In the Soul Wilderness, a breeze swept across the tall grass in front of the Great Cathedral, and two figures suddenly ford in the wind.
One was Yu Sheng, the other was Baili Qing.
"...No matter how many tis I co, I can't help but marvel at how incredible this place is," Baili Qing raised his head, looking at the towering Great Cathedral and the giant Crystal Tree above it, "Especially since it seems like this place undergoes earth-shattering changes every now and then—is it just my illusion? This tree is at least two circles bigger than the last ti I saw it."
"It's not your illusion, it has indeed grown," Yu Sheng said casually, "And I guess it will grow again soon."
Baili Qing turned his head: "Hmm? Why?"
Yu Sheng waved his hand: "Wasn't it because I made the Gate of Eden anxious—sothing like that is a real supplent to a Crystal Tree that's already fused with a World Bridge."
Baili Qing: "...Alright, I forgot about that."
While speaking, Luna had already appeared at the entrance of the cathedral with a few Brass Knights.
As soon as Baili Qing saw the blonde girl dressed in a nun's outfit, he instinctively touched his nose, and then greeted her.
"Let's go, take us to see her." Yu Sheng nodded, speaking to Luna.
The door of the Great Cathedral opened, and under Luna's guidance, Yu Sheng and Baili Qing walked through the church's front hall, heading deep into this enormous and sowhat astonishing building.
Yu Sheng saw many figures.
In the pews of the preaching hall, in the shadows of the garden colonnade, and on the path leading to the Great Tree Courtyard, newly arrived Artificial Saintesses were everywhere—they were either resting alone or gathering in groups of two or three, seemingly whispering about sothing, hastily standing up to salute when they saw Yu Sheng approaching.
So others were just dazed, not reacting even when soone passed by.
Luna said that most of those in a daze were sisters who had served for more than a century, their minds severely damaged, so long unable to rember anything from when they were human. Although they can think and communicate in theory, without soone giving them instructions, they would just stand there.
Nobody knows how long this state will last—if Yu Sheng and the Boundary Land fleet hadn't co, these Artificial Saintesses, whose souls were already "purified", would soon have been thrown into the Spiritual Furnace, to be used as raw materials for casting Living Saints.
But now they survived, many have survived, and they have opened their eyes from a long nightmare.
Thus, "living" and "future" beca an extra matter to be pondered.
Yu Sheng also saw a much larger number of Brass Knights—many stood on either side of the corridors and beside the various doors, as if voluntarily guarding this Great Cathedral.
Even though this place actually doesn't need any guarding.
"This is only a portion," Luna said softly to Yu Sheng, "The number of the Knight Order is vast, the church can't accommodate so many people. I've arranged for so of them to go to the military camp over there, others have set up a temporary camp beside the Great Bonfire... Still, so Saintesses and Knights with the most severely damaged souls wander the wilderness near the Great Bonfire, setting up a camp over there can also keep an eye on them."
Yu Sheng listened quietly, gently nodding.
He could feel many gazes falling upon him, most filled with curiosity, and so seed a little reverent and nervous.
"There are over a thousand Artificial Saintesses, and the number of the Knight Order has reached tens of thousands," Luna continued, "And this might not even be all, because until now, new souls are still appearing in the wilderness. We've dispatched several teams to patrol near the paths between the Great Bonfire and the church, and every so often, news cos of new wanderers being found."
"Still newcors?" Yu Sheng turned back shocked, "The entire Saint Realm planet has already disintegrated..."
"There are other planets," Luna said. Although she wasn't very clear about planets, the universe, or the fleet, she had at least started to have so rudintary ideas, "All the power of Artificial Saintesses and Knights originates from that 'Skeleton', this power connects us like a net... Now that the Dark Angel is gone, but that net still exists."
Yu Sheng imdiately understood this matter.
For millennia, the "Shadowless Skeleton" had roosted in this star field, preceding the arrival of the Hidden Monastery sects, casting its shadow over each and every planet here, and judging by the situations in Anka Aela and the Inference Star Body, the power of the Dark Angel, once entrenched in the real universe, wouldn't dissipate with the demise of the Angel's body.
That power would forever beco part of this universe, including the "creations" that appeared under its influence.
