My health recovery is incredibly fast.

After confirming that the [Elemental Shell] could reduce lifespan consumption, Xia Zuo decided not to do it anymore.

Immortality is the ultimate pursuit of every living being.

It cannot be easily obtained, otherwise it will be looked down upon because it is so readily available, which will breed darkness in one's heart.

Only through one's own efforts, diligent cultivation and work, and the exchange of lifespan gained through the condensation of the inner and outer body, will humankind cherish it.

If his bloodline mark holders perform exceptionally well, the temple will naturally reward them; there is no need for Xia Zuo to encourage them through shared vitality.

When the bloodline mark holder is nearing the end of his life and has not received life-extending items such as life essence and regeneration potions due to insufficient contributions to the temple, Xia Zuo will remove his bloodline mark, allowing him to peacefully embrace death.

What Xia Zuo really needs to do is simply to keep the holders of the bloodline mark from falling into depravity, not to take away the power of life and death from nature.

Imparting blood ties does not equate to granting the privilege of immortality.

Having figured all this out, Xia Zuo began to implant a bloodline mark in Beatrice, without sharing any attributes or blood magic with her.

He then proposed to spend three months in seclusion, until he had condensed his inner body and created his elemental body, before emerging from the room.

After receiving the meditation pendant from Beatrice, Xia Zuo approached Anruer to discuss his secluded cultivation, and then immediately began working on condensing his inner body.

...

Just as Xia Zuo locked himself in his meditation room to cultivate in seclusion, a far-reaching event was taking place in the Decipherers' Hall of the Eastern Continent.

Decipherers were not uncommon in the temple; they were responsible for deciphering ancient texts and cracking the letters of the Church of the Otherworld. Anything that could not be expressed in the temple's common language would become easily understandable reading material in the hands of the decipherers.

Common codebreakers come from two schools: the Alchemists and the Scholars of the Tower. They spend their days studying the unknown languages ​​and knowledge in the ancient classics, transforming them into conjectures related to alchemy and magic, and then handing them over to the Alchemists and Scholars of the Tower for verification.

Advanced codebreakers specialize in encrypted intelligence related to the Otherworldly, and they consider cracking the Shadow Core of the Shadow Demon and the Bloodstone of the Blood Demon as their daily work.

This job is extremely dangerous and places special demands on the codebreaker.

At this moment, in the Decipherers' Hall, Rexor walked through the busy crowd of decipherers, past desks piled high with books, and arrived at the metal door at the far end of the hall.

Rexor used his six-pointed star pendant to unlock the magic circle on the metal door.

As he stepped into the room, he heard a soft, murmuring voice.

The voice was sticky and wet, with a slurping sound of licking the tongue in every sentence. The tone was soft and deep, full of alluring temptation, making it impossible not to listen.

---Aside---

The details of the bloodline mark are explained in the last chapter of Volume 3. Perhaps I wrote too much information, causing some readers to become confused. Having a bloodline mark does not equate to immortality; it requires shared vitality. As for what happens when one possesses a bloodline mark and enters old age, or even a state close to death, that will be discussed later.

Chapter 31 High-Level Decipherer Kadum

Rexor remained calm after hearing the sounds from the room.

He tiptoed around the stone screen behind the door and turned into the office behind the screen.

Here is a hooded person holding the shadow core in both hands, kneeling on the ground devoutly and humbly, expressing his "loyalty" to the shadow core as if in prayer.

The hooded man repeated the same words over and over again, chatting in an unknown language with unclear meaning and shadowy cores.

Rexol crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, waiting quietly.

Perhaps the hooded man had been "loyal" enough, or perhaps the Shadow Demon was tired of his nagging, for a hazy black mist began to emanate from the Shadow Core. This mist seeped into the hooded man's sleeves from his wrists, clung to his inner lining, traveled to his collar, and then spread to his nose.

"Hiss~~" The hooded man took a deep breath, greedily inhaling the black mist into his body, a low, intoxicated moan escaping his throat, "Mmm~~~ Wonderful memories~"

The next second, the black mist seemed to shrink back as if startled, and in the blink of an eye, it hid back in the shadow core.

