Xia De arrived at the doctor's early in the morning and had no plans to go to Middlesburg that morning, as he was seeing Iluna off. Last night, after returning home, Luvia, who was stargazing on the third floor, told Xia De that the Sun Church had officially decided to send Iluna to Middlesburg by steam airship, departing this afternoon.
According to the wind direction of this season and the weather along the way divined by the Prophet Association, Iluna and her group should arrive at the City of Mountains on Monday during the day. Since she was leaving and didn't know when she would return, Luvia decided to see Iluna off at Saint Delan Square Six.
This was why Xia De disturbed the doctor so early; he needed to return home as soon as possible.
Although for Xia De, who could travel freely between the two places, Iluna's "departure" was limited to the two days of her aerial journey. However, once she arrived in Middlesburg, Iluna would not be able to meet Xia De at any time, so Luvia wanted to tell her some things to prevent unexpected situations.
It was clear that the seventeen-year-old girl also didn't want to leave Tobesk. When parting with Xia De and Luvia, she hugged them both reluctantly, and even hugged the somewhat unwilling Mia.
"I'll send you postcards."
Finally, standing in the downstairs foyer and thanking them, Iluna said with some reluctance, and Xia De wisely did not say that he could also buy postcards.
"In any case, be careful in Middlesburg. If anything happens, remember to write to the House of the Blind that Xia De mentioned, and Xia De will help you."
Luvia reminded him patiently.
Although Iluna had performed the ritual to advance to Four Ring after obtaining the Ling Rune of Tragedy, once again being one Ring higher than Xia De, in Luvia's eyes, she was still an immature girl who had just come of age (Note: 16 is considered adulthood).
"Yes, I know. Don't worry about me, I'm very powerful."
She hugged Luvia again:
"You two be careful too, especially Xia De."
Saying that, the young girl looked at Xia De again:
"The Church has opened up some internal material to me. The situation in Middlesburg is really bad right now."
"I have High-Ring Sorcerer friends there, and they will protect me."
Xia De said with a smile:
"Monday, we'll meet in Middlesburg. Although I can't meet you directly, I can go to the Sun Church entrance and wait for your group to enter the church. Remember to look around then, you should be able to see me. Take this, I think it will be useful."
As he spoke, he took out his pocket watch, pulled out a youthful immortality leaf from the watch cover, and handed it to Iluna. After the banquet, he had three leaves, so his leaf reserves were plentiful.
Iluna had seen this type of leaf when the three of them broke into the ruins to fight the Silver-Eyed One, so Xia De didn't need to explain what it was:
"I still have a lot, you take it."
"Alright then."
She hesitated for a moment, took the leaf, then stood on tiptoe and kissed Xia De on the cheek:
"Then I wish you a smooth journey, Xia De."
Xia De glanced at Luvia, and seeing her smiling at them, he said softly:
"Have a smooth journey, Iluna, we'll see you in Middlesburg."
Today was Friday, the fourth day of the harvest month. After seeing Iluna off, Luvia also left and returned to the Prophet Association, so Xia De finally had time to write a reply to Mia Gold.
The letter arrived this morning, but Xia De was in a hurry to ask the doctor about the Flame Demon, so he didn't even open the letter.
This letter, like the letters from the past few months, in addition to the usual 10 pounds for cat care, still expressed Miss Gold's concern for the orange cat.
Miss Gold also stated her physical condition in the letter; she unfortunately fell ill in the summer, and her condition worsened last month. But this month, the situation seemed to have improved somewhat, at least according to the letter.
In Xia De's reply, he first expressed concern for his client, then described in detail the daily interactions with Mia. Finally, he praised the cat's cuteness and wrote almost as an exclamation:
"If I could meet such a cat, I would have adopted it."
This was also part of the probing; Xia De was waiting for a suitable time.
He was now very much like Miss Gold's pen pal; they exchanged one letter a month and communicated on topics of cat ownership and health. In the past few letters, Xia De had appropriately expressed his love for this cat, so this time, saying such words was to eventually say that he wanted to adopt this cat in the winter.
"For you, I really put in a lot of effort."
He put down his pen and stroked the cat that was squatting on the desk, looking at the letter on the table. When Xia De stroked her, Mia narrowed her eyes and meowed, looking very satisfied.
He had planned to go to Middlesburg after mailing the letter, and if nothing happened, he would return at four in the afternoon to read at home. But before Xia De could leave, Luvia, who had only left an hour ago, returned.
