Bloodline Analysis

Shadow Priests, skilled in negative magic, are notoriously difficult to deal with. They move between light and darkness and are the most unorthodox combat class in the Temple of Light.

Granville was heartbroken; these were his most prized men. But things had come to this point, and there was no way to let it end peacefully. He would have to kill these two, even if it meant sacrificing his own life!

Another soldier fell, and those around him frantically unleashed their sword skills, but all were either parried or dodged. One soldier made a slightly overzealous movement, and Yise seized an opening to pierce his heart. His armor offered no resistance whatsoever, and the Watcher's blade easily penetrated him.

The soldiers panicked. The enemy's equipment was ridiculously good, and their combat skills were also superior. What kind of hellish joke was this?!

But Yise also found it troublesome. These soldiers were highly skilled, and some could even roughly sense her location; if she wasn't careful, they would counterattack.

She had to patiently fight back.

On the other side of the battlefield, Granville, his heart filled with rage, charged forward and slashed at the Shadow Priest. Jielusi used a blinding spell to obscure his vision, then circled around through the gaps in the light and shadow to his back, running towards Yise.

A soldier's splattered blood stained Yise's armor, revealing her figure. Jielusi, rushing forward, unleashed a burst of radiant light, using Slow Spell to restrain the soldier, giving Yise the opportunity to break free of the encirclement.

The two girls met eyes and nodded to each other.

Granville broke free from the blinding spell, turned and chased after her, raising his sword to strike Jielusi again. Gerus parried with her scepter, but Granville flicked his wrist, his longsword dodging the scepter with a dazzling arc, striking Jielusi's shoulder and piercing her shield, causing a significant wound.

The priest's scepter merely struck his armor, leaving a dull ache.

Granville was about to continue when he realized he was moving too slowly. As the scepter touched him, Jielusi seized the opportunity to inject a large amount of dark light into him.

"So many tricks!" Granville cursed inwardly, cautiously taking a few steps back. Behind Jielusi, Yise's blood-stained phantom was once again surrounded by soldiers.

He held back no longer, unleashing his Dou Qi aura and dispelling the negative effects. He held his longsword upright, activating the enchantment array on it, and golden light immediately enveloped the blade.

Once you defeat the Shadow Priest in front of you, you can join the gank on the Warden and easily end the battle!

Granville was about to unleash his combat technique when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, accompanied by the sound of his armor being pierced. He looked down and saw the tip of a longsword protruding from his chest, and blood gushed out like tears.

It was Yise; the girl had somehow circled behind him. He looked up and saw a phantom figure being found by the soldiers at the spot where the Watchers had previously fought, and then shattering as it was struck.

Illusion?

Granville finally realized on his deathbed that Yise's earlier bloodstains were intentional. While Jielusi unleashed her wide-range entanglement spell, Yise, under the cover of the radiant light, simultaneously activated an illusion, purifying his blood and concealing himself.

The surprise attack was ultimately successful.

The captain collapsed to the ground in despair, Yise's supple figure vanished from everyone's sight once more.

With seven men killed in quick succession, including their strongest captain, the morale of the remaining soldiers collapsed instantly.

Jielusi paid no heed to her injuries. She glanced at the panicked soldiers around her, her lifeless eyes growing even darker. "Welcome to the Land of Punishment!"

****

Ten minutes later, the situation calmed down again.

Yise leaned against the snow, panting heavily. She also had several small wounds on her body; considering the cost of fighting an elite squad, this was a small price to pay.

Two months ago, during the battle at sea with Ailisha, Ailisha used illusions to mislead her judgment, showing her how illusions could be used to deceive information on the battlefield, rather than simply being a matter of reality versus illusion.

She spent a lot of time researching during this period and finally succeeded in actual combat.

Although the two girls successfully outmaneuvered their leader Granville and instigated a rout, chasing so many scattered and fleeing soldiers and dealing with their desperate counterattacks was still a considerable drain on their resources. She might have only stabbed a few people, but she had run at least ten kilometers back and forth.

Jielusi landed beside her. Besides the wound on her shoulder, she also had a scar on her forehead, and a patch of her hair had been shaved off.

The priestess remained calm, but as the gray in her eyes faded, she suddenly clutched her shoulder, where Granville had slashed her, and knelt on the ground.

A look of pain appeared on his face, and he groaned.

"Are you badly injured?" Yise asked quickly.

"So-so," Jielusi replied after a moment's pause. She tried to concentrate and cast a healing spell on herself. Yise also helped treat and bandage her wounds.

After a while, her pain subsided, and she began to heal Yise again. As she cast the spell, she glanced around and, sure enough, saw corpses scattered everywhere.

