My health recovery is incredibly fast.

"Upharis, Casaris, you presided over the descent ceremony in Hakansen City, drawing upon the blood of eight high-ranking believers, including Ephalok, to summon Utolius and Kakuchis and spread a virulent blood plague."

"At 2 a.m. that night, Upharis, Utorius, Kakuchis, and Casaris, the four of you will go to Polis City to kidnap the target."

"The Shadow Fiend will use the Dark Chamber to provide support."

The old man repeated the plan twice, and then his voice disappeared.

Xia Zuo's ears suddenly erupted with chatter as various Transformers and Blood Addicts vied to send blood-related messages to Ufaris, their words filled with obsequious congratulations.

"Master, I am your most humble servant, I am your sharp teeth that devour the living, your claws that tear flesh apart, I will create the ultimate pleasure of blood for you..."

The half-blood mage paused for a few seconds, then shouted joyfully, "Praise be to your generosity! I will offer the wails of my enemies as a reward!"

After listening for a few minutes, Xia Zuo couldn't stand the obsequious tone and the attitude of treating human life as worthless, so he had no choice but to turn off [Bloodline Sensing].

"This is troublesome... On the 14th, a town riot occurred. On the 15th, the Temple Guards were tasked with escorting Iboik's Bloodstone. On the 16th, Blood Slaughter Poseidon was carried out, and some kind of malignant blood plague was spread in Hakansen City to attract the guards of Machina State. After nightfall, they took the opportunity to abduct the elemental golem disguised as me..."

Xia Zuo frowned and crossed his arms as he went over the plans of the Otherworldly Demon Church.

The Church of the Otherworldly Demons was unaware that the target in Polis City was a fake, nor did they realize that the Temple had already guessed they had abandoned their rescue of the Blood Demon.

Xia Zuo rubbed his face a couple of times, then looked at the clock; it was 9:20 p.m.

I'll meditate tonight, and tomorrow morning I'll go directly to the Witcher Master's manor to discuss countermeasures with Rexor.

As Xia Zuo walked towards the door, he hesitated for a few seconds before removing the [Bloodline Curse] from Ufacas, to avoid causing more trouble than he intended. If Ufacas had a habit of checking his subordinates before battle, it could lead to problems.

...

The following morning, December 13th, the Church of the Otherworldly Demons will launch riots around three cities in Magina tomorrow.

Xia Zuo sent Anruer to Yingrui Academy for classes, and then took a public carriage to the manor.

He walked into the low house and looked at the bald man and the cold-faced man playing cards on the sofa.

“Master, I would like to find a completely safe place to talk to you about something,” Xia Zuo said solemnly.

Rexor and his companion exchanged a glance. "Cerritt, you stay here and guard this place. I'll take him to the teleportation hall."

“Leave it to me, buddy.” Serites nodded.

Rexor pulled Shazo to the room at the far end of the second floor.

The two concealed themselves in the bright light and arrived at the teleportation hall in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the majestic statue above his head and the enormous crystal in the hall, Xia Zuo immediately felt a strong sense of security.

“It’s absolutely safe here, Xia Zuo. You can even say the Blood Demon’s name directly without any problem.”

Rexor reached out to the wall, and the stone bricks that made up the wall transformed into a long bench protruding from the wall.

Xia Zuo sat down on the stool and said directly in a certain tone:

"I know about the Church of the Otherworldly Demons' plan..."

He spent several minutes recounting everything that would happen before Winter Veil.

Rexor's expression grew increasingly serious as he listened.

He felt a sense of relief.

Because the Temple of Mages made a fairly accurate prediction of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons' actions.

But more than anything, I'm confused.

I can't figure out where all these mixed-race mages came from, even though we already cleared them out once before.

Rexor clenched his fists when he heard that the Church of the Otherworldly Demons planned to spread a deadly blood plague in Hakansen.

“Shazo, you mean someone is commanding these hybrid mages, right? Who is that person?” Rexor asked in a deep voice.

Xia Zuo thought about it carefully, "It said that it was Nukalofa, a deacon of some kind, who came to convey the message of the Blood Secret Bishop."

Rexor clapped his hands in sudden realization and said:

“Nukalofa, the deacon of essence and flesh, a powerful figure in the Church of the Otherworldly Demons. So he was involved too.”

"Him?" Xia Zuo blinked. Why not use "it" to refer to Nukalofa?

Rexor said as he pondered:

"Nukalofa is not a hybrid mage; he is a flesh alchemist, one of the inventors of the Limb Split Arms, and the deputy commander of the Limb Split Legion."

"It seems that the Church of the Otherworldly Demons is treating the matter of seizing pure-blooded mages as a stealth attack."

“Nukalofa personally came to issue the order, which means that the Church of the Otherworldly Demons may have used the Limb-Splitters, which explains everything. Otherwise, we would have noticed the slightest movement when so many half-blood mages poured into Machina State.”

"Uh... what is a limb-splitting weapon?" Xia Zuo looked completely confused.