"Heh, you've fallen for it again, Shadow Fiend." The hooded man looked at the Shadow Core in his hand and chuckled contemptuously. "Will there be a next time? I don't think so... Heh heh..."

The hooded man stood up and casually tossed the shadow core onto the desk, his previous piety completely gone.

He pulled back his hood, revealing tentacle-like braids on his head and a pair of octopus-like ears. His eyes were inverted triangles with amber pupils, and his eyelids opened and closed as he blinked. He had no bridge to his nose; instead, there were two small black nostrils for air to enter and exit. His mouth had no lips, only a horizontal slit on his grayish-white chin.

This strange-looking, even somewhat sinister person wore a badge of a Temple member on his chest.

[Cryptists' Hall, High-ranking Cryptist Kadum.]

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Rek'Sorrow.” Kadum said, licking his lips with his scarlet snake-like tongue, making a sticky, wet sound. “This Shadow Fiend has been squeezed dry. Slurp~ I don’t think it needs to exist anymore. You can take it and destroy it.”

“Beatrice said this Shadow Fiend has mastered the mind ability of [Fictional Memories].” Rek'Sorcerer looked at the Shadow Core on his desk. “Have you been affected?”

Kadum reached up and pulled up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing a grotesque, centipede-like pattern covering his forearm. The pattern throbbed like a heart, and with a "poof," a small crack appeared in the pattern, releasing a puff of purplish-black smoke into the air.

“Its [Fictional Memories] have no effect on me, Rexor.” Kadum chuckled sinisterly. “The Dream Eater has had a good and fulfilling couple of days; it hasn’t had so many delicious false memories in a long time.”

Kadum walked to the table, picked up the kettle, stuck out his long tongue, and sipped a mouthful of strong tea with the tip of his tongue, then said:

"Besides, as you know, the Shadowcore is like a black box. After the Shadow Fiend lost its physical body, it was imprisoned inside the Shadowcore. This is its final refuge, and also its graveyard. Inside the Shadowcore, the Shadow Fiend cannot sense its external environment, let alone know who resurrected it..."

Kadum put down the water jug ​​and smiled, “Every time I cast Shadow Fiend’s resurrection spell on it, it is very careful and cautious, and it will not accept the resurrection easily. It has to repeatedly confirm that my tone and wording are accurate before it will try to accept my resurrection spell. At that moment, its consciousness, thoughts and memories will be completely open to me, allowing me to read and take them.”

Kadum patted the several parchment scrolls on the table. "These are the genuine memories I've selected."

Rexol came over to check.

He quickly flipped through the first two parchment scrolls and found that the information on them was similar to what he had previously intercepted from other demons.

Every demon who sets out from the church to search for the Black Flag within the temple territory receives a decree from its superior. The decree only specifies the scope and timeframe of the investigation and does not reveal any further information about the Black Flag.

Rexor couldn't help but feel a little disappointed after seeing the information he already knew. He sighed and said, "Is it all the same as before? Is there any new information?"

Kadum pulled out a parchment scroll, unfolded it on the table, and said, “Look here, this passage. This is what Nuk'alofa, the deacon of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, personally said to this Shadow Demon. He said, ‘I need you to investigate the Western Continent again.’”

"Did Nukalofa say that himself?" Rexor asked solemnly.

“That’s right.” Kadum nodded, his little braid swaying. “The Church of the Otherworld has a strict hierarchy. Lower-ranking members can only receive orders from their corresponding higher-ranking members. Obviously, a Shadow Demon should obey the orders of a higher-ranking Shadow Demon, not a deacon’s orders that cross rank. Moreover, Nukalofa is in charge of the Limb-Splitters and Blood Demons, and wouldn’t easily interfere in Shadow Demon matters; that would be against the rules. But this Shadow Demon not only met Nukalofa, but also appeared in the Western Continent… What does that mean? You should have thought of it more than I have…”

Rexor crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and focused his attention on recalling all memories related to the Black Flag.

