Chapter 507
Sponsored Content
There were no anomalies in Saleen's injuries . Even though the Crystal Finger had damaged his body, his mental strength did not sustain any huge damage . As long as he had the magic chords, he could still cast magic . The Crystal Finger was not a lousy spell . It had tremendous power and its aftereffects were not fatal . There would not be any adverse effect to Saleen's magic training in the future .
This time around, Saleen was clear on it; the Crystal Finger was not invincible . If Black William's protective holy prose was as mighty as Lex's God's Ring, then the power of the backlash could kill him .
This made Saleen wake up . If he ran into the three leaders from the inquisition, the Crystal Finger would be useless . Even if he could kill one of them, he would pay with his life and die along with the enemy .
Raphael was definitely a genius, creating such a brutal and unavoidable spell . If he was still alive, he might have already surpassed the limits of grade-10 .
A grade-11 mage? It seemed like there was not one known in history yet .
Lex had sent people to deliver another half a bottle of magic liquid . Saleen had very little magic liquid, while Lex obviously had a bank of it . She was also very anxious for Saleen to get better . If Saleen could not move, she would not be able to leave this place . It was no small hatchet killing a disciple of the head inquisitor . Up until now, the three old guys had only groomed six people .
The next day, Saleen could already move about, but it was still quite cumbersome for him to fight . Lex actually planned for the convoy to move out at noon, but the weather was sweltering, so she decided to move at night . She set up a temporary teleportation portal, as she attempted to make contact with Metatrin City .
For any kind of temporary teleportation portal, only some noises or images could be transmitted . To send a tangible item, a fixed teleportation portal was still needed in order for it to be safe . The transmitted substance could possibly be disintegrated by the turbulence in space otherwise .
What made Lex surprised was that Metatrin City had replied with the coordinates of the main temple . At the same time, another piece of news was received . The army from Holy Rock City had besieged Lianyun City, while the eastern sea allied army in other locations had been extirpated or driven into Lianyun City .
The war would end at the end of the year . Holy Rock City and the local nobles had issued a tax-exempt order . Any citizen living in the lands which had been afflicted by the war would not need to pay tax for three years .
Sponsored Content
As the tax-exempt order was disseminated by Holy Rock City and the local nobles, it meant that the civilians who were inflicted with the venom need not to pay a single cent for the next three years .
Lex discovered more clues . If Holy Rock City wanted to counterattack Loulan, then they would not deploy the armies belonging to the northern nobles . They instead would deploy troops in the south . Holy Rock City was very confident of their own main force . Even if troops from the south could not be dispatched in time, Holy Rock City's army could still deal with the knights from the Tanggulasi Empire on their own .
Lex felt that this was a little inadequate, unless… unless Holy Rock City had formed an alliance with the Sikeqinya Empire . In this case, Laiyin Duchy would participate in the war . The deadlock in Loulan would be resolved immediately .
Lex's intelligence agency was not stationed in Metatrin City, so Lex had to make contact with Bitter Water Prefecture as well . Upon contact, she learned that the Holy See had released a new code of laws . There were fifteen new laws, and several hundred more rules . The main message was that the Holy See wanted to allow the glory of god to shine upon the whole mainland .
The Holy See was actually trying to ignite a holy war!
The phrase "holy war" had only surfaced in the last one-thousand years . When the Goddess of Myers was around, the mainland did not have any religious wars . The Goddess of Myers had never forced anyone to believe in a religion .
The appearance of a holy war was related to the Holy See . Back when the Holy See wanted to spread its teachings on the mainland, it was obstructed in the Qin Empire . Qin people would rather seek help from a magic disciple than a holy master and the nobles were unusually vigilant towards the influence of the Holy See .
The Holy See could own lands, but it did not need to pay any taxes . It was actually depriving the nobles' interests . The Holy See even had its own army and financial institutions . The war between the four empires was in fact a holy war .
After the holy war, each empire made a compromise with the exception of Phoenix . The other four duchies acted as buffer zones, while the power of the Holy See was absorbed by the Tanggulasi Empire . In order to establish the Holy See and to preach, they would have to obtain permission from the local nobles first . The emperors of the four big empires would have no say in this matter .
It seemed like the Holy See had achieved its objective . In actual fact, other than Qin, even the local nobles in Sikeqinya did not really care for the Holy See . The Cloudflow people were even more conservative . As a result, the Holy See only managed to expand its power in the God Grace Duchy, but it barely made any progress in the other three empires .
Sponsored Content
In Qin, no churches could be developed . Even if a noble in a certain area had been bribed, they would immediately be oppressed by the surrounding nobles . That way the church would also be torn down eventually .
In the previous holy war, the Holy See got the shorter end of the stick . After accumulating power for the last one-thousand years, it tried to ignite a large-scale holy war again . Lex was astounded as the issues she had ran into might not be a coincidence at all . From when she was ambushed while on the way to Holy Rock City, to the conflict in Holy Rock City, the shadow of the Holy See was always present .
