyful development…”
Following that, Cang Xu recounted everything he had received from this prayer to the Fishman youth, without reservation.
The Fishman youth was thrilled.
“I hadn’t expected that your prayers this time would yield such rich benefits!”
“Concurrent Deception Skill… This Divine Art is likely the means Zhou Zhang used to capture you and the other Human Race pirates like Ba Qi so easily.”
“And then there’s the Missionary Mark, Soul Link, Soulful Preaching, Spiritual Navigation, Synchronized Conversion—these Divine Arts, when used in combination and applied step by step, can provide immense aid to your missionary work.”
“The more successful your missionary work is, the more Divine Grace you will receive. As stated by the Divine Blessing information, once Divine Grace accumulates to a certain extent, you can perform targeted prayers and thus spend Divine Grace to obtain corresponding Divine Blessings!”
Cang Xu nodded repeatedly, “Following this path, as long as we accumulate enough Divine Grace, we can pray to transmit the Deep Sea Monster Fish away, and quietly leave this Ocean Nest.”
“In the future, when my Divine Office is elevated again, and I have obtained the Resurrection Divine Skill. After spending a large amount of Divine Grace and Divine Power, I should be able to truly resurrect Miss Zi Di!”
The prospects Cang Xu outlined made the Fishman youth’s heart surge with longing.
God is omnipotent.
Every deity possesses Resurrection Techniques and can resurrect the dead.
However, there are differences between them.
Some deities hold special Divine Offices and are more adept at Resurrection Techniques, able to perform the same effects with lesser costs.
The deity Mei Lan’s Divine Office is deception and disguise, unrelated to resurrection. But with sufficient effort, She too can resurrect others.
Once communication was effective, Cang Xu encouraged the Fishman youth to act quickly.
The two of them were still planning to target the numerous Fishmen of the Da Ji Tribe.
Only, their previous plan was to kill these Fishmen, turning them into Undead Materials, to collect the Bloodline of the Corpse Hanging Tree.
The current plan was: still to capture these Fishmen, then to have Cang Xu perform missionary work on them. The more Fishmen who worshipped Mei Lan, the more Divine Grace Cang Xu would receive.
The contrast between the two plans was quite evident. The latter was easier to implement and more likely to succeed than the former, with a higher return on investment.
Killing the Fishmen to create Undead Materials, how much of the Corpse Hanging Tree Bloodline could they ultimately collect? Predictably, the results would be meager, and the process complicated.
Instantly, the Fishman youth dispatched the Rubber Swallowers to take action against these Fishmen of the Da Ji Tribe.
Under his previous design, the Fishmen of the Da Ji Tribe had already “brutally attacked” Cang Xu, tearing him into countless pieces, and even consuming him.
One could see how much they hated Cang Xu.
After all, Cang Xu was the one who proposed to Zhou Zhang to have the entire Da Ji Tribe participate in the Transmission Blood Sacrifice!
Undoubtedly, if not for the interference of the Fishman youth, the Da Ji Tribe would have suffered severe losses in this Transmission Blood Sacrifice. Even if there were survivors, it would likely only be a handful, and the tribe would exist in name only.
After all, believers who could take part in Transmission Blood Sacrifice were almost all very firm and confident in their faith. Yet still, many worshippers met their end within the Ocean Nest.
And within the Da Ji Tribe, most Mei Lan followers were General Believers and would find it difficult to successfully endure the test.
The Rubber Swallowers, disguised as seawater, took action one after another. They easily approached the Fishmen and swallowed them whole.
Soon, the Fishmen of the Da Ji Tribe noticed that their companions were mysteriously disappearing, one by one.
They shrieked and cried out, instinctively huddling together.
Some fishmen, thinking themselves clever, called out loudly, convinced this was a trial by the deity Mei Lan, urging their kin to pray fervently and ignore everything else.
Of course, there were also fishmen who thought this was the work of Zhou Zhang, or perhaps a mystical attack by the Snow Pear Octopus.
Even as they grouped together, the fishmen could not withstand the attack of the Rubber Swallowers.
During the fishmen’s plight, the Fishman youth and Cang Xu began to prioritize dealing with two heavyweight captives.
These two captives were Ku Feng and Qing Xin.
Ku Feng had been the second choice, nominated by the Undead Mages, while Qing Xin had been collectively chosen by the pirates of the Human Race, becoming the first sacrificial victim.