"Sorry, I didn't leave any survivors." Jielusi rubbed her cheek, quite annoyed.

Jielusi chose the Shadow Form, a relatively uncommon cultivation system within the Temple of Light. It combines the powers of light and darkness, making it particularly suitable for battlefield combat.

However, Jielusi is a special case. In her Shadow Form, she is completely out of control, capable of shredding even the souls of her enemies in one fell swoop, and absorbing any dissipated spiritual energy to amplify the power of various negative spells.

Yise frowned; his friend's situation was getting worse. If anyone else saw this, Jielusi would definitely be branded a heretic or a cultist.

"It's a problem with the Mirror Soul Technique; we'll deal with it when we get back." Jielusi knew what her friend was thinking. She scanned the battlefield again. "These people are strong and disciplined, unlike ordinary noble armies."

Yise summoned the backpack and cloak he had previously discarded to his side and draped them over himself and Jielusi. "Judging from their fighting style and equipment, they do resemble the White Graupel Cavalry of the Cold Mountain Kingdom."

But then she shook her head. The White Graupel Cavalry were special forces. By their standards, these men weren't qualified.

After providing first aid to the wound, Jielusi helped Yise to his feet. "We need to find a place to rest and further treat the injury."

Yise was about to agree when she suddenly looked up. She sensed something amiss, a hint of surprise on her face. "It's my tracking crystal—how could Graves be here?"

"Who?"

"We've seen him twice, that dark-haired youth with the gun and alchemy," Yise said. She climbed to the top of the snow slope and looked ahead.

But they found nothing.

Jielusi caught up. "Is he the one who assassinated the lecherous Bennyfinn— was he also involved in the assassination of Lady Katharine?"

This is not surprising; mercenaries operate in the gray area. He might intervene to help a group of kidnapped girls, or he might do so for gold coins.

Unconditionally assassinate targets designated by the employer.

Yise shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. Graves found Akosita by following the lead about the kidnapping of the girl. He rescued Princess Dafulin, which led to the exposure of the incident."

Jielusi for a moment, "Indeed—but how come he moved so fast, arriving before us?"

Yise couldn't understand it either. After parting ways in Lisi City, she and Jielusi traveled day and night without stopping to get here.

Following her senses, the Watcher Girl quickly located the tracking crystal she had placed on Su Ming when they passed each other. It was carefully wrapped in a piece of velvet and buried shallowly in the snow.

Yise opened it; there were words on the strip of cloth that read, "Katharine is in my hands."

"The handwriting is clumsy; it seems the person isn't very good at writing standard script," Jielusi analyzed. "This person—" Before she could finish, Yise had already flipped the note over; there was another note on the back. "Don't worry, it will be sent back soon."

Yise sat down abruptly on the snow, tears welling up in her eyes and freezing quickly in the cold wind.

Jielusi breathed a sigh of relief. She planted her staff in the ground, creating a semi-circular protective shield. Then she swirled up the surrounding snow.

By allowing the snow to accumulate layer by layer along the outer edge of the protective cover and compressing it, a simple snow shelter is thus created.

The blizzard was blocked by the snow wall. The priest opened her backpack, took out a waterproof blanket, and spread it on the snow. She then took out a small can of kerosene and lit a small fire.

After the two girls treated each other's wounds, they snuggled together on the blanket and fell asleep.

****

The next morning, when Su Ming got up, she saw the scholar in a flustered state. In front of her was a little Tuanzi, naked from the waist down, its legs flailing about, and next to it was a pile of dirty scraps of cloth and clothes.

"Why does baby poop smell so bad!" Zijin's face was grim as she threw the banknotes in her hand into the trash can. "And he's not cooperating at all—I really owe Katharine!"

Faced with pursuers of unknown strength, Su Ming was eager to try his luck, but his defenses crumbled after only a short time with the child. Su Ming almost laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Zijin, clearly displeased. "I can't just ignore it, and I can't leave everything to you alone. I'm in a real bind!"

Su Ming filled a basin with warm water, washed the little Tuanzi clean, applied skin care oil as instructed by Miao Xin, and then sent over the new baby clothes she had bought, which she then dressed the baby in.

Unfortunately, the materials for diapers are not available in the other world, making synthesis uneconomical; otherwise, things would be much simpler.

"You have such a good temper," Zijin said. She took a small blanket, wrapped it around the cleaned-up child, and held him tightly in her arms. But she didn't wrap him up well, and the little Tuanzi struggled a bit, with one hand sticking out.

Su Ming gently put the little Tuanzi's hand back and straightened the blanket.

