Divine Artifacts and the Seal Colossus

In the side hall of the Sky Temple.

There was no statue of God here, nor any priest's altar.

The center of the hall was empty, with a famous work of Yinsai hanging on the middle of the wall—"The Royal Bloodline," depicting the scene of the King of Wisdom, Redlichia, bestowing Wisdom Power upon the first king's sons. The dome's murals were painted with new-style colored pottery.

This place resembled more of a council chamber, with long-backed chairs lining the walls. At this moment, priests from various temples sat upon them, engaged in hushed conversations.

They all wore priestly robes, with seals revealing which of the nine great temples they belonged to.

Taking advantage of the Sky Temple's High Priest Sandean's absence, the group spoke freely, even disrespectfully.

"To think there's a method to become a third-tier priest, where did he get it from?" A Spirit Realm priest from the Iron Temple spoke, his words full of doubt.

"Surely, he couldn't have created it himself!" The priest's tone was mocking.

"I knew he was holding something back. What he gave us before was incomplete." Someone stood up angrily, as if Sandean had stolen something from them.

"That lowly slave, hiding things God bestowed upon us. Those belong to Yinsai, given to us by the saint and God." Emotions were stirred, and some present began to speak ill of Sandean.

"I don't understand why Saint Stan would choose someone like him to inherit his will." Someone sighed.

At this moment, footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, and the voices in the side hall gradually quieted.

All eyes turned to the entrance.

Several of God's servants pushed open the doors, and Sandean appeared before them, wearing a sacred robe embroidered with the nine ritual seals, looking holy and noble.

The slave brand visible on his neck stood out starkly against his otherwise dignified appearance.

Sandean stopped at the doorway, looking at everyone.

No matter how contemptuous they felt, those present stood up and bowed to Sandean.

A scornful smile appeared on Sandean's lips as he turned towards the High Priest's seat at the highest point.

"I indeed possess the method to become a third-tier Seal Priest, but this is not a power given to me by the saint or God's messenger. This is a power I discovered myself, a future I've carved out."

"I do not intend to give what's mine to you greedy, selfish parasites."

As he walked, he spoke.

"Actually, you don't need to put on an act here."

"I know what you're thinking, and I heard what you just said."

"We are enemies, we've had many conflicts. I've tried my best to suppress you, and you've killed people dear to me."

"There's really no need for us to pretend we're on the same side here."

"We despise each other so much, yet we can't directly kill each other. Gathering together like this is truly nauseating."

As he spoke, the hatred in his words became more apparent, his voice growing colder with each sentence.

Those present were stunned. Everyone knew this was the truth, but no one had dared to say it so directly.

Wasn't this blatantly tearing away the fig leaf between them, exposing the internal strife and ugliness among the priests?

Sandean, however, paid no heed and directly began to explain why he had invited the others here.

"Despite our mutual loathing, I still invited you here. I've gradually come to understand something."

"Saint Stan wanted me to bring the power of dreams and creation to the realm of Yinsai. He wanted me to bring this power to all Trilobite Men, but not to you."

"That's right."

"People like you don't deserve to possess God-given power."

"The sun of the new era has no room for parasites like you in its dark crevices."

The group of priests could no longer contain themselves. They came down from their seats, some pointing at Sandean and shouting.

"Do you know what you're saying?"

"Sandean? Have you gone mad?"

"You, a slave of unknown origin, claiming to be the inheritor of the saint's will, you lowly being, what right do you have to rebuke us noble-blooded existences?"

The crowd suddenly became agitated, everyone standing up.

They couldn't believe it, staring at Sandean with wide eyes.

How dare he? How dare he say such things?

Sandean directly sat in the High Priest's seat, looking at the dumbfounded temple priests sitting on both sides.

The scornful smile on his face grew stronger, his gaze gradually becoming sharper.

"Is that all you dare? I can be even bolder."

"Don't you want third-tier power? Then come and experience it!"

