Lord of Mysterious Wizard

The sudden change nearly caused Tang Qi to lose control.

As the Sovereign of the "Dream Kingdom," he could clearly feel that within that grey and distorted radiance lay an extremely powerful force. By devouring it, both his own power and the power of the Kingdom would surge.

However, in this moment, Tang Qi's expression turned solemn, and he forcefully suppressed the pounding urge within him.

Completely ignoring the desire in his soul, his gaze focused on the grey light. The unbelievable yet inevitable Information Fragment exploded in his mind:

"Curio: A Fragment of Divine Source, originating from a 'Life God' after their fall. This piece of the Source contains the God's abandoned knowledge and Divine Power, rendering it ownerless and available to any living being."

"This fragment harbors the property of 'influencing the soul'."

"This fragment is one of the reasons Flora has become mad!"

"This fragment has partially merged with Flora, granting Her a degree of Promotion in power as she pushes the limits of Her own capabilities. Yet, Her wildly chaotic will cannot control the newfound power."

...

While suppressing the impulse, Tang Qi continued to analyze the fragment.

Another of his doubts was resolved.

Why had Flora, once a Goddess of the Order Camp, become a Mad God?

The answer was surprisingly simple.

"Flora was once the 'True Love, Body, and Desire God', which might seem to denote a Powerful God, but in truth, She ranked very low among All Spirits, belonging to the lowest tier of Weak Gods, with powers restrained by many other Gods."

"Even Order Gods cannot resist the urge to seek further Promotion. Flora aimed to elevate Her Divine Position from True Love, Body, and Desire to 'Life' by utilizing this fragment related to the 'soul'."

"Although compared to a true Life God, these gains are insufficient, this would have been a tremendous leap nonetheless."

"Unfortunately, She failed, unable to Devour the fragment, and instead, plunged Herself into madness."

Upon discovering this, Tang Qi also understood why the Dream Kingdom had shown signs of activity.

The thumping in his soul gradually became clearer.

"By devouring this fragment Source, the Kingdom will undergo certain transformations, significantly enhancing many powers, among which the most evident would be... the Life Spell and the Soul Splitting Spell."

"However, the devouring cannot proceed. Not only does the fragment carry an intense Pollution, but rashly cutting it away might spark even more horrid chain reactions, exacerbating the slow cleansing progress within the Dream Kingdom, adding insult to injury."

As Tang Qi contemplated, his expression turned troubled while beholding the two entangled and irregular twists of "Divinity Source".

Days of experiments, augmented by the recently acquired Information Fragment, allowed Tang Qi to confirm:

"Unless a God willingly renounces it, no external force can extract a God's soul, self-will, or Knowledge from their 'Source.' Not even a Dominator-level God can forcibly remove these from a Weak God's Source."

"Could it be, the only option is to exile it?"

A reluctant look emerged on Tang Qi's face.

The substantial number of Curios and bizarre Extraordinary Creatures had proven that each God was a Treasure; moreover, there lay another Fragment of Divine Source, which if banished to the Lost World would be a grave loss.

Yet keeping Them here was hardly feasible.

Tang Qi felt within him the two intertwining Sources were extremely unstable, potentially leading to terrifying outcomes at any time. They could no longer return to the Mechanical Ball, nor remain in the Dream Kingdom.

Exile?

Or sacrifice to the Melter?

While Tang Qi wavered in his thoughts, suddenly, within the irregularly swelling Divinity Source, a face of striking beauty emerged.

Tang Qi was startled at first, but quickly noticed the difference.

On this intermittently forming face, disrupted by interference and occasional distortions, Tang Qi saw not the "ultimate madness." Instead, She was enchantingly beautiful, provocative of desire, capable of inducing wondrous changes in one's body.

But She was not mad.

"The real Flora?"

Just as this thought blossomed in Tang Qi's heart, a magnetic voice resonating irresistibly suddenly sounded.

"Whip me!"

"Ah?"

In a flash, Tang Qi became as if struck by "Petrification Technique," completely stiffened and disbelieving what he just heard.

Within a brief moment of shock, Flora urgently spoke again, "Quickly use that thorn to continue lashing me. It's the 'Lord of Thorns' Origin power. I even sense the breath of Truth within it; the Lord of Thorns has truly succeeded."

"Hurry, it can help me maintain my sanity."

Although Flora made an exceedingly odd request, Tang Qi sensed nothing wrong nor perilous.

Yet the next second, he saw Flora's beautiful visage begin to contort again, with the edge of madness about to erupt.

In a flash of frantic thoughts, Tang Qi's hand produced the "Truth Thorns," and he lashed out with all his might.

