Chapter 016: Original Sin

Du Fan was momentarily distracted. Although he still had many magic scrolls and potions, his own strength was far from sufficient in such a place. Added to this was the fact that Chenchen had remained unconscious since that day, which only increased his worry. Thinking about these things made him feel anxious.
If Chenchen were awake now, Du Fan was confident that with this little fox by his side—someone even he couldn’t fathom—she could deal with anyone who dared to threaten them. But since Chenchen was still unconscious, and although they had the Word Spirit as a backup, it was useless against mages, not to mention dealing with a divine magician as well.
Thinking of this, Du Fan felt a slight headache. But with no other options, he could only do as he was.
As he was lost in thought, a figure quickly leaped out of the valley—it was Fei Lei, who had been sent by Du Fan and the others to scout the area.
Fei Lei, excited, rushed up to Du Fan without even bothering to bow and said urgently, “My lords, it seems that by speeding up our journey, we arrived here ahead of the others. I checked carefully just now—there are no signs of anyone having been here, not even many traces of magical beasts.”
Nicholas nodded slightly. “It’s normal there to be no traces of magical beasts. Since there’s a divine palace in this valley, the magical beasts must sense the pressure of divine power and dare not approach.”
Alfred frowned. “Lord Nicholas, you say there’s divine power in the valley, but why can’t I sense it?”
Nicholas replied, “It’s easy to explain. There must be some secret technique in that divine palace that prevents the divine power from leaking out. Lord Alfred, as a knight, your soul perception ability is higher than that of ordinary people, but you probably can’t sense such a faint divine power. Lady Tasia is a mage, so she should be able to sense it clearly, right?”
When Tasia saw everyone’s gaze on her, she closed her eyes and sensed for a moment before saying coldly, “I can only faintly sense a little divine power. It seems Lord Nicholas should be able to sense it clearly.”
Nicholas nodded. “I can indeed sense this divine power clearly. But perhaps because this divine palace is blessed by other deities, I can’t establish any connection with it. Still, since we’ve confirmed its existence, half of our mission is already accomplished.”

A few of them exchanged glances, implicitly agreeing on this point. Hearing what the two said, Du Fan couldn’t help but close his eyes and sense the surroundings for a moment. In the utter darkness all around, he seemed to detect a faint, white light deep in the valley. Despite the continuous flow of his own light-based combat energy, he still felt an extremely intense pressure. In less than a moment, cold sweat soaked his back, making him shiver. Could this be what was meant by divine pressure? Du Fan let out a long sigh and opened his eyes. Fortunately, no one paid much attention to his apparent strength at that moment, so no one noticed his unusual state. After discussing a bit more, they basically confirmed the existence of the Divine Palace. Then, Nicholas smiled and casually took out an object resembling a pendulum clock from his sleeve, placing it flat on the ground. With a light tap of his left hand, a stream of pure, noble holy light flowed from his fingers into the clock. The object emitted a buzzing sound and then, with a slight tremor, slowly rose into the air. Seeing this, the temple knights around instinctively stepped back a few steps, leaving only Du Fan and the other three standing motionless. Alfred and Tasia seemed to recognize the object and showed little interest, but Du Fan couldn’t help but stare at it repeatedly, unable to figure out its purpose. Noticing Du Fan’s reaction, Nicholas smiled gently—a smile still extremely charming. Du Fan felt his scalp tingle, but he forced himself to muster a few smiles and asked, “Lord Nicholas, what is this?” Nicholas replied indifferently, “It seems Lord Du Fan has never seen this before. This is a magical device used for communication within our Holy Church, called a Communication Clock. Due to its difficulty of production, there aren’t many of them in each diocese. The one I have is one of only two in our Gavin Diocese; the other is with Archbishop Anthony. With this device, one can communicate directly with Archbishop Anthony.” Du Fan nodded, becoming more wary of this so-called Communication Clock. If Nicholas had it, wouldn’t Anthony know everything that happened along the way? Although this would secure his position as a cardinal, what about his plans for the future? At the thought of this, Du Fan felt even more frustrated, yet he had to put on an expression of curiosity—truly in extreme distress.

