Chapter 201

Bai Jin Cheng western suburbs.

"Miss Mona, I can't accompany you forward any longer, or I'll reveal your location."

"You know the area, right?"

Mo Li nodded: "Of course, I'm definitely more familiar with Bai Jin Cheng than you."

"Then go; when you arrive, follow my instructions and you'll be properly received."

"Hmm."

Mo Li spurred her horse and left.

Luosen watched her go until she vanished from sight, then pulled his gaze back and turned his horse toward another direction.

He didn't enter Levinde's Bai Jin Capital, nor go to any village or town where humans gathered, but instead settled temporarily in a remote spot in the wilderness.

He closed his eyes and silently thought: "Laifu, check the situation inside Bai Jin Cheng."

His vision instantly filled with a colorful kaleidoscope—precisely the rippling of Bai Jin Cheng's law rings.

But soon the ripples faded, revealing a clear image of the event.

This was the heightened ability of Graphic Translation, which hid the translation process behind the scenes, allowing Luosen to observe more intuitively and conveniently.

Bai Jin Cheng has a permanent population of up to 4 million, making it the third-largest supercity in the Nature Alliance; countless mages live there, so law-ring ripples are extremely frequent.

Through these chaotic interferences, Luosen looked toward Bai Jin Palace.

At a glance, everything inside the palace seemed normal, but close inspection revealed a 10-meter-diameter 'black sphere' deep within.

This ring lies about 20 meters underground; judging by nearby structures, it should be a subterranean chamber, but it's blocked by a strange force that even law-ring power cannot penetrate, thus becoming a 'void'.

"Only a void demon can shield against law-ring power."

Clearly, astonishing events are occurring inside the black sphere.

Looking again at the palace's defenses, they are extremely tight: not only are there many defensive and alert magic formations, but also numerous elite gunner units.

One can also sense that the demon has planted many puppets within; if one forces entry, there's an eighty to ninety percent chance the demon will detect it and the royal guard will gang up on the intruder.

After observing for a while, Luosen turned his gaze toward Huan Wai Xu Kong, trying to locate the demon.

He kept looking and indeed found them! More precisely, he saw many soul conduits—about three hundred or more.

The thickest one plugs into the black sphere inside the palace; the rest are much thinner, with about 150 inserted at various points in the palace and another 150 scattered throughout Bai Jin Cheng and its surrounding areas.

The distribution spans roughly a 50-kilometer-diameter area.

Following the soul conduits to their source, Luosen saw a vague massive entity.

He couldn't make out its exact form, but he could sense that its soul strength was on par with his, while its soul scale was enormously larger—at least a hundred times his own.

Compared to each other, it's like a rabbit versus a tiger; if they faced off head-on, Luosen would have no chance and would be crushed by the demon's size advantage.

"Na Ya says that demons' true forms are colossal giants; ordinary people almost cannot confront them head-on in the void, nor easily destroy them completely."

"When facing a demon, a Legendary Mage must do two things: first, hide oneself; second, exploit the demon's inability to enter law rings to protect one's soul."

Luosen previously didn't quite understand, but now he fully grasps it and also feels somewhat relieved.

"Fortunately, this demon's soul strength is about the same as mine; otherwise, expelling it would be far harder—several times more difficult—and I'd constantly risk being killed."

This also comes from Na Ya's introduction.

She said: "The Na Wa Te Republic has dealt with many demons; based on past experience, they grade demon strength."

"If soul strength exceeds Ten Rings Extreme by ten percent, one levels up; there are nineteen levels total."

"The strongest demons possess Legendary 19 soul strength, which is 1.9 times Ten Rings Extreme, but no strength above twice that has ever been found."

According to Na Ya's grading, Luosen and this silver-eyed demon's strength both belong to Legendary 2.

Luosen is a novice Legendary Mage, and this demon's power is merely average.

If a Legendary 19 demon appeared, not only Luosen but even the Na Wa Te Republic, rich in anti-demon experience, would pay a huge price, possibly losing several Guardian Archmages in succession.

