Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 148 The layout is complete, the storm is coming (4k6)

The Alchemist's "Great Universalist" Rocklan, together with the Holy Inquisitors, quickly wiped out the remnants of the "Blood of Thorns".

When the "battering ram" blasted the last "Slaughter Corpse" into pieces, Rocklan took back the puppet he summoned, and at the same time, the "Holy Judges" gathered around him.

"The pagans of Blood of Thorns should have been purged."

An Inquisitor nodded slightly to Rockland and said, "We have fulfilled our duty here and are ready to return. Is there anything else you need us for?"

"Thank you for your help." Rockland thanked the Holy Inquisitors with a smile.

Then, Rockland remembered another thing and added to the Holy Inquisitors:

"Oh, by the way, friends sent by the Church. If possible, I hope you can wait for a while... because the enemy leader, the Shadow of Slaughter, has not been killed yet. Compared with the cultists we cleared out before, the Shadow of Slaughter is the biggest enemy."

"..." Opposite Rockland, the middle-aged Inquisitor was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Ok, I see."

The Inquisitor said, "This is indeed our duty. We will assist you in completely eradicating the cultists of Blood of Thorns."

……

Rocklan then went to the cliff where the "Shadow of Slaughter" was located together with the "Holy Judges".

However, what they saw was only a mess - deep pits one after another, black bloodstains splattered all over the ground, and deep cracks on the ground and the cliffs...

The scenes before everyone's eyes all indicated one fact - a fierce battle had taken place here, and the level of danger was no less than that of Rocklan and the Holy Judges on the battlefield below!
"There are very strong spiritual remnants..." A Holy Inquisitor of the "Grand Priest of Purification" shrugged and said, "And the auras are quite mixed. They come from multiple destinies..."

"...Where is the 'Shadow of Killing'?" Lockland frowned, and his hand began to stroke the bracelet on his arm, and the surface of the bracelet began to glow with a light blue luster.

Rockland is ready to release the puppet sealed inside at any time.

The "Great Shepherd of Purification" who had spoken before closed his eyes. He spread out his perception and began to try to capture the spirit of the extraordinary person with a destiny named [Red Lotus].

After a moment, the shepherd opened his eyes and said:

“I felt it. That violent spirit extended all the way to the deepest part.”

The other Holy Inquisitors beside the Great Herdsman all showed alert expressions on their faces. After they were all ready to face a sudden battle at any time, one Holy Inquisitor said to Rockland:

"Please follow us closely. This is for your safety, and you are our most powerful force at the moment."

Rockland nodded, and the chief herdsman led the way, and everyone else followed closely behind him.

……

Damu stopped only when he reached a deeper and more dilapidated cliff slope.

He lowered his head, looked at the slightly grayish pit in front of him, and said:

“…This is the end point. The manic spirit finally gathered here. Its owner lost all spiritual power here.”

Rockland also lowered his head, his eyes fixed on the pit, his expression tense.

That was definitely not a pit that could be formed naturally. Instead, it looked more like a meteorite falling to the ground, but not to such an exaggerated degree.

Rockland, who had recently been studying the "alchemy of rotting bones", could intuitively recognize that the thin layer of ash sprinkled on the surface of the pit was human ashes!

Combined with what the great herdsman said, Rockland had vaguely guessed that the "Shadow of Slaughter" might have died.

"Shadow of Killing" Setis had been killed in this pit by a method almost like a "falling meteor"!

But who on earth could have done this? Is this person an enemy or a friend? What was his purpose in killing the "Shadow of Slaughter"...

Countless doubts emerged in Rockland's mind.

He even recalled that the great shepherd had said before, "There is more than one mixed spiritual remnant, they come from multiple destinies"...

An organization that can quickly deal with a "quadruple destiny" extraordinary person... or an organization with various mixed destinies... Rockland pondered secretly.

Suddenly, Rockland raised his head and asked the "Great Shepherd of Purification" in front of him:
"Can you identify which destiny the mixed spiritual sources here point to?"

Da Mu was silent for a while, then he slowly said:
"...Yes, but it's very vague. I can only give a rough guess."

"Right here, the aura of Red Lotus is the most intense."

"Then came [Bitter Tea] and [Nothingness]... and [Glory]..."

"Hmm... there seems to be some other spirits mixed in. But I can't tell what kind of destiny it comes from."

"..."

"That's enough. But..."

Rockland was puzzled. "You also mentioned [Glory]? But, all the 'Holy Judges' were clearly down there before..."

"We do not rule out the possibility that the 'Pure Order' may be involved."

