Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 332 Velino Bakar
After bidding farewell to Archbishop Sid and leaving the "Lofty Temple", Luo Xiu went straight to the "Holy Storage" to obtain a sacred material of "epic" quality.

In two days, I will be able to borrow the altar of the cathedral to preside over the sacred ceremony to revive the "Golden Pegasus"... and during these two days, I will quietly wait for Archbishop Sid to summon me again.

At that time, he and other Glory saints who are recuperating, such as Gulanbato and Evans, will make a formal report to the archbishop.

Luo Xiu then went to the "healing place", went to his room, and soaked in the new, steaming "holy spring" for a while.

After recovering from the remaining injuries, he changed into his casual clothes and left the church, heading to his main residence in Songyuan City and returning to the "Wolf Hunting Tavern" to rest.

……

Wolf Hunter Tavern.

At this time, Isaac, the "Knight of the Throne", who would either move a small stool to sit in the courtyard to watch the wind or shout and play chess in the room, was not in the courtyard at this time.

When Luo Xiu just stepped into the courtyard of the tavern, he saw another "Throne Knight" Bruyère wearing black and red armor, holding a gladiator-like helmet in his left hand, and striding towards the gate of the courtyard.

"Good morning, Luo Xiu!"

Bruyère also saw Luo Xiu at a glance, so he came over and greeted him roughly: "You haven't come back all day. Brother Isaac said you were on a mission. I was worried about you."

"I heard that a huge pit appeared outside Songyuan City. Was it caused by you?"

"Good morning, old Knight Bruyère." Luo Xiu smiled and replied, "I guess so. Are you getting ready to go out?"

"I was just about to go to the 'Hall of the Round Table' when the Marquis called on us, the retired knights of the throne, to join the conscription."

Bruyer said: "I heard that it was to reinforce the war in Kumar Territory - hey, brother Isaac has already gone there."

"I see." Luo Xiu nodded, "Then I wish you good luck."

"Haha! You're doing well too." Bruyer walked over with a smile, raised his hand and patted Luo Xiu's shoulder hard, then strode out of the courtyard.

Isaac and Bruyère had already left, and the door of the tavern was not locked. Luo Xiu walked in and went up to his room on the third floor.

And in the room, Luo Xiu saw another plush, familiar white figure——

Intis, who had transformed into a two-tailed civet cat, was lazily lying on the windowsill. It was not until Luo Xiu pushed the door open and walked in that it turned its head and looked in the direction of its "master" with its dark green eyes.

Puff, puff—Intis Cat jumped off the windowsill, and landed on the carpeted ground steadily and lightly on all fours. Then, with a burst of mist, it returned to its human form.

"My Lord." Intis first saluted the Lord as a servant, then said softly:

"The mission you assigned has been completed."

"I, along with several of my fellow citizens from the Holy Abyss, have already tracked down the whereabouts of the Marquis' illegitimate son, Velino Bakar, who is now the judge of the Law Office, Velia Loggins."

"Tell me." Luo Xiu took off his robe, walked to the bed and sat down, looking at Index gently.

"Okay, Lord."

Index nodded, and then said:

"It is indeed as 'Fire Bronze Knight' Holdwell said. The illegitimate child lives in 'Roggins Mansion'."

"His mother - as you said, his mother was a maid in the army, and about twenty years ago, she married a local wealthy businessman, 'Angleter Loggins'."

"Therefore, when Velino was only about eleven or twelve years old, he became the adopted son of the wealthy businessman 'Anglai Loggins'. And Anglai had no blood heirs, so he adopted him as his own son and named him 'Villa Loggins'."

"The wealthy businessman Angle also made a will at the Attorney General's Office, stating that after his death, all his property will be inherited by him."

"And just fourteen years ago - probably when the illegitimate child had just come of age, the wealthy businessman Angle was suddenly assassinated. When he was found, he had been dismembered. The head, upper body, and lower body were thrown separately in three houses of Angle."

"Because Angle had a great influence in the business world, and his death was so strange, it caused quite a stir in society and even in the Attorney General's Office at the time. At that time, it was Lord Gawain who personally ordered a thorough investigation of the murderer."

