After the slave owners went bankrupt, they all wanted to keep me as a mistress.

Mu Qiu had expected the aunt to utter a sarcastic remark about being from out of town, but to his surprise, she was very enthusiastic from the start: "Oh, you're from out of town, right? That's great! Let me tell you, today is the monthly prayer day! The Holy Maiden will be presiding over a large-scale prayer ceremony in the temple!"

Mu Qiu stroked his chin and nodded slightly: "Gathering people for prayer?"

The woman continued, "Most importantly, after the prayers, the saint will personally come outside the temple and randomly select and listen to the prayer of the first believer who comes before her!"

Mu Qiu perked up: "We can even pray to the Holy Maiden?"

No wonder there are so many people; they all want to pray before the Holy Maiden, right? This Earth Temple is quite good at uniting people's hearts.

"That's not."

As the woman spoke, her smile grew even warmer: "By the way, you haven't worshipped the Mother Goddess before, have you? Why don't you worship her here? You can fill in my name when you register later..."

Mu Qiu's lips twitched.

No wonder they were so enthusiastic; it turns out they've taken a liking to the temple's new believers.

Just then, the side door of the temple opened, and a middle-aged priest with a ruddy complexion and an arrogant demeanor walked out, followed by two temple knights.

Upon seeing this, the crowd immediately stirred and pushed forward.

The middle-aged pastor cleared his throat, his voice booming throughout the square: "Silence! Silence! In gratitude for the grace of our Mother Goddess, and in Her Majesty's mercy, she will once again listen to the prayer of one of her people today!"

Immediately, someone asked, "Your Excellency! Who is so lucky as to be chosen by the Holy Maiden?"

The middle-aged pastor answered without hesitation, "Only the most devout believers can receive this honor!"

As soon as the words were spoken, an uproar broke out in the crowd, with many people rushing to shout:

"Your Excellency, I donate one hundred gold coins to the temple every month! I am truly devout!"

“My whole family are devout believers in Mother Earth. My great-great-grandfather started serving the temple!”

“I have been coming to the temple to pray every day for more than three years without fail!”

“I donated a set of sterling silver candlesticks to the temple's icon last month!”

Hearing these people shouting, Mu Qiu raised an eyebrow.

Oh, so that's how devout they are.

Then he was relieved.

Mu Qiu released the magic power within his body, naturally pushing the surrounding crowd to both sides, and walked straight to the priest.

His actions immediately drew countless disgruntled and questioning glances from those around him, but due to the aura of a gold-level professional he exuded, no one dared to voice their doubts; instead, they all turned their attention to the middle-aged priest.

The middle-aged pastor also looked at Mu Qiu, and seeing the golden-level aura emanating from him, his attitude became slightly more polite: "Sir, please line up in order..."

Mu Qiu didn't speak, but simply took out an item from his storage ring and flicked it with his finger.

A streak of light flashed and landed precisely in the priest's hand.

The priest instinctively caught it, and upon touching it, he felt a warm, smooth surface with strange energy fluctuations.

He looked down and his eyes widened instantly!

It was a stone about the size of an egg, with a light purple exterior. If you used magic to sense it, you could detect the mysterious energy fluctuations inside.

"This, this is... a starstone?!"

"And... it's a mid-grade starstone?!"

The middle-aged pastor's hands trembled slightly, and his thighs went weak as he stared incredulously at the stone in his palm.

The people around, who were still clamoring about how many gold coins they had donated and how many years they had prayed, suddenly fell silent, looking at the pastor's outburst with confusion.

It's just a pretty stone, is it that expensive? Can it compare to the prayers they've accumulated over decades?

Very expensive!

The middle-aged pastor knew very well that starstones could only be collected from meteorites and ruins.

According to the Starry Law, everything in the sky belongs to the Starry Council and the Truth Association, so the vast majority of Starstones are controlled by the Starry Council and the Truth Association.

More importantly, any professional at the legendary level or above needs a large number of Starshine Stones to assist in breaking through!

It is said that within the Starry Sky Council, a low-grade Starshine Stone costs only 10,000 gold coins, and a mid-grade Starshine Stone costs only 50,000 gold coins!

Although members of the Starry Sky Council can only exchange for this price a few times every five years according to their contribution level, it is still enough to make outsiders envious!

In the outside world, even low-grade Starshine Stones usually only appear in top auction houses or transactions between major powers. Each piece is priceless, costing at least 30,000 gold coins, and often fetching 40,000 to 50,000 gold coins!

If it's a mid-grade starstone, it can easily fetch tens or even hundreds of thousands of gold coins at auction!

The key point is that you can't just buy it whenever you want!

Market price is one thing, but if there's no market, you can't buy it even if you have the money!

The production of asteroides is extremely limited, and many asteroides found in relics and meteorites were mined out long ago.

Even if the Earth Temple wanted to buy it from the Star Council, it would have to pay more than double the price!

This young man just casually tossed out a piece?

What kind of family background does this person come from?

The pastor's mind went blank; he could barely think.

Although the Earth Temple seeks devout believers, it doesn't matter whether they are believers or have visited the Earth Temple before; what matters is their devotion.

But isn't this a bit too devout?

Seeing that he didn't react for a long time and just stared blankly at the stone in his hand, Mu Qiu thought to himself that this saintess was really a little glutton. He couldn't even see her with a mid-grade starstone. So he simply reached into his storage ring again.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, he casually flicked out another object.

Another stream of purple light, with an even more astonishing energy fluctuation, fell into the priest's hands.

The middle-aged pastor felt his hand sink, looked down, and almost suffered a cardiac arrest on the spot!

The second starstone!

They are similar in size, but the internal energy flow is more mysterious, and the color is closer to purple.

This... this must be the legendary...

"A...high-grade starstone?"

