Kinkou Order

After following the planned route for two days, we finally saw Ionia's first town—Prexian.

Prexian was thriving, with people from every walk of life coming and going. I even thought it was livelier than Silver City, though it was a little less orderly.

Neither Demacia nor Noxus bore any resemblance to this place. The vast Sea of Conquest and Sea of the Watcher had created a huge cultural divide between the two sides.

The buildings here were all low. A large number of them were churches, temples, and monasteries of all kinds. People wore loose robes, and everywhere you looked, people were giving speeches or discussing scholarly subjects.

I couldn't understand why a place that valued scholarship so highly was so chaotic. What exactly were people learning? Or were freedom and chaos simply born together?

The Kinkou Order was a very famous sect. I'd thought it would be easy to find, but no matter how I asked around, nobody would tell me where it was.

Most people hurried away as soon as they heard the words "Kinkou Order." It was very strange.

"You're looking for the Kinkou Order?"

"Yes. Do you know where it is?"

I was delighted to hear someone speak to me first. But when I turned around, I was a little disappointed to see that he was blind. Still, the blind man really did point me in the right direction:

"Don't let my blindness fool you. My heart can still see. Walk ninety paces south down this street, and you'll see an academy. Go straight through it for another ninety paces, and you'll come to a church. Find the priest there and tell him the blind man sent you."

"Thank you. Why won't anyone here tell me where it is?"

"Because they value their lives."

"Value their lives? Does the Kinkou Order kill people who give directions?"

"They..."

Before the blind man could answer, a hidden weapon suddenly flew in from somewhere and sliced open his throat. So it was true—someone really was killing people for giving directions!

Poppy and I were too slow to react. Or rather, it hadn't even occurred to us that someone would dare kill a man in broad daylight. All we could do was watch the culprit disappear from sight...

"This place is so chaotic. It looks like Ionia isn't much better than Noxus." Poppy pressed close to Akali.

When we reached the church the blind man had mentioned, I knocked on the door. A man in a red robe opened it. His collar covered most of his face, and he looked rather ominous.

"The blind man sent us, but he was killed," I said bluntly.

"Don't worry about it. His life had no meaning. Come in."

He wasn't at all surprised to hear the blind man had been killed. He didn't ask who had done it, and there wasn't even the slightest flicker of emotion on his face. It seemed as if he'd expected it.

I was startled when I entered the church. In the middle of the hall stood an enormous skeleton, as tall as the church itself. Its tailbone and wings stretched along the walls, as if the entire church had been built to fit around it.

"Is this the skeleton of a giant dragon?"

"More precisely, it was a Young Dragon. It was only twelve years old when it died."

"Are you the only one here?"

"Yes. This is Dragon Hall, and I'm its priest. It's been a long time since anyone came here to be baptized. People have forgotten the fear of being ruled by dragons."

"Not everyone has forgotten them. There are still many living dragons in the jungles of southern Valoran. I've seen two myself," Poppy added.

"Oh? You're Yordles. What brings you here?"

"We're going to the Kinkou Order, but no one was willing to show us the way except the blind man."

"The Kinkou Order? That's a fine place."

The red-robed priest took out paper and a pen. As he gave us directions, he drew a map. At first, I thought he was going to unnecessary trouble. But when I actually tried to find the place, I realized:

Without that simple map, I never would have found it.

The Kinkou Order was situated in a very clever location. It took me a great many turns before I finally found it. A few crooked characters were written on the low gate:

Kinkou Monastery.

Just then, Poppy suddenly said she had something else to investigate and told me to go in with Akali. Before I could ask anything, she left.

The Kinkou Monastery was shaped like a flask. From the outside, it looked very narrow, but once inside, it was spacious. There wasn't a soul in the courtyard, though. No one showed themselves.

From the moment we entered, I felt as if countless eyes were watching us. It made me very uncomfortable. Now that Poppy had left, I was afraid they might hurt Akali, so I hurriedly said:

"Please don't misunderstand. We're not your enemies. I have something important to tell you."

As soon as I finished speaking, two people appeared from nowhere. They said they would take us to see the abbot, so I cautiously escorted Akali to an open space.

In the middle of the clearing stood a sculpture of three fish joined head to tail in a ring. Strangely, no matter what angle I looked from, the sculpture always faced me, as if it could turn.

"This is our emblem, carved from a rare Illusion Stone. It looks the same from every angle. Welcome, friend. I'm Shen, the abbot of the Kinkou Order."

In the game, Shen had the appearance of a masked Ninja. Now he wore a loose robe and had a very handsome face. He seemed quite approachable, and after meeting him, the tension we'd felt all along the way eased considerably.

"Master Shen, it's good to meet you. My name is Zhao Xin. Someone asked me to come find you."

"May I ask who sent you?"

"The villagers of Yanglin..."

I told Shen what had happened in Yanglin Village and described Jhin's terrifying nature. I thought he would need some time to consider it, but he agreed immediately:

"Rest assured. We won't stand by and allow anything that goes against balance to happen. Hai Shu, Tian Shi, take ten disciples each and capture the criminal. Don't let him continue to disrupt the balance."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Shen issued his orders, and the two immediately set off to investigate.

I was about to hand Akali over to him as well, but then I remembered Alanta and Zed's conversation: they had all left the Kinkou Order.

I still didn't know why. If I rashly entrusted Akali to Shen, and Alanta had defected from the Order, wouldn't that put Akali in danger? Besides, things had been shrouded in mystery ever since we arrived. I'd better test the waters first.

"Master Shen, this is my first time in Prexian, and I didn't know how to get here. No one I asked would tell me, and the only person who dared to give directions was assassinated. What's going on?"

"Alas... It was the people of the Shadow Order. To isolate the Kinkou Order, they've sent people to kill many who came seeking help or hoping to join us. As a result, no one dares even mention this place anymore. They operate in the shadows while we stand in the open, so it's very difficult to guard against such things. Please forgive us."

Shen let out a long sigh, looking helpless.

I hadn't expected Zed to be so shameless as to target the Kinkou Order to such an extent!

Now that I knew this, it was time to ask about Alanta. I couldn't bring her up directly, so I had to approach the subject indirectly:

"To be honest, before I came to Prexian, I met two people. One was an assassin dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, and the other was a woman holding a pair of sickles. From their conversation, I learned that the assassin was with the Shadow Order. I think his name was Zed, and the woman's name was Alanta. Do you know them, Master?"