Although Xia De and Mr. Barton's group did not leave the house through the same door, the bloodstains on 'Professor Margus' were very heavy, so when Xia De circled to the alley behind the house, the bloody halo was still very conspicuous.
Especially in the heavy fog, those halos were like highlighted display bars in one's vision:
"A Ring術士 from the Truth Society? Did he just kill someone before coming here?"
To avoid being discovered that he was following, Xia De did not call a carriage but walked through the City with Mia.
He walked quickly, and about an hour later, he left the urban area and entered the southern suburbs of the City. But the bloodstains did not enter the mountains there; instead, they turned into the manor area of the local nobles at the foot of Sicar Mountain.
A month ago, Russell Manor, where the Spiritual Cultivation Order opened the Gap passage for Xia De, was also nearby.
"Could it be that the Ring術士s sent by The Society of Truth to Middlesburg this time are all gathered in the nearby manors?"
Xia De leaned against a tree in the Woodland, thinking in surprise, but precisely because he thought of this, he did not continue forward:
"It's better to go into the City and tell the Witches, or tell the Church. If I'm alone and it really comes to a fight, I'm afraid even escaping would be difficult."
"Meow~"
Mia, whom Xia De was carrying, had long been impatient with the unfamiliar City. At this moment, as if seeing through Xia De's thoughts, she meowed, as if echoing him.
"Tomorrow, I still have to go deep into the Gap with the Witches, so today..."
He was about to turn around and leave, but outside this Woodland belonging to a certain noble, dense hoofbeats came.
Xia De subconsciously hid behind a tree and, through the thick fog, saw a procession of carriages and people on horseback passing by. It was a convoy from the Natural Church; the holy emblem on the carriages, which he could barely discern, proved this point. And among the people in the convoy, almost more than half were Ring術士s, among whom a middle-aged man with strange green hair riding a horse made Xia De not even dare to look directly at him.
It wasn't that the other party had mental pollution abilities, but Xia De was worried that looking directly at him would make him discovered. That man was very likely a Thirteen Ring Sorcerer of the Natural Church.
"What did I just stumble upon? What is the Natural Church trying to do? That direction seems to be the direction where the bloody halo extends..."
There was a strong whisper element on the carriage in the center of the convoy. Just judging from the concentration of the element, it was definitely no lower than Sage-level. Xia De held his breath, leaning against the tree, covering Mia's mouth, and quietly waited for the convoy to move away. But Xia De didn't even have time to exit this Woodland when footsteps suddenly came from the depths of the dense forest behind him.
This time, it was Ring術士s from the Sun Church, a total of 13 people, a standard combat team configuration.
They were not rushing forward but were spread out, sprinkling some glittering powder in the thick fog. Occasionally, a member holding a compass would stop and bury something in the ground, which looked like stone runes.
"Are they setting up a corner of some large ritual?"
Even with the Witch's jewelry, Xia De knew very well that he was no match for a fully staffed Ring術士 team. He hurriedly walked towards the other side of the forest. Fortunately, this foggy weather was very suitable for hiding.
In less than ten minutes, Ring術士s appeared again from the depths of the fog. This time, they were Ring術士s from the Creation Church, and like the previous group, they were sprinkling powder and burying runestones. Xia De again chose a direction to leave, but he quickly realized that it was safer to stay where he was.
It seemed that there were shadows of divine rituals everywhere in the fog. In just about half an hour, a colossal regional divine ritual had already been set up with its base array nearby. Elements were being drawn, and the Church's Ring術士s were moving through the fog. If Xia De wasn't mistaken, something big was about to happen.
"It looks like the Church has completely surrounded this place. Things are developing even more smoothly than I expected. If the Truth Society is completely wiped out, and Mr. Joey Barton is captured by the Church, then everything I've done in Middlesburg this autumn will have the most perfect ending."
Xia De did not advance towards the center of the Church's encirclement, nor did he break out towards the periphery. Instead, he remained in this Woodland, wanting to wait for things to end before safely leaving.
He waited from afternoon until evening. Xia De sat on a tree branch with Mia, watching the sun in the sky, obscured by thick fog, slide towards the west. As the brilliant sunset gradually appeared on the horizon, the sun gradually disappeared behind Sicar Mountain.
Light and shadow shone on Xia De and the cat, and mottled shadows constantly swayed on the ground. It was as if they were completely still, but time was flowing rapidly.
The last rays of sunset reddened the faces of the man and the cat. Xia De looked at the sun, contemplating the future, while Mia stared wide-eyed at the crimson sun. She seemed to understand something, but also seemed to understand nothing at all.
The wind brought someone's distant thoughts, then passed by them. Watching the sun disappear on the horizon, time passed even faster than Xia De had imagined.
And when the last trace of residual sunlight completely vanished, the fog still obscured the sky, preventing the star sea from being easily glimpsed.
Through Moonlight Illusion, Xia De was very confident that he would not be discovered by anyone.
And at about seven o'clock in the evening, the calm night finally saw a ripple.
As the surrounding, originally normal, elemental environment showed strange fluctuations, "She" by his ear gave a prompt.
