Chapter 541: High-Tier Divine Art and the Foul Blood Curse
Eivass obtained unexpected information this time when he visited the Central Observation Bureau.
He didn’t manage to find out where the troll’s grandfather, “Old Rabih,” was… but he did figure out the origin of the corpses that were found in the wardrobe.
…Or at least, he thought so.
Although Eivass felt that he could only believe half of it, considering Pure White’s unstable mental state, it seemed like a plausible development. At least in her perception, it was possible that the Candidate Saintess named Gloria Blue Rose could have killed Bishop Mercedes.
“…Your Highness the Saintess, are you alright?” Eivass asked softly, looking at Pure White’s troubled expression.
Pure White simply held her forehead and shook her head slightly: “It’s not serious, just a slight headache. It hasn’t worsened.”
Her bandaged eyes revealed no emotion.
“Excuse me, who is this Gloria person…?” Sherlock asked, “Is she also your friend?”
He wasn’t someone devoid of emotional intelligence; quite the opposite, Sherlock had a precise grasp of psychology. It was simply that someone had to ask these questions. Eivass wasn’t well-suited for such tactless matters, so it fell to him.
“…No, Gloria was one of Mercedes’ childhood friends. She didn’t know Janis… she’s a friend closer to Mercedes’ side, and my relationship with her… is about average. She might be somewhat jealous of me, possibly because I became a Saintess, or perhaps because I’m on good terms with Mercedes. But I always thought she was a good child before…”
Pure White’s expression was quite complex: “In this regard, Cardinal Loki was right, the probability of Candidate Saintesses undergoing ‘Ning Po’ is quite high. There are many children like her who have undergone Ning Po, and I talk to them every week. All the children I grew up with have now undergone Ning Po… Gloria and Mercedes were the last two from my generation.”
“Wait, does that mean…” Lily, who had been watching for a long time, suddenly realized something upon hearing this: “Master Janis, was she also a Candidate Saintess before?”
“No,” the Pure White Saintess shook her head. “A Saintess needs to resonate with the Nine Pillar Gods, so they must learn the skills of the Nine Great Paths simultaneously. Janis was someone who started teaching us girls the arts of beauty back then, the same mentor who taught Mercedes and me… Gloria was eliminated too early, she didn’t even reach this stage.”
“So, you mean to say,” Eivass slowly spoke up after hearing this, “she has undergone Ning Po for over two hundred years…?”
“Yes, Gloria should be the one who has undergone Ning Po in the Church for the longest time,” Pure White nodded. “Gloria has been in Ning Po for nearly two hundred years, and for all these years, Mercedes and I have been taking care of her. Ever since Ning Po began, Gloria’s mind and age have been fixed at that moment. From then on, she couldn’t engage in any other work—because any work would be repetitive and could eventually become annoying. And usually, once Ning Po begins, it’s generally completed within a few months. Therefore, exempting Ning Po-affected individuals from all work is also a humane gesture of care for the dying. Not to mention, some people might worry that spending too much time with someone undergoing Ning Po could also cause them to undergo it themselves. Unlike Mercedes, Gloria’s Path of Devotion wasn’t as strong, so she couldn’t become a Bishop. Thus, she eventually became a poet and writer. I found her a new mentor, who is Cydell Blue Rose.”
“‘Eighty Selected Poems of Cydell’?” Sherlock blurted out, thinking of his Elven Language textbook, “Is that the same Cydell? Is she still alive?” Her poetry artfully utilized every rhyme in the Elven language, with complex and standard grammar, making it catchy to recite. Even after translation, it retained its aesthetic appeal and was easy to memorize. Many countries now use Cydell’s poems as Elven language textbooks. She’s not just known among Avalonians… she’s likely the most recognized Elf among humans.
“Of course she’s alive,” Eivass grumbled, “Master Cydell is less than four hundred years old; among Elves, she’s probably not even considered middle-aged.”
Hearing this, the Saintess also nodded slightly. “Yes. Master Cydell and I have some acquaintance. In fact, if Janis hadn’t left, I might have introduced Janis to her as well. Perhaps it’s because she still has things to do that she hasn’t completely undergone Ning Po. However, her pessimism hasn’t abated, so the Ning Po on her surface is very clear and hasn’t improved at all… it’s only slowly worsening.”
Pure White lowered her head, looking somewhat dejected but not overly sad: “It seems she doesn’t like our guidance. Forcing her to stay in the human world has only brought her greater pain.”
“…So,” Lily began, “was it because she was tormented by Ning Po for too long that she decided to kill Bishop Mercedes, who was taking care of her?”
“If that’s the case, then why would she put her corpse in my wardrobe?” Eivass retorted. “And why adopt such a sacrificial posture when killing her?”
—Intuitively, Eivass still felt that Bishop Mercedes was sacrificed to something. Her posture of death was too strange, not at all like an uncontrolled act out of intense emotion. He simply felt that the perpetrator had a clear will and purpose.
…But this was all just speculation; no one could obtain more concrete evidence. All they knew at this point was that Gloria admitted to killing Bishop Mercedes, then committed suicide by jumping off a building, undergoing rapid Ning Po in mid-air and shattering into a pile of gemstones upon landing.
So, after Eivass’s question, the only response they received was silence from everyone.
“…Uh, uh-huh…”
But at that moment.
The troll, who had been quietly staying by the side, suddenly made a sound as if enduring something. The sound was like someone struggling to defecate, making everyone involuntarily frown. However, it caused everyone to stop discussing conspiracies and turn their heads.