The murderer that Lord Gawain is investigating... A thoughtful expression appeared on Luo Xiu's face. In his estimation, Gawain should have been only fifteen or sixteen years old at that time.

And that lord probably still doesn't know that 'Villa Loggins' is his half-brother...

But the Marquis of Vizia obviously knew about it - he might even have sent someone to investigate the cause of death of the wealthy merchant Anglais. He also specifically asked Gawain to investigate, and he did it on purpose -

He wanted to take this opportunity to let Gawain, who had just entered the Supreme, establish merit? This could be considered as the road that the father had paved for his child in advance... Thinking of this, Luo Xiu then listened to what Index said:

"After that, Lord Gawain quickly identified the murderer. According to the final investigation results released by the Attorney General's Office, they characterized the assassination of the wealthy businessman Angle as a vicious incident committed by a pagan, and the reason for doing so was to cause social chaos."

"So, the Department of Justice, together with the Grand Church of Glory and the Grand Church of Wisdom, launched a large-scale crackdown on dozens of pagan strongholds in Songyuan City. According to people who had witnessed the scene at that time, Songyuan City at that time was a complete bloodbath..."

"The various forces that were originally secret cult organizations were naturally hit hard by this."

"In the Supreme Law Office, a few Supremes took advantage of this incident to attack their political opponents. They slandered their political opponents as traitors who colluded with pagans, and labeled them as 'order killers'. Marquis Vizia, who was at the top of the Supreme rule in Songyuan City, also 'executed' many Supreme transcendents with second and third fates."

"That was an era of panic, but what it brought was a long period of order and peace in Songyuan City."

This is the early history of the illegitimate child "Velino Bakar"... While Index was speaking, Luo Xiu was also thinking.

Fourteen years ago, the thorough investigation conducted by Marquis Vizia into the cause of death of the wealthy businessman Anglais really achieved two goals with one stone... He found sufficient reasons to purge a group of pagans in Songyuan City, and the "execution" of those suspected murderers did serve as a warning to the internal affairs of the Supreme Order.

And apart from these - "After that, the illegitimate child naturally inherited all the property of the wealthy businessman Angle, right?" Luo Xiu asked softly.

"Yes, my lord." Intis nodded.

"At that time, when the Supreme, Glory and Wisdom were vigorously cleaning up the heretical forces in Songyuan City, Velino went to the Law Office to handle the procedures for inheriting the property of his adoptive father, the wealthy businessman Angle."

"He paid the Law Office an inheritance tax equivalent to 30% of Angler's property. The remaining 70% has a net value of nearly 3 million gold coins, which is enough for him to live a prosperous life in Songyuan City for the rest of his life."

"Yeah." Luo Xiu nodded, "I roughly understand."

In his mind, no matter who the real murderer of the wealthy businessman Angle was, the wealth owned by the wealthy businessman was the most fundamental purpose of this assassination.

Maybe it was Villino who hired someone to kill? Or maybe he did it himself... And he must have known about his relationship with Marquis Vizier. Therefore, even if the young Lord Gawain had discovered something, with the invisible protection of Marquis Vizier, Villino could not be truly convicted.

At this point, the entire assassination incident can basically be regarded as the "family affair" of the Bakar family - except for the wealthy businessman Angle himself, who was simply used as a pawn, using him as a burning fuse to eventually create a huge, sensational explosion. This is the past of the illegitimate son "Villino Bakar", and that's all Luo Xiu wants to know.

He thought for a while and asked Index:

"I already know his past. So, what about now?"

"Now..." Index lowered her head, looking thoughtful for a while before she spoke softly:

"The current Velino... or should I say 'Inquisitor' Velia, his behavior... well, he behaves too normally."

"As a 'judge' of the Attorney General's Office, he always arrived at the Attorney General's Office on time every morning and left on time every evening, never delaying even a minute."

"And in my secret surveillance of him, he hardly had any social contact with other Supremes and always kept to himself. Therefore, in the eyes of most of his colleagues, their relationship with him was neither good nor bad. It was just a bit indifferent."