This actually happened in the Na Wa Te Republic's history, and that Demon Subjugation War was extremely brutal.

It was precisely that great war that prompted Navarat to shift from an imperial system to a republic.

The demon was highly sensitive; Luosen observed for a while, and the demon actually noticed him.

In an instant, Luosen felt his vision go dark, and immediately a pair of silver eyes hidden in the black mist appeared before him.

Hiss—impressive, you actually spotted me right away!

At this point, all Luosen needed to do was sever his link with the magic ring and use the ring's cover to protect himself.

But he did not do so immediately.

Because there are always situations where retreat is impossible, and for such situations, Naya also offered a solution.

At that moment, Luosen felt a smooth, gentle sound reach his ears.

"Duke, you're too careless; your understanding of legendary power is superficial. In the void, I have a thousand ways to shatter your soul and kill you completely!"

This time, the demon did not possess a mortal spokesperson, but instead spoke directly with Luosen within the eleventh magic ring.

Luosen faced the colossal entity in the void head‑on and calmly replied: "Demon, it's true that my knowledge of legendary power is shallow, but I am not entirely unprepared."

"You should have heard of the 'Sword of the Holy Oath,' right?"

The silver eyes in the black mist flickered slightly: "Where did you get this knowledge?"

"The Navarat Republic."

"Damn Navarat!"

Luosen smiled.

"You can certainly attack me now, but the vast majority of my soul is hidden in the mortal realm; I can retreat into the magic ring in an instant, yet at the moment of my retreat I will thrust forth the Sword of the Holy Oath!"

"Since you know of the Navarat Republic, you naturally know how formidable this legendary soul‑sword is."

"This sword is powerful, but it is not invincible!"

"Indeed it isn't, but I have also made many unique extraordinary modifications to this spell, and I am eager to test its power."

"Devil, are you planning to be my sword tester?"

After the silver eyes stayed silent for a full ten seconds, they spoke again.

"Then let us clash in the mortal world!" After saying that, the black mist and silver eyes in Luosen's consciousness gradually faded, meaning the demon in the void had already drifted away from Luosen's soul.

Luosen secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He immediately severed the magic ring, quickly changed his position, and quietly reconnected the magic ring from another place.

"Fortunately, this demon's soul strength is about the same as mine, so it can be threatened by the Holy Oath Sword. If it were much stronger, I would have to immediately sever the connection with the magic ring."

As for the Holy Oath Sword, it is a soul technique forged in actual combat between the Nawat Republic and demons.

It is indeed very powerful.

According to Naya's description, this sword has legendary +2 power.

So-called legendary +2 means granting the user +2 levels of attack power.

Luosen is currently legendary rank 2; with +2, his attack power reaches legendary rank 4.

As an intelligent lifeform in the outer void, the silver-eyed demon surely knows many offensive and defensive techniques, but if its true body is struck by the Holy Oath Sword, it will certainly be wounded, even severely.

Naya said the survival environment in the outer void is extremely harsh; severe injury is no different from death, so Luosen successfully threatened him, forcing him to retreat head-on.

Not long after the demon retreated, Laifu sent an alarm.

"We detected a large troop movement in the palace—1200 strong, average strength 3.2 rings, suspected to be the Crimson Assassin squad."

The Crimson Assassin squad is an elite assassin group on par with the Aaron Night Guard and the Kao Black Rose War Team.

This rapid mobilization is naturally aimed at him.

For now, Luosen has hidden again, but as long as he stays near Bai Jin Cheng, the 1200 Crimson Assassins remain a huge threat.

According to Luosen, the Crimson Assassins are now equipped with new, excellent firearms, with attack strength reaching seven rings, and they can fire five shots in succession.

If just ten assassins fire at Luosen together, he cannot withstand it.

So, a head‑on fight is definitely impossible, but he is not fighting alone.

He has many helpers, the biggest of whom is inside Bai Jin Cheng.

