Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest

Red Maple City Church, the residence of the great priest.

Colen guided "Grand Inquisitor" Baines and Lord Nelson to the living room.

After a short wait, Luo Xiu, the church's "master of ceremonies", walked down the stairs on the second floor. Lord Nelson stood up and greeted Baines on his behalf.

"I'm late, Mr. Baines."

Luo Xiu smiled, nodded to Baines, and said:

"May your light shine forever, Lord Baines. Celebrate our common victory."

"The decisive battle has just ended, I thought you still need some more rest."

After greeting Baines, Luo Xiu walked up to the main seat and sat down. Lord Nelson came to accompany Baines.

"Celebrate our common victory. Haha, I really want to rest."

Baines laughed, his wrinkled face showing a smile, and said: "But the affairs of the 'side court' are so busy, even after the decisive battle, it is difficult for me to completely relax."

"This is what people in our position have to go through. I think you should be able to understand me, Lord 'Grand Priest' Luo Xiu."

"No, after all, I am not as good as you, with rich experience and qualifications." Luo Xiu smiled bitterly and shook his head, responding to Baines.

The brief greetings ended, and Baynes changed the subject and said:

"I told you before the decisive battle, Lord Luo Xiu."

"I once said that after the decisive battle is over, I will come to the church to visit you in person, Lord Luo Xiu. Now, I have come to keep the appointment as scheduled."

It seems like this happened... Luo Xiu recalled the conversation he had with Baines when they first met. He then heard Baines say:

"Your Excellency Luo Xiu, I formally extend an invitation to you."

"In the previous decisive battle with the Dark Vanguard Army, we successfully won the final victory and returned home in triumph. I once said - when we win and return in triumph, I will set up a banquet in the side courtyard and ask you to come."

"Now is the time for me to fulfill that promise."

After saying that, Baines raised his head, a faint smile appeared on his face, and looked at Luo Xiu calmly, waiting for his answer.

"Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Baines." Luo Xiu nodded and replied without thinking, "You can give me an accurate time, and I will go there on time."

The "celebration banquet" arranged by the [Supreme] man is a "standard procedure" that will be carried out after every major victory.

They will invite famous people in the area to participate. Luo Xiu, who is the most powerful person in the "Red Maple City Church" and "presides over the ceremony", is naturally on their invitation list.

Similarly, the two great scholars of "Fangbeiyuan" will also receive invitations when the time comes. For Luo Xiu, this is a good opportunity to expand his network in non-church official situations.

In addition, the banquet would not take him too long and would basically not conflict with his original schedule, so Luo Xiu agreed readily.

Seeing that Luo Xiu agreed, Baines nodded slowly. Behind him, City Lord Nelson showed a joyful expression. He took a step forward, bowed to Luo Xiu and said:

"Thank you for your visit, Lord Luo Xiu of the Great Sacrifice. We have tentatively decided that the banquet will be held tomorrow evening, and someone will come to the church to pick you up."

Tomorrow evening? That does not conflict with his plan to let Anthony organize the Holy Inquisitors of the Holy Inquisition to investigate the forest... Luo Xiu thought to himself, he nodded at the same time and said, "Okay, I approve your arrangement."

After Luo Xiu agreed to participate in the celebration banquet, Lord Nelson retreated behind Baines. The three people in the living room were speechless for a while, but Luo Xiu broke the silence and asked Baines:

"Sir Baines, your personal visit this time is not just for invitation?"

Luo Xiu noticed this very early. "Grand Inquisitor" Baines would come to the church specifically to pay him a visit, but actually it was for something deeper.

After hearing Luo Xiu's question, Baynes just nodded slowly, but did not say anything to Luo Xiu first.

He just turned around and said to Lord Nelson:

"Stay back first, Nelson. Mr. Luo Xiu and I have important things to talk about."

"Yes, Lord Baines."

Hearing this, Lord Nelson nodded in response. He then bowed slightly to Luo Xiu, then left the living room with light steps, closed the hall door, and waited as a "waiter" outside the door.

After Nelson closed the door, a serious expression appeared on Baines's face, and he solemnly said to Luo Xiu:

"Lord Luo Xiu, you should have seen some weird things on the previous battlefield."

"Weird things?" Luo Xiu also said with seriousness on his face, "Are you referring to...the group of organizations claiming to be the apostles of the 'Holy Abyss', or the monsters released by the trainers of the Dark Army?"

