Cthulhu Gonfalon

The former Sun God, who had since fallen, had an extremely unique technique that was exclusive to him. He could create angels.

He could make use of all kinds of things to create angels of all sizes, from angels as big as gods, to angels as small as birds and beasts. So long as he was willing to, it was possible to attach a pair of wings on everything in order to obtain a template of a legendary creature.

This was probably like some of the illustrators that Sui Xiong had done before he traversed worlds. No matter how beautiful the female characters were, these illustrators liked to add a special, mysterious organ to the hips; thus the famous “Ah Lucifer, please take my soul” faction came into existence. And a faction that was diametrically opposed to it, the “help him out” faction, was also inaugurated.

While on the subject, Sui Xiong himself was a two-sided fence-sitter. When he was in a good mood, he would come up with decent paintings. On the other hand, if he was not in a good mood, he would also draw women with XX (i.e., mysterious organs)

Of course, if there were bosses willing to spend money on his art, he too would not mind drawing to their preferences, even if he was not in a good mood.

For an illustrator, there was no such thing as moral integrity. So long as the price was acceptable, any kind of painting could be sold. Anyway, any affair related to the cultured people was always full of elegance, haha haha.

Of course, there were also some principles that could not be sold. Sui Xiong had a friend who was capable of illustrating paintings that looked as though they were photographs, but still, he led a very down-and-out life. And then, when someone recruited him to draw some political propaganda with content that would defame the country’s nationality. Without thinking twice, that friend simply burst into a storm of abuse, then directly reported that point-of-contact’s conduct.

If the same thing happened to Sui Xiong, he would have done likewise.

We’ve digressed too far from the topic, so time to get back to the original topic. Originally, Sui Xiong also obtained this technique from the legacy of the former Sun God, but he was not interested in creating a group of angels that would surround him and sing “Holy, holy, holy” at the top of the voices. So he had always kept this technique perched on the highest shelf where he would cleanly forget about it. He had never used it before. Now, to think about it, he was, on the contrary, a little curious.

Despite using so many life-extending means, at least Mage Hailaer was still an ordinary human. What kind of changes would there be if he were to wear an angel template over his original form? Other than an additional pair of wings, what else would there be?

Filled with curiosity, he studied the related information carefully.

Three days later, Sui Xiong took Tello Hailaer to his own God’s Kingdom and once again, he opened that Life of Spring that had been constructed out of convenience after the transformation of the Love Angel. Then he got the old man to soak his naked self in the spring water.

“I feel an upsurge of the Power of Life.” Hailaer was a man with a most discerning eye, and he recognized the value of things. The moment he soaked himself in the spring, his face expressed how pleasantly surprised he was. “Maybe, just by soaking in this spring water, I’ll be able to live another 30 to 50 more years.”

Sui Xiong smiled without saying anything.

Indeed, so long as Hailaer was able to soak himself in this Spring of Life, he would be able to live for at least another 30 to 50 years. Of this, nothing much needed to be said. This was the product Sui Xiong came up with after studying the Divine Power of Life. Its degree of completion was not high enough, but compared to when he first got that single strand of Divine Power of Life from Leon, at least now he could be considered to have made some progress down a more positive route. Even if a god was seriously injured, such a precious treasure could enable a speedy recovery, not to mention extending the life of a mere mortal.

But… the effect he wanted to achieve was to give a living human a major transformation, not to extend his life!

So he would not be saying nonsensical things like, “Ah, since it’s taking effect, so there we go.” He merely smiled mysteriously, activated his Divine Power, and started to transform Hailaer.

When the Sun God created angels, he used the power from the “Holy Realm” and created angels that were all glistening with rays of light, especially their wings. They were like a combination of white paper and a fluorescent lamp that emitted such a glaring brightness.

Sui Xiong most certainly did not wish to create such a freak. That was not in line with his aesthetic standards as an artist. So after some consideration, he decided to use the power of the “Botanic Realm” to transform Hailaer’s body.

The Botanic Realm could be considered as a sub-derivation of the Life Realm. It could form the perfect fit with the Spring of Life. Living creatures created from this realm usually had extremely long lives, which was the perfect choice for life-extension. And it was not as glaring as the other Life Realms, so it would not attract attention from countless pairs of eyes. This was relatively more appropriate.

Following the influx of Divine Power, a brush of jade-green gradually appeared within the milky-white Spring of Life. This little splash of jade-green slowly thickened and started to spread within the spring water. After some time, the entire spring was a scene of jade-green, looking much like a superior piece of jade.

Hailaer could not help marveling at what he saw. Though his power was only at what he had when he first stepped up to advanced level, his eyesight was still close to the legendary level. He could easily tell that the power in the spring water was changing and heading towards the direction of “botanic.”

After some pondering, he understood Sui Xiong’s intention—the Life Realm was too eye-catching. The slightest mistake might attract the masters who were hankering for this priesthood. On the contrary, the Botanic Realm was much more low-key. Demigods created from botanics were commonplace, and the number of legendary creatures was large to start with, so it really was not much of a difference with or without him.