And at that moment, the troll curse mage named “Zumadi,” whose name meant “bone paste,” suddenly started sweating profusely. His skin, which looked like it had been soaked in hot water for a long time or like an inflamed boil, was visibly exuding clear beads of sweat.
In an instant, Zumadi was drenched in sweat, and the sweat quickly became turbid and dark yellow. At the entrance of the Central Observation Bureau, Zumadi suddenly exuded a strong, foul odor—a smell like rotting shark. The pungent smell of urine mixed with the stench of decaying meat and the fishy odor of a seafood market.
He could no longer bear it and knelt on the ground.
As the troll’s tall body knelt, Eivass even felt the ground tremble slightly. Yellowish-brown sweat splashed from his body, staining the originally white and high-tech floor black like mud.
The troll wizard Rabih suddenly exclaimed, as if recognizing something. He said something loudly, then looked at Eivass and Pure White, and shouted in Elven Language, which was much more fluent than Avalon language: “It’s a curse, he’s been cursed! Save him!”
In fact, he didn’t need to beg for help. As Zumadi knelt and the yellowish-brown sweat seeping from his skin gradually turned into blood droplets, both Eivass and Saintess Pure White had already reacted.
“I implore the Candlemaster, the God of Holy Number Three…” Eivass tightly gripped the Corona Scepter in his hand and chanted in a low voice.
At the same time, the Saintess directly extended her right hand, palm open. The aura around her instantly became ethereal and peaceful, like the cool breeze of a summer evening blowing outwards.
The next moment, a black wind blew out from her side. Before Eivass could finish chanting, the wind had thoroughly chilled Zumadi. A cloud of black and red blood mist was blown out from his body, forming a rough, black, misty human figure behind him before dissipating.
At this point, Zumadi’s cries of pain stopped. And the Saintess’s aura once again became radiant and divine, blinding like the scorching sun—With a casual wave of her hand, golden flames ignited on Zumadi. The flames flared up instantly and then vanished just as quickly, like the brief flames that erupt in a wok when stir-frying.
Zumadi let out a sigh of relief, and his entire person instantly looked healthy again.
Meanwhile, Eivass hadn’t even finished his first chant. He had to stop chanting, and the crown of flames on his head gradually extinguished. This wasn’t because Eivass chanted slowly… there was no way he could keep up with this speed.
—Because it wasn’t a prayer, but “descending the divine.”
“Did you see that, Eivass?” Saintess Greye also clearly recognized this as a valuable teaching opportunity turning around to Eivass, she instructed, “This is what you will be learning later, ‘High-Tier Divine Art.’ It’s not about praying and then begging the Gods to listen and waiting for a miracle to descend. Rather, it’s about connecting with the Gods who can perform miracles and using oneself as a medium to influence the Material Realm. Once a specific connection is established, divine power can be released without chanting. Apostles, Heavenly Envoys, or Pillar Gods can all be communicated with to learn corresponding High-Tier Divine Arts. —To become a Cardinal, one must resonate with at least one Pillar God.” The Saintess spoke with profound meaning in a very serious tone. It was as if Greye was certain that Eivass would master the High-Tier Divine Art and become a Cardinal.
She then looked back at the three trolls huddled together for comfort, still shaken, and said softly to Eivass, with a slight frown, “You don’t have any other business today, do you? If not, then bring them with me… This is the Foul Blood Curse.”
“…Foul Blood Curse?” Sherlock heard a familiar term, “Isn’t that… only usable on women…?” He remembered that Lulu had been cursed with it during her and “Fox’s” first Ascension Ritual. Sherlock had a deep impression of how venomous that curse was.
“This is a modified curse. The definition of ‘toxic blood’ in the curse has expanded from menstrual blood to all the vein blood in the body. Therefore, once the curse takes effect, it can immediately cause organ failure throughout the body. This is a curse that can cause rapid death. The caster is at least a Fourth Tier Archmage, and their purpose is not to torture but to assassinate… If it weren’t for the fact that Eivass and I were here, he would have been in danger.”
Pure White said earnestly, “Eivass was cursed before, and now the troll who brought him here has been cursed… Perhaps they were discovered. But this troll who can speak Elven Language seems to have some idea about the current situation.”
She hadn’t forgotten the death of her friend, nor had she recovered from the shock of Gloria’s transformation into a murderer and subsequent suicide—but there were more important matters for her to handle at the moment. Even if they were just three trolls who had illegally crossed the border, even if they were strangers to her… someone among them was about to be harmed, murdered, right before her eyes—and Pure White still couldn’t allow such a thing to happen.
“No matter what, as long as I am here, as long as I am alive, I will not let anyone suffer pain in front of me.” The Saintess grabbed Eivass’s wrist and said word by word, “Come with me, we will trace the curse’s marks. With this gentleman as a probe, there will be no need to request enlightenment from Cardinal Loki… I can find that person myself. —This is the Church, and those who murder shall pay the price.”
Eivass was pulled along by her, looking at Pure White’s unwavering back. Compared to her close friend whose cause of death was a mystery, Pure White decided to help the strangers who were still alive first… and help them to the best of her ability without asking for anything in return. She hadn’t even asked for the names of the three trolls, nor did she know why they were there. For people she was less connected to, Pure White voluntarily set aside those closer and more “belonging to her”—this was undoubtedly a pure act of devotion, and Pure White lived up to her name and her status as Saintess.
…And this was precisely why Bishop Mathers did not want to climb higher.
(End of Chapter)