Gureksol thought for a moment and explained:

"You can simply think of it as assembling people like parts."

"For example, if you remove your left arm and replace it with a monster's thick arm, wouldn't you become stronger?"

"In the inland regions of this continent, this type of armor, which uses the limbs of monsters, is also known as alchemical armor."

"If you choose to replace your left arm with a steel mechanical arm, that is also feasible; this type of amputation weapon is called a mechanical prosthesis."

"Whether it's alchemical implants or mechanical prosthetics, they each have their own complete systems. These are the great weapons created by flesh alchemists in the previous era."

Biopunk?

Xia Zuo stared wide-eyed, finding it hard to imagine how many strange and wonderful things had appeared on this continent over the past 20,000 years.

"So what should we do now, Master?" Xia Zuo asked.

"Hmm... Among the dismembered armory, there aren't many types suitable for transporting hybrid mages... and those that can disguise themselves as normal human limbs are even rarer, each one extremely valuable..."

What? It can transport a hybrid mage's simulated elbow?

"Moreover, a hybrid mage can only stay inside the Limb Split Armor for a maximum of 7 days. Otherwise, the hybrid mage will forcibly break out and tear apart the carrier of the Limb Split Armor."

Rexor stood up, paced back and forth in thought:

"We need to search for all outsiders who have arrived in the three cities within the last seven days. Be prepared for potential violent clashes."

Rexor clapped his hands. "Wait here for a moment, I'm going to the outer sanctuary. You can look around, but don't go too far."

"Yes, Master."

Rexor walked towards the colossal crystal, drew a magic circle with his hands, and summoned a beam of light to take him away.

Xia Zuo sat on the stool for a few minutes, his gaze drawn to the sky outside the pointed glass ceiling.

The last time he came here, the lobby was sunny, and it was already 7 p.m. in Poseidon.

When I arrived in Poseidon, it was early morning, and the teleportation hall was still bathed in sunlight.

So... where exactly is the Temple of the Mage?

Xia Zuo walked forward, wanting to see which direction the sun was in so he could determine the approximate time and use his knowledge of time zones to deduce the temple's geographical location.

He came to the very bottom of the ceiling and looked up at the azure sky.

! !

Nine suns!

Eight smaller suns hang in the sky, surrounding the central large sun.

Xia Zuo felt an electric current run down his scalp; the illogical and unnatural sky made him shudder as if he'd been electrocuted.

Xia Zuo rubbed his eyes, which were watering from the sunlight, and strolled around the giant crystal, looking at the statues and reliefs on the surrounding walls.

As you move, the light and shadow shift and change, and the relief sculpture comes to life like a vibrant painting. The people and objects on it are constantly changing. One second they are hunting in tattered animal skin clothes, and the next second they are fighting monsters with long swords.

The only thing that hasn't changed is the figure sculptures protruding from the wall.

Xia Zuo paused for a moment in front of a sculpture before realizing that the relief below the sculpture was actually depicting the sculpture's life.

These figures, who are placed in the teleportation hall, all emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. They all earned their place here and became the first revered beings by establishing great achievements in the war against monsters and otherworldly beings.

But what are they called?

Xia Zuo frowned; he hadn't seen the sculpture's name at all.

That's strange...

The sound of the stone door shaking echoed in the hall.

Xia Zuo looked in that direction.

A man wearing a brown leather trench coat walks toward the giant crystal.

He had a scruffy beard and wore thick, round-framed glasses on his nose.

Behind him was a backpack, with a large wrench sticking out of a side pocket. The backpack rattled and jingled, containing a lot of engineering tools.

As he got closer, Xia Zuo noticed that the man was not wearing a sleeve on his left side.

The exposed left arm is a mechanical prosthesis.

Beneath the transparent glass shell lies a silver-white metal frame.

The hydraulic rod provides the power for extension and gripping, and the closely spaced metal wires precisely transmit the power, allowing the steel fingers to move as nimbly as a real hand.

The blood flowing in the "blood vessels" is not scarlet blood, but four different colored unknown liquids.

Rexor just mentioned that mechanical prosthetics were invented by flesh alchemists.

Why would someone be equipped with this and appear here?

Xia Zuo's gaze followed the other party's movement until the enormous crystal projected light and took the other party away.

About 10 minutes later.

Shazo walked around the hall around the enormous crystal, just as Rexor returned.

"Shazo." Rexor waved to the figure not far away, stepped forward, and said:

"The information you provided has been confirmed. I won't go into the details."

“Master, I just saw someone with a mechanical prosthetic arm on his left arm… Who is he? I thought the Mage Temple didn’t allow dismembered weapons to appear in its territory,” Xia Zuo asked.

Rexsol walked toward the stone door of the teleportation chamber. "That's... um... a Limb-Splitting armed group that has submitted to the Temple of Mages. They live deep inland. You'll have a chance to find out once you become a High Mage."

"Oh...I see." Xia Zuo walked beside the bald man and noticed that the bald man was heading towards another teleportation room.