Chapter 139
Upon closer inspection, the source of the flickering flames revealed itself to be figures draped in gray burlap robes. They moved in an orderly fashion, weaving through the drab shantytown, spontaneously forming a line that resembled a series of slender serpents converging in one direction.
The entire scene was enveloped in an eerie silence, exuding an indescribable strangeness.
**Chapter 99**
Compared to the frightened children and elderly Li Bai had encountered during the day, these figures wielding flames appeared far less intimidated.
They gathered purposefully, clutching burning objects that illuminated their surroundings.
The flames varied in size, and with the enhanced vision granted by his eagle-eye effect, Li Bai could clearly see that some held torches, while others carried a broken piece of pottery with fibers soaked in oil set alight.
At this distance, these individuals should have been able to see Li Bai, yet they ignored her completely, exchanging no words, merely focused on maintaining their flames as they continued to converge toward a specific point.
"Isn't anyone capturing the cultists of the Inferno here?"
Just as the Inferno revered chaos, attacking all living beings indiscriminately, its followers were equally reviled on the surface. Even though every race had its admirers, Li Bai recalled that any Inferno worshiper appearing on the land of the divine realm would be marked as a target by any faction.
In Li Bai's mind, the cultists should be a hidden group, lurking within the city, difficult to detect without careful investigation.
"Looks like the Inferno has indeed made a full resurgence... Under the taint of chaotic power, it seems that anywhere with a gathering of sentient life, you can find followers of the Inferno," replied the paper figure.
Li Bai's gaze instinctively drifted further ahead—upon entering the dilapidated town, she spotted a black stone fortress standing atop a distant hill. It didn’t appear abandoned; a blue flag fluttered above it, likely bearing the emblem of a certain family.
"Doesn't the lord of this place care?" Li Bai asked.
Clearly, there was some power at work within that fortress, which resembled a lord's manor not far from this crumbling town.
Yet, while this dilapidated town should fall under the fortress's jurisdiction, its ordinary inhabitants lived like gray mice, while the cultists roamed freely, seemingly unrestrained.
"Probably," the paper figure replied, activating its 'information vision' to inform Li Bai, "There’s a descendant of the light bloodline in that fortress, but the bloodline is quite thin."
"Thin, huh..." Li Bai nodded thoughtfully.
The light bloodline was the hallmark of the Kingdom faction, a special power with broad applications, much like the all-purpose nature of the Kingdom itself. It dealt extra damage to the undead and was equally effective against other races, while other racial traits often had mutual countering factors.
Moreover, as the faction most aligned with player groups, the Kingdom bore a hint of the traditional Western fantasy 'hero' flavor. The light power within the Kingdom was awakened suddenly, and those who awakened could pass on this power to their descendants through their bloodline.
The more generations that passed, the thinner the bloodline became, unless it was awakened again.
Becoming an awakened one didn’t depend on bloodline but rather on personal effort. Players choosing the Kingdom faction could awaken their light power through a series of complex tasks and trials.
This suggested that the fortress's owner must have been a once-prosperous awakened one of the light, belonging to the noble class within the duchy. If Li Bai wanted to gather more information about the divine realm, perhaps she could explore the fortress.
However, she didn’t forget that there were more pressing matters at hand. Having discovered the Inferno cultists so smoothly, her priority was to find a way to delve into the Inferno and investigate the situation.
With a flicker of determination in her eyes, Li Bai took a candle from her backpack, lit it, and approached the end of the nearest line of figures.
Just as they had ignored her before, now, as she joined the procession with her flame, she seamlessly blended in.
This state of being able to join or not was practically an open invitation to proselytize.
Following the line through the low, dilapidated shanties, Li Bai ventured deeper into the town. Along the way, she felt the numb or gloomy gazes of hidden eyes watching her from shadowy corners.
The flickering candlelight in her hand mirrored the turmoil within her heart.
This town had not only become a physical ruin but a spiritual one as well.
Hearing about the fall of the Sky City and the last ancient dragon's demise was one thing; witnessing the once-vibrant Kingdom faction now in shambles made Li Bai yearn for the ability to open a large portal to transport these ordinary people of the divine realm to Bai Ye Town.
But she knew this was merely a fantasy; at her current level, even her bound companions, Otto Fis and the paper figure, couldn’t be taken along.
As she continued forward, Li Bai unknowingly followed the group to their destination.
Before her stood a tall, wide building, and she quickly recognized its structure—it was a church with half of its roof torn away.
In the center of the church, the statue that had once been revered now only had a single foot clad in a cloth boot remaining.
The Kingdom faction worshiped a powerful ancestor who had left a mark in history within the region. Judging by the boot, the statue had originally depicted a spellcaster, aligning with the history of the Owa Duchy’s close ties to the spirit race.
However, no one paid attention to the statue now. The Inferno worshipers had gathered, forming a circle around a bonfire that blazed in the central clearing.
In the heart of the bonfire lay an empty space, with a carved magic circle etched into the ground, where dark brown sediment was visible.
From the distorted lines, Li Bai immediately recognized it as Inferno script.
At that moment, standing among the cultists, she glanced around and noticed that the earlier silence had vanished. Instead, the worshipers gazed fervently at the flames, their expressions filled with zeal.
Since Li Bai held a candle that burned brightly, she blended perfectly into the crowd; these people seemed to recognize only the fire, not the person.
Before long, an unusual old man dressed in a red robe appeared, clutching a copper bowl. He chanted in a strange, sinister cadence.
Li Bai activated her insight to view his information.
**[Inferno Servant]**
Level: 20
Health: 1000/1000
Skills: Minor Demon Summoning, Fire Resistance
Weaknesses: Throat, Heart
The servant's health was far below that of a normal professional; not even close to an elite template, let alone a standard one. Coupled with what the paper figure had said about the resurgence of Inferno power, Li Bai speculated that this Inferno servant had likely been passively transformed, existing in a semi-professional state.
Li Bai observed quietly as the Inferno servant completed the incantation, retrieving an unknown red-brown liquid from the copper bowl. Unharmed, he poured the liquid into the magic circle, passing through the flames that surrounded it.
A wondrous change occurred as the red-brown liquid flowed into the magic circle as if it had a will of its own.
"Boom!"
In the next moment, the flames surrounding the magic circle erupted with a roar, intensifying threefold, their color shifting from ordinary yellow to an unusual crimson.
"Offer your faith, present your sacrifices—"
The Inferno servant elongated his voice as he shouted.
As his words fell, the cultists around Li Bai became agitated, eagerly tossing their carefully guarded torches and makeshift candles into the flames of the magic circle.
"Boom!"
With the infusion of these 'seeds' of faith, the flames within the magic circle danced and began to form a circular portal.
At the same time, a section of the crowd parted, revealing two figures in gray robes dragging a child of about twelve or thirteen years old forward.
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