My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Chapter 48 Three Choices

Inster Heguman sold half of his consciousness to the Church of the Otherworld, obtaining knowledge of the Wild Elements, which was forbidden by the Temple, thus embarking on a path where he was replaced by the Wild Elements.

If Shazo's [Time Phase Simulator] could deduce the past histories of other people, it might uncover the strangeness of Inster Heguman.

The seeds of disaster sown by the Church of the Otherworld within the temple territory have finally sprouted, blossomed, and borne fruit.

Cases like these, where forbidden knowledge was used to lure members of the Temple into corruption, are numerous.

Rexor had complained to Shazo more than once that such things could never be eradicated, and that the potential, yet-to-be-exploded, calamities were incalculable, all concentrated among the formal mage group who did not possess the Light Element.

After the Temple partnered with Kamashibern, the situation of mines being planted everywhere improved.

Kamashiberlein can uncover all potential threats to the Temple by reading the memories of the deceased, and then hand them over to the Temple to deal with.

With more memories needing to be fully accessed, the status of those who read spirits has risen accordingly, making potentially valuable creatures like the Little Golden Vitex highly sought after.

No wonder Natalie was so adamant about not letting Little Golden Bauhinia consume too much spiritual food, lest her potential be fully developed.

"After Inster Heguman was killed..." Little Golden Thorn looked at Xia Zuo, made a face with her leaves, and continued:

"He sold half of his consciousness to the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, and was then released from the seal within the humanoid contract container."

"This half-consciousness contains all of Inster Heguman's memories after he was replaced by the wild element, including his spells, knowledge, various backup plans he made in the temple, and the temple secrets he has discovered over the years."

Xia Zuo's complexion turned somewhat unwell.

The grudges and schemes between the Faceless Men and the Temple were no longer within Xia Zuo's considerations.

Xia Zuo's only worry was whether the less than 5-second memory of him using the [Life-Generating Spores] to devour the template had been obtained by the Church of the Otherworldly Demons.

If any of the Otherworlders in the Church of the Otherworlders had witnessed Sodike Black Flag devouring living beings, they would certainly recognize that Shazo, who had transformed into a Death Apostle of Light and Darkness, used the same method as Sodike Black Flag to kill the Faceless Man protected by the Chaos Container.

If the Otherworldly Demons really recognize us...

That..

"That doesn't seem like there'll be any major trouble..." Xia Zuo scratched his head.

Thanks to thorough preparation and secrecy, as of now, the only people and forces that can connect the Death Apostles of Light and Darkness with Shazo are Merlindora, the Golden Bauhinia Clan, and Kamashiberlein.

Bound by a sacred oath, they will not reveal Shazor's secret to either side.

Xia Zuo remained safe until this defensive line was breached.

In other words, as soon as Xia Zuo broke free from the encirclement of the temple's laws, he was bound to the front line of the sacred oath.

This is truly... just escaped the wolves, only to fall into the tiger's den...

"I hope my friendship with the Golden Vitex clan can last..." Xia Zuo shook his head slightly, snapping out of his turbulent thoughts.

Little Golden Vitex is still sharing information she gleaned from fragments of memory that last less than half a minute.

Her eloquent report, totaling over two or three thousand words, once again made Xia Zuo realize that the Vigilant were not suited to experiencing temporary memories. Compared to the Spirit Readers, the Vigilant were like idiots when experiencing temporary memories.

After Xia Zuo and Xiao Jinjinghua finished speaking, he asked:

"You mean to say that Inster Heguman has mastered several methods that can severely damage the Temple in a very short time, right?"

Yes, yes.

Little Golden Vitex patted her chest in lingering fear:

"I don't know what these methods are exactly. I couldn't read them from my memory. I only know that they are related to three places: the Western Continent, the magma belt under the Wild Hammer Kingdom, and the circular island."

"Can a true Spirit Reader read out the method to severely damage the Temple?" Xia Zuo asked.

"I'm afraid that won't work either..." Little Golden Thorn scratched her head and looked up at Natalie.

“Neither Kamashiberlein nor the Spirit Readers could find a concrete answer,” Natalie said, stroking the little golden chaste tree.

"Otherwise, Kamashiberlein wouldn't have only produced such a small fragment of memory. If it had already deciphered the method to severely damage the temple, it would definitely have shared it with everyone present."

“Oh, that’s true…” Xia Zuo nodded slowly, glancing at the other participants who had begun discussing the contents of the memories and exchanging information.

The August family brought along a participant as talented as Little Golden Bauhinia, and they were gathered together, analyzing the information in the memory images word by word.

The vast majority of attendees were from the Temple side.

Besides the August family, who control the Holy Mark Department, there are many other participants who came here as spirit heads.

After a brief examination, Xia Zuo confirmed the identities of the group of head spirits.

They are important members of the Arcane Guild, controlling the entire Temple army and holding the title of "Arcane Commander".

A short distance from where Xia Zuo was, there were several spirits whose demeanor and movements were feminine.

Since most human spirits look exactly alike, all being golden-white luminous bodies, Xia Zuo was unable to discern the identities of these clearly female spirits.

Natalie introduced him to him from the side:

“Those are the people of the Tribunal. They are stationed in the [Land of Rest] and are responsible for liaising with Kamashiberline, specifically dealing with the lingering sins and calamities left behind by the deceased.”

