Chapter 605: Prayer

"You want to die?" Han Shuo looked questioningly at Tiana and sneered, "I won't let that happen so easily!" Incorporeal whips landed on Tiana, inflicting enormous blows to her body and mind.

Tiana could neither escape nor dodge Han Shuo's whips. All she could do was endure the double humiliation. Below Tiana was a crowd of Shrine of Ice disciples. They were not being massacred by Pegasus and Graeae at the moment and looked up at the sky, painfully watching Tiana being tormented like a caged bird.

Many of the disciples began to pray, asking the God they believed in to come to their aid.

To these disciples, Snow Celestial Tiana was the most powerful being in the Ice Shrine. Yet this very person was being humiliated without even the ability to escape. This scene had truly inflicted an enormous wound on her spirituality.

If even Snow Celestial Tiana was too powerless to do anything, what exactly could these people do?

As disciples of the Ice Shrine, the very fact that these pilgrims were in this snowy holy land was a testament to their firm belief in their faith. And now that they were in complete and utter helplessness, their dependence on the seemingly illusionary god was suddenly magnified to infinity.

Han Shuo's whip had left Snow Celestial Tiana's snow-white robe torn and tattered, revealing the wonderfully curvaceous body beneath. She looked no different from a degenerate servant being severely punished for her mistakes.

Pegasus and Graeae, the banshee who had come with Han Shuo, had stopped their slaughter. With cold eyes, they watched Han Shuo as he took his time flogging Tiana in mid-air while they waited for further instructions.

It wasn't clear who was taking the lead, but at that moment, the powerless Shrine of Ice Disciple on the frozen peaks suddenly began to kneel and sing piously, asking for the Ice Goddess' blessing. The voice grew from deep to high as they all began to sing in unison. Some of the disciples even gave up trying to escape for a moment to be a part of this powerful scene.

Even Tiana, who knew she had no way of escaping and had the most sincere faith in the Ice Goddess, began to pray, even though she had no idea if it would be answered.

The frozen mountains were in the centre of the Snowland, where the cold wind and snow blew the fiercest. The frozen peaks were like long swords piercing the blue dome of the sky. It was rumoured that the Ice Goddess had chosen this place to be the base of the Ice Shrine. No one knew if there was anything profound about this choice, but the disciples of the Ice Shrine had always felt that this was the place where they could get closer to the Goddess and better receive her guidance.

In reality, there was something unique about those frozen mountains in the centre of the Snowland. Those disciples back then had actually changed the few frozen peaks according to the instructions of the Ice Goddess's

The sound of prayers echoed throughout the snowy peaks. Graeae and Pegasus said nothing in response to the seemingly futile efforts of these disciples of the Shrine of Ice, only smiling mockingly. They felt that these people must have become fools after being intimidated by Han Shuo.

Even the Basegod of Darkness, Ayermike Cotton, found the actions of these disciples to be utterly pointless. He floated leisurely among the clouds, beaming from ear to ear as he watched Han Shuo beat up Tiana.

However, Han Shuo, whose power was in a godly realm, could clearly sense some gradual changes in the water elemental energy within this snowfield as these Ice Shrine disciples recited their prayers. At the centre of the few frozen mountains, a field similar to the domain of divinity was miraculously forming.

"Demon, just kill me, I won't let you go even in death!" Tiana's scream was sad and even had a crying tone to it. After being repeatedly shamed by Han Shuo, with the double torment of her body and soul, Tiana was clearly on the verge of a breakdown.

Han Shuo paid no attention to her crying, nor did he continue with the flogging. A glistening radiance shone from his two eyes as he watched the strange changes around the snowy mountains and pondered the abnormality of this holy land.

Suddenly, at the centre of the snowy mountains, the element of water began to spin rapidly. Intense cold rays erupted from the tall and pointed structures at the tops of those snowy mountains. The powerful beams of light emanating from those structures intersected with each other. An icy aura suddenly erupted, causing the temperature around them to drop rapidly.

The snowy land where the Ice Shrine was located was a frozen mass at first. However, as the temperature continued to plummet, not only were these devout followers of the Ice Goddess unaffected, but each one of them began to cheer, "The Goddess is manifesting! The Ice Goddess has answered our prayers!"

All of the attackers, including Han Shuo, were affected by the cold air. The weather threatened to cripple them if they didn't act quickly. The walls of air that Han Shuo had used to imprison Snow Celestial Tiana began to creak. After streams of freezing cold air seeped through the air walls Han Shuo had used, the air walls lost all of their original power.

Beaten black and blue, Snow Celestial Tiana clenched her teeth as she glared at Han Shuo. Her half-bare, smooth, pale breasts bounced up and down rapidly. She shouted in an icy voice, "The Ice Goddess must have heard our prayers. None of you will leave this snowland alive!"

