On the Ark.

“I didn’t intend to get involved,” Messiah shook his head. “And I can’t.”

"who are you?"

Lin Ye quickly picked up the conversation: "Didn't Chu Xue tell you about her? She is..."

"God? I don't believe in gods," Lappland said. "Why don't you let her have a go at me?"

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly: "Are you crazy?"

Do I look like I've gone crazy?

"You look like it! No, you don't just look like it, you're insane!"

Lin Ye truly regretted bringing Lappland along. He hadn't really felt it while they were on Rhodes Island, but the unpredictability started to surface after they left. Like that night, Lappland completely disobeyed his commands and even threatened him.

He was clearly the strongest fighter in the team, yet also the most unpredictable. It's unimaginable what would have happened if Messiah hadn't intervened that night.

"Oh? You want to fight me?" Messiah was a little surprised by Lappland's request, but despite her surprise, she wasn't afraid and nodded, "Okay."

Lappland asked, "You agree?"

“Why not? It sounds interesting,” Messiah said quite seriously. “I rarely fight with people, I have no experience.”

Lappland slightly raised the corners of her mouth: "Are you trying to make me go easy on you?"

“No, that’s not it,” Messiah said in a light tone. “What I mean is, I rarely fight, so I don’t know how to hold my own. If I hurt you, just yell out, and I’ll go easy on you.”

The hall fell silent immediately.

……

……

Author's rant: Finally, those two jerks are gone! For the next ten days, I'm going to turn into a typing machine! Tremble!

Chapter 257 She is studying the art of tea

Messiah's words left Lappland stunned for a full two seconds before she realized what Messiah meant. She immediately bristled, her tail wagging: "What do you mean?!"

"Huh? What do I mean?"

"So you mean you're guaranteed to win?"

“I didn’t say that.”

“So that’s what you mean.” Lappland drew her other sword, gritting her teeth as she said, “So you’re pretty brave, huh? Just how powerful are you, this so-called god? Let me tell you beforehand, if you’re not careful and get hit by me…”

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Messiah said with a smile. "I won't let you bear the name of 'Godslayer.' You're still young; that title is too heavy for you."

You are still young...

Lappland was even more furious, because in her eyes, Messiah was the same age as her, maybe even a little younger. How could she, Lappland, be taught such a lesson, not even by Texas? So she made up her mind to teach Messiah a lesson.

Lin Ye originally wanted to dissuade Lappland and stop this pointless fight, but Messiah gave him a wink, signaling him not to say anything more, so he didn't dare to speak. After all, this was Kalan, Messiah's territory, and Messiah was a god. What could a mortal like him do to a god on his own territory?

Therefore, Lin Ye could only say to Messiah symbolically, "Go easy, there's no need to hit her hard. She's just immature, but she's not a bad person at heart."

It was clearly Lin Ye who spoke to Messiah, but Lappland overheard it and thought that Lin Ye had spoken to her. So she snorted disdainfully, "Even if you plead for me, it won't make a difference."

Lin Ye: "..."

Messiah smiled and nodded: "Yes, even if you plead, it won't make a difference."

Lin Ye: "..."

There was nothing more to say. Although Lin Ye had never seen Messiah make a move, his intuition told him that Lappland was no match for Messiah, and would most likely be beaten badly. Lappland, on the other hand, was the kind of person who had an inflated sense of self-importance, so she would definitely be beaten even worse.

"Dr. Lin, why don't you go outside and rest for a bit?" Messiah noticed Lin Ye's helplessness and said with a smile, "Enya is still waiting downstairs, don't let my saintess get too bored."

Seeing that Messiah had already said so, Lin Ye could only nod, give Lappland a "good luck" look, and turn to leave. But when he reached the door, Messiah called him back.

“There might be some noise later,” Messiah said, “but please don’t tell Enya what I’m doing.”

"Huh?" Lin Ye turned to look at Messiah, somewhat puzzled. "Why?"

“I am, after all, the god of Kalan. How can a god fight with mortals?” Messiah shrugged. “I still have to be mindful of my image from time to time, after all, the people here revere me so much.”

"...Then why do you still insist on fighting?"

“Even gods need to have fun,” Messiah said with a smile.

Messiah and Lin Ye's conversation naturally included Lappland, so Lappland's eyes widened: "Who are you calling a joke?!"

Lin Ye couldn't stand it any longer, so he opened the door to the main hall and left.

Only Lappland and Messiah remained in the main hall.

"You actually think I'm a joke?" Lappland struck a pose. "You really don't understand my strength."

Messiah smiled as she looked at Lappland, and then said softly, "Playing the fool must be a painful thing, right?"

Lappland's expression and movements froze instantly.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Ridiculous! Are you trying to provoke me again? Provoking me won't end well..."

Messiah said, "Wolves are social animals, so if a wolf leaves its pack, it must disguise itself as strong in order to survive. I can understand that even a weak stray cat must learn to protect itself by showing its fangs."

Seemingly having been hit where it hurt, Lappland, unable to contain herself any longer, charged at Messiah: "You bastard, who are you calling a cat?!"

Messiah did not move when she saw the menacing Lapland.

Lappland wasn't just blindly charging in; she was trying to analyze Messiah's weaknesses.

