Chapter 574: Are You Teaching Me How to Do Things?

Chapter 574 Are You Teaching Me How to Do Things?

"A grocery store?"

"Just a shop where one can buy many spices used for cooking fish."

"That door, I can actually understand, after all, the newspapers reported that Karen, as a trialist chosen by our church, had entered the Gate of Reincarnation.

That he can brand the mark of the Gate of Reincarnation into his own heart is his own capability, and also his fortune.

But this kind of fortune is not something one encounters just casually, especially at his age."

"But people simply cannot be compared to one another, just like you..."

"Just like me and who?"

"Just like how you look at the clouds in the sky and find them so high, so distant, and so unreachable, yet the birds have long grown tired of flying through them."

Rasma shook his head, bringing the topic back on track:

"The previous round of offensive was not linked tightly enough. If you could have condensed the spell earlier to seize the time for an attack right after shifting the opponent's attention with the illusion, the effect would have been much better, and that assassin wouldn't have had enough time to mount an adequate defense."

Purr immediately countered: "Condensing a spell ahead of time creates energy fluctuations, meaning the opponent would realize beforehand that it's an illusion. When that happens, this move might not even have any effect at all."

Rasma laughed and scolded: "How is it that when we old folks fight, we roll up our sleeves and just get right to it, while young people nowadays drag their feet so terribly in a fight."

"The times have changed, my Lord."

"Changed?"

"Now it is the era belonging to us young people, meow!"

Rasma reached out and gently stroked Purr’s chin, and Purr immediately jerked her head away: "What are you doing?"

"I truly do not know enough about you, but I remember when I was young and met Dis, back then a few guys with deep family backgrounds were chatting about what powerful or rare mythical beasts they kept in their homes. Dis said at the time that his family just kept a cat."

"Well, the Inmerals family has always had a tradition of keeping cats. I am the twenty-fifth generation, meow."

"Your age is far greater than mine, so what are you doing yelling here with me about your young people's era."

Purr raised her paw and pressed it against her chest, replying: "I am young at heart!"

"Heh."

Purr then leaned closer and said: "It's quite a surprise, actually, that Dis would mention me on the outside."

The corners of Rasma’s mouth twitched slightly, as if he wanted to ask something but held it back.

The considerate Purr took the initiative to say: "Dis talked about you at home, too."

Rasma swallowed his saliva, not responding.

Purr continued: "Actually, Dis didn't have many friends when he was young. It was only when he grew older and after those things happened that he became gentler. But before that, he mentioned your name, Rasma, many times at home."

Rasma’s breathing began to quicken, and the quill pen gripped in his hand started to sway.

"He said you were very annoying, that every time you raised your realm you would come to find him for a fight, making it so he couldn't slack off even if he wanted to, forced to raise his realm right along with you."

"Hehehe."

Rasma smiled. In these words, he was clearly a pursuer, and a pursuer who could almost never catch up, as if every time Dis raised his realm, it was merely to deal with him.

But at this advanced age, after experiencing so many things, hearing these words did not make Rasma feel looked down upon; instead, he felt a wave of emotion, as if his own youth had been validated.

Purr seized the momentum and said: "So, little Rasma, Dis must have considered you a friend."

"I never wanted to be any sort of friend to him."

"Then when you condense your own godhead fragment, will you help the temple to suppress Dis once again?"

Hearing this sentence, Rasma immediately glared at Purr, his gaze heavy and solemn.

"He let you stay here to help you condense the godhead fragment. You should know clearly that this is his goodwill toward you;

Because of this, after condensing the godhead fragment, you will possess the ability to work in coordination with the temple from inside to break through these arrangements left behind by Dis. So, will you do it?"

Rasma replied indifferently:

"It is still early."

Purr nodded and said: "Yes, it is still early, but you owe him."

Rasma’s gaze gradually softened, and he pointed toward the battlefield ahead:

"So I will help him discipline his grandson."

"Are you sure you can help discipline him?"

...

Under the new round of offensive, Karen was no longer confined entirely to a total defense; he began to actively look for opportunities to attack, but his attacks were still grounded in defense, aiming to use the strikes to alleviate his defensive pressure.