"What in the name of Lord ? It's not fucking working, is it?" even the rank six manticore Pegasus felt the oddity of the surrounding atmosphere. He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise after hearing Tiana's words.

"Bryan, can the Ice Goddess really appear?" Ayermike Cotton asked Han Shuo. He was rather unperturbed.

After experiencing Han Shuo's double domain of divinity, Ayermike Cotton knew that Han Shuo was a true god. He had no idea what would happen after the unusual transformation in this snow land, but he felt that Han Shuo should at least know a thing or two.

Han Shuo nodded, calm and collected as he explained, "When the power of faith of these believers miraculously converges with the help of altars, magical matrices, sacrifices or other vectors as they feverishly call upon the worshipped, this god can indeed sense it. Then, through altars or other mediums, that god could even manifest from across countless material planes for a short period of time."

Han Shuo paused, looked around, made a sombre face and groaned, "From the terrain, it seems that these ice-bound mountains of the Snowland are naturally suited for the Ice Shrine to form a huge magical matrix. With some unique arrangements and the power of faith, if this Ice Goddess has serious power, she could indeed hear the thoughts of her believers in this place. There is a chance of manifestation."

"What should we do?" Pegasus, who had just been massacring without restraint, cried out in panic.

He was well aware of the power he possessed. It was absolutely impossible for him to deal with a god. It hadn't been easy to escape the Primordius Dragon's boundaries, and he had no desire to return there or be killed.

"Why are you losing your head?" Han Shuo shot a cold glance at Pegasus before calmly explaining, "Any god would not be able to unleash their full power until they had crossed the material planes and arrived with their divine body and divine soul. Even if they used an intermediary, by assembling a new body with substances, or manifesting through the body of their devotee, they simply could not unleash much power. No matter how powerful the Ice Goddess is, she is still bound by the Universal Law!

"Arrogant fellow, the Ice Goddess possesses a countless number of worshippers on every major material plane. As a powerful goddess who has existed since ancient times, she could still kill you all with even a hundredth of her power," Tiana hastily put on a new robe. She sneered at them, glaring hatefully at Han Shuo through gritted teeth.

"You are indeed right. If the Ice Goddess were to do this herself, even by descending like this, we would undoubtedly be dead!" Contrary to Tiana's expectations, Han Shuo did not argue but calmly admitted the fact.

While Tiana looked astonished and confused, Han Shuo simply sneered, "But do you really think that the Ice Goddess would come here in person just to deal with me? Just for petty things like you? The Ice Goddess has countless followers on all the major material planes. If she were to perform every single task in person, wouldn't she be working herself to death?

"We are the Goddess' most devout followers. The Goddess will surely take pity on us. Besides, this is the territory of the Ice Goddess. She would never allow anyone to damage it," although Tiana thought Han Shuo's words made sense, she still hated to admit it and denied it.

Han Shuo scoffed contemptuously and did not defend his explanation any further. There was one last thing he hadn't told Tiana - a god would have to take many additional risks to have their soul cross over to another material plane to fight for their believers through mediums. It would also use up some of their divine energy. In general, unless forced by circumstances, they would not do so rashly.

The Ice Goddess was different from the Spider Goddess Rose. As far as Han Shuo knew, the Ice Goddess was an overgod. An incomparably powerful overgod would never bother with a few believers from a small material plane called the Profound Continent.

As a god himself, Han Shuo was certain that these gods did not give a damn about the believers who worshipped them. They only saw their believers as objects that gave them the power of faith. There was no chance that they would do the job personally for such a trivial matter.

It was for this reason that Han Shuo did not immediately flee in panic when he observed the abnormal changes in this snowy land. Rather, he planned to stay and see it through.

"Lord Bryan, what shall we do?" Graeae the Banshee stammered.

Han Shuo knitted his brows and thought for a moment. He knew that no matter the rank of the god sent by the Ice Goddess, Graeae and his company would have no way to defend themselves.

"You three go and wait in the distance until it is time. I will stay here to greet those sent by the Ice Shrine," Han Shuo glanced at the three, nodded and advised them not to sacrifice their lives unnecessarily.

As soon as Pegasus and Graeae heard these words, they rushed off into the distance as if they had received a pardon. Ayermike Cotton, however, looked deeply into Han Shuo's eyes and said, "Be careful!"

"Don't worry, nothing will happen to me," Han Shuo replied smiling and warmly. It was obvious that Ayermike Cotton really cared about him, unlike Pegasus and Graeae.

Ayermike Cotton nodded and said nothing more. Then he flew off in the direction Pegasus and Graeae had fled.