Chapter 551: Going to Die and the Corpse-Burning Official

Everyone in Shi Ying Town, who had just gone through a defensive counterattack battle, was extremely on edge.

Following this shout from Bishop Arturo.

Every guard present had gazes sharp as lightning, locking directly onto the Holy Fire Order and the people from Gale City.

Shi Ying Town's forces were insufficient, with no distinction made between troop types—public security and combat troops were all mixed together.

This was a group of soldiers who had survived the battle defending their home.

They were also the ones who understood best just how powerful and precious the magic rings Rod had distributed free of charge were.

Kill Rod?

The fighting spirit has yet to fade, and you say this in front of me?

The atmosphere instantly became taut as a drawn bow.

Even the lame-legged young man Hyram shifted from a smiling face to a solemn, expressionless one.

He produced a dagger from somewhere unknown, and had already stealthily moved to Bishop Arturo's rear flank.

"Oh? Kill me?"

Rod's smile was warm, his arm still held out in its forward-reaching posture.

He raised it to look.

Sure enough, the wound was healing rapidly once again.

However, unlike healing through spirituality or spells, the Holy Fire Sect's healing energy here carried a sense of open and righteous sunlight.

As a natural energy, spirituality was colorless and odorless.

As magic refined from spirituality, it was cool and solemn.

Mm.

Could this be a new type of energy system?

Rod used the power of 【Maintain Domain】 to successfully preserve a portion of the residue, to be left for Lady Kali to study.

Ahead.

Bishop Arturo realized his slip of the tongue, and steadied himself with the support of the many believers behind him.

He looked around, and his face immediately turned ugly.

The soldiers with their hands on their sword hilts had already faintly assumed an encirclement formation.

He raised the torch once more, after briefly reciting a prayerful verse.

His expression calmed down.

"Apologies, I misspoke."

Upon hearing these words, Cliff—the city lord's assistant who had long been drenched in cold sweat—instantly seized the lifeline.

After all, the people from the Holy Fire Sect had been brought here by them, Gale City.

Now shouting things like "Quickly kill this man!" was no different from him saying it himself.

He hurriedly stepped forward, flustered as he explained:

"Bishop Arturo traveled through the night! And he's already advanced in years—he must be dizzy from the carriage ride! Mr. Rod, please don't mind him, his teeth are bad and he's whistling when he talks! What he actually meant to say was, was, was to praise your mercy! Yes, that's exactly it!"

However.

The people from the Holy Fire Sect did not give him face.

"What I mean is, for the sake of the new world, please die, Mr. Rod."

"Wha—"

Cliff was struck as if by lightning, his face filled with panic.

He saw Bishop Arturo's gaze resolute, as he shook his head with a sorrowful, compassionate air:

"Mercy? Mr. Rod carries sin within him, and moreover bears the power of plague and 【Brutal Ke Yin】; the lives he has taken must number in the hundreds or thousands—how could that possibly be called mercy?"

"Bishop Arturo! Watch your words!!"

"Mr. Cliff, let me first thank you here for your guidance. We had thought this trip was merely to sweep away any plague that might appear, but unexpectedly we've hooked a big fish."

Faced with Bishop Arturo's thanks.

Cliff was thoroughly panicked out of his mind, the back of his shirt already soaked through with cold sweat.

While observing Rod's expression, he furiously denounced the Holy Fire Sect:

"I'm warning you, don't talk nonsense! Mr. Rod, I had absolutely no knowledge of this—I had originally intended only to treat the wounded in Shi Ying Town! He's slandering me! He's slandering me!!!"

Rod paid him no heed.

He looked back at the elderly bishop.

The halfling Lily had once represented the Chivalrous Alliance in investigating the situation in Scorching City, and in her letter she had explicitly stated that the Holy Fire Order had inextricable ties with the Yige Sect.

And the Holy Fire Sect, which had evolved from the Holy Fire Order, would have been the strange one if there were no connection.

Rod was also blunt:

"Behind you is the Yige Sect, isn't it? If you want to do something, just say it outright."

"The Yige Sect is the national church of Ethelron, assisting in the governance of all faiths within the kingdom. We, a legitimate new-style sect, naturally have ties with the Yige Sect."

Bishop Arturo's face showed pleading, "As for our purpose, from beginning to end we have only been sweeping away plague. However, now there is one additional target—Mr. Rod, you are obstructing the progress of the new world. I implore you to simply die like this, may I ask?"

Rod shook his head.

Too lazy to waste more words with them, he was about to wave his hand and have them arrested.

"How dare you!"

And Cliff could no longer hold back.

With a cold face, he darted forward in a single stride, his hand like a blade, rapidly gathering a large amount of spirituality.

With a slash, he slit the throat of a believer who had stepped in his way.

As blood splattered, the hood was thrown back.

It was a middle-aged woman, who fell backward with a strange smile.

The other guards, however, were ready to spring, surging forward in an instant.

The Holy Fire Sect's people had very low spiritual accumulation; the guards were more than enough to handle them.

Rod didn't bother to join in, stepping back a few paces to leave the combat circle.

Cliff, drenched in blood up to half his body, walked over and was stopped by Tally's shadow spell.

He could only anxiously express once more that both he and Baron Ram were unaware of any of this.

The witch Dimia whispered beside him: "I used a lie-detection spell. He really doesn't seem like it, and has no motive to do so."

"Mm, what do you think about the Yige Sect and this Holy Fire Sect business?"

"Actually, during this period, the Yige Sect has gathered and recognized quite a few new-style faith sects. The Holy Fire Sect is just one of them. For a monotheistic church, recognizing new faiths means splitting the number of believers. That's not quite normal."

"New-style faiths. Do they have anything in common?"

Dimia was taken aback for a moment.

Her fingers pinched her chin in a thinking pose, pushing the baby-fat soft flesh on her face into an even more pursed pout.

"That point, I've actually never thought about it. Come to think of it, they all seem to involve themes similar to holiness, order, life, light... And what they do also seems to be acting as corpse-burners, burning bodies to prevent plagues and the like. After all, the fighting is fierce, and quite a few corpses are produced."

"Oh, so they're doing good deeds then."

"Yes, and the corpse-burners don't ask for wages or food. Even the hostile Heavenly Court Flower Kingdom won't lightly attack corpse-burning officials handling bodies on the post-battlefield. Perhaps precisely because of this, the establishment of the new sects has gone so smoothly."

Sounds like they're doing legitimate, good work.

But Rod didn't care.

Although outwardly proper, he had always been a hypocrite, protective of his own, and full of stereotypes.

In his heart, he had decided the Yige Sect was brewing something bad.

While they were talking.

With a bang, something went wrong with the arrest of the Holy Fire Sect.

During the scuffle, the tough yellow leather robe of one sect member suddenly erupted in flames.

The violently swelling heat blasted outward, knocking down two or three soldiers.

And they really were standing too close. That yellow robe seemed to be some kind of flammable material, erupting in flames one after another.

The interesting thing was.

As the bursts of flame occurred, the Holy Fire Sect's people vanished on the spot one after another, like a magic trick.

Bishop Arturo at the very center raised his torch high.

He smiled and gazed meaningfully at Rod: "We will meet again."

Having said that.

He was about to activate the same method to escape.

However, a thin thread of black fluid metal had already reached his back.

The instant the flames erupted, the black fluid metal swelled violently, transforming into a massive jackal head, its ferocious maw opening wide as it swept in to blot out the sky.

Bishop Arturo turned his head in shock, the smile on his face freezing.

Bang!

Flames erupted.

Blood sizzled and evaporated.

The yellow robe vanished along with the headless corpse.

(End of this chapter)