Chapter 218: Advancement

The civilian homes were blazing fiercely, surrounded by panicked and terrified ordinary people.

The three-story building burned hotter and hotter; the old structure, filled with wood and books, was now fully engulfed in flames.

Someone called for firefighters, and kind-hearted neighbors brought buckets of water to extinguish the fire—but none could approach the building, only standing helplessly outside.

"Snap!"

The black-armored knight sat on the stairs before the building's entrance, his longsword resting on his knees, still stained with blood.

All the firefighters had barely moved closer before being halted by his overwhelming aura.

This was clearly no pious soul—the original owners of the building lay scattered on the ground, well-known intellectuals and students from the neighborhood.

They wept or begged, their anguish beyond words, yet still could not draw near the fire.

Some firefighters who ignored warnings were knocked down instantly by a flash of the knight's blade.

"City Guard is here! Constable is here!"

Finally, when the constable of this district arrived, he brought along a patrol squad; bystanders thought a turning point had come—then

"Snap!"

The black knight finally stood up, yet he didn't even bother drawing his sword, nor did he intend to strike first.

"Clang!"

Less than ten seconds later, he sat back down.

An entire squad of officers and a squad of guards were knocked unconscious in under ten seconds, felled by the knight's sheathed sword alone.

The unlucky ones lay sprawled across the stairs—quite humiliating.

Most absurd of all, throughout it all, the black knight never left the stairs he sat on.

Having dealt with the disturbers, he sat back, pulled out an oilcloth, and quietly wiped and maintained his sword while guarding the burning building behind him.

The officers lying on the ground stared in shock—what kind of monster was this? Burning down civilian homes was bad enough, but attacking arriving constables and refusing to flee?

Did he dare openly defy the Kingdom's authority? Was he waiting for the Radiant Guard to hunt him down?

Could he be the infamous cultist rumored about lately? The black armor, the black dragon scales on it—clearly not the work of a good man.

"Make way! Make way!"

Finally, a group of young knights in silver armor arrived.

They bore the insignia of sword and fist—followers of the God of War Kandela, a strange church that used sword-wielding warriors as priests; their leader was even a Holy Knight faintly wreathed in silver light.

Yet all wore white robes and light armor with simple swords; their shields were only small wooden round shields, not tower shields or large ones—clearly mere knight apprentices.

Is there a church of the God of War nearby? Hmm, perhaps—it's said this deity doesn't care much for nobility; it's normal for such a church to exist in ordinary neighborhoods.

"Detect Evil!"

As the light suddenly descended, Li En sighed—he knew his fishing attempt had failed.

It was already this burned out; why hadn't any other cultists come to rescue this branch? That shouldn't be right—such a large-scale Evil God organization couldn't possibly have only a few members.

The scale of the underground altar couldn't have been built by just one or two core cultists; would they really abandon such a vast operation so easily?

"Tch. So this is what it feels like to be targeted by Detect Evil?"

But when the divine spell of Detect Evil descended, all onlookers froze.

The cruel arsonist, the black knight who had just attacked the police—instead of emitting even a trace of evil's red glow, instead of the pure white of innocence or the pale silver of goodness—he emitted

"Golden light?! What is golden light?!"

"Uh, uh, uh—I've never seen this before."

Li En sighed, raised his sword, and gave a light swing.

It was the same hue of radiant damage—the symbol of a Holy Knight.

"Knights, young knights…" the voice of the black knight, surprisingly young, addressed the knights of Kandela in a teasing tone toward juniors.

"Gold is the recognition granted by Him when you serve pure goodness to a sufficient degree."

A faint radiance spread as the knight removed his black dragon-winged helm, revealing a face younger than even the knight apprentices.

"I am Holy Knight Li En Sudar. I just dismantled a hidden Evil God cult—there were dangerous artifacts inside. They must be burned completely clean."

An Evil God? A cult? In this civilian neighborhood? In this old museum where many residents came for leisure?

It had been here for decades!

If anyone else said such nonsense, they'd be publicly scolded.

But this was a noble Holy Knight—his words might deserve trust.

Yet for all these years, this place was just an ordinary marketplace—what use could cultists possibly have here?

Doubt and unease spread; the scene remained painfully awkward.

On one side lay the unlucky officers; on the other, the weeping "Whisperers" among the citizens.

Li En sighed and tugged at the large sack resting on the stairs.

He pulled the opening slightly open, and a pile of chaotic items tumbled out.

Bloodstained scrolls, a sinister black chalice, and a large stack of human-skin books, each bound with faces.

