Infinite Gods Reign Supreme

Chapter 71 Side Quest Correction
The wind whipped it up.

The aftershocks of the full-power evil explosion and Siming's surprise attack gradually subsided amidst the massive storm that swept through the entire ruined city.

A slight sound came from behind him—Yu Zhiwei jumped down from the top of the Millennium Falcon and landed lightly behind him. She tapped the ground lightly with her scepter and kicked out at a mass of evil flesh that still survived the ravages of the evil explosion and the calamity fire.

She couldn't kick it.

The sheer mass of that blood and bone caused her seemingly slender ankle some discomfort.

—It's an act.

"Ouch...it hurts so much." She rubbed her foot, then used a telekinetic strike to slice through the overly tough mass of flesh and blood. However, no one paid her any attention, so she had no choice but to stop this nonsensical impromptu performance.

“Our mandate has changed,” she said.

“I know.” Si Ming nodded.

Even without turning his gaze, Si Ming knew that new information had appeared on the black watch on his wrist.

—【An additional side quest has been triggered, with difficulty increased to the highest level—Completely end the curse of Tabad. Success will grant all members 2 C-rank side quests and a reward of 4500 points. Failure penalty: None.】

The 30-day deadline has been cancelled.

The reward points have increased by 500, and there is no longer a penalty for failure. Considering the God's consistently undisguised stance on order, this change in mission details clearly signifies a concrete matter.

"The disaster has been stopped, and even if left unchecked, it will not cause serious consequences to this land a month from now. There is no need for anyone to clean up the mess, but the curse of Tabad still lingers on this land."

And it has become a little more powerful.

“We killed Hastur, who was an evil being.”

In this world, evil spirits are immortal and indestructible. And their immortality and indestructibility clearly have a reason.

The Bodhisattva once said that evil spirits are born from the evil thoughts in people's hearts, so even if they are killed, new substitutes will quickly be generated. Therefore, it is better to use sealing to occupy the position and block the source.

However, that doesn't actually explain everything the reincarnators have experienced, because whether in the past or present, what the reincarnators can't kill no matter what they try is the evil spirit itself, not its successor. And if the Bodhisattva wasn't engaging in some kind of esoteric dialogue with the reincarnators, it can only mean that both the Great Black Buddha Mother and Hastur belong to a rather special category.

“The fall of a righteous god is the making of an evil spirit. Righteous gods are immortal and indestructible, so are evil spirits.” Si Ming exhaled a long breath. Large swathes of white mist billowed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. “And now, we have transformed a fallen evil spirit back into a righteous god.”

“And the curse of an evil spirit has reverted to the curse of a righteous god.” Yu Zhiwei shrugged. “This is the first time I’ve realized that clearing hidden levels early actually increases the difficulty of the main storyline instead of decreasing it… What are you planning to do? We still have a lot of free time this time.”

One hundred days of free time, and now even the first hour of the first day hasn't ended. And now, this side quest, which was triggered ahead of schedule, has become a no-penalty task that can be left idle.

“I’m used to finishing what I start.” Si Ming nodded slightly, staring at the small clay figure in his hand that had been summoned by necromancy. With a thought, it returned to a lifeless mass of flesh and blood—a mass of flesh and blood that still contained some kind of hidden and powerful force, but it was now just a piece of dead flesh, with no additional life force remaining.

He collected the mass of flesh and blood and placed it into his dimensional ring. Then, he pondered for a moment.

“I remember that Indian man, before he died, said he wanted to bring abundance and wealth to India. But now, all I see is a vast fortune that has vanished.”

The cursed gold has turned into useless rust, but that only applies to this city, this vault. Beyond this city, on the Indian mainland, vast amounts of cursed gold still remain.

A large amount of gold.

But it's only gold.

And this means—

“The goddess of prosperity,” Yu Zhiwei added. “Gold, and food. That’s why the Indians were willing to take such risks… There are inaccuracies in the survivor’s account.”

“He didn’t mention some details.” Simin nodded, flying towards the Millennium Falcon with the help of the Four-Headed Beast. “A detail that he himself didn’t realize, but which is crucial… how exactly the Goddess of Prosperity sealed Hastur, and… what kind of god the Goddess of Prosperity really is.”

“Ranger,” he called to Valentina.

He received a reply very quickly.

"...I can't find the goddess of prosperity. Just like the place name Tabad, there's absolutely no information about her. But I've examined the traditional myths of this region. The most likely goddess to be this one is Lakshmi, also known as the goddess of good fortune, Vishnu's wife, the goddess of great merit."

"Is it Him?"

