The Temple Master’s lips curled into a smile.
Talking to smart people really was a lot easier.
“Emerald City? That’s pretty far from the kingdom’s center—out on the frontier. It also borders a few secret cult kingdoms, so the Temple’s control over the region might not be that strict.”
He paused, then continued.
“So if you’re going there, try not to be too high-profile. I’m not familiar with the Temple Master of Emerald City, so I don’t know what kind of person they are. In cities close to secret cult kingdoms, the Temple doesn’t necessarily consist entirely of our own people.”
Hearing that, Jiang Lin was genuinely shocked.
There was even something like that?
Hadn’t Cecilia Brightstar told him he could completely trust the Temple’s people?
Seeing Jiang Lin’s expression, the Temple Master chuckled.
“From the look of you, you’ve never left Qinghe County, have you?”
Jiang Lin nodded.
It was true. Since birth, he’d stayed within Qinghe County’s borders. In fact, it was only in the past few months that he’d even stepped out of Boulder City and come to Clearwater City.
The Temple Master explained,
“Qinghe County is in the south of the Saintas Kingdom and borders the ocean, so public security here is considered among the best in the kingdom. In other counties that border foreign races, there’s always the possibility that Temple members have been infiltrated.
“Some cities’ Temple Masters might not even be trustworthy.”
Jiang Lin fell silent. Looks like he’d simply been protected too well.
But from that angle, what Cecilia Brightstar said wasn’t wrong either.
At least in Boulder City, order and security were probably reliable.
With Cecilia Brightstar and Dane Castrot both holding the line, there was no real reason for foreign forces to infiltrate an underdeveloped place like Boulder City.
“Then if Temple members are infiltrated, can’t even the gods detect it?” Jiang Lin asked curiously.
The Temple Master shook his head.
“When there’s a policy from above, there’s always a countermeasure below. The ones that can be found have already been rooted out. The remaining freaks and monsters—who knows what methods they’re using to hide themselves.
“At the very least, I know someone who trusted another person’s identity too easily and ended up meeting a terrible end.”
Perhaps because of Jiang Lin’s identity as an apostle, the Temple Master seemed to appreciate and trust him more, explaining in greater detail.
Jiang Lin had questions about the apostle matter, but he was afraid bringing it up proactively might trigger restrictions, so after thinking it over, he held back.
After chatting a bit longer, the Temple Master brought up something else.
“By the way, you probably don’t know how to hide the fluctuations of the apostle park in your body, right?
“Even though your Breath Concealment proficiency is very high, the fluctuations of the apostle park don’t belong to the normal cultivation system. So if you don’t actively use a special secret art to conceal it, it can be sensed by others who have a mark of the same level—or by demons who possess a Demon Lord Seed.
“For example, right now, in my perception, the apostle park inside you is shining like a lighthouse.”
Jiang Lin didn’t speak. He just looked at the Temple Master with an expectant gaze, waiting for what came next.
At the same time, he thought: If all marks were like this, then his Demon Lord Seed should also be detectable.
But it was probably being hidden by his Strongest Demon Lord System. Otherwise, the Temple Master would’ve noticed he might not be human.
Seeing that Jiang Lin shut up the moment anything about the apostle came up, the Temple Master didn’t mind and explained on his own.
“Come on. I’ll teach you how to hide it.”
As he spoke, he raised a finger. Pure, restrained holy radiance gathered at his fingertip, forming intricate, complex runes.
“This is the holy pattern used to conceal an apostle park. You need to mobilize the power within your apostle park, condense it, and stamp it onto your apostle park.
“Come. You can feel it up close.”
The Temple Master brought the holy pattern to Jiang Lin.
Jiang Lin treasured the chance to learn. He placed his hand directly on the pattern and began sensing the changes in its energy flow.
“You probably only received the breakthrough quest today, right?
“You’ll likely need some time before you can fully dig into the power inside the apostle park.
“So for now you can use MP as a substitute. First memorize the rune, then slowly get familiar with it later.”
Jiang Lin nodded.
The rune wasn’t that complicated—at least compared with high-tier skills that started at ten-thousand-plus magic essence circuit paths.
