Imperial Crown.

Chapter 407 Death (I)

Many thanks to Qidian Dad [God’s Punishment] for the 100 reward!

……

Miracle Mountains.

The mountain fog is like the sea, flowing quietly.

It was so a thousand years ago, it is so now, and it seems likely that it will be so a thousand years from now.

Time seems to have lost its meaning.

call--

The west wind suddenly howled, and clouds and mist surged like a tide.

A huge mountain emerges from the sea of ​​clouds, revealing its majestic grandeur for the first time.

The towering cliffs look like giants on the mountain, attracting people's attention; the dark color seems to have been immersed in the Styx for thousands of years.

At the foot of the mountain is a lake as quiet as a mirror. The lake is so wide that it reflects the entire mountain.

This is an unknown corner outside of history books, an abandoned place far away from civilization.

It is also the "Sanctuary of the Ghostly Corpses" run by the Death Hand Cult for a thousand years.

On the top of the mountain, a black spot grew from small to large.

It was a giant gargoyle as big as a castle, with bat-like wings flapping in the air. On its back stood an old man in a black robe.

The gargoyle flew to the lakeside, and the old man took out a horn from his arms. Infused with pale deathly energy, the horn sounded majestically, echoing above the lake.

After a brief silence, the sand and gravel by the lake rolled up, and white bones stood up in the sliding mud.

The lake beach, which can accommodate tens of thousands of people, was completely occupied.

They are generally similar to humans, but some are taller and some are shorter.

Some have long and thin skulls, some have six arms on their backs, and some have fangs and sharp claws. The only thing they have in common is that there is a pale fire of soul burning in their eye sockets.

Although the team was scattered, their behavior was extremely unified.

They all bent down, dug out huge bone chains as thick as buckets from the mud, carried them on their shoulders, and walked together with their backs to the lake.

Under the pull of tens of thousands of undead souls, the 13 bone chains were stretched straight.

The earth trembled and the lake shook!

boom--

As the chains moved, a towering palace broke through the water flow and slowly rose from the lake!

The palace was constructed purely of bones. It was clearly sunk to the bottom of the lake, but there was no sign of any water plants, fish or insects. It was as smooth as white jade, and its overall shape was that of a flat coffin!

The gate opened, and a bone trail grew out and was built on the shore.

A slippery sound was heard, and soon a strange creature walked out from it.

He wore a jewel-studded golden crown on his head, a gorgeous red robe on his body, and held a slender silver staff in his hand. Although his skin was deathly pale, his face was quite handsome.

What is worrying is that under his red robe, it is not legs, but octopus-like tentacles that are gray and pale, but moving alternately.

As he moved forward, he left a trail of slime behind him.

The old man in black robe had already been waiting at the end of the trail and bowed:

"Lord Tinsay."

"I told you not to bother me unless it's important. I still have a lot of experiments to do." Sissay's voice was calm but elegant:

"Or, Rudolph, have you prepared the soul I need?"

The old man named Rudolf shuddered and swallowed his saliva: "The soul still needs to be prepared. I am sorry to bother you today because I want to ask you to preside over the 'Soul Falling Ceremony'."

Xisai's mouth corners curved downward, showing some displeasure: "Wouldn't it be better to let the Soul Saint do this?"

Rudolf quickly explained: "Since Parisil died in the Keynes Empire, the next Holy Maiden of the Soul has not yet been selected. Now only you can use the Holy Emblem of the Dead Soul, so I have no choice but to trouble you."

"Nergal never has time." Sisai's words were full of sarcasm: "I helped him find the holy emblem, but he won't do it himself?"

Rudolph didn't dare to say anything.

Although he holds a high position of power in the Death Hand Cult as one of the nine elders, the Tinsay in front of him is one of the two "Pale Patriarchs" whose status is only second to the Overlord. His strength is so strong that he has already been promoted to the 9th level.

The "Nergal" that Sisay mentioned is none other than the leader of the Hand of Death Cult, the Lord of Death of this generation.