"Yes. In the Vedic mythology of Hinduism, she is the product of the union of two goddesses. They are Kumarajiva, the goddess of wealth and good fortune, and Sri, the goddess of fertility and abundance. They are merged into one as twin goddesses in the Yajurveda, and later in the Mahabharata, she is born as the mythological heroine 'Black Princess'. In the Hindu mythological system, there is probably no goddess with a higher status than her."

It turned out to be the case.

Valentina sent out numerous documents, among which various materials and images of Lakshmi (the goddess of fortune) immediately appeared on the display terminal of the bio-nanosuit. He noticed a detail.

Lakshmi is called the Goddess of Great Merit because Buddhism incorporated her into its system, fabricating a story of her subjugation by Vajrapani, making her one of the Dharma protectors. However, in reality, this is merely a self-aggrandizing tactic by Indian Buddhism, because in reality, it was Brahmanism that rendered Buddhism utterly foolish.

Myth and reality have always reflected each other. And it is precisely for this reason that in the relatively 'simple' Tibetan Buddhism, Palden Lhamo became Palden Goddess, one of the Eight Mother Goddesses.

Mother Buddha.

Lakshmi (Goddess of Fortune)

Lakshmi.

Goddess of Prosperity.

Hastur.

The lines of cause and effect intertwine, ultimately revealing a definite secret.

Si Ming lowered his eyes slightly.

"The lingering poison of India..." He sighed and stepped into the hull of the Millennium Falcon. "Everyone, do you still remember what the true form of the Great Black Buddha Mother looked like?"

“Eight arms, holding teeth in their hands, ears, and then a hollow face.” Jacob nodded, then immediately realized the problem. “You mean…”

"Children's teeth, children's ears. The Great Black Buddha Mother loves children very much, and she is a mother who is pregnant."

Si Ming made a correction, using his Night Battle Qi to mimic the true form of the Great Black Buddha Mother. Her high, swollen belly came into view of all the reincarnators, but when they fought her, this quality belonging to 'mother' did not really show up in their eyes.

“…It really is the Mother of Buddha.” Jacob clicked his tongue in amazement.

“Before She fell into evil, She truly was the Mother Goddess,” Simin nodded. “The mother of the lost god Hastur, the highest-ranking goddess in the Hindu mythology system. We killed the Mother Goddess, restoring this righteous goddess to her rightful place. Now we have also killed Her fallen offspring, restoring Hastur to his rightful place as well. And now, if we want to lift the curse of Tabad, we will have to face the trials of both righteous gods simultaneously within their respective realms.”

The difference in strength between righteous gods and evil spirits is immeasurable. Even if the former is destined to act according to the rules and not overstep the bounds, but...

Who says these righteous gods can't be a little proactive when they're doing their jobs? Don't you think so, Xiao Shiyin?

“Or perhaps a mother-son mixed doubles match,” Yu Zhiwei added. “Personally, I don’t think we need to take that risk; the risk and reward are far too disproportionate.”

“Or maybe it’s gratitude?” Valentina suddenly interjected. “Didn’t we send them back to where they belong? That’s actually for their own good, isn’t it?”

"Would you really like someone urging you to go back to work, a wanderer, especially when you don't need a salary at all?"

"Uh……"

The air suddenly seemed to freeze for a moment.

This wasn't some minor conflict that barely even started, but an unexpected situation from the outside. The Millennium Falcon's early warning system suddenly lit up at that moment, and a high-speed moving object came hurtling through the air from the north of India, about to crash into the Mumbai ruins where the Millennium Falcon was hovering!
Valentina turned her head sharply and instantly deciphered the data and model of the unidentified flying object.

"It's Agni-3! India's ballistic missile... It launched fifteen minutes ago, exactly the moment Mumbai was shrouded in Hastur's curse! Wait... the system shows it briefly lost contact after launch, then inexplicably re-entered the network and locked onto its target, but the trajectory seems to have taken a detour—"

"Go!" Si Ming clenched his fist tightly. "Fly towards the Indian Ocean! Move out immediately!"

“I think I can stop them—” Valentina wanted to say something more.

However, the next moment, Yu Zhiwei had already pounced on the control panel and, with a speed that was even more professional and efficient than Valentina, a high-tech talent, directly propelled the Millennium Falcon away from the ruins.

"You actually want to intercept India's Brownian motion missile—"

'Peng——'

A shockwave rose from the top of the sky. The next moment, several screens inside the Millennium Falcon flickered slightly.

The ballistic missile exploded into a massive fireball hundreds of kilometers above the Earth's surface. It didn't even reach the terminal phase; it detonated immediately during its re-entry into the atmosphere!
Valentina turned her head away blankly.

The next moment, she let out a scream. With unprecedented force, she threw Yu Zhiwei aside and then slammed down a large red button that only the driver could press.

"They launched more than one ballistic missile!"

(End of this chapter)