"When he returned to his Loggins mansion in the evening, he no longer went out, and no one came to visit him... He gave me the feeling of a lonely bachelor."

"..."

“…Yes, I understand.”

After Index finished speaking, Luo Xiu nodded approvingly.

"That's pretty much all the information I want to know."

Combining the "surface" detected by Index with the "dark side" revealed by the previous "Fire Bronze Knight" Holdwell, Luo Xiu was able to almost analyze Velino's personal condition.

In the Law Office, he tried not to come into contact with any other Supremes, most likely for disguise. And in his Loggins mansion, there might be various secret doors and passages for other "Order Killers" to report to him and move around.

But Intis and other "Holy Abyss" apostles were unable to investigate to that extent. The premise for Luo Xiu to let them carry out the mission was to avoid exposing themselves, and he believed that Intis could do it well.

Because of this, Luo Xiu was finally able to decide when he would take action against the 'illegitimate child' Velino Bakar -

It would be tonight - right after he finished his mission at the General Church and when everyone knew that he had just been 'seriously injured'.

Archbishop Sid will most likely not summon him again, and he also has sufficient "alibi", so this is the best chance.

……

"You did well, Intis."

After Index had almost finished reporting the information she had found out about Velino, Luo Xiu spoke in a tone of praise.

Facing Index's somewhat restrained expectant eyes, Luo Xiu opened the panel of the divine object "Spiritual Fountain", took out 200,000 experience points from it, and transformed them into spirituality "infused" into Index's body.

This was a routine reward, and it was also the most generous reward that Luo Xiu had ever given to Index.

Index's current level is lv.29 of the triple destiny of [Red Lotus]. After receiving the 30 experience points rewarded by Luo Xiu, her level jumped to the upper limit of lv.!

Feeling the warmth that filled her body and surged up from all sides, Index showed an expression of enjoyment on her face.

She had a vague feeling that one of the shackles in her triple destiny of [Red Lotus] had been quietly broken through just now. Before her eyes - or rather, in the vision in her mind, a golden door burning with scarlet flames appeared in her perception for a moment.

"Is that... a door?" Index murmured absentmindedly.

"That's the door." Luo Xiu gave Index a positive answer. He stood up, walked in front of Index, and stroked her soft silver-gray hair.

"That is the extraordinary door through which you will ascend to the path of the Red Lotus. I have granted you a new power so that you can see it."

Then, Luo Xiu said to Index in a calm and gentle voice:

"And what you need to do is to constantly stabilize your spirituality, so that the 'door' can appear clearly, when you want it to appear, and anywhere in your perception."

"You may hear some guidance from your Red Lotus Pillar God - the guidance from the 'Throne of Destruction'."

"Listen to Him, accept Him, and do as He says, Intis - this is the final step for you to ascend to the 'Fourfold Destiny' and become the 'Shadow of Slaughter'."

"..."

"I understand, my Lord..."

"Thanks you……"

"..."

Index still responded in a daze, her cheeks flushed slightly and her face showed an expression as if she was slightly drunk.

Even if this allowed Index to reach her "bottleneck" first, Luo Xiu didn't know what kind of promotion task Index had triggered after reaching the level cap, but he could always give Index some guidance for reference based on the experience gained from interacting with the natives.

After feeling that the 200,000 experience points he had instilled into Index had been almost completely digested by her, Luo Xiu withdrew his hand that was gently stroking her long hair and sat back on the bed.

Index still had her head down, she seemed to be still feeling something.

Luo Xiu waited patiently until another three minutes passed. He saw Intis slowly raise her head, a tiny scarlet light flashing in her eyes, and she said:
"I did hear... the whispers from the 'Throne of Destruction'... from Him."

"He told me to kill, to kill with abandon, to kill with revelry..."

"That is His guidance... the Lord."

After saying this, the scarlet in Index's eyes gradually faded away, and her vision gradually returned to clarity.

"Then do as He says, Intis."

Luo Xiu's voice was still calm and gentle. He smiled faintly and said:
"This is the only way for you to embark on the Red Lotus."

"It just so happens that tonight will be the perfect stage, Intis. I will allow you to release your true nature and have no taboos."

……

(End of this chapter)