He was about to take the child to the workshop when Zijin stopped him. The scholar led him to another carriage, where there was a magic circle that had been set up, and gestured for him to place the child in the center of the magic circle.

Su Ming had never seen this type of magic array before; it was a completely new type of rune.

"What is this for?" he asked Zijin.

"Bloodline analysis," Zijin replied. She activated the magic circle, and light flowed, quickly displaying a series of colorful images.

The scholars examined the samples carefully and quickly confirmed that there were no duplicates. "It really isn't her and Xialike's child."

"Then the kidnapping plan is completely unworkable." Su Ming sighed. Being merely a nominal crown prince meant he could be abandoned by the enemy at any time. "We can only seek cooperation with Katharine. Is she reliable?"

"I've never seen her break a promise," Zijin said. "However, we can bind Katharine through a deep contract. We share the same roots in the study of doctrine; she can't play tricks."

****

The two entered the workroom and found that Katharine had already gotten out of bed. Qiluo and Hansite were also there, having just prepared breakfast.

"Is only the driver's seat left for the Gospel operator?" Su Ming asked.

"With the cardinal access card, there's no need to worry about it disobeying," Zijin explained. "Younier is still here."

After breakfast, everyone began their respective tasks.

Su Ming checked the train's location, compiled its travel statistics, and planned its route. The Youth Civilization was currently traveling at 400 kilometers per day.

However, they will soon enter the Nuoxia Lake region of the ice field, where there will be a relatively flat section of ice for them to travel on.

The scholar sat beside him, flipping through books related to contracts. Katharine lulled the little Tuanzi to sleep, put him in the cradle, and then sat opposite the two of them.

"Please don't feed him so much milk; leave some for me to breastfeed." —Empress of the Stars and Midsummer Island Deacon of the Temple of Light

First, address the most important point.

"You recovered quite quickly." Zijin closed the book in her hand. "With three people, you can take care of them during the day, and Su Ming and I will take turns at night."

"Thank you," said Katharine.

With the top priority resolved, both parties moved on to the next topic.

"The Temple of Light has already thoroughly investigated the Spirit Cloud Project," Katharine stated bluntly. "The mastermind is the Truth Cult of the Plundering Clock, and the vast majority of necromancers and scholars have been framed."

"It's the Plundering Clock again?" Zijin exclaimed in surprise. "They caused the sea monster incident and even planned to storm the Divine Might Prison. What exactly is this organization trying to do?"

"They're going to break into the prison too?" Katharine, equally surprised. "Does Divine Might Prison look so easy to break into?"

"To be precise, the information we have about the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison was all seized from them," Su Ming replied. "However, we didn't get the specific action plan."

"What a bizarre organization!" Katharine exclaimed angrily. "These people just appeared out of nowhere, hiding in the corners of this world, and their doctrine makes no secret of their desire to destroy the world—I really don't know what people who join are thinking!"

"[You added the world-ending attack?]" Su Ming asked, his expression unchanged.

"[Yeah, otherwise how could we make these big organizations so angry?]" Zijin replied. "[Don't you think it matches their names perfectly?]"

"Destruction is imminent; those who believe in my Lord will be spared from calamity, and Nirvana will enter the Eternal Kingdom." Su Ming coughed lightly. "This kind of rhetoric is idiotic and outdated, but it works."

"I often lament how easily the public is fooled and blindly follows others," Katharine said with some emotion. "Although we also benefit from it."

"Now that we know the truth about the Spirit Cloud incident, why hasn't the Council of Cardinals lifted the arrest warrant for the necromancer?" Su Ming questioned.

"The temple's leadership is already facing a crisis of faith because of what you've done, and has been forced to revise its doctrines," Katharine explained. "If it's revealed that this incident was a mistake, the prestige of the Divine Covenant Faction will plummet."

"So you're just going to go with the flow?" Su Ming clenched his fists.

"Anyway, there aren't many necromancers left who have escaped," Katharine said, shrugging. "All we need to do is kill the two of you, and things will be 'perfectly' resolved."

"Perfect, ha!" Zijin sneered. "Are they sure they can do it?"

"It's very troublesome," Katharine replied. "You dealt the Council of Cardinals a heavy blow at the Battle of Agate Sea. But most of the cardinals, including the Speaker, remain stubborn and determined to utterly destroy you. I even suspect that this might not have been the original intention."

"Is the hatred that deep?" Su Ming looked at the scholar beside him with some surprise. "Have you done anything else?"

Zijin turned her head away, pretending not to hear.

Very well, there's no doubt about Belladonna's ability to cause trouble!

From an angle that Su Ming couldn't see, Katharine's expression was also somewhat indescribable.