The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

"Gentlemen, please wait..." Behind a pile of rubble not far away, the Holy Prayer Seth stood up unhurriedly. His snow-white holy robe was covered in dust, but he didn't care. His gray eyes were frighteningly clear, with a hint of lingering aftertaste after the "grand finale".

Seeing that Yunevo and Iseria had turned around, he slowly said, "If only you were this good at fighting back in Hart City... wouldn't that be great?"

"Forget about reminiscing, just say what you want to say," Yunevo waved his hand, looking at the conservative member he had only briefly met at the ruins.

Seth shrugged, walked three steps away from Yunevo, stared at the corpses on the ground, and said, "That idiot Bassos led a bunch of Uriel's loyal followers to die in this scorpion's stomach, saving me a lot of trouble."

Indeed, apart from a few conservative believers who managed to escape far away, most of the elites of the "materialism" faction had already lost most of their lives in the previous melee.

Even if he doesn't die, he'll become a cripple.

After all, the power of the blazing sun's afterglow that was forcibly "ripped off" was truly terrifying. The scorpion was injured, and the cultists had completely drained every last bit of their magical power.

Where did the medical team and priests come from in this vast desert?

"If I'm not mistaken, the church has secretly replaced the royal family here, hasn't it?" Yunevo pinched his cheek and looked at Seth. "Why haven't they come to our aid from at the end of the Golden Trade Route?"

"Indeed, I heard it was to exploit a loophole in that soul contract, which was also Uriel's idea," Seth said thoughtfully, stroking his chin. As if he had thought of something, he took out the "magic repair potion" that Yunevo had given him.

"As for the support you mentioned..." He smiled, "I'm not the only conservative assassin here."

At this moment, the dark blue liquid had turned into an ominous dark purple—at least that's how it appeared to Yunevo and Iseria.

As for the others... nothing has changed, except for a bottle of incredibly valuable magical potion.

The holy man gave a meaningful smile, turned around and looked at the survivors who looked somewhat dazed, "After all... only the dead would never reveal secrets."

"Purges have always been one of my strengths," Seth said, shaking the vial and scanning the "next victims" one by one. "I'll take a few witnesses whose memories are 'a little off' back with me."

He paused, then continued, "As for whether they will die from the 'curse of the Holy Remains'... or die in the interrogation room, or on the road, that depends on whether my god is happy or not."

Yunevo frowned. "But if you go back empty-handed... Uriel will definitely be suspicious."

"Alchemist, you've really thought this through... This is more than enough," Seth laughed, taking out a storage jar and patting it. "But don't worry, with me here... they won't amount to anything in the end."

"By the way, don't go back to Starmock. Other holy prayers are waiting for you on the way... That's what the guys who came later told me."

"Ha... See you later, Holy Prayer," Yunevo waved, took Iseria's hand, and walked towards the Golden Trade Route without looking back.

"Farewell, alchemist," Syston paused, "may we meet again when you have cleansed the 'sludge' that has accumulated in Hart City."

"After all, the church's original intention... was simply to give those who have no one to rely on a hope to live on," he murmured.

……

"Something's not right...something's really not right," Yunevo rubbed his head, trying to alleviate the strange "disorientation."

"What's wrong? Is it that white-robed man?" Iseria walked around to the black-robed alchemist, somewhat puzzled.

The latter shook his head, took out a finely crafted mechanical pocket watch from his storage bag, and first activated [Spiritual Vision] to check if the clock battery behind the pocket watch was intact.

"How could only a week have passed?" Yonivo's voice rose an octave.

"Then can we rest for a long, long time? Yay!" Iseria was stunned for a moment, then cheered as she came to her senses. All the fatigue on her face disappeared, replaced by anticipation for the upcoming holiday.

"It is very long, and your performance in the battle against Starmoke... is actually enough to exempt you from many courses," Yunevo laughed. "In other words, the actual vacation may be more than two months long."

"We can get on the magic shuttle now, Iseria," Yunevo said softly as he stepped onto this "secret branch" of the Golden Trade Route.

Driven by the resonance between the ether and the golden sand, in just half a day... one can see that golden, spotless radiance in the sky above Hart City.

Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to go through the main entrance; instead, he went to a long-abandoned, dry well in the middle of nowhere.

That was the entrance to a dry well, and also one of the entrances to the underground water pipe network system of Hart City—"The Root".

"Should we...jump?" Iseria asked doubtfully, trying to get a "no" from Yunevo's expression.

But she failed.

Yoniv nodded and jumped into the bottomless dry well in an instant!

Iserlia exclaimed in surprise and quickly followed Yunevo's footsteps, jumping into the well with a "whoosh".

The feeling was like jumping through a wormhole and traveling along its digestive tract to the entire "internal organs" of Hart City in the blink of an eye.

The abandoned pipes are a tangled mess, and the dim light from kerosene lamps and cheap magic source lamps mingle together—this is the "root".

The other side of Harttown.

The two followed the signs of the "guide stone" and eventually stopped in front of a huge iron gate.

Yoniv stretched out his hand and, as always, knocked out three long and one short claps as a "special communication signal".

On the other side of the iron gate, a dull thud came from the sound of something heavy sliding on the ground.

Click—!

Behind the door, a short, chubby rat-man was hopping around, pulling a box of gears with all his might...

"Hey, Brother Yunefu! Wait for us to finish moving this box first!" Old Liu grinned and moved back, his gray-white fur on his rat-like face looking like it had been drenched in water, and his single eye hanging crookedly by his ear.

Yunefu was somewhat amused and exasperated as he helped Lao Liu tidy up the storage boxes that didn't even reach his waist.

The short, fat rat-man plopped down on the ground, panting, but his tone was one of undisguised joy: "Brother Yunefu! You wouldn't believe it, just half a day ago... this door was almost knocked down by all those suppliers, those white-robed guys didn't even realize what was happening, and our ledgers were already showing up..."

It grinned, revealing its missing front tooth, and said, "There are more than a dozen streams in Hart City alone!"

Only then did the sixth brother notice Iseria next to Yunevo, exclaiming, "Oh dear! We've been neglecting the mage next to Brother Yunevo!"

It bent down and performed a comical gentlemanly bow, which it had somehow learned from who-knows-where.

"I, Lao Liu, am extremely grateful for your companionship and help to Brother Youniefu!"

Iseria was amused by the comical rat-man and covered her mouth to chuckle. Her initial slight aversion to the sewers dissipated considerably.

"Alright, alright... You're exhausted from doing such a big deal. Hurry up and prepare some good food and drinks to reward this hero, shall we?" Yunevo joked.

"Of course! We'll go get some of Nehta's secret-recipe dried fruit right away to treat our distinguished guest!"