Just as Yi Chen had guessed.
The underground river beneath the village was adjacent to the Church’s ritual area, separated only by a wall.
As the Church fell, the seal that was set there ceased to exist, and the flock of chickens easily breached the connection between the two sides with their excellent wall-boring ability.
Traversing the winding underground river quickly brought them to the well at the village center.
Without hurrying to the surface, Yi Chen first asked the chickens,
“Little Pei, did you encounter anyone else while you were in the underground river?”
After ten minutes of interaction, Little Pei, having confirmed that Jin indeed would not tear the chickens apart by hand, finally mustered the courage to stand firmly on Jin’s shoulder.
The mass was still growing, still expanding,
and at its center, on top, was the head of a black-haired girl.
Seemingly aware of a visitor’s presence,
the head began to slowly turn until it was facing the visitor standing at the doorway.
“Big brother, you’ve arrived! You guys actually managed to cure the disease!
However, about ten minutes ago a strange grey light enveloped me, causing my body to undergo changes, and I didn’t manage to come and greet you, I’m really sorry.”
As she spoke, several mucous-covered tentacle-like arms reached out,
Yi Chen didn’t dodge, letting the soft tissue brush against him, devoid of malice, merely a friendly touch.
The girl’s head was none other than Lene Histera.
The hair that previously covered half of her face now floated upward just like the tentacle arms, revealing horizontally-striped pupils and a forehead with curved goat horns.
‘Single-Horned Goat Eyes’
This feature instantly made Yi Chen think of important information obtained during the investigation of the village—the “Holy Embryo”.
A humanoid form with goat-like features was considered a Holy Embryo, and Church members would personally arrive to take the Holy Embryo away to the deep layers of the Church to conduct the Birth ritual.
The answer was clear,
for some reason, the girl Lene was a Holy Embryo who had been abandoned in an underground area and wasn’t taken to the Church… It was likely her parents’ doing, hiding the child from the Church and throwing her down the well in hopes that she would continue to survive.
“Big brother, I’m really sorry… I might need to ask a favor of you.”
“My movements have become quite inconvenient, could I trouble you to carry me to the ‘High Wall Base’?”
Yi Chen didn’t ask for the specifics of the reason,
he simply picked up the black mass and moved towards the destination at top speed.
The narrow fissures and passages along the way had been burst open by the Village Chief, allowing Lene’s mass-like body to pass through smoothly,
and they quickly arrived at the edge of their destination. A few dozen meters below was the convergence of giant roots, the meat ponds and mud pits where they absorbed nutrients.
“Big brother, just throw me down there! If you jump down with me on your back, you might get hurt.”
Yi Chen tilted his body so Lene could fall freely,
Splat! A large amount of mud splashed up, and the girl’s head quickly looked up to express her gratitude to Yi Chen.
Following this, a bizarre scene unfolded.
The surface of the black mass sprouted numerous mouth-like structures, frantically sucking nutrients from the mud pool,
while spikes grew from the palms of the soft tentacle arms, piercing into the thick roots to suck on the plant nutrients despised by the Church,
amid this process, the black mass grew rapidly, even beginning to fill up the lower zone and transforming into a super-sized womb-like structure.
The towering tree walls of the enclosed forest ceased expanding and, within minutes, withered, decayed, and even died.
Yi Chen stood on the edge of the deep pit the whole time, observing the situation below,
until a brass-bound “Long Strip Frame” with a starting point engraved with an umbilical cord relief and filled with a black liquid symbolizing rebirth emerged in his line of sight.
Names and titles were also attached above the frame
§The Black Maiden of Palingenesis—Lene Histera§
Seeing such a sight, Yi Chen revealed a mocking smile:
“How ironic… A girl who wasn’t cultivated by the Church, who didn’t accept the so-called instructor’s sacrifices, and who fed on the lowest grade of blood-flesh plants every day, actually became what the Church ultimately wanted to create.
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