"All right." Richard glanced at Barry. "Enough idle chatter. Let's talk about the most important questions.
Why did you manipulate the Magic Puppet to launch a sneak attack? Why did you want to obtain the Blood-colored Seal in Legendary Wizard Ross's tomb? Who is behind you? What organization? What is the purpose?"
Hearing Richard's string of questions and seeing the serious look on his face, Barry grew solemn and did not dare speak carelessly. He was terrified that one slip of the tongue would mean no more birthdays—only death anniversaries.
After thinking for quite a while and organizing his words, Barry finally began to speak, talking without pause.
"Actually, I'm a member of the Ancestral Spirit Society. You probably haven't heard of it. It's a small Wizard organization located in a forest more than a hundred li northwest of Xia Ya, South Capital of the Soma Alliance.
"The Ancestral Spirit Society reveres its ancestors and longs for the Ancient Wizard Civilization that was once destroyed. It places particular emphasis on bloodline inheritance, believing that the present world cannot compare to the legendary Ancient Wizard Civilization because Wizards' blood is no longer pure.
"To restore pure bloodlines, the Ancestral Spirit Society conducted extensive research into Blood Spells, hoping that one day it could recreate the glory of the Ancient Wizard Civilization.
"On that basis, the Ancestral Spirit Society had always adhered to the tenets of abstinence, pursuit of knowledge, pragmatism, and harming no one. Its requirements for members were extremely strict, so even after developing for several centuries, it had not grown much. It merely remained about the same size as it had been in the beginning, living a life apart from worldly conflicts."
"That sounds rather good," Richard said, his eyes full of suspicion. "But if things were really as