"There's little hope... but what can I do?" Lun Xi looked at the sky above the city, where the scorching sun was rising. "It's better than going along with the crowd, isn't it?"
"Probably," Qi Ji didn't continue the topic, "Where are we going next? It's still early before nine o'clock in the evening."
The meeting between Ins and the liaison officer at nine o'clock in the evening was the highlight. It could even be said that their previous consultation with Frion's caravan about the Order of Saint Hydra was dispensable and was just an appetizer.
Because the emblem of the Order of St. Hydra has spiritual residues of the antidote to the plague, strictly speaking it does not explain anything particularly critical.
The antidote for the fever was bought from inland areas by Baron Augustus Lionsmith.
Although the "Lookout City" is located on the coast of the South China Sea, according to Friant's caravan, its economy is quite prosperous and it can be called an inland city.
Maybe that's where the antidote came from? If the antidote was shipped by Saint Hydra, that would make sense.
With the world's transportation capabilities, it usually takes about a month for a caravan to travel from the country's southern coast to the middle of the eastern border.
If the badge had been stored together with the antidote for such a long time for some reason, it would have been contaminated by the spirituality of the antidote.
Therefore, the clue of the emblem of the Saint Xudra Consultative Group... may not be meaningful for the incident of Ghost Wolf.
However, Qi Ji thought that since there was plenty of time, and one more morning wouldn't be a big deal, so it wouldn't hurt to ask, and maybe he could find out something.
Although it seems like a wasted trip now...it doesn't matter, at least I saved Frion's caravan, which is considered a good deed.
"How about we go to church?" Renxi raised his head and thought for a while, then suggested:
"First, we can ask the priest Saint Xudela whether he has ever been to Stio. Second, we can ask him why the ritual of rebirth suddenly failed... It can also be regarded as a small favor to everyone in the caravan."
Chapter 60 Church
The majestic and magnificent church rises on the horizon.
First there are the towering spires full of Gothic architectural features, then there are the colorful rose windows, pointed arches, and giant stained glass windows with unknown religious myths painted on the glass.
Finally, the nearly five-meter-high double-door door stood before us. Rather than a sacred and solemn aura, it gave off a more intimidating and oppressive feeling.
"Is that priest in there..." Before entering the door, Qi Ji asked Lun Xi, "How many 'Church Knights' are there in Stio?"
"Seven, and in addition there are more than twenty clergy of lower ranks."
Qi Ji's inspiration scanned the church, but he didn't find the church knight who had escaped before. He was probably still hiding in the Great Forest of the East Territory and hadn't returned yet.
However, there are indeed six other spiritual fluctuations with different details but similar intensity and characteristics. They are most likely the other six church knights.
It is worth mentioning that when Qi Ji tried to deepen her inspiration, she clearly felt that her perception was resisted by a force.
It seems that there is some "field" that is protecting this church from the prying and invasion of external forces.
For Qi Ji, the resistance was not that strong. As long as she was determined, she could break through its defense in an instant.
It's just that she came here for consultation, not to cause trouble. If she forced a breakthrough, the other party would definitely notice it, and the situation would not end well.
So she wisely put away her perception and started thinking, examining and analyzing it.
Perhaps you can use a gentle, inconspicuous way... and let your perceptions slowly "seep in".
"I'll leave the rest to you," Qi Ji slowed down and followed behind Lun Xi, "I don't understand religious etiquette and etiquette, so you will be responsible for negotiating with the people inside. I will try not to talk."
"no problem!"
Lunxi's face turned serious, he clenched his right fist and swung it slightly, making a gesture to cheer himself up as if he had received a mission in danger.
Walking slowly through the open door, one is greeted by an awe-inspiring scene.
An old dark red carpet extends in a straight line from the door for more than ten meters, then climbs up the steps to the altar, and finally ends under the solid wooden table.
On both sides of the aisle, neatly arranged benches with backrests were densely arranged, with a few people sitting here and there to pray. Judging from their attire, there were businessmen, middle-class people, adventurers, and civilians, but no poor people from the South District.
