Baron took a step forward, holding his greatsword across his chest. A pale golden ring of light, the knight-exclusive 【Defensive Formation: Steel Wall】, expanded beneath his feet, enveloping Vina within its reach. Vina held the Inquisition emblem high and announced loudly once more, “The Imperial Inquisition is conducting an investigation by order of His Majesty the Emperor! Anyone who obstructs us will be charged with treason!”
The guards below the stage hesitated visibly. A few exchanged glances, and while they didn't loosen their grip on their swords, the pace of those leading the charge slowed by half a beat.
The clerics, however, did not hesitate. The leader struck his staff against the ground, and the white light at its tip exploded, sending a concentrated shockwave of mana crashing directly toward Baron.
Baron raised his sword to parry. His blade’s 【Mage-Breaker Slash】 collided head-on with the shockwave, resulting in a dull, thunderous boom. He was forced back several steps before he managed to steady himself.
Simultaneously, the Adjudicators scattered throughout the plaza moved. The three members of the second group on the perimeter immediately began guiding the believers toward the exits. Two knights used their shields to form a mobile barrier, separating the crowd from the ritual stage, while a fire mage released a gentle, wide-range 【Lionheart】 to suppress the rising panic.
The five Adjudicators of the first group leaped onto the high stage from different directions. The staves of two fire mages glowed with red mana patterns as they prepared to cast. An assassin had already vanished into the shadows, their blurred silhouette only occasionally flickering near the edge of the stage.
On the stage, the High Priest stood behind the altar, his expression turning increasingly grim. His gaze swept rapidly between the Imperial forces and the increasingly chaotic crowd below, his lips trembling slightly.
Some of the believers had already begun to run, while others remained kneeling in confusion. The entire plaza was transforming from an orderly, solemn gathering into a mess of total disorder.
No longer hesitating, he slammed his staff into the ground. His white robes began to flutter despite the lack of wind, and visible ripples of mana surged around him—though this mana was laced with a faint trace of blood-red and... a weak Spiritual Pressure.
Relying on his fake spiritual root, the High Priest had forced himself to cultivate spiritual energy in this world of swords and magic.
Just as he was about to intervene personally, an incredibly massive spiritual pressure suddenly descended.
Everyone on the high stage froze at once, as if the air above the entire plaza had instantly solidified.
The High Priest’s body also stiffened, but not because of the pressure. He began to tremble slightly, the mana at the tip of his staff rapidly dissipated, and his cold, hard expression was instantly replaced by one of absolute reverence.
A pitch-black figure appeared silently in the center of the ritual stage.
It was a person wearing a black robe and a mask. The mask had no patterns, only two dark eyeholes. The energy radiating from him was pure spiritual energy, carrying a thick, heavy blood fiend energy.
The High Priest turned almost immediately and bowed deeply. His posture went beyond mere respect—he was nearly prostrate, and his voice shook as he spoke.
“Greetings, Envoy.”
The black-robed figure did not look at him. He merely tilted his head slightly, the two dark eyeholes of his mask scanning the Imperial forces arrayed on the stage. Everyone touched by his gaze—Baron, Vina, the eight Adjudicators, and even the guards who hadn't yet reached the stage—felt a chill crawl straight up their spines.
It was like a prey animal suddenly catching the scent of a top-tier predator in the dark.
Then, the black-robed figure raised a hand. His skin was covered in fine, dark red patterns. As he spread his fingers slightly, five spots of dark red light ignited at his fingertips.
“Begone.”
A single word. The voice wasn't loud, but the moment it fell, a massive force exploded from his palm, sweeping toward the Imperial forces in a fan-shaped wave.
Baron immediately plunged his greatsword into the stone tiles, pouring all his mana into his defensive formation. The light of the 【Steel Wall】 flared to a blinding intensity. Vina dashed to his side, her short sword glowing with the warrior-class defensive skill 【Indomitable Shield】. The five Adjudicators also deployed their respective protective abilities simultaneously.
But the moment the impact hit the defensive line, all the shields shattered at once, like paper lanterns being punched through.
Baron was sent flying, his back slamming into a stone pillar at the edge of the altar. Vina was knocked to the ground, rolling several times before she could barely push herself up. All eight Adjudicators were blown away without exception, left with no strength to stand.
With just one move, he had incapacitated everyone.
Vina lay on the ground, a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, as she struggled to lift her head toward the center of the stage. The black-robed figure didn't even turn around; he simply looked down at the Imperial investigators scattered across the stage. There was no emotion in those two dark eyeholes; he seemed entirely indifferent to whether they lived or died.
The High Priest stood hunched beside the figure, sweat dripping down his wrinkles. All five clerics were now kneeling on the ground, their foreheads pressed against the stone, not daring to look up.
The believers below were in total chaos. The second group of Adjudicators on the perimeter was desperately pushing the last of the civilians out to prevent a full-scale stampede.
The black-robed figure withdrew his hand, his black sleeves falling back into place. No longer concerned with the fallen Imperial practitioners, he turned and walked toward the divine statue behind the altar.
Suddenly, he paused for a brief moment.
His mask tilted slightly, the two dark eyeholes focusing on a completely empty corner to the left of the altar. He stood there as if looking at something, or perhaps confirming a sensation. But there was nothing in that corner—at least, nothing visible to ordinary eyes.
After a moment, the figure looked away and continued toward the statue.
Meanwhile, on the second-floor balcony, Li Yuan had already vanished. His figure streaked across the sky above the plaza, but he did not stop there. He had seen everything clearly the moment the black-robed figure attacked.
That body had no dantian, no meridians, and nothing else a living person should have. Inside its chest, there was only a writhing mass of dark red energy compressed to the extreme.
It was not a body of flesh and blood, but a puppet refined from high-grade materials.
However, a puppet cannot act on its own. The moment one operates, there must be a link of spiritual energy between it and the controller. Though it was incredibly subtle, it could not be hidden from a continuous search by Divine Sense.
The moment the figure released the blood fiend energy, the location of the link had been exposed. The source was directly beneath the main temple, in an area that had been deliberately blurred by that gray membrane barrier earlier.
The person he was looking for was there. When Li Yuan landed, he was already standing in the center of the main temple’s great hall, looking down at the smooth stone floor beneath his feet.
With his Divine Sense fully expanded, he pierced through several layers of carefully arranged isolation formations. Roughly dozens of fathoms underground, there was a massive subterranean pocket.
Then, he caught a trace of something else.
That wisp of aura was hidden in the deepest part of the underground, so weak that it remained flickering in and out of existence even under Li Yuan's Divine Sense. A golden light flashed in his eyes as he whispered.
“Still hiding?”
Before his voice even faded, his figure transformed into a streak of pale golden light, piercing directly through the stone floor and plunging toward the depths of the earth.
The first seal, the second seal... every layer was silently penetrated the moment it touched the protective spiritual light around him, leaving only smooth, circular holes behind. After a few breaths, he arrived at the source of the aura.
Before him was a vast underground cavern, the air thick with the scent of blood and decay. Rubble and withered bones were scattered around, still carrying traces of the aura from the sealing formations.
In the center of the cavern stood a thatched cottage.
The house was small, roughly the size of a standard two-bedroom dwelling. The roof was covered in withered yellow thatch, and the walls were made of rough wooden planks. In front of the house was a small patch of leveled dirt, where a low table and two tree stumps served as stools.
An old man stood silently in front of the cottage.
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