Raise Joan of Arc to be an empress, then discard her.

“Miss Magician, Miss Spiritor,” Brand nodded to the two and said, “This is my sidekick.”

"Follower? Oh, hello."

Miss Magician wasn't interested in Aaron and turned to Brand to complain, "Brand, your price is too high, we can't afford it."

“Yes, yes, the price you offered could buy ten thousand spirit beasts! Even if we sold the two of us, we still couldn’t afford it!” The psychic nodded in agreement.

Brand calmly took a sip of his drink: "The other party is an angel of the Church of Judgment, the legendary Light of Clarity. Moreover, if you kill her, the Church of Judgment will definitely not let it go. You will have to consider being hunted down by them. Considering the consequences of killing her, the price is very fair."

Upon hearing Brand's words, Aaron couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"So you didn't understand what we meant! We don't want you to kill her alone! We want you to cooperate with us! Cooperate! It's difficult for you to kill her alone, but if the three of us cooperate, killing her won't be so troublesome!" The magician said confidently, hands on his hips.

"Can you two provide assistance?" Aaron looked up at them.

“Of course!” The magician puffed out her chest proudly. “With our help, killing her wouldn’t be that difficult! So asking for such a high price is unreasonable!”

Chapter 217 Demon's Blood

“That’s right!” The psychic girl nodded in agreement.

“No offense intended, but could you show us your capabilities? That would help us estimate the price,” Aaron said.

"Skill?" The magician and the fortune teller exchanged glances, then the magician smiled and said, "Alright, let me perform a magic trick for you!"

Aaron looked at her expectantly, but the magician just stood there with her hands on her hips, smiling sweetly, showing no sign of moving. Aaron suddenly felt something was off, but he didn't know what was happening. It wasn't until he grew impatient that he finally couldn't help but ask, "Miss Magician, has the magic show started yet?"

"No, it's almost over." The magician smiled smugly, thoroughly enjoying the puzzled look on Aaron's face.

"it's over?"

"Don't you feel something's wrong?" The magician smiled.

Aaron moved his fingers and looked around. As he instinctively became alert and tried to activate his spiritual power, he finally realized something was wrong.

He discovered that the spiritual energy within his body was like a lump of paste, extremely stagnant and almost unable to flow. When he tried to mobilize the spiritual energy outside, he was surprised to find that the spiritual energy in the entire bar was like dried-up river water, and he could not mobilize it at all.

Almost instantly, Aaron mobilized all his spiritual power and held Bai Yue in his hand. Seeing Aaron's appearance, the magician was clearly startled and subconsciously stepped back, a tense expression on her face.

Although it was only a split-second reaction, Aaron could tell that the Magician was not a strong person. Including the psychic beside her, they did not react before Aaron was about to attack. Rather than saying that they were completely unaware of the danger, it would be more accurate to say that they lacked combat awareness and did not realize that being in this situation would cause powerful superhumans to become stressed.

Aaron was very sensitive to spiritual power. Just a moment ago, he sensed that the psychic next to the magician had mobilized spiritual power. Although it was by no means weak, the psychic's spiritual power was no match for Claire's. Simply put, Aaron did not believe that she could kill Claire with that spiritual power.

But then they did something so outrageous?

Aaron carefully observed his surroundings and discovered that the bar was indeed like a dried-up river, with no spiritual energy left. They had the ability to drain the spiritual energy of an area, and the spiritual energy of the superhumans in that area would also be drained.

"It's just a magic trick, don't be nervous!" The magician waved to Aaron. "We used to be business partners! We need to keep our word! Keep our word!"

"What was that just now? Was it your ability?" Aaron relaxed slightly and asked.

“No, this has nothing to do with our abilities. This is one of my magic props.” The magician looked at him with one eye open. “This is just one of my many props. I have many more like this.”

Just one of the props...

