69: Gods come to me in my dreams

"Student Xu Le, do you have a way to get us up there too? I'll pay!"

Zhuang Xiaoyan hadn't intended to explore the temple; reporting the situation here to the Guard Army would have been enough.

But now that they were trapped here with no way to contact the outside world, it would be a waste to just sit and wait for the secret of becoming a god to vanish.

Xu Le looked back. "How much?"

"3 million Credits per person."

"Deal! But it's split equally; write your own IOUs." Xu Le handed each person a piece of paper and a pen.

Huang Yongqiang was secretly annoyed and spoke mockingly, "Aren't your contracted beasts all your beloved friends and family?"

He didn't say the second half of the sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

Xu Le nodded. "That makes sense. If you want to go up, remember to change the amount to 4 million."

"On what grounds?" Huang Yongqiang grew anxious.

He had been reluctant to pay 2 million Credits before, and now flying up to the temple would cost 4 million. It was practically robbery!

"You don't have to write it."

Xu Le shrugged, indicating he didn't care.

Collecting Credits was more about representing the respect and recognition everyone had for his efforts.

Huang Yongqiang gritted his teeth and wrote an IOU for 3 million.

Flying to the temple meant the possibility of obtaining the secret to becoming a god. This secret was definitely worth a lifetime of wealth, far beyond what 3 million could compare to.

Xu Le returned the IOU. "4 million. You have ten seconds to think about it."

"You..." Huang Yongqiang gritted his teeth. "One more friend means one more path."

"You have nine seconds left."

Xu Le remained indifferent. If not for giving the others Face, he wouldn't have given the choice at all.

This kind of person, who acted as if everyone owed him and lacked any sense of gratitude, was someone he didn't care to associate with.

Huang Yongqiang picked up the pen and wrote, quickly finishing the new IOU, the resentment in his eyes turning palpable.

Xu Le activated the "soul of the black bird," and a massive black bird appeared beneath everyone's feet.

It was actually flight equipment!

Everyone looked at Xu Le differently.

No wonder he could suppress Bu Yang right after entering university; he had such substantial family wealth behind him!

Xu Le didn't explain.

He controlled the black bird to fly to the temple, and as expected, everything was illusory.

It was visible but untouchable.

Zhuang Xiaoyan suggested, "Let's try entering through the temple gates."

Xu Le controlled the black bird and carefully flew into the temple gates, but there was only air in front of him; he couldn't see any of the temple's furnishings at all.

"How about we try a password? Open sesame, the King of Heaven covers the Earth Tiger, little chicken stewed with mushrooms, or something like that?"

"Why don't you tap out some Morse code on the spot?"

...The group thought of a few more methods and tried several times, but there was no substantial progress.

The entire temple remained like a castle in the air.

A flash of inspiration hit Xu Le, and he suddenly spoke, "The plaque. We probably need to say the name on the plaque to enter."

Everyone fell silent.

None of them were experts in philology; they only recognized common script.

Zhuang Xiaoyan encouraged them, "Don't be discouraged! Although I can't understand these three characters at all, the last one should be the character for 'Temple'."

"We just need to guess the first two characters. There's a good chance."

Xu Le nodded. "When many temples are built, they are designed to match their names. We can also look for clues around us."

Huang Yongqiang hurriedly shouted, "Magic Bull Temple!"

Everyone: "..."

The name was so mind-blowing that they were speechless.

Huang Yongqiang continued to shout, "God Bull Temple, Suppressing Bull Temple, Bull God Temple..."

Every second, he would blurt out a new name.

Others laugh at my madness, I laugh at others' lack of foresight.

Once he was the first to say the temple's name and seized the initiative, the others would just have to wait and regret!

"Suppressing God Temple, Flying Immortal Temple, Floating Temple, Floating God Temple..."

Everyone: "..."

Xu Le hovered the black bird in the air and flapped his own wings to fly higher, only to find that the temple in front of him grew taller as well, making it impossible to bypass.

A mere glance from a god was this powerful?

Or was there some kind of rule here?

Time slowly passed.

Night began to fall.

Huang Yongqiang's lips were worn raw and his throat was hoarse, but he was still blurting out names.

Xu Le also tried a few times, but there were no results.

He started setting up a tent.

"What are you doing?" Zhu Gui was shocked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Xu Le pointed to the half-finished tent.