An Inquisitor nodded and said:

"We have indeed encountered a similar situation before. The people of the 'Pure Order' killed the enemies of the order by pretending to be other believers of the destiny. Then, the 'Pure Order' killed them again."

"..."

"Could it be the 'Pure Order'? Have they joined as well?..."

"[Bitter Tea], [Nothingness]... they are even involved in the 'Pure Cult'..."

"'Blood of Thorns'... What they are planning is even more profound than I imagined..."

Rockland frowned and murmured.

……

……

Sina City.

The main street of Triumph Square.

After killing the "Shadow of Killing" Setis, Luo Xiu dismissed his shadows and rushed back to the church alone.

"Shadow of Killing" Setis has always been a thorn in Luo Xiu's side. At the same time, he is also the mobile experience pack that Luo Xiu has coveted for a long time and wants to get gold coins from!

Luo Xiu's solo action this time was approved by Priest Leonard - as a "Son of Light" with unlimited prospects, Luo Xiu applied to Leonard in advance for permission to go alone to clear out several "Blood of Thorns" strongholds.

The strongholds that Luo Xiu had selected in advance had already been handed over to the "Faceless Man" Index, who was led by the "Bloodthirsty Werewolf" Buzer and others to clear them out.

Luo Xiu himself, with the "Hunting Blade" and the "Dream Thief", came to see off the "Shadow of Slaughter" for the final time.

This chaos is precisely the best opportunity to attack the "Shadow of Killing", and it will not alert the "Lord of Blood Sacrifice" - because he has no time to be alert!
At this time, the "Lord of Blood Sacrifice" had no idea that the "Blood of Thorns" he had built was on the verge of destruction.

Luo Xiu calculated the time.

While he had successfully used the "Shadow of Slaughter" to explode the gold coins, Boozer and his men should have also turned those selected "Blood of Thorns" strongholds upside down.

Luo Xiu knew the strength of the strongholds he had arranged. It was almost impossible for Buzer and his men to fail if they were to clear them out. Luo Xiu was quite confident in his arrangements.

In addition to this, the church also has other backup plans.

Priest Leonard told him that Bishop Fabion not only recalled all the Inquisitors active outside, but he also reported the information about the "Blood of Thorns" map to the "Holy Court".

The "Holy See" immediately passed the news to the archbishop of the diocese in Songyuan's main city.

The archbishop immediately made arrangements and mobilized all the forces he could to launch an attack on almost all the strongholds of the "Blood of Thorns" in Songyuan Territory.

The "Lord of Blood Sacrifice", who was far away in the underground of Fafnir City, the Dark Principality, was still unaware of what had happened.

He was waiting for the "Shadow of Killing" Setis to bring him good news, and hoped that the "Two-Faced Doll" could be recovered.

This time was not like when the "Lord of Blood Sacrifice" personally sent out the blood disciples "Maurice" and "Fold". He could not see what was happening through the eyes of any "thorns" in Sina City.

The man who served as the eyes of the "Lord of Blood Sacrifice" was thousands of miles away at this time and could not affect the actions here.

"I really want to see what kind of expression will appear on that old man who plays with blood after he knows the truth..."

The corners of Luo Xiu's mouth rose slightly, and his inner joy had already appeared on his face.

……

Church of Glory.

As usual, the clergy of the church did not show any abnormality due to the sudden change.

Only the "Holy Inquisitors" and those with priesthoods above "Priests" knew about the plans of "Blood of Thorns" and "Original Sect".

Those who knew the situation tacitly kept silent so as not to alert the enemy by making overly blatant moves.

Except for Luo Xiu, all the holy inquisitors who originally belonged to the "Sina City Church" stayed inside the church.

The Holy Inquisitors who came to Rockland's aid were all, without exception, dispatched from the surrounding cities.

The Inquisitors who were sent from outside were all disguised accordingly, and only took action against the "Blood of Thorns", which made the spies of the "Original Sect" not notice anything.

All these arrangements were a false impression made against the "Original Sect" -

According to the intelligence Anthony eavesdropped on, the "ancestral bishops" of the original sect had a rule for taking action: once it was confirmed that the holy judges of the "Sina City Church" had taken action, the "original sect" would take action and launch a pounce on the church!
Bishop Fabion, who knew their entire plan, chose to sit back and wait.

At this time, in the Episcopal Palace of Fabion, the three-story bishop's residence.

Bishop Fabien sat up from his bed, which was rare. His pale face had his usual calm and gentle expression.

But his eyes, as usual, were filled with a hint of worry. He was also waiting for the "holy judges" who had been urgently transferred back from outside to send him the latest news.

"..."

