Chapter 161 Archbishop Hak

For months, Link had never forgotten the people he left behind in the wasteland space, nor had his yearning for them faded with the passage of time; on the contrary, he missed them all the more. Especially Reimu and Lin Xi—aside from their superior-subordinate dynamic, the two women shared an undeniable, lingering ambiguity and a deep bond with him. Leaving them behind in the wasteland world filled Link not only with longing, but also with a profound sense of guilt.

Yet no matter how much he blamed himself, Link could not change what had already happened. Consequently, over the past few months, he had practically turned into a workaholic with very little time to rest. Aside from the genuine mountain of tasks at hand, this was also his way of using work to numb the sorrow in his heart, forcing himself to avoid dwelling on things that weighed heavily upon him.

After a moment, Link shook his head to clear his thoughts and returned his gaze to Cecily. Cecily had already finished praying for the dead; she stood up with a gloomy expression, wearing a somewhat forced smile. "Archbishop, please follow me. The place indicated by the message left by Archbishop Hark is just ahead."

With those words, Cecily led the three of them deeper into the ruins. Along the way, they encountered a few surviving rift creatures, but those beasts were so utterly terrified that they fled from afar. With no mood to pay attention to them—and fearing that enemies might suddenly ambush them while chasing the monsters—they maintained their vigilance and proceeded slowly.

However, the members of the Baal Cult did not seem to be stationed here. They did not catch a single glimpse of anyone along the way, and they safely and uneventfully reached their destination: a sanctuary that had been almost entirely flattened.

Gazing at the familiar yet unfamiliar ruined sanctuary, Cecily let out a desolate sigh. Then, she forcefully shook her head to dispel the heartache within her, took a deep breath, walked to the center of the grand hall, and began to dance.

This was not because Cecily was suddenly struck by a whim to dance; rather, the secret heritage art of the Lotus Saint required a unique dance to activate. Cecily was about to perform the sacred dance secret art—one that only she knew and only she could execute.

Graceful, sacred, and ethereal.

Cecily's dance left all three present spellbound. The three of them were filled with those very three adjectives, their eyes fixed unwaveringly upon her, not even daring to blink for fear of missing a single brilliant moment.

This dance completely unleashed Cecily's irresistible charm. Though usually pretty, Cecily, who spent her days dealing with medications, gave off an impression of being somewhat earnest and mysterious. Coupled with her somewhat absent-minded personality, her popularity was high, but she lacked a truly breathtaking quality, resembling something of a good-luck mascot. Only now did she fully display her allure. Even without musical accompaniment, this ethereal sacred dance was mesmerizing enough to make anyone lose track of time.

As the dance continued, the surrounding elements began to grow active. Specks of deep blue radiance began to emerge all around, as beautiful as fireflies, and a low yet wondrously pleasant melodic hum started to emanate from these points of light, sounding as though it were providing musical accompaniment for the dance.

This made the already ethereal dance even more dazzling, while adding a striking sense of mysterious awe. During this process, Link and his companions acutely perceived that the temperature was dropping, as if some chilly and sinister entity were manifesting. Subconsciously, they heightened their vigilance.

Shortly thereafter, those points of light began to converge, gradually taking on a human form. Finally, as Cecily's dance came to an end, the shifting halos ceased, and a deep blue-colored middle-aged man appeared in midair. He was around forty years of age, dressed in luxurious robes, looking very much like an important figure.

Upon seeing this man, Cecily's eyes instantly reddened, and in a voice filled with emotion and trembling, she called out his identity: "Archbishop Hark..."

Archbishop Hark, the archbishop of the Lotus Cult, the man who had been dead for nearly a year. It seemed this was the soul of Archbishop Hark.

Hearing Cecily's words, the middle-aged man in midair paused, then looked at Cecily with a bewildered expression. Upon recognizing Cecily's appearance, his gaze grew increasingly clear, finally giving way to a look of pleasant surprise. "Cecily? You aren't dead yet? Wonderful! It seems you've received the message I left behind and have come here to retrieve our cult's treasures. Child, listen to me: those demons from the Baal Cult may have stolen the sacred heirloom of the Archmage Saint Bai Lian and destroyed our cult, but we still have an underground treasury. Only successive archbishops and Lotus Saints can open the mechanism, and this secret is known only to the archbishops, so the things inside have not been plundered. Go and get them now. The entrance is beside the spiritual stones at the back mountain, the forbidden ground I told you about back then. All you have to do is... uh, who are these three?"

Halfway through his sentence, Archbishop Hark noticed the three companions and immediately stopped talking, wearing a guarded expression.

Cecily hurriedly explained, "Archbishop Hark, these three belong to the Father God Cult. This is Archbishop Neil, and the other two are Mr. Saga, the Gold Saint, and Miss Mercury Lam, Archbishop Neil's daughter. They are all good people. It was Archbishop Neil who saved me and Milene from the Baal Cult at the most dangerous moment."

"Father God Cult? What kind of church is that? Never heard of it!" Archbishop Hark's expression darkened, his emotions growing somewhat unstable. An aura of resentment began to emit from him as he stared coldly at the three of them. "Cecily, don't be fooled by them. They must be coveting our cult's secret treasures, which is why they put on an act alongside the Baal Cult! Yes, they must be in cahoots with the Baal Cult!"