Xisai had no intention of competing with the elder, so he climbed onto the back of the crawling gargoyle and said, "Let's go."

The gargoyle flapped its wings and landed on a platform on the mountainside.

The platform was broad and spotlessly clean, but it always had a dark, gray, and old feeling as if it had been washed away by time, and the air was filled with a faint smell of corruption.

At the end, there is a bone portal that opens on two sides, and on the portal, there is a giant dragon skull inlaid.

The head is nearly 20 meters long, and there is a faint golden glow flowing through the bones.

This is not the head of an ordinary dragon, but the remains of an 8th-level sacred dragon that was killed during the heyday of the Hand of Death Cult more than a thousand years ago.

The door opened quietly.

Led by Rudolph, Sissay walked into the door.

This is the Altar of Dead Souls, one of the core places of the Hand of Death Cult and the place where the Holy Emblem of Dead Souls is stored.

The braziers embedded in the wall were burning with dead white flames, illuminating the entire altar with great brightness.

The altar is circular in shape, with a diameter of nearly 50 meters and painted with various patterns. 20 meters from the core, the ground suddenly disappears, leaving only a bottomless abyss. In the middle of the abyss is an altar rising high.

The Holy Emblem of the Dead Souls is stored on top of this altar.

"You are so well prepared?" Xisai raised his eyebrows: "Who is the target this time?"

Tinsay was indeed speaking from the heart.

If you observe from the air, you can find that the circular altar is evenly divided into 12 areas, each with a stone platform.

For the regular soul-falling ceremony, you only need to prepare materials on 4 stone platforms.

This time, the materials filled all 12 areas.

The "Star Tear Rock" obtained from the Dwarf Kingdom, which can strengthen the connection with the Star Realm; the "Empty Pupil Quicksand" produced in the deep sea, which can only be mined by the sea people; the "Elegy Salt" produced in the tombs of dead elves, which is absolutely forbidden to trade even in the Elf Empire; the "Whispering Rose" that only occasionally appears in the depths of the Abyss...

Each one is a precious material that is priceless.

In addition, living people were brought to the altar. They were all virgins who were carefully raised by the sect.

They are usually only sacrificed as sacrifices in the annual "Great Ceremony" to pray to the god of death. They are usually not used at other times, but now 36 of them were brought in at once.

There were already some corpses lying on the ground. They were naked and their chests were cut open. Under the influence of special sacrificial knives, the blood had long been drained.

Even though they were ignorant of the ways of the world, the girls who were brought in still struggled when they saw their fellow dead. However, they were unable to resist the strength of the undead soldiers. They could only have their chests cut open and be pressed on the altar while screaming.

As the girls gradually lost their strength, the blood that flowed out from their bodies filled the grooves on the altar that were left with black and brown marks, emitting a translucent luster like red crystal.

Footsteps sounded, and a smell came that made Xisai feel disgusted instinctively.

The octopus's tentacles danced, and Xisai turned around abruptly, with a hint of displeasure on his lips:
"Yeah, I'm so stupid, who else could it be -

My dear Archbishop Thomas!"

The one who appeared at the door of the altar was none other than Thomas, the Cardinal of the Church of Light of the Nord Diocese!

"It's an honor to meet you, Patriarch Xisai." Thomas smiled warmly, as if he was not in the bloody altar, but the temple of the Lord of Light.

"I knew you didn't have good intentions in sending back the Holy Emblem of the Dead Souls." Sisai smiled coldly, "Not long after your last visit, you became a cardinal. Which cardinal position did you set your sights on this time?"

Thomas smiled and said, "Who gets to be the cardinal will of course depend on the Vatican's arrangement. I came here this time for the stability of the continent."

Just as Sissay was about to make a sarcastic remark, two more people walked out from behind Thomas, which made him even more annoyed.

When did the Sanctuary of the Ghostly Corpses become a tourist destination where outsiders can come and go at will?

"Let me introduce them." Thomas said before Sisai was about to get angry: "These two are the Grand Duke of the Principality of Ivor, Ivor VIII, and his wife, Her Royal Highness Tracy."

