Chapter 144

Red Fox Castle, back mountain cemetery.

"What's wrong with you two? Could it be that you're suffering from aftereffects from the previous battle?"

Xia Mingyu looked at Damien and Youde, who were trembling all over as if struck by an invisible electric current, and asked with concern.

"My... my lord, above your head..."

Damien was so nervous that his teeth were chattering. He tremblingly reached out to point at the top of Xia Mingyu's head, only to suddenly discover that the shocking deep purple text had disappeared again.

The poet and the apothecary looked at each other, then simultaneously rubbed their eyes repeatedly, both suspecting they had just hallucinated.

After all, how could a kingdom with 1.4 billion citizens exist in this world?

Seeing their reaction, Xia Mingyu had a faint guess in his heart, and he silently took off the Spark Ring on his hand.

"Look at me, what color is the blessing above my head?" he asked.

"My lord, it is purple, Morning Star Rank!"

Seeing that line of deep purple text reappear and realizing that the scene before him was not a hallucination, Damien hurriedly replied.

At the same time, although he was calm on the surface, his heart was already in complete turmoil.

No wonder the viscount lords of the Southern Region would heed the Sage's maxim and carry out an unprecedented purge of their own territories.

If they had known the lord's true identity, this would not be a maxim, but an order that needed to be executed with fanaticism!

"Finally advanced..." Xia Mingyu muttered.

"I'm leaving first; remember not to tell anyone else about this."

After putting the Spark back on and snapping his fingers to place a bouquet of flowers on every tombstone in the cemetery, Xia Mingyu hurried away.

He couldn't wait to see the abilities brought by the advancement of the 1.4 billion blessing.

"Hahahaha, I am the attendant to the heir of a kingdom with 1.4 billion citizens, hahahaha!"

After Xia Mingyu left, the usually gentle and elegant silver-haired poet began to dance about like a drunkard.

Youde, standing to the side, felt no surprise at all; instead, his face was filled with envy.

Because becoming an attendant to someone like the Sage, who could be called the embodiment of human reason, was no less than being granted the title of Count!

If it were him, he would only be more excited and thrilled than Damien right now.

Alas, if he could become slightly more human, he would also dare to ask the Sage to become an attendant.

Unfortunately, this was only a dream that existed in illusion.

Red Fox Castle, guest room.

Xia Mingyu stood before the mirror, quietly looking at the line of deep purple text above his head.

Since the last advancement, he had used the "blessing" as bait, and with Haidun's "Royal Son of the Church" as an example, the viscount lords of the entire Southern Region had frantically carried out purges to ensure their heirs received the "blessing," which had slightly improved the lives of all the people in the Southern Region—this was one great achievement.

And this time, resolving the crisis of the destruction of Twilight City through the prohibition of drugs and tea was another great achievement.

The combination of these two great achievements finally caused the 1.4 billion blessing to advance once again.

"Let me see what abilities I've gained; it would be best if they were super-spec abilities on par with the Spark."

Holding eager anticipation, Xia Mingyu focused his gaze on the text in the mirror.

Gradually, two more lines of text emerged below.

Comrades in Arms: Temporarily summon one or more of your comrades to your side. The stronger the comrade, the higher the magic consumption to maintain their existence. It will enter a cooling period after use.

Spark Link: You can create connection objects that possess storage space and can hide blessings. Space sharing is allowed between these connection objects, and you can attach your own will to the connection objects across distances.

After browsing these two lines of text, Xia Mingyu couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation.

Comrades in Arms = I can summon Hagek Kesi and Tamerlane, whom he is about to appoint as a comrade!

Spark Link = The food I produce with Bountiful Harvest can be transported to all regions of the Sossia Kingdom!

Comrades in Arms + Spark Link =?

I've cheated again!

It's a good thing that guy Ekus died early; otherwise, I would have summoned Hagek Kesi directly and let him know what a fist the size of a human head feels like.

Xia Mingyu looked around the room with an expressionless face. After confirming no one was there, he silently closed the window and drew the curtains, then...

"Hahahahahahaha!"

This Sage, praised by everyone in Twilight City, was now laughing and tap-dancing alone in the room as if he were electrified.

Tap, tap, tap—the sound even vibrated to the floor below.

In the evening, a full moon like a silver plate hung high in the ink-colored sky, its cold radiance pouring down like water.

On the ancient and heavy walls of Twilight City, a blurred and incomplete "object" was hanging.

