by Zhuang Bifan
Besides, even if Lin Li's combined powers were on par with those of the powerhouses of the Sanctuary-realm, he wouldn't be that foolish as to go toe to toe with the powerhouses of the Sanctuary-realm. Although Polar Snow and Raging Flames were important, he would definitely incur great losses if he were to deplete all of his energy.
However, what made Lin Li feel dismayed was the fact that he did not find any information about Rodhart, and that the information about Willen was mostly irrelevant too. Prophet Willen was said to be a so-called Son of the Holy Light, and there had been plenty of information about him, but most of it was about how he had annihilated the demons that harmed the humans, and how the civilians worshiped him, allowed him to spread the doctrine of the Holy Light, and so on. There was no information at all about Willen's origins and what magical weapons he had used.
Lin Li even wanted to ask Rosario about it several times before, but he didn't dare to mention it. After all, Rosario would definitely be upset about such a shameful past event, regardless of how well-tempered he might be. He could ask about Prophet Willen, but he could never mention Rodhart, who was a disgrace to the Brilliance Shrine.
The moonstone-decorated lamp in the room was radiating a gentle glow. Lin Li closed the book in his hand while pinching his forehead gently. Although there were plenty of classic collected by the Brilliance Shrine, Lin Li had already read most of them, and didn't have much hope to find out more about Rodhart left.
Lin Li was indeed a bit frustrated at first because it would be unlikely for him to find any more information about Rodhart anywhere else, since he couldn't find any in the Brilliance Shrine. The unreliable living encyclopedia Connoris also had limited knowledge of Rodhart. Otherwise, Lin Li wouldn't have had to look through the books. It seemed that he had to postpone his plans of acquiring Polar Snow and Raging Flames even if he were to obtain the magical crystals of the Ice and Fire Twin Dragons. He would at least have to have the strength to fight against the powerhouses of the Sanctuary-realm. Otherwise, the risk would be huge.
However, Lin Li felt less dejected after an unexpected discovery. He closed the book and leaned back against the chair with an ordinary-looking stone that could even be considered ugly. The stone didn't give off any magical waves at all, and no one in Anril could recognize it—except for Lin Li and Connoris.
The ugly stone was the magical crystal that Lin Li had obtained when he killed the Dragon of Destruction before he arrived in Anril. Back in the Abyss of Tharlen, Lin Li had tried to take out that magical crystal that didn't belong to Anril in order to defeat the Lord of Darkness, which was a projection of the Dragon of Destruction.
Long before Lin Li arrived in Anril, it was said that the Dragon of Destruction was killed by the Immortal King. The skeleton of the Dragon of Destruction was used for the construction of the Sky Castles, and the magical crystal of the Dragon of Destruction was taken away by the Immortal King. Tutankhamun of the Blackstone Mountains was one of them, though it was unknown if he was a child of the Dragon of Destruction or the Immortal King.
According to Connoris' suggestion, Lin Li had chosen the same method as the Immortal King, and he hoped to use the magical crystal to hatch a formidable figure like Tutankhamun. However, the Dragon of Destruction Azardas was the Dragon Aspect of Anril, and was said to be able to challenge existences like gods. How could it be easy to incubate the magical crystal?
The process of incubation was extremely difficult yet easy at the same time. It required the constant induction of Spiritual Force into the magical crystal to activate the Soul Brand in the Dragon of Destruction. According to Connoris, it required more than 100 years for the Immortal King to hatch the magical crystal of the Dragon of Destruction.
Of course, although the process of incubation was boring and monotonous, it came with some benefits. Not only did the magical crystal of the Dragon of Destruction have powerful and incomparable power, it also contained the two Laws, Evilness and Darkness, as well as the experience and knowledge gained by the Dragon of Destruction. However, they were all hidden in the Soul Brand, and it was impossible to directly absorb them from the magical crystal. One could only try to obtain them when the Spiritual Force merged with the magical crystal.
Lin Li heard from Connoris that the incubation of the Dragon of Destruction's magical crystal was a mandatory daily affair. However, whenever the Spiritual Force was injected, it seemed to be s.u.c.k.e.d into a vortex. Although there was indeed some feedback, there wasn't much of an effect on the Soul Brand.
