A portal opened up in an unknown place.
Gabriel flew out of the portal, falling on the ground. His body was burning up as if he had a fever.
He had brought the unconscious son of the Wester Clan Patriarch with him, who fell in the distance, hitting his head on the ground.
The young man started bleeding from his head, but in his unconscious condition, he couldn't do anything.
Jia and the Goddess of Nature also came out as the portal closed behind them. The both of them noticed that they were in a closed space, which appeared to be protected by some strange power!
Moreover, there were some things nearby, like a bed and a table. It was clear that this place was used by someone in the past. However, the last time it was used was a really long time ago.
"We're in the depths of the Southern World underground..." Gabriel said, wiping blood off his lips.
This was the place that he had made a thousand years ago, to rest and recover when he was hurt while trying to gather enough life sources.
He had already cast enough protective measures around this place in the past. Moreover, since this place was in the depths of this World, thousands of feet under the ground, it was also harder to locate.
The Goddess of Nature didn't care much about where they were. Instead, she was more concerned about Gabriel. She had never seen him in a condition like him in the past.
Since he made her suffer for a thousand years, she should've been pleased to see him suffer. However, that wasn't the case at all.
"How can I help?!" She didn't ask what was wrong with him as that was useless at this point. She only wanted to find a way to help him, because his situation was only getting worse.
"Elemental Soul Corruption..." Gabriel exclaimed, patting his chest. "My soul merger has been corrupted. I didn't notice at the start, but it's gotten worse..."
"Elemental Soul Corruption? Could this be because of..." The Goddess of Nature revealed a look of understanding. Even though this phenomenon was rare, it wasn't unknown.
Usually, this phenomenon was seen in Demigods, who tried to receive a god's blessings. Their souls were weak and only compatible with one element. Another elemental blessing usually corrupted their weak souls, slowly destroying it.
There was also no way to reverse this corruption which only became worse with time. With time, those Demigods became weaker.
Usually, a god like Karyk had a powerful soul. In fact, his soul was probably the most powerful amongst all gods. There was no way his soul could've been corrupted!
However, the more the Goddess of Nature thought about it, the more she understood! It was the work of the Goddess of Light, who took advantage of the fact that Karyk's godly soul was asleep.
As for Karyk's secondary soul, it was weak, and prone to accepting more elements.
She didn't directly attack Gabriel and destroy his chance of rebirth, since she wanted to use him to get rid of a bigger threat.
Another reason she didn't interfere was because she was worried that if she went to earth and tried to kill Gabriel, she might accidentally awaken his real soul and end up being killed! Even after a thousand years, she wasn't confident enough that she could face Karyk.
Thus, she came up with another method to weaken him in the future when his real soul awake.
She couldn't corrupt his main soul. However, she knew that Karyk was going to merge with his secondary soul after waking up.
The secondary soul was what she corrupted, and started waiting for when Karyk awakened and merged with the soul corrupted with her element and the element of darkness!
"Can you heal yourself?" The Goddess of Nature asked, gazing at Gabriel who was sitting with his back against a wall. His complexion looked better and he wasn't vomiting blood anymore.
However, she knew that it was just the start. These symptoms were going to get worse and his strength was going to get weaker if he didn't do anything about it.
Gabriel remained silent, not speaking anything. He just looked at the Goddess of Nature silently. His mind was clearly lost in some thought. As for what it was, no one knew.
"There is a way... But..." He muttered but didn't finish the sentence.
"What way?" The Goddess of Nature asked, frowning. She had never heard of a method that could reverse the Elemental Corruption for a god. However, she also didn't think that Gabriel was in the mind to joke.
Gabriel bit his lip, tasting some of his own blood that had dried up on his lips. His expressions were somewhat complicated, as if even he wasn't completely confident about this method.
He didn't know if this was actually going to work or not. It was also very dangerous.
The Goddess of Nature wanted to ask again, but she controlled her urge and didn't interrupt. As long as it could heal the Elemental Corruption, it was fine.
"Can you make this place bigger? This much space isn't enough..." After a brief pause, Gabriel spoke.
"Bigger?" The Goddess of Nature asked, slightly intrigued. This place was already big enough to accommodate over a hundred people easily. But they needed an even bigger place?
Despite her curiosity, she did as she was told. Multiple vines came out of the ground that started breaking the stones around the hall and eating the fragments of those stones, making this hall even bigger.
"Search his body for the Invitation Token and get rid of his body." While the Goddess of Nature was digging the ground with her incredible skills, Gabriel commanded Jia.
He didn't feel like moving anymore. While the two ladies worked, he simply sat with his back resting against the wall, drinking some water.
Simultaneously, he cast a spell to cleanse his attire and remove any traces of blood. His gaze remained fixated on something, lost in deep contemplation, suggesting he was pondering over something significant.
