Chapter Twenty-Five: The Twelve Deities

Zhang Min’s breath hitched. She let out a sigh and whispered, "Crush it."

Li Luyan gripped the glass bead tightly. With a crisp "pop," it shattered.

Instantly, the fragments transformed into a searing ball of light that soared into the sky. Under its radiance, the disgusting slime coating their bodies was completely absorbed, leaving behind only the stench as a testament to its former existence.

The domain had been lifted.

Wait—what about Liu Qingye?

Li Luyan scanned her surroundings. Could Liu Qingye have been devoured by the Mist Demon? How strange; one monster devouring another.

"Sister Yan..." Yu Yue’s eyes welled up with tears of distress. Supporting Lin Youwei with one hand, she tugged gently at the corner of Li Luyan’s shirt with the other.

Li Luyan turned back, surprised, though her expression quickly returned to its usual indifference.

"Why hasn't Lin Youwei woken up yet? She’s still breathing, I’m sure of it." Yu Yue pulled her hand back and, with trembling fingers, checked for breath beneath Lin Youwei’s nose.

Li Luyan pondered for a moment, then looked toward Zhang Min’s group, who had not yet traveled far. "Zhang Min." Her voice was neither loud nor soft, but it was clear that Zhang Min had heard her.

Zhang Min looked back, her eyes complex. "Is there something you need?"

"I recall that you possess a healing ability. Heal Lin Youwei." She extended a finger, pointing toward Lin Youwei, who had just been laid on the ground by Yu Yue.

Before Zhang Min could respond, Pei Siying glared at Li Luyan, her sharp voice piercing the dark night.

"Li Luyan! Don't push your luck."

"We’ve already given you the bead; why should Zhang Min have to heal your friend?" Her chest heaved violently, clearly infuriated by Li Luyan’s demand.

Li Luyan narrowed her eyes, the level-two ability fluctuations radiating from her body impossible to ignore.

"Pushing my luck? Who was it that insisted on moving forward regardless of the consequences?"

"The deaths of these ordinary people are entirely your fault."

Zhang Min exhaled, her voice strained and raspy. "Fine."

She signaled for Pei Siying to stay put and turned back. She knelt before Lin Youwei. Moonlight illuminated half of her face, while the other half remained hidden in shadows, masking her emotions.

She placed her palm gently on Lin Youwei’s forehead and began to chant: "God of healing, lend me your power."

Her hands erupted in a brilliant white light—brighter than any she had summoned before. The light was so intense that Yu Yue had to raise a hand to shield her eyes.

"My goodness..."

The intensity of this light far surpassed the one that had saved Li Luyan. Whether Zhang Min was seeking atonement or something else, it no longer mattered.

Pei Siying’s breath suddenly stopped. As a reincarnated soul, she recognized this light immediately: this was cross-level healing.

For a level-one healer like Zhang Min, treating someone injured by a level-three Mist Demon required overdrawing her abilities. The Mist Demon’s fog was a weapon; while ability users could resist it, ordinary people like Lin Youwei had already suffered from the fog entering their bodies.

If it weren't for Zhang Min, Lin Youwei would either mutate or awaken an ability by tomorrow morning.

Zhang Min was using her healing power to forcibly purge the residual Mist Demon essence from Lin Youwei’s body.

As Zhang Min finished her chant, a gentle white light enveloped Lin Youwei. Under its nourishment, the flesh on her leg, sliced open by a blade, began to squirm miraculously. New skin grew, knitting together until it was as good as new, without even a scar remaining. Even her pale face began to regain its rosy hue.

However, Zhang Min, who was performing the healing, showed signs of strain on her beautiful face. Cold sweat dampened her hair, and the color drained from her lips.

"Zhang Min, stop!" Seeing Zhang Min’s pale complexion, Pei Siying rushed forward without hesitation. She only knew that Zhang Min, like her, was a reincarnated soul and could not die.

Li Luyan stretched out her arm to block Pei Siying. "Don't get in the way."

"Enough!" Pei Siying’s voice was high-pitched and strained. "This is an ability overdraft! She can't hold on much longer!"

"This is a level-three Mist Demon! She’s only a level-one healer!"

Li Luyan’s expression remained unchanged. She simply placed a hand on Zhang Min’s back, and a faint, subtle light flowed into her.

Zhang Min’s face slowly regained a hint of color, and the light in her hands brightened once more.

"Look, Lin Youwei’s fingers are moving!" Yu Yue shrieked.

As she spoke, the ball of light seemed to come alive, surging entirely into Lin Youwei’s body.

Lin Youwei’s entire body floated off the ground, her hair drifting behind her. In the glow, it became impossible to distinguish between Zhang Min’s healing light and the moonlight from the sky.

Her beautiful eyes remained closed, like a goddess beneath the moon—so sacred that no one dared to approach.

The halo slowly dissipated, and Lin Youwei’s body descended gently. The moment her toes touched the ground, her eyelashes fluttered, and she finally opened her eyes.

They were eyes unlike any she had before—the edges of her originally jet-black pupils were rimmed with a faint, silver-white glow, like frost formed from moonlight.

Divinity.

The moment this thought flashed through her mind, Zhang Min’s eyes widened.

How could this be... she was supposed to be an ordinary person...

"Youwei!" Yu Yue lunged forward to hug her, only to freeze half a meter away.

Lin Youwei was surrounded by a faint, lingering chill, acting like a barrier that kept others at bay.

"Divinity," Zhang Min whispered, her voice dry.

All eyes turned to her.

After all, in their past life, Pei Siying had only survived until the first year of the apocalypse, but Zhang Min had truly struggled through three years of purgatory.

"What do you mean?" Li Luyan asked, frowning.

"In my past life, I saw it when I infiltrated the base of the Tongying Association," she said softly. "Their leader was a 'divine' being."

"Legend says there are twelve gods..."

"The God of Balance, the Moon God, the Sun God, the God of Time, the God of Life, the God of Dreams, the God of Desire, the God of Wisdom, the God of War, the God of Courage, and the God of Misfortune."

"Those eleven gods... and the one awakened by the Tongying Association was..." She paused, as if recalling something terrifying, and broke into a cold sweat. "The God of War."

Under the moonlight, Lin Youwei’s silver-white pupils seemed to pierce through the soul, her entire being radiating divine brilliance.

"What about the twelfth god?" Yu Yue asked, her voice trembling strangely.

Zhang Min’s lips parted twice before she finally shook her head. "The deepest part of the archives... was missing a page."

Her expression was complex. "All the other gods were recorded side-by-side, but the final god had an entire page dedicated to them."

Li Luyan’s eyes darkened. "What kind of organization is the Tongying Association, anyway?"

"I..." Zhang Min’s lips moved, but she finally let out a sigh. "I don't know. Their first major activity took place two years from now, in the southern region."