“He is also the one who commissioned this ceremony.”

At this time, as the grooves on the altar were filled, the originally rosy blood on the altar changed color, emitting a tragic green light that seemed to bloom from the underworld.

Seeing this, Xisai did not pursue the matter any further: "The soul-falling ceremony is about to begin, bring the things here."

With a green face, Eivor VIII glanced at Twilight and pursed his lips.

Cui Qi reached into her sleeve and pulled out a...

Underwear!

Looking at the spots left on the underwear, Xisai raised his eyebrows in disgust: "Can't you bring something decent?"

Rudolph came forward in time and put the underwear into a tray.

"Go away. There's nothing for you to do next." Sisai glanced at King Eivor VIII and his wife.

The two of them tactfully left the altar.

As soon as they walked out of the door, Eivor VIII pressed Cuiqi against the wall: "No wonder you refused to tell me what you got, it turned out to be this kind of thing!"

"What did you do that night?"

Cui Qi's face turned pale: "...Didn't you see everything?"

"I didn't see clearly!" Eivor VIII became more and more furious: "And now I'm ordering you to say it!"

Cui Qi frowned and turned her head away.

"...You, gave it to him?" Eivor VIII's voice trembled slightly.

"He insisted..."

"You gave it to him!?"

"He insisted!"

"Just give it to him if he wants it!?"

Eivor VIII’s brows were twisted into pieces!

"But... I was shouting your name." Cui Qi whispered, "But, but he didn't stop, he even fired 8 more times..."

boom!
The door was closed, isolating the inside and outside of the altar, and also isolating the chatter of Eivor VIII and Twilight from Sissay's ears.

"What does the Holy See plan to do next?" asked Sisai.

Thomas was surprised and asked, "What?"

"Don't play dumb. This is not the Church of Light. We don't like your roundabout ways." Every time he saw Thomas, Tinsay couldn't control his temper:
"The orcs are ready to make a move. It's only a matter of time before a war breaks out."

Thomas sighed: "It seems that more innocent people are going to suffer disaster."

Xisai snorted coldly: "Everyone knows that wherever there is war, there is your Church of Light. Isn't this the best time for you to preach?"

"The Orc Empire has been preparing for hundreds of years. The scale of this war will definitely not be small, and we happen to have a little influence in the Orc Empire."

"The Papal States also wants to expand its territory, right?"

"We destroy, you clean up; we want souls, you want believers."

"So, we can definitely cooperate on this matter."

Archbishop Thomas had a look of pity on his face, as if even listening to the plan was a sin.

He shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Patriarch Xisai, there is more to this world than just profit. The glory of our Lord does not tolerate conspiracy and killing."

"If your church wants to take action, that is your freedom, but I still hope that Patriarch Xisai can be merciful and not cause unnecessary killings and casualties."

Sissay scoffed.

He had transformed himself into a lich for more than 200 years and had long lost any mercy, but in front of Thomas, he felt that he was not that evil.

At least, Tinsay wouldn't say such high-sounding nonsense in front of dozens of corpses killed by him.

The green light was extremely bright, and the tray containing the underwear was placed on the high platform in the center of the altar.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready." Rudolf said respectfully.

Tinsay grabbed the scepter, his tentacles moving, and walked up to the central platform of the altar.

He opened his arms and used his tentacles to turn the pages of the book in front of him, reciting the ritual prayer.

"The immortal ruler of the silent realm,

The destination and end of countless living and dead souls,
The last watcher who witnessed the twilight of the gods——

Please show your mercy and let the creatures who are most closely related to this thing fall into your eternal kingdom! "

The holy emblem of the dead soul burst out with a pale light, and under this light, the color of the entire altar changed again!
Nourishes—

On the 12 stone platforms, various magical materials began to melt and seep into the altar.

The 36 bodies of young girls scattered on the ground suddenly stood up like puppets, shook their bodies, came to the edge of the center of the altar and leaped down.

