by Zhuang Bifan
The deep Night Canyon in between the mountains looked just like a huge mouth cracking open in the earth. The bright moonlight seemed rather daunting, but everything inside the canyon seemed to be buried in infinite darkness. It was the sanctuary of Darkness where light would never shine. Lin Li could even feel the dark roaring.
Under the lead of Balesi, Lin Li entered the Night Canyon and looked up. The bright moonlight in the sky was somehow covered with a layer of blood that seemed to symbolize the disastrous war in the Dark Age. Lin Li followed Balesi to the large and gloomy canyon, and a majestic shrine gradually emerged from the darkness.
He had just left the Brilliance Shrine, yet he was now in the Night Canyon of the Darkness Shrine. The stark contrast made Lin Li feel extremely shocked. Although the Darkness Shrine had lost most power long ago, Lin Li could still imagine how glorious the Darkness Shrine used to be.
The believers of the Darkness Shrine believed in the doctrine of Darkness, but they did not discriminate against Holy Light. To them, light and darkness were not natural enemies. Only the presence of light could bring out Darkness. Only then would they treasure the dark more.
Although the Darkness Shrine and the Brilliance Shrine had been against each other for more than 1300 years, they were just competing to dominate the world. Regardless of the difference in strength between the two parties, the stronger party had never thought of destroying the other party.
Even at the beginning where the Darkness Shrine had just experienced the disastrous war which caused it to almost collapse overnight, the Brilliance Shrine had not taken the opportunity to eradicate them. It was because fighting with the Darkness Shrine at that time was no longer meaningful. The Darkness Shrine was extremely weak; hence, there was already an outcome. The Brilliance Shrine rightfully dominated Anril.
Of course, the cessation of the conflict did not mean that the Darkness Shrine had given up, but rather that it became their motivation. After that huge disaster, the Darkness Shrine did not go into a slump, but instead acc.u.mulated their power in the dark. In the recent decades, they even began to show signs of returning to their heyday.
Although the Darkness Shrine still could not be compared to the Brilliance Shrine now, it was second (or rather third) only to the Supreme Council and the Brilliance Shrine in the entire Anril. They would perhaps rise back to glory after a few hundred years of conscientious management.
Chapter 776 - The Six Giants
Lin Li had just come from the Brilliance Shrine. Although he had seen the powerful strength of the Brilliance Shrine, he could also sense that they were declining a little. Since there were no competitors, the Brilliance Shrine gradually stopped being aggressive and motivated. Apart from Pope Rosario and a few higher-ups of the Brilliance Shrine, the believers of the Brilliance Shrine had probably been taking everything for granted since a long time ago.
There was a square paved with obsidian magical gemstones in front of the majestic shrine. However, when Lin Li looked down from above, he could see that there were numerous cracks and deep grooves that seemed to have been made by axes and swords in the square. It was as if an extremely tragic battle had taken place in the square before. However, the damaged square did not seem ruined, but instead gave off an even more menacing vibe.
There were some people standing in the square under the lead of the High Priest of the Darkness Shrine, Sendros, who had five "people" of different shapes standing behind them. The ones at the back were the ordinary priests of the Darkness Shrine. The scene was extremely grand, and given the current status of the Darkness Shrine, there were very few people in Anril they would show such great respect to.
Lin Li didn't find anything strange about Sendros and the rest who were standing in the square. He reckoned that Sendros had already received the news of their arrival as soon as they entered the Night Canyon. Lin Li didn't fly too close, and instead landed slowly on a spot that was about 300 to 400 meters away from them before walking towards Sendros.
"Welcome to the Darkness Shrine, Master Felic," Sendros said in a hoarse voice. A stiff smile formed on his pale face, which was extremely daunting.
The people behind Sendros were clueless, but Balesi, who had come with Lin Li, couldn't believe his eyes at this moment. He had been in the Darkness Shrine for numerous years, but he had never seen the high priest smiling before, even though it seemed rather terrifying.
