Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Holy Top Church, in a small worship room of the church.
There wasn’t any choir in this place nor fanciful decorations and there were only ten believers who prayed quietly with their eyes closed.
After Lou Cheng entered the place, he did not say anything. He found a corner, sat down quickly and tried to feel the atmosphere around him. The peaceful, quiet, gentle and relaxing feelings lingered around and made him feel as though he had used the “Confrontation” Formula.
“There aren’t any clergy or martial artists from the Mission Sect.... The Mission Sect and Spirit Cultivator both paid a lot of attention in creating an atmosphere for influence...” Lou Cheng looked around casually and had some thoughts in his mind. He didn’t disturb anyone, stood up quietly and left the place.
He took a glance at his phone that he had switched to silent mode. Seeing that it was still early and he had some free time until the end of Yan Zheke’s class, he decided to visit the church museum next door and take a look at the “Holy Grail” display that had been the talk of Connecticut recently.
Rumour had it that this was a silver cup that held the blood of the “Savior” at some point. Based on what his master had told him, the true form of famous deities, buddhas and spiritual gods in history were often physical invulnerability experts. They might even be people who had stepped into the forbidden area. I wonder which level the “Savior” was at?
Yan Zheke was also very interested in this and had planned to visit the place over the weekend. Partially for knowledge, the other just to have a date with Chen. Hmph... Let’s just take this as a trip...
Lou Cheng tugged both of his hands into his jacket and made his way to the entrance of the Church Museum. When he stepped in, he was stopped immediately by a good looking blonde lady. She smiled gently and said in a cheerful tone, “Hi, I’m Tracy and I’m a docent. Is there anything that I can help you with?”
A volunteer of the museum... Lou Cheng had been going to the church quite a bit recently and wasn’t foreign to this. He waved his hand and replied with a smile, “I’m fine. I’m just going to walk around and take a look.”
Similar volunteers often try to instil ideas about the Lord, redemption, how wonderful they are and other concepts. I can understand their thinking and how they feeling but I’m sorry. I really do not like it. Contrarily, I would rather listen to Xiao Ming’s stand up comedy.
“The exhibits in this hall are all related to the history of the church. If just take a look, it will be difficult for you to understand its real charm.” The blonde hair girl, Tracy, wasn’t disappointed by the rejection she got at all. On the contrary, she maintained her smile and emphasized her point.
“Hmph... That will do too.” Lou Cheng thought about it for a few seconds and changed his mind.
This wasn’t because he disliked the girl. She was pretty, but he noticed a very important point. After listening to her, I will have some idea about the exhibits, and I’ll try to remember the key points. When I’m back here with Yan Zheke on a date, I can show her my well-read and knowledgeable side again!
“Good afternoon. Mister, this way please. It will be best if you start with Hall One. The exhibit here relates to the history of the Lord spreading the gospel and also the history of our church’s developments.” Tracy pointed to her right and smiled sweetly.
Lou Cheng was fine with anything and thus followed the volunteer museum docent. He stepped into Exhibit Hall One and noticed that there were several bulletproof glass cabinets and various kind of ancient artefacts in them.
“This is a notebook left behind by Saint Simon. Before the “Dead Sea Scrolls” were unearthed, this was the oldest literature text that recorded the gospel...” Tracy pointed to the few sheets of papyrus as she explained.
Lou Cheng nodded his head with interests as he tried to remember the content of the explanation.
After taking several steps and seeing through several areas. Tracy’s expressions suddenly turned serious and her tone was filled with sorrow. Pointing to the standalone cabinet in the centre of Exhibit Hall One, she said, “The Savior shed his blood for mankind and this is an ancient cup that had held his holy blood.”
Lou Cheng followed her gaze and looked over. He saw four security personnel with suppressed auras and incredible vitality standing at the four corners of the exhibit. They stood still but a strong, bright and overbearing feeling swept towards Lou Cheng and engulfed him.
Within the glass cabinet was a grail made from silver. Its engravings were simple and unsophisticated and there weren’t any signs of oxidation on it. The inner lining of the cup was of the color of blood. Even though it had been around for over two thousand years, it still preserved the moisture. It looked fresh and heavy as though it nurtured something.
“The blood of the Savior...” Lou Cheng leaned closer and observed carefully. Suddenly, he felt the atmosphere around him turn sorrowful and heavy as the blood red layer undulated. The cup suddenly seemed to be filled despite having nothing in it.
There’s definitely something mysterious about this... As the thought flash passed his mind, Lou Cheng felt a tinge in his heart and suddenly could smell a suppressed feeling of danger!
The Jindan was crushed and parts of it merged with him. He might have lost his greatest support but his supernatural abilities had received the greatest boost possible. These included his Ice and Fire abilities and naturally, also included his intuition to sense danger!
There was still some distance from the realm of “Foreboding” as recorded in the legends. However, as compared to the past, this was more than just a small novelty trick he had!
At that very moment, Lou Cheng felt as though he was in an environment where a storm was brewing. Although he couldn’t see or hear it with his own eyes or ears, he could acutely notice the various signs.
A smart man wouldn’t stand beside a collapsing wall! Leave, leave right away! He made his decision decisively and left after turning around. This left the blonde girl, Tracy, dumbfounded.
“Mister, mister... Wait a minute, wait a minute... Did I explain something wrongly?” Tracy caught up and asked anxiously.