In front of Xisai, the underwear suddenly burned with pale flames, and the shadow of a man with black hair and black eyes appeared above the stone platform.

Then, the sky full of deadly white light poured in, engulfing it completely!
"It turned out to be him."

Sissay was wondering why the now-crippled Principality of Eivor was unlikely to be able to afford the price of the Soul-Falling Ceremony; and Thomas, this guy, would not be willing to do so either.

Now there is no such doubt. After all, this man destroyed the cult's plan in the Nord Province, killed the previous generation of Soul Saint, kidnapped the Bone Dragon, and then killed Count Palmer, who had a close relationship with the cult, in Eivor.

It is only right that the cult lowers its prices after getting rid of him.

Feeling somewhat empty inside, Palmer walked down the altar and came to Thomas:

"The ritual has been completed. He will die."

"Alas... What a pity, what a pity." Thomas sighed: "Earl Raven is a rising star in the Keynes Empire and one of the few truly capable nobles among the human race."

"It's really sad that he has ended up like this."

Xisai was too lazy to pay attention to him: "You guys should leave early."

Having said that, he opened the altar door and walked out.

Thomas certainly wouldn't stay long. He walked out of the door and looked at King Eivor VIII and his wife, who were standing quite a distance from each other.
"Let's go."

Following Thomas away, Tracy couldn't help but take a deep look at the altar.

She did not regret giving herself to Raven, and could even say she was glad for it.

If Thomas hadn't forced her, she wouldn't have kept or taken out the underwear.

It's not just because Raven made her truly experience the joy of being a woman.

Moreover, it was Raven who made her the person who actually controlled the affairs of the Principality of Eivor.

The taste of power is really fascinating.

If Raven really died as a result of this ritual, her position and power would probably be greatly shaken.

He might even return to the miserable situation where he was once just a plaything of Eivor VIII.

"By the way, that witch, she won't be in any trouble, right?" Eivor VIII suddenly asked.

"No." Cui Qi said immediately, "That witch is very promiscuous. I have arranged 12 handsome men for her. She won't notice our movements for a few days."

Soon, several people arrived at the teleportation array. Thomas instructed: "Your Highness, don't make any big moves after you go back. Wait until the news of Raven's death spreads before taking action."

"I understand. I've endured it for three years. I don't mind enduring it for a few more days!"

The teleportation array lit up, and after a few seconds, it was empty again.

……

"I am here to pray to the Mother of Pure Black, the God of Life. I believe your divine power can extinguish the fire before my eyes!"

Fire, such a big fire!

A castle is burning in flames.

A man was kneeling in front of the castle, praying devoutly but doomedly in vain.

The sounds of crying, wailing, cursing, and the crackling of flames filled my ears, and my mouth and nose were filled with the choking smell of oil smoke.

Raven stared at all this in a daze, his eyes full of confusion.

"...Master, Master!"

"Ah!?" Raven turned around and looked, only to see an old man shaking his shoulders.

He is in his 60s, with silver hair, wrinkles, and a pair of gold-framed monocles.

"Old Gordon, you are not dead!?" Raven rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he saw.

"Thanks to the young master for his proper arrangement." Old Gordon pushed his monocle:

"On the contrary, Master, are you okay?"

"What can happen to me? I..." Raven suddenly stopped speaking and held his forehead with his right hand.

He remembered that he was a corporate slave, and after working overtime, he woke up and found himself traveling through time.

He traveled through time and space and became Raven Griffith, a low-level gangster and a lustful "little bee".

After that...after that...

"Raven!"

A loud roar woke Raven up. He looked up and saw a dark-skinned man with a scar on his face that was as twisted as an earthworm standing on the terrace on the second floor of the castle, holding a girl hostage.

"Tell your men to get out of the way, give me a horse and let me go, otherwise I will kill her!"

The man was tall and strong, but the girl was very petite, looking only 15 or 6 years old. Her long, fiery red hair was so red that it was almost blazing. Her twin ponytails were playfully combed beside her ears, and her pretty face was filled with a bit of stubbornness:

"Raven, don't listen to him! At worst, I will die with him!"