These nightmare-born objects rolled everywhere, most still smeared with fresh blood—clearly recent "loot."

"These items must be properly destroyed. I don't know how many remain—none can be left. They must be burned utterly clean."

Li En gave a brief explanation, but the knights opposite didn't notice him—they were staring fixedly at one object that rolled out: a "sphere," seemingly the skull of a demon.

It had three eyes and four pupils, even bore strands of human hair—slightly odd. But what left the young knight apprentices bewildered was the aura emanating from the skull.

". It showed pure black in Detect Evil?! Aren't evil beings always red?"

"Look, there's a bit of red—on the edges, slightly red—is this red turned black? I heard from seniors—this is the first time I've seen such evil!"

"It was here? Beneath our homes? We never noticed?"

Demons are mid-tier monsters, but this one—clearly supernatural—was no ordinary demon; its skull alone was three times the size of a normal one, so imagine how formidable its full form must have been.

But the blackest thing of all was that dilapidated clock; it was practically radiating black light!

"Hmm, this is a living thing, or was until recently."

Li En offered a brief explanation, glanced back at the inferno, and casually summoned a flame, adding fuel to the fire right before everyone's eyes.

"Um, Knight Li En, may we exchange information? Which evil god's deed is this? 'The One-Eyed Butcher,' 'The Grey Parrot,' or Blood-Red?" The paladin apprentice leading the group asked whose handiwork this was.

The knights had already sprung into action, helping up those unlucky constables while firmly taking the wailing "Whisperers" into custody.

Li En had gained some fame in certain circles, but among the common people and low-to-mid-tier warriors, who made up ninety-nine percent of the population, he remained a relatively unfamiliar newcomer.

Most commoners did not care that the Princess had knighted someone new, nor did they know the difference between a Classical Knight and an ordinary Paladin.

"I cannot say." Li En replied calmly, leaving the other person at a loss: did you not even trust your fellow paladins?

"It is not a lack of trust in you. Once you graduate, you will learn that for some evil existences, their information and names are themselves evil and corrupting. Keeping the world away from them is one of our duties."

Li En gathered his spoils and wrapped them up.

With him guarding it, and with the knights raising no other objections, this fire was destined never to be extinguished.

Li En acted with great restraint; the firefighters who had been helped up were unharmed. With the knights' assistance, they dismantled some structures to create firebreaks, preventing the fire from spreading.

"Crackle!"

Finally, the building burned down and collapsed.

But unlike the expected collapse, after a tremendous boom, it actually began to sink inward continuously.

The central section started to gradually subside, dropping amidst a shower of wood chips.

The first-floor flooring had already been burned through; the immense weight pierced the floor, naturally revealing a massive hollow space beneath.

At this moment, even those Whisperer citizens were stunned; they had no idea that beneath the place where they usually exchanged books lay so many hollow spaces.

"What is this?!"

"How is this possible!"

The next moment, the citizens erupted in exclamations of shock.

The collapsed underground passage revealed a vast number of bones and flesh that had not yet finished burning!

Among them, many had already undergone reanimation in the land of negative energy; low-level ghasts, zombies, and skeletons were activated.

They struggled blindly within the sea of fire, yet gradually turned to ash.

The most absurd thing was that ghosts appeared one by one in mid-air; such ghostly life forms, born only of black magic, death from extreme resentment, or lands of negative energy, were extremely rare.

In the past, seeing just one would have been enough to stage a "haunted villa," yet in this single night, dozens, even hundreds, appeared in this area.

But they seemed to hold little resentment toward the living; they merely wandered the surroundings, wailing and singing mournful songs.

The arriving knights were dumbfounded; how many people had to die to create a place of wronged souls of this caliber?

If left unchecked, various undead creatures would be mass-produced crazily; within a few days, this entire district could be rendered completely useless.

The knight in black armor sighed, then snapped his fingers.

"Snap!"

Radiating from him as the core, orange-red light spread out.

That warm light was as if a small sun had descended to the mortal realm.

Under the care of this sunlight, the ghosts one by one gradually became insubstantial.

Some let out wails of unwillingness before gradually evaporating.

Others regained a measure of sanity and smiled gratefully at the black knight.

Whether bowing in respect or waving farewell, they then vanished completely into the air.

Li En sighed, continuing to maintain the holy scorching sun, offering these pitiable ones their final mercy and salvation.

But suddenly, he revealed an expression of surprise.

"Eh? I advanced as a paladin? To the third tier? Why does this two-headed monster incur the world's hatred?"

(End of this chapter)