An Accident!

The previously nonexistent Rohan took on a tangible presence. He did his best to maintain an air of emotional restraint so as not to provoke Xiti. This caused him a bit of distress, for joy was meant to be shared; moreover, the sorrow of a "friend" beside him always brought a certain measure of pleasure. Still, some things were best cleared up right away. Rohan valued his friendship with Xiti, but he was also well aware of the baffling things this ill-tempered old friend could do. "He refused you, Xiti." Xiti said nothing. Rohan continued, "Since that's the case, I have a chance. In a little while, I'll send him an invitation. He's remarkably talented in arrays, and he loves good food—he enjoys the pleasure of cooking himself. He's practically made for me." Xiti glanced at Rohan. There was no anger in her eyes, only confusion. She asked, "Rohan, I have a premonition..." Rohan closed his eyes, already growing irritated at having to listen to Xiti's intuitions. Yet Xiti pressed on, "I suspect there's a problem with the Temple's investigation into him." Rohan sighed in exasperation. "You're overthinking it." During the day, Head Bishop Bern had evaluated the Temple Elders right in front of Karen, remarking that they had been enshrined on high for so long that they had lost whatever competence they once possessed. Thus, sometimes an abysmally low level of professional competence was actually less useful than an emotional "sixth sense." After being thoroughly humiliated by Karen, Xiti had calmed down and detected a different flavor to it all. Xiti said, "I trust my instincts." Rohan replied, "From his position and perspective, he simply threw a temper that anyone could understand." "Rohan, have you ever bullied anyone?" "What?" Rohan felt he could no longer keep up with the frequency of Xiti's train of thought. Xiti said earnestly and with evident pride, "I have." "You..." "So I know what it feels like to bully someone, and I know what state a bullied person is in. To you, he was backed into a corner by my bullying and made an unavoidable stand. But when he took off his mask, I saw relief in his genuine gaze. He was putting on an act." "To attain such a position at his age, who would believe he's just an impetuous, naive kid? Putting on a facade is only natural." "Is it natural?" "Your background is too sheltered. Born into the Pangxi family, blessed from childhood with astonishing cultivation talent, and finally escorted into the Temple through the Gate of Order—Xiti, you seem to have forgotten how difficult survival is, and what skills it requires." Xiti tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. "You don't understand what I mean, Rohan. He doesn't respect me." Rohan was at a loss for words. *Just look at the mess you made. How could you expect him to respect you?* Xiti raised her hand, staring at her palm. "'All are equal under Order.'" Rohan shrugged. "Is that not so?" "When others say those words in front of us, it's to force themselves up to a level where their character can barely sit equal with ours. But when he said it, I felt that from the bottom of his heart, he was bending down just so he could meet our gaze at eye level." "You're just rattled, Xiti." "You wouldn't understand this feeling because you've never experienced it. That feeling of someone treating you like an ignorant child—utterly impatient with you, yet forcing themselves to summon patience just to speak with you." Xiti's gaze suddenly turned profound. Her stupidity had been certified by Purr and confirmed in person by Karen, and even Rohan beside her had never held a high opinion of her intellect. Yet a pure fool could never possess a star of her own within the Temple of Order. When one aspect of a person suffered a severe deficit, it usually meant that another aspect compensated with overwhelming strength. Xiti's fingertips tapped ceaselessly as she attempted to resonate with a particular memory in her mind. Not by intellect, not by thought, not by evidence—purely by intuition. If this train of reflection could continue uninterrupted, she truly might have mapped the impression Karen gave her onto the atmosphere of that church from back then. In fact, she was close; the silhouette of that little church was already surfacing in her mind. Yet before the specific image of that junior surnamed Inmerais could take shape, a voice rang out inside her mind: "We are all pigs she keeps in captivity!" Xiti's expression instantly contorted, her body visibly registering intense distress. "She is hungry!" "Ah!" Xiti suddenly let out a shriek and lowered her head, her formidable aura beginning to leak out in chaotic disarray. Rohan immediately reached out to smooth it all away, genuinely worried she might destroy her own family's landmark building with her bare hands. "Xiti, it seems that memory has been tormenting you all along." Xiti