My health recovery is incredibly fast.

"If I and Serites are destroyed by shadow energy like the others, no one will know what you did."

"But you didn't do that, so you're not the Black Flag."

"It seems...that's how it is," Xia Zuo murmured to himself.

It must be said that the bald man's reasoning was logical and well-founded, and had a wake-up call effect.

Xia Zuo previously speculated that the Golden Finger's alignment was negative and might pose a hidden danger. It was very likely that it would suddenly launch an attack at a critical moment, seize control of the host, turn the tables, and destroy the foundation of the temple in one fell swoop.

Looking back now, wasn't infiltrating the headquarters of the Church of the Otherworld the perfect opportunity for the cheat system to seize power?

But it didn't do that...

Could it be that the cheat system doesn't contain any thoughts, memories, or consciousness related to the Black Flag? Is it just a simple, emotionless cheat?

Rexor looked at the stunned Shazo, reached out his right hand and patted him on the shoulder, saying:

"The massive investigation has created a climate of fear throughout the temple, and those on the investigation list are under immense pressure. You should relax, Xia Zuo. Anyone on the list could be a black flag, but in the eyes of our Demon Hunter school, only you and a few others can be cleared of suspicion."

“Yes, Master.” Xia Zuo snapped out of his reverie and looked at the contract.

He read it twice from beginning to end, and after confirming that it was correct, he signed his name.

With this, the military cooperation project, which is of great significance to both sides, was initially agreed upon.

Given the imminent start of a full-scale war, this process is expected to be significantly shortened.

"Three days later, after you have finished your interrogation in the court, come to the temple and I will take you to the temple army's stronghold."

Rexor said as he sorted through the parchment scrolls:

"You'll have to cooperate with me and follow my instructions. I might need you to demonstrate the process of making Blood Essence Guardians, and then cooperate with the arcane mage to do some tests."

Rexor stuffed the parchment into his alchemy pouch. “If the Witcher school allows me to learn blood magic [Blood Element Servants], then you can guide me in creating Blood Element Guards, and I’ll do the testing with the arcane mages.”

"Yes, Master."

The two left Christo's office one after the other and went to the teleportation room in the teaching area to wait for teleportation.

Xia Zuo went ahead and entered the teleportation room leading to the Western Continent, returning to Xingye Academy.

He briefly recounted the events of the day to Anru, without going into too much detail. He only mentioned that he would be examined by the Tribunal in three days as arranged by the Two Palaces Conference. Rexol had assured him that he would definitely pass the examination, so Anru didn't need to worry too much.

Anru always trusted Xia Zuo, so if he said there was no problem, then there must be no problem. She had lunch with Xia Zuo and then devoted herself to preparing her lessons. Xia Zuo, on the other hand, was in the study constructing spells to prepare for the blood element servant test in four days.

...

Three days passed in the blink of an eye while weaving spells.

As night fell on the Western Continent, Xia Zuo temporarily left Anru'er's warm embrace and traveled alone through the teleportation room to the Eastern Continent, where dawn was just breaking.

The Inquisition is a self-contained system within the Temple, possessing an independent area—Mount Andana—that is not adjacent to other Temple departments. Normally, those who wish to visit have no opportunity to come, while those who do not wish to come are forcibly brought here.

Today, Xia Zuo was fortunate enough to be invited by the court to visit the famous scenic area within the temple.

As soon as he stepped out of the teleportation room at the foot of the mountain, he was immediately drawn to the light gray mountain in the distance.

According to legend, Mount Andana is not a natural landscape; it is an artificial mountain built by the Inquisition at its inception, commissioned by the then-Premier Inquisitor and constructed by scholars of the Tower and alchemists using a vast amount of enchanting and alchemical materials.

Mount Andana is about 130 meters high and, like any other natural mountain, is flat and conical in shape.

Its mountain surface has no trees or soil, but instead smooth, gray energy-absorbing metal panels that can absorb sunlight and various forms of energy.

There are no windows on Mount Andana, and the entire mountain is neatly trimmed with distinct lines, so when Xia Zuo looked at it from the foot of the mountain, it felt like a pyramid with a gray shell.

