Book 6 Chapter 20.3 - Foresight
The grand and massive Maya City was Sun Empire's capital, but the spiritual pillar of the entire empire was actually the Great Sun God Temple built on the summit of the continent's highest peak. Even if it was in the olden era when industry and civilization were extremely developed, the scale of Great Sun God Temple could still be said to be a miracle among man-made architecture. The enormous building complex towered on the mountaintop, covered year round in snow, the road winding up the mountain enduring the test of strong winds and snow all year long. The hundred meter tall main palace hall was made from giant red rocks close to ten cubic meters in size, from the distance looking like an undying flame burning above the mountains. Many times during the year, Great Sun God Temple towered above the cloud layer.
When Su first saw Great Sun God Temple, he was also momentarily distracted, as if he was looking at a human world miracle.
In this several hundred thousand square meter enormous building complex, Su laid low for seven whole days, and only then did he explore roughly half of this place. The temple had several hundred red-robed warriors stationed here, and there were also several overwhelming auras that vaguely surrounded the entire great divine temple, making even the current Su feel a bit of apprehension, not willing to act in too much of a hurry. However, Su himself was already a Perception Domain ultra powerful being, so he obviously knew how to avoid the perception of others, and as such, was not discovered by anyone even after scouting this area for seven days, just that progress was made a bit slower.
During these seven days, Su saw the Sun Officiant twice.
This was an elder whose body wasn't all that tall, his head already reflecting light, only having a ring of white hair in the surroundings. His long eyebrows and beard made him look mysterious, dignified, and holy. As the entire empire's greatest spiritual symbol, the Sun Officiant only wore a rough hemp robe that was simple to the extreme. When Su first saw him, the officiant was currently presiding over a massive prayer ceremony, the number of high level church members close to a hundred, with double the number of red-robed warriors standing guard over this divine ceremony. Even during this type of ceremony, the Sun Officiant still only added a single golden ribbon over his rough hemp robe.
The second time he saw the Sun Officiant was when he walked towards the rear temple. The guard over the rear temple was extremely strict, Su almost unable to find any gaps that he could take advantage of to infiltrate inside. However, after his assimilation rate with his instincts reached 35%, Su completely turned himself into a red-robed warrior leader's appearance, and then strutted into the rear temple.
There was an invisible protection screen between the front and rear temples, not even Su's perception able to penetrate this barrier. However, after entering inside, this hiderance of his perception completely disappeared. By relying on the Panoramic View, a few minutes later, the entire rear temple's three-dimensional construct was formed in Su's consciousness. The rear temple only had a dozen or so high level red-robed warriors walking about, but the defensive power here was several times higher than that of the front temple. These high level red-robed warriors were all extremely aged, their movements sluggish, occasionally even stumbling abit. However, every single one of them had several ninth level abilities, their combat strength even greater than Xilur City's red robed-warrior leader's, such powerful ability auras unable to escape Su's detection. However, many of these high level warriors were already too aged, their life flames continuously swaying about. Even if it was just one more life and death battle, it would very likely take them to the end of their lives.
In the depths of the rear temple, Su quickly sensed the Sun Officiant's existence. The Sun Officiant's individual strength wasn't all that outstanding, eight levels of Mysterious Fields and eight levels of Mental Domain, if it was placed in the outside world, still made him a high level ability user, but in Great Sun God Temple, he couldn't display any brilliance. However, regardless of whether it was the warriors, the church's higher level figures, or even the powerful individuals who already had tenth level abilities, they all displayed extremely sincere respect. They would at times kneel down, beseeching the officiant to touch their heads. When they had their desires fulfilled, they would feel true happiness, and then withdraw.
After seven days of undercover observation, Su discovered that the Sun Officiant's activity followed a clear routine, one that was quite simple. He presided over ceremonies, prayers, and readings, this made up his entire life. Su found it a bit hard to understand why this elder would receive such support. In the Blood Parliament, the Spider Empress and Bevulas were high above the others, but this was established on the basis of extremely great military strength. What most people felt towards the Spider Empress was fear, and not a type of admiration that came from deep within. This was how it was in the great families as well, the clan elder not necessarily the most wise and farsighted, but was definitely one of the most powerful ability users, or at the very least the one with the most potential. Otherwise, there might be violent opposition at any time. From the perspective of resolving issues, violence was far easier and simple than intelligence.
After entering the rear palace, Su knew that he didn't have much time left. Great Sun God Temple's defense didn't look that strict, but high level ability users had several times or even several dozen times greater intelligence than ordinary people, highly retentive memories a common trait, every one of them skilled. Soon after, the red-robed warrior guarding the passage would discover that there were two red-robed warrior leaders, from this conclude that an intruder had infiltrated the temple.
Su began to run, every step silent when they landed, moreover making use of the surroundings to the greatest extent. All of his aura was collected inside his body, only his valiant and powerful physical strength surging. As a result, some times, there was only a wall separating him from the high level red-robed warriors, yet the high level warriors were completely oblivious.
After going down floor by floor, Su already understood the layout of the rear temple like the back of his hand. The rear temple stretched further and further downwards, the deeper one went, the more important the location. The top floors were made up of stone rooms, the residents of high level warriors and church personnel, while the lower levels were where many of the religion's religious texts were kept, as well as where prayer rooms, meditation rooms, altars, spiritual tablets, and other things were. However, this place looked more like an olden era medieval ages church, without the slightest trace of modern facilities, even the lighting dependent on torches and candles. In the case of fire emergencies, they had to rely on the casks by the wall and mountain river flowing through the canal. There was actually no energy supply in this entire rear temple!
The Sun Officiant was currently seated in his own room, writing something on the stone table. The style and furnishing of the studio was extremely simple, similar to the red-robed archbishop's residence in Xilur. However, from what he saw on his way here, Su already knew that sun religion's higher level figures' lifestyles were simple to the extreme, polar opposite of how the empire's secular nobles who cared about luxury lived.
Sun Officiant had an alarm clock that had to be manually twisted on the desk, the only item in the entire study that carried the slightest bit of modern age feel.
Su stood outside the study, his hand pressing against the thick wooden door. In that instant, the extreme frequency vibrations released from his hands made the wooden door silently shatter into a pile of wooden dust. Su walked into the study, similarly without any sound, nor did he draw any of the high level warriors' attention. In the small room outside the officiant's residence laid a high level warrior. When Su walked past his door, he didn't show any reaction.
Su silently observed the Sun Officiant. This officiant had just finished writing an entry. When he raised his head, he stood up, and then without turning around, said, "I apologize, I've aged, forgetting to check the time, making you wait a few minutes."