Who hid my body?

Chapter 343 Do you know what this means?

My goodness...

When Rocky finally arrived at the scene and saw the vast expanse of nothingness that seemed to have vanished into thin air, even someone as knowledgeable as him couldn't help but widen his eyes in astonishment.

Loki always knew that Isaiah was very strong and was the number one in the Star Remnant Cult, but he also thought that Isaiah was not much stronger than him. In addition, Isaiah had the help of the corpse pieces. If they really fought, even if it was not a 50/50 chance, it would at least be a 40/60 chance, or at worst a 30/70 chance.

But the scene before him was a slap in the face to Loki. The terrifying white light from before still made his eyes dizzy, and he couldn't help but wonder if he could withstand Isaiah if he were to fight him.

It seems unlikely.

But this is too outrageous! This old guy doesn't even have any body parts, yet he managed to do this much?

Is this the warlock from the Star Remnant?
But the sky isn't clear tonight either; there are hardly any stars to be seen. If Isaiah could fight like this under these conditions, what would the real Night of Immaculate be like?
Thinking of this, Rocky couldn't help but feel a little uneasy when he looked at Isaiah. At that moment, Isaiah also glanced at him. It was just an ordinary look, but it immediately made the energetic young Rocky stand at attention. Then he greeted him politely, "Mr. Isaiah, you've worked hard."

It's fortunate that he's an ally; otherwise, killing him would have been an easy thing for him.

In this respect, Rocky was quite self-aware.

Isaiah gave a faint "hmm," making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. He didn't even respond to the questions that Mina, a student, asked him, and just watched as troops from various regions continued to rush towards them.

There are warlocks from the Star Forgotten Realms, knights of the Rhine, dream weavers of the Eternal Nightmare, guardians of the Contract Lands, and some survivors of the black market.

After all, the commotion earlier was so great that it naturally alerted all the forces deployed around the area.

Isaiah's gaze swept over each faction, then he glanced at Loki, seemingly casually, but ultimately did nothing.

“Old Isaiah,” Fenris of Nightmare stepped forward and asked respectfully, “Have you dealt with those two escaped convicts?”

Is not this nonsensical?

Rocky couldn't help but complain in his mind.

Given all that, how could those two guys possibly survive?

The thought of that damned hermaphrodite being blasted to smithereens by that scorching light filled Loki with a sense of relief, as if even the pain in his right hand, which had lost four fingers, had vanished.

Then the next step should be the cutthroat, cutthroat dismemberment phase.

Rocky glanced again at the void behind Isaiah.

Clearly, the remains of the hermaphrodite were gone, but Vesas's body parts were still there; there was no way in the world to destroy body parts.

Koloki's initial idea was to show up during Isaiah's battle, get a little credit, and thus be entitled to a share of the body. However, the reality was that Isaiah had already finished the battle before Koloki even arrived, which was rather awkward.

But Rocky wasn't worried that Isaiah would embezzle it.

After all, those were three pieces of a body; even if Isaiah had the greatest courage, he would never do that...

"No, I wasn't fighting those two fugitives."

Everyone was stunned.

Fenris was very surprised: "Not those two escaped convicts?"

Isaiah gave a faint "hmm": "Tonight, I have not seen the seven-tone player you mentioned, nor the scholar who possesses forbidden knowledge. They are not here at all. The one I fought was a madman who came from who-knows-where. His target was not me, but the black market merchants here. I only intervened to save these black market merchants."

Upon hearing this, everyone, including Mina, exchanged bewildered glances, thinking Isaiah was joking.

"This, how is this possible?" Mina said. "Teacher, are you...?"

"Alright." Isaiah didn't bother to explain further and simply turned to leave. "I'm exhausted. You can handle the cleanup."

This sudden turn of events left everyone bewildered, but they couldn't really stop Isaiah, so they could only watch him leave. Mina then led the Star Remnant sorcerers in pursuit, leaving Loki and Fenris standing there at a loss.

“What does this mean?” Fenris asked Loch. “If it’s not the Seven-Tone Player and Edwin, then who could it be?”

"You're asking me? How would I know?" As soon as Isaiah left, Rocky no longer needed to pretend to be a good student; his brows immediately furrowed. "What nonsense is that old man spouting?"