Balesi knew that High Priest Sendros valued Lin Li, whom he had invited, rather greatly, but he had not expected Lin Li to be so important that Sendros would actually come out to greet and receive him personally with a smile, which was very rare of him. At this time, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice about the fact that he didn't disrespect Lin Li along the way. Otherwise, he would never be able to escape the wrath of the High Priest Sendros even though he was a priest.
"Master Sendros, I'm very sorry for taking such a long time to come here," said Lin Li, who began to feel a little embarrassed. After all, Sendros had invited him already in the Blackstone Mountains, and Lin Li had been pushing him away and delaying the matter until now because of various reasons.
Sendros was the chief high priest of the Darkness Shrine and its actual leader. In the current Darkness Shrine, he was the actual leader of the entire Anril's believers of Darkness. Even though he could not compare to Pope Rosario of the Brilliance Shrine in terms of status, he was probably not too inferior. He personally brought five high priests and numerous followers to the square to welcome Lin Li. It was obvious how important Lin Li was to him.
"Good that you're here, Master Felic. This way, please, let me introduce you to these priests," said Sendros. He didn't blame Lin Li for turning up late, though he gave off an icy cold vibe. The terrifying smile on his face had also disappeared, but there was a look of enthusiasm in his gaze.
The people behind Sendros were, strictly speaking, not actual humans. The first high priest, Culostein, was said to be the oldest pure-blood vampire in the entire Anril. As a result, he was called the ancestor of Vampires. Hence, the mana waves that he emitted were much stronger than those of the Undead Lords in the Shadowglen. Of course, he was not the progenitor of the Vampires; he was merely closer to a direct descendant of such a Vampire.
The three Undead Lords in the Shadowglen were level-23 powerhouses in the Legendary-realm. They only seemed to be somewhat incompetent previously because their opponent was the formidable Megard of the Sanctuary-realm. After all, the difference between the Legendary-realm and the Sanctuary-realm was too huge. Even those who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm could not fight the powerhouses of the Sanctuary-realm. However, in Anril, there were only a few such powerhouses. Even Lin Li would face difficulty in dealing with an Undead Lord of the Shadowglen if he didn't use any debris of the stars.
The ancestor of the Vampires, Culostein, was almost on the same level as the three Undead Lords, and was perhaps even more powerful. However, generic Vampires tended to resemble human assassins; in fact, Vampires could be considered the most outstanding natural assassins. However, the Vampire Culostein was dressed like a Dark Mage, and he was also emitting pure Dark Magical waves.
Next to the Vampire Culostein was a Necromancer named Zoquila, whose thin and petite body was wrapped tightly in a black robe. The wide hood of the robe concealed his face completely in the darkness. Even when he was responding to Sendros' introduction, all that could be seen beneath the hood were two palpitating soul fires.
As he was a high priest, the magical waves of the Necromancer Zoquila were extremely faint like stagnant water and full of death. However, Lin Li could feel that the Necromancer Zoquila was likely to be more dangerous than the Vampire Culostein. Lin Li had encountered plenty of Necromancers before, but Zoquila seemed to be the most terrifying one thus far—apart from Sendros.
Of course, the Ghost in the Sky Castle was an exception because that creature was far beyond a Necromancer. In order to enter the world of the Undead, he was probably going to become the actual
king of the Undead. To be honest, Lin Li had yet to come up with a solution to snatch the Sky Castle back, and he reckoned that the Sky Castle had probably already been engulfed completely by Undead creatures.
The third high priest of the Darkness Shrine was a werewolf with a wolf's head and a human body. He had silvery-gray hair and a stature of more than two meters, making him look oppressive and daunting. He was wearing nothing but a simple leather armor consisting of two shoulder pads and a black b.r.e.a.s.tplate that only protected the vital area where his heart laid. His exposed muscles seemed just like forged steel, and obviously contained unimaginable explosive power.