Valotti nearly broke through Karen’s defense time and again, only to be blocked out once more by Karen. The combat zone of both sides gradually shifted into the canyon below. It was no longer the style of a rapid resolution like their first clash, but had turned into a grueling battle of attrition.

A vast number of spells were unleashed against each other, yet they failed to truly cause significant damage to the opponent, serving merely as pure consumption.

Gradually, Valotti sensed something amiss and actively disengaged from the clash.

He had always felt he possessed a proud accumulation of strength. Even if his current state was not optimal, he still held immense confidence in his accumulation. Thus, he had originally intended to wear down his opponent in this manner, but the feeling his opponent gave him was... that the other side was also highly confident in his own accumulation!

If they continued to wear each other down like this, it would truly turn into a gamble of probability to see whose wine barrel emptied first, which was not what Valotti wanted.

Karen seized this opportunity to slightly adjust the fatigue in his muscles all over his body, while simultaneously soothing the spiritual energy within him that had been excessively surging earlier.

The defense was largely seasoned, and the familiarity was mostly achieved. Next, he was preparing to switch to a combat style centered primarily on attacking.

At this moment, Karen heard the opposite side shout to him: "I have a proposal. You plead for mercy on my behalf to that person, and I can help you assassinate three people."

Karen shook his head and said: "No more of this nonsense. You will certainly die today."

Valotti said: "Then would you like this duel to become a bit more interesting? For instance, requesting that great figure not to interfere with the progress of our duel for the next period of time?"

Karen shook his head again and said: "The one who is going to die is you, not me."

"Then don't you think this is very boring? That great figure could step in to interfere with me at any moment. Even if I can defeat you, I have no chance of killing you. You already stand on invincible ground."

Karen countered: "Yes, isn't that nice?"

"I feel this doesn't fit my aesthetics at all. Only, I didn't expect your aesthetics to be so low as well. Alas."

"Those people in the Chief Bishop's family whose strength was weaker than yours, didn't you kill them anyway, and with the method of a sneak attack? The servant of my house, didn't you kill him too, also using the method of a sneak attack?

Their strength was so much lower than yours, yet you still killed them, and after the kill, you even painted a rose for me.

Just who are you to even be worthy of mentioning aesthetics to me?"

Karen swung the Sword of Diamans, letting the blade point at Valotti:

"Running into my home, killing my people, abducting my family, and you still want to get a chance at life from me?

I will tell you what my aesthetic is: it is to first make you my sparring partner, since I haven't had a chance to have a good fight to adapt to my new realm after being promoted to Adjudicator, and finally, to let you die before me with as much grievance and frustration as possible."

Speaking up to this point, Karen shouted toward the direction of Rasma over there:

"Grand Inquisitor, please pay a bit more attention, don't doze off."

The moment Karen shouted the title of "Grand Inquisitor," Valotti closed his eyes, because he knew that once this title was called out, it meant that the very last shred of hope for survival he had carefully preserved was also snuffed out.

"I might not be able to kill you, but if you want to use me as a sparring partner, I can strive to carve my name upon your bones."

"I will take your skull back and place it before the tombstones of my subordinates to serve as an incense burner; this is a ritual of tribute I invented myself."

"Fine then, let us change the way we spar and compete purely through sorcery."

The previous clash between the two felt like a duel between an assassin and a warrior, but now, Valotti was prepared to unilaterally alter it, unafraid that Karen would refuse, for what Karen wanted was not to defeat him, but to use him as a whetstone.

Of course, a competition of pure sorcery actually carried a much higher risk, making it harder for outsiders to intervene in time and easier to leave lifelong trauma.

Valotti spread his arms wide, and the scimitar he held in his left hand began to melt, followed immediately by the melting of his own body.

The surrounding earth once again underwent a massive transformation into sand, but the implication this time was noticeably different; originally, the earth was merely raw material to be utilized, but now, it condensed into a part of Valotti's body.

At this moment, Valotti's body was steadily growing massive, and a roar resembling that of a ferocious beast erupted from his chest, whereupon human and beast faces began to emerge from his chest, arms, and legs.

A similar scene had been witnessed by Karen on the Island of Fire, manifesting as the final form of that hunchbacked youth.

