Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest

When he heard the voice of Priest Leonard, Luo Xiu pushed the door open and walked in.

As usual, the diligent old priest was still busy dealing with the piles of various files.

When he heard the subtle footsteps, Leonard raised his head and glanced at the visitor.

When Priest Leonard saw that the visitor was the new "deacon" and newly promoted "Holy Judge" Luo Xiu Carlos, Leonard's eyes twitched slightly.

"You are here again... ahem. You are here, Luo Xiu."

Leonard said, he stopped the work in his hands, leaned over to open the drawer inside the long table, and took out two scrolls with golden lines printed on the edges.

"Before, the [Holy Confinement] and [Holy Judgment] skill scrolls you applied to the Holy See were approved."

"I was just about to let Connor and the others find you and tell you about this."

"..."

"Holy See" approved it so quickly? Luo Xiu was slightly surprised, so he bowed to Priest Leonard and thanked him:

"Thank you, Priest. This is really timely..."

"Come and sit down, Luo Xiu." Leonard waved his hand.

Hearing this, Luo Xiu locked the door and then sat down in front of the chair opposite Priest Leonard.

Leonard then pushed the scrolls of [Holy Confinement] and [Holy Judgment] to Luo Xiu.

Then, Leonard took out a letter from the drawer and pushed it in front of Luo Xiu.

"This is your teacher, the priest 'Ivan Jimei' in Dawn Town, his reply to you."

Leonard said, "I will pass it to you for him."

"..."

"The teacher's reply to me?"

Luo Xiu was slightly stunned.

Luo Xiu quickly recalled that he had written a letter to Priest Ivan after the "Lord of Red Maple City" was killed, and told him everything about Red Maple City in the letter.

For Luo Xiu, this was just an ordinary daily routine, so he didn't care too much.

He thought that Priest Ivan would write him a reply. But he didn't expect that Ivan's reply would be sent to Priest Leonard...

Seeing the confused expression that flashed across Luo Xiu's face, Leonard smiled and said:

"Your teacher doesn't know your specific address in Sina City."

"So, he sent the letter directly to the church's "Holy Court", hoping to entrust other Holy Court judges to pass it to you..."

"It was Pamier who received the letter and sent it to me."

"So that's it..." Luo Xiu suddenly realized.

He didn't say anything more, but stored the scrolls and letters in front of him into the storage bracelet.

"The little things of [Wisdom] always bring freshness."

Seeing Luo Xiu fiddling with the rune bracelet, Priest Leonard smiled.

But this kind smile didn't last long, and Priest Leonard quickly turned serious.

He looked at Luo Xiu and finally said seriously:

"Okay, that's all for the greetings."

"What are you here for this time?"

"..."

This is the "working" Priest Leonard that I'm familiar with... Luo Xiu complained in his heart. Feeling the strong aura naturally emanating from Leonard, Luo Xiu nodded and said to Priest Leonard:

"It's like this."

"Yesterday, I tried to destroy a large base of 'Blood of Thorns'."

"This was with the help of some external forces and some 'luck'. But... I still succeeded in destroying this base."

"And in the base of this group of cultists, I learned the hiding places of almost all medium-sized and above bases distributed throughout the 'Songyuan Territory'."

-Pah.

Priest Leonard, the pen in his hand fell on the table again.

Leonard might be surprised that Luo Xiu destroyed a large base of pagans, but he would never be shocked.

He cared more about the second half of Luo Xiu's words.

"You said you knew the hiding places of all the medium-sized and above strongholds of the 'Blood of Thorns' distributed in Songyuan Territory?!"

"Yes, Master Priest."

Luo Xiu said to Leonard solemnly, "In the large stronghold of 'Blood of Thorns', I found a detailed map. These are recorded in it."

As he spoke, Luo Xiu took out a brown sheepskin scroll with a simple color from his storage bracelet.

Unfolding the scroll, it was a simple map of "Songyuan Territory" with many black and red punctuation marks on it, which were the approximate locations of the "Blood of Thorns" strongholds.

Leonard turned the sheepskin map around, supported his hands on both sides, and looked at it for a long time.

The light in his eyes gradually brightened, and his face was filled with excitement.

"This... Such a detailed map, if the location marked on it is correct, then 'Blood of Thorns' will surely suffer a devastating disaster..."

Looking at Leonard's high spirits, Luo Xiu's mouth corners faintly outlined a subtle arc.

Of course, Priest Leonard didn't know that this "map" was not actually obtained from the base of Thorn Blood.

——It was a punctuation map drawn by Luo Xiu himself according to his memories of his previous life!

From the first day Luo Xiu came to "Sina City", he had been drawing this map in secret. The purpose was to find a suitable time to expose "Thorn Blood" to the vision of the "Holy Court" on a large scale!

If you want to push the progress of the [Dusk Ends Night] mission as much as possible in a short period of time, the "Holy Court" is an indispensable and important combat force.

However, if this information is reported to the church too early, it will only make the church suspicious and cause unnecessary trouble for itself.