Aaron finally understood why the magician thought it was possible to kill Claire; if an item of that caliber existed, it was indeed possible…

"Of course, we've prepared a special gift package for Claire, since she's the Light of Clarity and needs a perfect performance."

"Can you tell us what props are available?"

"These are trade secrets. If you agree to cooperate, I can tell you." The magician crossed her arms and looked at Brand. "Well, you should know very well what kind of gadgets we have. Are you willing to cooperate with us?"

Brand repeated the same thing: "My requirements remain the same as before."

"What!" The magician roared, his charming face turning fierce. "In this situation, how can you say such a thing?"

Brand looked into her eyes: "The situation you described is actually the same as what just happened. I can give you a friendly reminder: you can't threaten Claire with this kind of tool."

"Hmph, of course we didn't just prepare this." The magician seemed genuinely angry. "Fine! Anyway, we figured you wouldn't agree! So we've already found someone else! There are plenty of mercenaries in the world willing to take on this mission."

As she spoke, the magician clapped her hands, and Aaron suddenly heard a vibration coming from the floor. When Aaron turned around, he saw a dark shadow slowly enveloping the tavern.

It was a middle-aged man who was as burly as a giant. He was dressed in a black bodysuit and had a huge chain around his waist that looked like an anchor. As a superhuman, Aaron was not the kind of person who would judge someone based on their physique, but when he saw the man appear, he still felt a sense of terror because he sensed a thunderous spiritual power.

Moreover, he recognized the man; Aaron had seen this face some time ago when Elliott showed him the list of dangerous individuals published by the Church of Judgment.

This face is a Level 1 wanted criminal on the Church of Judgment's wanted list. There is only one comment about him: except for those who are Level 0 Judges, everyone should stay away from him immediately upon seeing him.

"Is he a member of the Church that is judging the Church?"

The burly giant looked at Aaron and spoke in a hoarse voice, his eyes shining like torches.

Aaron immediately felt a chill run down his spine. If he were targeted by a giant here, he would have little chance of fighting back.

"No, no, I just wanted you to come out and meet them. You can meet the people from the Church of Judgment later," the magician explained.

After explaining, Miss Magician looked at Brand triumphantly and said, "See? Even without you, we had a chance to kill Claire. You're not worth as much as you say!"

"Whatever you prefer, I'll keep the same price," Brand said calmly.

"Then our cooperation is over! Bye-bye! Goodbye! Anyway, we don't need you at all!" The magician was annoyed by Brand's indifferent expression and said angrily.

The partnership had completely broken down. Brand showed no particular expression throughout. With the partnership over, he got up and left. Aaron also silently got up, silently memorizing the faces of the three of them.

He now longs to return to the Church of Judgment and do something he has always wanted to do.

Aaron returned to his residence, immediately went to his desk, took out his notebook, and intended to make a summary.

To avoid being secretly observed, he decided to use the old method and summarize in Chinese.

The first question he wrote in his notebook was, "What exactly is Eclair looking for?"

Based on the information available, Lucette sent spies to the Kingdom of Dok in search of something precious. Lucette went to great lengths for this purpose, but his elite team was wiped out, indicating that another powerful force is entrenched in the Kingdom of Dok, also searching for something.

Meanwhile, the magicians plan to take down Claire in order to obtain the Little Book.

As far as Aaron knew, Claire wasn't unmoved; she had recently been troubled by a strange matter.

Late autumn, late night, on the plains outside Birmingham.

In the cold night sky, Claire hovered like a lone star.

Her gaze was fixed on the dark ground below.

An ordinary person would not be able to see anything in such a dark environment, but Claire could see everything below clearly.

The black earth writhed like flesh and blood. From high above, it might appear as a faint movement, but geologically, it resembled a tsunami raging beneath the surface, with the earth constantly churning. Logically, such geological activity should trigger an earthquake, yet the night sky remained perfectly calm.

Claire has been observing the movements beneath the earth like this for several years.

Demon's Blood, that's what they call this place.