With his astonishing talent, Jiang Lin memorized it quickly.
But using only his own MP, he couldn’t seem to make it take effect.
The circuits of this rune didn’t belong to any magic system he’d learned before.
At the same time, he noticed the system pop up a new skill.
【Saint·Concealment Rune (uninitiated) → (initiated)】
Hm? What did that “Saint” prefix mean?
Jiang Lin suddenly remembered a skill he’d learned before—one he didn’t really dare to use much after mastering it.
【Evil·Low-level Fireball (superlative)】
Looks like magic or skills from the gods’ system were distinguished from his usual system by these prefixes.
So what was special about a system prefixed with “Saint”?
As Jiang Lin pondered, he used a Random Skill Upgrade on it.
In the next instant, a flood of memories surged into his mind.
Meanwhile, the Temple Master continued speaking.
“It’s normal if you can’t draw out the power from the apostle park at first. You’ll have plenty of time to explore it later.
“Back then, even after I reached tier three, it still took me several months before I could mobilize the first wisp of power from my apostle park.
“So don’t worry. I can first add this rune onto your apostle park. It should be enough to support you in completing this breakthrough quest…”
“…Huh?! How did you master it so fast?!”
Jiang Lin had condensed the exact same rune in his hand—identical to the one at the Temple Master’s fingertip.
And with a glance, the Temple Master could tell this wasn’t ordinary light-attribute power from an adventurer.
It was divinity-laced power from the apostle park itself.
“Yeah, it really is difficult,” Jiang Lin nodded in agreement.
In the little black room, he’d spent years learning how to mobilize the power from the apostle park.
It felt strange, like within his body—on top of his normal MP bar—he’d opened up a new, special MP bar.
Because its location and usage were completely different from before, the first attempt to mobilize it was extremely taxing.
But now that he had the 【Saint·Concealment Rune】 skill to grind proficiency, Jiang Lin fully grasped the new technique.
It was just that this special MP bar was newly obtained, so its capacity was pitifully small. If converted to his normal MP, he estimated he’d burn it out after swinging a few eight-colored sword qi attacks.
He guessed that completing tasks bestowed by the gods would probably expand that special MP bar’s capacity.
Still—if there were no special effects—using these “Saint”-prefixed skills was totally inferior to using the skills he already had.
After all, his normal MP bar was built around one thing: huge quantity, endless supply.
He’d have to see later—after deeper understanding—whether these “holy arts” had something unique worth developing.
…
However, after hearing Jiang Lin’s words, the Temple Master fell silent for a long moment.
He watched Jiang Lin press the concealment rune onto his own chest, and Jiang Lin’s apostle park—which had been shining like a lighthouse—gradually dimmed.
Now, only when the Temple Master was within roughly a hundred meters could he sense Jiang Lin’s apostle park.
A hundred meters sounded like a lot, but the Temple Master’s original sensing range had been far greater.
After all, he was a high-level powerhouse—and one qualified to oversee the Clearwater City Temple—so his perception range was already terrifying.
And the special nature of Jiang Lin’s apostle park made him especially sensitive to it.
In fact, when Jiang Lin accepted the assessment quest in his dorm and the apostle park formed inside him, the Temple Master—inside the Temple—had already sensed something.
He’d then waited for Jiang Lin to arrive at the Temple, complete prayer in the hall of statues, and later get pulled aside by a gold badge knight for questioning because of the unusual phenomenon. Throughout all of it, he had been watching in secret.
Of course, while Jiang Lin was still at the dorm, the Temple Master could only sense Jiang Lin’s presence. He couldn’t tell exactly what Jiang Lin was doing.
There were rules even for powerhouses like him—he couldn’t casually probe with divine sense.
Some great families and schools also had powerhouses of the same level stationed there.
He had to give them appropriate respect.
But once Jiang Lin entered the Temple, every move he made fully entered the Temple Master’s perception.
“Uh… looks like your talent is pretty good…” the Temple Master said at last.
After thinking for a long time, even though his dao heart had cracked a little, that was the only praise he managed to squeeze out.