However, the situation is different now. He is already the "deacon" of the church, and his position in the "Holy Inquisition" is already the "Holy Inquisitor", and he just destroyed a "Blood of Thorns" the day before. "A large stronghold - with such a dual combination of identity and incident, producing this level of intelligence will not arouse suspicion.

Even Luo Xiu only revealed the location of the "Blood of Thorns" strongholds within the "Songyuan Territory". He has not yet revealed the complete location of all the "Blood of Thorns" strongholds within the empire!

Every "Blood of Thorns" stronghold is a small copy to Luo Xiu. He was already deeply impressed by these "copies", and as he became a transcendent, he had an extremely strong memory.

And if the "Holy Court" can really use its own intelligence to completely eliminate the "Blood of Thorns" forces in the empire, then it will also gain considerable achievements from it!

At that time, I can apply for more resources from the "Holy Court", and even apply for a part of the authority of [Glory].

As for Priest Leonard...

Luo Xiu is already a "triple destiny" transcendent, and with the spiritual barrier of crushing the "Scarlet Magic Crystal", Leonard can no longer detect whether what Luo Xiu said is the truth or a lie.

From Leonard's perspective, after more than a month of getting along, he has become more inclined to believe that Luo Xiu is telling the truth!

…

"I need to confirm... Luo Xiu. You know, this is a big thing."

Priest Leonard said slowly: "I need to confirm the authenticity of this map..."

"Luo Xiu, go find Anthony and tell him about this map."

"Then, follow the markings above to randomly explore the Blood of Thorns strongholds in Sina City to see if their locations are true."

"Remember, don't alert the enemy. And don't get entangled with the enemy unless absolutely necessary."

"You must be vigilant at all times. This map may be a trap for the enemy..."

"..."

Leonard's words retained his usual caution, but the excited light in his eyes did not dim.

"Okay." Luo Xiu nodded in response.

Afterwards, Luo Xiu stood up and said goodbye to Priest Leonard and left the room.

The information has been conveyed. The rest is just waiting to be brewed.

The moment the "Holy Court" confirms the authenticity of this information, the countdown to the death of all "Blood of Thorns" cultists in the empire will officially begin.

…

…

Shortly after Luo Xiu left, Priest Leonard grabbed the map on the table and began to look at it carefully.

"The blood of thorns... the blood of thorns..."

Leonard murmured, and his eyes began to become deeper and deeper.

"If this map is true, then perhaps those monsters can be completely eliminated."

"And if we can truly eradicate all the 'Blood of Thorns' heretics entrenched in Songyuan Territory, it will be a great achievement for the 'Sina City Church'..."

"Perhaps the 'Holy Court' will open up more permissions to us as a result, so that we no longer have to endure the constraints from the [Supreme] person..."

"Luo Xiu, Luo Xiu...our "Sina City" church is really lucky to have you."

"Well, after Anthony and the others have confirmed it and brought back accurate information, I will report this map to the Holy Court."

"It's just that before that, I need to go to Bishop Fabian and ask him to confirm something..."

"Well, if Bishop Fabian's health could be better..."

"..."

With a murmur, Priest Leonard stood up.

He rolled up the parchment map on the table and put it in his arms.

Leonard began to move. He left the pile of files, left his desk, and walked to the door of the room.

Then Leonard turned the handle and opened the door.

Leonard left the "Holy Judgment" and walked deeper into the inner courtyard of the church.

He was going to meet with the current bishop of the Sina City Church, Bishop "Fabiang".

Bishop Fabian's Holy See is located in the deepest part of the inner courtyard.

…

…

After Luo Xiu left Priest Leonard's room, he walked to the other side of the inner courtyard of the church.

His destination was the "Priest's Residence" built in a deep garden. That is the residence of all the clergy of the church in the church.

If Anthony, Connor, and Pamier have nothing else to do, they usually stay in the "Priest's Residence", waiting for tasks or arrangements from Priest Leonard.

…

Luo Xiu soon arrived at the "Priest's Residence" deep in the inner courtyard.

What caught Luo Xiu's eyes was a neatly planned ocher-red building with an obvious church style.

In front of the door of every building, there stands a gilded statue of Xu Yu. The golden glow surrounds the statue, filling it with a sacred and solemn atmosphere.

Many "priests" belonging to different offices passed by Luo Xiu.

After greeting each other with the "priests" with different functions, Luo Xiu went straight to the innermost side of the residence.

This is a courtyard belonging to the "holy judges", where Anthony and his team live.

Anthony is not the only holy judge team in Sina City, but other holy judges usually do not act with Anthony's team, nor do they live in the same courtyard.

Therefore, in the nearly one month since he came to Sina City, Luo Xiu has hardly seen other "holy judges".

As he stepped into this courtyard, Luo Xiu soon noticed a familiar slender figure with long gray hair.

"Holy Knight" Pamier, she was holding a black broadwood sword in both hands, swinging it at a wooden stake tied with a sandbag in the courtyard.

—— Bang! Bang! The dull heavy sound kept coming from the surface of the sandbag.

Pamier's sword swinging force was very strong. And with every swing of her sword, the wooden stake tied with the sandbag would be shaken violently.

When she saw Luo Xiu approaching, Pamier stopped swinging the sword.