Eagle Castle is burning?

Anderson held Nancy hostage?

But why do I know this is Eagle Castle, and why do I know their names?

“Raven, answer me!” The fire had already begun to spread to the terrace. Anderson became more and more nervous and tightened the scimitar in his hand: “Otherwise, I will scratch her pretty face first!”

Before Raven could react after hearing these words, the man who had been kneeling in front of the castle suddenly jumped up and rushed in front of Raven.

"Raven, promise him!"

Donald? Why is he here?
Seeing that Raven didn't respond, Donald was so anxious that he almost jumped up and down: "Hurry up and agree to him. Nancy is the daughter of the Count of Montreal. If anything happens to her, our entire Eagle Territory will be buried with her!"

After hearing these words, Raven's thoughts gradually came into focus.

Although I still don’t understand what happened, saving lives is the most important thing.

He looked back and saw a dozen soldiers wearing leather armor and holding spears standing behind him, as well as a knight wearing full helmet and armor with a long sword at his waist.

No wonder Anderson wanted these people to back off.

"Anderson, now is not the time for you to negotiate." Raven shouted:
"Even if I agree to you and send them away, you can't see clearly from the fire. If I prepare a bad horse for you and you can't escape after riding it, won't you still die in my hands?"

"And you heard what my uncle said. If you hurt Nancy, even if you escape for a while, Montreal will not let you go."

The flames licked his back, making Anderson even more angry: "What on earth do you want to say?!"

"It's simple. Although I can't let you go, I can let you live." Raven said loudly: "You release Nancy, and then pledge allegiance to me and the Griffith family."

"I can knight you!"

Anderson was stunned: "...Are you telling the truth?"

"I don't have to lie to you." Raven said, "And you don't have a choice!"

Anderson gritted his teeth, released the blade that was on Nancy's throat, and threw the long knife to the ground.

Nancy jumped down from the terrace, rushed into Raven's arms, and beat him hard:

"You guy...you...I thought you were really going to give up on me!"

Raven was beaten so hard that he couldn't breathe. He was stunned and felt a little wronged.

Didn't you say that I don't need to care about you? And you didn't object just now?

Immediately afterwards, Anderson also jumped down, and the soldiers behind Raven rushed forward and immediately controlled him.

"What are you doing? Get up!" Donald said dissatisfiedly, "The Griffith family always keeps their word! Since Raven promised to knight him, we must do it."

Many soldiers did not move at the first moment, but looked at Raven.

Raven was shocked.

Do I have such great prestige?
But he still nodded and motioned for them to move aside.

Donald conferred the title of Lord Anderson in front of the burning Eagle Castle.

After the battle, the people were organized to put out the fire, which was not extinguished until dawn.

During this time, Raven also learned what had happened.

This continent is called Middles, and the largest empire is called the Keynes Empire. The Griffith family is rooted in the Nord Province northwest of the Keynes Empire.

His uncle, Baron Donald, had a miserable life. Although he married a wife and had three children, his wife died early and his three children also died young. So he found Raven, who was scattered outside, and prepared to let him inherit the family title.

The Griffith family's territory was called Eagle Territory. Originally, it consisted of four territories: Eagle Town, Glittering Gold Town, Thousand Needles Jungle, and Eagle Mountain Quarry. However, in order to find the heir as soon as possible, Donald sold three of them as funds for the search.

Today, apart from the Eagle Castle, which has been passed down in the family for thousands of years, only the Eagle Town remains.

In order to train Raven's abilities, Donald gave full power to Raven three months ago and put him in charge of territory governance.

"What? You want to give me the barony now?" Raven asked in confusion.

"Yes." Donald nodded. "Although I don't understand or agree with many of your decisions during this period, Eagle Town has indeed regained its vitality under your governance."

"Not to mention, if you hadn't come up with the plan to use Eagle Castle as bait and then burn it, I wouldn't have been able to survive, let alone wipe out these bandits."