Natalie scanned the entire room:

"I won't go into detail about the commanders of the Arcane Mage Guild; I think you already recognize them."

"Next to the Archmage, the boisterous fellow is a member of the royal family of the Wildhammer Kingdom. Don't underestimate them just because they look reckless."

"The history of the Wild Hammer is as old as the underground ore. In fact, they are the descendants of ancient rock giants and humans, and can be considered an independent biological group, on equal footing with humans."

Xia Zuo slapped his forehead. "This is the first time I've heard of this."

"Hehe, there are many more secrets of the Temple, and I can tell you slowly. If you carefully review the Temple members you know, you won't find it hard to discover one thing..."

Natalie paused:

"Inside the temple, there are very, very few truly primitive humans."

"Anyone who has undergone bloodline awakening, organ mutation, or had their body modified by alchemical devices has become a derivative species of the human race, rather than a native human. For example, your pure-blood mage faction wouldn't accept an ordinary person as a member, right?"

"It seems that's really the case..." Xia Zuo said thoughtfully, "The vast majority of people in the temple are derivatives of humans... This is a temple belonging to derivatives..."

"If you can understand this, then you are very close to seeing the true nature of the Temple."

Natalie, in the tone of a wise observer, spoke of history that would never have been recorded in the Temple Chronicles:

"The Tribunal's predecessor was an extremist organization that was considered illegal in the previous era. All of its members were women and were controlled by a male-misogynistic spirit."

"The Creation Crystal helped them control the spirits in their minds with the crystal shell, thereby mastering all the spirits' abilities and becoming a human derivative species called Ahivo. Full hips are the external characteristic of this derivative species."

Xia Zuo glanced in the direction of the court members...they were indeed very large and voluptuous...

Natalie gently stroked the little golden chaste tree in her arms and continued:

"Mystic mages and temple mages are both human derivatives that control wild elements using crystal shells. Within the temple, they are called 'mages,' while in the history compiled by the Golden Vitex clan, we refer to them as the Rinoman derivatives."

"The August family used a crystal shell to bind the laws of spacetime, thus becoming a unique spacetime human derivative species."

"The Royal Family of the Desolate Hammer used a crystal shell to imprison the consciousness of the Rock Giants and gain control over their abilities."

"The crystal shells used by the Crystal Remnants to imprison wild elements are relatively large and are often mistaken for gemstones."

Natalie looked at Shazo, "So, do you understand the true nature of the Temple now?"

After a few seconds of silence, Xia Zuo said:

"Is the Temple an organization that, under the arrangement of the Creation Crystal, uses a crystal shell to imprison non-human beings?"

“Mmm.” Natalie nodded. “Yes. Do you think doing this is evil?”

“Evil? No, I don’t think it’s evil. Why do you ask?” Xia Zuo asked, somewhat confused.

The crystal shell bestowed by the Creation Crystal helped humans break free from the shackles of spirits and monsters, and instead become the masters of these non-human creatures, at the cost of simply transforming from primitive humans into a derivative species of humans.

This practice is beneficial to humanity and can strengthen human power.

How could it be evil?

"Oh, Xia Zuo. You must know that nothing comes from nothing. The truth that is covered up and ignored is often the cruelest."

Natalie's words carried a strange implication:

"Have you ever wondered where this crystal shell, which can imprison wild elements, monsters, and otherworldly beings, comes from?"

"I...I haven't thought about it." Xia Zuo shook his head.

“You tell him, Melina,” Natalie said, gently patting the little golden chaste tree.

"No, sister... I'll leave it to you..." Little Golden Bauhinia buried the flower bud under Natalie's flower necklace.

“Alright… I’ll do the cruel stuff.” Natalie looked at Shazo:

"The spiritual ocean is divided into two different levels based on the ability to see elemental light."

"A spiritual ocean that can see the light of the elements is a qualified product."

"Those that cannot see the elemental light are... inferior products. We're sorry, the Golden Vitex Clan can't think of a more euphemistic term."

Natalie softened her tone:

"In the eyes of the Creation Crystal, a qualified spiritual ocean is what it needs. All kinds of life-extending methods are for the purpose of ensuring that a qualified spiritual ocean continues to survive."

“An inadequate spiritual ocean will turn into a crystal shell after humanity dies.”

Xia Zuo fell silent.

Natalie continued:

"You have a lot of cereal flour stored in your house that can be made into bread. The quality of the cereal flour is not very good, but it is a great asset to you."

"Now, someone tells you that a gang of robbers has their eyes on your barn and wants to rob it. What would you do?"

“I will move the grain powder away...and increase vigilance…” Xia Zuo said thoughtfully.

Natalie asked again:

"What if there's too much cereal flour, and you can't protect it? What would you do then?"

Xia Zuo pondered for a few seconds and quickly understood what the other party meant—it was obvious that Natalie had already learned of the information provided by Kamashiberlein and had conducted a very in-depth investigation and thought, and may have already found out where the crisis the information pointed to was located.

Xia Zuo raised his head and looked at the other person:

"Lady Natalie, in your opinion, which of these three places—the Western Continent, the Desolate Hammer Kingdom, and the Ring Island—is most likely to be attacked by the Church of the Otherworldly Demons?"