covered her face with both hands, saying nothing. Rohan continued, "Once his matter is settled, you can seal or erase that memory." Xiti shook her head and said, "It's useless. I've tried very hard to restrain myself from recalling the specific scenes from back then, but the words he spoke still echo in my mind all the time. Perhaps you're right, Rohan. I need to cleanse my inner self. He is gradually leading me astray; he is shaking my absolute piety toward our Lord. That was probably his purpose when he forbade the three of us... no, four including Rasma, no... and that crowd of priests outside... His purpose in forbidding us from wiping that memory. He never expected us to preserve it forever, but while memories can be erased, impressions remain for eternity. Especially now that our Lord's hunger for power is growing greater and greater. You must have felt it too." "Don't speak of this outside the Temple. Besides, everyone believes our Lord is making final preparations for His imminent return." "Perhaps our Lord is merely hung—" Xiti's face turned ghastly pale once again. "Don't think about that, Xiti. Think about something else—like the one who once drove you half-mad. She stole your identity medallion, simulated your aura and appearance, visited all sorts of places, and left behind quite a few stories in your name." Rohan was trying to redirect her attention. Xiti obligingly shifted her focus. Then her anger returned, and that rage lent her strength once more. "She didn't just visit those places. She came to Pangxi Manor as well. She came right here." "Oh?" "She's a lunatic! She even snuck into the sealed grounds laid down by my ancestors." The reason Pangxi Manor had been established in such a remote area was that the founding ancestor had once sealed ferocious beasts here. As for the Siren Mormela, she was merely one of the later additions. To a certain degree, in its early days, Pangxi Manor could be considered a branch "cage" under the Church of Order. Rohan asked, "Did she come deliberately to cause destruction?" Xiti took a deep breath, shook her head, and said, "I wish she had come to cause destruction, targeting my family, targeting our Church of Order. And yet... she only came to explore." "Well, setting her aside, even I'm rather intrigued by the sealed grounds here. I'm quite curious whether your family's ancestors sealed anything else inside beyond what's recorded in the catalog." "Do you want to go in and see?" "If you invite me, of course I'd love to." "Originally, one could enter. Over time, the sealed entities inside developed a tacit understanding with my family. But ever since she went in, I personally sealed off the entrance. Because she made an utter mess of the place." "You personally sealed it off?" Rohan didn't place much faith in Xiti's skill with arrays. "It's true I'm no array master, but destroying it isn't hard, is it?" "Then that's truly a pity. What a fine place for sightseeing and paying respects." "You don't need to keep me company, Rohan. I know you must want to go after him now." "You're my friend, Xiti. Friends are always the most important." "I had the messages from those other elders intercepted, but once Karen gets back, he'll probably receive them—invitations from several different Temple Elders." "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" "Telling you now isn't too late." "I don't want to meet him here. It would leave a terrible first impression." "But we're friends, as you said." "True, but he knows arrays, and he can grill meat." "Heh." Xiti chuckled. "I'll find another place to speak with him. I'll badmouth you a bit—you won't mind, will you?" "Suit yourself." Rohan's figure vanished; this time, he truly ceased to exist here. Xiti remained where she was, raising a hand to lightly tap her forehead. Earlier, if Diss's words lingering in her memory hadn't thrown her faith into confusion and turmoil, she likely would have connected the dots on why she disliked Karen so much. Unfortunately, a connection based purely on sensory intuition, once missed, almost never presented itself a second time. Xiti's gaze fell upon Kuroin's corpse in the plaza. At the tip of the sword held in the corpse's hand still hung a mask, like a clothes rack. "No matter whose student you become, I will make you regret this in the future." *** Holding Little Kanna's hand as he retraced his steps, Karen pulled a mask with a "new appearance" from his silver ring and put it on to avoid drawing attention. This trip had essentially been a waste of time. This led Karen to ponder whether his policy of "reaping benefits from both sides" was still worth pursuing. Foden didn't mind, and from Foden's attitude, one could infer the High Priest's stance as well. However, those at the Temple were genuinely difficult to deal with. Perhaps he should just be single-minded; biting off more than he could chew