Chapter 443: Chapter 428: Harmony (1st Update)

The Holy Spirit Challenge, lasting merely twenty-five days from preparation to conclusion, finally came to an end, and as the champion, Juan Canyun was temporarily unable to ascend the podium to receive his rewards.

Jiang Qiao had some post-challenge work to take care of, the first being the Lady of Calamity waking up in Juan Canyun’s Fureya’s room.

Now, Jiang Qiao floated in the form of a Spiritual Body behind Juan Canyun’s Fureya, who currently had a maternal predisposition dominating her personality traits.

Jiang Qiao wasn’t sure if it was his guidance that caused this, but in any case… Juan Canyun’s Fureya now thought more like a mother than a sister.

Fureya, adopting the identity of an elderly mother, quietly sat beside the bed and watched as the Lady of Calamity awakened.

The Lady of Calamity had many wounds. Juan Canyun’s strikes were unreserved and without hesitation. Fortunately, the Lady of Calamity’s blood was thick enough, and only the injury caused by Juan Canyun’s spear piercing through her had not completely healed, while the rest had returned to their original state.

“I don’t like apologizing to anyone,” said the Lady of Calamity as soon as she opened her eyes and saw Fureya sitting by her side. She sat up from the bed to face Fureya and said, “But I lost…”

“But the Holy Spirit won,” Fureya maintained her expressionless face as always and then comfortingly said to the Lady of Calamity, “You did well too, pirate lady, so there’s no need for guilt.”

“The kid won?” The Lady of Calamity’s joyful mood didn’t last too long before she started looking for Juan Canyun, but Juan Canyun was not in the world of the Holy Spirit. “Where is he?!”

The Lady of Calamity got up from the bed in search of Juan Canyun, but the unhealed gunshot wound in her chest caused a tearing pain.

“Your wounds are not yet healed, lie down and rest, pirate lady,” said Fureya, still expressionless as she watched the Lady of Calamity.

“These wounds are nothing to me, where is he…?”

“Lie down,” Fureya repeated calmly, “I don’t have much time to use this healing ability, and you should understand how difficult it is to treat the trauma caused by the Holy Spirits.”

“…”

The Lady of Calamity, clutching her aching chest, finally had to lie down on the bed again.

Fureya’s hands glowed with a dim light of Creation Energy. Unlike the healing techniques of the priests, it was closer to reconstructing the part ‘shaved’ off by the ‘Devouring God’s Power’ off the Lady of Calamities’ chest.

Such healing was a method only available to NPCs who had signed a sell-your-soul contract with the Devouring God, and it was also a small privilege bestowed upon Fureya by Jiang Qiao.

“My Holy Spirit won the contest, but due to excessive energy consumption during the match, he is now in the real world at an institution called a hospital, undergoing treatment,” explained Fureya while reconstructing the body of the Lady of Calamity.

“Who was his final opponent? Those two Eternals? The Eternals from the Creation Sanctuary are a troublesome bunch, and those two are trouble among troubles,” said the Lady of Calamity, propping her forehead with an arm while lying on the bed, a position that slightly alleviated the discomfort caused by Fureya’s reconstruction.

This feeling was like a hole suddenly opening up in her chest and a bunch of ants crawling into it, stuffing it with things.

And the relationship between the Eternals and planar pirates frankly was like that of policemen and robbers–the Lady of Calamity’s most common foes in the past were the Hunter squads of the Creation Sanctuary.

“The final opponent was another Holy Spirit, who defeated both Eternals at the same time,” said Fureya.

“He took out the Hilze’er siblings? Was it that guy with the shiny tiger?” asked the Lady of Calamity in surprise, trying to sit up from the bed.

But Fureya placed a hand on her shoulder, pressing her back down onto the bed again.

“That’s a Thought Beast… This kind of treatment is a delicate surgery, and if you keep moving around like this, I can’t guarantee nothing will heal incorrectly. Displaced or overgrown bones are the least severe outcome,” Fureya’s voice finally showed a trace of displeasure.

“Thought Beast, how terrifyingly fast you Holy Spirits grow,” said the Lady of Calamity, always the impatient type, but the wound destroyed by the Devouring God’s Power was something she couldn’t repair herself. She thus had no choice but to obediently lay on the bed, accepting Fureya’s touch.

“If the kid fainted after the battle, that means he didn’t make a wish, right?” The Lady of Calamity suddenly remembered that if Juan Canyun had fainted, it would mean he couldn’t claim the champions’ reward.

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you worried?” asked the Lady of Calamity, glancing at the unexpressive Fureya, “I didn’t tell him to make any kind of wish, and besides, that’s a condition one can propose to the Devouring God. Not many on the star chart could resist such temptation. Do you think it’s really possible that he…”

Mid-sentence, the Lady of Calamity suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest.

“What are you doing!”

“My Holy Spirit is unconscious in the hospital because of you, pirate lady…”

“It’s as if my wishes have nothing to do with you,” Lady Calamity said to Fureya, enduring the discomfort on her chest, “What are your plans for the future? Dolls… no, Fureya. One of you? You have your own thoughts, trapped by the Devouring God in this tiny room. Don’t you plan to gain freedom through a wish like this?”

