Miss Luo Yan’s Feet Are Buried With Corpses v3c55

Witch’s Night: Chapter 55 The “Clumsy Flame” Barrier

The establishment of Yan City was itself unexpected for Dragon City.

“Pioneering Team” sounded like a prestigious title, but in reality, it just meant being exiled and becoming refugees.

Most of those assigned to pioneering teams were criminals or descendants of criminals, and the crimes they committed were mostly political.

Criminals who violated the law weren’t eligible for exile; they were basically executed or imprisoned directly.

In other words, Dragon City’s pioneering teams were either purged political factions or families defeated in political struggles.

Neither imprisonment nor execution was suitable, so exile was the best solution.

After being exiled from Dragon City, most pioneering teams would choose to settle down in a place in the Endless Wasteland with fewer Calamities, just like ordinary refugees, living a precarious life.

The average lifespan of a settlement in the Endless Wasteland was ten years, but surviving for ten years in this wasteland… had become a rare occurrence.

Once they encountered a Calamity, they would either die in it or pack up and set off again, searching for the next safe settlement.

That was what it meant to be a refugee.

But Yan City was different. Yan City was a true pioneering team, even though they were also criminals exiled by Dragon City.

The founders of Yan City weren’t content with the status quo; they weren’t willing to huddle in settlements, living a precarious life.

They embarked on a path called “pioneering.” Before finding the “Ember,” they never stopped, even though they encountered countless seemingly safe settlements along the way.

On this path of “pioneering,” the founders of Yan City weren’t alone, but they were the lucky ones.

Yan City, the first mega-city built by humanity in the hundreds of years since the War of the Witch of Absolute Death. No one was younger than it, no one’s legend was more recent.

Because of this unique characteristic, Yan City, despite being a remote area, attracted Noah’s attention, and they even sent the “Peril” level ability user, Frick, to infiltrate Yan City’s Anomaly Management Bureau.

During the Yan City war, the Noah Church even unprecedentedly dispatched a small Holy Knight squad, going all out to assist Yan City, although they ultimately didn’t arrive in time.

But no matter who paid attention to Yan City, Dragon City couldn’t even glance at it, it had to treat Yan City as a non-existent mega-city.

The pioneering team was exiled by Dragon City, they weren’t true pioneers.

On this matter, Dragon City had to show its stance, which was having no stance, and even Wen Su, as City Lord, couldn’t change it.

However, because of a past incident, Wen Su’s authority had been greatly weakened.

Even though he successfully succeeded as City Lord, there were still many dissenting voices in Dragon City, and his influence might not even be as great as Norian’s in Lannister.

Aslanmode VII knew these inside stories, so he didn’t mention Yan City too much in front of Wen Su.

Noah and Dragon City were indeed rivals, but on certain matters, they still had to maintain some boundaries and save face. Aslanmode VII also didn’t want Wen Su to expose Noah’s shortcomings.

Both mega-cities were thousand-year-old entities; who didn’t have some skeletons in their closet?

Bickering was fine, but completely falling out wouldn’t be good for either side.

“If you don’t mind me asking, which Saint will be attending this Holy Communion?”

Wen Su tapped the table lightly, leaning forward slightly, the reflection of his round-rimmed glasses hiding his gaze. “Don’t misunderstand, I’m just… curious.”

Aslanmode VII knew at once that what Wen Su cared about was whether the attending Saint was Saint Shadow.

After all, before becoming a Saint, Shadow had been sent as cannon fodder to the War of the Witch of Absolute Death by a certain ignorant family in Dragon City due to a personal grudge.

Although this incident had happened hundreds of years ago, and the people involved were long dead, and their family had been ostracized and marginalized because of this, declining to the point where they were worse off than ordinary civilians.

“It’s a highly respected Saint.”

Aslanmode VII said calmly.

He was referring to Illusion. “Highly respected” actually meant… Illusion was old. Only three people among the Saints were older than her, and there were no more than five people in the entire human world with more seniority than Illusion.

“I see… I look forward to this highly respected Saint’s presence at the Holy Communion.”

Wen Su breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile,

“As for the other Saint… She probably wouldn’t care about such minor matters, right?”

“I don’t know about that.”

Aslanmode VII’s tone was noncommittal, then seeing Wen Su take out a hazy, dark gray shadow, he immediately added,

“But I believe this minor event, one Saint should be enough, right?”