He was Poladio, a high priest of the Darkness Shrine and the head of the Night Werewolves. Although he was a werewolf, he was different from tyrannical beastmen, and their appearance aside, their bloodlines were completely unrelated. They did not believe in the God of Beasts, and only worshiped the God of Darkness. They were the most powerful warriors in the dark night, and hunted their enemies beneath the moonlight. However, during the day, they would turn into humans.
Lin Li had come in contact with numerous human Sword Sages, but Poladio was probably the strongest warrior he had ever encountered. Of course, the perfect body manipulated by Osric's Soul Brand was an exception since it was the greatest masterpiece of Osric's life, after all. However, due to the issues with the degree of fusion, the power of the perfect body manipulated by Connoris was unknown.
Next, the fourth high priest Gergila was an actual Lich whose thin body was wrapped tightly in a black robe. His skull was also covered in dead skin, and there was a large Eternal Night gemstone embellished in his skull. Compared to this Lich, Lin Li's subordinate Ujfalusi was much inferior. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Gergila was the king of Liches.
The last high priest, who seemed the most humanlike to Lin Li, was a knight named Nostalo, who was clad in heavy armor from head to toe. However, his face was also completely covered by a visor, and the only thing that could be seen through it was his fiery gaze that shone through the gaps in the visor.
Although the five high priests were extremely mysterious, Nostalo was the one whom Lin Li found to be the most peculiar—he did not detect any death aura from him, but he could not sense any aura of life, either. In Lin Li's memory, it seemed that only those Death Knights who manipulated Divine Power were highly similar to him. However, Nostalo didn't emit any Divine Power, even though he also didn't give off any death aura.
After being introduced to the five high priests, Lin Li indeed felt that they were formidable, even though they had declined over the years after the disaster that fell upon them. Regardless of how much they had deteriorated, an ordinary force still wouldn't be comparable to them. The five of them and the chief high priest Sendros formed the Darkness Council of the Darkness Shrine, and led the members of the Darkness Shrine out of the trauma of that war, and allowed them to rise to a position where no one in Anril would despise them.
While Lin Li was observing the five high priests, they were also scrutinizing him, the young mage who was praised by Sendros. Everyone could tell how highly Sendros valued Lin Li. Although the five high priests did not know much about Lin Li, they also gave him due respect. After all, although Lin Li was young, he was genuinely emitting level-23 magical waves.
It was no wonder that he was valued by Sendros. Not only did he enter the Legendary-realm at a young age, he even made it to level-23, which was an unprecedented feat in the history of the entire Anril. Even Geresco, the God of Mages, was still preparing to enter the Legendary-realm when he was at Lin Li's age. If nothing went wrong, it would only be a matter of time before Lin Li entered the Sanctuary-realm.
To their greater disbelief, the young prodigy Lin Li actually managed to achieve unprecedented accomplishments in pharmaceutics as well. The five high priests were also aware of the fact that Pope Rosario was poisoned by Viper's poison, and that Lin Li was the one who gave him the antidote. Previously, there had also been news of Rosario, who hadn't left the Holy Mountain in decades, suddenly appearing in the city of Sparta in the Ledin Kingdom. Clearly, Lin Li had gotten rid of the poison in Pope Rosario's body. In other words, Lin Li was likely to be an actual pharmaceutics Guru.
The role of a pharmaceutics Guru was evident in the development of the Tower of Dusk. Within just more than two years, the Tower of Dusk had grown from a small fry that was disregarded by everyone to a force with status that made everyone look up to them. Although there were also various other factors involved, it was no doubt that Lin Li's attainments in pharmaceutics played a vital role.
Truth be told, the five high priests would have thought that they were reading myths and hearing fictitious stories had they not known about the various information about Lin Li and the Tower of Dusk and been particularly trusting of Sendros. The five high priests greatly approved of and agreed with Sendros' approach. Although the Darkness Shrine had declined over the years, they definitely wouldn't ignore such a genius even during their heyday.
However, they still wondered if they could really rely on the young mage Lin Li this time. As Sendros pulled Lin Li into the shrine affectionately, the five high priests who were following closely behind looked at each other. Although two of them had their faces hidden, they could still tell that the two were also worried and doubtful.
