The dead saint level person wore a blood red gown, their hands were covered with iron gloves, their feet wore iron boots, an iron helmet was on their head, and an iron mask covered their face.
Around the blood red gown, circled nine platinum stars.
This was the apparel of the Blood Light Punishment Institution.
The Blood Light Punishment Institution……
This was a famous institution, practically everyone had heard of it. It was also known as “The gods’ whips, it existed in the Sheng Ming Empire to whip the enemies of the gods.
In the Sheng Ming Empire, all of the dukes as well as the emperor were living gods.
These gods were experts of their domain and each of them had a powerful sect. As they influenced and led humanity forward, they helped and restricted each other, like old, intertwined tree roots.
Those that became the gods’ enemy, even if they could fight the gods directly, also had strong concealment, disguise, or escape capabilities. The gods were also aloof and remote, typically they rarely disposed of anything personally.
In order to conveniently arrest the wanted and pursue the gods’ enemies without interfering with each other, the gods joined hands to establish the Blood Light Punishment Institution.
The Blood Light Punishment Institution didn’t have many people, however each of them was strong. All of them came from the great powers of the Sheng Ming Empire and were valued characters.
The Blood Light Punishment Institution’s power was enormous, they could kill or arrest anyone in the Continent, often acting first and reporting later. Their power was above the templar knight regiments, templar magician regiments, many sects, influential clans, the Magician Alliance, and other groups.
Official members could enter almost any area in the empire, access the absolute majority of secret information, and had the authority to suddenly mobilize almost any garrison in the empire at will.
“It seems Great Duke Quan Fa’s mount Yan Shan was dispatched with the Blood Light Punishment Institution. Yan Shan should also be a member of the Blood Light Punishment Institution.”
“I still think Great Duke Quan Fa was the one who ordered War Merchant’s death.”
“How strange, why did the Blood Light Punishment Institution attack War Merchant? War Merchant isn’t an enemy of the gods.”
“Maybe, he was blasphemous and sinful behind the scenes.”
“I think the empire might have needed War Merchant’s remodeled magic beast technology. Think about it, if the empire mastered this technology, when they deal with the beastmen in the future, less humans will be sacrificed.”
Everyone was discussing.
“Who is this saint level person?”
A curious person wanted to walk over to the corpse and take off their mask.
“Don’t touch!” That action immediately caused Jia Sha to give a strict warning.
Saying this, Jia Sha looked at the templar guardian knight Xiong Dun.
Xiong Dun lifted his leg and kicked a rock on the ground.
When the rock flew into the corpse, it immediately turned gold.
“According to my information, War Merchant’s magic spell, gold hand, has reached the legend level. This Blood Light Punishment Institution person has been killed by that magic.”
“Their clothing has completely covered their skin, however as long as they are observed by a divine spell, once can find they have thoroughly become a golden statue.
Jia Sha had mentioned this in time, and the survivor who wanted to take off the iron mask turned deathly pale.
Their strength was too low, even if the saint level person was a dead corpse, they couldn’t touch the corpse.
Carefully avoiding the corpse, everyone continued forward.
Next, they saw even more concentrated marks of battle.
The people saw some unknown blood, severed arms, many golems, magical artifacts, and the fragments of weapons and equipment.
Jia Sha analyzed: “In the magma battlefield, War Merchant crossed swords with the small Blood Light Punishment Institution squadron, although Yan Shan was sealed, he was severely wounded.
“He urgently withdrew while the saint level people pursued him with all their strength.”
“Not long after, War Merchant was overtaken, he had to fight while retreating.
“During this process, one of the saint level people was killed, that was the corpse we saw earlier.”
“The rest continued to pursue, no matter how disastrous the price they paid.”
This is also why no defensive measures were encountered.
“Move, I sense the control hub isn’t far off!” Jia Sha’s tone carried excitement.
Zi Di’s eyes also shined.
The more they went forward, the wider the passage got.
Not long after, everyone stopped in front of a gigantic door.
This gigantic door was bright and clean, as if it were new, however on the lower left, there was a hole in it. From the hole, one could see behind the door.
“That’s a really thick door!”
“Quickly look, it's different inside, it's an extremely wide room.”
“There are many coffins!”
“Magic beast corpses practically fill the ground!!”
Everyone looked inside through the lower left gap, and one after the other, they cried out in surprise.
It was not bright inside and everything was in disarray. There were many remodeled magic beast carcasses, including bat monkeys, scaled leopards, blue dog fox wolves, and more, it was evident a bitter battle took place here.
The Blood Light Punishment Institution’s people pursued him in, this door did not stop them for long.” Someone guessed at what happened in the battle.
“Maybe, this was a trap War Merchant made for the Blood Light Punishment Institution.”
“These coffins were arranged very close together, although many were destroyed, some are still intact. What were they used for?”
“Even if this isn’t the control hub, this is an important place!”
Everyone was already excited and nervous.
Divine spell: detect magic.
Divine spell: detect traps.