"But you're a mage-type class; your spirit attribute must be at least four digits. You should be fine even without sleep for seven days, right?"

"But why should I go without sleep for seven days?" Xu Le asked back.

Zhu Gui pointed at Huang Yongqiang, who was clutching his throat and still trying names, then pointed at the tent.

Others are working hard even though they're almost mute.

How can you sleep?

Xu Le smiled and didn't argue.

Up until now, he had maintained a detached mindset and didn't have much expectation for the secret of becoming a god.

He slept in the tent while the Five Little Ones stood guard outside.

The others glanced over but didn't say much.

They were all adults and had their own choices.

Huang Yongqiang laughed inwardly: So what if you have a background? With his hard work, after he mastered the secret of becoming a god and became one in a single bound, he would be the greatest background himself... The sky shattered, and the world dissolved into illusion.

A snake that blotted out the sun appeared.

It had a human head and a snake's body, and its full head of hair was made entirely of snakes.

The giant snake suddenly opened its eyes and looked at the peeper.

Xu Le woke up from his dream and suddenly knew the giant snake's name.

Serpent Mother! (A divine name, not a true name.)

His body began to itch, and scales tried to sprout from him.

That impulse rushed into the depths of his heart, but as soon as it touched something deeper, it stopped immediately.

It was exactly the "Innate Divinity" talent!

It turned out that to know the name of this temple, one needed to dream.

And the price for dreaming of the Serpent Mother was to be polluted by him and become his apostle.

However, Xu Le's talent already represented a god, so he naturally wouldn't be polluted. He didn't know about the others.

It was still early, so Xu Le slept a bit longer.

When the sky gradually brightened, he finally got up.

The others were mentally exhausted and had lost all hope.

Even Huang Yongqiang couldn't hold on anymore.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was as faint as a mosquito's, yet he was still persisting in his attempts: "Fire God Temple, Heavenly God Temple, Heavenly Immortal Temple..."

Xu Le stepped out and softly called out, "Serpent Mother Temple!"

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

The Origin Qi of heaven and earth vibrated.

The three characters on the plaque rapidly twisted and changed. The originally complex and unfamiliar characters became simple and familiar—

Serpent Mother Temple!

Everyone was dazed for a moment.

They vaguely felt that it had been these three characters all along, but they had just forgotten how to read them before.

When they touched the temple again, they could feel the cold walls.

The temple had truly appeared!

Everyone's breathing became a bit rapid.

Just as Xu Le and the others were about to enter, they heard Huang Yongqiang's howling, which sounded like both crying and laughing.

"Xu Le, oh Xu Le, how can you be so shameless?"

"You clearly knew the answer, yet you let us waste our energy all night while you slept soundly. How could you even sleep?"

"To get a head start on the secret of becoming a god, you really used every means possible!"

Zhuang Xiaoyan scolded, "Xiao Qiang, don't talk nonsense!"

Huang Yongqiang laughed in grief and indignation, "I'm talking nonsense?"

"He announced the name the moment he stepped out of the tent. If he had waited even a minute, or even 30 seconds, I could have played along."

"But he didn't even bother to fake it. I can't convince myself otherwise!"

Xu Le said coldly, "What if I saw it in a dream?"

Huang Yongqiang laughed loudly. "Do I look like an idiot to you?"

"You don't look like one; you are one!" Xu Le nodded.

"You f—... what did you say?" The veins on Huang Yongqiang's neck bulged, and a curse almost slipped out, but in the end, he was still wary of Xu Le's strength.

Xu Le repeated, "I said you are an idiot!"

"You—"

Huang Yongqiang looked at everyone and laughed in grief and indignation. "Fine, fine, fine. You can dream of the temple's name, right?"

"Fine, two minutes won't make a difference. Let's all try sleeping for two minutes. If you're busy, go ahead and look for the secret of becoming a god first."

Even now, he was still focused on the secret of becoming a god.

He deliberately tied himself to the others and tried to provoke Xu Le, aiming to catch a wink of sleep, recover his spirit, and then explore the temple together so as not to lose the initiative.

Xu Le refused. "No! We clearly all recognize that plaque now, but we couldn't understand it before. If we see Him in a dream, heaven knows what will happen."

"Heh. You weren't afraid, so what should I be afraid of?" Huang Yongqiang directly cast a Sleep Spell on himself.