Chapter 726: The Power of the Church

Although Xia De and Mr. Barton's party didn't leave the house from the same door, because the bloodstains on that "Professor Magis" were very thick, when Xia De circled to the alley behind the house, the blood-colored halo was still very conspicuous.

Especially in the foggy weather, those halos were almost like high-brightness display bars in the field of vision:

"A Ringed Shushi of the Truth Society, wouldn't he have just killed someone before coming?"

To prevent being discovered that he was following, Xia De didn't call a carriage but walked through the city with Mia the cat.

His pace was fast, and after about an hour, he left the city area and entered the southern suburbs of the city. But the bloodstains didn't enter the mountains from there, but turned into the manor area of local nobles under Sikar Mountain.

A month ago, the "Russell Manor" where the Spirit Cult opened the Rift passage for Xia De was also nearby.

"Could it be that the Ringed Shushi sent by the 【Truth Society】 to Midhillburg this time are all gathered in the nearby manors?"

Xia De thought in the forest, leaning against a tree, but because he thought of this point, he didn't continue to move forward:

"Better go into the city and tell the witches about this, or tell the Church. If I fight alone, I'm afraid running away would be a bit difficult."

"Meow~"

Mia, who was carried by Xia De, had long been impatient with the strange city. At this moment, as if she saw through Xia De's thoughts, she meowed as if to cater to him.

"Tomorrow I have to go deep into the Rift with the witches, today is still..."

Turning around and about to leave, but outside this forest land belonging to a certain noble, dense hoofbeats came.

Xia De subconsciously hid behind a tree. Through the thick fog, he saw the carriage team and the people riding horses passing in front of him. It was the carriage team of the Nature Sect, and the holy emblem on the carriage that could barely be identified could prove this point. And more than half of the people in the carriage team were Ringed Shushi, and the middle-aged man with strange green hair riding a horse even made Xia De not dare to look at him at all.

It wasn't that the other party had the ability of mental pollution, but Xia De was worried that he would be discovered if he looked directly at him. That man was highly likely a Thirteen-Ringed Shushi of the Nature Sect.

"What did I run into? What is the Nature Sect doing? That direction seems to be the direction where the blood-colored halo extends..."

The carriage in the center of the carriage team had heavy Whispering Elements. Just judging from the element concentration, he knew it was definitely not lower than 【Sage-level】. Xia De held his breath, leaning against the tree, covering little Mia's mouth, waiting quietly for the carriage team to go far away. But Xia De didn't even have time to exit this forest land before footsteps came from the depths of the dense forest behind him.

This time it was the Ringed Shushi of the Sun Church, with a total of 13 people, which was a standard combat team configuration.

They weren't rushing forward in a hurry, but were scattered around, throwing some shiny powder in the thick fog, and occasionally members holding compasses would stop and bury something in the ground, looking like stone runes.

"Are they setting up a corner of some large ritual?"

Even though he was holding the witch's jewelry, Xia De knew very well that he was no match for a full-staff Ringed Shushi team. He hurriedly walked towards the other side of the forest, fortunately, this kind of foggy weather was very suitable for hiding himself.

In less than ten minutes, Ringed Shushi appeared in the depths of the fog again. This time it was the Ringed Shushi of the Creation Church, and like those just now, they were throwing powder and burying rune stones. Xia De chose a direction to leave again, but soon found that it was safer to stay in place.

There seemed to be shadows of divine rituals everywhere in the fog. It seemed that in just half an hour, a huge regional divine ritual had already been set up nearby. Elements were being drawn, and the Church's Ringed Shushi were walking in the fog. If Xia De didn't guess wrong, something big was about to happen.

"It looks like the Church has completely surrounded this place... Things are developing more smoothly than I thought. If the Truth Society is completely wiped out, and Mr. Joey Barton is caught by the Church, then everything I did in Midhillburg this autumn will have the most perfect ending."

Xia De didn't move towards the center of the Church's encirclement, but he didn't break out of the encirclement either, but stayed in this forest land, wanting to wait for things to end before leaving safely.

This wait lasted from afternoon to evening. Xia De sat on a tree branch and watched the sun slide towards the west in the thick fog with Mia. As that brilliant sunset appeared in the sky little by little, the sun instead gradually disappeared behind Sikar Mountain.

The light and shadow shone on Xia De and the cat, and the mottled shadows swayed constantly on the ground. It was as if they were completely still, while time was flowing rapidly.

The last sunset reddened the faces of the person and the cat. Xia De looked at the sun, thinking about the future, while Mia stared wide-eyed at the crimson sun. It seemed to understand something, but it also seemed to understand nothing.

The wind brought someone's longing from afar, and then passed by them. Looking at the sun disappearing in the sky, the speed of time passing was faster than Xia De thought.

And when the last trace of the setting sun completely disappeared, the fog still obscured the sky, making it impossible to easily glimpse the sea of stars.

With the help of 【Moon Shadow Illusion】, Xia De was very confident that he wouldn't be discovered by anyone.

And at about seven o'clock in the evening, the calm night finally had waves.

As the originally normal element environment around appeared with wonderful waves, "She" in his ear gave a hint.

