Chapter 775: To the Darkness Shrine
The dusty hut was just like a rubbish dump which contained plenty of books scattered all over the place, giving off an aura of decomposition. Lin Li stared at everything in the hut in shock and disbelief. According to the clergyman, no one had opened the hut for hundreds of years. It was not because of any bans, but because there were plenty of new copies of those books that could be found outside. Hence, no one would bother going to the hut to read them.
However, Lin Li’s eyes glistened when he heard that no one had opened the hut for hundreds of years. Perhaps what he was looking for was in that pile of old papers. Lin Li sent the clergyman away, and began to get engrossed in the books all by himself. He rummaged through each book carefully. In fact, it wouldn’t take him too much effort to do it, since he had basically read all the books outside anyway. He just had to look for the ones he hadn’t seen before.
“Damn it, no wonder this matter got erased from the records in the later eras. So this is what happened.” Lin Li’s efforts paid off. After a painstaking session of rummaging, he finally returned to his room on the Holy Mountain with a torn and tattered scroll.
He dismissed Englos and the other people who came to ask him about pharmaceutics under the pretext that he had gained some insight into Holy Light Magic. He then carefully closed the door and laid the scroll on the table, only to be greeted with lines of blurred words.
There was another unexpected reason for Lin Li’s failure to find any information about Rodhart despite having searched for such a long time. It was because Prophet Willen, who was known as the Son of the Holy Light, and the notorious Retribution Knight Rodhart were actually twin brothers!
Lin Li had actually heard some legends and rumors about what Rodhart had done. The information recorded had more or less confirmed the legends. Legends had it that Rodhart was an orphan who got adopted by the Brilliance Shrine as a child. That was true, except that his brother Willen was adopted together with him. In fact, Willen becoming the Son of the Holy Light perhaps had something to do with Rodhart getting adopted by the Brilliance Shrine.
Just like the other orphans adopted by the Brilliance Shrine, Rodhart and Willen had received strict education, imparted to them by the Brilliance Shrine ever since they were children. When Rodhart was 15 years old, he joined the Court of Heresy with several other teenagers who were as outstanding as him after passing the Court’s assessment. At that time, his younger brother Willen had also become a disciple of the pope because of his incredible talent.
When Rodhart was 32 years old, he entered the Legendary-realm and took over the position as the Chief Judge, after which he gradually began to rise in Anril. Together with the actions carried out by the Court of Heresy, the dominance that the young Referee of Heresy, Rodhart, had shown as well as his astonishing abilities made him get labeled as the strongest Paladin since the establishment of the Brilliance Shrine. Rodhart could be considered to have reached the pinnacle of life, and he had even become more famous than the pope. Countless people in the entire Brilliance Shrine idolized him too.
During this period, Willen, who was far more talented than his elder brother, was less known even though he was the pope’s disciple. However, it was obvious that the Brilliance Shrine was deliberately trying to help him keep a low profile because of his identity as the Son of the Holy Light in order to keep him safe until he grew to adulthood. At that time, the Darkness Shrine had yet to fall, and was still an opponent that the Brilliance Shrine dared not belittle. In fact, it was even more powerful than the Brilliance Shrine back then, and Willen could be considered the hope for the rise of the Brilliance Shrine. If the Darkness Shrine had found out that he was the Son of the Holy Light, they might’ve really killed him.
Afterwards, Rodhart suddenly resigned as the Head Referee, and gradually vanished from sight. The next time he appeared was 100 years later. However, at that time, he had already become the controversial Retribution Knight who commanded a powerful legion of Death Knights that bulldozed through the entire Breezy Plains. During that disaster, the population of the Breezy Plains declined sharply by more than a third, and the bustling cities turned into ruins because of the Death Knights.
When Rodhart disappeared as a Paladin, his younger brother became a prophet of the Brilliance Shrine, and the people in Anril gradually knew him as the Son of The Holy Light. At that time, Willen was said to have possessed Sanctuary-level power, and his attainments in Holy Light Magic had even surpassed those of the pope of the Brilliance Shrine. Although there was no witness during the battle between Willen and the Supreme Council arbitrator Apophis, Apophis admitted later that Willen was invincible and that he admired him greatly. It was also because of that battle that the presence of Prophet Willen greatly improved the reputation of the Brilliance Shrine. Even the Supreme Council was suppressed.
Hence, when Rodhart became the Retribution Knight and commanded the Death Knights to wreak havoc in the Breezy Plains, the two brothers finally met again. However, this time, Rodhart’s younger brother Willen had already been tasked with purifying his brother who had become a Retribution Knight.
There was no information about Rodhart even in the document that Lin Li had found. However, after the battle, the disaster in the Breezy Plains finally ended, and Prophet Willen also disappeared for some unknown reason. He never appeared in the Brilliance Shrine again. All of a sudden, Willen was no longer around to succeed the papal throne and guard the glorious Brilliance Shrine. Hence, they immediately got attacked by various forces. There was huge damage to their power, and they even almost got subdued again by the fallen Darkness Shrine.
After reading the information, Lin Li was both surprised and disappointed by the content because there was no record of the battle between Willen and Rodhart. Hence, there was no way Lin Li would know about the powers of the Retribution Knight Rodhart.
However, Lin Li discovered a secret message in the data. Before Rodhart fell, he actually went to the Darkness Shrine once. At that time, Willen actually went together with Rodhart. There was no information about the reason for their visit to the Darkness Shrine, but not long after they left, there was a major change in the Darkness Shrine. The Darkness Shrine, which could initially go toe-to-toe against the Brilliance Shrine, almost fell apart overnight, and never rose again since then.