The hunchbacked youth had been to the Burial Ground of Gods, where his soul and consciousness were possessed by certain entities within, turning him into a walking vessel before he was sent back.

Yet unlike the hunchbacked youth, although Valotti exhibited an extremely mottled phenomenon on his body, it did not appear chaotic.

For the former was forced to become a vessel, whereas the latter was engaging in voluntary fusion.

This must be the cultivation path of the Fallen God lineage, just as the deities they worshiped moved and processed the corpses of other deities, they clearly sought to obtain something from those corpses.

The right side of Valotti's face began to bulge, transforming into a woman's face, and facing Karen, she opened her solitary eye, from which a purple light diffused at a terrifying speed, beginning to distort all perception in front of Karen.

In an instant, Karen felt his surroundings spin violently, and this symptom was progressively worsening.

...

Pu'er cried out in alarm, "The Lost Eye of Goddess Renas! He has fused with the corpse of a high-ranking priest of the Church of Renas!"

Rasma was clearly no longer surprised by Pu'er's "broad knowledge" and commented, "The Lost Eye, which possesses the ability to distort perception, is neither illusion nor spiritual power, but rather creates a vortex of disorientation through its influence on the surrounding environment, which then reflects back onto the target.

This kind of pupil is incredibly difficult and slow to refine, but once successful, it is far harder to defend against than illusion or spiritual power."

"Little Rasma, hurry up and go chop that guy to pieces. If we examine the corpses one by one, we can definitely rummage up a lot of good things."

"What, are you worried?"

"No, I'm just afraid the good things will get ruined in the fight."

Rasma cleared his throat slightly and spoke, his voice becoming somewhat loud, vibrating so much that Pu'er could not help but cover her ears.

His voice also carried over to the two individuals within the battle.

"If Karen is smart enough, he should now use large-scale sorcery to blanket the surrounding environment, casting it at regular intervals to minimize the influence of the Lost Eye, so that he won't be overly suppressed in the upcoming fight."

Valotti: "..."

Karen also froze for a moment, after

Rather than looking at tonight as Lasmar’s trial of him, Karen felt more as though he were a grandchild returning home from afar, presenting a completed assignment to his grandfather.

...

"A family belief system!" Lasmar clenched his fists tightly. "He is mad, he is mad, he is mad!"

Not until this very moment did Lasmar truly realize just what kind of place Karen held within Dis’s heart!

For the sake of this grandson, Dis truly was willing to stop at nothing—and in fact, he had already done so.

"Dis, I am truly curious, is he really worth such a sacrifice from you? Is he truly worth it?"

Purr could not help but whisper a reminder: "It seems he has once again failed to follow your teachings."

...

Equally shocked and driven to madness was Valotti, whose mouth began to emit low, incoherent mutters; soon enough, every single face across his entire body began to utter the exact same sound.

"Boom!"

His melted, swollen mass completely ruptured at this moment, sending a sky full of faces with every imaginable expression swarming toward Karen under the cover of the yellow sands, their chaotic and overlapping elemental powers giving rise to a terrifying vortex of corruption.

Valotti intended to forfeit everything he possessed, determined to drag Karen down into the grave with him!

Even if that great figure were to intervene now, it would be too late to stop it entirely!

However, Valotti had ultimately underestimated the sheer might of the former High Priest of the Church of Order; even when confronted with such a spectacle, Lasmar remained largely unconcerned, confident that he held everything within his grasp.

He shouted toward Karen: "Abandon all thoughts of resistance and focus entirely on shielding yourself with the Purification of Order! Hold out for as long as you can, treat this as a rare chance to temper yourself, and when you can endure no longer, I shall step in to aid you—"

Yet before Lasmar could even finish his sentence, he witnessed Karen, encircled at the very heart of the yellow sands and corruption, slowly raise his hands:

"Light—The Hymn of Holy Fire!"

Beneath the pitch-black shroud of night, light broke forth.

The absolute bane of all negative elements... a surging, tempestuous torrent of holy light-fire erupted from beneath Karen's feet, forming a colossal pillar of terrifying flame that swept outward, incinerating the surrounding sands and every single one of those twisted faces!

Lasmar: "..."