In fact, that was also very normal. The Immortal King was formidable, and yet it still took 100 years to hatch the Dragon of Destruction's magical crystal. Although it was mostly for Lin Li to learn the Rules and knowledge as much as possible, the amount of information he could receive was also greatly related to his strength. Although Lin Li had plenty of mental strength when he wasn't learning magic, he was still far from the Immortal King.
Even with the Evil Eye Tyrant's magical crystal which provided continuous improvement of mental strength, Lin Li couldn't be compared to the Immortal King at all. Indeed, he could also obtain the nomological knowledge contained in the magical crystal. However, it was as difficult as squeezing oil from stone.
During his days at the Brilliance Shrine, he didn't have much to worry about, because the ugly stone did not emit the slightest magical waves; hence, he continued to go about his daily routine. However, when Lin Li was going about his routine, he discovered the Soul Brand in the magical crystal of the Dragon of Destruction, and there seemed to be a slight fluctuation therein.
Lin Li knew that it was definitely not because his mental strength had improved, and he even began to suspect that it was just a misconception. After all, it had been more than two years since he had begun incubating the magical crystal. Even though his mental strength had changed dramatically, he probably still couldn't be compared to the Immortal King. However, after receiving the feedback from the magical crystal, Lin Li clearly felt that it had indeed increased.
Perhaps it was because of the environment there. After all, they were on the Holy Mountain of the Brilliance Shrine, where the power of Holy Light was everywhere. Would it have some impact on the magical crystal that contained the Laws of Darkness and Destruction? The only thing Lin Li could do was guess. Of course, in order to verify that guess, he would have to experiment with his debris of the stars Holy Light, even though that could cause him to die a horrible death.
Besides, Lin Li did not care about wasting time on meaningless guessing. Although the information he got from the magical crystal this time was not much, it was enough for him to absorb and digest for a while. Fortunately, even with such a change, the magical crystal still did not emit the slightest magical wave. Otherwise, Lin Li would be in trouble if anyone were to find out that he was studying Dark Force in the Brilliance Shrine's territory.
A powerful existence like the Dragon of Destruction was a guardian of the Laws of Destruction and Darkness. Coupled with the experience and knowledge acc.u.mulated over countless years, it would be enough for Lin Li to deplete his energy. Fortunately, during this time, Lin Li received plenty of pointers from Rosario. Although they were all about the power of the Holy Light and Holy Light Magic, most of them were connected. Light and Darkness seemed to be two extreme opposing forces. However, it was the very contradiction that gave them similarities. Hence, Lin Li didn't find it difficult to learn this time, even though there wasn't plenty of information in the feedback from the magical crystal.
After the visit to the Brilliance Shrine, Lin Li had not only made great progress in using the Power of Light, he had also learned a lot about the Dark Force. That was something that Lin Li had never expected.
In the past few days, Lin Li basically read through all of the classics collected by the Brilliance Shrine, but he still had no clue about the information regarding Rodhart. After returning the last batch of books, Lin Li couldn't help but ask the clergyman who was in charge of the books to check
if there were any unread books and materials that he could read.
Chapter 775 - To the Darkness Shrine
The dusty hut was just like a rubbish dump which contained plenty of books scattered all over the place, giving off an aura of decomposition. Lin Li stared at everything in the hut in shock and disbelief. According to the clergyman, no one had opened the hut for hundreds of years. It was not because of any bans, but because there were plenty of new copies of those books that could be found outside. Hence, no one would bother going to the hut to read them.
However, Lin Li's eyes glistened when he heard that no one had opened the hut for hundreds of years. Perhaps what he was looking for was in that pile of old papers. Lin Li sent the clergyman away, and began to get engrossed in the books all by himself. He rummaged through each book carefully. In fact, it wouldn't take him too much effort to do it, since he had basically read all the books outside anyway. He just had to look for the ones he hadn't seen before.