Snap!

The first stroke fell, and the brilliance of thorns scattered, causing Flora's disintegrating face to coalesce once again.

Her seductive lips suddenly opened wider as she let out an unusual sound.

"It works!"

Tang Qi's eyes slightly brightened, and then, he continued his actions.

Whip! Whip! Whip!

One lash after another, the two "Divinity Source Fragments", which were previously swelling and distorting irregularly and wildly, though still frenzied, began to be confined within a bearable and observable range.

"Stop!"

Following that voice, Tang Qi's arm paused.

Before him, Flora's stunningly beautiful face, now marked with several lashes from the whip, looked at Tang Qi with resentful eyes full of humanity, much like a real woman would.

Although Tang Qi often considered himself underage, his soul was that of an adult in his prime.

And his body was close to adulthood.

When facing other Transcendents with charming powers, Tang Qi could suppress them with his formidable strength.

But Flora was the "True Love, Body, and Desire God", and that one look from Her almost brought Tang Qi to embarrassment on the spot.

Tang Qi unnoticeably suppressed his instinctual desires, and with an indifferent expression, he set down the Truth Thorns and immediately looked at Flora, saying directly: "Your time is short, do you have any last wishes? Or, would you like to make some kind of deal with me?"

His voice was incredibly resolute.

Flora, the Mad God who had wandered the "Mysterious Side" for a good half of the Dark Era, had recovered her sanity temporarily, which already surprised Tang Qi and elevated his appraisal of Rafael.

Tang Qi didn't believe that Flora could truly be restored.

From all angles, She was beyond saving.

"Madness has already fully merged with Her essence, Her end can only have two outcomes: complete demise... or mutation into a Mysterious monster."

His reminder left Flora silent.

That stunningly beautiful face showed heartbreaking sorrow, making anyone willing to offer everything to save Her.

Unfortunately, Tang Qi was unmoved.

The two confronted each other for a full two seconds, Tang Qi showing no intention of helping Her proactively.

Another iron rule of the Mysterious Side: never make a promise lightly to any being, as it can often be fatal.

Tang Qi's gaze wandered between the Truth Thorns in his hand and Flora in front of him, as if waiting for the right moment. Once the madness and pollution began to spread again, he would continue whipping Flora.

Unsurprisingly, Flora was the one to give in.

Her eerily beautiful eyes gazed at Tang Qi, seemingly lost in memories, and said: "Mysterious Human Wizard, do you know 'Isapatra'?"

"The early Dark Era Fertility and Death Goddess?"

Almost instantaneously, Tang Qi answered.

After all, he was a polymath, and although he could not know the names of all "All Spirits", a large portion of them were already stored as knowledge in Tang Qi's mind.

Isapatra!

An early Dark Era "Weak God" with a seemingly unimposing presence.

During the "Great Catastrophe", many deities fell or slumbered, but a few were promoted.

She was one of them.

She leaped from being a Fertility and Death Goddess into one of the three "Life Goddesses" in the Mysterious, whose control over Life Divinity allowed Her to contest some Death Gods, thereby fully stepping into the ranks of the Powerful Gods.

Wait, Life Goddess?

Tang Qi suddenly lifted his head, intuition dawning on him, as Flora immediately made it reality.

"She was once my lover."

"..."

Tang Qi was once again rendered speechless.

Clearly, there was a story here.

If Rose Madeline were here, she probably couldn't help but rub her hands together, excited.

If not mistaken, Flora is the True Love, Body, and Desire Goddess, while Isapatra is the Fertility and Death Goddess.

Both were Goddesses, yet Flora said They had been in love during the Dark Era.

The subsequent history… Flora's promotion failed, becoming a Mad God wandering the Mysterious… while Isapatra leaped into being one of the Three Great Life Goddesses…

Tang Qi blinked, his thoughts scattering in his mind.

Before Flora could continue, he had already imagined an elaborate love and revenge novel with complex twists; and considering both characters were goddesses, most of its content would probably not be fit for public view, destined to be censored.

"I was merely capturing a mad Weak God for a simple experiment, and unexpectedly, things took a strange turn."

As Tang Qi ranted, Flora looked at him, as if having insight to his inner thoughts.

A smile so stunning it forced Tang Qi to focus on suppressing his desires crept upon Her face.

She laughed unrestrainedly, her eyes filled with incredibly complex emotions, and Her voice, capable of arousing the love and desire of most beings, continued to resonate.

"It appears you would like to know the story between Her and me."

"If you need it, I can make a copy for you, the kind without any censorship…"