Jia Sha’s proposal was refused by Zhen Jin, causing the priest to suddenly turn around: “Templar knight, you must think of the general situation.”
Zhen Jin’s gaze was firm: “I think of my comrades more, priest!”
Jia Sha coldly snorted, suddenly lightning appeared and flashed towards Zi Di.
Zi Di didn’t have enough time to respond as she helplessly watched the lightning strike next to her foot.
After being startled, everyone was in an uproar.
“Lord Priest, what have you done?!”
“Was that lightning bolt controlled by you?”
“What are you up to?!”
“What am I up to?” Jia Sha snarled, “I only want to save time! Now is not the time to doubt each other, give me the divine artifacts so I can teleport them! If not, the next lightning bolt will not be as random.”
“Xiong Dun, Chai Zha, why are you two still dawdling?”
“Teleport the divine artifacts now.”
“That is an order!”
“Be at ease, they won’t block you. Because we consider this templar knight’s comrades.”
During that last sentence, Jia Sha’s tone was clearly sneerful.
Xiong Dun, Chai Zha, and the other guardian templar knights stepped forward and looked at Zhen Jin: “Sorry your Lordship.”
Zhen Jin grinded his teeth and was in a deadlock with the guardian templar knights for a few breaths, until finally, he stepped aside.
Under everyone’s gaze, the four guardian templar knights brought the Green Jade Golden Coffin and the Mermaid Fairy Tale to the fourth floor.
“Lord Jia Sha?!” The four guardian templar knights’ hearts jumped and revealed their shock.
Looking at Jia Sha again, they discovered the priest had changed beyond recognition.
Jia Sha was originally hale, hearty, and in the prime of his life, but now he appeared withered and emaciated, his brows were wrinkled, his expression was twisted, and veins popped from his forehead.
Jia Sha looked at the four, bitterly smiled, and used a voice that only they could hear: “You think there isn’t a price paid to invade the control hub? In the end, I am only a silver level priest, while this place is a legend level alchemist’s headquarters!”
Because of belief, priests, chaplains, and pious believers could, more or less, pour divine power into their bodies. Under normal circumstances, Jia Sha’s body contained and was nourished by divine power. As time passes, Jia Sha’s bodily essence would also be upgraded, especially his vision.
However, to invade the control hub, Jia Sha’s divine power was not enough, besides the process here, he had repeatedly used divine spells during the battle, consuming a lot of divine power.
His divine power was not enough to invade the control hub; thus, Jia Sha could only use an admonished method.
He squeezed his own vitality and over drafted his future advancement potential to explode with extraordinary divine power.
“Lord Jia Sha……” The guardian templar knights’ hearts shook, choked with sobs, they understood how immense Jia Sha’s sacrifice was.
“It doesn’t matter.” Jia Sha laughed, “As long as these two divine artifacts are teleported, and the higher ups are informed, the contribution and reward we will receive will exceed our costs. When that moment comes, I might even become a red clothed archbishop. And you all will no longer be just guardian templar knights.”
“My Lord, when can we leave this place?”
“I have almost succeeded. The wounded tower spirit has suffered defeat after defeat, the teleportation door will soon open.” Speaking of this, Jia Sha’s eyes confidently shined.
Awoo!
A monkey tail brown bear attempted to charge into the third floor.
The large bone feather deer was stuck on the stairs from the first to second floor, however artificial magic beasts like the monkey tail brown bear weren’t deterred.
Zong Ge brandished his bone hammer and beat back the monkey tail brown bear.
The monkey tail brown bear flew into a crocodile head hammer tail boa, the latter then began to drag and swallow it.
A few bat monkeys were about to charge over, when acid hit them, causing them to fall to the ground.
The green acid caused a scorpion group to trample a strong life white rhinoceros in their frantic escape.
The second floor was in chaos, without a scent to unite them, these artificial magic beasts massacred each other.
The pressure on the survivors defending the third floor fell rapidly.
Ironically however, Zong Ge thought a bit of pressure was good.
“This situation isn’t wonderful Zhen Jin. Jia Sha controls the control hub, and most crucially, we don’t know how much progress he’s made!” Taking advantage of this time, Zong Ge spoke to Zhen Jin.
Zhen Jin’s brows tightened, and his face scowled as he sighed: “What can we still do? We don’t have divine power; thus, Jia Sha is the only one that can invade the control hub.”
“He also controls the lightning……”
“Be at ease, in the end he is Heavenly Emperor Sheng Ming’s priest, his divine spells aren’t fake.”