What exactly did Rodhart and Willen do, and what happened to the Darkness Shrine? Although Lin Li found out some things from the information, he had even more doubts. Lin Li vaguely felt that the answer seemed to be in the Darkness Shrine. Hence, he reckoned that it would be necessary to go to the Darkness Shrine.
However, despite having made a decision, Lin Li didn’t leave the Brilliance Shrine immediately. There were very few opportunities for him to get some pointers from a powerhouse of the Sanctuary-realm. Lin Li had no idea what was awaiting him in the Darkness Shrine; hence, he naturally wouldn’t let go of any opportunity to improve his abilities.
Pope Rosario also showed great patience when Lin Li consulted him. In fact, he was even more serious than when he was teaching his own disciples. Although Lin Li was not his own disciple, or even a believer of the Brilliance Shrine, and he didn’t show any signs of being related to the Son of The Holy Light, Rosario had already determined that Lin Li definitely had something to do with the Son of The Holy Light the Brilliance Shrine had been trying to find.
Actually, Lin Li had already been living on the Holy Mountain for a month, and time passed without him realizing it. Within that short period of time, Lin Li managed to grasp the concepts and all sorts of techniques rapidly. If Lin Li were to change into the robe of the Brilliance Shrine, no one would doubt if he was really a devout believer of the Holy Light.
At this moment, a priest from the Darkness Shrine, who was dressed in a black robe, finally arrived at the foot of the Holy Mountain.
Although Lin Li was still hesitant, it was already the second time that Sendros had sent someone to invite him to the Darkness Shrine, and he couldn’t bring himself to delay it any further. This time, Sendros had sent a Legendary-level priest who flew straight to the Brilliance Shrine using the Power of Flight. Clearly, Sendros had begun to get impatient.
After saying goodbye to Pope Rosario and Englos, Lin Li proceeded to the foot of the Holy Mountain and saw Priest Balesi. If it weren’t for the conspicuous black robe that he was wearing, Balesi would look similar to an ordinary human who was in his forties. Although his face was pale, it was still normal. Although there was some Darkness in the magical wave that he was emanating, there was no death aura, and he was clearly specialized in Dark Magic.
“Master Felic, the High Priest has sent me to invite you to the Darkness Shrine as soon as possible,” said Balesi. Although Balesi had never seen Lin Li before, Sendros had definitely told him what Lin Li was like. The fact that Lin Li was in his twenties and had Legendary strength was enough for Balesi to recognize Lin Li.
“It’s that urgent? Let’s set off immediately, then,” said Lin Li, who immediately used his Power of Flight to travel to the Darkness Shrine.
Of course it’d be urgent. However, they were in the territory of the Brilliance Shrine. Although Balesi did not have to worry about the people of the Brilliance Shrine harming him, the omnipresent aura of light made him feel particularly uncomfortable to the extent that he didn’t want to stay there any second longer. He only managed to pull through because he was a practitioner of Dark Magic. Unless one was at Sendros’ level, a Necromancer would definitely suffer permanent damage there.
The canyon that the Darkness Shrine was located in was actually relatively close to the Breezy Plains. However, Lin Li had set off from the City of Dawn, which was indeed rather far away. Fortunately, there were no obstacles in the sky. If they were to go there by foot, they would probably take two or three months to reach the vicinity. Even though they flew there, they only managed to reach the canyon on the second night.
The deep Night Canyon in between the mountains looked just like a huge mouth cracking open in the earth. The bright moonlight seemed rather daunting, but everything inside the canyon seemed to be buried in infinite darkness. It was the sanctuary of Darkness where light would never shine. Lin Li could even feel the dark roaring.
Under the lead of Balesi, Lin Li entered the Night Canyon and looked up. The bright moonlight in the sky was somehow covered with a layer of blood that seemed to symbolize the disastrous war in the Dark Age. Lin Li followed Balesi to the large and gloomy canyon, and a majestic shrine gradually emerged from the darkness.
He had just left the Brilliance Shrine, yet he was now in the Night Canyon of the Darkness Shrine. The stark contrast made Lin Li feel extremely shocked. Although the Darkness Shrine had lost most power long ago, Lin Li could still imagine how glorious the Darkness Shrine used to be.
The believers of the Darkness Shrine believed in the doctrine of Darkness, but they did not discriminate against Holy Light. To them, light and darkness were not natural enemies. Only the presence of light could bring out Darkness. Only then would they treasure the dark more.
Although the Darkness Shrine and the Brilliance Shrine had been against each other for more than 1300 years, they were just competing to dominate the world. Regardless of the difference in strength between the two parties, the stronger party had never thought of destroying the other party.
Even at the beginning where the Darkness Shrine had just experienced the disastrous war which caused it to almost collapse overnight, the Brilliance Shrine had not taken the opportunity to eradicate them. It was because fighting with the Darkness Shrine at that time was no longer meaningful. The Darkness Shrine was extremely weak; hence, there was already an outcome. The Brilliance Shrine rightfully dominated Anril.
Of course, the cessation of the conflict did not mean that the Darkness Shrine had given up, but rather that it became their motivation. After that huge disaster, the Darkness Shrine did not go into a slump, but instead accumulated their power in the dark. In the recent decades, they even began to show signs of returning to their heyday.
Although the Darkness Shrine still could not be compared to the Brilliance Shrine now, it was second (or rather third) only to the Supreme Council and the Brilliance Shrine in the entire Anril. They would perhaps rise back to glory after a few hundred years of conscientious management.