"Master, I want to go with you." Bonnie mustered the courage to say.

Behind her, Bozo twitched his lips and furrowed his brow.

Bai Pu shook his head and said, "No, this is just an exploration. Too many people won’t be good... just four of the Bishop’s Servants will accompany me. The others should stay in the Southwest Jungle and manage well. You need to wake the people of the Original Sin World, so they no longer believe in that bullshit doctrine of suffering."

What does it mean to embrace suffering, and what does it mean to praise suffering?

Bai Pu always felt that those who said to praise suffering had something wrong with their heads.

Suffering is not worthy of praise. What deserves praise is the resilience of people facing suffering, not seeking suffering for no reason.

Bai Pu specifically emphasized: "The spread of the suffering doctrine is the Thorn Church’s top priority. What the enemy supports, we must resolutely oppose; what the enemy opposes, we must resolutely support."

A group of Thorn Cutter Elites nodded in agreement.

Bozo said, "Don’t worry, I know how important faith is to a Divine. Also, the other thing you mentioned to me, there’s been progress on it."

"Really?" Bai Pu revealed a look of surprise.

Before retreating into cultivation, Bai Pu had entrusted Bozo with a task: to find a way to use the Holy Artifacts.

Since the "Redeemer" Nur was able to use the Holy Artifact, Shield of Piety, Bai Pu thought there might be some secret to using Holy Artifacts within the Thorn Cutters.

Bozo said, "Don’t get too excited, this method can only use some rudimentary abilities of the Holy Artifacts and cannot unleash their true power. For instance, Nur’s Holy Artifact Shield can only be used to block attacks and expand the area of defense. If he could use the full power of the Holy Artifact, I definitely wouldn’t be his opponent."

Bai Pu nodded. He could understand, after all, both the Gilder and the Two-Faced Man possessed Holy Artifacts, but clearly, they couldn’t unleash the full power of the Holy Artifacts.

A Holy Artifact is equivalent to a King-level Purple Weapon. If a Divine Favorer could wield the full power of a King-level Purple Weapon, Bai Pu and Yemang would have been wiped out in the last Thorn Suffering Sanctuary.

The Gilder used the Holy Artifact, the Holy Thorn Spear "Meteor," merely as a sharp throwing weapon. The weapon’s attached skills or attribute enhancement probably weren’t even utilized.

Bai Pu said, "I can accept that, just unleashing a small part of the Holy Artifact’s function is enough."

"Alright, have a look for yourself." Bozo handed a page of copied material to Bai Pu.

Bai Pu glanced at it, and indeed, the method to activate the Holy Artifact was recorded on it—

Blood Ritual!

Specifically, it involved using a large quantity of fresh blood to perform an ancient ritual to consecrate the Holy Artifact in an attempt to awaken its spirit.

The awakened Holy Artifacts each had different spirits.

Some were relatively "agreeable," requiring only a small price for the ritual performer to unleash a minor rudimentary power.

Others were more demanding, imposing very strict tests. But once the test was completed, more power of the Holy Artifact could be used.

Bai Pu pondered. His King-level Purple Weapon "Doomsday" Long Spear was somewhat different from a Holy Artifact, as the Spirit Realm Will had consecrated it within "Celestial Border Black Death," and he wasn’t sure if it was applicable to the Blood Ritual.

Bai Pu temporarily put away the material page, waved goodbye to everyone, and dived into the spring waters of Jishuitan.

The four Bishop’s Servants simultaneously jumped into the water.

Subsequently, Bozo held Bonnie, along with a group of Thorn Cutters, waiting nearby.

Time passed, minute by minute.

The Jishuitan remained undisturbed.

"Although Lord Gangxin is very powerful, I feel like he’s too optimistic this time."

A Thorn Cutter muttered.

Bai Pu’s speculation about an underground paradise and finding a passage to the underworld through an underground river was unheard of, naturally invoking skepticism.

Only Bonnie shot a glare at the person.

"Let’s just wait here for a while. If Lord Gangxin can’t find the supposed passage, he will surely return." Bozo said.

"We’ve been waiting for four hours... So, maybe go back first? There are still many things to do in the city’s base." Black-robed Neil said.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound of an earthquake arose, causing the Hengduan Mountain Range to collapse, as if an invisible giant hand from underground had removed part of its foundation!

The spring of Jishuitan changed, too, the water jet initially spraying outward suddenly retracted! The water level of Jishuitan rapidly descended!

"What’s happening?!"

Everyone turned pale with fright. Such a phenomenon was beyond human capability.

"Could it be... is there really an underground passage?" Black-robed Neil murmured, "Such a coincidence? There’s actually an entrance to an underground passage here?"

Bonnie raised her head, "No! There’s no underground passage here. Master found a weak spot in the earth’s rock layer, and together with the four Bishop’s Servants, broke through it, punching through the rock layer, and found the way to the Earth Vein Corridor!"

"Earth Vein Corridor? What is that name?"

Bonnie closed her eyes and then opened them again: "It’s the name Master gave to the underworld. Alright, we can head back now and complete the tasks Master entrusted us with!"

...

Earth Vein Corridor.

This is a strange underground world, vast and expansive.

The stalactites descend from the dome, the rugged stone stumps on the ground, all covered with vines emitting a faint glow.

In the distance, one can still see giant mushroom-like plants, with gigantic mushroom caps also exuding a soft glowing light.

Whoosh—

In front of Bai Pu, a suspended waterfall fell, splashing countless water droplets on the rocky ground, as if the sky had been punctured.

This was indeed Bai Pu’s achievement.

He and four Bishop’s Servants, following the direction of the underground river, dived and swam upstream, attempting to find the entrance of the underground passage.

They even dove beneath the Hengduan Mountain Range, where endless mountain rocks loomed overhead.

When they couldn’t find the entrance for a long time, Bai Pu changed his strategy. He established a Spiritual Link with the four Bishop’s Servants, gathering the spiritual power of five people, and using Bai Pu’s Mountain Shattering Mystical Arts to detect and perceive the rock layer below.

The spiritual power of the five people was enough to penetrate the thick rock layer and project hundreds of meters down.

Then Bai Pu sensed that beneath the rock layer, there was a vast and hollow space. He knew he was right.

Of course, Bai Pu definitely couldn’t penetrate a rock layer that’s hundreds of meters thick.

But the rock layer wasn’t of uniform thickness. Some places were as thick as thousands of meters, while others were only ten or so meters thick.

Then it became simple. Bai Pu used his Mountain Shattering Mystical Arts to find the weak points in the rock layer and break through them!

The five of them then plunged through the crack in the water flow, forcibly descending into this vast underground world, also causing the water to follow suit, creating a waterfall in the underworld, and triggering a small earthquake on the surface at the Hengduan Mountain Range.