The first Otherworldly being discovered searching for the Black Flag was a Blood Demon named Quarovich. Before Quarovich, other Otherworldly beings may have infiltrated the Temple territory to search for the Black Flag; these could be Blood Demons, Shadow Demons, or other Otherworldly beings.

After discovering the plans of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, the Temple launched a search operation related to the Black Flag, capturing more than 100 Otherworldly Demons that had infiltrated the Temple's territory. Among them, more than 80 were hybrid mages, with the highest level being a high-ranking blood demon.

Rexor initially believed that the reason so many half-breed mages joined the search for the Black Flag was simply because these demons possessed excellent camouflage abilities and were far more capable of infiltrating the temple territory than other demons.

But when Rek'Sorrow learned that a Shadow Fiend was directly under the command of Nuk'alofa, he knew that his previous assumptions were wrong.

The reason why half-blood mages became the main force in searching for the Black Flag was not because their hybrid magic could disguise them as normal people, but because searching for the Black Flag was the job of both half-blood mages and Nukalofa. In other words, the Black Flag was related to half-blood mages.

Nukalofa's direct assignment of the Shadow Fiend to the Western Continent demonstrates a lack of trust in his subordinates; he may believe there is a traitor among the half-blood mages.

This approach is indeed effective...because the Temple has indeed planted a spy within the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, and it is through this spy that the Temple is able to control the final outcome of certain major events. However, for matters like finding the Black Flag, where the urgency is difficult to define, the Temple will not allow spies to help.

In other words, in the search for the Black Flag, apart from hunting down the demons that had infiltrated its territory, the Temple had not obtained any information from the spies, and the spies planted in the Church had never tried to sabotage the search for the Black Flag.

.

Chapter 32 Land of Descent

After analyzing the entire logic, Rexol came to a conclusion:

The Black Flag, this missing celestial demon, was indeed originally connected to the half-mage, which is why the Church of the Demons relied on the half-mage as the main force in the search for the Black Flag. However, now, the Black Flag has undergone unknown changes, rendering the half-mage's search methods ineffective. Therefore, the Church of the Demons has no choice but to send the Shadow Demon, skilled in psychic abilities, to investigate.

To verify whether this conclusion is correct, Rexol only needs to do one thing:

Go capture a few more of the Otherworldly Demons that have infiltrated the Holy Land territory and see if they are Shadow Demons with mind control abilities.

If so, it means that the Church of the Otherworldly Demons intends to start with human memories and search for traces of the Black Flag in the ocean of memories.

“I know what to do.” Rexol opened his eyes, picked up a pen, and circled Nukalofa’s words on the parchment. “Well done, Kadum. Any other important news?”

“There’s one more.” Kadum stretched out his hand and pointed to the words “Western Continent” on the scroll with his fingertip. “If I remember correctly, the first time we captured the Otherworldly Demons searching for the Black Flag was in the Western Continent, right? This time, the Otherworldly Demon Church has extended its reach here again. This is the first time they’ve investigated the same place. Do you think this means the Otherworldly Demon Church is launching a second round of investigations?”

“You might be right,” Rexol said, recalling past cases and analyzing the situation.

"Over the past few years, we've captured Otherworldly Demons in over a hundred locations. But only the Western Continent isn't on the Eastern Continent. The other locations are all situated on this land beneath our feet, very close to the Otherworldly Demon Church's territory. Assuming the Otherworldly Demon Church has indeed launched a second round of investigations, shouldn't they proceed in order of proximity, unless…"

Rexor gasped. "Unless the Church of the Otherworldly Demons believes the Western Continent is the most likely place for the Black Flag to appear, could this Otherworldly Demon from outer space have descended upon the Western Continent? But why is it so peaceful there, without any bloodshed? Even the Otherworldly Demons we captured came from the Eastern Continent..."

Rexol became increasingly confused and realized he needed more clues.

He read through the remaining parchment scrolls and was astonished to discover that the Shadow Demon's true memories contained the memories of many ordinary people from the Western Continent.

