"Massacred an entire city?" Sean froze, unable to speak for a long moment.
He had imagined all kinds of fates for Shengyue City, including the possibility that if the Radiant Church lost, most of its residents would be forcibly driven out and the city seized by others. But a massacre—he had never considered that.
In the Coiling Dragon World, the strong preyed on the weak, and powerful experts killed ordinary people whenever they pleased. Still, it was rare for large numbers of ordinary people to be slaughtered. The Power of Faith made ordinary people useful to the gods. For many years, most conflicts between the churches on the Zhongyuan Continent had ultimately been driven by the god-level experts behind them, who were vying for the Power of Faith.
"It wasn't just Shengyue City. Quite a few cities in the surrounding area were massacred too. Saint-level experts did it themselves, killing indiscriminately," Leilia said, his eyes red. He didn't know most of the victims, but a slaughter on this scale was utterly at odds with everything he'd been taught since childhood.
"Slaughtering one city might be an act of venting rage or seeking revenge. But killing so many people must have a purpose," Sean said.
Thinking back to the Saint-level death mage the two of them had killed, Sean understood the purpose behind slaughtering ordinary people. Of the Seven Elemental Laws and the Four Edicts, only death-type gods could profit from a massacre.
No matter how twisted the other gods might be, they wouldn't carry out a pointless slaughter like this. They'd be better off finding a way to make these people worship them, gaining the Power of Faith to increase their cultivation speed.
This seemed somewhat like the dark turmoil in the neighboring Shrouding the Heavens universe. Even the most evil Sovereigns wouldn't slaughter people indiscriminately without some benefit.
By that logic, the Darkness Church's Highgod was probably a death-type god. Alternatively, he might not be one himself, but could have arranged for a death-type Lowgod to do it.
Only death experts who were Lowgods could make Soul Golden Beads. After all, Soul Golden Beads were extremely useful to gods—more so, even, than the Power of Faith.
A death-type god appearing in a Material Plane would indeed be a disaster.
"What's the reason?" Leilia asked.
"I don't know. The god-level experts of the Darkness Church must have ordered this. Knowing why wouldn't help us anyway." Sean didn't tell Leilia what he suspected. First, it would be hard to explain how he knew. Second, knowing wouldn't help. Never mind a god—if even a powerful Saint-level expert showed up, the two of them would be in serious trouble.
"Now that Shengyue City has fallen, it's not safe for us here. We're too close," Leilia said. "I know the Radiant Church's forces are retreating south. I'm planning to change my appearance and head there. What about you?"
"I'm not planning to go back yet. I want to explore the nearby Dark Forest. There's no point in returning before I break through to Saint-level." Sean shook his head.
Once he reached level nine, there were plenty of valuable things he could manifest. It would be better to do that somewhere crowded with people. Besides, if he returned to the church, he'd have no way to explain the Highgod Artifact, the Purple Blood God Sword, in his possession. Any god would notice it.
Even though he belonged to the Radiant Church's faction, he wasn't foolish enough to hand over his most precious treasure. If someone tried to kill him and take it, that would be idiotic.
"Fair enough. Come find me when you reach Saint-level," Leilia said. If he weren't worried about his father and family, he wouldn't want to go back either. For prodigies like them, reaching a higher level was clearly more important.
But you couldn't advance just by shutting yourself away to cultivate every day. Even when the Radiant Church had been powerful, many talented people had often needed to venture out and gain experience. They might challenge other human experts, or fight to the death in places overrun by magical beasts, like the Dark Forest Sean had mentioned.
Many talented people died in the process. No matter how much the church grieved, there was nothing it could do. Growth came at a price. Even super-talented people weren't guaranteed to survive and thrive. Of course, those with exceptional talent or powerful backers might have experts secretly protecting them on their journeys.
But given the situation now, they could only temper themselves through life-and-death struggles. Whether they went to the Dark Forest or returned to the Radiant Church's new headquarters, they'd face danger either way.
"Sounds good. Here, have a drink. Our supplies are running low, too." Sean took some liquor and food out of his Spatial Ring.
"Come on, let's eat our fill. Tomorrow we go our separate ways, and who knows when we'll meet again. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead by now. I can't thank you enough." Leilia spoke warmly.
Not just the Saint-level death magus who had died by Sean's sword—Leilia had also been seriously injured during this time. Without someone to look after him, he would probably have died. Sean had taken a certain risk by staying with him, though fortunately, Leilia practiced Earth Magic and had been extending the cave deeper into the ground. That had made them much safer.
"Don't mention it," Sean said with a smile. If Leilia hadn't wounded that death Saint Magus first, Sean wouldn't have been able to kill him so easily. Besides, Leilia had given him his Spatial Ring. The thing was extremely expensive and must have been made by a god. Even money couldn't buy one.
Without the Spatial Ring, hiding underground or evading the Darkness Church out in the open would have been a lot more troublesome. Anyone below Saint-level still needed food and water.
The two of them had become brothers through shared life-and-death struggles. But all feasts came to an end, and eventually they had to part.
After sharing a hearty feast, they went their separate ways the next day. Before leaving, Leilia gave Sean another treasure: a mask that could change his appearance.
Once he used it, he could keep a low profile and ignore the wanted notices issued by the Darkness Church. Only a Saint-level expert could detect that something was unusual about his face. The odds of that happening were slim, and even if he encountered one, Saint-level experts generally wouldn't use their soul power to inspect people at random. The mask made him much safer.
Unless someone knew the aura of his soul, disguising himself wouldn't help. But that was basically impossible. Sean had lived in Shengyue City the whole time, and only Saint-level experts from the Radiant Church knew his soul's aura. Back when the Radiant Church had been powerful, Saint-level experts from hostile forces hadn't dared enter Shengyue City.
Unless someone inside the Radiant Church had defected to the enemy and also knew Sean, there was little they could do about that.
The Dark Forest lay roughly 130,000 li southeast of Shengyue City. It covered a vast area, spanning tens of thousands of li, and was home to countless magical beasts.
Sean traveled at an unhurried pace, passing through uninhabited areas as a warrior. It took him more than three months to reach the edge of the Dark Forest.
He headed deeper into the forest, killing quite a few magical beasts that attacked him along the way. He also came across several mercenary groups, but didn't stay long with any of them. After some time, he eventually found a gorge where there didn't seem to be many magical beasts.
Sean immediately reached out to the Coiling Dragon book deep in his soul and turned to Chapter Two of Volume Five, "The Four Higher Planes."
When he had manifested the Purple Blood God Sword earlier, it had been here, before Linley had acknowledged it as his master by dripping blood on it.
Now, with a thought, Sean summoned a huge Magic Array before him. But the Purple Blood God Sword was no longer there, and the energy seemed to be dissipating.
Without another word, Sean immediately thrust the Purple Blood God Sword back into place. The Magic Array instantly returned to normal.
It still works! Sean was delighted. Before manifesting the Magic Array, he hadn't been sure reinserting the sword would work. If it hadn't, he would have had to run.
Now that it had worked, the Magic Array stabilized, and Sean immediately sensed the concentration of dark elements in the area rapidly increasing.
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