The shadow of the Seal Spirit appeared beside Sandean, a powerful spiritual pressure directly enveloping the hall. Several priests with insufficient power were even knocked to the ground by the impact.

Sandean, sitting in the main seat, clapped his hands once, and immediately all doors and windows automatically closed.

In an instant, the entire side hall was plunged into darkness, with only Sandean and them remaining.

The light from the Seal Spirit illuminated half of Sandean's face, revealing a cold gaze and killing intent.

The more reserved and peaceful a person usually is, the more resolute and unstoppable they become when pushed to their limits.

Sandean was like this at this moment.

Everyone now truly felt that something was wrong. It seemed that this lowly slave before them was really going to make a move against them.

They also simultaneously realized that those present were the leaders of the forces that had previously acted against Sandean, all his enemies.

Chief among them was the current head of the Tito family.

Other priests, such as those from the Pottery Temple and the Ice Temple, were not present, clearly not having received invitations.

They had previously thought the others were just late, but now it seemed Sandean had invited all his mortal enemies to capture them in one fell swoop.

"This madman is really going to attack us."

"We can't just sit here and wait for death."

"Kill him and then break out."

More than a dozen second-tier Spirit Realm priests simultaneously attacked Sandean, weapons controlled by spiritual power flying towards him sitting in the main seat.

But the Seal Spirit raised a hand, and a spiritual barrier completely blocked their attacks.

The power of the spirit body after spiritual power activation and transformation was incomparable to the second tier.

A confident expression appeared on Sandean's face: "Seal Spirit, Clay Form."

In an instant, the divine technique law imprint inside the Seal Spirit's body burst forth with an earth-gray light.

Surging mud poured down from above, covering the entire room.

Everyone was instantly enveloped by the mud, swallowed up.

Second-tier Spirit Realm priests needed rituals to use their strongest power. When matched against a third-tier Seal Priest, the difference between heaven and earth became apparent.

Sandean watched these once-disgusting, utterly detestable enemies struggle in the mud, his eyes showing not a hint of mercy.

"Let me go!"

"Sandean, what are you trying to do?"

"Do you know the consequences of your actions? You've broken the rules, we are the noblest people in the kingdom."

"You can't harm us, we are King Henir's vassals, we are the pillars of the kingdom."

Sandean laughed, laughed without restraint.

"I indeed couldn't harm you before, because I was part of you."

"But now, it's different."

"From today on, I am no longer the High Priest of the Sky Temple."

He now had no burden at all, and he couldn't care less about talking about rules with these people.

Sandean vented all the resentment and hatred he had accumulated over the years. He was not a person skilled in scheming, nor could he play so-called politics and intrigue.

What he could do was to punish these people in his own way.

"So I don't need to talk about rules with people like you, because we were never on the same side."

"You've schemed against me time and time again, framed me time and time again, and even attacked those close to me, killing my followers."

"Did you think I had forgotten it all?"

"No!"

"I remember everything."

"You filthy, ugly parasites, all of you can die!"

Sandean took out a set of nesting pottery dolls from his robe sleeve.

With a wave of his hand, the dolls separated one by one, floating before him.

The Seal Spirit, before his eyes, killed these priests one after another. Then, it extracted the mythical blood from their bodies.

Mythical blood couldn't be used if it wasn't willingly bestowed, and cursed mythical blood was like poison.

But Sandean wasn't planning to integrate their mythical blood into himself at all. He extracted their mythical blood and fused their power into the nesting dolls to create Seal Dolls.

Those present were completely terrified by this horrific and bloody scene.

They never imagined that the slave who usually liked to bury himself in books and spoke little could be so resolute and ruthless when he turned cruel.

They wailed and cried, loudly begging Sandean to spare them.

"Spare me!"

"I was wrong, Sandean, I was really wrong."

"We won't oppose you anymore."

Some even shouted: "If you had such powerful strength, why didn't you use it earlier? How would we dare to oppose you?"