Wen Su, not wanting to make the situation awkward, tactfully offered a gift, and Aslanmode VII smoothly changed his words.

The two old foxes exchanged glances, both showing flawless smiles, but seemingly with mischievous tails wagging behind their backs.

……

“I’m going!”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

Illusion looked up indifferently at the beautiful woman with a tear mole and long, straight black hair, finding it a bit dazzling, and turned away.

It was really uncomfortable talking to someone so tall. She would create a taller phantom next time!

It was rare for both Illusion and Shadow to appear in their true forms. This wasn’t because something major had happened, but purely because they happened to run into each other.

Usually, the area where their true bodies could move freely was the entire Sanctuary, and the Sanctuary encompassed most of old Noah.

Illusion’s location was relatively fixed, basically within the several libraries.

But Shadow liked to wander around. Occasionally, when she remembered something and wanted to find Illusion, she would just project her shadow avatar onto Illusion’s shadow for convenience.

They were currently the only two Saints in the Sanctuary because both “Illusion” and “Shadow” had the ability to operate in the outside world to a certain extent.

To monitor the entire human world while guarding the Witch of Absolute Death, only the two of them could do it.

“As one of the Twelve Saints, at the time of the Saint’s passing, I have the duty to distribute Holy Communion in her place and spread the Saint’s grace to the world!”

Shadow immediately took a large stride, swaying conspicuously in front of Illusion.

“But you can’t even recite the scriptures completely.” Illusion slightly turned her face away, her tone still indifferent.

“Please, a scripture with 3.6 million words, I even doubt whether the Saint herself said so much in her lifetime,” Shadow put her hands on her hips, bent down, and glared at Illusion. “How could anyone memorize it completely? Can you?”

The exquisite, close-at-hand oval face didn’t affect Illusion’s expression. She shifted her gaze and looked directly into Shadow’s eyes,

“Apologies, I compiled the new version of the scriptures.”

Hearing this, Shadow’s throat seemed to be choked, and after a while, she said awkwardly,

“…That explains why it reads like a novel.”

“I know you still have resentment towards Dragon City, but since you have transcended the mundane world and become a Saint, you should let go of the past.”

Illusion walked a few steps and put the books in her hand back on the shelves one by one,

“Besides, the family that plotted against you has already fallen apart, and she herself died alone in endless regret. Even her descendants can’t gain a foothold in Dragon City, even enjoying the treatment of ordinary citizens is a luxury for them.

“That’s enough, Lin.”

Illusion didn’t address Shadow by her Saint name, but used the more intimate “Lin” from before.

“Illusion, do you really think I’m such a petty person?” Shadow muttered, looking at Illusion’s retreating figure. “Alright, I can be a bit petty sometimes, but this time, it’s really not that.”

“Anyway, you and your shadow avatar stay in the Sanctuary. Dividing your attention will affect your strength.”

Illusion glanced at Shadow and continued organizing the books on the shelves. “As fellow members of the Twelve Saints, you and I are already one and the same. If you have something you must do, just leave it to me.”

Unlike Illusion’s phantoms, although Shadow’s shadow avatar was more agile and possessed greater strength, creating a shadow avatar also weakened her own strength.

At this juncture, they couldn’t afford any mistakes.

What Illusion didn’t tell Shadow was that a subtle fluctuation had appeared in the seal in the white temple this morning.

Some crying and wailing, and a faint melody, emanated from it.

If it weren’t for Illusion always keeping a phantom near the white temple, it would have been very difficult to detect this slight anomaly.

Even the Saints guarding the white temple hadn’t issued any warnings.

Illusion had a vague guess, believing it was related to “Miss Luo Yan,” who had come to Noah and was near the Sanctuary, but she couldn’t be certain.

Anyway, looking at the time, it should be almost time…

“You’ll be in charge of the Ten Cities Council after the Holy Communion… and by the way, deal with Cecilia.”

Illusion didn’t even bother looking at Shadow, who was pretending to be sad and wiping away tears. She stood on tiptoe, pulled a book from the shelf, and tossed it over.

“I can handle that… but, deal with Cecilia?”

Shadow caught the book and said, looking like she had seen a ghost, “Do you think she’s a threat? Just a frail God’s Chosen. Even if her power fully erupts, we can handle it, let alone the fact that Luo Yan seems quite concerned about her. Wouldn’t it be…”

God’s Chosen were indeed mysterious and rare, but to the Twelve Saints who followed the Saint, they weren’t a secret.

