In the end, no one was able to produce any results with the "branding".
Y'zaks' demonic bloodline rejected the lifeblood; none of the inoculations were possible. Vivian's Blood Clan lineage meant that she was immune to all foreign bloods. Nangong Wuyue and Ayesha, who were elemental species among the sirens also rejected the lifeblood. The substance only stayed a little while in their bodies. The others, like Lily showed neither acceptance nor rejection towards the lifeblood.
But, none of them could directly make the lifeblood vanish from their body like Hao Ren did.
"Looks like there must be devout faith and long-term spiritual training in order to make contact with the goddess." Big Beardy looked at Lily and shook his head. Then he turned to look at Hao Ren. "As far as you are concerned, I have no explanation for it. Maybe your God can give you the answer."
"Okay, never mind," said Hao Ren, not upset at all. "I've had a lot of bizarre things happened to me. Anyway, I'm really appreciate for what you've done, and I know by performing the Branding Rituals on the otherworldlings, you have broken the rules."
Cardinal Orben still looked emotionless. "It's okay. I think it all happened for a reason. The goddess would be happy to bring her blessing upon you guys."
Hao Ren smiled at the cardinal. But before he turned and left, he asked Big Beardy what he might be doing next.
"We have solved the cult problem. The First Born is no longer a threat. Do you still like to stay?" Hao Ren asked.
Big Beardy nodded indifferently. "The Pope has died; it's a time of turbulence. We need to calm and guide the believers. And the truth of the death of the goddess... I'm afraid I can't leave now. When you see the other three, let them come back. I need them here."
"Do you want me to go and look for them?" asked Hao Ren. "They might be travelling all over the country."
Big Beardy shook his head. "No. The goddess will guide the way of the ascetics. If they come, it is the will of the goddess. If they do not come, then the goddess will have something else for them."
Hao Ren scratched his head. To him, religion was beyond common sense, very much like Raven 12345…
Bidding farewell to his Hollettan friends, they headed over to CARS to check out the giant before returning to Earth.
Hao Ren had not much time at home. After a night of rest, he immediately went to report to Raven 12345.
With a flash of the light, Hao Ren and the MDT had found themselves emerged in front of a gorgeous house suspended in an unknown space. They vaguely felt something was wrong.
The usual clear blue sky was no more. It was dim and gloomy; the lush green in the garden had withered completely withered; the fountains had dried up, leaving only the a few water elements still wandering in the dry pool. Gusts of cold, strange wind, which filled with smell of decay, blew from all directions. If was almost like the advent of late autumn, everything was so dead. Hao Ren was shocked. "Has the goddess broken something again?"
"Most like she has got the heaven a change of theme," said the MDT. "Do you think this landscape has quite a feel to it? It must be intentional."
"Doing such a miserable and disastrous theme intentionally? Did she need to ruin her own garden just to get the autumn theme?" Hao Ren looked queerly at the weird exotic plants that had withered on both sides of the road. "And it doesn't look quite like Raven 12345's aesthetic taste…"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he heard the Raven 12345's voice, loud and energetic. "Of course it's not true. I've just done something stupid."
Hao Ren looked into the direction where her voice came from and saw the goddess reeling out from behind a shriveled bush, hair covered with pieces of grass, as if she just crept out from underground. He was taken aback. "What happened to you?"
"Just did a little experiment and yeah, I blew it," said the Ravens 12345, waving carelessly. "Don't worry, I've got years of experience…"
Just when Hao Ren was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Raven 12345 continued. "…screwing up the experiment."
"I knew it!"
"You will get used to it," said Raven 12345. As always, she was just fooling around before she quickly steered the conversation away. "Let's not talk about my garden. Are you just back from The Plane of Dreams? If I'm not mistaken, you have made an incredible discovery?"
Hao Ren marveled at Raven 12345's intuition. He told everything about his find in the Plane of Dreams as he followed her deep into the garden behind her. Even the death of the goddess had the lunatic goddess become serious. No more gagging around. She listened attentively, nodded her head, and occasionally asked some questions. Obviously, the seriousness of the matter had her attention.
The two of them were treading along the trail covered with deciduous leaves and grass. They soon came to the middle of the garden where Hao Ren was also familiar and Raven 12345 often cooked her noodles on a pot on this small open space... No, Hao Ren could not help it. There was nothing classy about this goddess.
In fact, the MDT was right; the withered 'Heavenly Garden' was beautiful when looking from a certain perspective. But Hao Ren still had no mood for this. He only saw that the vacant land that was blossoming in the past had become a dying scene like the other places. That the three green walls that used to be covered with flowering vines had only a few withered vines left. That the shrubs and flowers next to the walls were left with messy branches. That the dried leaves had covered the carved round table.
Obviously, everything here had just withered. Raven 12345 had not the time to clean up, much less rebuild her garden.
"Although you have shifted the topic, but I still want to ask ... Is this really just an experimental accident?" Hao Ren's brows knit together as he looked at the scene. "What experimental accident that could make the goddess' garden wither?"
"It's just a little accident," Raven 12345 let Hao Ren sit on a chair. She swept away the dried leaves on the chair with her hand and flung herself in it without a fuss. "Don't worry; I will get it restored in a while, just a matter of seconds. Did you say that a group of mortals murdered the goddess of the Plane of Dreams? How powerful was that mortals?"
"The Guardian did not make it clear, but according to his description, those mortals who were capable of defeating the space-time defense of the goddess, attacking the 'kingdom' in a special dimension, and resistant to the occult to some extent. So they must have mastered the probability weapons and stolen the power of the goddess... I still couldn't figure out the 'stealing' part, but I guess it all comes from the lifeblood. Probably they had created their own 'divine technique' with lifeblood."
"Don't make too detailed speculation when there is lack of more information," Raven 12345 had rarely given Hao Ren advice, except this time. "It's not so easy to duplicate 'divine technique'. God's power is not just 'power' per se. God's governance of the world is like how humans manage their computer systems, and the mortal resistance to God is just as difficult as a computer program to kill the operator sitting in front of the computer. That's how you can draw the analogy."
Hao Ren fell into deep thought for a long moment before he said, "How could this be possible?"
"It's possible as long as the conditions are there. But the rate of success is just a little better than zero. So I don't think an indigenous race in the Plane of Dreams cold really beat such an odd," said Raven 12345, sitting still, her face serious. "Unless the goddess they were plotting to kill had an obvious weakness; one that is half-baked, without an orthodox education, has no clue how to apply their divine power, and lame governing skill. Then, it is not so difficult to kill such a God."
Hao Ren was surprised. "Didn't you say that the goddess of the Plane of Dreams was a true God? Of Xi Ling Celestials or the Galacticus Lords?"
"Her true God identity is confirmed, but which pantheon she belonged to is still a mystery," said Raven 12345, scratching her head, looking a little awkward. "So I can't really answer your question. Just tell me everything about the death of the goddess. I want every details of her death."
Hao Ren told everything he knew about the story of 'The murder of mother by her treacherous children' to his boss until Raven 12345 interjected. "Wait a second! You said that the goddess was crying out to her own people for help when she was dying so that her people would provide her power through their prayer?"
Hao Ren nodded. "Yeah. Is there a problem?"
"Of course there's a problem!" Raven 12345 knocked on the table. "A true God does not need the prayers of the believers to provide power—because mortal prayers are useless to us!"