They did not doubt the authenticity of the various information about the Tower of Dusk and the young mage Felic. However, they also knew that the chief high priest Sendros invited Lin Li to the Darkness Shrine this time not only for the purpose of forging closer ties, but also because of an important matter that involved their existence.
Indeed, Lin Li's talent was very convincing, but talent simply meant that he had great potential which would perhaps allow him to progress faster than ordinary people, or go further than ordinary people. However, even if he was a genius, he still couldn't exert power of the Sanctuary-level at level-23. Compared to people of the same level, even a genius couldn't be that much stronger, and in fact, they might even have less experience due to the fact that they had advanced too quickly.
Chapter 777 - Doubts
Many people would perhaps never be able to enter the Legendary-realm throughout their lives, and entering the Sanctuary-realm was a far-fetched dream for most Legendary powerhouses. Indeed, while Lin Li's talent would probably allow him to enter the Sanctuary-realm, he was still just a level-23 Legendary-mage at the moment. Could the fate of the Darkness Shrine really be left in his hands?
The five high priests were not worried about Sendros doing anything that might harm the Darkness Shrine, but this time, even the powerful Darkness Shrine could not deal with the issue at hand. What could a level-23 Legendary powerhouse do? Although the Darkness Shrine had somewhat deteriorated, it did not lack level-23 powerhouses. The chief high priest Sendros and the five high priests were all Legendary-level individuals.
As for the power of the Tower of Dusk, they were indeed developing well under the management of Lin Li. Within just over two years, it had already surpassed the Dark Blade which had existed for hundreds of years, and become an incredible force in the Breezy Plains. However, compared to the Darkness Shrine, the Tower of Dusk was still rather small currently. If the Tower of Dusk was compared to a person, he could be called a genius, but the problem was actually the same. Regardless of how it developed in the future, it was still far from surpassing the Darkness Shrine, Supreme Council, and Brilliance Shrine.
Lin Li naturally didn't know what the five high priests thought of him. It didn't matter as long as they were cordial on the surface. He was only there because of Sendros' invitation, and Sendros was showing him due respect by bringing so many people out to greet him. Lin Li even vaguely felt that it was too much.
As Lin Li followed Sendros into the shrine, he finally had a more intuitive impression of this mysterious place in Anril.
In various stories and legends, the Darkness Shrine was almost synonymous with the words "horror" and "evil", and the D
arkness Shrine was described as a spooky and filthy place. Of course, it was also because of the deliberate misleading done by the Brilliance Shrine. However, the demand for believers in the Darkness Shrine was far less than that of the Brilliance Shrine. No one bothered to retort or raise a dispute.
Of course, not all of that was wrong. At least, for humans who naturally longed for light, passing through the Night Canyon to the square outside the shrine was indeed an eerie experience. However, in the shrine, there wasn't much of a spooky vibe, since there were rows of bright magic lamps, even though it was not as bright as day. According to the believers of Darkness, Darkness was their religion and their source of energy, but that did not mean that they would completely eradicate light.
Although it was one of the most powerful forces in Anril, the decorations in the Darkness Shrine were not very luxurious, but they gave off a simple and elegant vibe which allowed everyone in there to feel extremely at peace. The ground that was paved with obsidian magical gemstones was smooth, flat, and reflective, resembling the starry night sky. Although black was not the main theme for the walls, roofs, and pillars, black was mandatory. All the other colors seemed to be meant for complementing black. Having gotten used to seeing luxurious decors, Lin Li felt comfortable in the Darkness Shrine both visually and spiritually.
Everyone arrived in the hall and sat down separately. According to Sendros, Lin Li was a guest of honor; hence, he was allowed to sit next to him. The five high priests did not have any objection, even though they didn't think that Lin Li and the Tower of Dusk could be of any help to the Darkness Shrine in resolving the crisis at hand. They didn't look down on Lin Li, though.
