Chapter 155 : Chapter 155
Chapter : 155
The old man, whom Teacher Lucy addressed as the esteemed His Excellency Ambrosius, spoke a few words with Teacher Lucy, then kept Yan Yunqing and let Teacher Lucy leave first.
Seeing that Teacher Lucy had left, Yan Yunqing no longer maintained a respectful posture.
He unceremoniously sat down opposite Merlin and drained the cup of tea that was clearly prepared for him.
The next second, he choked on the tea and clutched his mouth, coughing desperately.
"Are you that excited to see me?" Merlin refilled Yan Yunqing's teacup. "Lucy said you can't control your magic power well?"
As he said this, Merlin showed a strange expression, as if to say, 'Seriously? You can't control your magic power?'
Yan Yunqing tried hard to suppress the itch in his throat and finally managed to calm down, no longer coughing desperately. Hearing Merlin's question, he waved his hand, "A small accident happened."
Seeing that Yan Yunqing was unwilling to say more, Merlin didn't continue the topic.
Yan Yunqing took a deep breath, not daring to drink any more tea. He was really worried that if he took another sip, he would be choked to death by the tea. The [Overwhelming Bad Luck] debuff was truly terrifying.
"What did you come to find me for this time?" Yan Yunqing asked.
Merlin raised an eyebrow, took a sip from his teacup, and said leisurely, "How can you be so sure that I'm here for you?"
Yan Yunqing shrugged, "If you're not here for me, why would you agree to Teacher Lucy's request for her student to meet you?"
He didn't believe that Merlin couldn't guess who this student was.
Merlin laughed heartily, "Alright, alright, I admit it. I am indeed here to find you. Nolan, you are still as smart as ever. Nothing can be hidden from you."
He put down the teacup in his hand and looked in Yan Yunqing's direction, "I heard from Penelope that the first-year field training encountered an organization called the Eternal Divine Sect?"
Yan Yunqing also sat up straight, "Yes, do you know about the Eternal Divine Sect?"
This time, he had a run-in with the Eternal Divine Sect. The Eternal Divine Sect was doing bad things in the name of the Demon King, while he, in the identity of Joker, had destroyed one of the Eternal Divine Sect's strongholds.
It was absolutely impossible for the two sides to reconcile. The next time Yan Yunqing encountered their people, it would definitely be a fight to the death.
Merlin's expression was grave, "I have indeed learned a little about this organization."
"I told you before, didn't I? Isabel and I are investigating the disappearance of the dragons, and that junior, little Amos, whom Isabel thought highly of."
"Recently, we've found some information. Someone traded a very recent dragon bone at an auction, as if it had just been shed.
Isabel and I followed this lead and found out that the person who sold the dragon bone was from the Eternal Divine Sect, a minor leader among them."
"Isabel and I started investigating the Eternal Divine Sect again, but this organization is very well hidden. It even took us a lot of effort to find a few of their public strongholds. When we went to check, we found that they were all level eleven or twelve outer members."
"Even the leader was only in his thirties and didn't know anything," Merlin's expression was serious.
"The only thing we found out was that 'this Eternal Divine Sect seems to have besieged a dragon before'."
As Yan Yunqing listened, his face also turned ugly.
Information that even the outer members knew was probably not an internal secret. The most likely possibility was that this organization often besieged and hunted dragons.
The individual combat strength of the dragons was extremely strong. In human form, one could fight a hundred without any problem, let alone when they transformed back into dragon form. Their fighting ability was far more than just doubled.
Killing a dragon was definitely not a simple matter.
This Eternal Divine Sect often besieged and hunted dragons. Then the strength of the true elite members of the sect hidden behind these level eleven and twelve outer members could not be underestimated.
Generally, experts of this level would have some reputation on the Ailman Continent. It wouldn't be that simple for them to hide their tracks. As an expert of the same level, Merlin would have some understanding of their movements.
Yet, Merlin had never even heard of the Eternal Divine Sect before. It was only because a member of the Eternal Divine Sect secretly traded a dragon bone that they were able to track them down.
Was this Eternal Divine Sect hidden a bit too deeply?
No, that's not right.
Yan Yunqing keenly sensed the strangeness of the situation. The Eternal Divine Sect was not hidden too deeply; rather, the scope of their information dissemination completely excluded the level of Merlin and Penelope.
It was like the information cocoon created by big data pushing, if Merlin and the others hadn't known about the existence of the Eternal Divine Sect and tracked them, the information they came across would never have contained the keyword 'Eternal Divine Sect.'
Someone was intentionally concealing the existence of the Eternal Divine Sect from experts like them. They only proselytized among the common people and controlled the transmission of information.
Yan Yunqing's throat rolled unconsciously. He understood what Merlin was trying to convey.
"You mean..."
Merlin seemed to have already foreseen an impending storm.
"Penelope said you disrupted the Eternal Divine Sect's ritual. I think you probably saw the process of the ritual. I wonder if you noticed the patterns carved on the ground of the altar? Patterns like a magic circle?"
Yan Yunqing recalled. There were too many black-robed people at the altar at that time, so it was difficult for Yan Yunqing to pay attention to whether there was a magic circle carved on the entire altar floor.
But he vaguely remembered that when he blended in with the black-robed people, the ground under his feet was indeed a bit uneven.
