The Breakthrough Quest and the Evil God's History

Hearing this, Little Black was momentarily speechless.

"Whatever, as long as you're happy."

At that moment, Jiang Lin asked, "Little Black, when humans offer sacrifices to evil gods like you, what do they usually get in return?"

Little Black glanced at Jiang Lin. "Why? Have you finally seen the light and decided to offer a sacrifice to me?"

Jiang Lin shook his head. "No, I'm just curious. The Temple suppresses the secret cultists so harshly, almost to the point of total eradication, yet they still pop up like mushrooms after rain. Are they really so desperate for a bit of power that they'll do anything?"

Hearing Jiang Lin's reflection, Little Black began to answer him seriously.

"As evil gods, the offerings we demand vary depending on our individual abilities. Some like souls, some like flesh, and some prefer to taste emotions like pain.

"And because the evil gods are different, the abilities they bestow upon their followers vary as well. Some grant special skills, some strengthen the physical body, and others strengthen the soul. Many secret cultists offer sacrifices to different evil gods just to obtain power they otherwise couldn't reach.

"The Four Great Secret Cults of your world are quite famous. Although they are called the 'Four Great,' many of their internal personnel are actually interconnected. A member of secret cult A can also go to secret cult B to make an offering.

"Furthermore, I've noticed that the history textbooks in your kingdom's junior magic academies don't mention the history of these cults, so you might not be aware. In this world, there are actually other countries that treat the Four Great Secret Cults as their state religions. The status of the Four Great Secret Cults in those countries is just like the status of the Temple in yours.

"So, it's fundamentally impossible for your Temple to eliminate them all on its own."

Jiang Lin's eyes widened. He truly had no idea about this.

"Then why have I never heard of these countries? And if these secret cultists are so brutal, wouldn't the people of those countries revolt?"

Little Black sneered. "Revolt? What use is revolting? In that kind of environment, people at the bottom only want to climb up. Once they reach the top and become beneficiaries of the order, they will desperately maintain it.

"Those who want to revolt are only the weak, and the weak can only be slaughtered by the strong. Even if someone crawls to a high position to rebel, they won't find anyone like-minded, and there will always be someone stronger above them."

Jiang Lin was stunned. Indeed, he had subconsciously projected the circumstances of his past life onto this world.

In this world filled with transcendent power, ordinary people were truly destined to be at the mercy of the strong.

"Besides, you should know that even though many people look human and act normally, they lack the ability to think for themselves.

"Tell me, if someone who failed to get into a middle magic academy despite trying their hardest found out there was a country where they could become stronger just by sacrificing a few lives—with no limit to their growth—what would they choose?

"It would be fine if it were just one or two people, but the reality is that there are many such fools. If this information were public, the kingdom would face terror incidents every other day, not to mention constant attacks from demons, beastkins, and secret cult kingdoms. It would be a nightmare.

"That's why many human kingdoms choose this strategy of information blockade. Rather than trying to reason with you, it's easier to just crush the idea entirely and keep the majority of the common people in the dark."

Jiang Lin nodded thoughtfully. "Even so, there must be leaks. Some news must trickle down to the commoners, right?"

"Well, didn't you not know?" Little Black countered.

"That's different. I'm an orphan. I didn't have adults at home to tell me these things."

"It's true that a total blockade is impossible, but they can reduce it as much as possible. One less person knowing is one less potential threat. It's just a matter of deleting a few pages from a textbook; your kingdom isn't trying to seal off the information perfectly."

Jiang Lin fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Jiang Lin seemed to make a decision, his eyes filled with resolve.

"Little Black," he called softly.

"Your big daddy's name is Lilith!" Little Black hissed.

Jiang Lin continued to himself, "Since the heavens allowed me to be born into this world, it must be because they want me to save the people suffering under the rule of the secret cults!

"Let's wipe out all the secret cults together, Little Black!"

"I told you, your big daddy's name is Lilith!!"

......

It was past midnight. The city gates were closed, and Jiang Lin couldn't enter, so he had to wait quietly for the sun to rise.

