Chapter 341: Who Are You? (Thank You, Spirit Nine Chi, Patron)

Herbert and his group encountered no noteworthy problems on their return journey.

Of course, this was no surprise—it was only to be expected.

The trial had ended; the cultivators no longer needed to pretend to be slaves on the way back, and all resumed their usual attire, raising the flags of the Mist Monastery.

The journey there had required various disguises and taken considerable time, but the return took only three days.

With this team of mid- to high-level powerful cultivators handling all matters, they encountered no trouble at all.

When minor issues arose, the cultivators resolved them themselves without Herbert needing to intervene.

If a major problem had arisen… well, no need to imagine it—they wouldn't encounter one.

With three legendary monster girls guarding the carriage, Herbert couldn't conceive of how they could lose.

What kind of idiot would deliberately charge in to offer their life?

Those who sensed the legendary aura inside the carriage would never come forward to risk death.

Those who failed to sense the aura… weren't a real threat at all; the cultivators could handle them easily.

Thus, the group returned to the monastery without incident, safely and smoothly.

"We're back… ha ha, we did it!"

"We're back!"

After entering the monastery, even the cultivators who normally kept stern, expressionless faces could no longer hold their composure.

As soon as they set foot on monastery soil, they exhaled in relief and cheered with relief.

Even the traditionally rigid cultivators made no reprimands for their reckless behavior.

The elder cultivators quietly stopped walking, watching the young men covered in sharp, fierce aura, nodding silently and clapping gently.

They had endured hardship and trials, passed the monastery's test, gained precious experience, and significantly improved their strength.

At this moment, they deserved the respect they received.

They might not yet merit the title of "hero," but at this moment, they were unquestionably worthy of the name "warrior."

Yet Herbert, the most watched and anticipated hope of this training—did not stand among those receiving the tribute.

Whether Herbert was present or absent, whether he spoke or stayed silent, the truth would not change.

Herbert's absence carried the meaning of surrendering all this glory to the others.

This was, in fact, arrogance—but none of the cultivators objected; they saw nothing wrong with Herbert's actions.

Because all of them knew that although their surface-level strength was similar, Herbert had already moved beyond their level.

They had long since become two different kinds of people.

And Herbert stood higher.

He needed to prove nothing to anyone.

Herbert no longer needed to stay here to prove his excellence; rather, others needed to leverage him to prove their own worth.

In fact, many others in the team were also absent.

Including Lord Fa Ao and the others, Cyril who remained in the Shadowlands, and other cultivators who had left the group mid-journey to continue training outside.

Everyone had their own path, and each had made their own choice.

…

…

On the other side, Herbert was not idle—he first placed Teresa and Miss Mise beyond the Mist Mountains, instructing them to wait for the group's later-arriving gnomes.

After reuniting with the gnome party, they would be brought into Eldar Territory by the centaur spirit Herbert had summoned.

Then he returned with Elisa and the others to the Holy Knight training grounds and reported to Bishop Rustnail on all events encountered during the journey, giving a brief summary.

He especially detailed the whereabouts of Lord Fa Ao, Cyril, and the others.

Leading was convenient, but more often, it was an inescapable responsibility—to be accountable for those under you.

After listening to Herbert's report, Bishop Rustnail offered no further evaluation, merely gave brief encouragement and told him to report personally to the Grand Archbishop later.

He did glance twice at Svanie, sensing a subtle change in her aura.

But Bishop Rustnail had little knowledge of dark elves and did not realize she had taken on a new appearance.

He didn't care.

Slightly suspicious, but… ignore it.

Since Herbert didn't mention it, this heretic prisoner must be fine.

With each successive achievement, Bishop Rustnail's trust in Herbert had gradually increased.

Such trivial matters no longer warranted deliberate inquiry.

And this, in fact, was precisely the result Herbert desired.

He was quietly enhancing his prestige, strengthening others' trust in him, and gradually raising his reputation throughout the monastery.

After bidding farewell to Bishop Rustnail, Herbert conversed with other Holy Knights and Wu Seng in training.

Everyone greeted him with smiles; there was no need to put himself on a pedestal.

Moreover, during his conversation with the Holy Knight brothers, Herbert received an unexpected piece of news.

"You mean, ten days ago, in the dead of night, a miracle occurred—【the Sun replaced the Moon】… Really? You're not joking, are you?"

Herbert hesitated upon hearing the rumor, surprised that such a major event had occurred.