They came after the tongue, but now Isaiah says he wasn't dealing with the tongue?

Who else could it be but the tongue? And who else could fight Isaiah to this extent?
He even claimed that the other party was after black market merchants, and that he acted to protect them... What kind of strange reason is that?

Where are the black market dealers? How come they've left nothing?

What exactly did you protect?

Moreover, Loki knew for certain that Isaiah was lying, since he could sense the undisguised power belonging to Vesas when Isaiah was fighting.

But he couldn't understand why Isaiah would lie...

Ok?
Rocky seemed to realize something, narrowed his eyes slightly, and muttered, "Old man, you really want to keep all three pieces of the corpse for yourself?"

……

"Teacher, teacher!" Mina quickly caught up with Isaiah. "Please wait for me."

Isaiah stopped, but instead of turning around, he asked Mina with his back to her, "What is it?"

Mina's heart skipped a beat.

She could feel Isaiah's undisguised coldness towards her.

But...why? Did she do something wrong?
Mina suppressed her unease and palpitations, and cautiously asked, "What...what exactly happened tonight?"

"Are you asking me?"

"The student is asking the teacher a question."

"Oh, I thought you knew."

“The student…doesn’t know.” Mina said anxiously, “The student has been doing things according to your instructions and doesn’t understand what she did wrong. Please explain.”

“Do as I say,” Isaiah said softly. “Oh, I see.”

"……teacher?"

Isaiah waved his hand, dismissing the rest of the Star Remnant sorcerers, leaving only himself and Mina.

Then, he slowly spoke: "Speak frankly, Mina, what kind of bargaining chips did that tongue offer you that would make my dearest student betray me?"

Mina's eyes widened instantly, and her voice began to tremble: "Teacher... how could I possibly betray you?"

"If you haven't betrayed me, then why did you come here tonight?" Isaiah finally turned around, staring at Mina with his cold eyes. "Surely you didn't just misremember the time?"

"An accident happened tonight because the performer of the sacred music made a move a day in advance, alerting the target, and we had no choice but to follow up."

Why wasn't an unexpected incident reported?

“I…I already reported it.” “Oh?” Isaiah narrowed his eyes slightly. “You reported it? How did you report it, in a dream?”

“No, of course not.” Mina panicked. “I reported it using a star map.”

"In that case, why not open the star chart and take a look?"

Mina hurriedly opened the star chart, wanting to prove herself. But she soon discovered that the last message her star chart transmitted to Isaiah was a conjecture about Loki being the thumb, and the rest was blank.

"No, this, how could this be!" Mina was completely taken aback. "I clearly reported it to you, just last night, I, I, I..."

Faced with irrefutable evidence, Mina's voice grew softer and softer, and her expression became increasingly panicked.

Meanwhile, Isaiah was watching his prized disciple closely. If Mina had any ulterior motives or lied, it would not have escaped his right eye.

However, Mina showed no abnormality, and Isaiah was certain that she was telling the truth.

Since that was the case, Isaiah had no reason to continue testing Mina and said directly, "Tell me, what has happened since last night... everything."

"Yes!"

Mina could also sense that Isaiah no longer suspected her, but she didn't have time to relax. She quickly told Isaiah everything that had happened in Della last night, up until she arrived at the scene, not daring to miss any small detail.

After listening, Isaiah had a general idea of ​​what was going on, and then whispered, "That is the tongue."

“…Teacher?” Mina didn’t understand what Isaiah meant.

"We have all stepped into the trap set by the tongue."

Isaiah took a deep breath to calm his negative emotions. He knew that since he had obtained this eye, he had never suffered a loss in any way. No matter who it was, they were all like dancers stripped naked in front of him. No scheme or conspiracy could escape his eyes.

But now, he has stepped into someone else's trap.

At this moment, when he recalled his earlier fight with Lyle and his words to Lyle, "I have rules that are superior to yours," his indescribable sense of defeat intensified.

“The rules of the tongue guided all of this,” Isaiah said slowly. “The players of the sacred music, and you, are all influenced by it.”

"I...was I influenced by him?"

"Haven't you noticed yet? There's something wrong with what you just told me," Isaiah said coldly. "You explained everything very clearly, even noticing details like how that old fart Rocky would secretly give himself a thumbs up every now and then, but you made a big fuss about the process of reporting to me."