Jiang Lin didn't mind. He simply brought Little Black to the base of the city wall and began accumulating magic essence into the small basin inside his body.

He had tested it in the forest earlier; battle flow only triggered if he killed while 【Blood Deterrence】 was active.

Furthermore, killing small creatures like ants was useless; the creatures needed a certain size and combat capability.

Sitting outside the city wall, Jiang Lin's brow soon furrowed.

Currently, the volume of the small basin was significantly larger than the previous small bowl.

Jiang Lin did a rough estimation; it was about 20 times the size of the previous one.

Even with his current breathing technique's cultivation speed, it would likely take 100 days to reach level 11.

No wonder everyone prioritized breaking through the level limit to cultivate higher-level breathing techniques first.

Still, since he had nothing else to do, Jiang Lin cultivated on the spot.

The next day, the sun rose, casting warm, soft light over Boulder City.

The city gates slowly opened. Jiang Lin followed the crowd that had been waiting outside through the inspection and entered the city.

After buying breakfast and crushing a few ants along the way, Jiang Lin headed toward the Temple.

【stamina】：41,000 → 42,000

【mental power】：37,000 → 38,000

【Random Skill Upgrade 21 → 22】

He would learn the skills he received and then allocate them to his limit-breaks.

"Hello, I'd like to borrow some skills," Jiang Lin said at the front desk.

"Of course. Please register here." The staff member produced a small booklet.

After filling out the information, Jiang Lin went to the same room as last time.

After browsing, Jiang Lin finally selected three skills: 【Shield of Divine Grace】, 【Light-speed Dash】, and 【Super-speed Thinking】.

【borrowing points: 35 → 5】

As he was about to head back to school with the three skill books, a staff member appeared.

"Excuse me, Mr. Jiang Lin. The Lady Pope wishes to see you."

Jiang Lin was visibly startled.

'Why does the Lady Pope want to see me?'

Regardless, he replied, "Is that so? Please lead the way."

"Thank you for your time." The staff member apologized while leading Jiang Lin toward the Pope's office.

Soon, the staff member stopped before a dark, star-patterned wooden door and knocked. Cecilia's dignified voice came from inside.

"Enter."

Without any visible action from the staff member, the door swung open, revealing Lady Cecilia sitting at her desk.

However, the moment he looked at Cecilia, Jiang Lin's right eye began to ache.

"Lady Pope," Jiang Lin greeted respectfully.

He had heard that Lady Cecilia was somewhat dissatisfied with the joint exam results, and he wondered if she would take it out on him.

Lady Cecilia was dressed the same as their last meeting, her silver-gray hair neatly tied back, wearing a gold-trimmed ivory robe that made her look majestic and solemn.

At the moment, she held a quill, with a thick stack of documents before her that she seemed to be reviewing.

Seeing Jiang Lin enter, she set down the pen. "Student Jiang Lin, we haven't met in such a short time, yet you've already gained 6 levels."

"Haha, it's all thanks to the nurturing of the Temple and the school," Jiang Lin said evasively.

The Pope didn't dwell on the issue. Over the years, she had seen many geniuses like him, but only a handful ever made it far.

"The reason I called you here is mainly because there's been progress regarding the evil god incident."

Jiang Lin immediately remembered Salas telling him that the Pope had reported the matter to her superiors.

After all, an evil god personally intervening was quite rare, especially one from a previously unrecorded time-attribute category.

"The evil god that tried to assassinate you hasn't acted for the first time. There are records of it appearing in other branches of the Temple.

"It's just that its luck wasn't as bad as this time. In the past, there was no gold badge knight stationed there, so it mostly succeeded. The Temple could only find the altars associated with it after the fact.

"Because it failed this time, we were able to link this specific altar to those previous assassination records."

Jiang Lin was shocked. It turned out he wasn't the only one getting this treatment.

It was just that the previous victims hadn't survived the assassination, and with no witnesses, the Temple hadn't known an evil god had personally intervened.

"Has the Temple figured out why it's targeting me? Do the other victims and I have anything in common?"

Cecilia shook her head.