And since the nature of Cecilia’s power was already known, dealing with her was even simpler, especially since she lived near “The Ark”…

Noah’s Ark, the super barrier built to counter the possible return of the Calamity Tide. What was a God’s Chosen losing control? Just activating the barrier a little could suppress it.

Dragon City also had a similar barrier. This was the deep foundation that established overlords had, compared to upstarts like Lannister.

“Why don’t you take a look at the book I gave you?” Illusion rolled her eyes at Shadow.

“Uh, what’s so… Hmm? Clumsy Flame?”

Shadow casually flipped through the book, it seemed to record some kind of barrier.

“That’s right, ‘Clumsy Flame,’ also known as the ‘Wall of Resentment’.” Illusion said softly, “The last ‘Clumsy Flame’ in this world is located in Yan City, and was once used by them to store the ‘Ice Coffin Weapon,’ the out-of-control One.

“We don’t know what exactly happened in Dawn back then, but clearly, this Clumsy Flame book that came from Dawn contains the principle behind the ‘Ice Coffin’ suppressing out-of-control God’s Chosen.”

Clumsy Flame, a clumsy flame, originating from the beginning of civilization, the first fire lit from fragmented firewood.

It was weak, ugly, but represented the birth of a civilization.

It also carried the hopes of Dawn City and the nine Misters.

Unfortunately, the Clumsy Flame barrier’s effect was to suppress, extract, and condense the power of a God’s Chosen. Its beautiful original intention was a deception, and the nine Misters were almost buried in that deception.

What Shadow held in her hand now was the Clumsy Flame barrier reconstructed by the Misters through memories and impressions, preserved as a part of civilization in the Noah Sanctuary.

The numerous libraries in the Noah Sanctuary preserved almost all the knowledge possessed by humanity in the New Era, regardless of any factions or barriers, the very foundation that supported human civilization.

“We can use this barrier to temporarily suppress the out-of-control demonic power within Cecilia, similar to the ‘Ice Coffin,’ but without needing to spend so much time building an ice coffin.” Illusion whispered.

The Ice Coffin utilized the principle of the Clumsy Flame barrier. It could be considered a miniature “Wall of Resentment,” but because it had to operate continuously, its cost was quite high, and it was also troublesome to create.

Noah didn’t have any Ice Coffins in stock, so this was the only option, directly using the “Clumsy Flame” barrier for the seal.

Shadow nodded seriously and carefully put the book away.

Although she was usually frivolous, she was serious when it came to this kind of thing.

“As for me… I’ll find an opportunity to take Luo Yan to the Holy Mountain without attracting attention,” a rare look of worry appeared on Illusion’s face. “You should also know, within Noah… there are still many gazes that shouldn’t be there.”

The Twelve Saints weren’t completely ignorant of the Church of the End Gods, but because they were confined to the Sanctuary, and the Church of the End Gods was hidden too deeply, they couldn’t understand the details.

That was why the Twelve Saints adopted such an aggressive and comprehensive suppression method, striving to avoid any mistakes. Humanity couldn’t afford another War of the Witch of Absolute Death.

Taking Luo Yan to see the Saint’s remains was quite a risky act. Illusion didn’t tell Luo Yan the specific time, also to prevent the Church of the End Gods from learning about it through some method and preparing countermeasures in advance.

The enemy was in the dark, they were in the light. Even someone as powerful as Illusion could only be passive.

“Relax, it will be fine.”

Shadow walked to Illusion’s side, bent down slightly, and rested her chin on her head.

“Within the Sanctuary, with you and me, with our predecessors, if something still goes wrong… then there’s probably nothing humanity can do.”

Illusion felt the soft touch on the back of her neck, a hint of displeasure appearing almost imperceptibly on her face,

“I know, shouldn’t you go and prepare the barrier now?”

“Oh, it’s rare to have a chance to hug you,”

Shadow’s arms went around Illusion’s waist, gently hugging her, her eyes narrowed in enjoyment.

“Our true bodies have only met a dozen times or so in these past few hundred years. Look at you, you haven’t grown at all, still so small… Hey! Don’t poke my chin!”

“Hehe, I just don’t want to grow taller.”