"What's going on, Kadum?" Rek'Sor asked. "Why would this Shadow Fiend go and examine the memories of ordinary people, and even collect them and store them in their minds?"

“If you ask me, there are probably two reasons.” Kadum picked up the Shadow Core on the table and tossed it a few times. “This Shadow Demon is very cautious. It knows that the high-ranking decoders of the Temple will disguise themselves as Otherworldly beings and cast resurrection spells on it. In order to ensure that the core memories are not obtained by us, it deliberately left many insignificant memories of ordinary people in its mind to confuse us.”

“That makes some sense,” Rexol nodded.

Kadum placed the Shadowcore on the parchment. "The second reason is that this Shadowfiend believes the clues to the Black Flag are hidden among ordinary people. It collects the memories of ordinary people, trying to reconstruct what happened in the past, and then finds traces of the Black Flag in historical fragments from the perspective of ordinary people. I think this reason is more convincing. Look here..."

Kadum pointed to the parchment scroll, gesturing a few times to the identities of ordinary people. "These people whose memories were read by the Shadow Fiend all have one thing in common—they experienced the era when bandits ravaged the Starry Night Kingdom many years ago. Some were soldiers who fought against the bandits, while others escaped from their clutches. As long as the Shadow Fiend finds enough targets, it can use historical fragments from the perspective of ordinary people to piece together a relatively complete and detailed history."

"So... this Shadow Fiend believes that the Black Flag is related to the former bandit groups of the Starry Night Kingdom?" Rexor asked thoughtfully.

“Now it seems that’s the case.” Kadum picked up the water jug, sipped the water with his tongue, and asked, “In the Starry Night Kingdom, what kind of people have access to the most authentic history?”

“Only Beatrice knows,” Rexor said. “Information flows much more poorly there than in the Eastern Continent. Each province only knows what’s happening within its own. Even the resident mages can’t know the specific details of other provinces. If the Church of the Otherworldly Demons wants to know the true history of the Western Continent, they have to get Beatrice under control. This Shadow Demon bewitched Erin, probably to get close to Beatrice through her.”

“Erlin? Is she the girl who became a mage first and then awakened her bloodline power?” Kadum chimed in. “I’ve seen her in Shadow Fiend’s memories. I have to say, only an anomaly like her could possibly come into contact with Beatrice and gain her attention for so long.”

Rexor felt a sudden surge of inexplicable irritation at the thought of Erin. He scratched his bald head and said as he walked out, "Kadum, I have some things to take care of right away. I'll have Serites come and get the parchment; you can just give him the Shadowcore to destroy then."

"Alright, Rek'Sorrow, take care~ I look forward to you finding me another new Shadowcore." Kadum's octopus-like ears raised their tentacles and twitched, as if bidding farewell to the bald man.

Rexor left the room, sent a private message to Ceretus, and then obtained access to the teleportation hall. He then stepped into the teleportation light and arrived at the teleportation room in the Western Continent.

He used his flying technique to fly to the tower of Starry Night Academy and knocked on Beatrice's study door.

Beatrice was somewhat surprised by Rexor's arrival.

When the bald man pushed the door open and came in, Erin was sitting right across from her desk.

Erin had just awakened from her meditation and was learning about what had happened to her from Headmistress Beatrice. The two were talking about Rexor when he appeared at the door.

Upon seeing the bald man with a stern face and taut facial features, Erin immediately stood up nervously, lowered her head, and twisted her fingers as if she had made a mistake and was about to be criticized.

"Erlin, you can go out first, but don't go too far. Just wait on the open-air balcony," Beatrice called out.

"Yes, Headmaster." Erin nodded, not daring to look at the bald man who exuded an imposing aura, and quickly walked past him, opening the door and leaving.

After Erin left, Beatrice pointed to the chair across the table. "Sit down and talk, Rexor. What happened?"

Rexor pulled out a chair and sat down. "I just came from the Decipherers' Hall. Kadum told me some bad news..."