Without waiting for Raven to refuse, Donald coughed and said, "Old Gordon, go prepare and send out invitations!"

"In one month, Raven will be inaugurated as Baron on time!"

Nancy, who was standing next to her, had a smile on her face.

January passed by quickly.

Raven gradually accepted the fact that he had traveled through time and adapted to the poor, dirty and backward life in the Middle Ages.

Although they were not used to the food and drink, the streets were dirty and dilapidated, full of feces, and people were infested with lice and fleas.

But at least, as a noble, he could ensure his body was clean.

Moreover, there is an uncle here who cares about him and gives him sincere teachings.

Nancy is a woman who is a little annoying and a little willful, but she takes care of him in every possible way.

"Well! Very good, you are worthy of being a member of the Griffith family. Wearing this suit, you look more like a baron than me!" In the study, Donald looked Raven up and down with a satisfied smile.

Donald took out a purse from the secret compartment of the bookcase next to him and placed it solemnly in Raven's palm:
"I can also rest assured to hand over the family savings to you."

"Here are 100 gold coins. You must make good use of this huge sum of money!"

Raven felt touched and at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

100 gold coins was indeed a huge sum of money. After all, in this era, a live cow was only a little more than 1 gold coin.

But the Griffith family has accumulated only this much wealth after thousands of years of heritage. It's really...

"Master, Young Master, all the guests have arrived." The maid Freya whispered outside the door.

Raven took a deep breath, deposited the gold coins into the space belt he got from Anderson, and strode to the hall of Eagle Castle with Donald.

The hall was decorated quite decently. Nobles of both sexes were sitting at the table, looking at Raven with a condescending look.

After all, in their view, it was an insult to them for a guy of gangster origin to become a noble.

Raven didn't care. Their looks couldn't hurt his flesh anyway.

Normally, the succession to the title must be witnessed by a priest of the Church of Light, but the priest of the Eagle Town Church unfortunately passed away some time ago, so Donald presided over it personally.

When the speech was finished and Donald was about to put the baron's crown on Raven's head, a mocking voice was heard.

"Excellent! A prodigal baron crowns a thug. My trip was not in vain!"

The speaker was a nobleman in his 50s, with a large, bulbous nose that was red and swollen.

He is Baron Angel from Ironforge Territory, northeast of Eagle Territory. He is known for his bad temper and narrow-mindedness.

Donald's face flashed with embarrassment. Just as he was about to pretend he didn't hear it, Angel started again:

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... If this is worn, the Griffith family will be expelled from the Nord Province!"

Before Donald could react, Raven grabbed the crown and put it on his head, then stood up with a bang:
"Old man, what nonsense are you talking about!?"

Angel had never expected that Raven would dare to scold him. He slammed the table and stood up.

"Who are you scolding, you filthy little bee?!"

"I'm scolding you!" Raven glanced at Angel. "You're so mean. Did you just rinse your mouth out of the toilet?"

"With this habit, no wonder you still don't have a child. Who would dare to marry you!?"

The veins on Angel's forehead were throbbing. Not having children was his biggest worry in life. Upon hearing this, he grabbed the cup at hand and threw it at Raven!
Raven dodged sideways, and the cup smashed on the high-back chair and shattered. Angel roared and pounced on him!

Angel is a veteran knight. Today is Raven’s succession ceremony. What will happen if he is injured by him?

At the critical moment, Donald's body was ignited with a deep bloody fighting spirit, and he slapped Angel in the face, knocking him to the ground!
"Donald! You dare to hit me!?" Angel shouted.

Before he could continue speaking, Raven kicked him in the mouth!
The venue suddenly became chaotic.

A few minutes later.

Donald hugged his shoulders and said, "...That's enough, just don't let anyone get killed."

Raven then stopped what he was doing, panting, and moved away from the bruised and swollen Angel.

Limping to his feet, Ingres moved out step by step:

"…Raven, Donald, wait for me!"

"Thousand Needles Jungle and Eagle Mountain Mine, don't ever think about going back!"

……

(End of this chapter)