"Black William might not have been talking nonsense when he said he wanted to cooperate with me . He was actually trying to tap into my status to allow the Holy See's preaching be accepted by Qin's nobles . If I got captured, it would be scarier than death . The Holy See will never let me die, it will transform me into a puppet, and extend its feelers into Qin by controlling me . This risk, is not that worthwhile anymore . "
As Lex's heart of vigilance got stimulated, she instructed the rest of the people to prepare for the journey without any hesitation . "If the Holy See had a plot long ago, then every minute here is dangerous . "
As Saleen was injured and had not fully recovered, Lex still rode in the same chariot as Saleen while her mages sat in the other chariot . Lex had made up her mind . If it was difficult to obtain the seeds of the divine trees and the situation was perilous, she would immediately activate the power of the God's Ring and flee with Saleen .
"Once I get back to Metatrin City, I will immediately construct a magical tower . With a magical tower, a few grand swordmasters, Bain, and Nailisi's four demons, even a sorcerer will be defeated . Worst case I will empty my savings to recruit a few mages from Alchemy City . By then, I don't believe the Holy See will be able to deploy an army to invade Metatrin City" .
Lex never discussed these things with Saleen, and Saleen never asked why the journey was continued . The coordinates to the temple had been calculated, Saleen would not want to delay any further either .
After the convoy entered the Purgatory Desert, it immediately slowed down . The black sand was not as soft as the normal yellow sand and the magic war chariots could not advance quickly despite having their wheels changed . The swordmasters were all on high alert . As it was midday, the sun was toxic, so the magic arrays on everyone's armor was activated . Even holding a conversation would deplete the magic nuclei .
The team advanced stealthily . The person leading the pack was Wild Bear . Even though he was bulky, his mental strength was extremely intricate, his perception to danger even exceeded that of Jola's .
As suggested by his name, Wild Bear was like a powerful magic beast . A spider, the size of a fist, laid atop his skeletal warhorse . This spider was Saleen's witcher spider . Saleen was fond of this big fellow too . If Wild Bear got attacked by any magic beast, the spider could team up with him . It was more synergistic than when the spider cooperated with Saleen .
Sponsored Content
No one would ever expect a ferocious person like Wild Bear to possess an insidious technique like the witcher spider .
Lex had left at an opportune time . Half a day after she left the camp compound, two holy masters clad in identical black robes arrived . These two holy masters were around the same age as Black William, they were also dressed in the same manner . They were followed by hundreds of warriors . The warriors donned ferocious-looking black armor, and wore fully sealed helmets inlaid with brown crystals .
The inquisition did not have many soldiers, the most renowned troops were these hundreds of wardens .
The Crystal Finger had reduced Black William to shreds, and Saleen did not bother cleaning up the battlefield . After the two holy masters inspected the area, their faces turned ghastly .
"Fifth Brother is dead . "
"Lex has entered the desert . She has been gone for about twelve hours now, her scent cannot be tracked . "
"What do we do now?"
"Teacher will arrive in two days, but in two days' time, we will totally lose Lex . "
The Purgatory Desert did not only have a harsh environment, the elements there were not very stable either . Very soon after a person passed by a certain area, their scent would be completely erased . If three days had passed, even a grade-9 sorcerer would be helpless .
Neither of the holy masters wanted to shoulder this responsibility, it was very perilous to just enter the Purgatory Desert like that .
"Second Brother, we didn't bring a lot of water . "
"Fourth Brother, if Lex managed to escape, then it will mean that we have lost to the pope's men . Our teachers will also be embarrassed, and our future will be doomed . "
The two people kept arguing, but Black William was not mentioned at all . They were afraid that Lex had employed some skill which killed their fifth brother instantaneously, neither his soul nor body was left behind . Even though Black William was not as powerful as either of them, he still possessed a partially godly weapon . He had died just like that, in such a thorough fashion .
When Lex left, she did not put away the tents, she simply left them as they were . Black William had died outside the camp compound . Judging by the marks on the battlefield, Black William seemed to have been monitoring the camp compound . Eventually, the people in the camp emerged and killed him .
Black William's speed was faster than the both of them . If Lex had such an expert working for her, how could they go after her recklessly? It was not so bad with five-hundred wardens around, but the wardens had a low speed . If they did not bring the wardens along, then they would face the risk of getting killed though .
"Fourth Brother, since we are students from the same teacher, should we be more candid with each other?" The killer did not want to waste any more time . With every word spoken, it meant that Lex would be slightly further away .
"Candid? Then I will say it . The person who killed Fifth Brother can also kill us . "
"Then we will bring along the wardens and chase them slowly, what do think?"
"This idea sounds good . Even though we cannot leave behind our scents, we can leave behind physical objects . When teacher gets here, he will be able to catch up . "
Both of them looked at each other and smiled, understanding that they were both afraid of death . After acknowledging each other's choices, the two led five-hundred wardens into the Purgatory Desert, following the trail left behind by Lex .