Chapter 606: Divine Descent Sect (Monthly Vote Request at Month

Under the crimson moonlight piercing the curtains, Ludwig, dressed in a two-piece pajama set with a small jacket, spoke without emotion like a timepiece, recounting all the memories and knowledge he had absorbed from the half-burned brain and internal organs of the black-robed elder:

"Only his brain was his own; he called himself Prinipino."

"He grew old and his body weakened, so he turned to mysticism, unknowingly drawing the attention of the 'Great Mother,' acquiring many secret teachings, and becoming an Exceptional One…"

Hearing this, Lu Mi muttered silently, half mocking, half fearful:

Got the attention of the 'Great Mother' and didn't even get pregnant?

Are you sure you're following the real 'Great Mother'?

Ludwig continued:

"It's unclear when Prinipino began losing his internal organs; no related knowledge or memories were absorbed."

"Likewise, the time he became a product of human transmutation is unknown."

"His belief was:

"Humanity was once the Great Mother's most cherished and proud child; all stupidity, aging, and weakness stemmed from distancing ourselves from her, corrupted by reality."

"Only when the Great Mother's divine child descends into this world can humanity be saved, enter the afterlife, and return to its original form."

"At that time, the Great Mother will also return to the world she governs."

Using the gender-specific pronoun "she" to refer to the "Great Mother," not "he"… this suggests that in the eyes of people like Prinipino, pregnancy and childbirth remain distinctly female acts, so the Mother must be "she"… unlike the Night Wanderers' state… Lu Mi watched Ludwig and nodded approvingly.

Ludwig repeated, in a flat, unvarying tone, Prinipino's attempts and some of his abilities:

"The divine child requires a specific body, composed of internal organs from different people…"

"This is not the full descent ritual; a crucial part is missing…"

"Prinipino possesses extremely strong self-healing abilities; as a product of human transmutation, he is immune to many Exceptional abilities."

"He can control humans indirectly contaminated by the divine child, or Exceptional Ones who have directly contacted special patients, within a hundred-meter range, but only while unconscious…"

Hearing this, Lu Mi suddenly connected it to the Sequence 7 "Vampire" of the "Pharmacist" Path:

These Exceptional Ones all have powerful self-healing abilities and can create "blood servants" resembling their own puppets!

Lu Mi did not interrupt Ludwig, patiently waiting for him to continue:

"He excels at surgery and can directly heal others, possessing a ritual that allows a human to survive for a time even without internal organs."

"He can merge with trees and wooden objects, hiding inside them to gain a hard shell and evade detection."

"He can accelerate the growth and reproduction of living beings—including but not limited to rats, fleas, bedbugs, fungi, and various plants—but must consume his own life force; his life force can be replenished through failed divine child descent rituals, requiring a new set of internal organs every nine rituals…"

"He can also curse others, summon evil creatures, and burn his life to wield minor dark arts…"

When Ludwig finished, Lu Mi realized Prinipino's Exceptional abilities were highly varied: they included aspects of the "Vampire," traits of the "Farmer" from the "Earth" Path and the "Physician," along with traces of "dark arts," all powered by life force.

"Like a fusion of the 'Pharmacist,' 'Farmer,' and 'Dark Artisan' Paths—but not entirely… Can power be granted this way? The 'Great Mother' must indeed be the apex of these three Paths…" Lu Mi pondered for a while, took Ludwig's hand, and walked out of the suite.

He told Lu Jianuo, standing at the door:

"Go summon the priest from the prayer room here; tell him everything you know."

After giving the order, Lu Mi paused, then added:

"Find the captain first, then the priest."

"Yes." Lu Jianuo instinctively agreed, then hesitantly asked, "And you?"

"I'm going back to sleep. If they want to visit me, they can wait until tomorrow morning." Lu Mi waved his hand and, with Ludwig, walked down the dimly lit corridor toward his own suite.

Am I the only one responsible? Lu Jianuo muttered under his breath.

He suddenly realized the suite door, still littered with scattered organs, was now empty except for him—he shuddered violently and hurried toward the captain's cabin.

…………

Ten minutes later, inside the black-robed elder's suite.

Father Montserrat and Captain Pedro examined the scene while listening to Lu Jianuo's detailed account.

Nervously, Lu Jianuo told them he was an Exceptional One, a "Physician" of the "Farmer" Path, who had gained a reputation for exceptional healing skills, prompting Enio to visit him; then, late at night, while asleep, he had sleepwalked here and nearly had his organs removed, only saved by his employer.

Throughout his account, Lu Jianuo omitted only the part where Ludwig drank blood; everything else he knew, he revealed.

Captain Pedro, with his neatly trimmed brown beard, muttered half-jokingly:

"Could it be your employer killed the passenger in this suite, scattered his organs everywhere, and invented this evil wizard story to fool us?"

