The Church's Intentions

Unless both sides have completely burned their bridges, there is always the possibility of taking a step back.

Not long after, Karl discovered that quite a few leaders of various principalities were arriving at the Sky Wind Kingdom one after another as guests, all with the goal of purchasing some Magic Crystals.

Moreover, these people were quite straightforward when negotiating prices; as long as a quote was given, a deal could be struck.

When this matter was reported up from below, Karl knew that this was most likely the work of the Dark Church.

I wonder if they are trying to numb me, or if they have truly abandoned their plans.

To say they had completely given up was not impossible, after all, they had already lost two Saint Realm experts.

However, many veteran Saint Realm powerhouses have lived for two or three thousand years, and in such long years, very few people have ever opposed them, which has led many veteran Saint Realm experts to develop a sense of supremacy, unable to tolerate any contradiction from others.

"Luo."

Karl's voice rang out in Luo's mind. Luo, who was still at his own mansion, was startled by the sound. Realizing it was his King, he hurriedly tidied himself up and ran toward the Royal Palace.

By the time Luo arrived, panting, Karl had already been waiting for a short while.

"Pass down the order: for those who want to purchase Magic Crystals, there is no limit on low-grade ones, but mid-grade ones cannot be sold in large quantities. As for top-grade Magic Crystals, choose to limit the purchase, or simply don't sell them at all," Karl said to Luo.

From low-grade to high-grade Magic Crystals, their energy intensity is only between the third and sixth ranks, so their power is naturally limited. Only the seventh-rank Magic Crystals, when used as an energy source, can easily kill a seventh-rank powerhouse, and a dozen Magic Cannons can even take down an eighth-rank powerhouse.

Previously, others didn't know this, so Karl had never sold those top-grade Magic Crystals. But since the people of the Dark Church know now, he believed it wouldn't be long before everyone in the entire Yulan Continent knew as well.

After giving his instructions, Karl left the Royal Palace directly. Having been delayed for several days, Karl had long been impatient.

Crossing that door, Karl's figure returned to the secret chamber of less than ten square meters.

"This time, I will strive to reach the one-hundred-thousand-level in the Mysteries of Wind."

Karl took a look at his cultivation progress: over eighty thousand.

Immersed in his insights, Karl could find that his daily improvement was over a dozen points, and at times, it could even be as high as over twenty points.

However, the frequency of such rapid improvement was becoming less and less; from often maintaining over twenty points a day before, to now, it might not even happen once a month.

Perhaps the later stages of comprehension will become slower and slower.

Karl naturally knew the reason for this; he currently possessed Saint Realm Mental Power, but it was only at the Saint Realm level.

If the diameter of the coverage area of Mental Power is compared to the quantity of Mental Power, then whether one can see clearly within this range depends on the quality of the Mental Power.

Nowadays, the elemental energy in the place where Karl is located is almost visible to the naked eye, and he can even feel the Laws of the elements themselves from this energy. But when Karl's comprehension of the Wind Element reaches a certain level, a situation similar to the current one will occur.

It is a feeling of clearly seeing the path ahead, yet finding it somewhat elusive when one truly tries to step onto it.

Just as Karl was in seclusion, the Chaotic Territory was in a state of panic.

A Magic Crystal mine worth tens of trillions—those who heard this news initially thought they had misheard, but once they knew the source of the news was the Dark Church, the credibility became high.

In the territory belonging to the Dark Church within the Chaotic Territory, there are many statues of the Dark God, and near these statues, there are always many people offering their faith.

Underneath one of the statues, a full hundred meters down, there was a conference room.

At this moment, the three of them, Lashev included, were in the conference room, but their expressions were not very good.

"The Pope just sent a message saying that what we did this time was too stupid," Lashev said with an ashen face.

"What else could we do? Let us take action ourselves?" Mite's expression was clearly no better.

On the side of the Chaotic Territory, the Dark Church has seven Saint Realm experts. The seven people each have their own duties; some are responsible for warfare. Although Saint Realm powerhouses do not easily intervene in mundane wars, it is very common for them to serve as commanders. Relying on that powerful Mental Power, it is like having an eye-in-the-sky satellite; as soon as the enemy moves, they know the specific deployment.

Whether it is using stillness to control movement or striking only after the enemy has struck, these are all things that can cause problems in the enemy's battlefield deployment.

Similarly, some are responsible for spreading faith, among whom Ulamigier is one.

Statues of the Dark God generally cannot communicate with the deity even if a Saint Realm expert cultivates them; only these Angels can achieve communication with the gods.

Angels are gifts from the gods, so although Ulamigier seems to manage nothing, in reality, every final decision requires his nod.

But this time, the matter was clearly botched, resulting in the loss of two Saint Realm experts, yet the Pope only reprimanded the two of them.

This was not just a simple matter of a few verbal words. Since the beginning of the Church's spread of faith, it was also Angels who crossed planes to preach here, so the Church possessed some things that only God Level powerhouses had the opportunity to obtain.

These things had long since been consumed, but as long as they could continue to provide a large amount of faith to the Sovereign, the Sovereign would also bestow many good things.

Lashev, Mite, and the others were also counting on these things to see if they could take a step further.

"Since things have come to this, let's see how to solve it first," Ulamigier said.

"Launch a war. Since we won't easily take action at the Saint Realm level, let the people below fight," Lashev suggested.

"Agreed." Neither of the other two had any objections.

Soon, under the operation of the Dark Church, the forces belonging to the Dark Church in the Chaotic Territory began to mobilize troops.

Some cities could only provide one or two thousand, while others could only provide three or five thousand.

But even if each city could provide very few soldiers, as long as there were enough cities, they could still form a super-large army.

"It's bad, it's bad!"

An eight-hundred-mile urgent dispatch from Red Sun City.

A messenger with a pale face, his sweat dried up from the long-distance run, stammered as he told the news to Luo.

"My Lord, over at Kailuo City, a large number of troops are gathering, a vast sea of them; it's impossible to tell how many there are."

"How can this be!" Luo was momentarily thrown into a panic.

"Call Kevin and the others here, hurry!" Luo shouted at the guards beside him.

Soon, Kevin and the others rushed over. Facing that countless army, even a ninth-rank powerhouse had to be careful.

"What is the specific situation now? Does no one have accurate information?"