Versatile Mage c1-2021, page 276
"Chief, do you not understand still?" Mo Fan wore a mocking grin as he was able to see the truth with a single glance.
"HAHAHAHA, well done, who would have thought that a little Gray Priest would be useful at such crucial times. Nice job, I'll take you up once we're done here. You're smarter than those clergy that died!" the female deacon suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hong Jun, how could you, we are people from the villages, we are obliged to follow the teachings of our ancestors..." Su Xiaoluo was stunned too. She never thought Hong Jun was one of the Black Vatican.
But, Hong Jun had stayed in the village just like anyone else. How did he come into contact with the Black Vatican?
"Humph, don't even talk to me about the teachings! You're just a bunch of people living like primitive tribes! Idiots like you who stubbornly follow the teachings of your ancestors have no clue how marvelous the outside world is, and because of you overly conservative people, I was born in that shithole. I can't fit in, even though I'm a Magician!" yelled Hong Jun.
"Three years...you've only left the village for three years, and you've turned into something like this..."
"I swore not to go back after the second month I left the village. If it weren't for the orders given to me, do you really think I would bother going back to the village? What does the village have, apart from a bunch of idiots who either keep talking about the teachings of their ancestors or doing that cheap farm work for their entire lives? The most ridiculous thing is the rule about not being allowed to leave the village because of some god in the wells? F**king bullshit!" Hong Jun vented out all his frustrations toward the village. His face was twisted like a monster.
"But... that doesn't mean you should join the Black Vatican instead! I even broke the rules given by the ancestors, chased the people of Sunny Goat Village away, and even stole some of the Water of Kun every month, just so your path as a Magician would be smoother, just so you could grow stronger than those who ridiculed you..." said Chief Xie Sang, whose face was full of despair.
"It's too slow, the benefits that the Water of Kun provided to my cultivation are too slow! You could never imagine what the Black Vatican offered to me!" said Hong Jun.
"Don't worry, once you are promoted to a Black Clergyman, you can do whatever you want. Money, women, fame, respect, whoever dares to mock you because of your background, you can turn them into Dark Beast Monsters, into your slaves!" the female deacon burst out laughing.
The two flames rising from Mo Fan's body did not dissipate. He did not expect someone from the village would collude with the Black Vatican. After all, the people of the villages were basically cut off from the rest of the world. It was difficult for the people of Black Vatican to blend in, and it would not do any good to the Black Vatican, either. To his surprise, this Hong Jun, who had only spent three years outside the village to study and become a Magician, was already corrupted!
Or perhaps, the guy always hated his background. He was a slave driven by his d.e.s.i.r.es from the beginning, and the Black Vatican just happened to be able to fulfill his dreams.
"So everything happened because of your greed. How are you going to face the villagers who died!" snapped Su Xiaoluo furiously.
"There are only a bunch of people that lived like slaves doing farm work, who cares if they are dead? They always mentioned how great and sacred the teachings of the ancestors were, yet they were nothing but jokes to outsiders!" said Hong Jun.
Xie Sang could not find any words. He had disobeyed the teachings of his ancestors and put the lives of villagers to an end, just so he could satisfy his son's d.e.s.i.r.e to become a reputable Magician. He never thought it would come to this...
As he thought about the villagers that Fang Gu had killed to avenge his people, and his son who he didn't know anymore, he suddenly felt dispirited and fell to the ground, as if he had lost his soul.
"Chief," Zhang Xiaohou's voice came.
Chief Xie Sang raised his head. He did not understand why the retarded kid was calling him.
"To be honest, I always thought you were one of the Black Vatican," said Zhang Xiaohou calmly, whose eyes looked alive for once.
The chief was startled. He did not quite catch what Zhang Xiaohou was trying to say. However, for some reason, he felt that the kid's tone was not as retarded as before...
"Brother Fan, I'm sorry to drag you into such a mess again," Zhang Xiaohou ignored Xie Sang's reaction. He stared at Mo Fan with a smile.
Mo Fan responded with a smile too.