Seeing Zhen Jin’s response, Zong Ge couldn’t help but stare blankly, soon after his mood became worse.
The half beastman’s head lowered as he suddenly realized: “This is bad. Zhen Jin is heroic and just, but he is too benevolent. That is his weakness, and Jia Sha has seen and manipulated it. Zhen Jin wholeheartedly wants to save the others, especially his fiancé. He is too young!”
“In addition, Zhen Jin is a templar knight and Jia Sha is a Sheng Ming priest, these two are closely related. As a result, despite the priest deliberately using the lightning to threaten Zhen Jin, Zhen Jin doesn’t believe the priest would entrap him.”
Templar knights belong to Emperor Sheng Ming’s armed forces, while priests, chaplains, and the like belong to Emperor Sheng Ming’s civil services. Both systems share the same beliefs.
If both sides have internecine strife, their god will be discontent. If Zhen Jin attacked Jia Sha, his templar knight identity would be stripped and he would be a wanted man. Conversely, if Jia Sha harmed Zhen Jin, the sect would excommunicate him and even mark him as renegade.
As a result, Jia Sha’s lightning did not go towards Zhen Jin, but Zi Di.
However, the lightning did not hit Zi Di, it was only a warning.
Zong Ge closed his eyes and analyzed the situation: “The current situation is far from good, only Jia Sha has the ability to invade the control hub. He has already done so for a long time, by controlling most of the control hub and lightning, he occupies the initiative.”
“I cannot judge how much of his words are true or false. I fear the magic power reserve is drying up. However, it is also possible he has already started to open the teleportation door.”
“Those two divine artifacts being teleported is truly terrible. We have lost our biggest bargaining chip to suppress Jia Sha.”
“But if we didn’t relinquish them, the lightning might have killed us!”
“Listening to his words, this priest’s mind is full of contribution and contribution. It is very clear that in his heart, the divine artifacts are more important than people!”
“Zhen Jin is a templar knight, he doesn’t have to worry about this. But with our identities, Jia Sha is unlikely to care about us. If it is like this, we are in grave danger.”
“The only things giving Jia Sha worries are these artificial magic beasts.”
“Dammit!”
“Previously I wanted these magic beasts to die, can they please launch a stronger offensive to guarantee my safety?”
“Truly ironic!”
Zong Ge was a man of steel, he was deeply versed with the hard handed reasoning of the army and knew the benefits of conducting himself in a dignified manner.
With regards to Zhen Jin, he was both disappointed at and understanding of him, after all Zi Di was the young knight’s fiancée.
“What must I do, what a headache.”
Zong Ge wasn’t good at these things. Although his father had a high position, as a bastard that had to train martial skills from childhood, he was never educated in such matters.
Otherwise, after joining the army and having outstanding military successes, it would be unlikely he would have still been crowded out by his colleagues.
More or less, the others shared Zong Ge’s opinion.
Jia Sha threatening Zi Di with lightning made everyone frightened and bewildered. Seeing Zhen Jin forced back, everyone’s morale rapidly declined.
Thus, despite the magic beasts killing each other, whenever the occasional magic beast attacked, the survivors’ defensive line was clearly unstable, showing how unstable the will of the people was.
“Hold onto me!” Jia Sha’s keen vision clearly saw the situation, in fact, he had prepared for this.
He then shouted repeatedly: “As long as the final crisis is passed, we will be rescued!”
With the contribution in your hands, all of you can start afresh.”
“Don’t forget Zhen Jin, I am your examiner. Like I said earlier, with our contribution, there is no way you’ll merely be White Sands City’s lord.”
“Mu Ban, you stole many bow blueprints from the guild, with this contribution, you can return to the guild and even become its president!”
“Cang Xu, you might not know, but the Sha Ta Clan’s internal strife has already been settled, although your son betrayed you, his faction has been implicated and jailed. The Sha Ta Clan has just set things right. With your contribution, I will vouch for you in the future and repeal the Sha Tan Clan’s arrest warrant and recognize it as a mistake, you can be a scholar again.”
“Zi Di, your Wisteria Merchant Alliance and Zhen Jin’s clan have united, however you are still in a predicament. After this battle, I will pull strings and have a portion of the Sheng Ming parishes be your trading partners. You should understand how important this is to your Wisteria Merchant Alliance.”
“Tripleblade, you really are honest. But because of your honesty, your mercenary corps does a lot of dirty work right? Although it is disbanded, I can find positions for you and your people, like guard posts in a city. If you can genuinely believe in Heavenly Emperor Sheng Ming, I can even put you into a templar legion!”