As for his own attitude… so long as he could extend his life, he was not concerned about whether the power from the Life Realm or the Botanic Realm was used. Both were similar to him anyway.

Even if there was a large difference, it also did not matter to him.

There was no need to be so contentious in life. So long as he could continue to live, that was good enough!

After a while, and under the influence of a strong Divine Power, the green spring water rapidly seeped into Hailaer’s body and started replacing the flesh and blood.

This process was somewhat agonizing. Fortunately, Sui Xiong was taking control of the speed with great caution to make it tolerable for Hailaer.

But cold perspiration from tolerating the pain was still evident on his forehead.

“What’s the matter?” Sui Xiong asked when he noticed that Hailaer was gritting his teeth. “Is it that painful?”

“It doesn’t hurt more than certain magic experiments,” Hailaer said through clenched teeth. “It’s nothing much; I can take it!”

Sui Xiong nodded, but still, he further slowed down the process of the transformation.

He was not like a mad scientist who only bothered about his own experiments without caring about the lives of others. Since he could do this slowly and gently and still achieve the desired goal, why would he make it torturous for others?

That would simply make him a psychopath!

After a while, the botanic power had completely penetrated Hailaer’s body. At this moment, though he was still soaked within the spring water, Hailaer had started to assimilate into the spring water. If this situation persisted, he would gradually blend into the spring water and transform into an existence similar to a “spring water elf.”

Of course, this was not the result Sui Xiong wanted, so he re-adjusted his Divine Power, and following the method stated in the information left behind by the former Sun God, he constructed an amazing vein within Hailaer’s body.

Because he was well-prepared, this process was completed very quickly. At this moment, Hailaer was already blended into one harmonious entity with the botanic power, so he felt no pain at all. Earlier on, the reason for using the botanic power to completely penetrate and transform him was just for this moment.

If there had not been any preparatory steps earlier on, no matter how strong-willed Hailaer had been, it would still be death for him now. There would be no exceptions.

After the completion of the vein construction, Sui Xiong divided out a little of his Divine Power and lightly lit up the core area of the vein.

Instantly, Hailaer’s entire body started to burn with blazing flames, as though a fire torch was tossed at a flammable object. These flames completely and cleanly burned away all the impurities within and outside his entire body, only leaving behind, the vein that was constructed by the botanic power.

So for a sudden moment, he did not have a human form. He became a composition of a frightening green network. Fortunately, this process was short. A moment later, a strong power began to reconstruct his flesh and bones. His internal organs, skeleton, blood vessels, muscles, skin, hair… all of these re-emerged at lightning speed, and finally, a healthy and strong man who looked at least 70 to 80 percent similar to Hailaer took form. But this man was much younger than the old Hailaer.

This man looked around 30 years old. He was in the prime of his life and was full of vigor. The muscles on his body were well-proportioned, there were no signs of obesity on his body, nor were there signs of fatigue because of excessive exercise. Looking closely at him, it was as though every muscle on him was ready to show an outburst of power. His entire being felt as though it was filled with strength and vigor, just like a leopard saving up its strength as it got ready to start out.

Behind him, a green light was still flowing and combining to slowly form a strong and huge pair of wings that looked as though they were formed by countless tree leaves. This pair of wings was currently closed, but if they were spread open, they would most likely be able to wrap around his upper body.

These wings were the most important organ of an angel. Not only could they assist with spellcasting, but they could also enable the angel to fly and were even able to store a humongous amount of power to allow for an outburst of power at critical moments.

And they still had their most important use: When caught in a desperate situation, an angel could use magic to light up their wings. This would then create a scary explosion so massive that it could engulf a large patch of land. The angel’s soul would then make use of this massive explosion to escape to secure its chance for a future.

The former Sun God did not have a likable character, but his technique would indeed render anyone speechless. The angels he created were much more powerful than those “angels” created by the Power of the Good at the front of the Ring of the World. They were also more complete.

If he had been able to continue living on, probably this technique could have further room for improvement, and that might, in turn, allow the angels created to be even closer to perfection.

However, all of this was no longer possible. From what Sui Xiong knew, among the numerous gods, there was no one else who had begun another round of large-scale creation of angels. Most likely, there was no longer anyone willing to emulate a dead man’s practice.

When the finishing details of the wings were finally completed, Sui Xiong smiled, snapped his fingers, then shouted, “Still not waking up? When are you going to wake up?”

This voice was not very loud, but when heard by Hailaer’s ears, it was a stentorian voice that sounded like the loud ringing of a large bell and the rumbling of big drums. The voice rudely shocked him awake from a slumberous state, and he hurriedly opened his eyes. Right away, he saw the change in the world around him.

Previously, when he looked about Sui Xiong’s God’s Kingdom, he could only see all kinds of buildings and sceneries. But what he could see now were countless veins containing power, and this power was slowing flowing through these veins like running water. The flow of power seemed to contain some kind of wonderful laws that had him obsessed instantly. He began studying all about it like a nerd.

Sui Xiong sighed, and then, he snapped his fingers loudly again.