The Church of Judgment withdrew from Lodoren, choosing this location because of the Demon's Blood.

This is a region with the characteristic of being alive; in the entire New World, only this place possesses this characteristic.

Most of the residents of Birmingham were unaware of the existence of this area, and it was the Church of Judgment that had been maintaining order in the area.

Claire has been the one surveying and exploring this area. In a sense, the reason she, as the dignified Light of Clarity, is stationed in Birmingham is for this very reason.

After several years of investigation and research, they have gained a preliminary understanding of the blood of demons.

The demon's blood constantly repairs itself, and the soil is its flesh and blood.

The Church of Judgment once tried to destroy this area with all its might to see if it could destroy the Demon Blood, but it failed. Although most of the Demon Blood's flesh and blood were destroyed, it could slowly recover even if only a small part of it remained. Therefore, it was unrealistic to destroy it by brute force.

According to the research of other angels in the church, the best way to completely kill the demon blood is to go deep into its body and destroy its core directly.

However, most of the time the demon blood is in a dormant state, accumulating power, making it extremely difficult to kill.

But every three years, the body of the Demon Blood will open up once, just like an animal that has been hibernating for a long time needs to get up and move around. He will slowly awaken and open his body.

That would be the best time to eliminate the demon blood.

It has been exactly three years since the last awakening of the demon blood.

Claire had been paying close attention to the Demon Blood during this time. She could sense that the Demon Blood's spiritual energy activity was becoming increasingly intense, and the next time the Demon Blood would open her body might be in the near future.

To prevent interference with the Demon Blood's resurrection, Claire has recently been targeting the cults in Birmingham. The cults that used to operate underground are now almost entirely wiped out.

“We need to do more preparation,” Claire said softly.

The following morning, Claire found Aaron.

"I need to talk to you."

"I have something I'd like to report to Lady Claire."

Both of them were taken aback, and Aaron quickly said, "You go first."

"Elliott told me that you've been making rapid progress lately and may be close to a breakthrough."

"Elliott even noticed that?" Aaron thought to himself, then nodded and said, "Yes, I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough recently."

"Do you know the advanced methods of Nature's Blessing?" Claire asked.

"It is said that to advance in the Natural Blessing realm, one needs to seek out the Natural Church?"

“That’s right. There might be a war soon. I hope you can advance quickly. If you’re ready, I’ll take you to the Church of Nature,” Claire said.

Aaron also had a strong desire to advance, and when Claire suggested it, Aaron readily agreed.

Unlike last time, this time Claire actually planned to take Aaron to Lodoron. Aaron never expected that his advancement would receive such treatment.

“Because the method for advancing through the Blessing of Nature is very special, it’s best if I take you there the first time. From now on, if you can advance further, you can go by yourself,” Claire said to Aaron on the train.

Aaron nodded and said, "It's said that the advancement of the Natural Blessing is also related to spirit beasts?"

"Did you hear it yourself, or did you come to this conclusion after thinking about it?" Claire asked.

"Both."

There are two versions of the story about the blessing of nature. After the goddess of nature conquered the earth, the sky, and the forest, each tribe naturally offered their most powerful strength to the goddess of nature, and the goddess of nature swore to protect their power.

"Therefore, although the spirit beast races submit to the goddess of nature, their blessings are still controlled by them."

"The goddess of nature can bestow blessings upon humankind according to her own will, but if the one bestowing the blessing wishes to go further, she needs to gain the recognition of the corresponding group. This is the truth behind the advancement of nature's blessings."

Aaron opened his mouth slightly: "Then my blessing is the dragon, and I need..."

“That’s right. You must gain the approval of the dragons and pass their trials in order to continue advancing. That’s why I’m taking you to Lodoren.”

“I have spoken with the bishops of the Church of Nature, and we both believe that the blessings of nature vary in strength.”

"Just as your blessing is a dragon, it is still stronger than the blessing of a rabbit."