The Calamity Fire and the Rose Flame that remained burning on him suddenly grew stronger. His surroundings was fully immersed in a blinding blazing red.
Those that were supposed to die would still die; did the female deacon really think she could escape with the help of a mere traitor?
Chapter 635 - Zhang Xiaohou's Disguise
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
"Hey, idiot, don't tell me you still know how to say your last words? Tell him to extinguish his fire now, or you'll be dead soon!" snapped Hong Jun.
Hong Jun put the sharp dagger closer to Zhang Xiaohou's throat. It almost sliced into his artery.
Su Xiaoluo's eyes became bloodshot upon seeing this. She looked at Mo Fan with a pleading gaze, hoping that Mo Fan would not abandon Zhang Xiaohou like that.
However, Mo Fan did not stop attacking. The flames erupted from his body like a volcano, as he threw the terrifying meteorite fist forward!
"Damn it, how dare you ignore me!" Hong Jun's face contorted.
He pulled the dagger with all his strength, slicing at Zhang Xiaohou's throat. He wanted to let Mo Fan know the consequences of underestimating him. Everyone who looked down on him must die!
If it weren't because he kept feeling a pair of eyes watching him all the time, he would have killed this idiot who kept sticking close to Su Xiaoluo. He would not have waited until today.
The dagger swept past. Its momentum could easily slice one's throat open, the guy had no intention to show any mercy...
However, the fresh blood that was supposed to jet out did not appear. The truth was, the dagger had only sliced across the air. There was no sensation of the dagger stabbing into someone's flesh!
The furious Hong Jun could only see a flicker before him, followed by a surging gust. Zhang Xiaohou had already disappeared, and he sensed a great chill from behind.
"You're a hopeless dumb a.s.s, the Black Vatican is full of assholes, yet you're still willing to be their slave. You who colluded with demon creatures are not worthy to be called a Magician!" Zhang Xiaohou's voice came from behind him.
Hong Jun felt a chill down his spine. He fiercely stabbed the dagger backwards, yet it only caught the afterimage of Zhang Xiaohou's movement.
Zhang Xiaohou was already two meters away. His eyes were lively and aware.
Raising his hand, a strong wind suddenly blew in front of Zhang Xiaohou. The rapid gust immediately turned into a tornado sweeping forward.
Hong Jun had no time to react. The wind tossed him into the air.
The wind grew stronger, lifting Hong Jun higher up into the sky. His figure was as tiny as a stalk of grass. Under Zhang Xiaohou's control, the tornado continued to rise higher, drawing the raindrops nearby into it.
"Don't kill..." Su Xiaoluo was just about to beg for mercy for Hong Jun's sake.
However, the wind suddenly turned sharp like sabers, sweeping past Hong Jun's body, amputating him continuously before he turned into a blood mist.
"I can promise you anything, but I will never spare the life of someone from the Black Vatican!" Zhang Xiaohou said to Su Xiaoluo expressionlessly.
The blood rain poured down, falling behind Zhang Xiaohou, who was quite somber. Su Xiaoluo glanced at him in astonishment, feeling that he was now a different person.
Meanwhile, the meteorite split into nine fiery dragons, devouring the female deacon of the Black Vatican.
The woman screamed in pain, trying to beg for mercy. However, Mo Fan's intent to kill was as determined as Zhang Xiaohou's. When he recalled that all of Bo City was treated as a mere test run by the Black Vatican, Mo Fan felt the urge to throw a few more punches at the woman's corpse.
Little Flame Belle left Mo Fan's body and landed nimbly on his shoulder.
Mo Fan turned his head sideways. His cold face finally wore a smile, "You did a good job today."
Little Flame Belle wriggled happily at his words.
Mo Fan slowly walked up to Zhang Xiaohou.
Zhang Xiaohou looked at him with a hint of remorse and said, "I'm sorry, Brother Fan..."
"It's fine, I know you have your own reasons. Now, can you tell me what happened to the village?" Mo Fan did not blame Zhang Xiaohou.
Zhang Xiaohou looked at Mo Fan in surprise.