Hailaer only heard the “boom” of a thunderclap; then he was completely awake and realized that he had just done something that was seemingly offensive and rude. He quickly apologized to Sui Xiong.

“You can save that apology. I have no need for that. In the future, I just want to see less of it, that will do,” Sui Xiong smiled and said. “It’s not me being petty about this, but rather, even though your life level has changed, regarding the understanding of power and laws, your body itself has yet to be able to keep up with the pace. This would be too sophisticated for you to study now. Not only will you not be able to reap any results, you will be wasting your energy, and you might even get sick because of it.”

Of course, Hailaer understood what Sui Xiong meant. In fact, he had realized this just then and had hastened to shut his eyes right away. He did not dare to take another peep.

“Alright, let’s go,” said Sui Xiong, who smiled again. With another loud snap of his fingers, Hailaer was teleported out of the spring and onto solid ground. The clothes that he had taken off earlier were automatically back on his body.

Although there were many changes made to his figure, and there was also an additional pair of light wings on his back, his clothes were, in fact, a magic kit with the ability to automatically adapt to one’s body type. So he was not really affected in this aspect.

Of course, no matter how adaptable to body type his clothes were, there was no way they could adapt to that pair of wings. Fortunately, that pair of light wings did not have a tangible form. Otherwise, given his current appearance, he would have been extremely embarrassed.

A moment later, Sui Xiong brought Hailaer, whose appearance had undergone a major facelift, back to the mortal world where they arrived back at Tu Ya’an’s magic tower.

At this time, Tu Ya’an was helping out in the kitchen as his sister’s assistant. They were making some light snacks.

Two days ago, Tessa watched a romantic serial where there was a female character who had superb culinary skills. Her pet phrase was, “If you want to seize a man’s heart, first entice his stomach.” Tessa truly took this for real, and so she decided that from that moment on, she would put in hard work to brush up on her culinary skills. She strove to become an ace chef as soon as possible.

To any decision that his sister made, Tu Ya’an would always support it by raising both hands in favor. Regardless of how it meant that he would have to help out in the kitchen as an assistant, which would be very toilsome and also it was a task that was highly incompatible with his status, but since it was his sister who needed his help, he would do whatever laborious task it was. Would status mean anything at all?

Because Tu Ya’an was directly determined as the anchor point before the transmission, when Sui Xiong and Hailaer arrived at the magic tower, they appeared in the kitchen where he could be found.

At that time, Tessa was having quite a difficult time before the oven. She seemed to be fighting with a cake that looked very weird, as though it was a badly beaten up piece of slime that had completely changed form. It seemed like she was trying to make it into a regular cylindrical shape so that she could put it into the oven. On the other hand, Tu Ya’an was already fully powdered in flour and stained with water marks. He was a total mess as though he had slipped and fell in a pile of flour—no, maybe he had already slipped and fell two, three, four, or even five times… Looking at the messy state of his hair and clothes, that imposing figure of a Legendary Master that he was supposed to be was nowhere to be found at all!

If those people who believed in the legends about the “scary necromancers” saw this villainous devil, who was said to have manipulated an entire army of skeletons and colluded with the frightening jellyfish known as the Master Evil God, who knew how much they’d laugh at seeing this scene, only to quickly change their minds.

Or would they stare with mouths agape and then lose all will to fight?

Anyway, at least Hailaer was struck dumb with astonishment.

He knew that this junior of his was “henpecked” by his sister at home. The severity of his situation was comparable to the losers who ogled at pretty ladies on the streets and were thus punished by their wives who made them kneel outside the house with the ants around them upon reaching home. But to see an imposing Legendary Master in such an overwhelming state, he still felt a deep sense of regret and grief.

So he opened his mouth to speak right away and tried to persuade Tu Ya’an not to do such a thing anymore—it was just baking a cake anyway, he just needed to get a few servants to do the baking as he relaxed. Even if he could not find a servant, at least he could still use magic to perform the task!

Perhaps, the power of magic might not be able to do a good job in baking the cake, but at least, he would not be in such a sorry state!

Tu Ya’an begged to differ. In his opinion, since Tessa wanted to have fun “baking cakes with her own hands,” that would mean that he had to put in his best to do likewise. Tessa wanted to become a chef, so he too needed to hurry in educating himself in this course.

In short, if Tessa said the sun was square, then the sun that day would have to be so adorably squarish, like a big, boxy piece of wood!

No matter how Hailaer tried, Tu Ya’an could not be dissuaded, so Hailaer had no choice but to give up. Sui Xiong, on the other hand, had no intention of using persuasion at all. On the contrary, he was full of praise for Tu Ya’an’s attitude.

“No matter what, baking a cake is better than carrying out some scary magic experiment,” he said.

There was really nothing much Hailaer could say, so he asked to retreat while explaining that he needed to return to Mill City to plan and propagate the issue on a change of allegiance. After gaining Sui Xiong’s approval and amidst Tu Ya’an’s shouts of, “Stay and try the cake I baked,” he ran off without turning back.

He was afraid that the longer he remained, the more likely the soul of his mage’s identity would not be able to hold back and would cry out loud in misery.