"What's wrong? You didn't find any new news about the Chosen One of death?"
Luvia had a spare key here because she was going to conduct autumn stargazing activities at Xia De's place. When she rushed up, she almost startled Mia.
"No, no, it's about what you asked me to investigate!"
She held a notebook in her hand:
"A while ago, didn't you ask me to investigate the Spiritual Cultivation Order? Just now, after leaving your place and arriving at the association, I got the document!"
"Oh, any news?"
Xia De asked curiously, and Luvia's face broke into a smile:
"Very good news, Xia De, the Spiritual Cultivation Order is indeed related to the cult of the Ancient Gods that has disappeared! Guess which Ancient Gods' cult they are a branch of?"
"Hmm... Moon?"
"Of course not, it's death. Why would you think it's Moon?"
Luvia asked curiously, motioning for Xia De to sit down, then handed him the notebook in her hand:
"I provided effective intelligence to the association during the Darkness Domain event in Tobesk, which is why I was able to get this confidential information this time. This information is top secret, and the original intelligence cannot be taken out of the association. The content on the notebook is what I copied. It's really interesting, guess what the association recorded?"
Xia De looked down at the notebook:
"After the ancient death god departed, due to problems in the interpretation of doctrines, his cult disintegrated into different factions, and with the passage of time, evolved into different organizations... Is the Spiritual Cultivation Order a branch of the ancient death Church?"
"Yes, and not only that, look further back."
Luvia seemed very excited:
"I didn't expect the association to be willing to open such information to me. Although the association's statement is vague and even just a passing mention, I can see that the association's records indicate that the Creation and Destruction Church and the Church of Nature and Malice each absorbed a part of the ancient death Church's branches."
"What?"
Xia De looked at her in surprise:
"The Orthodox Church absorbed a part of the Ancient Gods' Church?"
"Yes."
Luvia nodded, her smile very obvious:
"This explains a lot of things. The reason why the Orthodox Gods are more powerful than the existing Evil Gods, and why the Orthodox Gods are called Orthodox Gods, I think a bold guess can be put forward!"
"Yes. After the original thirteen gods departed, other great ones inherited part of their power."
Xia De also stated his judgment. This was an idea he had after obtaining the Vibration Ling Rune through the Earthshaking Worm and discussing it with Aurora on the train back to Coldwater Port:
"But they didn't inherit all the power. Those two Orthodox Gods only inherited a part of the ancient death god's power, otherwise it wouldn't explain why some branches of cults that believed in Ancient Gods would merge into the Orthodox Church, because their doctrines could be explained, and for people living in the era when Ancient Gods departed, this was not apostasy!"
"Yes."
Luvia was very happy that Xia De could keep up with her thoughts.
"However, what intelligence did you submit to make the association willing to share such information?"
"Nothing much, some of the rules of the 'Chosen One' that Iluna mentioned, and the information about the 'Dark Dungeon' that you told me. Also, didn't Iluna mention that the Dawn Church also seemed to have a Darkness Gate (Chapter 548)? I also told the Church about this."
Luvia said.
"How did you explain the source of the intelligence?"
Although the association knew that Luvia's divination was sometimes "very accurate," such intelligence probably couldn't be divined.
"In the Darkness Domain, didn't I leave alone to find help? During that time, I encountered a strange shadow, and it told me."
"What shadow?"
Xia De asked curiously.
"How would I know?"
Luvia shook her head, somewhat proudly:
"Let the association guess. Anyway, the intelligence I provided is completely accurate. For a diviner, the process of divination is less important than the conclusion, after all, people only care about the result."
That after the Ancient Gods departed, the Orthodox Gods, Old Gods, and existing Evil Gods inherited part of their power was something Xia De had long suspected. He even believed that the difference between "Miracle" and "blasphemy" should also be related to this. But it was only today, after hearing Luvia's intelligence, that this was truly confirmed.
The secret of the Ancient Gods' departure and the source of power of the existing gods also had a great relationship with Xia De. After all, the ultimate goal of his path to godhood with the Twelve Divinities was to become a true god.
And since Luvia knew that the Spiritual Cultivation Order was a branch of the ancient death Church, she encouraged Xia De to have more contact with the Spiritual Cultivation Order.
Perhaps Sister Devlin, whose eyes could see souls, was truly the third Chosen One they had been searching for for a long time.