"They are all." Baynes said in a low voice, "No matter which side they are on, they are beyond the scope of the intelligence that our 'side court' has."

"The swarm of monsters released by the 'tamer' is within the range that can be controlled. I have already asked the 'acting dean' Alfan of Fangbeiyuan. According to him, it should be among the monsters. A rare race."

"...rare race?" Luo Xiu asked with confusion.

He knew that it was the real "Abyssal Beast", but he couldn't just reveal this information to Baines. Now was not the right time.

Now that Master Alfan of "Fangbeiyuan" has some understanding of this, Luo Xiu is also happy to listen to what Baynes says next.

Baines nodded and said: "Yes, a rare race. The great alchemist told me that they have obvious characteristics of monsters, but they also have abilities beyond monsters."

"Before, when we finally cleared the battlefield, we captured a total of thirteen monsters that were not completely killed. We handed them over to the Fangbeiyuan, and just this morning, the scholars there gave us feedback result."

"Irfan's research shows that they have some kind of ability that can eat the flesh and blood of their own kind at the same time to strengthen themselves. And this ability also affects their monster nature. After you kill the 'tamer' , those monsters got out of control and started killing each other, just for this reason.”

...This is indeed the characteristic of the "Abyss Beast", "Swallowing the Black Abyss", which can swallow its soul and flesh and blood, and turn it into its own power... Luo Xiu was thinking while listening to Baines continue:

"...Erfan has only obtained these research results for the time being. As for how those monsters appeared and how they were controlled by 'Beast Tamer' Crowl, we still don't know."

"And this time, the monsters released by Krall are the first of its kind in the empire and even the entire continent of Fanor. I will report this incident to the Songyuan Territory's Department of Justice, and if necessary, I will Let the lord’s mansion directly send people to investigate the matter.”

"Well, I have no objection." Luo Xiu nodded, "I haven't had much contact with those scary-looking hyenas. In this aspect, you are more familiar with them than us."

"And speaking of this, Mr. Baines, we are also puzzled by the appearance of the group of 'hyenas' and are prepared to investigate the matter in our own way."

"About two days later, I will ask my deacon, Anthony, the head of the church's Holy Inquisition, to organize the Holy Inquisitors to investigate deep into the coniferous forest. In fact, I have already visited the area before. However, those 'hyenas' should come from an 'ancient seal'."

"Ancient seal?" Baines responded with some confusion, but he quickly accepted Luo Xiu's statement and said:

"So that's it. When we cleared the battlefield, we only concentrated and burned all the corpses on the battlefield, and did not inspect the forest. If those monsters really came from the 'ancient seal', then why did the Dark Army It makes sense to want to burn that forest."

"And me, alas, I was only fighting with those monsters at the time, and I didn't have the extra energy to pay attention to these. Do you need help, Lord Luo Xiu? I can ask Frosa and the guard knights to assist you."

Hearing this, Luo Xiu shook his head and said: "In this decisive battle, the knights of the 'Bianting' suffered the greatest losses, and Lord Frosa's injury was particularly serious."

"I think it's better to let Mr. Frosa take good care of himself. I will share the investigation results with you."

First explaining the "investigation" arrangements to Baynes, and then politely rejecting Baynes's idea of ​​​​intervening in the investigation, this is Luo Xiu's negotiation gesture towards the "side court".

Sooner or later, the side court will notice this, but Luo Xiu does not want extra people to participate in his investigation prematurely, even now that the "Abyss Beast" has appeared - the power of [Abyss] may appear in advance, but after Before that, he needed to keep the information in his own hands as much as possible in order to avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble in advance.

After that, he would "share" the second-hand information obtained from his investigation with the side court as needed, which would also help Luo Xiu secretly control the side court's arrangements for this.

Now, Baines obviously doesn't realize what kind of disaster is hidden in that forest. It would be a good thing for Luo Xiu to let their understanding of "Abyssal Beast" remain on the surface of "rare monsters".

"Well..." Baines pondered for a while. Although he believed in the [Supreme] and naturally had a strong desire to control the overall situation, what Luo Xiu said was indeed the truth.

If you get involved in more fields, you need to bear more troubles and risks. Since the church and Fangbeiyuan are ready to conduct corresponding exploration and research, Bianting will not spend extra energy.

Baines nodded and said, "Okay, I understand. I'll leave the investigation to you, Mr. Luo Xiu."