And the strange [Grief Resonance] debuff at that time also seemed to be controlled through a magic circle.
"What's the specific effect of that magic circle?"
"It's a very sinister magic circle... No, it would be more appropriate to say it's an alchemy formation," Merlin's voice was heavy. "It deprives a person of their 'talent' through blood."
"'Talent'?" Yan Yunqing was puzzled, "What do you mean? Do you mean the talent to become a magician or a swordsman?"
Merlin nodded, "You can understand it that way. People with 'talent' can become magicians, swordsmen, and more branch professions through learning and cultivation."
"And the more obvious and direct manifestation of 'talent,' as you should also know, is 'talent skills'."
"Those alchemy formations, in essence, use blood as a medium to steal a person's 'talent' and 'talent skills'."
Yan Yunqing's pupils quaked.
Wait... talent skills?
Yan Yunqing's mind was a little confused, "'Talent skills'? This formation can steal other people's talent skills? And after stealing them? Can it be used by others?"
Merlin nodded, "This alchemy formation was actually researched by a genius alchemist more than nine hundred years ago. The only son his wife left him was born weak and sickly. Not only could he not inherit his abilities, but he also showed signs of dying young. So he dedicated himself to research for ten years, and in the year his son was about to die, he researched this magic circle through ancient manuscripts."
"That ancient manuscript, you are also familiar with it. It's the Soul Locking Formation used by the necromancer Kien during the Divine War."
Speaking of this, Yan Yunqing was not unfamiliar. The necromancer Kien had caused many tragedies, and the Soul Locking Formation was one of the most sinister.
He used the Soul Locking Formation to torture living humans and other races to death. Because these lives had deep resentment before death, the undead spirits they condensed after death would be stronger than ordinary undead.
The necromancer Kien had an entire army of undead created using this method. The reason why the Elf King Sylph came out of Sylval and eventually joined the Demon King's team to participate in the Divine War was also because Kien had used this method to torture and kill several elves, trapping their souls and preventing them from returning to the Mother Tree for reincarnation.
But two thousand years ago, after the Demon King killed Kien, he had already destroyed all the books that recorded the Soul Locking Formation. It was impossible for any ancient books recording the Soul Locking Formation to have been passed down.
Yan Yunqing thought so and asked so.
Merlin shook his head, "I don't know about this either, but that alchemist actually did not succeed in the end. Both he and his son died in that 'talent' conversion formation. Later, the notes recording this formation were inherited by his several students as his relics and were not spread."
"In the small circle of alchemists, it is generally believed that his formation was a failure. I also found the same formation in the manuscript of that alchemist's student after checking many manuscripts when I saw the formation on the altar."
As Merlin spoke, he pressed his brows, "That student's descendant is also one of the academy's teachers. Thanks to him donating his family's inherited manuscripts to the academy, I was able to quickly find related clues and compare the similarities between the two formations."
"Because there are many similarities in the formations, and their effects are indeed consistent with the actions of the Eternal Divine Sect, I treat them as the same formation."
Yan Yunqing closed his eyes and began to review the entire incident in his mind, going over everything he had experienced before, all the details replaying in his mind.
He suddenly remembered a very crucial clue.
"So, according to you, these people from the Eternal Divine Sect, under the name of the Demon King, are collecting other people's 'talents' all over the world?" Yan Yunqing said, "So they will definitely not let go of people with 'talent skills', right?"
Merlin nodded.
Yan Yunqing said gravely, "Mandiper and the Church of Light are also doing the same thing."
Merlin was stunned, "What?"
Yan Yunqing repeated, "Mandiper, the underground casino where we reunited before, they are also doing the same thing, collecting children with 'talent skills'."
"Do you still remember the child named Nana that I handed over to you?" Yan Yunqing's expression was complicated, "Before she was imprisoned by Mandiper, she had just awakened her 'talent skill' not long ago."
Merlin also remembered, "Yes, when you handed that child over to me, the thing piercing her collarbone was the Soul Locking Chain—I thought that was just a coincidence?"
Yan Yunqing pursed his lips, "When I was asking those children, I got some information."
"First, Mandiper had once tried to buy the children 'Nika' and 'Rocco' from Jeff of the children's group. Both of these children were among the few in the children's group who had awakened 'talent skills'."
"Second, the time when Mandiper tried to buy the children was shortly after these two children awakened their talents. Those two children had once gone to the priest of Freedom City, Mr. 'Paul', to have their bodies checked because of the appearance of their 'talent skills'. And Mr. 'Paul' came from the Church of Light; he was a priest sent by the Church of Light to be stationed in Freedom City."
"Third, Mandiper and the Church of Light have private dealings. The specific transaction is probably that Mandiper provides certain 'goods' to the Church of Light, and the Church of Light provides Mandiper with protection and some information channels."
"Fourth, in the dark prison where Nana was held, there was a very strange magic circle carved on the ground. When I stood on it, the magic circle actively absorbed the magic power from my body, and I couldn't even stop the loss of magic power."
Yan Yunqing took a deep breath, "Before this, this information was very fragmented, and I couldn't form a complete clue. But after you told me about the alchemy formation for stealing 'talents,' I finally connected the two."
"This Eternal Divine Sect—perhaps it's related to both Mandiper and the Church of Light."