Who Exactly Is Lanqi

Meanwhile, upon the snowfield's horizon, the first ray of sunlight finally pierced the silence of the night. With his back to the sun, the dark-haired, green-eyed youth seemed to be the very reason those myriad beams of light shone. They gilded the tips of his hair with a luminous sheen—flowing gold and shimmering silver that drifted in the gentle breeze. The pure golden radiance steadily spread across the land behind him, as if to banish every trace of the night, dyeing the blue-gray sky in shades of red and orange, draping the frozen snowfield in a dazzling mantle. Lanqi's gaze upon Anello remained as calm as ever, as though he had never once regarded a mere Holy Son of Extinction as an opponent— It was the gaze of a deity looking down on mortal insignificance; perhaps He saw him, or perhaps He never noticed him at all. Under the terrifying might of this tier-seven wind magic and the [Original Slate - Wind], all of the tier-six sealing spells seemed as insubstantial as sea foam. Across from him, the confidence and arrogance that had once filled Anello's face were now replaced by sheer panic and dread. His eyes, usually deep as the sea, were stretched wide in horror. The composed aura of one who held life and death in his palm had collapsed into dust the very instant Lanqi unleashed the divine glory of the [Original Slate - Wind]. The chill creeping up his spine made Anello twist his body around. Casting aside all pride and pretense, caring about nothing else, he bolted backward. Before his limbs went cold and limp, instinct commanded him to flee. Such terror was not merely the instinctual reaction of facing an insurmountable foe; it was also the weight of knowing far too many secrets—secrets threatening to crush his insignificant self! Even if he was the Holy Son of Extinction, running away before a bishop-level High Priest was no disgrace!! His wildly pounding heart reminded him that, fortunately, his opponent was the noble and upright High Priest of the Church of the Goddess of Fate—a man incapable of stooping to bully the weak! Otherwise, Loren would have personally wiped out the Bishop of Destruction's holy sons and saintesses long ago. For someone of Loren's stature to deliberately hunt down and kill holy sons and saintesses would only provoke the Cardinals into launching ruthless, unscrupulous massacres against lower-ranking priests. To some degree, this was the balance and compromise Loren had chosen! Yet that did not mean that if he lingered before Loren, the High Priest wouldn't swat him dead on a whim. After all, Anello was the one who had actively picked a fight right in front of Loren. Anello's hands—the very hands that had commanded sealing arts—now trembled uncontrollably. Without waiting or hesitating for a single second, he turned at maximum speed. Each step fell with frantic weight, as if trying to stamp all his terror beneath his boots and escape this horrific snowfield. The snow around him billowed into the air, leaving a distinct gouge across the plains like the drooping tail of a beaten dog fleeing for its life. Deep footprints scarred the snow as he rode the gale amid the explosive screech of displaced air, rapidly transforming into an afterimage hurtling into the distance. The violent surge of wind bore witness to just how desperate he was to put this place behind him. After a long while. "..." Watching the direction in which the Holy Son of Extinction had panicked and fled until he vanished entirely, Lanqi offered a faint smile. Even without Lanqi's earlier promise, the Holy Son of Extinction would certainly have chosen to flee toward the Snowfield Province. Within closest range, only the Snowfield Province possessed a communications terminal that Anello could use to contact the outside world. Although the Snowfield Province's communications terminal was currently locked down by the Imperial Army, Bishop of Extinction Askesan must have granted Holy Son of Extinction Anello the clearance to unlock it; only then could Askesan have comfortably entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of intercepting the Bishop of Domination. Unfortunately, Lanqi also had the clearance to ensure Holy Son of Extinction Anello would never get the chance to touch that terminal. "Awaiting bad students is an unending fate, and messages that will never be sent." Lanqi murmured softly to himself as he looked out across the southern snowfield. No one knew what he planned to do next, but his relaxed posture—like someone clocking off after finishing a job—suggested that everything for the moment was resolved. It was not until dozens of seconds after the Holy Son of Extinction had vanished past the horizon. Side stared wide-eyed at the young man beside her, her hand still clutching his sleeve. She knew that the spell used to evade the explosion back in Bandera City was none other than this [Roar of the Storm Dragon], which had presumably been Lanqi's chosen Pink Sacred reward from the Monthly Evaluation Day at the Protos Royal Magic Academy. At the time, severely wounded and near-unconscious, she had not felt even a shred of the [Original Slate - Wind]'s power. As an Orange Epic, an [Original Slate]'s divine radiance and empowerment over magic of its corresponding element should have been impossible to deactivate! In this world, there was supposed to be only one person who possessed the power of the [Original Slate - Wind]. And that was High Priest Loren of the Church of the Goddess of Fate on the Southern Continent. Side's mind was in total chaos; she had no idea who the Holy Son before her truly was. Lanqi raised his hand with a smile, signaling to Side that he was no enemy. "..." Stunned, Side stood dazed for a long while before her violet eyes met Lanqi's emerald gaze, the turmoil within them slowly settling. "Take your time. I will hear your explanation. My trust in you remains." Her expression turned solemn, her voice steady. There were countless ways to express gratitude, but never failing someone's trust was the finest of all. "..." Lanqi blinked slightly in surprise, then offered a heartfelt smile in return, as if thanking her for having such faith in him. Yet before Lanqi could say another word to Side— "W-Why did my [Roar of the Storm Dragon] come with special effects from the [Original Slate - Wind] this time?!" Boss Cat emerged from the shadows and scrambled onto Lanqi's clothes in disbelief. It stared at Lanqi, bewildered and flustered. Lanqi smiled without answering, tracing the outline of a slate in the air with his finger. "...Meow meow?" It was at that moment Boss Cat remembered: back in Bandera City, Lanqi had told it to unequip [Counterfeit Slate - Wind]. Later, it had equipped it again, and Lanqi had even emphasized that whenever it cast [Roar of the Storm Dragon] in the future, it must be equipped with [Counterfeit Slate - Wind]. Wasn't that just a cosmetic skill skin?! Did that mean it could actually replicate all of Loren's [Original Slate - Wind] special effects down to the last detail?! And according to common knowledge on the Northern Continent, anyone wielding the [Original Slate - Wind] was Loren! "That's right, Boss Cat. It's exactly what you're thinking." Lanqi nodded, figuring Boss Cat had pieced it together on its own. "...U-Meow." Boss Cat's eyes instantly welled up with tears. At the thought that it had helped Lanqi impersonate High Priest Loren—and that after today, High Priest Loren would likely be saddled with monumental scandals like "arrived on the Northern Continent and joined the Resurrection Church"—the cat felt utterly irredeemable. The happiest thing that had happened since coming to the Northern Continent had been Lanqi gifting it a tier-seven Pink Sacred magic card. As it turned out, the price had already been set the moment it accepted the [Roar of the Storm Dragon]. Once they returned to the Hutton royal capital of Ikerite, it would never have the courage to look that kind High Priest in the face again! Goddess, I have sinned, meow!!! "So... you can even forge an [Original Slate]?" Side finally released Lanqi's sleeve and crossed her arms. Having listened to the exchange between Lanqi and the little black cat, she had roughly pieced together what had happened. An amused smile touched the corner of her lips. Her Holy Son was truly a man of wonders. She had known before that his magic engineering skills were remarkable and his artistic talent exquisite, but she had never expected him to actually pirate a [Counterfeit Slate] into existence. The points in his favor seemed almost too numerous to count by now—and every single one of them suited her tastes to perfection.