Chapter 103

Chapter 76: The Return Journey, Part 2

“The royal city?” The long-robed old man frowned deeply. “How could they have infiltrated the royal city?”

The doctor at this moment also sat up straight.

“Not simple at all. The royal city isn’t somewhere just anyone can enter. That shell is thick enough.”

Shell? What shell…

“This indicates that they have at least someone in power or even within the church helping them in the royal city,” the Duke said.

The long-robed old man pondered for a moment and then asked Carlos, “Have you informed Queen Elizabeth?”

“I’ve already written a letter,” Carlos nodded in response. “All I know so far is that some goods entered the royal city not too long ago—about half a month ago. And there’s a plan to send another batch of goods next month. Based on the timeline, they seem to be delivering about five hundred grams every two months. Such a small amount wouldn’t even cover the costs… Clearly, they’re not doing this for gold coins.” The Duke tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest. “I was careless this time. I never imagined a trusted subordinate would do something like this… Now, I’ve ordered a thorough investigation of all merchants entering the city. Next time, their goods probably won’t follow the route through Cold Winter City anymore.”

“Your Excellency, you’re being overly cautious,” the old man waved his hand. “I know your character well. Over the years, your support for the church has been evident. But these heretics are sneaky; they’ve quietly infiltrated West Continent for so long. Looking back, their network seems more complex than I thought. Moving forward, we’ll need Your Excellency’s help to seal off their routes. They won’t set foot in Valen Empire again.”

“That’s not a problem, but…” The Duke looked troubled, as if he had some hidden difficulty.

Seeing this, the old man continued, “Your Excellency, if you have any difficulties, please speak openly. These heretics appearing in West Continent are a significant matter for the church. We must find a way to overcome all obstacles.”

The Duke nodded.

“Bishop Hobbs, rest assured. I will fully cooperate. Upon my return, I will immediately issue warnings to all territories under my jurisdiction and intensify the investigation of all incoming merchants. However…” The Duke hesitated before continuing, “My territory is limited, and I’m afraid I can’t do much about the situation with the Emperor. Today’s incident was witnessed by all of us. My nephew… is somewhat slow-witted, but he is still the first in line to inherit the throne. Therefore, it’s possible that heretics might have infiltrated the palace. Now, with this new development… honestly, I don’t know what to do.”

After saying this, the Duke lowered his head and rubbed his face, looking quite distressed.

At this moment, I quickly understood his meaning and continued,

“On the way here, I heard him tell the heretics that he wanted to drive the church out of the empire.”

The Duke glanced at me unintentionally, while I stared straight ahead with my dark, lively eyes at the old man.

Behind the scenes, I secretly reached out and touched the Duke’s palm.

“Your Excellency, Miss Silvija, you can rest assured. I will directly report this matter to His Holiness,” the old man said solemnly. “No matter what happens next, the church will provide you with the greatest support.”

The Duke smiled.

“Thank you, Bishop Hobbs.”

“May God bless us. All for the sake of the people,” the old man made the sign of the cross and then turned his gaze.

Carlos stepped towards me. “Mr. Carlos, tell us about the second route.”

“The second route… is very vague. The heretics at the bottom know almost nothing, only mentioning that most of the goods are to be transported to Dongzhou, to Nuo Gewei, the trading capital of the Yad Federation.” Carlos paused and looked at me. “Little Shi, the assassins you encountered were partly responsible for the transfer of these goods. I went to the site where you fought earlier, and the two members of the Gate of Truth you faced were clearly not ordinary people. This is why we came here. I extracted information from one of the assassins; their leader will be here today. And the person you mentioned, the one in the blood sacrifice phase, is him, right?”

“Yes.” I nodded quickly. “He wears a golden mask. However, I shattered it… What is this blood sacrifice phase?”

“You don’t know about this… the sin fire of the Gate of Truth is divided into three phases by those heretics. The first phase is called Burning. Enemies in this phase are relatively easy to deal with… Little Shi, do you remember the batch of merchants we talked about?”

“Yeah.”

“Two of them used the power of sin fire, which is the Burning phase, quite elementary. They can only use sin fire to burn themselves and gain much greater strength compared to ordinary people, but only compared to ordinary people. This phase of sin fire actually burns the flesh. In other words, besides not feeling pain, the flames will burn their skin, muscles, and eventually even their bones, turning them to ashes, just like being on a pyre.”

“The second phase is called Resurrection. Once the sin fire ignites in this phase, not only does the temperature rise several levels higher, the flames can easily melt steel and heal injuries… even fatal ones. Even if their limbs are cut off or their throats slit… you’ve seen it, right?”

“Yes. I slit an enemy’s throat, but they didn’t die.”

“Mm-hm, that’s the power of Resurrection. This state will continue until their blood… or something else is completely burned out… roughly speaking.”

I frowned hearing this. “Or something else?”

What did he mean by ‘or something else’? It sounded vague.

“Mm-hm, or something else. As for what exactly it is, I think only the heretics themselves know, perhaps even they don’t know… anyway, let’s move on to the third phase, Blood Sacrifice.”

“At this stage, it’s no longer something that fifty or so knights could handle; the enemies become terrifying.”说到这里，卡洛斯难得地严肃起来。“非常可怕。据我所知，这个阶段已经不是燃烧自己的血液了，而是别人的，无数人的，烧的人越多他们就越强。这样的异教徒，我曾经交过一次手……非常吃力。”

我吓了一跳。

连卡洛斯都觉得吃力的异教徒，怎么说也都是深渊级别的存在了吧……

真理之门，真的有这么可怕吗？

突然间，我想起了烂脸人在临死前的最后一击。据瓦拉尔说，他强行将业火提升到“血祭”的阶段，但身体却承受不住……但如果在真理之门中，有人能做到长时间持续……

也许卡洛斯说的是真的。

“But such heretics, even when looking at the entire Gate of Truth, are rare. By rights, you shouldn’t encounter them in Westzhou.”

“But today, I did.”

“You’re sure that’s the Blood Sacrifice phase?”

“