The Fourth Book: The Road of Ice 016. Original Sin

  Du Fan was momentarily dazed, his mind wandering. Although he still had many magical scrolls and potions, his own strength was truly insufficient in a place like this. Moreover, since that day, Chen Chen had been unconscious, which made him even more worried. Thinking about the past and present, Du Fan felt anxious and at a loss.

  If Chenchen were awake at this moment, Du Fan was confident that with this little fox who couldn't even see through himself by his side, he could play whoever he wanted to play. But at this moment, Chenchen was still unconscious, and although there was still the Lingyan as a last resort, it would lose its effect when facing a magician, not to mention having to deal with a divine technique master.

  Thinking of this, Du Fan slightly felt a headache, but before there was no other way, he could only maintain the status quo.

  As he was lost in thought, a figure quickly jumped out of the valley, it was Ferre who had been sent to investigate by Du Fan and others earlier.

  Ferr's face was filled with excitement, and he quickly ran to Du Fan's front, not even bothering to salute, and hastily said: "Everyone, it seems that after we sped up our journey this time, we actually arrived here one step ahead of others. Just now, I carefully checked and found no signs of anyone having been nearby, and even the traces of magical beasts are extremely rare."

  Nicholas nodded slightly: "No signs of magical beasts is quite normal, since there is a divine palace in this valley, the magical beasts felt the pressure of the divine power and naturally did not dare to approach."

  Alfred frowned and said: "Nicholas, you say there is divine power in the valley, why can't I feel it?"

  Nicholas said, "This is easy to explain. There must be some secret method in the temple that prevents the divine power from leaking out. Lord Alfred, you are a knight, and your soul perception ability is higher than ordinary people, but you should also feel this faint divine power. Lady Tasia, as a magician, should have felt it clearly."

  Tasia saw the gaze of the crowd turn to herself, she closed her eyes and sensed for a moment, before saying coldly: "I can only vaguely feel a bit of divine power, but rather it's you, Lord Nicholas, who should be able to sense it clearly."

  Nicholas nodded and said, "Although I can clearly feel this divine power, perhaps because this temple is blessed by other gods, I may not be able to resonate with it. However, since we have confirmed its existence, our purpose for coming here has already been half fulfilled."

  Several people exchanged glances, which was tantamount to acknowledging this point.

  Du Fan listened to the two of them and couldn't help but close his eyes and sense it for a moment. He felt that in the darkness around him, there seemed to be a faint white light flickering deep within the valley. Although Du Fan's body was constantly flowing with radiant energy, he could still feel an intense pressure that made his back sweat profusely, sending shivers down his spine.

  Is this what they call divine power suppression?

  Du Fan let out a long sigh, opened his eyes, fortunately, no one paid attention to his superficial strength at this moment, so for the time being, no one noticed his abnormality.

  Several people discussed for a few more sentences and basically confirmed the true existence of the Temple of God.

  Nicholas smiled and casually pulled out a clock-like object from his sleeve, placing it flat on the ground. Then, with a light flick of his left hand, a strand of pure white holy light poured from his fingertips into the clock.

  It emitted a buzzing noise and then slowly floated into mid-air with a slight tremble.

  Seeing this scene, the surrounding Templar knights tacitly retreated a few steps, leaving only Du Fan and his three companions standing there motionless.

  Alfred and Tassia estimated that they knew this thing, but didn't have much interest in it. However, Dufan couldn't help but look at it again and again, and really couldn't figure out what it was used for.

  Nicholas saw Du Fan's appearance, smiled lightly, this smile was still charming and unparalleled. Du Fan looked at it with a numb scalp, but still managed to squeeze out a few smiles and said: "Lord Nicholas, what is this thing?"

  Nicholas said calmly, "It seems that Du Fan has not seen this thing before? This is a magical tool used for internal communication in our Holy See, called the transmission bell. However, due to the difficulty of production, there are only a few in each diocese. The transmission bell in my hand is one of the two in our Gavin Diocese, and the other is in the hands of Archbishop Anthony. With this thing, I can contact Archbishop Anthony directly."

  Du Fan nodded, and his vigilance towards this so-called transmitter increased. If this thing was in Nicholas' hands, wouldn't everything that happened on the way be known to Anthony? Although this would solidify his position as a Red Robe priest, but afterwards... what he wanted to do...