Specifically, it is Ailesen, the Gold‑robed High Priest of the Shengang Lorin Grand Temple! The Shengang Lorin Grand Temple is one of the three great temples of the Nature Faith, holding an extremely exalted status among nature believers.

The Gold‑robed High Priest is also the mortal spokesperson of Mother Nature.

Across the Nature Alliance, there are only three Gold‑robed High Priests in total.

Ailesen himself possesses early four‑ring mana.

Originally, his faith in Mother Nature was not particularly devout; he was just a god‑man drifting through life.

But after Luosen carefully trained him for a month, he became a fervent believer.

Thus, Luosen kept shifting his position to stay a safe distance from the Crimson Assassin squad while linking via faith power to the Shengang Lorin Grand Temple.

At that moment, the Grand Temple was conducting its usual morning prayer, with all clergy participating and countless devout believers praying in the temple hall and the square before the temple gates.

Together they numbered over twenty thousand, providing a rich and steady flow of faith power.

Luosen gathered the faith power and concentrated it on High Priest Ailesen, directly raising his mana from early four‑ring to mid four‑ring.

"Plop~~"

High Priest Ailesen was startled, dropping to his knees before the Mother Nature statue, his heart filled with shock and confusion.

He was shocked by the miracle!

This is a true miracle!

In the world, no god can directly boost mana; this completely overturned Ailesen's common sense.

In fact, as public wisdom grows, even as a Gold‑robed High Priest, Ailesen's faith has been wavering; he privately thought Mother Nature was merely a high‑ring mage, and his role was just an ordinary mundane profession.

But over the past month, that doubt has disappeared.

And now he has become even more reverent! Mother Nature is surely a true god, even more genuine than the Radiant Lord of the Radiant Empire, for the Radiant Lord has never shown a miracle of boosting mana, whereas Mother Nature has done so.

Over the past month, the god has not only often answered his prayers, but now directly bestowed power upon him!

Besides shock and confusion, he also felt dread, unable to stop himself from asking in his heart: "Great merciful Lord, please show me the way forward."

The god indeed responded, a grand warm thought.

"The true king of Levinde lies outside the palace."

The thought was vague, but Ailesen immediately understood the god's meaning.

During this time, the people of Levinde have been arguing nonstop over the little king's lineage.

The little king behaves recklessly and unrestrainedly, causing huge losses to all sectors of Levinde, especially commerce, yet he has never taken any compensatory measures.

Every time he stirs up trouble, then he simply pats his butt and leaves, while the fallout is borne by all the people of Levinde.

The queen dowager is even more wanton and licentious; her deeds are simply unbearable to hear.

The populace is extremely dissatisfied with the current royal family, even holding it in contempt.

Now even the god says, "The true king is outside the palace."

That means the little king in the palace is truly a usurping bastard son! As Gold‑robed High Priest, Ailesen, having personally experienced the miracle, cannot sit by on emotional or rational grounds.

He took a deep breath, his resolve firm: "The temple cannot stand by; it must step forward!"

Of course, being able to become a Gold‑robed High Priest, he is certainly not impulsive; his character is mature and smooth‑spoken, knowing that stepping forward directly might see the temple purged by the military‑controlling royal family, but he would surely be assassinated.

So for now he must act covertly, contacting the kingdom's great nobles and using their power to overthrow the current royal family.

Of course, this must be reported to the god.

Thus, he conveyed his plan to Mother Nature in his mind.

Indeed, he felt the god's pleasure, and a great power flowed in, instantly raising his mana to the peak of the four‑ring stage.

"The god praises me! The god rewards me! I did right!"

Ailesen was overjoyed, his faith grew ever firmer.

On the other side, Luosen lightly moved a chess piece, then hurried non-stop to Moonlight Town in the southern suburbs of Bai Jin Cheng.

Hidden in Moonlight Town is a powerful combat unit, a force from the Radiant Empire.

This unit not only possesses formidable combat strength, but also has rich demon‑exorcism theory, which is perfectly suited to the current situation.

(End of chapter)