CHAPTER 216: CHAPTER 167: YOU CAN STUDY ME

Lindong followed Ethan, walking through the familiar streets of the imperial capital, and compared to the last time she came here, the city’s appearance had almost not changed.

A city as stagnant as dead water, where she once lived for many years as a member of the Seven Councils.

At this moment, all warrants for her arrest had been withdrawn, and the charges from the Violet Commune had been absolved. She witnessed the process of the Pope and others being bound to the stake for execution, regardless of their feelings or how many curses they hadn’t finished speaking, all were consumed by flames until reduced to ashes.

For Lindong, everything seemed to come too quickly, so much so that she had never considered what would happen after her revenge.

The Empire seemed to have returned to normalcy.

New "faith" was being established, and the news of the destruction day was spreading an unprecedented sense of crisis among the people, just people’s ways of conjuring faith had changed. Instead of going to the cathedral for worship and pinning hope on ethereal matters, now many had assumed a powerful motivation, as if fighting side by side for a grand goal.

Unknowingly, the two left the imperial capital, traversing into the winds and snow of the northern territory. The noise of the streets gradually faded, at the end of the snowstorm lay Mr. Big Cat’s cave, also her former residence. In the cave, many changes had occurred, Ave and the others had brought in furniture and done simple renovations. Their belongings lay scattered on the floor, not yet checked after the war ended.

Then, Lindong found something unusual.

It was a red gemstone lingering in faint light, looking somewhat familiar.

She almost immediately recognized the gem as somewhat similar to the one on the Pope’s staff, the staff existed since the establishment of the Empire and was crafted by Saint Hilman, later becoming the token of every Pope, to be handed to the new Pope during power transfer.

And the red gemstone symbolizing papal power had already been shattered in the war.

This gem did not belong to any of them.

Then, Lindong sensed something abnormal.

Ethan had not spoken for a long time, and earlier when they were in the streets of the imperial capital, it was as if people hadn’t seen her.

Even if the wrongful charges had been cleared, people’s attitudes towards her shouldn’t change so easily.

What she went through seemed like a pre-set image, each image seemed to move along a predetermined trajectory, just like the illusions they saw in the Wolf Head Castle pollution zone.

She always felt that it wasn’t Bazatous’s power.

Lindong felt the call of the red gemstone, she bent down, and her finger touched the gemstone, the world shattered and peeled away, leaving only the void where faint light could fall through; standing seemingly amidst the starry sky, aside from her, there was only another person with identical appearance outside this vast star sea.

The woman stood with her back to her, gazing at the distant starry sky.

The starlight reflected a scene unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar to Lindong.

There too seemed to be the imperial capital.

Enveloped by the bloody plague, the imperial capital, occupied by twisted fleshly constructs, even the ruins seemed infected.

Pope Julius’s corpse lay in the street’s center, countless ice spikes pierced through his body, his eyes wide open, a look of dying without rest.

"How nice,"

The woman turned around, gazing at her with envious eyes, noticed the change in Lindong’s gaze and the gathering ice domain, she only lifted the corners of her mouth.

The flow of time stopped, but the woman moved unaffected within it.

"Want to capture me? This is the plan you—or rather, we and Ethan had agreed upon."

She raised her eyebrows, a peculiar shimmering in her eyes, "It’s actually not so troublesome. Once you meet him, just cover your eyes and cuff your hands behind your back. If you prefer, you can also choose to wear a muzzle."

Lindong suddenly understood something, asked, "Is there anything I need to know now?"

The woman instantly showed a pleased expression, "He helped you, now it’s your turn to help him. The key is in the characteristics of the Evil God; just like dealing with the Divine Spirit, you must strip off Their outer garment... I can only remind you of these things, otherwise, very bad things will happen to you, oh, by the way."

She suddenly thought of something, adding, "I left you some clues. If you see me like you did at Wolf Head Castle, at some point in the future, it means something is about to happen."

"Anything else?"

Lindong quietly waited for her response.

"Hmm..." The woman pondered, then said, "You can also try covering your eyes; maybe it will be thrilling."

...

The song in the tavern brought Lindong back to reality. It was an independent compartment; Ethan sat beside her, opposite was Rowena, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, excitedly complaining to Ethan.

"Did you all completely forget about me!"

Rowena took a swig of hard liquor, indignant.

Now the entire city was circulating their heroic deeds, describing them as the ones who thwarted the Pope’s conspiracy, yet her name hadn’t been mentioned by anyone. Strategically, her task was to ambush in Central District, the path any escaping rebels must take; there she would use an array of cut magic she spent all night arranging to ensure their total annihilation.