GDK 448: Cla.s.sified Doc.u.ments
The tomes and scattered gold coins of the Church of Light inside of Blount’s s.p.a.ce ring did not catch Han Shuo’s attention, and neither did the few knight weapons in there that were clearly far inferior to the one Blount had been wielding. However, there were two magic scrolls that did stand out; one was a s.p.a.ce magic scroll for escape, and the other an earth magic scroll for creating a sort of earth s.h.i.+eld. Each were meant for ensuring one’s survival.
But what a pity it was that during the battle just moments ago, the series of attacks on Blount left him with no strength to retaliate. With Han Shuo bombarding Blount with punches left and right, he hadn’t even the chance to activate a magical scroll, and was only released after the bones throughout his body were shattered.
The two magic scrolls were Han Shuo’s for the taking. Though precious, however, they weren’t incredibly rare. It was the few sheets of thin yellow paper, or more specifically, their contents, that really piqued his interest.
The Church of Light, the self-proclaimed most compa.s.sionate church on Profound Continent, was in fact conducting some rather shady business out of the public eye. From the thin yellow papers, Han Shuo found out exactly how Blount had managed to gather so much strength in the span of three years. As it turned out, this miracle owed to the blessings ceremony of Church of Light.
As the most influential religious organization on the Profound Continent, the Church of Light cared most about two things. One, to gain an abundance of pious followers of the G.o.d of Light, and two, to have pure-souled believers selflessly offer sacrifice. Through these official records, Han Shuo learned that once followers with pure souls sacrificed to the G.o.d of Light, the blessed would acquire even more divine power from the G.o.d of Light.
However, many of the pure-souled were not followers of the Church of Light. And ever so often, even the firmest believers of the Church of Light would suddenly wake up to the realization that offering their souls meant certain death, and find that perhaps they weren’t so willing to give up everything and surrender their souls. Well, it was at times like these that the Church of Light made use of certain means to compel them.
The proportion of people with incomparably pure souls was miniscule amongst humans. Blount’s full recovery and huge increase in strength were paid for with the sacrifice of eighty-seven pure souls.
Those eighty-seven pure souls were secretly captured from various countries by the Church of Light by all kinds of dishonorable means. The thin yellow papers were application forms submitted by sacred knight Blount to the Church of Light to hold a sacrificial ceremony. On them were the hand signatures of the inc.u.mbent pope of the Church of Light, along with other high ranking members.
“No wonder. No wonder Blount could possess such power in such short time! Clearly, the Church of Light is none more ethical than the likes of the Calamity Church. From the outside they seem respectable, promoting all sorts of virtues and such, but what they do in the shadows is no different from the latter.”
After making such a huge leap in strength, Blount must have thought himself immortal, so he stored the doc.u.ments in the s.p.a.ce ring. But who would have guessed they would now be in the hands of Han Shuo. Han Shuo understood that the doc.u.ments contained the signatures of over half of the high-ranking Church of Light members, and what that meant.
Feeling apprehensive about this unusual method through which the Church of Light gained divine energy for its members, Han Shuo also felt a sense of extreme pleasure and thrill for having obtained such information that could be used against the Church.
“Hahaha, I bet the Calamity Church will be very pleased to hear about this! This doc.u.ment contains the signatures of the pope of the Church of Light and its high-ranking members. They shall make known the wrongs of the Church of Light through their own means,” Han Shuo laughed to himself in victory.
“Master, the other members of the Church of Light are all dead!” Elizabeth’s face only revealed excitement. The five cyclones in her body were rapidly spinning as energy entered her shriveled body strand by strand.
Han Shuo very carefully held the sheets of yellow paper in his hand, and turned his attention to the surroundings. Just as Elizabeth had said, this party from the Church of Light, without a single light grand magus in their team, was all dead from the attacks of the undead.
Han Shuo squinted, and his consciousness made a round on Elizabeth’s body. By his estimations, Elizabeth had absorbed enough divine energy to allow her strength to double. However, even though Elizabeth had taken the divine energy from sacred knight Blount, she was still a long shot away from attaining the level of strength that Blount had possessed.
On one hand, this was because Blount’s mighty strength hadn’t relied solely on his divine energy. His fighting aura played the main role. On the other hand, after pa.s.sing through the conversion cycles, the divine energy which Elizabeth could really utilize was reduced to only a fraction of the input.