Inside the Andana Mountains lies the courthouse.

The only way to get in is by being escorted in by the court guards.

The guards, clad in silver-white armor and wearing helmets with metal visors, stood on a platform about twenty or thirty meters above the ground, their right hands resting on their magical longswords at their waists, watching the temple mages gathered at the foot of Mount Andana through a horizontal slit in their visors.

This high platform is built on Mount Andana and is a platform that juts outward from the mountain.

Today's review is for the first batch of people awaiting review. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be the second and third batches, respectively. The batching is based on age, with younger people listed first and older people listed later.

Shazo was in the first batch of people awaiting trial. Kulov, who was nearly 60 years old, was in the third batch.

Over the past three days, Shazo had gone to Kulov to ask him what he thought of the major investigation.

Kurov was about to take a nap. He lay on the soft sofa, glanced at Shazo, and said that he wasn't worried about the major investigation at all. Since he entered the academy, there was only one thing that might lead to punishment, and it was related to Shazo. Then, Kurov went into deep meditation.

That noon, when Xia Zuo walked out of the Poison Alchemy Zone, he felt somewhat embarrassed... If he wasn't mistaken, what Kurov was referring to was probably the incident several years ago when he leaked the exam questions for the university's general education courses to the students taking the exams.

Thinking back to how he had secretly given Anru the exam questions to help her through her difficult general education exam, Xia Zuo couldn't help but sigh at how fast time flies.

Xia Zuo composed himself, found an empty spot below the platform, looked around, and used his detection spell to record the names of the more than 30 temple mages in the same group.

Five or six minutes later, the first batch of people awaiting trial had all arrived.

The court guards on the high platform raised their magical longswords, pointing them to the sky, from which dozens of streams of energy sprayed. These streams of energy landed precisely on the individuals awaiting trial, enveloping them.

The next second, the court guards turned their magical longswords towards the doorway behind them. The person awaiting trial was then dragged into the doorway by a trickle of energy.

Xia Zuo felt a blur before his eyes, and in the blink of an eye, he was transported from the flat ground outside Mount Andana to a room shrouded in gray mist.

Just as he was trying to figure out where he was, a dignified female voice rang out in the room:

“I am the executor of this trial, Kaliodor. All those awaiting trial, remain where you are. The courtroom is watching you. Any unauthorized action will be punished.”

Okay... Xia Zuo retracted his left foot, which had just moved a tiny bit...

This group of people awaiting trial should have been separated into individual rooms filled with gray fog.

Kaliodor's voice rang out again:

"Under the instructions of the Two Temples, the Tribunal will use the Thorn of Judgment to examine you. With the special approval of the Acting Presiding Judge, trials and punishments for minor offenses may be postponed, while major offenses must be tried and punished on the spot."

"In one minute, the courtroom will throw the Thorn of Judgment at person number one. The person must come into contact with the Thorn of Judgment within three minutes, or they will be considered to have committed a grave sin."

Xia Zuo's interrogation number is 11, and it's estimated that it will be his turn in about half an hour.

He waited patiently while listening intently to the sounds around him.

Unfortunately, the foggy room was very well soundproofed. After the judge's voice faded, the room fell silent; not a single sound could be heard.

It is estimated that the courtroom made special arrangements to protect the privacy of each person awaiting trial.

After all, before being convicted of serious crimes, each person awaiting trial was a figure of some reputation and status in the temple, and should be entitled to a little bit of preferential treatment that would not affect the outcome of the trial.

Number 1, number 2, number 3... Every two or three minutes, the judge would call out a number, and soon it was Xia Zuo's turn.

"Person number 11 awaiting trial, please prepare to be released in one minute. The Thorn of Judgment will be dropped."

Xia Zuo remained calm and composed.

After silently counting to 60, the gray mist in the room quickly dissipated, revealing bare stone floors and walls. The luminous relief on the ceiling was the only source of light.

A simple room of about 10 square meters came into view, with a circular flower bed more than a meter wide in the center. The soil in the flower bed was black and shiny, as if it had been soaked in oil.