Jiang Lin smiled modestly.
“That’s because the Temple Master taught well.”
“…”
After talking a bit more, Jiang Lin was escorted out.
Jiang Lin scratched his head.
Why did it feel like the Temple Master’s mood was off at the end?
Thinking it over, Jiang Lin figured the Temple Master was probably just feeling gratified at seeing such a genius among the juniors.
He left the Temple office area. He’d assumed he’d been out of sight long enough that everyone had forgotten what happened in the Hall of the Seven Gods and wouldn’t be paying attention anymore.
But to his surprise, even during the short walk from the Temple office wing to the front gates, he drew countless glances and double-takes.
Jiang Lin was confused.
Why were so many people staring at him? Was there dirt on his face? Did he put his clothes on backward?
He checked his outfit. Belt tight, zipper fully closed—no risk of flashing anyone.
Then what were they looking at?
He couldn’t figure it out.
He scanned around helplessly and happened to meet the eyes of a girl secretly watching him.
But the moment she realized he’d looked back, her face flushed red and she immediately looked away, no longer daring to sneak glances.
“Peeking but not even daring to make eye contact?” Jiang Lin stroked his chin.
“Did she do something she feels guilty about?!”
He tried a few more times and found several girls reacting the same way.
He was completely baffled.
What was wrong with this world?
Walking quickly down the street toward the academy, he realized the head-turn rate today was absurdly high.
But he still couldn’t think of what was wrong with him.
He checked several times—no strange prank notes stuck to his back.
So he could only lower his head and hurry back to school.
On the campus path, since summer break was nearing its end, many students had begun returning.
On the way back to the dorm, Jiang Lin passed the Tower of Trials and saw his deskmate Nora had just come out.
Her breathing was heavy, her expression tired. Her neat short combat outfit was soaked with sweat, and her muscles were still pumped and flushed.
Clearly, she’d just finished training inside the Tower of Trials.
Jiang Lin walked toward her, planning to ask whether anything seemed different about him.
But she glanced at him, ignored him, and walked straight past.
Jiang Lin felt baffled.
Fine if she didn’t want to talk, but you run into someone on campus and don’t even say hi?
That cold?
Still, he chased after her and asked directly.
“Nora, is there something on my face? I feel like a lot of people have been staring at me on the way here.”
What he never expected was that Nora would ask in return.
“Who are you?”
Jiang Lin froze on the spot.
For a split second, his brain overloaded.
And combined with all the weirdness earlier, Jiang Lin finally arrived at an absurd possibility.
Could it be that after accepting the God of Holy Light’s power, his appearance changed?
Thinking of that, he hurriedly said,
“I’m Jiang Lin! Your deskmate, Jiang Lin!”
Nora also froze.
Jiang Lin?
This blond-haired, golden-eyed guy was Jiang Lin?
She stared at the impossibly handsome stranger and finally found traces of Jiang Lin’s original facial features.
Looking again—it really was Jiang Lin.
But how could he change this much in just a few days?
Had he used some kind of transformation magic?
And if so, his face-sculpting aesthetic was honestly pretty good.
Nora judged silently.
She might have a bitter, tragic past and a single-minded focus on becoming stronger and taking revenge, but she still had basic taste.
She knew what kind of male counted as good-looking.
“Oh. Jiang Lin. What is it?” She stopped.
“Do I look different?” Jiang Lin asked.
Nora looked him up and down.
“Yeah.”
“Where exactly?” Jiang Lin pressed.
Even if he could just go back and look in a mirror, asking Nora now would at least give him a sense of what changed.
But Nora looked him up and down again and replied concisely.
“Head.”
Jiang Lin felt like he’d asked the wrong person.
So he decided to end the topic.
“Ahem. What are you doing now?”
“Eating,” Nora replied.
“Then go eat. Eat more,” Jiang Lin said.
Nora was puzzled, but still agreed.
“Okay.”
Jiang Lin then said goodbye and sprinted back to his dorm.
He vaulted through the open window out of habit, landed steadily, and saw two pairs of wary eyes staring at him.
“Who are you?!”
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