Suddenly, Bishop Fabien raised his right hand.

On the slender finger of the right hand, which was almost touching the bone, a ring engraved with gold patterns was emitting a dazzling bright golden luster.

Fabien's originally calm eyes suddenly revealed a glimmer of light.

He then stroked the ring, and a clear projection emerged in his mind -

There were countless vivid images, in which each team of Holy Inquisitors successfully completed the task of clearing out the "Blood of Thorns" stronghold.

"Hmm..." Fabian nodded with satisfaction, and his gaze fell on the most crucial picture.

That is the Sage's Tower of Wisdom, and the landmark building of the Alchemy Institute under its jurisdiction.

There is a towering obelisk with several corpses piled up at the door. From their clothes, it can be seen that they are believers of the "Alchemy House" and "Blood of Thorns".

Almost simultaneously with the attack on the "Great Universalist" Rocklan, other "Blood of Thorns" stronghold leaders launched a surprise attack on the Alchemy Institute.

Since Rocklan and several other "Great Educators" were not at the Alchemy Institute's monument, and the number of cultists sent by "Blood of Thorns" was quite large, although the Alchemy Institute had learned of the actions of "Blood of Thorns" in advance and most of the warlocks had moved to a safe place, there were still many scholars and warlocks who were unaware of the situation and suffered from the hands of "Blood of Thorns".

In the eyes of the "great thinkers" of the Alchemy Academy, some sacrifices are inevitable.

They couldn't possibly let all the warlocks of the Alchemy Academy know about the impending invasion of the Blood of Thorns, as this would only alert the enemy and cause them to miss the opportunity to resolve the disaster once and for all.

However, although the scholars and warlocks stationed in the Alchemy Academy suffered heavy casualties, they still relied on their local advantages to deal a heavy blow to the "Blood of Thorns".

The warlocks who stayed behind discovered that many of the "alchemical weapons" that they originally had no right to use were suddenly completely open to them - those were war alchemical creations that were personally made and debugged by the "generalists", and they did not expect that they could play a role in such a critical moment!
Relying on these "war alchemical weapons", the stationed alchemists inflicted heavy losses on the invading "Blood of Thorns" cultists.

However, the warlocks of the Alchemist Academy, who were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of the number of extraordinary people, ultimately failed to completely resist the attacks of the "Blood of Thorns" cultists.

The destroyers and blood disciples of "Blood of Thorns" quickly occupied the first floor of the Alchemy Institute's monument, and started rounds of tug-of-war with the alchemists who were resisting stubbornly on the second floor.

The surrounding citizens have been evacuated, leaving only this monument, from which violent explosions and roars continue to be heard.

The battle situation was extremely intense, and the troops stationed near the city lord's residence were already on their way to provide support.

But the cultists of "Blood of Thorns" had no intention of retreating, and they looked ready to perish together with the Alchemy Institute.

At this critical moment, several "senior alchemists" with triple destiny of [Intelligence] risked their lives to break out of the blockade and rushed towards the location of the [Glory] Church.

……

Then, the images that appeared in Bishop Fabion's mind shattered one by one. This was all the information sent back to him by his informants.

"It's finally here..." Fabian murmured.

At present, everything is developing in an orderly manner and in the expected direction.

Fabien then got off the bed, grabbed the bishop's robe beside him and put it on, and picked up the scepter on the wall.

When the sorcerers of the "Alchemy Institute" come to ask for help, the Holy Inquisitors of the Church will go to the Alchemy Institute's monument to lend a helping hand.

Fabian knew that Leonard would take care of it. He was more concerned about what would happen next.

——While the "Holy Inquisitors" stationed in the church launched support to the Alchemy Institute, the "Original Sect" was about to launch a fierce attack on the church!
As for the invasion from the "Original Sect", the other side will send out the most powerful "Saint" - the "Ancestral Bishop" of the [Lost] Five Destinies!
Fabian knew that in this operation planned by the "Lord of Blood Sacrifice", a large part of the opponent's target was himself.

The attack on the Alchemy Institute was just a cover, and Fabian knew it well.

As for the invasion of the "Original Sect", Fabien also understood that only he could resist the "Ancestral Bishop" - he must also resist it, otherwise all his plans would fail.

Bishop Fabien couldn't help but let a faint smile appear on his unhealthy pale face.

Of course, this was not a passive resistance.

Bishop Fabion, together with the foreign aid sent by the Holy See, had already laid a tight net around them, waiting for the "ancestral bishop" to arrive.

"'Original Sect'..."

Leonard whispered.

"…It's time to meet up with old friends."

……

(End of this chapter)