Mystery Paradise: Wishing Power Demon

Thistlefort, Acalian Sanctuary.

After the Follower’s Mark was officially issued, people no longer swarmed to the sanctuary to apply for membership in the Paradise Sect, but nearly ten thousand still came daily to worship or visit. Chaoyang decided to embrace the error and transformed the refuge into the administrative center of the sect, and incidentally purchased the inn opposite the sanctuary, turning it into the new city’s public service hall.

At this moment, a unique welcoming party was being convened in the main hall of the sanctuary. Naturally, the event was hosted by the Paradise Sect, headed by Chaoyang, with representatives from various departments including Xue Quan, Jenny, Judy, and others in attendance. On the other side of the long table were the guest representatives Elise Ben, Shandela, Ryan, and the Magic Goddess Kokomoqi.

Chaoyang first introduced the young girl’s identity to everyone, and upon hearing she was a real divinity, Jenny and Judy both widened their eyes in surprise, while Xue Quan’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Mr. Zhao, can we conduct research on a divinity?" he asked skillfully using telepathic communication.

"What do you want to do?"

"For instance, take her for a full-body CT scan, draw some blood... Of course, considering her special status, we could start by collecting a strand of her hair to gain her trust," Xue Quan suggested.

Honestly, Chaoyang was quite curious as well.

In the eyes of outsiders, he was the master of Paradise, but his essence had not transcended that of humans. What about a real divinity? She was known to get tired, feel hunger, and even savor delicacies; so did she have a heartbeat? Did she bleed?

However, Kokomoqi had just agreed to cooperate with the Paradise Sect, and thinking of drawing her blood might immediately cause misunderstandings. Hence, all he could do was reply with regret, "Now is not the time. There’s no issue with collecting her hair if it falls out—if she sheds at all."

"Is that so... What a pity."

"Excuse me, Goddess... How long have you existed?" Judy, recovering from her astonishment, raised her hand eagerly, "Would you accept an exclusive interview with Paradise Weekly?"

Kokomoqi furrowed her brows and looked towards Chaoyang.

He coughed twice, "She dislikes being the center of attention and prefers a life of quiet cultivation. So, no interviews, Miss Judy, and I would also prefer not to have the arrival of other divinities in Thistlefort reported."

"Yes," Judy touched the back of her head apologetically, "I’m sorry, my professional habits got the better of me."

"This young lady here... is a representative of the Kingdom Army, the daughter of General Fales Ben. As for the others, I believe everyone is already familiar, so I will not introduce them further," Chaoyang spread his hands, "In any case, on behalf of the Paradise Sect, I welcome you all to Thistlefort. According to custom, I should have hosted a banquet to cleanse the travel dust from our guests, but the city’s supplies are not plentiful at the moment, so..."

"That aligns perfectly with my own wishes," Elise interjected, her gaze fixed intently on Chaoyang, "However, I have a question for you, Mr. Zhao. The man with the surname Zhao who helped me in a street debate half a year ago at Magnificent Castle, was that really you?"

Clearly, Shandela had told her something.

At this stage, Chaoyang had nothing to hide. He replied with a smile, "Indeed, it was me. As you can see, I am by no means a distinguished scholar."

"But you are..." She halted mid-sentence, her enthusiasm deflating, and ended with a shake of her head in regret, "I would have been better if I had insisted on keeping you there."

If Elise, who had just been brought to Thistlefort, still harbored doubts after seeing Shandela, the sight of the Magic Goddess made her unable to deny Chaoyang’s identity.

Pondering their past fleeting encounter, the feelings of regret inside her intensified.

At that time, the Paradise Sect had not yet appeared, and even the title of the Paradise Master was unheard of by most.

If she had been able to invite a newly born divinity to assist her family, perhaps all of the tragedies of today would have been avoided. She also believed that her father had the capability to support the divinity — at that point, the entire Kingdom Army would become followers of Paradise, and the supply of money and resources would certainly not be an issue.

Unfortunately, she had not realized this at the time.

Scholars were precious, but not so precious that her family would spare no expense to retain them, thus she had only left a business card and an invitation and ultimately missed out on further contact with him.

The reason her father fell from grace in the court... and the subsequent tragic defeat in the Royal Capital, wasn’t it because the family lacked a protective deity?

"The past is the past, and we can only move towards the future," Chaoyang adopted a gentler tone, "In addition to formally introducing each other at this welcome meeting, I also plan to discuss the upcoming plans of the Paradise Sect."

"Now that Thistlefort is under our control, and City of Defense has a foundational plan for fog removal. Next, the Paradise Sect will use this place as a stepping stone to officially start expanding into the border city of Defense. Conveniently, you are all informed about the news of the Hunting Divine relics; I won’t go into details here, but if the lord of Zhaixing City keeps their word, the land of mountains will also dispatch a reconnaissance team of about a hundred people to cooperate with the actions of the Paradise Sect."

At this point, Kokomoqi interjected, "This team has already set out this morning and will arrive at Thistlefort in about five days."

Elise asked somewhat awkwardly, "Umm... Did Duke mention me, Shandela, and Mr. Ryan?"

"She promised not to treat the actions of the two as desertion and also hopes that you would return to Zhaixing City to continue leading the Kingdom Army."

"Tch, as if anyone would believe that," Ryan couldn’t help but speak out, "The Kingdom Army has long been disorganized, everyone acting independently. Leaving aside scum like Airco, even members of the Royal Guards are split into several factions. Miss Elise, having been there for so long, you’d clearly understand this point, right?"

Elise fell silent for a moment.

She wasn’t foolish and certainly could feel it. Even legally speaking, she had no right to reprimand the likes of Mekefa. Because the Royal Guards were an elite force directly serving the King, her father had the authority to command them only by the King’s decree. Now that both the King and her father were gone, these highly ranked warriors naturally did not wish to submit to anyone else.

But she could endure it all.

No matter how humiliating, she was willing to bear it, as long as the United Army could defeat the Longjiu Family, avenging her father and the entire family; such slight humiliation counted for nothing.

"You have absolutely no need to return," Shandela agreed, "The potential of the Paradise Sect is far stronger than those from the land of mountains. Staying here, you can still achieve your wishes. Elise... you believe me."

Hearing her friend’s advice, Elise’s turbulent emotions began to settle. She nodded towards her companion, "I will consider it carefully."

"Mr. Xue Quan, could you please talk about the specific plans for the City of Defense operation?" Chaoyang redirected the conversation back to the matter at hand.

The latter took out documents that had been prepared earlier and distributed them to everyone, "In the past few days, we have continuously carried out long-distance reconnaissance on City of Defense, and we can confirm the following intelligence—first, the area shrouded by the fog is about fifteen hundred square kilometers, extending from land to the nearby sea, making it equally hazardous to try and skirt around through the beach."

"The second point is that the Fog Wall is similar in height to Magnificent Castle, nearly a thousand meters above the cloud layer. We had sent out a plane—that kind of flying contraption similar to a bird—to carry out a reconnaissance mission across the Misty Zone. Regrettably, the plane did not return, suggesting that the fog possesses some kind of power that can interfere with the operation of flying machinery."

Chaoyang knew this point even more clearly since the pilots could be considered "players" who had signed contracts and could communicate with him in real-time. The reconnaissance plane had maintained a single direction upon entering the fog and, in theory, should have been able to fly out of the Misty Zone in less than thirty minutes.

However, the pilot never saw the blue sky, and until the fuel was exhausted, the plane was unable to leave that area.