The middle-aged pastor gaped, his expression completely frozen.

Even the Holy Maiden only used a high-grade starstone when she first broke through to the legendary level, and planned to use a mid-grade starstone to advance later. This was only because the Holy Maiden's belief was extremely firm and she pioneered a new path. Only with minimal resource consumption was she qualified to use a high-grade starstone to lay the foundation!

Previous Saintesses all used mid-grade starstones to lay a foundation and then used low-grade starstones to advance.

But now the other party is casually tossing over a high-grade starstone to express their sincerity?

"Is it enough?"

Mu Qiu spoke in a calm tone, and as he spoke, he glanced at the priest.

The common people's piety is split 30/70, while the nobles' piety is returned in full. You should understand this principle, right?

I'm just showing off this thing worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins to express my piety. You actually want to accept it?

"Enough, that's enough! That's more than enough!!"

The middle-aged pastor suddenly came to his senses, but did not dare to actually put away the two starstones.

If the other party is just a lucky person who found a mid-grade starstone, then it's fine to offer it to the Holy Maiden.

But the fact that the other party could still pull out a high-grade starstone means that he has a lot of these things in his possession!

Then we can't treat him like an ordinary gold-level professional!

The other party's background was clearly much more powerful than he had imagined.

He smiled and announced loudly:

"The Mother Goddess has heard your devout prayers!"

"Without a doubt, you are the most devout believer today!"

"Please be the first to enter the temple; the Holy Maiden is waiting for you!"

As he spoke, he quickly waved his hand, signaling the temple knights behind him to clear a path leading to the temple gate.

Mu Qiu was not surprised by the priest's reaction. He nodded slightly and led Vera and Fiona into the temple.

As soon as he entered the temple, the priest subtly slipped two more starstones into his sleeve and handed them to him.

Mu Qiu remained calm and immediately stored the Starshine Stone in his storage ring the moment he received it.

Just as he thought, if he had simply handed over a mid-grade starstone, the other party might have actually accepted it.

However, as long as one displays enough strength, the Starshine Stone will only pass through the other party's hands once, and in the end, it will naturally have to be returned to him.

The pastor did not linger in the main hall, but led them through a side corridor to a relatively small wooden door.

The pastor stopped at the door, his smile becoming even more respectful. He lowered his voice and said to Mu Qiu, "Sir, Her Majesty the Saint is in this prayer room. According to custom, believers must look at each other through a partition when they are praying and making wishes, as a sign of respect for Her Majesty the Saint and to protect the privacy of those praying."

"By the way, you can only enter alone; your companion must wait here."

Mu Qiu nodded, indicating his understanding.

He gestured for Vera and Fiona to wait outside, then pushed open the wooden door alone.

Inside the door was a room that wasn't very large, but was decorated in an extremely elegant and tranquil manner.

In the center of the room stands a partition, with the emblem of the Earth Mother Goddess and various vine patterns representing harvest and protection carved out on it, showcasing exquisite craftsmanship.

Just as the pastor had said, there was indeed a small, curved opening below the barrier, just wide enough for one hand to pass through.

Through the small opening, one could vaguely see a figure sitting inside.

By this time, the priests and temple knights had already gone far away. They knew very well that the Holy Maiden's strength did not require their protection, and they were also afraid of overhearing something they shouldn't have. Normally, without the Holy Maiden's permission, they would not approach the Holy Maiden's residence, including this prayer room.

Seeing that no one was around, Vera quietly peeked through the crack in the door, then pursed her lips.

"what happened?"

Fiona noticed that Miss Vera's expression seemed somewhat subtle, and immediately looked puzzled.

"I never imagined that the Holy Maiden of the Earth Temple would be such a despicable person."

Vera pointed to the small, curved opening below the barrier and said softly:

“Fiona, look, if Master stands up, isn’t that little opening level with Master’s waist? It’s just right to soothe Master…”

Fiona looked at the small opening Vera was pointing to and blinked.

Although she didn't find anything strange about the design, why did she suddenly feel vulgar when Miss Vera mentioned it?

Chapter Ninety-Three: Isn't the Confession Cave a church tradition?

Vera, looking quite knowledgeable, said, "This is called the Confession Cave. It's also mentioned in history books about human nobles and nuns. Its height is just right, aligned with the owner's waist, which means it was originally designed for this purpose!"

Do such history books really exist?

Fiona had her own doubts.

She gave a soft "hmm," blinked, and said, "But I heard that this opening was for the convenience of believers and nuns to communicate, right?"

"Fiona, I think you don't understand at all!"

Vera shook her head. She quietly closed the door, leaving only a crack to avoid being discovered. Then she reached out and pulled Fiona aside, pointing to the partition and whispering, "This prayer room isn't one of those confessionals divided into two rooms. It's just a room separated by a partition. Even without making a hole there, the believer's voice can still be heard on the other side."

"Since not making a hole doesn't affect the sound transmission, it means that the way people communicate through this hole isn't mouth-to-mouth, but mouth-to-waist!"

Fiona was somewhat speechless.

She felt like strange knowledge was being injected into her brain, and she tried to argue, "But I've heard that churches with only priests and no nuns have similar confessionals, right? This should just be a tradition of churches and temples... right?"

Normally, there is only one temple in a city.

According to historians, the academic community generally believes that this was due to a series of conflicts that broke out among the gods in the early Age of Gods in order to compete for faith. The appearance of the Demon King further intensified the contradictions, which eventually evolved into the protracted war during the Age of Gods. As a result, all the first generation of gods born in the early Age of Gods perished, and most of the second generation of gods also perished.

To prevent such a situation from happening again, the gods in the divine realm began to assign the ownership of human beliefs.

Except for a very few special areas, only one temple is allowed in each town.