Xia De climbed to the top of the tree with the cat and looked as far as he could, only to see a huge shadow of a verdant tree suddenly appear in the depths of the thick fog, under the western sky. That giant tree was far taller than any tree in the forest, as if it could support the sky and the earth.
Green light illuminated the distant fog, making it glow. The verdant tree was silent, but just by seeing it, one could even feel the natural power that seemed to encompass everything. But soon, the giant tree disintegrated into countless specks of light, like a tornado, lingering in the night sky for a long time.
"Such a strong Enlightenment Element, what happened over there?"
Xia De hurriedly put Mia on his head, squinting his eyes, wanting to see more clearly:
"Is this a Mystic Lock? Or Sublimation Words? Is that Thirteen Ring Sorcerer of the Natural Church making a move? Who is his opponent?"
The scattered green light spots also reached the Woodland 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 mesmerizing.
At 7:10 PM, not long after the Enlightenment Element erupted in the distance, a bloody light suddenly flashed and shot straight into the sky, followed by a rumbling sound like an entire munitions depot exploding, continuously spreading under the night sky.
"whisper element."
"I know. What level of relic is this? Is this sound and light effect too exaggerated?"
But something even more exaggerated happened next. Xia De, holding the cat, watched in astonishment as the fog in the sky, with the soaring bloody light, suddenly became thinner, and the starry sky appeared above their heads. Then, the distant constellations shifted, and a distorted black hole suddenly appeared in the blurred star sea. Just by looking at it, Xia De immediately heard the squirming, tentacle-like, slippery whisper.
He immediately shifted his gaze:
"What's in there?"
A huge meteorite, engulfed in flames, "slowly" flew out of the black hole, leaving shattered traces in the air, and directly smashed into the distant battlefield.
The flaming tail pulled by that huge fireball was not normal; instead, it looked like fiery red tentacles constantly wriggling and swaying. When he saw that meteorite, the whisper in Xia De's ears became clearer. The voice tempted him to worship a great one residing in the starry sky, a great one who possessed the ability to summon meteorites:
"Damn it, did the Truth Society use an angel-level relic?"
Even though the meteorite's landing point was extremely far from Xia De, watching it fall, the primal panic in his heart still could not be shaken off. As the fragmented whispers grew louder, the fireball finally crashed into the ground.
Xia De originally thought there would be phenomena like an earthquake, but he didn't expect golden light to illuminate all around. Then, the fog in the entire area was lit up by the golden spiritual light from the ground. If one looked down at the foot of Sicar Mountain, a perfect circle bloomed in the rugged mountains.
In the light of the already prepared divine ritual, a giant golden figure with wings on its back appeared in the sky amidst the thick fog.
The giant, faceless Angel wore a simple robe, but on the robe, dense golden Ling Runes could be faintly seen. Amidst the almost ear-piercing whistle, a huge Twelve Ring Destiny Ring, perfectly matching the Angel's physique, appeared behind it.
This was the first time Xia De had observed a Destiny Ring so clearly. The central core Ling Runes were 【Holiness】 and 【Spirit Summoning】. The more than fifty (Note) Ling Runes of the Twelve Ring were mostly related to the concepts of summoning and divine magic.
The rotating, giant brass Destiny Ring met the meteorite head-on, and then, as the colossal Angel slashed out with a golden sword, both the fiery red and golden lights dissipated simultaneously. In the light that illuminated the entire area, the meteorite, dragging a flaming tail that looked like tentacles, vanished silently.
Xia De was already speechless:
"This is a Twelve Ring Arcanist of the Church, directly countering a high-risk relic with the power of a divine ritual? I knew it, as long as the Orthodox Church is prepared, those madmen will absolutely not succeed. Which one is this? 【Star-Calling Demonic Stone】, 【Wriggling Star Cadaver】, or 【Star's Cursed Object】? Oh!"
The shockwave generated by the collision of the divine ritual and the star-calling relic almost knocked Xia De, who was watching the excitement from the tree, to the ground. The surrounding trees rustled, and the already withered leaves of late autumn fell with the wind.
After this blow, which seemed capable of leveling Sicar Mountain, a painful wail came from afar, echoing continuously in the silent night. Then there was another muffled thud, and the ground trembled slightly.
Xia De had already descended from the treetop with the startled cat and returned to the ground. Hidden by the illusion, he leaned against a tree, waiting for what would happen next.
Rumbling sounds continuously came, and the faint golden spiritual light on the ground fluctuated with the frequency of breathing. Dark light shot into the sky, then was covered by the divine light. Faintly, someone could be heard shouting Sublimation Words in the night sky, but due to the obstruction of the fog, it could not be heard very clearly.
The Orthodox Church was besieging The Society of Truth; this was not a fair fight in itself. And Xia De, having witnessed tonight's scene, once again confirmed that as long as the Church was prepared in advance, there was no Ring術士 force in the material world that could contend with them... The Three Great Arcane Academies being an exception.
PS: A Twelve Ring has a minimum of 48 runes, but it doesn't necessarily mean that each ring must have four runes to upgrade.
