The Only Player in ‘Child of Stardust’
Chapter 373 - 262 Steady

Chapter 373: Chapter 262 Steady

Three days later.

In a coffee shop in London,

a man wearing a trench coat pushed open the door and walked straight to the table at the far corner to sit down. Across the table, a woman with sunglasses put down her coffee cup and said somewhat displeased, "It’s really difficult to meet with you. Do you know I was supposed to go to New York today to prepare for my next tour concert?"

Richard Byrne, who had discarded the identity of Nangong Yi, calmly replied, "Traveling from hell to London isn’t as simple as a plane ticket, and besides, I have some matters to deal with."

"Oh? What were you doing in hell?"

"I was looking for devils, and I managed to find two, but they both refused to make a deal with me."

"Devils actually refused to trade?" Barbara was surprised. This was news—devils were known for never refusing anyone, let alone a trade.

"With the resurgence of the transcendent, power structures in hell are also being reshuffled. The devils aren’t keen on wasting too much power at this critical juncture, even though I was willing to pay a considerable price." Nangong Yi said, a touch of helplessness in his voice, and then asked, "What did you need to see me about?"

"Something very important," Barbara said mysteriously.

"Don’t beat around the bush, just speak directly." Nangong Yi never liked to go around in circles.

Barbara gestured for him to come a little closer, then lowered her voice and said,

"—Long live the Nine-Headed Snake."

"?"

Nangong Yi was shocked for an instant, then he was immediately bound tightly by black and white ropes that appeared out of nowhere. These ropes, formed from Taiyin and Taiyang Divine Power, were indestructible and impossible to break free from.

At the same moment, countless mental psychokinesis attacks bombarded him, and Nangong Yi’s psychic defenses collapsed in an instant. His soul was severely wounded, leaving him almost in an idiotic state.

Pfft!

A long sword stabbed him from behind, piercing through the chair as well as Nangong Yi’s heart.

A serene light of life flared up, and the life-saving artifact on Nangong Yi activated itself. The perforated heart began to heal rapidly under the influence of the healing power.

Clang! The sword vibrated, and its light surged, shredding Nangong Yi’s internal organs, and the life-saving artifact shattered along with it.

Nangong Yi’s body quickly lost its vitality, and then the flying sword slipped from the hand and darted into the air, tearing a rift in the void. It whooshed into it and disappeared from sight.

"Thank you for your efforts."

The one behind the stabbing, naturally, was Zhou Yuan, who had activated cognitive interference. He had been sitting back-to-back with Nangong Yi all along. Opposite him sat a woman in a magnificent black gown with black hair and deep black eyes, as dark as the night, her demeanor as refined as an orchid.

The Archbishop of the Holy Crow Church!

To be on the safe side, Zhou Yuan had directly brought in this big gun to ensure a foolproof plan.

The Archbishop nodded slightly, picking up a piece of dessert from her plate with a small fork and placing it into her mouth. Then, with a thought, they both turned into night mist and vanished without a trace.

When they appeared again, it was in a laboratory. The glass and liquid of a nutrient pod were shattered on the floor. A body, identical to Nangong Yi’s, lay there with the Soul Chasing Life Stealing Sword plunged into its chest, blood streaming out and staining the ground red.

Clearly, this was Nangong Yi’s resurrection technique, but it was utterly useless in the face of the peculiar characteristics of the Soul Chasing Life Stealing Sword, as he was killed the instant he reincarnated.

In fact, even if he had not been killed by the Soul Chasing Life Stealing Sword, Nangong Yi’s fate would not have been much better; he had sustained massive soul damage, and would most likely have been resurrected as an idiot—unless, of course, he had prepared a contingency for soul repair.

This was why Zhou Yuan had called upon the Archbishop, to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.

Moreover, given the instant kill effect of the Soul Chasing Life Stealing Sword, no matter how magical Nangong Yi’s resurrection techniques were, his death was certain.

The Archbishop glanced at the body on the ground and said in a voice that was eerie and ethereal, "He’s dead."

As a ninth Rank being of the domains of darkness and death, no death could elude her detection, not even those of her fellow Rank powerhouses.

"My host is truly cautious, calling a ninth Rank to deal with a fifth Rank. What’s there to say? Nangong Yi is so dead that he could not be deader, and he never realized that you were the one who killed him."

With this double confirmation, Zhou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, ignited the Divine Fire, and burned the body and the lingering soul to ashes, completely erasing Nangong Yi.

A major threat was eliminated.

The flames roared and soon spread throughout the laboratory, leaving it in ruins and erasing all traces.

The scene abruptly changed, and the two were back in the original coffee shop. The Archbishop picked up her cup and sipped on the warm chocolate milk before saying, "Before I came here, the Goddess entrusted me with a message for you."

"Really?" Zhou Yuan was taken aback. Raven had something to tell him?

"Why didn’t She contact me directly?"

"The Goddess has become involved in the divine war at Lingxu Dongtian and has acquired some authority of the Corpse Immortal. Combined with the Divine Fragments obtained from various events before, She now has the foundation to make a bid for the Supreme God Position. She is fully committed to Her ascension, with all worldly affairs delegated to me," revealed the Archbishop, delivering explosive news.

Ascending to the Supreme God Position... Zhou Yuan’s breathing halted; there were indeed differences between deities, and the Supreme God was an existence even mightier and higher than a True God.

For instance, the Supreme Mother Goddess, named "Supreme," was indeed a deity of the Supreme God Position. She had tainted, assimilated, and killed more than one True God. Her battle record was terrifying, and if the Control Bureau had not severely damaged and confined her to the Void Realm, she would have certainly brought about a catastrophic disaster that could have destroyed the world.

Currently, the number of beings in the Supreme God Position was few and far between. If Raven succeeded in Her ascension, then the status of the Holy Crow Church and its influence in the Control Bureau would grow significantly.

"Alright then, what does Her Eminence have to say?" Zhou Yuan asked.

"The Goddess says that you now have enough followers and personal strength to attempt Divine Enthronement through faith; ascending to divinity in one step is not beyond possibility. The system is merely a tool; do not be constrained by it," the Archbishop relayed.

Zhou Yuan fell into contemplation.

To ascend to divinity in a single step...

The path of Divine Enthronement through faith was popular because the Rank requirements were not as stringent. One could attempt it by Rank seven or eight, without the need to cultivate to perfect ninth Rank. Success meant instantly becoming a deity.

Even certain special beings could attempt it at an earlier stage.

For example, Barbara, who was currently only Rank five, dared to plan her Divine Enthronement through faith. It was not arrogance or recklessness but confidence—her hundreds of millions of fans worldwide could provide her with a large enough Power of Faith. Each lyric she wrote, each melody, every song, and every concert she had ever held served as her human anchors, helping her maintain her sense of self amid the deluge of impure thoughts.

With these conditions met, she dared to harbor such audacious thoughts.

The conditions that Zhou Yuan currently possessed were similarly favorable enough to give it a try.