Chapter 1540 — The Safe Way to Pass Along a Message

"Fine, then let's go straight to the second option," Gao Yang said, waving his hand decisively. "Find a way to establish separate contact with the gods' 'human halves,' bypassing their divine halves."

"Easier said than done—how would you even do that?" Amber stared at Gao Yang. "The human halves and divine halves of the other gods are stuck together. Whatever you send over, you can't get around them."

Gao Yang tilted his head back and thoughtfully scanned his surroundings, curling his fingers to rub his chin. "If only we could summon the human halves of the other gods here the way the three Fertility Goddesses came, and everyone could talk face to face. The human parts of the gods, unlike the divine parts, don't have that mutual exclusion and contamination risk—they can gather together."

"We could try sending out invitations directly," Flora said, tapping the ground lightly with a forehoof. "But it's hard to say how many gods would answer such a sudden—and frankly suspicious—invitation. After all, we can't reveal any intelligence about the real plan, and if we say nothing at all... who would rashly leave the divine realm and come to this mortal frontier to keep an appointment?"

"Make up some excuse they can't refuse and trick them into coming?" Amber blinked. "We can explain after we meet them, right? As long as we can lure them here first."

"That's easy for you to say," Gao Yang said, shaking his head. "What kind of reason, what kind of rallying cry, do you think could make the gods collectively leave the divine realm and come to a gathering here on the strength of a little note handed up from the mortal world? Especially now, when their human halves have just gained freedom and the world situation is extremely tense—most gods are probably in a state of extreme caution, and avoiding complications should be their shared mentality at this moment."

At those words Amber instinctively looked at the three Fertility Goddesses. "Then why are they so reckless?"

The three goddesses were taken aback for a moment, then answered in unison: "We know our limits!"

"Yes, yes, they know their limits," Amoen, who had scarcely spoken until now, chimed in. "My courtyard is quite safe..."

Gao Yang instinctively glanced a few more times at Amoen and the three goddesses, feeling that these several had, at the mention of the word "limits," somehow released a peculiar and identical aura. How to put it... it was the same aura Byron gave off when discussing "justice"—a feeling of "I know none of you believe it, but I am confident as hell."

And in that very moment of diversion, Gaia suddenly fixed her gaze on Amber. After watching her for a moment, the goddess wore a thoughtful expression. "Perhaps... Miss Amber's suggestion is not without merit. We can 'trick' the 'human halves' of the other gods into coming here—we can give them a reason they cannot refuse, or at least one that appears impossible to refuse."

Gao Yang and Amber said in unison: "Huh?"

"This will require a small favor from Miss Amber," Gaia said earnestly. "I believe the success rate will be very high."

...

Two hours later, in the blue-velvet study of Cecil Palace, Amber sat beside Gao Song's desk, the end of a pen between her teeth, admiring the fruit of her recent labor, a trace of smugness on her face.

But the smugness lasted less than a moment before she turned to look at Gao Yang, who sat nearby with his eyes closed in rest. Setting the pen down on the desk, she muttered with little confidence: "Do you really think this will work...? Though Gaia kept saying the success rate would be very high."

"On this point, at least, her judgment shouldn't be wrong," Gao Yang said, opening his eyes and glancing over. "The gods' perception is extremely sharp, and especially at this moment, Lady Night's aura is something close to a PTSD trigger for them. Don't forget how those three goddesses reacted the moment you walked into Amoen's courtyard—you had only just appeared, and you hadn't summoned a single one of those three knockoff artifacts yet.

"And under the influence of that peculiar mindset, so long as the message comes from Lady Night, no matter how suspicious its appearance—even if it was sent up by mortal believers—the human halves of the gods will treat it with the utmost seriousness. Even if only to come and confirm whether it's real, they will definitely show themselves. After all... apart from us, who else would know of, or even imagine, a knockoff version of 'Lady Night' like you?"

"Well... all right, that makes sense," Amber thought it over and pressed her lips together. "Then come take a look and see if what I've written is any good."

Only then did Gao Yang rise from his chair and walk over to the desk. He saw a dozen sheets of letter paper laid out neatly on the table, and on every sheet was written exactly the same thing—

"One course of treatment remains. Come at once to the Nature Sovereign's retreat on the border of the Shadow Realm within twenty-four hours. Please cooperate actively with treatment. —Left by Lady Night."

"Isn't writing it this way a bit too... undignified?" Amber scratched the back of her head, watching Gao Song's reaction as she spoke with a guilty conscience. "I wrote it the way you wanted, but if it's from Lady Night, shouldn't the message be a bit more dignified and solemn?"

Gao Yang rubbed his chin and after a moment shook his head. "No need to change it. I think it's fine as is. According to the three Gaia sisters, this is exactly the style Lady Night uses when speaking with them—and honestly, I don't think the gods will really scrutinize your diction and phrasing when they receive this letter. What will actually do the work here is something else."

"I know, I know," Amber said, casually snapping her fingers. At once a fine gray-white sand, like smoke and mist, appeared in answer, swirling around her like a floating ribbon. Then she pulled a stack of envelopes from a nearby shelf and began stuffing sand into them one by one. "Once they see the shadow dust in the envelope, they won't doubt it at all, right? That's what you and Gaia both said..."

Gao Yan nodded, and then watched as Amber folded each letter and stuffed it into an envelope already half-filled with sand, then sealed the envelopes with glue. Watching this, and thinking of the contents and purpose of these letters, he could not help but feel something strange rise in his heart. After holding it in for a long while, he finally could not resist speaking: "Why does this look exactly like a violent gang mailing out threatening letters..."

"Huh? Isn't it?" Amber looked up and stared blankly at Gao Cen. "I figured you'd pegged the thing as a threatening letter from the very start—I was about to say, you seem awfully practiced at this sort of thing."

"Forget it, this topic's a dead end," Gao Cen said, slapping his own forehead. Then he caught sight of Amber reaching for the wax seal beside her and cut in quickly. "Hey, wait! Don't stamp that!"

"Huh? Why not?" Amber held the seal aloft, utterly baffled. "Don't you always stamp this on letters? It makes them look formal..."

"Because it's absurd, that's why! You're leaving a note for the gods as Lady Night, and fine, the message travels through a church in the mortal world—but then you go and put the Cecil royal seal on the envelope! How is that reasonable?" Gao Yang's mouth twitched. "Sure, I said Lady Night's PTSD trumps everything, but doesn't this strike you as just a bit too suspicious?"

Amber thought it over, then set the wax seal down with considerable regret. "Fine. You've got a point."

Gao Yang shook his head and sighed. Seeing that Amber had everything ready on her end, he opened the channel to Virodai.