Xia De climbed to the top of the tree and looked into the distance with the cat. He saw that in the depths of the thick fog, under the western sky, the shadows of huge lush trees suddenly appeared. The giant trees were far higher than any trees in the forest, as if they could support the sky and the earth.

The green halo illuminated the fog in the distance, and the lush trees were silent, but just by looking at it, one could feel the natural power that seemed to contain everything. But soon, the giant trees disintegrated into dots of light, like a tornado that lingered in the night sky for a long time.

"Such rich Enlightenment Elements, what happened over there?"

Xia De hurriedly put Mia the cat on his head, squinting his eyes to see more clearly:

"Is this a Maze? Or a Word of Ascension? Is that Thirteen-Ringed Shushi of the Nature Sect taking action? Who is his opponent?"

The drifting green light spots also came to the forest where Xia De was a few minutes later. Those green lights looked completely harmless, just swaying with the wind, making the quiet night in the fog even more blurred.

At 7:10 in the evening, shortly after the explosion of Enlightenment Elements in the distance, blood-colored light suddenly flashed and rushed straight into the sky, followed by the sound of a whole ammunition depot exploding, spreading constantly under the night sky.

【Whispering Elements.】

"I know, what level of relic is this? Is this kind of sound and light effect too exaggerated?"

But even more exaggerated things happened afterwards. Xia De held the cat, dumbfounded, looking at the fog in the sky. As the blood light rushing into the sky suddenly became weaker, the starry sky appeared on his head. Then, the star signs in the distance shifted, and a twisted black hole suddenly appeared in the blurred sea of stars. Just by looking at it, Xia De immediately heard the wet, slippery whispering sound like tentacles wriggling.

He immediately moved his gaze away:

"What's inside that?"

A huge meteorite wrapped in flames "slowly" flew out from the black hole, leaving cracks in the air, and smashed directly at the location of the battlefield in the distance.

The flame tail dragged by that giant fireball was not normal, but instead looked like fire-red tentacles wriggling and swaying constantly. When seeing that meteorite, the whispering sound in Xia De's ear became clearer. The sound seduced him to worship a Great One residing in the starry sky, and that Great One possessed the ability to summon meteorites:

"Damn it, did the Truth Society use an Angel-level Relic?"

Even though the landing point of that meteorite was extremely far from Xia De, looking at it falling, the primitive panic in his heart could not be shaken off. With the fine whispers getting louder and louder, the fireball finally smashed towards the ground.

Xia De originally thought that there would be phenomena like earthquakes, but he didn't expect that golden light lit up all around. Then, the golden spiritual light of the entire area was lit up by the ground. If looking down at the foot of Sikar Mountain, a standard circle bloomed in the rugged mountains.

In the light of the divine ritual that had already been set up, a huge figure with golden wings on its back appeared in the sky in the thick fog.

The giant-like faceless angel wore a simple robe, but dense golden runes could be seen looming on the robe. In the sound of a whistle that was almost about to pierce the eardrums, a huge Twelve-Ringed Shushi life ring appeared behind the angel, completely commensurate with its body size.

This was the first time Xia De observed the life ring so clearly. The core spiritual runes were 【Holiness】 and 【Spirit Calling】. The fifty-plus spiritual runes of the Twelve Rings were mostly related to the concepts of summoning and divine arts.

That huge rotating brass life ring met the meteorite head-on, and then as the giant angel slashed out a golden treasure sword, the fire-red and golden light dissipated at the same time. In the light that illuminated the entire area, the meteorite dragging the flame tail like tentacles disappeared silently.

Xia De didn't know what to say anymore:

"This is the Twelve-Ringed Shushi of the Church, using the power of divine rituals to directly contend with high-risk relics? I knew it, as long as the Five Gods Church is prepared, those lunatics could never succeed. Which one is this? 【Star Calling Magic Stone】, 【Wriggling Star Remains】, or 【Star Curse Relic】? Oh!"

The shock wave generated by the collision between the divine ritual and the star-calling relic almost knocked Xia De, who was watching the fun on the tree, to the ground. The surrounding trees rustled, and the leaves that were already withered and yellow in late autumn fell with the wind.

After this blow that seemed to be able to level Sikar Mountain, a painful wail came from the distance, echoing constantly in the quiet night. Then there was another muffled sound, and the ground trembled slightly.

Xia De had already returned to the ground from the top of the tree with the frightened cat, hiding under the illusion, leaning against the tree, waiting for what would happen next.

The rumbling sound came constantly, and the golden spiritual light looming on the ground fluctuated with the frequency of breathing. Pitch-black light rushed into the sky, then was covered by the light of divine arts. Vaguely, someone could be heard shouting the Word of Ascension under the night sky, but because of the obstruction of the fog, it couldn't be heard very clearly.

The Five Gods Church was encircling and suppressing the 【Truth Society】, which in itself was not a fair battle. And Xia De, who witnessed the scene tonight, confirmed again that as long as the Church was prepared in advance, there was no Ringed Shushi force in the material world that could contend with them... except for the three major arcane academies. ===== CHAPTER 727 =====