"Damn it, no wonder this matter got erased from the records in the later eras. So this is what happened." Lin Li's efforts paid off. After a painstaking session of rummaging, he finally returned to his room on the Holy Mountain with a torn and tattered scroll.
He dismissed Englos and the other people who came to ask him about pharmaceutics under the pretext that he had gained some insight into Holy Light Magic. He then carefully closed the door and laid the scroll on the table, only to be greeted with lines of blurred words.
There was another unexpected reason for Lin Li's failure to find any information about Rodhart despite having searched for such a long time. It was because Prophet Willen, who was known as the Son of the Holy Light, and the notorious Retribution Knight Rodhart were actually twin brothers!
Lin Li had actually heard some legends and rumors about what Rodhart had done. The information recorded had more or less confirmed the legends. Legends had it that Rodhart was an orphan who got adopted by the Brilliance Shrine as a child. That was true, except that his brother Willen was adopted together with him. In fact, Willen becoming the Son of the Holy Light perhaps had something to do with Rodhart getting adopted by the Brilliance Shrine.
Just like the other orphans adopted by the Brilliance Shrine, Rodhart and Willen had received strict education, imparted to them by the Brilliance Shrine ever since they were children. When Rodhart was 15 years old, he joined the Court of Heresy with several other teenagers who were as outstanding as him after passing the Court's assessment. At that time, his younger brother Willen had also become a disciple of the pope because of his incredible talent.
When Rodhart was 32 years old, he entered the Legendary-realm and took over the position as the Chief Judge, after which he gradually began to rise in Anril. Together with the actions carried out by the Court of Heresy, the dominance that the young Referee of Heresy, Rodhart, had shown as well as his astonishing abilities made him get labeled as the strongest Paladin since the establishment of the Brilliance Shrine. Rodhart could be considered to have reached the pinnacle of life, and he had even become more famous than the pope. Countless people in the entire Brilliance Shrine idolized him too.
During this period, Willen, who was far more talented than his elder brother, was less known even though he was the pope's disciple. However, it was obvious that the Brilliance Shrine was deliberately trying to help him keep a low profile because of his identity as the Son of the Holy Light in order to keep him safe until he grew to a.d.u.l.thood. At that time, the Darkness Shrine had yet to fall, and was still an opponent that the Brilliance Shrine dared not belittle. In fact, it was even more powerful than the Brilliance Shrine back then, and Willen could be considered the hope for the rise of the Brilliance Shrine. If the Darkness Shrine had found out that he was the Son of the Holy Light, they might've really killed him.
Afterwards, Rodhart suddenly resigned as the Head Referee, and gradually vanished from sight. The next time he appeared was 100 years later. However, at that time, he had already become the controversial Retribution Knight who commanded a powerful legion of Death Knights that bulldozed through the entire Breezy Plains. During that disaster, the population of the Breezy Plains declined sharply by more than a third, and the bustling cities turned into ruins because of the Death Knights.
When Rodhart disappeared as a Paladin, his younger brother became a prophet of the Brilliance Shrine, and the people in Anril gradually knew him as the Son of The Holy Light. At that time, Willen was said to have possessed Sanctuary-level power, and his attainments in Holy Light Magic had even surpassed those of the pope of the Brilliance Shrine. Although there was no witness during the battle between Willen and the Supreme Council arbitrator Apophis, Apophis admitted later that Willen was invincible and that he admired him greatly. It was also because of that battle that the presence of Prophet Willen greatly improved the reputation of the Brilliance Shrine. Even the Supreme Council was suppressed.
Hence, when Rodhart became the Retribution Knight and commanded the Death Knights to wreak havoc in the Breezy Plains, the two brothers finally met again. However, this time, Rodhart's younger brother Willen had already been tasked with purifying his brother who had become a Retribution Knight.
There was no information about Rodhart even in the doc.u.ment that Lin Li had found. However, after the battle, the disaster in the Breezy Plains finally ended, and Prophet Willen also disappeared for some unknown reason. He never appeared in the Brilliance Shrine again. All of a sudden, Willen was no longer around to succeed the papal throne and guard the glorious Brilliance Shrine. Hence, they immediately got attacked by various forces. There was huge damage to their power, and they even almost got subdued again by the fallen Darkness Shrine.
