Chapter 178: Ambition

Mrs. Ai Shaer's wisteria flower badge on her fingertip glimmered faintly, the candles on the four walls of the secret chamber suddenly went out, and were replaced by memory fragments floating in mid‑air.

She pressed her hand to Robin's forehead, her voice low as the night wind:

"Look closely, this is the truth of what happened twenty years ago when Meilinda arrived on Antis Island."

Along the storm‑raged coastline, a wrecked Bawei'er merchant ship ran aground among the reefs.

The woman in a star‑patterned cloak staggered ashore, clutching a bronze box to her chest; the breath seeping from its seams caused the sand grains on the beach to crystallize into frost.

The young heir of the Zijinghua family, Ai Shaer, rode in, but halted abruptly when she saw the woman's face.

The other's gilt vertical pupils differed completely from those of Antis Island folk, and more shocking was the token hanging at her waist: a design of twelve stars encircling a dragon's head, exactly the emblem of the "Guide" recorded in ancient texts of the Bawei'er continent.

"The Star Gate will open; we must stop the Gatekeeper." The woman coughed up blood tinged with starlight, the box emitting an ominous hum, "In three months, a Mechanical Church will emerge from the fissure."

The memory suddenly warped, the scene shifting to a clandestine conversation deep into the night.

Meilinda sank the bronze box into the Zijinghua family's sacred spring, and the water reflected a phantom of the towering Sky‑Piercing Tower!

"Remember, the Dragon Devouring Breathing Method can only be passed to—" Meilinda's voice was swallowed by thunder; she snapped her head toward the window, where a figure with luminous wings on its back swooped across the moon.

Robin jerked free from the memory replay, the star‑etched pattern on his new Tang Sword heating up: "The Mechanical Church… was it the smuggler who crossed the Star Gate back then?"

The hem of Ai Shaer's dress fluttered, casting on the wall a cross‑section of Duke Huo Ke's castle: "After Meilinda died, the Mechanical Church took her corpse; the Huo Ke family extracted the star‑marrow refining method from her relics." She pointed a fingertip at the duke's chest, "That crystal is a creation of the Mechanical Church."

The wind chime suddenly lifted the cracked pocket watch: "That's wrong! If the Mechanical Church is so important, why are they at odds with the Royal Family and the Round Table Council?"

The secret door of the chamber slid open, six Raven Death Knights ushering in a blood‑smeared, indistinct figure.

It turned out to be Lao Mao, who should have died in prison!

"Because—" Lao Mao's single eye flashed with madness, "the first emperor of the Royal Family was itself a descendant of the smuggled Gatekeeper!"

"After Meilinda died, she was turned into a Watcher of the Mechanical Church, a sort of alternate resurrection; the destruction of the Mechanical Church stems from their ongoing insane human experiments…"

The hem of Ai Shaer's dress swept the floor, the wisteria pattern in the dark motif eerily unfurling petals in the dim light. She brushed a bronze candlestick; its candle‑tears instantly solidified into sharp ice shards: "Before the Star Gate closes, the Guide of the Bawei'er continent left a prophecy—only by gathering twelve dragon‑head tokens can the Star Gate be re‑opened. The Huo Ke family has already secretly kept three."

Robin gripped the heating Tang Sword tightly, the star‑etched marks on the blade flickering intermittently in the darkness.

"So your pact with the Knight Guild is to—"

"Seize back the tokens and control the Star Gate." As Ai Shaer turned, moonlight pierced the rhombic crystal of the chamber's dome, carving cold geometric shadows across her face.

"They wish to hunker down on Antis Island as petty emperors, never aspiring to surpass the Third Tier to become Dawn‑Star elites, and they fear mainland arrivals that could destabilize their rule. The Mechanical Church was an accident that drove the Royal Family into such frantic tension…"

"The Mechanical Church's madness goes far beyond human experiments." Lao Mao suddenly coughed violently, the blood‑foam he spat corroding black holes in the floor, "They aim to turn humanity into the key of the Star Gate, and the Royal Family has been thwarting them since the first generation." His single eye flared red, iron chains rattling, "But the Huo Ke family betrayed the pact! They secretly colluded with the Church, forging weapons from refined star‑marrow, seeking to dominate Antis Island!"

Ai Shaer removed the wisteria pendant from her neck; the petals fell apart and astonishingly assembled into a miniature model of the Star Gate.

"Three days later, the Western Frontier Knight Guild will hold a knighthood investiture ceremony." She tossed the pendant to Robin, the model in his palm turning into a scorching brand, "Robin, you must infiltrate the duke's castle with this and find the secret chamber that hides a dragon‑head token."

The chamber suddenly shuddered violently, eerie blue liquid seeping from the wall cracks.

Ai Shaer's complexion shifted abruptly: "Duke Huo Ke's star‑marrow detector has activated! He's traced our location." She raised her hand and clapped; twelve knights clad in wisteria battle armor burst through the wall, the leader conspicuously bearing half a dragon‑head token at his waist.

"Set out at once!" Ai Shaer flung her cloak to Robin, the iris‑flower crest on it revealing blood‑red patterns in the blue light, "Remember, when the Star Gate re‑opens, it will be the end of the Mechanical Church and the Huo Ke family. But before that…"

Ai Shaer's voice was swallowed by a deafening explosion.

The entire stone wall crashed down, blinding blue light flooding the chamber like a torrent—not ordinary magical radiance, but a detection pulse infused with star‑marrow energy; wherever it passed, the Raven Death Knights' armor melted like wax.

"Go!" Ai Shaer thrust Robin toward the wisteria knights, "Before you reach the duke's manor, go to my room first; there's an item that can evade star‑marrow detection magic!"

Robin, amid the chaos, seized the wind chime's wrist; the two were shielded by the wisteria knight order as they rushed toward the secret passage.

From behind, Lao Mao's manic laughter rang out: "Tell them that mongrel—his father's bones are still soaking in the Church's cultivation vats!"

In the final instant before the secret passage sealed, Robin saw Ai Shaer unfurl a folding fan; twelve violet‑gold beams erupted from its ribs, colliding with the detection pulse and sending the entire chamber dome soaring a hundred meters into the sky.

Thirty minutes earlier.

The duke stared at the pulsating star‑marrow crystal in his chest, while the Black-robed Wizard poured the blood of captured nobles into the altar; with each addition, the crystal swelled a little.

"Your Majesty, Lord Avier of the Knight Guild has sent a sealed missive," the guard knelt, presenting a scroll stamped with a dragon head, "The Gatekeeper consents to your coronation as the new king of Antis Island."

The duke suddenly crushed the crystal messenger, shards spraying across the wizard's face and leaving blood marks, "A new king? I will seize the throne with my own hands!"

He tore open his robe; strands of light extending from the star‑marrow crystal suddenly pierced the wizard's temples.

Amid harrowing screams, the wizard's memories were forcibly extracted, the vision showing the royal family secretly executing every scholar who knew the truth of the Star Gate twenty years ago.

"Prepare the third stage of fusion," the duke said, wiping the brain‑fluid from the crystal, "Activate star‑marrow detection; I will root out those rats."

The castle within Duke Huo Ke's manor suddenly shuddered violently, then a massive breach opened at its summit, and in the distance, over the Storm Strait, a blood‑red light pierced the heavens.

(End of Chapter)