Chapter 513 (1/2)

Vivian had always evaluated the history passed down by short-lived species from the perspective of a long-lived species. These evaluations were always profound and accurate. When looking back at the story of the witch in the Andrea Family, the truth of the family legend had such a huge distortion in just 300 years. One could only imagine the historical record of the Plane of Dreams for the past 10,000 years—there were several twists and interruptions in the middle. Therefore, it was understandable that there were so many errors in the legends, which had been circulating until the present.

At this point, even the long-lived species in the Plane of Dreams had no idea what the truth was.

People always thought it was the study of taboo technology by the Ancient Magical Empire that offended the goddess, and the artificial miracles built by the mage-emperors were a sign of blasphemy. The three wonders, including the Volcano of Dusk had long been seen as an indication of heresy. But, who would have thought that these things were actually used to suppress the First Borns?

Nonetheless, the effect of the suppression was quite limited.

At the foot of the Volcano of Dusk was a vast wilderness. It was paved with layers of huge black rocks, which stretched to the eastern coastline. On a small mound in the midst of the wilderness and Limestone Fortress stood an ancient monastery. It appeared to be almost abandoned.

It was one of the last monasteries belonging to the Disciples of Glory on the eastern side of the kingdom. There were only a few old ascetics inside.

The mottled walls of the monastery were covered in thistles and thorns. The monastery was surrounded by pieces of stones and sparse salt-tolerant bushes. From the outside, probably no one could imagine that this was the second sacred cavern, the Church of the Watch. They did not delay any longer in Limestone Fortress. After a simple conversation with the guards, Ophra led them directly to the shabby monastery. The entrance to the sacred cave was just below the monastery.

Lily looked at the dilapidated the ancient monastery with a certain kind of feeling. “This place is really shabby… A fortress, and an old monastery, could they really protect such an important place?”

“Don’t underestimate these ancient facilities,” Orben said and shook his head. “The three ancient ruins have a corresponding sacred cavern; the chapel in Beinz Blood Lake, the old monastery of the Volcano of Dusk, and the chapel of the Giant Tree of Life. These three facilities are the oldest and most powerful of the divine nodes. The network of churches in the entire kingdom are providing energy to these three nodes. Although they look dilapidated, even an army can hardly break through their defenses.”

“The chapel in Beinz Blood Lake was ruined in just a moment. After our investigation, we found that the First Born had completely cut off the divine operation of the chapel,” Ophra shrugged and said, “It turns out that the First Born’s power is far beyond our understanding. Even the Ancient Magic Empire couldn’t fight it. Our present system is even more useless.”

Orben shook his head and did not speak again. The ascetics of the small monastery opened the entrance that led underground. The entrance was located in the backyard of the monastery. From the outside, it was just a big, ordinary tombstone. Hao Ren guessed that the chapel in Beinz Blood Lake also had such an entrance to the Divine Sarcophagus. However, before he could find the entrance, the whole chapel had been engulfed in the whirlpool.

The three sacred caverns had the same structure. The First Born slept in a huge underground cave surrounded by a maze-like cavern system. Above this system, there was a layer of man-made rock shells (the builders were those ancient mage-emperors), which supported the upper surface. Just right above the system, a chapel was built (the creator was the first pope of the Disciples of Glory). Under the chapel, there was a security device that constantly “hypnotized” the First Born. It was the Divine Sarcophagus.

The whole structure was like nailing a silver nail into a coffin to prevent the evil spirit from being resurrected. The world had been under the protection of this fragile safety device for 10,000 years.

They walked down a steep rock corridor and reached the underground of the chapel. It was a medium-sized underground palace, very spacious, but the structure was simple, no decoration, which was a plain practical facility.

Hao Ren walked behind Orben. When he came out of the corridor, he saw a spacious hall illuminated by a magical glowing stone and a stone altar was placed in the center of the hall. The stone altar was empty, but the slight sunken surface in the center seemed to prove that something had been placed there. And around the hall, there were many grey robes ascetics who were meditating.

“This is the ascetic group sent from the capital,” Ophra explained in a low voice, “The church and the king had sent a lot of men to monitor the movement of the two sacred caverns. But because the minds of ordinary people will be controlled if they are too close to the tentacles, so most of them can only stay in the limestone fortress. Only these ascetics and some high-ranking knights entered the ground. Those knights are in the other crypts.”

Hao Ren nodded. He knew that the sleeping place of the First Born was like a huge underground maze. There should be numerous crisscrossing corridors and huge crypt around. The knights and ascetics from the capital should have gone to every crypt and the ascetics here should be responsible for guarding the entrance.

There was no change in the surface of the Volcano of Dusk, but layers of defense line had been set up under it, which only worked for psychological comfort.

Orben pointed to the stone altar in the center of the long hall and said, “This was used to place the Divine Sarcophagus, but after opening a layer of the sacred cavern, we moved the Divine Sarcophagus to a deeper place.”