Only after approaching and identifying it carefully could one barely recognize it as a corpse, stripped of everything but its head and torso, still battered and tattered from abuse.

It was none other than Ekus.

After being surrounded and beaten to death by the countless angry people of Twilight City, it was hung on the city wall for passersby to throw stones at.

At first, passersby felt a bit of pity upon seeing such a miserable corpse, but after hearing the reason why the person was hung there, they suddenly complained that the stones on the ground were not numerous or hard enough.

After being illuminated by the cold moonlight for a long time, the corpse gradually underwent a change, and a blood-red light emerged.

Rip.

Accompanied by a tearing sound, a blood-red bat emerged from the abdominal cavity of the corpse, and then it flew in a panic toward the quiet, dense forest far outside the city.

Flap, flap.

It didn't stop flapping its wings until it had burrowed into the deserted grass in the dense forest.

Looking in the direction of Twilight City, a flash of human-like fear crossed the bat's eyes.

Afterward, this fear transformed into bone-deep hatred.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" It let out a series of unintelligible hisses.

Translated, the meaning was roughly: Damn it, damn it, I will definitely come back...

It was the former merchant Ekus. After transforming into a vampire, the ability he gained was Bat Life After Death.

After the human body dies, it can transform into a bat to gain a new life.

At first, when he just acquired it, he despised this ability as useless, but now it seemed it had indeed saved his life, only he could never enjoy fine food, women, or good tea like a human again...

"Twilight City, Xia Mingyu, Rosa... even if I have become a bat, I will definitely come back to take revenge on you in the future!"

Thinking of the pain those ignorant people had inflicted on him before he died, his heart was drowned in infinite hatred.

Pain, it was too painful!

Although he had often tortured slaves in the past, he never expected that when it was his turn, it would be that painful, as if his soul were being ground away.

Whoosh!

Just as he was immersed in hatred, an inexplicable suction force surged, and in an instant, the scene before him turned upside down.

When he came to his senses, he found that he was already being gripped in the hand of a man.

The man was dressed in a vintage black tailcoat, with a remarkably handsome face and a slender, well-proportioned figure.

He wore white gloves that fit his skin perfectly, a black top hat, and held a black-and-white magic wand in his right hand, looking just like a magician performing tricks in a circus.

"Put me down, **!"

The bat let out a series of unintelligible hisses at the man.

The magician frowned slightly, but his brow soon relaxed, and he said with a calm expression:

"I cannot let you go."

"Believer, you trespassed into my courtyard and trampled on the flowers and plants I carefully cultivated; even as a fellow believer of my God, you must pay for your sins with death."

Ekus, who did not expect the man to understand his words, was stunned, and after hearing the next sentence, his gaze toward the other party instantly became terrified.

Only at this moment, aided by the bright moonlight overhead, did he notice the magician's eyes—the left eye as deep as a violet, the right eye as dazzling as molten gold.

What a beautiful pair of heterochromatic eyes! My God will surely like them.

The moment this thought flashed through his mind, Ekus suddenly realized something.

He gathered the little remaining power of pain in his body into his eyes, staring fixedly at the magician in front of him, and then he saw something different.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Endless, surging black energy like an ocean gathered on the magician's body.

The black energy swayed with his every move, as if the entire world were shaking.

"You are not... you... you are a Bishop!" The blood-red bat's body began to tremble crazily.

In his terrified gaze, the magician slowly raised his magic wand toward him.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Just then, a few wisps of blood-red magic power emerged from the bat's body and gradually gathered into the phantom of a silver-haired, red-eyed man.

It was the master of the City of Slaves, the famous "Impaler" Saimen Kelai of Sossia.

"Fear, he is my vassal. For the sake of us both being Bishops, do me a favor and let him go; I will compensate you."

Seeing that the magician was about to act, Saimen hurriedly spoke.

And Ekus, seeing hope for rescue, immediately cast a pleading look at his master.

But the magician completely ignored Saimen's words, his movement of raising the magic wand not stalling in the slightest.

"Fear! Anyway, you only play those circus games in the Southern Region all day, which is a waste. I just sent my vassal to help you harvest a little bit of pain power; you haven't lost anything."

"Stop immediately, and you will gain the friendship of a Bishop; otherwise, you are making an enemy for no reason!"

Saimen used both soft and hard tactics, threatening him.

But the magician still did not stop his actions; he silently loosened his left hand that was gripping the blood-red bat.

Bang!