She knew very well that regardless of whether Messiah was a true god, since he dared to accept her challenge, he was certainly no ordinary person. Furthermore, the fact that Lappland hadn't found any weapons on Messiah meant that this god of Kalan was most likely a powerful sorcerer.

And Lappland is best at fighting against warlocks!

Let us succumb to silence!

Lappland rushed to the Messiah, but at that moment, she felt her movements slow down.

Messiah's lips parted slightly: "Since it's a duel, there must be a winner and a loser. Since there's a winner and a loser, why not add a little prize to it? What do you think?"

Lappland's eyes widened.

what happened? !

How could the Messiah utter such a long string of words before her sword had even struck?

Could it be that her speed is being limited?

No, that's not right. It's not the action, it's that time has been slowed down.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lappland could see the maple trees outside the main hall. The maple leaves on the trees were swaying slowly in the breeze, but much slower than usual.

The ability to control time? How is that even possible?!

And even if she really did have this ability, how did she use it against herself?!

Lapland's mind was filled with countless questions.

“I roughly know why you’ve come to see me,” Messiah said in a very calm tone. “If you win, I can grant your wish, but in return, if you lose, you’ll have to do something for me. How about it?”

Lappland was unable to recover, because her body was also trapped in time slowed down by the Messiah. It seemed that everything about her, except her mind, was bound by the shackles of time.

“Of course, I’ll make you accept your defeat wholeheartedly.” Messiah smiled slightly, then wagged his finger.

The flow of time has returned to normal.

But the Messiah was no longer before Lappland. Lappland swung her sword, but only struck a maple leaf fluttering in the wind. The blade pierced the floor of the hall, leaving a deep gash in the ground.

“Now that everything is clear, we can officially begin.” Messiah’s voice rang out behind Lappland.

Lappland turned around and saw that all the maple leaves on the ground were rolling towards Messiah.

Messiah raised his hand and drew a long sword from the maple leaves; the blade was the color of the maple leaves.

"Don't worry, I won't use those powers that you can't handle." Messiah pointed the knife at Lappland and said softly, "I just want you to see the fangs I show to protect myself when I have nothing left."

……

"You mean, the gods are studying the art of tea?" Chu Xue looked at Lin Ye. "So that's why they let you come down?"

Lin Ye nodded: "Yes, she is..."

boom!

The old wooden house suddenly shook violently, and Lin Ye and Chu Xue's expressions changed instantly.

They looked up and saw that the ceiling had been pierced, and sawdust and dust fell onto Lin Ye's face.

Chu Xue glared at Lin Ye: "What did you just say God was doing?"

Lin Ye lowered his head, remembering Messiah's instructions to him, and silently wiped the dust off his forehead.

"She is studying the art of tea."

……

……

Author's Note: Ah, I suddenly realized I have a new adorable patron! Thank you to the adorable Akarin for the donation, and also thank you to Nightingale, the first adorable patron of this book—I forgot to thank her before. There are also many other readers who have donated; you all reminded me that today is Hedgehog Cat's anniversary. I've been so busy lately, I almost lost track of time. Speaking of which, I even sent Hedgehog Cat my sincere blessings; I wonder if anyone has seen them.

Then I saw everyone asking me to open a bounty... Well, I originally wanted to pay back all the chapters I owed before opening one, but since today is Bookke's anniversary, I'll open one more. But to make sure I can pay them all back, this time I'll only offer a bounty of razor blades, the same as before, 250 blades for one chapter, no upper limit on the bounty, but only for one week (this is also to make sure I can pay them all back). I had paid back up to nineteen chapters before, and to celebrate the birth of a new adorable author, I'll add two more chapters, meaning I still owe twenty-one chapters.

As for monthly tickets... of course, you should vote for them too! Oh dear, looking at the illustrations that are about to be presented, shouldn't you guys hand over your share of the fan content?

Chapter 258 How about I give you a knife? (Twenty-eight chapters owed)

Looking at the sawdust and dust constantly seeping down from above, Lin Ye thought to himself that if he had known this would happen, he would have used a different excuse. Thinking about it carefully, doing calisthenics was much more reliable than studying the tea ceremony.

The increasingly crumbling ceiling mirrored Chu Xue's pale face. When a piece of wood the size of a palm landed on her head, she finally couldn't hold back any longer, gritting her teeth as she looked at Lin Ye: "Is God really just studying the art of tea?!"

Looking at Chu Xue's dangerous gaze and the dangerous Holy Bell beside her, Lin Ye estimated that if he still insisted that Messiah was just studying the tea ceremony, Chu Xue would probably smash the Holy Bell on her forehead in the next second and then rush upstairs to check on the situation. To be honest, Lin Ye was already quite surprised that she had been able to hold back until now.

But what could he do? On one side was the saintess of Kalan, and on the other was the god of Kalan. Although the choice was obvious, putting it into practice was still very difficult.

So Lin Ye could only bite the bullet and say, "Messiah... I mean your god, he's probably finished studying tea ceremony and started practicing."

"Exercise? How could a god need exercise!" Chu Xue wasn't stupid, so naturally she didn't believe it. "Besides, how could exercise cause such a commotion!"

"Why doesn't God need exercise? God needs exercise too, you know. Think about it, she's been staying in this little house for so many years. And you have to believe in your God, she can't possibly make the house collapse, can she?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the second floor shook even more violently, and a load-bearing pillar in front of them collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.