"Absolutely true! At first, only a few knew, since everyone was asleep then."

"But the Solar Sect began openly promoting it on the third day, making the whole world aware that their deity had finally revealed a miracle… cough!"

The talkative bald Wu Seng spoke at length, then suddenly noticed the subtle glances around him.

He coughed loudly twice, pretending he had said nothing, and grinned awkwardly at the Sun Holy Knight beside him, whose expression was dark:

"Ha ha! Praise the Sun! Yes, praise Him!"

After laughing it off, he even considerately whispered a reminder to Herbert: "Remember not to talk like I do in front of others. There are still quite a few Sun God believers in our monastery."

"Although the Sun God is fair and selfless, His believers aren't like the deity they worship — they always fuss over these little things…"

Herbert, who had been given the tip, nodded expressionlessly, patted his shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and said softly:

"Praise the Sun."

Wu Seng:!!!!

He hurriedly stepped back a few paces, looking at Herbert with an expression of disbelief.

Oh no!

How are you also one?

"Haha, just a joke." Herbert laughed, not taking the opportunity to tease him further.

But he really wanted to ask one thing — brother, if I were also a Sun God believer, wouldn't you have blown up?

Speaking of which, there was something Herbert had wanted to complain about for a long time.

Why are the Wu Seng of the Mist Monastery all so talkative!!?

One more eloquent than the next, their mouths never seem to have a moment of rest.

Is it because they usually keep silent meditation too much, so they want to talk as much as possible while they can speak?

But compared to being curious about the Wu Seng's secret of being chatterboxes, Herbert cared more about the "miracle" they had mentioned.

Was that really a miracle actively performed?

Calculating the time, ten days ago was exactly the day crossing into the new year, and also… the time Herbert fought the Avatar of Sinful Desire.

That was the day Nie Nasha stole the Sun God's authority using the Fallen Angel's Feather.

Could there be some connection between these two?

No matter how he thought about it, there definitely was one, right…?

Herbert wouldn't naively think of himself as some so-called child of destiny.

But he also wouldn't play deaf and deliberately deny some facts that were obvious at a glance.

The Sun God's unusual movement was definitely related to his own Miss Xie Shen!

If Nie Nasha weren't currently hibernating, he would definitely have a good discussion with her.

Did she have to make such a huge commotion?

Did she have to create a big news event, making everyone notice the Sun God?

This Miss Xie Shen probably doesn't have good intentions!

"Also, the Church of the Sun God is in a bit of trouble."

He had originally thought everything had been handled in Malagas, with only a few people on his side knowing what happened at the time, but he didn't expect there to be such a chain reaction in the outside world.

If people learned what happened in Malagas, anyone with an eye for it would likely notice Herbert, the fake God-blessed.

Herbert didn't want to draw the attention of the Church of the Sun God for now; this still needed to be handled carefully.

Fortunately, there weren't many people present at the time. Outsiders only knew that Malagas City had emitted a strong light before its destruction, and not many noticed the descent of the "Sun."

Most underground residents thought it was just a terrifying battle that had erupted there, with one side unleashing a destructive spell like "Holy Light Burst."

To sum up, the situation wasn't particularly bad; the only one who needed attention was a single person.

"Quinn Na ah… no big problem."

Herbert thought about this anomaly who alone didn't belong to his sphere of influence, and silently nodded.

He fished out the memory stone that had recorded a certain scene earlier, and muttered to himself:

"Although it's despicable, this Young Lady knight, you wouldn't want others to see you wearing bikini armor, would you?"

As long as he said something like that, Herbert didn't believe Quinn Na could still defy him — just kidding.

Herbert isn't some kind of devil.

As a Holy Knight, how could he do such a despicable thing?

"If I really wanted to do it, at most I'd have her sign a contract with me, and I'd quietly change a few clauses inside… hmm, seems no more honorable than before."

Getting Quinn Na to keep the secret wasn't much of a difficult task.

After a few days of being together, Herbert roughly knew she wasn't the gossipy type; just a little restraint would do.

The real problem was actually with the God of Sinful Desire — Herbert had no way to restrain this one.

"I just hope this evil god won't proactively contact the Sun God. Hmm, She probably hasn't gone that far yet."

After briefly organizing his thoughts, Herbert didn't feel much additional pressure.

Meet soldiers with generals, meet water with earth dams,

Take it one step at a time.

After figuring this out, Herbert lightheartedly brought Ilisa and the others back to the Third Precept Hall.