The moment he swung the magic wand, the bat burst apart, and foul-smelling flesh and blood splattered all over the tips of the grass on the ground.

"You!"

Seeing his painstakingly cultivated vassal killed before his eyes, Saimen was so angry that the veins on his forehead bulged.

"Fear, I swear in the name of the Numb Bishop: the day you step into the Eastern Region will be the day of your death!"

Pfft.

The magician covered his mouth and smiled; he said nothing, yet he had said everything.

Before Saimen could get angry again, he swung his wand lightly and blew up the phantom gathered by magic power in front of him.

After everything was calm, he looked in the direction of Twilight City, his gaze seemingly piercing through the dense forest and city walls to see the new statue being built day and night beside the bronze statue of the Crimson Fire in the city square.

"Sage... will what you bring to this world be happiness or a new round of disaster?" the magician muttered to himself.

The dark red sky hung low like rotting internal organs, the thick clouds churned with the smell of sulfur and tar, and the ground was covered with cracked, scorching scorched earth.

Just seeing such a scene would make one feel dizzy and nauseous, let alone living here.

The only beautiful thing was that in the cracks of the scorched earth, a small blood-red flower would bloom from time to time; its appearance was just like the spider lily that only grows in hell in the psalms sung by bards.

Ekus looked at all this blankly, his consciousness still lingering on the moment the magician swung his magic wand.

"I... I wasn't already dead?"

Ekus touched his body in disbelief, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had not only been resurrected but had also recovered his human body.

However, it was not the pale giant he had become after transforming into a vampire, but his previous thin, merchant-like appearance.

Tap, tap, tap.

Just as he was immersed in joy, a heavy sound of footsteps slowly approached.

He looked in the direction of the sound and was instantly frightened into holding his breath.

What kind of monster was that!

His physique was even larger than the pale giant he had turned into earlier, his blue-gray skin was covered with coarse, hard keratotic nodules, and the most terrifying thing was—he actually had two heads!

The head on the left was that of an adult, eyes tightly closed, while the head on the right was that of a child, foolishly giggling and even drooling.

The combination of the two was enough to give one a sense of distortion that made the scalp tingle with eeriness.

"Newcomer, it's time for you to work."

That child-like head said in a muffled voice.

"Work? What work?" Ekus, not daring to offend this two-headed giant, asked cautiously.

A few crimson bricks were thrown in front of Ekus.

"Carry them to that mountain." The two-headed giant pointed to a mountain not far away.

After thinking for a moment, Ekus chose to obey.

He had just been resurrected and didn't want to die yet.

The moment his palms touched the red bricks, he discovered that they were terrifyingly hot.

However, fortunately, he still had some perseverance, so he endured the pain of being burned and carried the red bricks toward the mountain.

Along the way, the two-headed giant followed him silently, making him not dare to entertain the thought of running away.

After an unknown amount of torment, the merchant finally carried the red bricks to the top of the mountain.

He immediately threw down the bricks and collapsed on the ground, panting. At this time, he was covered in sweat, and his originally fair palms were also roasted to a frightening degree, looking like burnt pig trotters.

"Newcomer, you haven't finished working yet." The two-headed giant continued in a muffled voice.

"What other work is there?" Ekus frowned.

"Carry these bricks back to where they were." The two-headed giant said.

Ekus: "???"

"What kind of joke are you playing? You wouldn't make me carry them back after I just moved them over!" Ekus said in disbelief.

"... You are so smart."

After a moment of silence, the two-headed giant said gloomily, and a hint of envy actually appeared on that child-like head.

"You motherf—" Ekus could no longer suppress the boiling anger in his heart.

"Why say so much to him?" Just then, the adult-like head on the left of the two-headed giant suddenly opened its eyes, a flash of disdain in its gaze as it looked at the merchant Kelai in front of it.

A long whip wreathed in flames suddenly appeared in the giant's left hand, and then he swung it fiercely, lashing it onto Ekus's back.

"Ahhh!"

In an instant, Ekus experienced unprecedented, extreme pain, as if it were not his body being whipped, but his soul.

At the same time, he watched helplessly as a wisp of black energy emerged from his body and drifted toward the dark red sky above.

At this moment, Ekus had a flash of inspiration; he suddenly realized where this place was and also understood why that Bishop could accumulate such a massive amount of pain power.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Realizing what kind of terrifying situation he was about to fall into, the merchant fell into complete madness.

(End of chapter)