"Pure Land of White, City of Chalk—Camelot!"
Li Ye's confident words echoed in Sanzang and the Magus's ears.
Both wore puzzled expressions.
"?"
Seeing their bewildered faces, Li Ye could not help but feel confused as well.
It was understandable that Sanzang did not know Camelot, but why did this Crusader Magus not know it either?
"You don't know Camelot?"
Still looking perplexed, the Magus shook her head. "I don't know. There is no relevant information in the template's knowledge—"
Hearing the Magus's answer, Li Ye immediately raised an eyebrow.
All knowledge
was bestowed through the template's knowledge, with no knowledge acquired from the outside?
Since he had already brought it up, Li Ye explained to Sanzang and the Magus what the City of Chalk—Camelot—was.
*?*
"By the way, what's your name?"
Li Ye hesitated slightly. Only now did he realize that he did not know the Magus's name.
Could it be the same name as Aleka's?
"Aleka Imwe. Aleka of martial prowess."
The Magus who called herself Aleka said so.
Li Ye pinched his chin and sized up Aleka Number Two. "It seems that although you're from the same model or batch, each of you has a different focus. Your prefix represents the field each of you excels in, right?"
In Aleka's many introductions, similar descriptions had appeared repeatedly.
Aleka nodded. "We did not perfectly inherit the template. Instead, divergences arose, and the final result was the emergence of all kinds of Alekas."
Li Ye studied Aleka thoughtfully. It was hard to imagine what kind of template could split into so many differently specialized offspring.
Without dwelling on Aleka's matter, Li Ye turned to Sanzang and said apologetically, "I'm terribly sorry, Master Sanzang.
This alms-seeking for food and water may take a little longer.
We may only find food and water after we leave the desert."
Sanzang smiled and gently shook her head. "It's fine. Sun Wukong used to take a long time to seek alms too, and wouldn't it be more meaningful for us to search together from here on?"
Caught between the two, Aleka looked from side to side and instinctively pulled her tattered black robe tighter around herself.
After successfully resolving the battle with Vlad, capturing Aleka, and obtaining a great deal of intelligence, Li Ye chatted with Sanzang for a while before leading Sanzang and Aleka out of the desert.
Several hours later, Li Ye, Sanzang, and Aleka finally left the bounds of the desert.
Yet when they crossed the sand dunes, what lay before them was scorched earth.
Unlike the desolation of the desert, it looked like ash left behind after everything had been destroyed by searing heat.
The ground was cracked, and every condition necessary for life was absent from this land.
"..."
When Sanzang saw this sight, she wore an expression of compassion that Li Ye found strangely familiar.
Aleka, meanwhile, showed no change. To her, such a landscape was perfectly ordinary.
"Was this also done by the Crusaders?" Sanzang asked in shock after coming back to her senses.
"Mm... more or less. The Crusaders did do this."
Sanzang's question reminded Li Ye of what he had seen and heard when he first arrived several days earlier.
It could be said that it had given Li Ye an immense shock.
As Li Ye, Sanzang, and Aleka continued deeper into the wilderness, Sanzang finally witnessed just how much devastation this land had suffered.
It was as though the land's vitality had been completely severed!
Several dozen minutes later.
"Whoa! Water!"
The moment Sanzang spotted the water source, she jumped up excitedly and hurried over. Squatting down, she scooped up a pool of clear water in her hands.
"Eek!"
Sanzang shuddered all over after drinking it, her face filled with satisfaction.
"Master Sanzang, aren't you going to drink more?"
Li Ye, who arrived belatedly, saw that Sanzang had stopped after only a few sips. As he observed their surroundings, he casually asked.
"From the Three Thousand Weak Waters, one takes only a single ladleful. In this barren land, who knows how many lives need this water? How could I monopolize it?"
Sanzang said with a smile.
"As expected of Master Sanzang—"
Li Ye smiled as he crouched beside the water source, then scooped up some clear water and put it into his mouth.
"Oh, someone's coming."
Sensing something, Li Ye and Aleka turned toward the distance at the same time.
Figures were silently drawing near, and pairs of longing eyes were fixed upon Li Ye and the others.
When Sanzang turned her gaze toward those approaching figures as well, she froze.
There were more than a dozen Refugees, all dressed in rags, their faces yellow and emaciated, their battered bodies as skeletal as corpses.
Yet their eyes were filled with desire.
Desire for food.
"They're Refugees—people whose homes were destroyed by the Crusaders, leaving them nowhere to return to on this land."
Li Ye stared at the approaching figures and spoke without expression.
Now their homes had been destroyed by the Crusaders. After this, they would be destroyed by the Round Table.
"Huh?"
Sanzang looked down at the water source. With her wisdom, she immediately understood the crux of the matter and hurriedly called out, "Everyone, wait! We don't intend to fight you for the water!"
At that moment, Sanzang displayed unprecedented wisdom.
Before Li Ye could speak, she began negotiating with the approaching Refugees, trying to calm their increasingly fervent desires.
"Food! Fresh food and water!"
Excessive desire led to desperate, unscrupulous demands.
Li Ye stood quietly where he was, watching as Sanzang knocked the Refugees down one by one, leaving them groaning in pain on the ground.
Only then did he choose to speak. "Master Sanzang, leave the rest to me."
Sanzang, who had been thinking about how to help the Refugees, immediately lit up at his words. "Then I'll leave it to you!"
"Damn it, why are you—"
The apparent leader of the Refugees pounded the ground weakly, struggling to raise his head and glare at Li Ye.
Facing the Refugees' questioning, Li Ye slowly stepped forward.
Dragon's Might surged forth.
"I am Li Ye, Foreign Knight of the Round Table and the Lion King's lowest-ranked retainer. I will now conduct Holy Selection upon you—"
Before his words had even fallen, Li Ye raised his hand.
As magic power rose, a faint gleam lit up Li Ye's eyes, whose pupils had long since become completely vertical slits.
What Li Ye could not see was that, at this moment, he resembled the Lion King.
"In the name of the Lord of the End, I declare: reveal your radiance—"
The magic power released from his palm was like a pebble falling into a lake, sending ripples outward.
In the blink of an eye.
A light rose.
Li Ye followed the light with his gaze and found a young girl about the same age as Serenity Hassan.
"What is this?"
Sanzang, standing at his side, looked curious.
Even Aleka was no exception. She kept studying Li Ye, for none of the knowledge she possessed could explain his actions.
"A selection. Those chosen will be taken into Camelot. The others have somewhere else to go."
Even Li Ye examined his own palm.
This was his first time using magic—or rather, the ability bestowed upon him by the Lion King.
It selected those with pure souls, souls that would never be tainted, souls that would never be swayed by evil—humans eternally free of defilement.
Why do I qualify too?