The two divine spells were used by Jia Sha repeatedly, eventually he determined there was nothing to this gigantic door, it was just a door.
“Break through this door!” Jia Sha ordered.
However, the four guardian templar knights failed, even Zong Ge’s bone hammer couldn’t leave a dent on the door.
Jia Sha pursed his brows, even after giving everyone divine spells, they still couldn’t leave a mark on the door.
Jia Sha naturally was not resigned; he personally used an offensive divine spell on the door. The divine spell’s radiance collided with the gigantic door and broke into countless beams, however it didn’t do anything.
“I fear this door is made from legend level materials!” Zi Di’s tone was heavy.
“What can we do?” Hei Juan was bewildered, he tried using Silver Lightning but could only leave behind a scratch.
“We should have brought that cannon with us.” Cang Xu sighed.
When they crashed through the magma battlefield, everyone focused on making every second count, thus they abandoned the heavy alchemy cannon.
“Don’t tell me we need to return with the cannon?”
This proposal made many people shake their heads.
The magma battlefield still had guardian golems and invisible exterminators, going back for the cannon was bringing about their own destruction.
“Zhen Jin, perhaps you can have a try at it.” Jia Sha encouraged Zhen Jin with a smile.
Zhen Jin’s heart immediately thumped.
“Yes, your Lordship if your prayer succeeds, perhaps the power of a divine scion knight can break through this door. Hei Juan shouted.
In a split second, nearly everyone concentrated their attention on him.
Zhen Jin breathed sluggishly.
With a wooden face and heavy footsteps, he approached the door, then with his back to everyone, he began to silently pray.
A long time passed.
He turned around dismayed: “Sorry, my master didn’t respond to me.”
Everyone sighed, but no one blamed Zhen Jin.
“My Lord don’t be too difficult on yourself. This must have been Heavenly Emperor Sheng Ming’s intentions.” Zi Di consoled.
Zhen Jin nodded, then walked into the crowd.
Jia Sha clenched his teeth, his burning eyes glared at the gigantic door: “To use legend level materials on this door, maybe the control hub really is inside. Hateful! We are unexpectedly obstructed by a door.”
Everyone was at their wits end and gradually despaired.
“Perhaps there is another path.”
“There can’t be just one road that leads to the control hub, right?”
Someone suggested he look for another path.
At that moment, the giant suddenly shouted: “I have a way, I think I have a way.”
“What is it?” Everyone asked with varied expectations.
“Let me try.” Nevertheless, the giant’s heart was full of confidence.
He ran to the door and began to pull at the lower left hole.
“Could it be he thinks we can get through that way?”
But the next moment, the giant bit his teeth and used his entire body to drag the door to the side.
At first the gigantic door was motionless, however after a few breaths, it trembled, then slowly moved to the right.
Many people were dumbstruck.
Jia Sha laughed heartily: “Hahaha, good, very good!”
Everyone had been thinking in circles, yet the giant with his simple thoughts, had used the simplest method to open the door.
However, if the tower spirit was here and if this place hadn’t been damaged in battle, this door would have been locked, it wouldn’t have had such an obvious gap.
The giant quickly used up his strength, but the gigantic door had been pulled enough for a petite person to pass through.
Zong Ge, Zhen Jin, the four guardian templar knights, and a few others with the aid of Jia Sha’s divine spells, continued to pull the gigantic door.
After a great effort, everyone was dripping with sweat, finally the gigantic door had been pulled enough that even the giant could barely get through.
With the gigantic door opened, the situation inside could be easily viewed.
Behind the gigantic door was a vast room with spherical walls, forming an arena-like layout.
Hundreds of coffins were distributed around in a tight formation, like the seats in an arena.
Many of the coffins were opened or destroyed, they seemed to have stored blood. There were also many intact coffins.
These destroyed coffins combined with many magic beast corpses vividly portrayed the Blood Light Punishment Institution’s people’s assault.
Starting from the gigantic door, they charged straight into the center of the magician tower.
That’s right, this vast underground room was a towering magician tower.
Most magician towers were different from each other, this magician tower was short and fat, with only four floors.
The magician tower’s door had been severely damaged, from a distance, everyone saw a small mound of magic beast corps and huge golem fragments.
Jia Sha’s heart jumped; his tone was certain: “This is the alchemy factory’s control hub!”
Everyone became excited and nervous.
They moved through the ruined battlefield.
Nothing unexpected happened, and they smoothly arrived at the magician tower.
After stepping across the mountain of magic beast carcasses, they entered the magician tower.
Human shaped bodies jumped into their eyes.
Three Blood Light Punishment institution saint levels, as well as a goblin.
This goblin wore a fine golden magical gown, as he lay on the ground, the remaining legend level life aura remaining on his corpse revealed his identity without a shadow of a doubt——the alchemy grandmaster——War Merchant!
Notes
You obviously know what’s next. Ahem…”NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!” Sniff, looks like someone casted this last Final Transmutation, it seems the lore of metal is dying in this world. Anyways, place your bets on when War Merchant died. The answer will probably shock you.