"That's the strangest part. There's no commonality between you. Some of the previous victims were even ordinary people with mediocre talent. It doesn't seem to be specifically targeting geniuses for elimination.

"Therefore, others in the Temple speculate that its ability might be related to amplifying desire and obsession within the heart. Possession is its common method; as long as someone sacrifices something to it, they gain the chance for it to possess them.

"However, its appearances in our region are still too few and too mysterious. The only records we have are its altars; no living cultists exist for us to interrogate."

Jiang Lin fell into contemplation, his face filled with confusion.

If that was the theory, then he and Matthew didn't have a life-and-death grudge—they barely even interacted. Why would the other guy want to kill him after being possessed by an evil god?

"However, I disagree with their views. I'm more inclined toward the prophecy hypothesis Salas mentioned to you. Perhaps it killed the others just to mislead us?"

Jiang Lin nodded. He wanted to say the Lady Pope had great taste for recognizing his potential for greatness, but what came out was, "Yes, I will work hard to make your vision a reality!"

The implication was that he would continue to grow stronger and then hunt down that evil god.

"That's all for now. Be careful. Also, since you're already level 10, go and accept your breakthrough quest."

Jiang Lin sighed, knowing what had to come. Once you reached level 10, someone would inevitably tell you to complete a breakthrough quest, and those quests had to be registered at the Temple.

This was also one of the Temple's methods for weeding out secret cultists. If you advanced without accepting a quest, you were essentially labeled a secret cultist.

"Yes, I'll go accept it in a moment."

Jiang Lin felt a headache coming on.

Based on the System's 【Trial of Blood (I)】 task and Little Black's description, it seemed that if he followed the path of the gods' breakthrough quests, his status would not be independent, and he would be restricted by the gods in the future.

Having used the System for so long, Jiang Lin trusted it implicitly.

With so many entities watching from above, who knew what was waiting at the end of that path?

So, if he could break his life shackles by completing the System's task, that would naturally be best.

But if he used the 【Trial of Blood (I)】 to break through, he wouldn't be able to register at the Temple. Conversely, if he used the Temple's method, he wouldn't be able to teleport to the 【Blood Realm】 to complete the task.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Since this is your first time accepting a breakthrough quest, you might not know: after you accept it, the god will place a teleportation brand in your body. This brand can transport you to the God-blessed Land to complete the task at any time.

"So, the earlier you accept it, the better. This teleportation can even be used as a life-saving skill in certain situations," the Pope reminded him.

"Oh? Lady Pope, after I use this teleportation to leave, where will I return to?" Jiang Lin asked.

"To the original point, of course," Cecilia clarified.

"And if there's some kind of space-sealing method nearby, will the teleportation still work?"

Cecilia looked into Jiang Lin's eyes, as if trying to see what he was thinking. "Of course. This is a teleportation granted by a god personally; it can be used from almost anywhere."

Hearing this, Jiang Lin looked at the 【Trial of Blood (I)】 and began to think.

The note at the bottom of the task read:

【Note: To start this quest, you may use the system to teleport directly. If you break the life shackles on your own, you will lose eligibility for teleportation.】

Based on the System's wording, even if he didn't use its method to break through, it shouldn't affect his ability to complete the task; he would just lose the ability to teleport to the 【Blood Realm · Trial Ground】.

What if... just what if...

After starting the 【Trial of Blood (I)】 and entering the Blood Realm to challenge that so-called rank-0 peak Blood Demon, he used the brand the god placed in his body to leave and complete the divine trial? Once he finished the divine trial and was teleported back to the Blood Realm, he could finish the remaining task and claim the reward of "independent status, free from divine restriction"...

That way, wouldn't he be able to complete the 【Trial of Blood (I)】 quest without being blacklisted by the Temple?

Even if he couldn't use the brand to teleport out of the Blood Realm and was labeled a secret cultist, he could just run away. Didn't Little Black say there were countries where secret cults were state religions? After completing the task, he would have some time to prepare and flee there. Wouldn't he, as a secret cult Pope, have everything he wanted?

Wait, now that he thought about it, why hadn't Little Black established its own power in those countries earlier? Did it just not like them?