Chapter 61: Western Fantasy Romance (III)

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Chapter 61: Western Fantasy Romance (III)

The dark cavern was filled with the stench of blood. Faint cries of agony could be heard from somewhere within, while shallow grooves covered the hard stone walls and floor. The blood flowed through the grooves without spilling even the slightest bit beyond their boundaries.

Several figures dressed in black once again threw a tightly bound young man onto the altar. The moment his body touched the altar, the skin across his body seemed to suffer some kind of severe attack and split open. Blood flowed down from his split skin, then followed the surface of the altar into the grooves carved across the ground, eventually making its way into the grooves along the walls. Faint traces of mysterious runes could be seen within them.

“The ninetieth.” The person standing closest to the altar looked at the blood-covered young man lying upon it. His hoarse voice carried a trace of pleasure.

“Yes. Only nine more people are needed to complete the sacrifice. When the Demon God descends upon the Kedor Continent, it will also be the moment those people from the Holy Church meet their deaths!”  A man beside him laughed as he spoke. He held a staff that resembled a withered branch, and a faint dark glow flickered across its surface. Another person appeared on the altar. Just like the young man before him, his skin split open, and all of his blood flowed into the patterns carved upon the altar. In the end, only a dried corpse wrapped in clothing remained, placed together with the other piles of bones.

Those with pure souls included the most innocent children and the kindest young women. However, most of them were still very young. Souls that had been tainted by the dust of the mortal world were not favored by demons. If they wished to summon a powerful demon, then these sacrifices naturally had to be carefully selected. The moment the demon descended upon the continent would be the moment the Dark Church awakened, the moment they would once again be able to stand beneath the sunlight. Naturally, the people of the Dark Church placed immense importance on this sacrifice.

“The closer we get to success, the less we can afford to relax. That moment is already near, so we must remain vigilant.” The man standing beside the altar placed his slightly pale hand into one of the grooves at its edge. Yet the blood flowing within did not stain even the slightest part of his fingers, as if his hand had never touched it at all. He looked toward the increasingly crimson moon outside. Tonight was the Night of Blood. It was the time when the power of darkness was at its strongest and the power of light was at its weakest.

“The people of the Church cannot possibly stop us. When the Blood Moon rises, how could they possibly possess the power to interfere with our summoning of the Demon God?” The dark mage beside him spoke with complete disregard. However, almost instinctively, he still cast a spell and summoned the undead. The puppets, consisting only of human skeletons, were enough to make anyone feel a chill run through their heart. What was even more astonishing was that among them was a Bone Dragon.

Dragons were synonymous with power on the Kedor Continent. A dark mage capable of possessing a Bone Dragon was undoubtedly an existence within the Saint rank. Furthermore, with the enhancement of necromancy, the Bone Dragon was even more difficult to contend with than when it had been alive. The undead felt no pain, and their lives were almost eternal. Necromancy disturbed the rest of the dead and was considered a forbidden magic on the Kedor Continent, but the Dark Church did not care about such restrictions. The Demon God they worshiped was an existence standing at the peak of darkness, a supreme being among the powerful.

Seeing the Bone Dragon appear, the other man’s previously cautious expression visibly relaxed. He waved his hand toward the other black-clothed figures, and those surrounding the altar immediately moved away, spreading out to every corner of the cavern. The black-clothed figures nodded toward the dark mage before throwing another person into the center of the altar.

When the Blood Moon reached its highest point in the sky, the originally hazy crimson light gradually deepened until it seemed thick enough to drip down. At that moment, the ninety-ninth body finally appeared upon the altar. The blood-colored moonlight fell upon the altar, and the blood within the grooves seemed to be absorbed by some unseen force, slowly disappearing. The complex characters carved beneath the altar began floating around it, forming a circle. Faintly, a black figure could be seen appearing at the center. A pair of eyes, as crimson as the Blood Moon itself, stood out with terrifying clarity within the darkness of the cavern.

Blood-colored light illuminated the cavern, and the eyes of the black-clothed figures began to burn with excitement. However, at that moment, a strand of golden radiance shattered the ritual that had already been prepared. The white garments and the aura of light proved the origin of the group that had suddenly charged in. They were the Holy Knights of the Holy Church, the force responsible for protecting the Church.

“They truly found this place. That Pope really does seem to know everything.” The dark mage swung the staff in his hand, causing the Bone Dragon to block the knights’ advance. The Bone Dragon’s enormous body had difficulty fully stretching within the cavern, and despite its strength, it was unable to break through the walls that had somehow become extraordinarily sturdy. It could only fight the entire knight order while restrained by the narrow space.

However, what the Holy Church was most renowned for had never been its knights, but rather its mages, or more accurately, its priests. Although not every light mage was skilled in the healing arts of light magic, the healing abilities of the light element were undoubtedly the most respected on the continent. Those known as priests could receive the finest education regardless of which country or city they were in.

While the Holy Knights fought against the Bone Dragon, the priests had already gathered their power and begun casting spells toward the altar. Darkness and light were undoubtedly the two most opposing forces in existence, and the repulsion between them was naturally the strongest. The combined might of more than a dozen Archmage, along with the strongest attacks of three or four Saints, caused the previously unshakable cavern to begin trembling.

The demonic body that was almost completely formed suddenly became dim before disappearing entirely from the altar. Seeing this, the people from the Holy Church quickly retreated from the cavern. Their purpose this time had not been to eliminate the heretics, but rather to destroy the altar. If the demon that might emerge from the altar had not been capable of bringing irreversible consequences to the Holy Church, those rarely seen Saint experts would never have appeared here. Not to mention that five of them had appeared at once. After all, aside from the unknown number of ascetic cultivators hidden within the Church, the Holy Church possessed only a little over a dozen Saints that it could actually deploy.