Hearing these hostile words that wronged the innocent, all three of them showed expressions of displeasure. Cecily hurriedly said, "Archbishop Hark, you've misunderstood. They are not bad people. I've known Archbishop Neil and the others for nearly a year now, and I know they are not bad people. Milene and I have already joined the Father God Cult, and furthermore..."

At these words, Link knew things were about to go wrong. Sure enough, Hark flew into a towering rage, interrupting Cecily, "What? You betrayed the church? You actually dared to betray our cult, to betray the Lotus Cult that raised you for over a decade?! Cecily Nora, you vile apostate! You actually dared to take refuge with the demons who destroyed our church—you deserve a thousand deaths!" By the end of his sentence, his deep-blue torso was suffused with red Qi, and his eyes were flashing with a crimson glow.

This scene completely panicked Cecily, who could only continue to offer feeble defenses, "It's not like that, Archbishop Hark, I didn't... Archbishop Neil and the others really aren't..."

"Enough, Cecily." Link stepped in front of Cecily at that moment, staring coldly at Hark. "Anything you say now is useless. The resentment within him is too heavy; he has already transformed into a vengeful spirit. The only way to save him is to purify him."

As they spoke, Hark's body had completely turned red, and his appearance had become extremely ferocious. Chilly, freezing winds began to blow, and the sky—which had gradually cleared after the disappearance of the spacetime rift—was once again blanketed by dense, rolling dark clouds, showing that Hark's combat power after transforming into a vengeful spirit was not to be underestimated.

"Vile heretics, damned apostates, you must all die! I will use your souls to consecrate our cult!" Hark let out a roar, his voice completely altered, harsh and piercing with a sharp, overlapping echo that made one's scalp tingle. The very next moment, he charged toward Link and Cecily.

However, Saga and Mercury Lam, who had been on guard all along, were not about to let Hark succeed. Saga channeled his Cosmo and unleashed the long-unused Rozan Shoryu Ha, while Mercury Lam also released her Dragon of Wings. Two completely different dragons—one green, one black—assaulted Hark and directly blasted him flying. Although a vengeful spirit was a spiritual entity, empowered by Holy Essence, Mercury Lam's attacks were effective against it. Saga's Rozan Shoryu Ha was simply materialized ki rather than a physical attack, so it naturally could strike him.

Yet, having taken the attacks of two Seventh-Order powerhouses, Hark was surprisingly not blasted to pieces; he only looked somewhat battered. Floating back up into the air, he glared at the group with eyes filled with boundless hatred and roared, "Heretics, apostates, you must all die! The hatred of over eight hundred members of our cult will not let any of you go! Come, unjustly murdered wandering souls, enter my body! We shall destroy these damned heretics and apostates!"

As Hark's words fell, the elements throughout the entire valley grew restless. Immediately following this, chilly winds whipped up across the valley, and countless deep-blue specks of light began to emerge, rapidly converging toward Hark. Seeing this, everyone's expressions changed. Saga hurriedly unleashed another Rozan Shoryu Ha, and Mercury Lam once again released two black dragons, both attempting to stop Hark.

However, a deep-blue magical barrier materialized out of thin air around Hark, completely neutralizing the attacks of the two Seventh-Order beings without harming Hark in the slightest. Cecily hurriedly said to Link, "Archbishop, please be careful! Archbishop Hark is using the Myriad Grievances Curse! This is a curse magic that can only take effect when the Lotus Cult is destroyed, and only successive archbishops know it. Once used, the soul of the Lotus Archbishop absorbs the souls of all the dead within the cult, transforming into a Myriad Grievances Amalgam. Legend has it that the more souls it absorbs, the greater the power of the Myriad Grievances Amalgam will become. Furthermore, unless those vengeful spirits are completely purified, the Amalgam cannot be destroyed. It is terrifying!"

Hearing Cecily's words, Link understood the gravity of the situation. Although Cecily hadn't specified just how powerful the Myriad Grievances Amalgam was, judging by its steadily climbing aura and its ability to block Seventh-Order attacks, it was definitely no simple matter. Once fully formed, its strength would likely reach the Seventh Order, and coupled with the requirement of completely purifying the vengeful spirits to resolve it, dealing with this guy was going to be quite a difficult task.

Without hesitation, Link channeled his Holy Immortal Qi and cast a Touch of Holy Light on Hark, intending to use the evil-destroying power of holy light to annihilate him. Yet when the holy light struck, although the magical barrier failed to stop it, a red mass of flesh suddenly materialized around Hark, wrapping him tightly. When the power of the holy light descended upon the flesh mass, it burned it as if scorched by fire, charring large sections of the flesh; but those burn wounds healed completely almost instantly.

Seeing this, Link cast another holy light spell, but the effect was negligible. The others also attempted to attack, but they couldn't even break the magical barrier. Cecily then said, "Archbishop, save your breath. Archbishop Hark's defense in this state is extremely strong. Unless we can have the knights of the Hand of Silver Knights join forces, it won't be of any use. You won't be able to harm him until he completes the fusion."

Hearing this, Link took a long look at the somewhat nauseating mass of flesh and realized that Cecily's words were true. He signaled Saga and Mercury Lam to hold their attacks, and with a single thought, he called down Bai Ling, who was keeping watch in the sky.