“I suddenly remembered; I have something urgent to attend to.” Lou Cheng answered perfunctorily. He paused for a moment before continuing, “I have a friend who would be here in just a minute. Can you explain the exhibits to him? Also, can I trouble you to wait in the resting room for a while and not attend to other matters for a moment?”
Tracy nodded her head in surprise and answered, “Sure, no problem!”
Lou Cheng did not stay behind. Keeping his arm beside him, he took huge strides to the door and walked passed a blonde teenager with blue eyes who was here to take over the next shift.
Oblak glanced at him and entered the exhibition museum without thinking too much into it. His mind was occupied with the matters of the finals that night.
After taking several steps, he stopped suddenly and shook his head violently. He looked towards the Chinese man that he encountered just moments ago.
Lou Cheng?
Lou Cheng!
That Heavenly son of the era from China that caused him the worst failure in his life?
Didn’t he suffer grave injuries and leave the professional circle? Why is he here? The guy that I met in the church yesterday must have been him too!
As these thoughts welled up inside him, Oblak had forgotten about his responsibilities. He turned around instinctively and gave chase to the figure that was disappearing from his vision. What followed his footsteps were the faint clashing sound of his metallic armor.
Since returning to Gaofen from the Brutale, he had started paying attention to news relating to martial arts in China. He finally knew who defeated him and that he was a highly regarded Heavenly son of the era. Since then, he had walked out from self-denial and had a target. After several years of hard work, he felt that he had the strength to challenge him again. However, who would have expected Lou Cheng to be involved in an accident so suddenly? He was very regretful.
Since he met him in Connecticut, he couldn’t let this opportunity slip.
Thud thud thud! Oblak’s steps were heavy, but he was able to move agilely between the people on the streets and towards the figure that he had been chasing at high speed.
However, Lou Cheng’s steps were equally fast. Oblak wasn’t able to close the distance between them at all.
In a moment of panic, dots of lights suddenly flashed on Oblak’s hands, legs, chest and abdomen. As they connected, a tree-like object seemed to form.
A radiant light exploded and he truly became a “Son of the Sun”. Terrifying aura covered Lou Cheng from afar. It was both a “greeting” and a way to stop him.
However at this very moment, all he could feel was the direction where his aura had swept through, everything had become empty. It felt just like the bottomless universe’s darkness that couldn’t be filled in all eternity. In just an instant, Lou Cheng mitigated his “Tempestuous Holy Rays” and disappeared without a trace.
“This...” Oblak was shocked and dumbfounded.
In that moment of delay, Lou Cheng had turned into another street and disappeared in front of his eyes.
Oblak was about to give chase again when he suddenly heard a loud explosion and feel the trembles of the ground below his feet.
He turned his head around and looked towards the direction of the explosion. He saw the external glasses of the Church Museum and the Holy Top Church shattering. Milky white light rays and crimson red flames smashed through the ceiling. Screams and cries could be heard everywhere.
Something had happened! Oblak put aside his desire to chase after Lou Cheng and rushed back to the museum. When he stepped through the door, he saw that the glass cabinet had been shattered into pieces. There were museum docents and visitors lying around the floor, injured and moaning in pain. Chaos was everywhere.
Heading towards where the flames raged from, he discovered his good friends Johnny and Charles. One of them was lying there with injuries all over him. He had lost consciousness and his life was quickly slipping away from him. His other friend had one of his arms blown off. He was moaning in pain and trying to get up. However, he was helpless.
Oblak’s pupils contracted and rushed towards where the Holy Grail was held without showing concern to his friend who was moaning for help. The closer he got, the more tragic the scene got. When he reached the place of the standalone cabinet, it had already been deformed. He saw his own master, the captain of the Brutale Holy Grail Knight Squadron, Mason Walker.
This middle-aged man who had sky blue eyes leaned against the cabinet. His chest had sunk in and various spots were burnt to charcoal black. He was throwing up blood and the silver cup that held the blood of the Savior had disappeared.
“Three... Three Crown level.” Mason Walker took a breath in and tried to make his sentence more fluid. “Quick... Quickly go to the confession room and look for the archbishop. Let him inform the Connecticut government to dispatch all the Crown level experts, seal the roads out of the City and use satellite surveillance and positioning to quickly retrieve the Holy Grail!”
“Yes!” Oblak nodded his head violently and ran towards the Holy Top Church without further questions.
He already knew why the Holy Grail was stolen. Typically, the Brutale representative team had two Crown level experts guarding the place in shifts. Together with the archbishop, Kontsev, in the Church right beside, they were enough to buy time until the reinforcement team arrived. However during this hour each day, the archbishop would have his regular confession period. He would severe all his senses to listen to the teachings of the Lord!
When he passed by the resting room of the museum, he caught a glimpse in his peripheral of a blonde sitting dazedly. She was clearly in acute shock.
...
Lou Cheng didn’t care about what had happened there. He ran directly to the campus of Connecticut University and to the classroom of Yan Zheke.
Seeing that everything was fine, he heaved a sigh of relief. He took out his phone and refreshed the newsfeed page. That was when he saw a piece of emergency news,
“The museum has been attacked and the Holy Grail has been stolen!”
“Three Crown level super criminals!”
...
So that’s what had happened... After reading it, he refreshed again and saw the latest update,
“‘The Deliveryman’ seems to be one of the assaulters!”
“What the...!” Lou Cheng was initially shocked but soon shouted vulgarities.