Pamier put away the wooden sword, and she turned to look at Luo Xiu, with a flash of surprise in her golden green eyes.

"Good morning, Luo Xiu..."

Pamier greeted, "I remember that this is your first time here."

"Nice to meet you, Pamier."

Luo Xiu smiled and responded, "You look pretty good. It seems that you have recovered from that battle."

"... Not bad."

Pamier paused. She looked at Luo Xiu with a complicated look.

"... I heard that you have been promoted to a transcendent of the 'Triple Destiny'."

Pamier's tone was a little dazed.

"Although I feel... I should be promoted to the third level soon. But I still can't figure it out. I can't find the inspiration for promotion."

Pamier asked Luo Xiu: "So, Luo Xiu, how did you do it?"

"..."

"Actually, it's nothing..."

Luo Xiu said softly according to the answer he had prepared in advance:

"I just followed my heart and did what I thought I should do."

"..."

"Follow your heart?" Pamier was stunned.

Seeing that Pamier seemed to be confused again, Luo Xiu had to shake his head and said nothing more.

I can't just tell Pamier that I actually opened...?

And according to the experience I had communicated with other NPCs in my previous life - "Follow your heart", this is indeed an important reference when trying to promote.

After all, the natives of the Apocalypse World do not have a player panel like Luo Xiu.

When reaching the current destiny level limit, Luo Xiu can see his "promotion task", but the natives cannot.

But being invisible does not mean it does not exist - "completing a certain important event" is still one of the prerequisites that all extraordinary people who have reached the current bottleneck must meet when trying to advance.

When completing this event, normal extraordinary people will feel a strong and joyful surge of their spirituality.

This is a precursor to spiritual sublimation. This feeling is like a blessing in the heart, which makes people feel comfortable physically and mentally.

And this also marks the opportunity for promotion.

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with Luo Xiu telling Pamier the answer he prepared in advance, "follow your heart".

Rather, what extraordinary people really "want to do" is more likely to be their promotion tasks, the resonance or intuition triggered.

At this time, after the continuous tempering of many events and Pamier's own unremitting and unhindered training, Pamier's character level has also reached lv.20.

Pamier's promotion should also be approaching. Before long, the "Anthony Squad" of the Church of Sina City and the Holy Inquisition will welcome the third Holy Inquisitor of the "Triple Destiny".

"By the way." Pamier came back to his senses from the thought of "following one's heart" and asked Luo Xiu:

"I haven't asked you yet. Who do you want to find or do something when you come to the 'Priest's Residence'?"

"I'm here to find Captain Anthony."

Luo Xiu then replied seriously: "Priest, he has something important to tell him."

"I want to find Anthony for something important?"

"... Well, I know."

Pamier nodded and said:

"You can find him at the Vanilla Orchid Market. He should be with Connor now."

"In the past two days, Connor seems to always be discussing something with Anthony. I don't know much and I'm not interested."

"Vanilla Orchid Market?" Luo Xiu's tone was a little puzzled.

Although he didn't know what Captain Anthony was doing at the Vanilla Orchid Market, Luo Xiu nodded and thanked Pamier.

Then, Luo Xiu turned and left the courtyard. He walked out of the church and soon came to the "Vanilla Orchid Market".

...

Sina City, Vanilla Orchid Market.

Through the carpet search of "Fog Shadow", Luo Xiu finally found Anthony in front of a jewelry stall.

At this time, Connor was beside Anthony. And next to Connor, there was another petite figure.

That was the daughter of Priest Leonard, the alchemist of [Intellectual] Destiny - Little Marilyn Bambers.

It was the first time that Luo Xiu saw these three people traveling together. It looked like they were shopping or having an outing.

Suddenly, Luo Xiu felt extremely curious from the bottom of his heart.

So he quietly followed behind them and paid close attention to their movements.

Anthony, Connor and Marilyn gradually walked out of the noisy crowd and came to the relatively quiet river bank.

Compared with the main street of the Vanilla Orchid Market, there were fewer pedestrians passing by here. At this time, the river was rippling with layers of ripples, and the cherry trees on the shore were swaying in the wind. The scenery here was pleasant and more conducive to relaxation.

At a very natural node, Anthony naturally left on an excuse, leaving Connor and little Marilyn alone.

Then, not long after Anthony left.

Under a cherry tree covered with light pink flowers, Connor Rune suddenly knelt on one knee to little Marilyn and took out an exquisite silver jewelry box from behind.

Connor held the silver box in his left hand, and opened the lid of the box with his right hand with a "pop".

Inside the silver box, a beautifully crafted platinum ring that shone brightly in the sun was revealed.

Then, Connor seemed to say something loudly to little Marilyn.

Little Marilyn's face instantly turned red.

Little Marilyn seemed to shake her head firmly and answered something to Connor timidly. Then, she trotted away in the opposite direction of Connor.

Luo Xiu saw that the expression on Connor's face seemed to be full of strong sadness, disappointment, pain and confusion in that instant.

"——hiss..."

Luo Xiu, who was eating melons on the side, suddenly felt a strong sense of guilt in his heart.