No one knew that when the figure on the altar disappeared, a nearly invisible streak of red light had crossed the sky before landing safely within a forest. Everything returned to silence, and even the crimson glow within those red eyes faded away completely. The blood-red moon slowly returned to its original golden color, and the phenomenon that occurred only once every hundred years vanished. However, no one could say whether the summoning ritual at the altar had ultimately succeeded or failed.

At the same time, within the magnificent Earl’s estate of the Mante Empire, in a small, dilapidated room that was even worse than the servants’ quarters, a young woman opened her eyes. The cowardice that the people of the Earl’s residence usually saw was nowhere to be found. A fleeting trace of killing intent appeared within them, enough to make anyone tremble. It was the kind of killing intent that could only belong to someone who had truly experienced bloodshed.

Shu Guyun restrained her cold gaze, feeling both amused and helpless. She had never expected that a top-class assassin like herself would die in such a dramatic way. However, it seemed that God had still shown her mercy by allowing her to be reborn in another world. A world that was stronger, more exciting, and filled with greater possibilities for growth than her previous one. Unable to cultivate magic or battle aura ? How could that be possible? She clenched the worn-looking ring in her hand. This defective item she had somehow obtained turned out to be a storage ring. With it, Shu Guyun was certain that she would become the strongest existence in this world.

Shu Guyun took a pill from the ring and placed it into her mouth. The body that had originally suffered from blocked meridians immediately began a process of cleansing. This body was not naturally incapable of cultivating magic or battle aura. Instead, it was a rare genius body with talent in three different elements of magic. Someone had harmed her and used medicine to seal all of her meridians, preventing her from cultivating either magic or battle aura. Under the effects of an ancient medicinal pill, her meridians would soon become completely unobstructed. By then, she would be able to become a noble and powerful mage. Combined with the internal energy techniques she had learned during her time as an assassin, she might even become a genius capable of dual cultivation in magic and martial arts.

On the Kedor Continent, whether someone could cultivate magic was determined by their physical constitution. A mage first needed a body capable of storing magical power, and they also required powerful spiritual strength. If neither was lacking, and both were exceptionally strong, then that person would be considered an absolute magical genius. The body Shu Guyun had possessed, Minea Griffin, possessed extraordinarily high spiritual strength, but she was unable to store even the slightest amount of magical power. Because of this, she could achieve nothing as either an alchemist or an artificer. That was why she had been abandoned by her family. With a mother of low status, she had become an existence even lower than a servant girl.

But… all of this would begin to change with the arrival of Shu Guyun.

Miao Lichen watched as the final trace of crimson faded from the moon outside the window, returning it to the same brilliant golden color it had always possessed. He narrowed his eyes slightly and only opened them again after a long while. Turning around, he lay down on the comfortable bed. The radiance surrounding his body had already become completely pink, and the green glow on the scepter had disappeared entirely. However, the golden brilliance it emitted had become even more dazzling.

Two long swords that were far too slender for this world floated in the air. Light revolved around the blades, making them exceptionally eye-catching. However, the names of the swords were no longer the healing orange weapon, “Purple Smoke,” nor anything else. Instead, they had become a string of “???.” His “Purple Smoke” had been fused with the two Qixiu Sect weapons, the “ Ice Heart” and the “Cloud Robe Heart .” They were weapons that belonged to the two specializations of the Qixiu Sect, one specializing in range damage and the other in healing.  As for the force that allowed these weapons to merge, it was the scepter that had given him such a familiar feeling, or more accurately, the green glow at the center of the scepter. Now that the two weapons had fully fused, the golden scepter had truly become nothing more than a decoration representing his identity.

The next morning, Areya Green arrived early at Miao Lichen’s door to apologize. Although she was the Holy Maiden of the Holy Church, she had acted against the Pope’s command without permission and naturally had to accept punishment. Looking at the tightly closed door before her, Areya knew that aside from the so-called apology, she also carried another personal intention. She wanted the chance to spend some time alone with the Pope she admired and loved. Her identity as a Holy Maiden really was useful. At the very least, she would not receive an overly severe punishment.

“Your Holiness.” The moment the door opened, Areya immediately lowered her waist in greeting. Unlike other Popes, who required attendants and nuns to handle every aspect of their daily lives, Miao Lichen almost always took care of changing his clothes and other matters himself. Aside from the nuns responsible for cleaning his room, very few others were allowed to enter. “I have come to ask for your forgiveness…”

“If I had truly wanted to stop you, do you think your status as Holy Maiden alone would have been enough to mobilize five Saints?” Miao Lichen asked with a faint smile.

Areya lowered her head, and a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. ‘Does this mean His Holiness the Pope was deliberately allowing me to do this…’

“Areya, you have been in the Holy Church for nearly ten years now. It is time for you to go out and see the world.” Miao Lichen seemed completely unaware of the young woman’s thoughts and continued speaking to himself. “The Lemnos Academy in the Mante Empire should be starting enrollment soon.”

“Yes, Your Holiness.” The shyness and happiness that had appeared on Areya’s face vanished completely. She even felt a chill spread through her limbs. Although she was not being punished, leaving the Holy Church and leaving His Holiness’s side was the greatest punishment she could receive. So it was true. In the Pope’s heart, there was never any place for something like indulgence.

“I will also be going to the Yas Forest for training.” Miao Lichen continued before walking away without hesitation, leaving Areya behind with a look of slight relief.

The Yas Forest was the largest forest on the continent, containing the richest variety of magic beasts. Even Saint beasts existed within it, and there were even rumors of creatures that had reached the legendary Divine rank. For Aesop Leslie, the Pope of the Holy Church, choosing such a place for training was not unusual. This was not his first expedition either, so although it was a major event for the Holy Church, preparations were carried out in an orderly manner.

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