Previous examples include the children of Fairy Tales, the crystals left by Shuji, the Crystal Tree, and the World Bridge in this wilderness; current examples are the Artificial Saintesses, Brass Knights, and Living Saints...
The crystal Yu Sheng's group found deep in that Spiritual Furnace wasn't the only node in this "Angel's Net," it may not even be the largest node—after all, the facilities established by the Hidden Monastery Order for producing Saintesses and Knights couldn't have just been one, but on this extensive net rooted in Angel power, any node seems to encapsulate everything.
Now, Yu Sheng's power still spreads within this network—even in ways he himself hasn't noticed.
The Saint Realm has already collapsed, yet the artificial saintesses and knights scattered across other colonized stars under the Hidden Monastery's na are still awakening one after another. Mind bodies breaking through cognitive veils continue to gather here, and this process seems to last for a long ti.
"As more and more people co to report, the situation is becoming complicated," Luna explained another situation to Yu Sheng, "On one hand, many of the brothers and sisters gathering in the Great Cathedral only have their souls here, their bodies might still be on so distant planet. On the other hand, so people now only have souls, they have no... bodies."
Baili Qing furrowed his brows slightly, "…Was it damaged in the previous battles?"
"So of them were, they unfortunately fell when resisting the priests in the Saint Realm, and after death, their souls found their way here. As for another part..."
Luna paused at this point, seemingly trying to organize her thoughts before finally figuring out how to explain the situation.
"The other part, the Hidden Monastery had just extracted their souls and hadn't had ti to assemble their bodies when the production center exploded."
Yu Sheng inhaled sharply instinctively.
"...So they just yanked people off the production line," he muttered, feeling a bit of a headache, "This situation... I really didn't expect it."
"It's hard to anticipate this situation," Baili Qing rubbed his forehead, "Especially given the circumstances back then, no one had the ti to think carefully."
"To be honest, the situation has really gotten complicated," Yu Sheng looked troubled, "Without bodies... Erin's technology can't be used on others."
"Perhaps on other planets, there may be production facilities for artificial saintesses and brass knights," Baili Qing evidently had so experience in dealing with such unexpected complex situations and quickly ca up with a plan, "The Hidden Monastery's technology has significant issues, but from the production facilities they left behind, maybe we can find so ideas to solve the problems."
"Let's take it slowly," Yu Sheng said, his gaze falling back on Luna, "That artificial saintess on the Pasture Star... what's her situation?"
Luna stopped at the end of the corridor.
This was already the deepest part of the inner Holy Hall—the once always empty Great Cathedral was now filled with people, but here, the corridor was still very quiet.
Luna placed her hand on the door handle.
"She... her situation is more special," the blonde girl said softly, "because until three hours ago, she and her friends were still human."
The door opened.
Inside was a small prayer room, illuminated by a few candles emitting a pale glow, outside the narrow window opposite was filled with dim fog, and a small-statured girl with gray curly hair sat dazedly on a cushion in the corner.
Elsewhere in the room, a few other people sat in another corner.
They wore brass-colored armor, without helts, revealing young faces, both male and female.
To Yu Sheng's surprise, there was another familiar figure in the room.
She was a tall figure molded from holy light—sitting with her knees hugged beside the gray-haired girl, her massive luminous wings cautiously folded, appearing both tense and awkward.
No wonder she wasn't found outside; she was here.
As soon as the door opened, the artificial angel imdiately stood up and swiftly floated behind Yu Sheng.
A string of lodious spiritual resonance echoed in his ears, the artificial angel couldn't speak, but Yu Sheng seed to "hear" her thoughts—
She wanted to comfort these new friends but didn't know what to do.
Not all bad situations can be fixed with a few candies.
"You've already done well," Yu Sheng exhaled lightly, speaking to the artificial angel floating behind him, "We'll handle it from here."
The artificial angel nodded, her figure slowly fading into the air.
The gray-haired girl on the cushion stood up; Yu Sheng couldn't quite discern what emotion was on her face—because apart from a slight daze, her expression was far calr than he imagined—she politely greeted Luna, then cast her eyes on Yu Sheng and Baili Qing.
"We've already taken control of the Ascension Hall... production facilities," the girl slowly said, "There are very few priests left here, their 'main force' hurriedly left recently and took many flying 'iron ships' with them. We didn't suffer much damage. Moreover, there are many machines here that we don't know how to use..."
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