He admitted that he had always pretended to suffer from amnesia, acting like he had turned into an idiot. There was only one reason behind it: to protect himself!
"Brother Fan, when you showed up at Hua Village, I almost lost myself, I never thought you would come, really..." Zhang Xiaohou glanced at Mo Fan. He seemed to be losing control of his emotions.
He was severely injured, only a step away from dying.
He did lose his memory for a while due to the strong blow to his head. He only recovered slowly after he was treated by Su Xiaoluo.
That night where they were chased by the Hatchet Corpse General, the others were either chopped to death, or fell into the Dark Abyss that appeared out of nowhere...
The Hatchet Corpse General was going to push him into the Dark Abyss too, but it ended up sparing his life, perhaps because of his kindness when he turned around, trying to save her.
However, Zhang Xiaohou had discovered an unbelievable sight.
He saw people of the Black Vatican close to the Dark Abyss!
Zhang Xiaohou never thought he would stumble into people of the Black Vatican on the night of the incident, and they were so near the Dark Abyss.
Zhang Xiaohou was going to take a closer look, but he was spotted by them. In the end, he could only flee as fast as he could, suffering a serious injury...
He ran all the way to Hua Village, where Su Xiaoluo saved him.
While he was recovering, he was almost poisoned to death, making him realize that someone in the village had colluded with the Black Vatican. They were trying to silence him!
As such, Zhang Xiaohou could only pretend he was suffering from amnesia as his disguise.
He knew clearly that once the Black Vatican discovered he had seen something he was not supposed to, they would send out Blue Deacons to eliminate him. In order to protect himself, and make sure he could tell the others what he had seen, Zhang Xiaohou had no choice but to put up an act as an idiot!
He had waited so long just to find who the person from the Black Vatican was.
Zhang Xiaohou thought it was only a matter of time until he was killed, yet to his surprise, Mo Fan came to his rescue.
He had come all the way here, to a place separated from the world, crossing the area of Xianchi that no Magician was willing to cross. Zhang Xiaohou felt like he could no longer keep up his act. He had wanted to give Mo Fan a hug, and tell him what he had gone through...
But he did not dare to do so, the person from Black Vatican would be watching him.
He believed that if he showed any sign of recovering the slightest bit of his memory, or even tried to talk to Mo Fan alone, the person would surely notify the higher-ups of the Black Vatican, and would eliminate them before they could make it out of Xianchi.
"But from what I know about the Black Vatican, they wouldn't just leave a potential threat like you alive, if you really saw something that you were not meant to..." Mo Fan raised his doubts.
Chapter 636 - The Catastrophe That's Just Around the Corner!
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think someone else is watching Hua Village apart from the people of the Black Vatican. It's the reason why they didn't get too aggressive on me. Otherwise, I would have been dead now," Zhang Xiaohou admitted sternly.
Mo Fan was stunned, he immediately looked at Liu Ru.
Liu Ru softly nodded and said, "It must be the same person who gave me the blood serums."
"Then you've made the right choice to pretend that you were suffering from amnesia. The Black Vatican would have to send out Blue Deacons to kill you, but since the plan related to the rain is their first priority, the Blue Deacons would not show up so easily, as they had to be even more cautious..." Mo Fan nodded.
That being said, Mo Fan almost broke into a sweat after reevaluating the situation.
Mo Fan did speculate that Zhang Xiaohou was putting up an act as a disguise, but he never thought so many people were actually watching him!
"So what did you see?" Su Xiaoluo finally ran out of patience.
Now that they had gotten rid of the spy Hong Jun, Zhang Xiaohou could finally tell them the truth.
"Mm, what did you see?" Mo Fan's voice sank.
Zhang Xiaohou had endured such hardsh.i.p.s just to protect the information. It must be extremely important, and might be related to this huge conspiracy looming over the city!
"He was wearing a mask, I couldn't recognize him, but the people of Black Vatican called him Great Deacon Hu Jin," said Zhang Xiaohou.
"Great Deacon Hu Jin?" Mo Fan was confused.