After all, Elizabeth wasn’t a follower of the Church of Light, and couldn’t utilize the sacred energy. This was rather similar to Han Shuo’s situation; he needed to completely remove the dross energy from the enormous killing aura he absorbed, after which, all that was left would always be only a tiny portion of pure energy which he could utilize.
After absorbing all that sacred energy, Elizabeth’s strength would be barely enough to reach the level of a sacred swordmaster. Even without the demonic blood in her body, the strength she had currently possessed could pose no threat to Han Shuo. After examining deep into Elizabeth, he nodded and said, “Very good. You have done a decent job. I see there is yet raw divine energy in your body. Would you like a quiet place to digest it?”
“Thank you for master’s concern. My body will slowly convert this energy without the need to deliberately digest it,” Elizabeth replied immediately.
Nodding, Han Shuo did not continue talking, but cast his gaze in another direction.
Not long after, the Dark Mantle arrived with Karey’s guidance. By then the undead creatures summoned by Han Shuo had completely vanished. There were only about a dozen bodies of Church of Light members remaining around Han Shuo and Elizabeth.
The disciples of the Church of Light died in a grotesque state. Sacred knight Blount’s body became a mound of mush after his bones were shattered and body trampled. The disciples that had been partially devoured by undead creatures died in an even more appalling scene, with parts missing from their bodies. The metallic stench of blood lingered all around.
Cecilia and her party shot a glance at the scene and felt sick in the stomach. Fortunately the Dark Mantle were a rather resolute, hardy group, and did nothing to embara.s.s themselves before Han Shuo.
“Bryan, what happened?” Carefully avoiding the bloodstains on the ground, she made her way over to Han Shuo.
“They are the reason I came here this time. Hmm, with Blount dead now, it seems that my business here is settled!” Han Shuo said with a faint smile and he raised his head to look at the sky. He was thinking about paying Wolf a visit, and handing him some fascinating ‘souvenirs’.
As a sinister organization with influence ranging the whole continent, it was most appropriate for the Calamity Church to do such things. Besides, they were a mortal enemy of the Church of Light, and would never let go of any opportunity to strike the Church of Light. The doc.u.ment in Han Shuo’s hand contained the signatures of their highest leaders, including the pope. Once the Calamity Church exposed them, the clean image of the Church of Light would surely be tarnished. The thought left Han Shuo somewhat impatient.
“Sacred knight Blount is dead?” Cecilia’s pet.i.te mouth dropped wide open as she stared bemused at Han Shuo. She could not believe what she was hearing.
“There, right under my feet. That headless body!” Han Shuo said cooly as he pointed at the unsightly Blount. The pool of fresh blood was still warm.
Cecilia’s expression went blank as she stood there, staring, utterly speechless. “Lord Bryan, that, that old woman, why is she here?” Karey asked, pointing at Elizabeth who stood respectfully behind Han Shuo. Karey had almost been killed by Elizabeth.
“From now onwards she will be my slave!” Han Shuo replied. After a short pause, Han Shuo said to Cecilia, “If there’s nothing else, we shall bid farewell!”
Han Shuo did not have much interest in the strange phenomena in the depths of the Tarrag Canyon.
“Erm… err…” Cecelia watched as Han Shuo was leaving, again speechless. She stammered as she filtered through reasons to make him stay, but could not think up an excuse.
All of a sudden, a rumble came from afar, the sound of a mountain collapsing in the depths of the Tarrag Canyon. The ground within a ten mile radius from the epicenter tremored like there was an earthquake.
Han Shuo, who had just been leaving, furrowed his brows, and discovered that herds and herds of magical creatures of the Tarrag Canyon were running desperately for the edges of the Tarrag Canyon. Among them were even a few super-ranked magical beasts.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Cecilia cried in shock as she looked in the direction of the sound.
“It came from deep inside the Tarrag Canyon. Something must had happened in there,” Karey blurted.
“Let’s have a look!” Han Shuo said to Cecilia. His curiosity had been evoked, and he no longer had the desire to leave.
“Thank you!” Hearing this, Cecelia’s heart was put at ease. “Don’t worry about it!” Han Shuo replied. He then turned his head and shot a glance at Elizabeth, and instructed, “Follow me!”
“Yes, master!” Elizabeth answered eagerly.