After reading the information, Lin Li was both surprised and disappointed by the content because there was no record of the battle between Willen and Rodhart. Hence, there was no way Lin Li would know about the powers of the Retribution Knight Rodhart.
However, Lin Li discovered a secret message in the data. Before Rodhart fell, he actually went to the Darkness Shrine once. At that time, Willen actually went together with Rodhart. There was no information about the reason for their visit to the Darkness Shrine, but not long after they left, there was a major change in the Darkness Shrine. The Darkness Shrine, which could initially go toe-to-toe against the Brilliance Shrine, almost fell apart overnight, and never rose again since then.
What exactly did Rodhart and Willen do, and what happened to the Darkness Shrine? Although Lin Li found out some things from the information, he had even more doubts. Lin Li vaguely felt that the answer seemed to be in the Darkness Shrine. Hence, he reckoned that it would be necessary to go to the Darkness Shrine.
However, despite having made a decision, Lin Li didn't leave the Brilliance Shrine immediately. There were very few opportunities for him to get some pointers from a powerhouse of the Sanctuary-realm. Lin Li had no idea what was awaiting him in the Darkness Shrine; hence, he naturally wouldn't let go of any opportunity to improve his abilities.
Pope Rosario also showed great patience when Lin Li consulted him. In fact, he was even more serious than when he was teaching his own disciples. Although Lin Li was not his own disciple, or even a believer of the Brilliance Shrine, and he didn't show any signs of being related to the Son of The Holy Light, Rosario had already determined that Lin Li definitely had something to do with the Son of The Holy Light the Brilliance Shrine had been trying to find.
Actually, Lin Li had already been living on the Holy Mountain for a month, and time passed without him realizing it. Within that short period of time, Lin Li managed to grasp the concepts and all sorts of techniques rapidly. If Lin Li were to change into the robe of the Brilliance Shrine, no one would doubt if he was really a devout believer of the Holy Light.
At this moment, a priest from the Darkness Shrine, who was dressed in a black robe, finally arrived at the foot of the Holy Mountain.
Although Lin Li was still hesitant, it was already the second time that Sen
dros had sent someone to invite him to the Darkness Shrine, and he couldn't bring himself to delay it any further. This time, Sendros had sent a Legendary-level priest who flew straight to the Brilliance Shrine using the Power of Flight. Clearly, Sendros had begun to get impatient.
After saying goodbye to Pope Rosario and Englos, Lin Li proceeded to the foot of the Holy Mountain and saw Priest Balesi. If it weren't for the conspicuous black robe that he was wearing, Balesi would look similar to an ordinary human who was in his forties. Although his face was pale, it was still normal. Although there was some Darkness in the magical wave that he was emanating, there was no death aura, and he was clearly specialized in Dark Magic.
"Master Felic, the High Priest has sent me to invite you to the Darkness Shrine as soon as possible," said Balesi. Although Balesi had never seen Lin Li before, Sendros had definitely told him what Lin Li was like. The fact that Lin Li was in his twenties and had Legendary strength was enough for Balesi to recognize Lin Li.
"It's that urgent? Let's set off immediately, then," said Lin Li, who immediately used his Power of Flight to travel to the Darkness Shrine.
Of course it'd be urgent. However, they were in the territory of the Brilliance Shrine. Although Balesi did not have to worry about the people of the Brilliance Shrine harming him, the omnipresent aura of light made him feel particularly uncomfortable to the extent that he didn't want to stay there any second longer. He only managed to pull through because he was a practitioner of Dark Magic. Unless one was at Sendros' level, a Necromancer would definitely suffer permanent damage there.
The canyon that the Darkness Shrine was located in was actually relatively close to the Breezy Plains. However, Lin Li had set off from the City of Dawn, which was indeed rather far away. Fortunately, there were no obstacles in the sky. If they were to go there by foot, they would probably take two or three months to reach the vicinity. Even though they flew there, they only managed to reach the canyon on the second night.