Soon after the Fishman youth and Cang Xu made their move, the Rubber Swallowers, under the control of the Tower Spirit, swallowed both Ku Feng and Qing Xin.
This process went very smoothly, without any hitches.
On one hand, the Rubber Swallowers had been blessed with the arts of Deception and Disguise Skill, Anti-Intelligence Prophecy Skill, camouflaged as a cluster of seawater. They swam throughout the Ocean Nest filled with seawater, perfectly disguised without a flaw to be seen.
On the other hand, Ku Feng and Qing Xin had no strength left to resist. Their bodies had been double sealed by Zhou Zhang.
The two were swallowed by the Rubber Swallowers and taken deep into the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
The Rubber Swallowers always kept the two inside their bellies.
To the captive’s perception, the surrounding seawater tightly enveloped their bodies, rendering them immobile, while the rest of the fishmen mysteriously disappeared.
They certainly struggled, attempting to free themselves.
Ku Feng fared somewhat better, being a Silver-Level fighter with a zombie’s body, possessing great strength. But he was ultimately no match for a Silver-Level Rubber Swallower, capable of wielding Extraordinary Power.
As a mage, Qing Xin inherently lacked the physical strength and force of Ku Feng, making her escape even less likely.
It no longer mattered whether the two blamed their mysterious plight on the Ocean Nest or Zhou Zhang.
“How should we deal with these two?” the Fishman youth asked Cang Xu.
Cang Xu replied, “Squad leader, let’s proceed as we’ve previously discussed. I think it’s the safest option.”
“And now that I’ve mastered the Concurrent Deception Divine Skill, I can fully bless these two with it, making the entire captive scheme even more foolproof!”
Moments later, Cang Xu and the Fishman youth both arrived at the landing chamber. Here, two Rubber Swallowers stood silently.
Their bellies were bulging, each imprisoning Qing Xin and Ku Feng.
Standing before them, Cang Xu began to cast the Divine Art of Concurrent Deception Skill.
What was peculiar was that he also held a Pearl Bubble in his palm.
The Concurrent Deception Skill was successfully cast, and the Pearl Bubble in Cang Xu’s hand was simultaneously exhausted.
Both the Concurrent Deception Skill and the Pearl Bubble derived from the deity Mei Lan, inherently interconnected and of the same lineage.
Divine Grace also included information on using other resources to aid the release of Divine Arts.
After being hit by the Concurrent Deception Skill, Ku Feng suddenly perceived a giant octopus tentacle piercing through the water, wrapping around him.
Then, with a slight exertion of force, the tentacle crushed Ku Feng into pulp.
Ku Feng’s vision immediately plunged into darkness.
For Qing Xin, it felt as though the spell that helped her breathe and counter the water pressure of the seabed suddenly vanished. She was overwhelmed by the crushing seawater, spitting blood instantaneously. As water forcefully entered her nose and mouth, Qing Xin suffocated to death within seconds.
The experiences of the two captives were conveyed to Cang Xu’s perception.
As the caster of the Divine Arts, Cang Xu could access the sensory outcomes of the targets of his spells.
This was Cang Xu’s first true use of Divine Arts; on Qing Xin and Ku Feng, he uncovered two fresh, hotbeds of practical experience, thus comprehending the effectiveness of the Concurrent Deception Skill.
“The so-called ‘concurrent’ means continuing the current trend to evolve, deceiving the target.”
“And the result of my deception is death!”
Ku Feng’s greatest imaginary enemy prior to this had been a Holy Domain-Level Snow Pear Octopus, so following the deception, he envisioned it was the octopus that killed him.
Although Qing Xin was double sealed, as a member of the Human Race, she could not naturally sustain herself underwater, especially in the deep sea. She was also endowed with other spells by Zhou Zhang. But her distrust of Zhou Zhang amplified her underlying worries, manifesting the cause of her suffocating death.
The deception, being so natural and coherent, raised no suspicions in the perceptions of the two targets, as everything seemed logical and reasonable.
Now both individuals were dead.
Though they still breathed and showed signs of life, they had entered a deep, comatose slumber.
This was the outcome Cang Xu had set while casting the Concurrent Deception Skill.
He simply needed to set a result, then through the situation, the content of the deception would automatically evolve in the minds of the targets, leading to the outcome Cang Xu had predetermined.
Now, Qing Xin and Ku Feng were both deceived into believing they were already dead.