“Zong Ge……I know your identity, you are a bastard, you want to accomplish your goals, you want to return home with your head high and chest out and take back everything that belongs to you. Then you should grab this opportunity, right?”
……
Jia Sha’s words emotionally moved the survivors again.
He actually understood these survivors thoroughly, as if he understood everyone’s opinions and demands.
He clearly remembered every survivor’s name, he didn’t miss anyone, and even ordinary people like Bai Ya were not an exception.
This was a preacher’s outstanding attainment!
He guaranteed Bai Ya, as long as he cooperated, this contribution was bound to make him a knight in the future!
“Lord Priest, I……believe you!” Bai Ya expressed his yearning.
Everyone’s morale no longer fell, and the front stabilized a bit.
This was mainly because Jia Sha held too much initiative, without any way to counter him, everyone had to believe him.
However, on the fourth floor.
After Jia Sha finished his speech, he coldly snorted as loathing and disdain spread across his face: “As if we will allocate this contribution to this group of dregs. Just die here and atone for your crimes.”
“Lord Priest?”
“There is a templar knight here.”
“We were all on the same boat, and helped each other throughout the journey……”
The guardian templar knights were disturbed.
Jia Sha coldly snorted: “Of course I will save the templar knight!”
“But I won’t let the others leave.”
“When I invaded the control hub, I obtained a lot of information. Based on War Merchant’s teleportation records and current magic power after I barely managed to teleport the two divine artifacts, I can only take a few people.”
“Aren’t you all comrades? Do you still want the contribution?”
Jia Sha’s sharp eyes looked around, cowering the guardian templar knights, none of them dared to look the priest in the face.
Pleased with himself, Jia Sha laughed. However, at that moment, a gold level magic beast charged in.
It didn’t have a big build; it was actually a gold level bat monkey!
No one could beat it, and the front collapsed.
“Dammit, I still haven’t undone the third floor’s magical formation, that strange hemocyte cannot be taken away.” Jia Sha was impatient, “Zhen Jin! Go up and do your best.”
“I know your misgivings, those are unimportant!”
“Be at ease, with me, I will purify everything in you.”
Zhen Jin’s expression greatly changed.
Currently he was in his “divine scion” form, and Jia Sha implied he undoubtedly saw through Zhen Jin’s transformations.
He seemed to understand Zhen Jin’s biggest secret!
Zhen Jin hesitated for a moment, but he still grinded his teeth and charged in.
But he didn’t charge at the gold level bat monkey, but up the stairs to the fourth floor.
“Stop!”
“Zhen Jin, what are you doing?”
“If you don’t stop, you will suffer the consequences!”
Zhen Jin turned a deaf ear and sped up.
Everyone was stupefied, no one expected Zhen Jin would be this rude and impetuous.
After a moment, everyone shook with even more fear.
A few lightning bolts fell and hit Zhen Jin, striking the young knight on the spot.
“No——!” After blankly staring, Zi Di mournfully screeched, she wanted to run to Zhen Jin’s body, but Hei Juan stopped her.
“Too dangerous!” Hei Juan shouted, “President Zi Di, please calm down.”
“Father!!!” The giant bellowed, after reacting, he charged over to Zhen Jin’s body.
The giant ran over with all of his strength, and kneeled to the ground, despite the floor tiles chafing his knees.
He carefully flipped over Zhen Jin’s body, Zhen Jin’s body was blackened and housed no life.
“Father, father, wake up, wake up……”
However, it was clear, Zhen Jin was dead.
Everyone no longer sensed his life aura.
After all, in this prohibition environment, how could the human body resist lightning? Those artificial magic beasts also collapsed under the lightning.
“No, this cannot be.”
“Lord Zhen Jin……is dead?!”
“Don’t tell me Jia Sha has gone insane? He actually murdered a templar knight! Even if he has overflowing contribution, he will never be able to overturn this!”
Zong Ge and the others struggled to resist the gold level bat monkey, step by step they were routed, they couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“Murderer! Murderer!! Die my father’s murderer, I will kill you!!” The giant bellowed, with a malevolent expression, he charged up the stairs.
“Don’t go!!” Zi Di shrieked.
But it was too late.
The next moment, more lightning fell onto the giant, causing him to fall, twitch all over, and froth at the mouth, he couldn’t even budge.
Notes
Looks like someone is getting sent to the shadow realm for the fourth time, waiting there until the beast roars once more. A gamble for the truth has been rolled, but what lies beyond the darkness?