The morning light shines through the colored windows, being refracted into a myriad of colors, sprinkling across the lobby in a dreamy and holy way.
The layout and style are basically the same as those of Catholic churches in the western part of the world.
"…His earthly angel was manifested, and immediately came out of the sunlight. And suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of the goddess descending like a bubble, and falling upon him…"
On the high table, there was an open hardcover book lying flat. A rough hand was pressing on the pages, and a solemn and majestic voice was reciting passages of scripture.
“…and a voice from heaven said, ‘These are my people, with whom I am well pleased’…”
The owner of the hand was a man in his fifties, with a handsome face and bright eyes. He was wearing a monk's robe with a white base and golden patterns.
On the wall behind him, a huge rectangular canvas hangs high.
On the fabric full of the breath of time, a pattern with gold and yellow as the main colors was drawn:
The left hand is raised high, and the palm is shining like a bright sun.
"Is this the holy emblem of the 'Church of Grace'..." Qi Ji stopped and looked up.
"Yes," Lunxi lowered his voice and leaned close to her ear to explain, "That is the symbol of the just and great 'God of Grace and Redemption' Perrinne - the 'Left Hand of the Law'."
"The one who is chanting is Pastor Rosago?"
Lunxi nodded silently, and then reminded: "Well, it's better to avoid calling the priest by his name... It may be an offense to the goddess."
Qi Ji shrugged indifferently and said nothing more.
Lunxi led her to a seat near the front row, probably waiting for the pastor to finish reading the sutra.
“…the first woe is past, but two more are yet to come.”
After a few minutes, Rosago stopped muttering, lifted his hand from the book, and then used both hands to quickly and forcefully close the A5-sized tome.
"Snapped!"
The crisp sound of papers colliding announced the end of this round of sermon.
The church suddenly fell into an almost absolute silence. After a moment, a rustling sound was heard. Some people stood up and left, while others remained sitting in their seats, bowing their heads and praying.
Lunxi waited for another ten seconds until Rosago put the "Holy Book of Redemption" with a dark gold cover into his monk's robe. Then she stood up and walked slowly towards him.
"Miss Lunxi, what can I do for you?"
Rosago looked at her, his voice was magnetic, like the vibration of a piece of metal.
"Reverend Pastor, I have something to ask you." Lunxi took off the shawl covering his face, "Please forgive me for disturbing you."
Her face had not been revealed before this, but Rosago still saw her true identity.
"That's fine," Rosago said, a mask-like smile on his face, showing no emotion. "Go ahead."
"Reverend Pastor, have you ever heard of the 'Saint Xudra Society'?" Lunxi said seriously, "This is a merchant group with its headquarters in Lookout City. I want to know if they have come to Stio recently?"
Rosago said slowly: "A few days ago, a caravan from outside the province did come here, but they were foreign pagans, and they were not called the 'Saint Hydra Society'."
"I see..." Lunxi knew he was talking about Friant's caravan, so he picked up the next question:
"Excuse me, is there something wrong with the church's 'Ritual of Resilience'? I just saw some aliens running out of the forest."
"Some unexpected accidents are beyond human control." Rosago said mysteriously, looking at the dome of the church and the mottled sky through the stained glass windows, "...the mystery of fate is unpredictable."
Seeing that he was obviously avoiding the question, Lunxi wanted to ask more questions, but when she opened her mouth halfway, she suddenly deflated as if she had lost her breath and shook her head imperceptibly.
"Okay, I get it." She ended the conversation helplessly.
"God's grace is upon you." Rosago spoke in a mysterious tone, with the smile on his face unchanged.
Lunxi turned around, and Qi Ji, who had been keeping his head down and acting as a background board, suddenly raised his head and looked in one direction.
Success...
After spending several minutes, Qi Ji finally figured out the "force field" that blocked external perception!
At this moment, her perception was suddenly unrestrained. From only being able to cover the lobby, she could now easily sweep the entire church without having to worry about being discovered by that power.
"It actually took so long... Tsk, this is not easy."
