The Saintess's awakening didn't surprise Lin Gui.
Counting the time, it had been nearly a day since he last knocked her out; it was indeed time for her to wake up.
He expressionlessly took the pilfered brick from his bag.
Aiming at the red mark on the Saintess's forehead that hadn't yet fully faded.
Channeling all his strength, he slammed it down.
However, the Saintess merely tilted her head slightly.
By a hair's breadth, she gracefully evaded the attack.
She lifted those half-open purple eyes, looking at Lin Gui with a slight smile.
"Sorry, we have some things over here that we can't let you see for the moment," Lin Gui explained in a flat tone.
With a flick of his wrist, the brick whistled through the air again.
"So, Saintess, please cooperate a bit more."
The Saintess remained smiling, her body shifting slightly as she nimbly dodged once again.
Thus, a strange sight unfolded in this desolate mine.
A black-haired mage held a brick, repeatedly trying to knock out a saintly girl sitting sideways on a staff.
And that girl, like a willow in the wind, always managed to dodge just before the brick struck.
The two went back and forth, not as if he were trying to bash her head, but more like they were playing a game.
Lin Gui was responsible for striking, while the Saintess twisted her waist and laughed as she dodged.
As a mage, although Lin Gui had undergone basic physical training, his physical constitution was limited after all.
In terms of speed, reaction, and flexibility, he was completely unable to compare with the Saintess, who had already entered the Transcendent field.
After several fruitless attempts, Lin Gui silently lowered the brick and simply watched her quietly.
The Saintess pressed her hands together, her eyes filled with amusement.
But soon, she could no longer laugh.
On the ground all around them, hundreds of stones and bricks of varying sizes floated up soundlessly.
Densely suspended in mid-air, they completely sealed off all space for evasion.
The Saintess opened her purple eyes and spoke to Lin Gui.
"If the things you don't want me to see are that concealment magic of yours capable of fooling Legendary experts, or perhaps..."
She paused slightly.
Her gaze turned toward a large rock nearby.
From behind it, a small head was cautiously peeking out.
It was Theia, who was secretly watching.
Long before she sensed the Saintess showing signs of awakening, Theia had "whooshed" behind the rock with practiced skill.
Now being pointed out, her posture, like a mouse seeing a cat, elicited a soft smile from the Saintess.
Withdrawing her gaze, she continued, "...or your elven wife's demon identity, then you needn't trouble yourself with knocking me out again."
"Because I know all of this."
As soon as she finished speaking, all the suspended stones fell to the ground.
Lin Gui stuffed the brick back into his bag.
Suddenly, a cold light flashed in his hand as a sharp dagger appeared, its tip pointing directly at the Saintess.
"You," Lin Gui's voice carried a mix of suppressed confusion and coldness, "just what exactly did you see in the future?"
He truly felt perplexed.
Thanks to someone he had once met in the Magic City, he was not entirely ignorant of Prophecy.
From what he knew, it was impossible for Prophecy to capture specific details with such precision.
The Saintess could predict the Dark Tide by observing the future "existence" of city-states because the "survival of a city-state" was a relatively stable "fact."
The arrival of the 20th round of the Dark Tide was less than three months away. No matter which point in the future the Saintess observed, as long as it was three months later, the survival or destruction of the city-state would be clear at a glance.
And therein lay the problem.
That individual in the Magic City required a night of the full moon to perform a Great Divination, and she could only do it once a year. The fragments she peered into were not only random but also extremely brief.
According to her, other schools of Prophecy were mostly like this, filled with numerous restrictions.
Given that, the Saintess's claim right now was extremely bizarre.
Could her luck truly be so heaven-defying that, within the vast river of time, she happened to capture the brief moments he cast the Shroud of the Gloomy Night and when Theia exposed her demon energy?
From New Covenant City to this place, the only time he had actively revealed the Shroud of the Gloomy Night was when he was explaining things to Elvia deep beneath the Withered Rift. That was only about a minute long.
And from New Covenant City until now, it had been nearly two months... close to 90,000 minutes.
If the scale of time were extended into the future, the probability would be infinitesimally small.
The exposure of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night was still within his range of tolerance.
But the secret of Theia's demon identity absolutely could not be known by anyone else.
The Holy Church of Light's escorts were currently in the Royal Capital, and they were absolute experts in tracking and hunting the Demon Race.
The Shroud of the Gloomy Night could not mask demon energy.
The Saintess did not seem surprised by Lin Gui's sudden hostility.
Elvia moved her feet silently and drew her honorary saber, standing behind the Saintess to form a faint pincer movement.
Theia, no longer hiding, leaped onto the top of the giant rock, her elven longbow drawn to full tension, with a cold arrow firmly locked onto the Saintess.
The atmosphere became tense and hostile in an instant.
Yet the Saintess smiled softly, her eyes meeting Lin Gui's.
"How about this? In exchange for knowing your secrets, I will also tell you some of mine. What do you think?"
With that, she slowly spread her hands.
A string of tongue-twisting, obscure, and ominous magic incantations flowed from her mouth.
Without the aid of a staff, she chanted very slowly, continuing for a full three minutes.
A fierce look flashed in Elvia's and Theia's eyes. They were about to step in and stop her when Lin Gui raised a hand to block them.
When the Saintess uttered the first strange syllable, Lin Gui had already recognized the category of the spell she was about to cast.
As the incantation progressed, the expression on his face changed from vigilance to bewilderment, and finally, it froze completely.
He stood frozen on the spot as if struck by lightning.
The Saintess was actually casting a Transcendent Rank dark-element magic spell: Dark Healing.
As the final syllable fell, a surge of pure and cold dark energy gushed from the Saintess's palm, like a writhing black veil, gently wrapping around the swelling on her forehead.
That aura, completely contrary to Holy Light energy and filled with corrosive and negative energy, was repairing the soft tissue damage at a speed that defied logic.
The swelling receded at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This reality-shattering scene caused Elvia and Theia to go wide-eyed, their faces full of disbelief.
Though they weren't mages, this black mana was clearly dark magic!
The Saintess withdrew her hand, her forehead smooth as before.
Facing the shocked gazes of Lin Gui and the others, she gave a shallow smile.
"The most devout Saintess of the Holy Church of Light actually knows dark magic, which is regarded as heresy. What do you think of the weight of this secret?"
Rate on N.U.