Uh… Lu Jianuo was momentarily speechless.

That possibility couldn't be ruled out!

Father Montserrat, clean-faced and dressed in a brown clerical robe, shook his head:

"We can determine if this story is true or false by checking Enio's physical condition."

"I know." Captain Pedro stroked his beard and looked at Lu Jianuo. "What's your employer's name?"

"Louis Berry." Lu Jianuo answered honestly.

"Louis Berry…" Pedro's eyes sharpened. "The adventurer Louis Berry who hunted the 'Devil Wizard'?"

Montserrat also widened his eyes slightly:

"The adventurer Louis Berry who, in cooperation with the Church in Sangtagang, secretly prevented evil forces from disrupting the Prayer-of-the-Sea ritual?"

This… is my boss that famous? Did the Church of the "Earth Mother" notify all clergy that Louis Berry was a friendly ally? Hmm, this ship departed from Sangtagang—the priest aboard must have been among the first to receive the notice… Lu Jianuo had considered it, but never imagined his employer's name carried such weight.

He answered without hesitation:

"Yes, the adventurer Louis Berry."

The moment Lu Jianuo finished speaking, the entire ship was flung upward, perched atop a wave dozens of meters high.

Yet there were no dark clouds, no rain, no wind, no lightning.

After leaping several times through the pitch-black waves, the steamship gently settled back onto the sea surface, and all around it returned to stillness.

Captain Pedro glanced at the messy suite and the windows still dripping with seawater, then asked Lu Jianuo in a low voice:

"Is this your employer's power?"

"I heard someone performed a sea magic trick in the bar tonight—was that real sea?"

"Yes." Though Lu Jianuo himself didn't understand what had happened, he attributed the awe-inspiring display to his employer.

He added:

"He's greeting you."

Captain Pedro and Father Montserrat fell silent.

After several seconds, Pedro asked the priest, whose apparent age was under thirty:

"Does the Church have any intelligence on such surgeries or rituals?"

Montserrat glanced at Lu Jianuo, not asking him to leave.

After a moment's thought, the priest spoke in a low voice:

"There is a group of misguided followers of the Mother who believe the corruption of this world and humanity's degeneration are tragic consequences of distancing from her."

"They seek every means to bring the so-called divine child into the real world, and through the child's return, summon the Mother's reappearance."

"We call them the 'Divine Descent Sect.'"

Lu Jianuo questioned skeptically:

"Can ordinary people's internal organs alone summon the divine child?"

He didn't know the exact surgery or ritual, but he guessed the key materials must be internal organs.

Montserrat stared at the remaining human organs in the suite and said gravely:

"The divine child is the Mother's child; humanity is also the Mother's child."

Meaning, fundamentally, no one is higher or lower—so organs can be used as materials, with quantity compensating for deficiency? Lu Jianuo roughly understood the priest's true meaning.

Many blood sacrifice rituals could be explained by this theory.

Father Montserrat said no more, turning to Lu Jianuo:

"Tell your employer we'll handle the aftermath; he need not worry."

"Understood." Lu Jianuo immediately exhaled in relief.

…………

The next morning, Lu Mi awoke on time to find he no longer possessed "the power of the sea," and thus could not obtain the authority of the "Sea Viceroy."

He sighed, drank a sip of weak beer, and began writing a letter to the "Magician" lady, detailing the Divine Descent Sect and the so-called divine child's birth in the Spirit World.

Soon, the "Doll" messenger brought a reply:

"Encountering the Divine Descent Sect, I can't tell if this is your problem or Lu Jianuo's."

"The so-called divine child has already been born in the Spirit World—that's just propaganda, understood? Like the Holy Scripture of the 'Fool' Church—listen, don't take it literally."

Of course, similar events do exist and are brewing and developing, and you are somewhat connected, since the original source was the empty cradle in Kerdou Village, the child "lost" by Mrs. Pualis.

"Also, feedback from all sides suggests one conclusion: the 'Night Lady' did not die in the Fourth Era's Trill; she even encountered or acquired something that further advanced the divine child phenomenon."

"Besides her, Vazan Sanson of the 'Sinner' organization also escaped Trill of the Fourth Era—reason unknown, fate unknown…"

Vazan Sanson is still alive? Lu Mi, reading halfway through the letter, froze, then smiled.

At that moment, someone knocked loudly on his bedroom door.

"Who?" Lu Mi knew it was Lu Jianuo outside, but asked anyway.

Lu Jianuo, behind the wooden door, replied fearfully:

"It's me."

"I heard the baby crying again!"

ps: Beginning of the month, requesting monthly votes—additional chapters for January will be posted on Saturday~

(End of Chapter)