"He's in charge of all the Blue Deacons of Black Vatican, Salan's right-hand man. He must have played an extremely important role in this conspiracy..." Fang Gu slowly walked out from the shadows and glanced at the trembling villagers coldly.
"How do you know?" asked Liu Ru.
"I had contact with the Black Vatican before. I purposely left one of their people alive, to learn who was trying to hunt me down. The man was a tough one, so I had no choice but to threaten him with the Undeath, forcing him to spill the beans," replied Fang Gu.
"But the Black Vatican is very strict about keeping their identities a secret. If that woman was still alive, we might be able to learn more information," said Liu Ru.
"Forget it, for something as huge as this, the Blue Deacons are only in charge of a small part of the whole thing. They won't know the details. If we really want to know what their next move is, we'll have to find this Great Deacon Hu Jin," said Fang Gu confidently.
"Houzi, why were they trying to kill you? You didn't even see his face," said Mo Fan in confusion.
"I heard his voice, and somehow it felt slightly familiar, but I can't remember who the person is..." said Zhang Xiaohou.
"Familiar?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I've heard the voice in Bo City. It was raining quite heavily that day, but if I can surely identify the person if I can hear his voice again!" said Zhang Xiaohou in a serious tone.
Mo Fan frowned as his breathing intensified.
It turned out that someone from the Black Vatican was right around them!
"I believe he knows me, too. He must be worried that I would recognize his voice, thus he immediately sent his men to silence me. Even after I reached Hua Village, he still asked Hong Jun to spy on me. If I did something that would pose the slightest threat of revealing his identity, he would eliminate me and the people around me at once..." said Zhang Xiaohou.
"So you've pretended to stay with me like a retard, just so the spy wouldn't feel suspicious?" said Su Xiaoluo.
"Well… that's not it," Zhang Xiaohou's face blushed.
"What is it then?" Su Xiaoluo pursued further.
"To repay your kindness for saving his life! We'll talk about the romance between you two later. Houzi, can't you remember whose voice it was? If we can learn his identity… you mentioned that he's from Bo City?" blurted out Mo Fan.
"Yeah, he must be someone from Bo City. Maybe he's someone we both saw before," said Zhang Xiaohou confidently.
"But, there were many people that were allocated here to the Ancient Capital. How can we find this Great Deacon Hu Jin?" said Liu Ru.
Liu Ru and Mo Fan had already paid a visit to Bo City Street. Only a small group of people from Bo City were living there, while the others were scattered across the Ancient Capital. The information Zhang Xiaohou had brought back was crucial, yet it was too vague!
"Come, let's look for Mu Bai, Zhou Ming, and the others. They have spent a longer time in the Ancient Capital. Maybe they can help us find this Great Deacon Hu Jin. On top of that, we should tell Zhu Meng about it, too..." said Mo Fan.
"I'll come with you, I'll help too," said Fang Gu.
"Oh, I thought you were going to kill the rest of them. As the saying goes, drop the butcher's knife and immediately become a Buddha..." Mo Fan looked at Fang Gu in surprise.
"I've already avenged my people. I'll turn myself in to the Enforcement Union when we reach the inner city, if we managed to survive," Fang Gu turned his head around for a glance behind them.
A dense mass of black moving figures!
A shocking sight!
The ocean of undead was already less then kilometer away. When the noise from the shaking ground reached a certain level, it felt like the whole place had fallen into dead silence!
When everyone turned around after they were done with the Black Vatican, they could smell the approaching death, darkness, and fear, the sense of being caught in an ocean of despair that could overwhelm their souls!
It felt like their hearts were close to exploding from their fear of the approaching calamity!
The shocking undead tide was strong enough to crush the buildings, parks, streets and schools… and humans were incredibly tiny!
On the other hand, the inner city was covered in a golden barrier. The inner walls had stood tall for over a thousand years, but could it survive this calamity of undead?
------
Everything behind them was turned into nothing.
The army of undead did not need to do anything. They were simply advancing forward, bringing darkness upon the city. It felt like both the sky and the ground were filled with them.