A dark green thorn sprouted from the soil, followed by a second, a third... Countless thorny branches, after emerging from the soil, lazily fell to the ground, forming a dark green thorn carpet.

Shouldn't it be fine to just touch the brambles casually? ... Xia Zuo looked down at the brambles at his feet.

He crouched down, his eyes scanning back and forth, and found a bramble with fewer thorns, then reached out and grasped it.

The feel in my palm was similar to holding an ordinary bramble, nothing special.

Just then, the Golden Finger sent a message:

"The system has detected that the host is in contact with the [Thorns of Judgment]. The intelligent shielding function is activated and will begin optimizing the host's character template and [knowledge reserves]."

"Self-check of the [Identity] item... It is nothing more than the Temple faction identity, self-check passed."

"Self-check [Status Data]: [Mental Strength] is normal, [Health] is significantly higher than that of pureblood mages of the same level. Self-check failed and added to the list of items to be optimized."

"Self-check of the eight attributes: [Vitality] and [Bloodline] are significantly higher than those of pure-blood mages of the same level. Self-check failed and added to the list of items to be optimized."

"Self-check of [Character Talents]: [Elemental Spells] is normal, [Blood Magic] is of significantly higher quality than pureblood mages of the same level."

Self-check [Knowledge Reserves]:

"Alchemy knowledge not belonging to the Temple faction and the language of the Church of the Otherworld faction were discovered, totaling 13 words, and have been added to the list of items to be optimized."

"15 items suspected of violating the Temple's laws were discovered. After self-inspection, it was confirmed that none of these 15 items could be tracked by the Temple and have been added to the list of items to be optimized."

"We are currently compiling a list of items to be optimized and formulating optimization plans."

The plan has been finalized and is as follows:

"1. In the [Knowledge Reserve], all knowledge and memories that will be judged as sinful by the Sinful Thorns will be temporarily blocked and will be inaccessible until the review is completed."

"2. In the [Character Template], all items that are significantly higher than those of pure-blood mages of the same level will be temporarily adjusted to the upper limit of pure-blood mages of the same level, and will be restored after the review is completed."

"Optimization plan initiated... Optimization successful."

The message was being updated so quickly that Xia Zuo hadn't even finished reading it when the Tribulations Thorns on the ground began to change.

All the brambles twitched at the same time, rushing towards the bramble in Xia Zuo's hand, twisting together like braided ropes, with the ends of the brambles firmly tied to Xia Zuo's hand, making it impossible for him to let go.

What happened? …Xia Zuo's mind went blank for a moment.

Before he could figure out what was going on, the thorns that had been binding his right hand receded like a receding tide, and in just two or three seconds, the thorny thorns returned to their dark green carpet-like appearance.

The whole process was so short it was astonishing. It wasn't until the judge reminded Xia Zuo that the review was over that he remembered to let go of the thorny branch in his hand.

"Person number 11, after a thorough review by the Judge of Thorns, you have been found to have committed no crimes." The judge paused, his tone softening slightly. "This is quite remarkable. Keep it up. Now stand still and do not move. I will escort you out."

Xia Zuo straightened up.

The thorny brambles swiftly retracted their branches, retreating back into the flowerbed in the center of the room. A gray mist appeared out of thin air, filling every corner of the room.

A few seconds later, Xia Zuo disappeared in the light of the teleportation spell.

Chapter 87 A Day Trip to Gray Corner

The fountain and sculpture plaza in the temple's teaching area.

Xia Zuo sat on a spotless white stone bench, staring blankly at the chubby fish swimming in the fountain while checking his character template and [knowledge reserves].

Just as he was teleported to the temple by the judge, the golden finger simultaneously notified him that he had successfully intelligently shielded the Blade of Judgment and deactivated the temporary optimization operation.

During that inspection process, Xia Zuo felt like a mere bystander... He did nothing but reach out and touch the brambles; the cheat system handled everything, and all he could do was stand by and shout "666!"

What Xia Zuo couldn't understand the most was the principle behind the smart shielding of the Golden Finger.