would only choke him. Devote himself entirely to the High Priest's camp and stop dwelling on other extraneous matters. That way, he could steer clear of troubles like this in advance. Little Kanna, on the other hand, was delighted. Though resisting Xiti's crushing pressure earlier had left her with some injuries, she was just a child after all—finishing homework and heading out to play was fun even if she ended up covered in mud. And best of all, Mom wasn't home! She skipped along with bouncy steps, humming a tune under her breath. When they returned to the building where they had first arrived, Karen paused slightly. Little Kanna froze for a moment too, but quickly resumed her "lively" demeanor. The silver ring trembled faintly, alerting Karen that a Temple Elder was drawing near, yet remaining invisible and concealing his aura. This sensation made Karen uneasy. After all, he had just severely offended an elder prone to emotional impulses; perhaps Xiti had second thoughts and didn't want to let him leave. Although the silver ring had previously signaled two Temple Elders at the Council Hall, the other one had never shown his face, leaving Karen to assess his current predicament under the worst-case scenario. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. The three elderly priests were still there. Karen took out the waist token issued to him upon arrival, and one of them took it to inspect. "Back to the Yorktown Region." The three elders nodded and began preparing to activate the teleportation array. One of the glowing circles lit up, and Karen stepped onto it with Little Kanna. Suddenly, the silver ring vibrated more violently. Standing within the ring of light, Karen swept his gaze across the empty area before him, his consciousness reaching out to investigate, yet he still found no trace of the other party. Rohan had a reason for deliberately concealing himself: he didn't want to meet Karen at Pangxi Manor. Yet there was a reason someone could remain friends with Xiti for over two hundred years—he completely overlooked the sense of danger his "invisibility" would impose on Karen given the young man's current situation. Most importantly, he had no idea Karen could sense his presence. Standing there, Rohan spread his palm and began altering the coordinate parameters of the teleportation array. He planned to send Karen to a place of pleasant scenery—his private garden, equipped with the finest barbecue tools and stocked with an abundance of rare, precious ingredients. He felt that there, he and Karen could make a proper start, using it as the launching point for their mentor-disciple bond. Karen, who had remained composed, felt a sudden jolt in his chest: he detected that the teleportation array beneath his feet was being modified. The intruder's methods were extraordinarily adept, but Karen had the Key to the Rubik's Cube inside him. Xiti didn't want to kill him directly, so she wanted to stage a teleportation accident? This was the height of stupidity—who could possibly believe it was an accident? His visit to Pangxi Manor had been no secret. Even if Preussen kept quiet, Alfred and the others knew, and he had even reported it to the Whip-Wielder before coming. Yet having dealt with Xiti in person, Karen was no longer certain such an absurd thing was impossible—because that was Xiti! Karen immediately took Little Kanna's hand to step out of the circle of light, but the teleportation had already begun, and spatial vibrations had already arrived—at staggering speed! The other party gave him no chance to "get off," driving the array into rapid operation at nearly tenfold speed. The permanent teleportation array Pangxi Manor had set up here was reserved for senior family members and high-ranking guests; its quality was superb and its maintenance impeccable. While an ordinary teleportation array was like a thatched hut, this was a concrete fortress. Forcing an exit right now would inflict a backlash countless times more severe, very likely cleaving his body in two. Karen opened his hand, and the luxury edition of the Key to the Rubik's Cube materialized. Since violently breaking it from the outside was a foolish choice, he would take control from within and force it to halt. Karen quickly seized partial control of the array beneath his feet and commanded it to stop. "Huh?" Rohan noticed, and a smile spread across his face. Previously he had only watched; now he was experiencing it directly. The lad's delicate mastery of arrays was far superior to what he had anticipated. In truth, Karen's array attainments were limited by his time and energy, preventing him from digging deeper, but in terms of grasping foundational principles and conceptual understanding, he was already at a master's level. The array skill of Piro and old Delon was indeed higher than his, but that superiority was truly built up by stacking decades of age. As though playing a game of tug-of-war, Rohan began vying with Karen for control. Karen felt the clash far more acutely. Under the other party's aggressive push, he quickly lost control again, and the array resumed operating. In the next instant, Karen poured himself entirely into the struggle, mobilizing his soul-level power to its utmost and channeling it into the Key to the Rubik's Cube to unleash explosive computational control. This even caused the hunger addiction sculpture in the swamp of his soul consciousness to tremble faintly. "Hm?" Karen's sudden surge of power caught Rohan off guard. *Such potent soul strength?