Seeing Du Fan’s expression, Nicholas said no more. He raised his right hand and gently wrote in the air with his fingertips; the characters formed a light screen. In less than a moment, the light screen slowly merged into the communication bell, and the holy light inside it gradually dimmed. Nicholas picked up the communication bell and stuffed it into his sleeve before explaining with a smile, “Although this communication bell isn’t as convenient to use as a magic crystal ball, its only advantage is that it allows communication without being restricted by distance. However, it also has significant drawbacks. I’ll likely need three days before I can use it again. I just hope nothing goes wrong during these three days.” At the end, Nicholas couldn’t help but sigh. Hearing this, Du Fan felt somewhat reassured and nodded in agreement. Seeing Du Fan’s expression, Nicholas’ face remained unchanged, but he underestimated this white-robed priest a bit in his heart. Yet, remembering that Du Fan had been useless just three months ago, he had some peculiar thoughts. But Nicholas, being a sage with a steady mind, said nothing more and simply waved at Alfred. Upon seeing Nicholas’ gesture, Alfred stepped forward quickly and asked, “Lord Nicholas, does Archbishop Anthony have any instructions?” Nicholas gave a bitter smile and said, “As you know, even if Archbishop Anthony has any instructions, it will take three days before the news can be delivered.” Alfred awkwardly scratched his head, seemingly realizing this only then, and was at a loss for words. Nicholas shook his head slightly and said, “I’ve used divine power while traveling these past few days. If Roland Academy also has a divine magician accompanying them, they should be able to sense my presence. In any case, they will hurry along. We don’t have much extra time—maybe just one or two days. If we don’t prepare in advance within these two days, it will be difficult to deal with those groups later.” Alfred frowned, not knowing what to do. Seeing their expressions, Du Fan smiled faintly and said, “What’s the difficulty? If we still have one or two days, dealing with the remaining people won’t be a problem at all.” Nicholas responded with an “Oh” and glanced at Du Fan, asking, “Lord Du Fan, do you have any good ideas?”

Du Fan smiled and said, “There’s no good solution, but there is a stupid one. We just need to find a place to hide, erase all traces of our presence, and then wait patiently for the rest of them to arrive. If only Roland School comes next, we won’t be afraid even if we step out to confront them head-on; we can even stay hidden until they obtain something from the Divine Palace before taking action. If that mysterious force also sends people, we can simply watch them fight. There’s a saying in the distant Eastern Continent: ‘Sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.’ I think it fits perfectly here right now.”

Nicholas thought for a moment before frowning and saying, “That’s not right. If there are other exits in the Divine Palace, wouldn’t such an approach be foolish? What if those two groups actually join forces against us due to some accident? Wouldn’t that put us in danger?”

Du Fan glanced at Nicholas in surprise, not expecting him to be so cautious.

After pondering for a while, he added, “If Lord Nicholas thinks this won’t work, then let’s use a more cautious approach. We’ll leave half of our men here to set up traps and mechanisms in this valley, while the rest can explore the Divine Palace first. No matter what happens, those who go into the palace should try to leave through other routes. As for the rest, we’ll see how long we can delay them.”

Nicholas’s expression changed slightly before he finally said, “In that case, won’t those who stay behind be doomed?”

Du Fan spoke solemnly, “For the Light God, what does it matter if we sacrifice ourselves? Besides, to achieve a great cause, when has it ever been without sacrifice?”

Nicholas’s expression became unreadable, and after a while, he sighed and said, “Haven’t we already sacrificed enough along the way? The people left behind are all core members of our Holy Church. How can we casually speak of sacrificing them? The Lord says what is to come will come, and what must happen will happen. We just need to do our best. Never speak like this again. Lord Du Fan, remember that in many cases, despising life is also a sin.”

Du Fan bowed his head and said, “Thank you, Lord, for your guidance.”

But inwardly, he sneered. If sacrifice is a sin, then isn’t this journey also a sin? Nicholas, do you realize that greed is the deepest original sin at any time?