  Just thinking about it made Du Fan even more depressed, but he had to put on a curious expression on his face, which was truly painful to the extreme.

  Nicholas saw Du Fan's expression and didn't say anything else. He raised his right hand, using his fingertips to lightly write in the air, forming a trail of light that merged into the transmission bell in an instant. The holy light inside the transmission bell gradually dimmed as well.

  Nicholas reached out and pulled the messenger bell up, stuffing it into his sleeve before explaining with a smile: "Although this messenger bell isn't as convenient to use as the magic crystal ball, its one advantage is that it's not limited by distance when sending messages. However, there's also a significant drawback - after using it once, I won't be able to open it again for three days. Let's just hope nothing unexpected happens during these three days."

  In the end, Nicholas couldn't help but let out a sigh.

  Du Fan heard him say this and felt a bit more at ease, hastily nodding in agreement.

  Nicholas saw Du Fan's expression, his face remained unchanged, but in his heart, he looked down on the white-robed priest a little. However, thinking that three months ago he was still a waste, he couldn't help but have some strange thoughts in his mind.

  But Nicholas Saint thought calmly and didn't say anything more, just waved his hand towards Alfred.

  Alfred saw Nicholas's gesture and hurried forward, saying: "Nicholas, is there any instruction from Archbishop Anthony?"

  Nicholas smiled wryly and said: "You're well aware that even if Lord Anthony has any instructions, it'll take three days for the message to get through."

  Alfred scratched his head in embarrassment, as if he had just remembered this, and for a moment, neither of them knew how to explain.

  Nicholas slightly shook his head and said, "I've been using my divine power to rush on the road these past few days. If Roland Academy also has a divine magician accompanying them on this trip, they should have sensed my presence by now. No matter what the situation is, they will definitely speed up their journey. The extra time we have is not much, at most one or two days. If we don't make preparations within these two days, it's likely that responding to those several groups of people afterwards won't be so easy."

  Alfred furrowed his brow, for a moment he didn't know what to do.

  Du Fan saw their expressions and smiled faintly: "What's difficult about this? If there were another day or two, dealing with the remaining people would be a piece of cake."

  Nicholas nodded and looked at Du Fan, saying: "Does Mr. Du have any good ideas?"

  "Alright, there isn't a good plan, but there is a stupid one. We just need to find a place to hide, erase all the traces of our presence, and then wait quietly for the remaining people to arrive. If only Roland School comes next, we can even come out and fight directly without fear; or we can hide until they obtain what's inside the temple before making our move. If that mysterious force also sends people, we can just watch them fight each other. There's a saying from the Eastern Continent: 'sit on a mountain and watch tigers fight'. I think it suits this situation perfectly."

  Nicholas thought for a moment, furrowed his brow and said: "This won't do. If there are other exits in the Temple of God, wouldn't our actions be foolish? What if two groups really come from behind and join forces to deal with us due to some unexpected event, wouldn't we be in danger?"

  Du Fan looked at Nicholas in surprise, never expecting his thoughts to be so meticulous.

  He thought for a moment and said, "If Mr. Nicholas thinks this won't work, then we'll use a steady and steady approach. We'll leave half of our men in this valley to set up various mechanisms and traps, while the other half can go to the Temple Palace first to explore. No matter what the outcome is, those who go to the Temple Palace will try to leave from other places. As for the remaining people, they can hold on for as long as they can."

  Nicholas's expression changed slightly, and after a long while, he said, "In that case, won't the people who stay behind be doomed to die?"

  Du Fan's face was holy, and he said in a low voice: "For the sake of the God of Light, even if it means sacrifice, what does it matter? Moreover, when has great achievement not been accompanied by sacrifice?"

  Nicholas's face changed color, and after a moment he sighed: "Is our sacrifice not enough on this road? The remaining people are all the backbone of our Holy See, how can we lightly talk about sacrifice? The Lord says that what is to come will inevitably come, what is to happen will inevitably happen. We only need to do our best. You must not say such words again in the future, Dufan. You must remember that underestimating life is also a sin."

  Du Fan bowed his head and said: "Thank you, sir, for your teachings."

  But in his heart, he sneered, if sacrifice is a sin, then isn't this trip also a sin? Nicholas, do you know that greed is always the deepest original sin at any time.