* *This kid is practically a born template for an array-master Temple Elder!* Almost on instinct, Rohan ramped up an equivalent input of soul power from his side. A split second later, regret struck him, and he scrambled to withdraw his force. However, the clash of two mighty soul forces over a single teleportation array still generated terrifying friction. Of the three elderly priests in charge, two had already lapsed into unconsciousness, while the third crouched on the ground with blood streaming from his nose, his face contorted in agony. Ravaging soul power tore through the room. Suddenly, a long-buried teleportation array beneath the foundation began to gleam. This place had a special status; it was never subject to attack, let alone fighting, so no issues had ever arisen here. Yet the absence of past trouble did not mean no flaws existed—after all, the one who had sealed the array leading to the sealed grounds was Xiti, and Xiti from two hundred years ago at that. As the special array below hummed to life, a resonance sparked between the two teleportation formations. Rohan stayed his hand, refusing to add any more pressure on Karen. He feared going too far; if this caused a teleportation failure or flung Karen into the spatial countercurrent, that would be disastrous. Karen took full control of the teleportation array beneath his feet, but just as he was about to shut it down, the teleportation activated! *Hum!* Karen and Little Kanna's figures vanished from the spot. Rohan stood rooted to the spot, dazed. Even as a Temple Elder, he couldn't quite fathom what had just occurred. Only when he revealed his form, raised his hand, and tore away layer after layer of the flooring to uncover the mysterious, ancient teleportation array below—dented by a fist—did he let out a furious roar: "Xiti! Is *this* how you sealed off the entrance?!" *** "Did they turn off the lights in the teleportation hall?" Little Kanna asked curiously. It was pitch-black here; she could only sense Karen holding her hand. Karen said, "It seems... we were sent to the wrong place." His tone held little panic, only relief—being sent to the wrong place was far better than a teleportation failure. Little Kanna: "Then where is this?" Suddenly, a white glow appeared ahead. It emanated from a colossal giantess, illuminating Karen and Little Kanna's surroundings in the process. They were standing at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a hollow ahead. The giantess, clad in a white dress, was singing. It was none other than the Siren Mormela. Beneath Mormela's white dress was a mangled body: severed arms, a pierced abdomen, a trailing broken leg, and a head shorn off from above the nose. A mutilated Mormela was marching forward unconsciously—yet she was corporeal, not an ethereal phantom conjured forth. As Mormela walked to a certain spot, the white glow from her form illuminated a crucifix, the sharp tip of which transfixed an enormous angel. The angel's chest was torn open, limbs dangling limply in an exaggerated sprawl, while the twelve pristine wings upon its back were smeared with filthy bloodstains. Beneath Mormela's feet lay the carcass of a ferocious beast, its entrails still churning, so that Mormela's ankles sank into a churning sea of viscera as she walked. The Siren was singing, her melody forging an intangible link with this realm. Suddenly, the song came to an abrupt halt. The Siren stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head. She lacked the upper half of her skull, and thus had no eyes, yet that did not prevent countless gazes—both visible and invisible—from converging on Karen in that instant. *** Rohan's figure materialized in the Council Hall, his face dark. Xiti was still seated there. Sensing Rohan's return, she gave a cold snort: "I thought you'd be off happily cultivating a relationship with him by now. Why did you come back? It's lucky he left fast, before I changed my mind. Sitting here, the more I think about it, the fouler my mood gets. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so hesitant." "Something went wrong with his teleportation array." "It's just a teleportation—" Xiti's eyes went wide. She shot up to her feet, practically screaming at Rohan: "What?!"