“We are free, from the day we were born our mission was to serve the Spiritual Body, and to nurture… my sisters’ personalities diverged upon arriving at Biland Island, from my personality sequence, I just need to feel the growth of my Spiritual Body to achieve satisfying emotions,” Fureya said.

“I don’t understand, nor can I comprehend… Also, you can contact the Devouring God, right?” Lady Calamity didn’t want to try understanding what Juan Canyun’s Fureya was thinking.

She hadn’t seen her own mother since she was born, of course she couldn’t understand what maternal love was, but… in her heart, Lady Calamity still owed this Fureya, or all the Fureyas, a wish.

Lady Calamity was not someone who always kept her word, but the unfulfilled promises still made her… very uncomfortable.

However, beyond the discomfort, Lady Calamity realized a more serious problem, that was… the Eternals.

“The God’s connection with us is intermittent, but he can hear all important proposals,” Fureya said.

“I don’t know if your Devouring God is aware, but those Eternals are nothing good for us, their presence here signifies that the Sanctuary of Creation has set its sights on us, but the Sanctuary of Creation is somewhat different from those crazy Magic Thieves, we can make deals with them… as long as there’s sufficient benefit, we can be allies,” Lady Calamity said proudly, seemingly pleased with herself. When she tried to get up from the bed, a glance from Fureya prompted her to lie back down.

“I’ve dealt with them many, many times, the various echelons of the Sanctuary of Creation. I don’t know their attitude towards the Devouring God, but if the Devouring God is considering an alliance with some of them, I could help. If…”

Lady Calamity paused here, she had intended to speak fiercely, but now, being pinned down on the bed by Fureya’s gaze… she couldn’t muster any ferocity.

“If there’s a desire to go to war with the Sanctuary of Creation, count me in too, we can take a lot from them, the Pirate City’s covenant with the Devouring God might continue for a long, long time!”

The words spoken by Lady Calamity were all heard by the being behind Fureya… that is, Jiang Qiao.

First, Jiang Qiao was surprised at the speed of Juan Canyun Fureya’s consciousness evolution; she could already stand on her own like some first-tier Fureyas.

Then, there was the information Lady Calamity revealed… a war and peace with the Sanctuary of Creation.

Jiang Qiao still preferred peaceful development; he didn’t think that increasing the combat strength of Spiritual Bodies would be enough to stand up to… an organization that nearly maintained half the cosmic order.

“Is this really up to us to decide?” This question from Fureya came at Jiang Qiao’s behest.

“Of course you can decide. The Sanctuary of Creation isn’t so united internally, Hilze’er’s siblings are the direct proof; they belong to different departments. Here’s a little secret for you, that Hilze’er guy carries the presence of the Lord of Annihilation, the Lord of Annihilation is the one most eager to collect the descendants of the Devouring God and Divine Fragments,” Lady Calamity said.

“God has heard the information you’ve provided, and in the end, God asked me to convey one thing, to focus on the upcoming holiday,” Fureya said.

“Holiday?”

Lady Calamity felt the term somewhat unfamiliar. Plane pirates worked 24 hours a day, all year round; they were either robbing, on the way to a robbery, or planning the next big heist.

“Yes, the NPCs contracted by Spiritual Beings all have holidays and routine activities, our staff… our Contractors’ remuneration should be decent on the cosmic map,” Fureya said on behalf of Jiang Qiao.

“Remuneration? You do manage that a bit better than the Sanctuary of Creation,” Lady Calamity conceded.

By this time, Lady Calamity’s wound had been completely healed by Fureya; she sat up from the bed, patted her chest, and felt that the two mounds on her chest seemed… a little bigger?

“I’m curious… what sort of remuneration does the Sanctuary of Creation offer its Hunters?” Jiang Qiao was indeed intrigued by Lady Calamity’s words.

“Nothing much! Part of my pirate crew comes from the Sanctuary of Creation. The concept of a worker doesn’t exist there; all their members ascended from different worlds as ‘Saints’. These guys celebrated as heroes on their worlds come to do heroic deeds in the sanctuary,” Lady Calamity’s voice dripped with disdain, even disgust.

“Truly heroic deeds?”

“Catastrophes! These ‘Saints’ eliminate calamities practically everywhere on the cosmic map, facing the Void Swarm and abyssal aberrations as their most common foes. By exterminating those swarms and abysses, they indeed save certain worlds, but for the Sanctuary of Creation… they are just gathering materials for study!”

“Your wounds have just been healed, you better lie down and continue to rest,” Fureya said.

Lady Calamity didn’t act willfully this time, genuinely feeling weak. Jiang Qiao gleaned much about the Sanctuary of Creation from Lady Calamity’s narrative.

The organization openly commits itself to saving the world from disasters… a salvation organization. But more aptly, it’s more like a massive arms dealer spanning half the cosmic map.

“I should go see those two Eternals,” Jiang Qiao said.

Compared to this, Jiang Qiao was more concerned about Rosh and Hilze’er’s plans after their defeat.