Mina's mouth opened wider and wider.

“Because this never happened, it’s a false memory implanted in your head,” Isaiah said. “So, like those sacred music players, you’ve been controlled without even realizing it!”

Mina was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. After figuring out what was going on, she knelt down directly in front of Isaiah.

"I'm sorry, teacher...it's all my fault!" Mina gritted her teeth. "Please punish me!"

Isaiah looked at his prized disciple. In the past, he might have taught her a lesson, but after witnessing firsthand the power of the tongue, and even falling into its trap himself, he had no reason to blame Mina anymore.

“Get up,” Isaiah said. “The past means nothing; the future is what matters.”

Mina pursed her lips, then stood up. She asked in confusion, "If, according to you, the one who influenced us is Tongue, then who is the guy we've been tracking who was with the Forbidden Scholar? And was the one you fought tonight... Tongue himself?"

“The guy I fought tonight was a black marketeer named Lyle… the same guy who impersonated the envoy of the Land of Contracts back then, his alias was Rice,” Isaiah said slowly. “He used the rule of the tongue on me, and it was because I personally experienced that feeling of being dominated that I knew what was going on over there.”

Mina naturally remembered Lyle's words: "So, he is the real Tongue? Then will you kill him?"

“Of course,” Isaiah said. “I also got his body parts.”

Did they obtain a piece of the tongue from the corpse?

Mina was startled.

Doesn't that mean that Teacher Isaiah already has four pieces of his body?

But the four pieces of body parts were not handed over; isn't that a bit...?

Mina was about to ask a question when she saw Isaiah open his palm, revealing a broken middle finger in front of her, and she was taken aback.

How could it be... the middle finger?
A few seconds later, an indescribable sense of panic shot from the soles of Mina's feet straight to her brain, making her hair stand on end.

"This, this..." Mina couldn't even speak.

“I can confirm this is the real deal, even with just this one finger,” Isaiah said calmly.

Looking at the fingers in front of her, Mina's breathing became unusually heavy. Countless doubts and panic surged into her mind, like tangled threads that could not be cut or untangled.

"Hands, eyes, tongue..." she began with difficulty, "...is it one person?"

"I don't know." Isaiah's calm tone seemed to be brimming with a thousand emotions. "There is too much unknown information. Are they the same person, or has one of them killed the other? I can't be sure. The only thing I can be sure of is that the entire Peach Blossom Village is him, or a deception they have all woven."

Mina looked at Isaiah: "Even you can't see through it?"

“If I could see through it, I wouldn’t be in this situation now,” Isaiah said. “Didn’t you ever think about why he left this finger to me?”

Mina thought for a moment, following Isaiah's guidance, and her face turned pale.

“This is… a frame-up,” Mina said softly. “This way, everyone will think that you killed Tongue and that you already have three pieces of his body.”

"Yes, that's his goal."

"Then could you hand over this finger?" Mina asked, "and tell everything to the Land of Contracts, so that the Land of Contracts can punish him?"

“Do you think the Land of the Covenant will believe me?” Isaiah said. “Has anyone seen me receive only this one finger?”

Indeed, no one saw it.

By the time they arrived at the scene, it was all over.

In other words, when Isaiah killed Lyle and picked up the finger, he had already fallen into the trap.

Mina persisted: "But the tongue doesn't have fingers to begin with, and after you were governed by the rules of the tongue, you found fingers..."

Mina stopped midway through her sentence, realizing a crucial issue.

“It seems you’ve already figured it out,” Isaiah said softly. “The information that ‘the tongue and the hand and the eye are not one’ is information from the Land of Peach Blossoms, not information held by the Land of the Covenant.”

"In the information that the Land of the Contract has, that is, the information provided by Rhine, there is no Tongue or Hands and Eyes, only one person, whose name is Uru."

"Why is the Land of Contracts holding a meeting? Because Rhine believes that Uru may have already obtained four pieces of the corpse, including the fingers and the tongue."

“In other words, once it’s confirmed that the person I killed was Uru, then in the eyes of the Land of Contracts…” Isaiah looked at Mina and said, word by word, “I have now obtained those four body parts.”

"Do you know what this means?"

(End of this chapter)