The mythical blood transformed into streams of light falling into the dolls. The divine technique law imprints already carved into the dolls lit up, changing from lifeless objects to vivid, animated beings.

The priests present, one after another, all eventually became Seal Dolls manufactured by Sandean.

Sandean had created the second Divine Artifact in this world.

The first was the Divine Boat created by Hila, God's messenger, and Sandean's idea came from this.

Only the combination of third-tier power and divine technique law imprints could create such unique objects.

Such powerful strength was utterly irresistible, dangerously strong and fascinating, and thus terrifyingly eerie.

"It's over."

Under the power of the Seal Spirit, more than a dozen second-tier Spirit Realm priests were killed in an instant.

The nesting dolls merged into one another, finally fusing into a single doll.

As the Seal Doll transformed between mud figure, pottery figure, and stone figure, it also kept growing larger.

Finally.

It solidified into a stone colossus over thirty meters tall.

The stone colossus, its body greatly expanded, burst through the hall's roof, even swallowing the hall's stones to become part of its body.

The colossus strode out from within, heading down the mountain.

Such an intense battle and commotion erupting from the Sky Temple naturally caught the attention of the God-Servant City. The royal guard immediately sealed off the God-Servant City.

However, they hadn't expected to be faced with the High Priest of the Sky Temple and the Seal Colossus under his control.

Sandean, with Haru, stood on the shoulder of the colossus, descending step by step from the Sky Temple.

Although its enormous size couldn't compare to the former Ruhe beasts, it was still terrifying.

Everyone in the Sky Temple and the God-Servant City watched the colossus in shock. Crowds surged in the streets of the God-Servant City, people screaming in terror and fleeing into corners.

Even the royal guards on the city walls retreated repeatedly, no one daring to obstruct him.

Soon after, King Henir in the palace was also alerted.

King Henir, protected by his personal priest corps, came before Sandean. He looked at the Seal Colossus in shock, then turned to Sandean.

"My High Priest, what exactly has happened?"

Sandean still held great respect for this king.

"Great King of Yinsai, I am leaving."

King Henir suddenly understood something and sighed, "Why must it be this way?"

Sandean bowed: "So, I have disappointed you."

"Someone like me was never suitable to be a serving priest of the Sky Temple. Let alone becoming the High Priest, the head of all priests."

He looked at King Henir: "I have failed your trust and expectations. Please forgive me."

"But I have already brought the power of rituals to Yinsai, and given it to this kingdom without reservation. You no longer need me for what remains."

"Now, I'm going to do what I truly should do."

King Henir wanted to persuade him to stay, but Sandean didn't respond further.

The colossus stepped down from the mountain, finally moving along the edge of the Sacred Lake towards the vast, distant lands.

On the shoulder of the colossus.

The child asked Sandean, "Lord Sandean, where are we going?"

Sandean told him, "I'm going to establish a place of our own, a sacred hall of knowledge and truth, a paradise of truth regardless of status, bloodline, or origin."

"The power of priests will no longer be controlled by any single family, any individual, or any kingdom."

"In this place, everyone will take pride in possessing more knowledge. They will explore the path of power and ability, and seek the secrets of this world."

After listening, the child's eyes were full of longing and curiosity: "What is that place called?"

Sandean smiled too: "Perhaps it will be called some kind of academy, or maybe some kind of castle, or perhaps some kind of tower."

"Whatever the name."

"Its essence will not change. It will be a place to impart knowledge and ideals."

Sandean finally understood.

He was a scholar, a person who spreads the saint's ideals and concepts.

From the beginning, he could never have been someone who associated with those nobles and powerful figures.

He looked back, gazing towards the now blurry Sacred Mountain behind them.

"Perhaps I should never have come here in the first place."

He had finally broken free from his shackles and set out on his own path.

In front of the palace in the God-Servant City, King Henir watched the colossus at the edge of the sky and the departing Sandean.

His eyes moved slightly, and he asked the attendant beside him, "Did I do something wrong?"

The attendant knelt on the ground, not daring to answer.