To avoid running directly into Valentina, Herbert opened the door to the third floor as soon as he entered.

Click, click!

Open the door, go in, close the door — the whole sequence flowed smoothly in one breath, giving the dragon Young Lady no chance to react at all.

After first sending the reluctant vampire Young Lady and the dark elf with the subtle smile back to the Prison of No Light, Herbert returned to the first floor, the Endless Maze.

Herbert even specially dealt with the scent on his body before going to look for Valentina.

This move wasn't cowardice, nor was it fear.

This was — re! spect!

Yes, no one understood how to respect Valentina better than Herbert.

But after Herbert had finished all preparations and was about to go find Valentina, he couldn't locate her right away.

The ever-reliable teleportation gate, this time, surprisingly didn't open right next to the hungry dragon Young Lady on the first try.

"Hm?"

Where did Valentina go?

But fortunately, the portal only lagged for a moment before appearing out of thin air the next second.

Herbert didn't think much of it, stepped inside, and saw a familiar red-haired figure.

"Haha, I'm back!"

Upon seeing Herbert, Valentina was first stunned, then also revealed a look of pleasant surprise, and quickly walked toward him.

"You're back!"

Red hair fluttered, and the two figures rapidly drew closer.

But, just one second before they were about to embrace, Herbert suddenly retreated a step.

No.

Not just retreating—the blood wings behind Herbert instantly unfurled, and he rapidly flew backward dozens of meters!

"Who are you?"

Herbert kept his distance from "Valentina," his brow tightly furrowed, and asked in a low voice: "Are you the 【Sage】?"

He knew that after Valentina received the Dragon of Wisdom's inheritance, an automatic question-and-answer ability called the "Sage" had appeared in her mind, forcibly developing her intellect.

It was by relying on this ability that she was able to dart back and forth between floors.

But this feeling right now… was wrong.

"What are you talking about? I'm Valentina, you know?"

The dodged Valentina was clearly not very pleased, and said angrily: "Why did you dodge!?"

"Don't you know?"

Herbert narrowed his eyes, found the answer from her reaction, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately… Valentina had not had her body taken over by the Dragon of Wisdom.

The Valentina before his eyes was someone else!

He slightly shook his head and said softly: "Since you are not the 'Sage,' then I'll ask you one more time."

"Who… exactly are you?"

Roar!

Faced with such doubt, Valentina glared at Herbert furiously, her slit pupils filled with the anger of being suspected.

"You doubt me?"

Herbert's reaction was unusually calm, and he said indifferently: "This is not doubt; I am certain you are not her."

"Nonsense!!!" the great dragon roared.

"Nonsense? You know better than I whether I'm talking nonsense." The holy knight answered indifferently.

The two stared at each other like this, neither yielding an inch, in silence for a while, the atmosphere in the scene incompressibly oppressive.

But in this situation, Herbert did not flee, nor did he call for help from other floors.

He simply quietly watched "Valentina."

After being stared at by him for quite a while, "Valentina" suddenly turned from anger to coyness, chuckled lightly, and broke the silence.

"Pfft… haha, oops, I got found out!"

"How did you figure it out?"

She spread her arms and spun around once, asking very curiously: "I think… my current appearance shouldn't be any different from hers."

"Could it be… the temperament?"

She patted her cheeks, made a silly expression, then quickly relaxed, and knitted her brows in confusion as she looked at Herbert.

"Still, how exactly did a Warden observe so carefully?"

Herbert did not respond, and asked indifferently: "Enough nonsense, where is Valentina?"

"Valentina" heard this and pouted: "Ah, not going to answer? Really, seems like another boring guy."

"Forget it~"

She looked at the unmoved Herbert, suddenly revealed a bewitching smile, and laughed softly in a low voice:

"Since… you really want to see her so badly, then why not come yourself?"

The instant "Valentina" smiled, Herbert had already continued to fly backward, trying to keep distancing himself from her.

But before he could fly ten meters, a blinding white light enveloped his body.

"What?"

Herbert was blinded by the light, and when he could see clearly again, his eyes suddenly went wide.

Before his eyes were countless reflections.

All of them were him.

Front, back, left, right, up, down… countless broken mirrors formed a massive cage.

"Tch."

And after entering this place, without needing that fake Valentina to explain, Herbert, as a Warden, already knew where he was.

The Third Commandment Office, the Sixth Floor!

"Mirror Space…"

(End of this chapter)