In terms of strength, that power is actually not that great. If used forcefully, Qi Ji can crush it with just a thought.
But if you want to use gentle means to bypass and evade its detection, the difficulty increases exponentially.
The reason is... its composition and operating mechanism are extremely complex, much more complex than the sum of the spiritual spell system and the energy shaping spell system.
She was able to reverse and master the latter in just a moment, but the former took her several minutes to "penetrate" and was temporarily unable to "reproduce".
Qi Ji realized that this was no longer a simple "spiritual influence", but was mixed with something... of a higher level.
A brief newsletter on wartime update strategy
This book is expected to be available in early September. To increase exposure, a new update strategy will be implemented throughout September:
，分别于14:00，20:00前后更新；
，分别于10:00，14:00，20:00前后更新；
3. On the day of release, there will be at least 2 words updated, about eight to ten chapters.
This strategy is tentatively scheduled to be implemented only in September, and if there are special circumstances, a separate decision will be made at that time.
Because I need to prepare some manuscripts, there will only be one update today. Please forgive me.
=======================
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Chapter 61 "MacGuffin"
"Let's go." Qi Ji stood up, said hello to Lunxi, then turned around and walked towards the gate without looking back.
"Uh, okay..." Lunxi didn't quite understand why she was in such a hurry to leave, but out of trust he didn't think much about it and followed her.
Rosago watched the two men's receding backs until they were swallowed up by the sunlight pouring in from the door. Then he slowly walked down the altar and headed towards a small wooden door in the corner of the lobby.
From beginning to end, his smile remained unchanged, like a smiling mask on his face.
"Go forward, don't look back, and don't talk."
Qi Ji and Lun Xi were walking side by side. Suddenly, a voice sounded in Lun Xi's mind. She was startled, but soon realized that it was Qi Ji's voice, and she was connecting with her spirit through some magical means.
Although he had all kinds of doubts in his mind, Lunxi appeared calm and said nothing, as if he had heard nothing.
She knew that Qi Ji must have his reasons for everything he did. He was right next to her, but he insisted on using magic to pass on messages. He definitely didn't do that for no reason.
Perhaps there was some factor that made it...inconvenient for her to speak directly.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Qi Ji's voice sounded in my mind again:
"If you have anything you want to say, just focus and say it silently in your mind. I can hear you."
Lunxi thought about it for a moment, determined the question he wanted to ask, and then did so:
"Did Xiao Qiji discover something unusual? Is there something wrong with the Reverend?!"
She had a premonition. The priest's words and actions just now were all strange, especially his answer when she asked about the ritual of rebirth, which was ridiculously careless.
She simply could not understand why everyone, from the priest to the church knights, avoided talking about the cause of the accident.
If there is something wrong with the ceremony, then it is wrong. Just admit it, compensate where necessary, and punish where necessary.
It would be fine if it was the Knights of the Church, and it could be attributed to simple arrogance and personal discrimination against pagans and outsiders.
This kind of thing is indeed shameful, but being a church knight... and a church knight in a small border town, is not a very core position after all.
There are people who are unworthy of such marginal positions. Although Lunxi was angry, it did not exceed her psychological expectations.
But church pastors are different!
Because the church is the center of the Grace Holy Church's supervision of secular power, and it is the anchor point for the divine power of the Goddess of Grace in the mortal world.
The church priests represent the Grace Holy Church itself. Their duties are to monitor, restrain, and manage the behavior of local nobles to prevent them from apostasy, blaspheming God, committing evil, and escaping the control of the church.
Every church pastor reports directly to the church, and only the church has the right to appoint, dismiss, promote or demote them.
Even the church minister in the smallest town had nominal power greater than that of the greatest nobleman.
The church pastor is the spokesperson for the church's will.
Such a person cannot be considered an ordinary person, and it is impossible to explain Rosago's perfunctory response by saying "discrimination against pagans."
So, what is the reason that caused the ritual to fail?
To put it bluntly, only a foreign caravan was harmed in this accident, and the residents of Stio themselves did not die. Even if the higher church blames them, the punishment will not be that severe.