"I'm waiting for your good news."

After a pause, Baines continued:

"After that, it was the thing I was most worried about. It was this incident that made me feel more anxious than ever before."

"..." As Baynes said this, the expression on Luo Xiu's face became complicated.

He asked Baines directly: "You mean, about the 'Holy Abyss'?"

Baines nodded heavily and said:

"The group of people suddenly teleported to the battlefield claim to serve the 'Holy Abyss' and follow the only 'Lord'."

"I have never heard of such a force before, and at that time, there were five extraordinary people with 'fourth destiny' and more than ten 'third destiny' who appeared on the battlefield at the same time."

"They even belong to different destiny paths, but they can serve the common 'Holy Abyss' and the common 'Lord'... Such a situation is quite rare, and only we [Supreme] and [Void] destiny walkers can do it to something like that.”

No... not just [Supreme] and [Nothingness]... Luo Xiu cursed.

He heard Baynes continue to say: "Who will be that 'Lord'... A person who can control so many 'fourth-fold destiny' extraordinary people at the same time must be at least a 'five-fold destiny' saint." Bar."

"If this is the case, then we need to consider more enemies that we may face."

"..."

Under Luo Xiu's gaze, the anxiety on Baynes's face became more serious. The "unknown" may have frightened him, and the ubiquitous threat seemed to be eating away at his spirit.

...Of course he doesn't know that the 'Lord' is actually me... Luo Xiu thought to himself. Seeing that Baines didn't say anything more, Luo Xiu took over the topic and said:

"Think of the best, Mr. Baines."

"Since in the previous battle, the apostles who served the 'Holy Abyss' did not take any hostile actions towards you, but instead saved the lives of many side court knights from the minions of the hyena monsters, I think we It can be judged that they are not a threat for the time being.”

"——At least, under the current situation, we cannot actively create threats. Even though the 'Executioner' Afatak and his dark remnant army have retreated twenty-three miles away, don't forget that they are 'headed' The executioner behind the scenes may arrive soon."

"I think that at this point, 'waiting' is a better choice. If we have the same interests as the 'Sacred Abyss', they will take the initiative to contact us."

"..."

"...Well, I agree with your point of view."

Baines nodded, but shook his head and said: "But this is not because we compromise with hidden organizations like the 'Sacred Abyss', but because, even if we know the details of the other party, we do not have enough power for the time being. Control or even completely eliminate them.”

"They are an organization with at least five 'fourth-fold destiny' extraordinary beings, and there may even be 'five-fold destiny' saints. It is not yet clear whether they have formed an army. Otherwise, even if they mobilize the entire Red Maple City , including the power of the side court, the church and the Fangbeiyuan, may not be able to completely eradicate them. "

"I have submitted an application to the Songyuan Territory's Department of Justice, hoping that Marquis Bakar can send more manpower to us. After all, the Red Maple City Court, of which I am the interim president, has indeed achieved the best results in the Songyuan Territory's border fortress. With my record, the Marquis will not ignore my request.”

"When reinforcements arrive and we have enough power to firmly control the life and death of the 'Holy Abyss', I won't have to worry about this anymore. By then, we will eradicate the 'Holy Abyss'. Or let them be used by us, it’s all in our mind.”

"You think so, Lord Luo Xiu?"

As if he had finally expressed his long-held thoughts, Luo Xiu faintly noticed that a momentary look of relief appeared on Baines's face.

But Baynes did not notice that the expression on the face of the church's "high priest" Rossiu Carlos opposite him became complicated for a moment.

"Well, you are right, Mr. Baines."

"I agree with you."

Luo Xiu responded to Baines with a smile.

——The ‘Bianting’ is going to send more manpower? And Baines actually wants to 'control' the Holy Abyss...

——He can't do it, absolutely can't do it. Because I will soon be truly promoted to the ‘Fifth Level of Destiny’, and by that time, the size of the ‘Holy Abyss’ will expand again, to an extent that far exceeds the current level of the ‘Bianting’.

——But, eh. Baines was right before, the ‘Holy Abyss’ could indeed consider forming an army and keep it as a private army in the ‘Forgotten Royal Court’.

——Also, before the support from their ‘side court’ arrives, I can consider contacting him in advance, as I said before.

- Well, it's like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

——……

Luo Xiu thought about this and made a decision secretly in his heart.

…