Chapter 1172: Rebellion
The team of the Gilded Kingdom then surrounded the altar, and lined up neatly around the altar like stars arching over the moon. At this juncture, Edmund was also holding his scepter while stepping onto the platform together with Zumar and Poer. They stopped when they were only one step away from the top. Edmund then continued to walk to the center of the altar.
After coming to the center of the altar, Edmund first bowed, and seemed to be secretly reciting something. Immediately afterwards, he raised his scepter high and chanted some incantation, which could also be called a curse.
Despite seeing that the people of the Gilded Kingdom had already begun the ritual of collecting their holy artifact, Lin Li did not feel relaxed at all. When the people of the Gilded Kingdom were preparing for the ceremony, he had already carefully looked at the mageweath on the monuments. However, despite being a Guru of Inscriptions, he still could not catch a glimpse of one percent of the mystery of the mageweath.
Lin Li had always been the most afraid of power that was beyond his control, but the people of the Gilded Kingdom had been progressing well, so he had no choice but to wait and see what happened. After all, he knew how important this matter was to those in the Gilded Kingdom, and if he interrupted at this juncture, they would probably fall out with each other.
However, when Edmund began to chant the incantation, Lin Li suddenly felt his heart beating rapidly, while the suffocating sounds of murmuring once again rang in his ear. Besides, the murmuring this time seemed to have become clearer and penetrative, so much so that the desire within him almost could not be suppressed.
Regarding the source of murmuring, Lin Li also finally determined that it was from the cluster of rays of light that was surrounded by the seven monuments. Although Edmund did not state it clearly, Lin Li could guess that the light should have been the belief of the Illuminati.
However, although the murmuring was making Lin Li displeased, it was only to this extent. Lin Li’s mental strength was far beyond that of ordinary people. Besides, as the Evil Eye Tyrant magical crystal was continuously strengthened and the magical crystal of the Sky Castle was refined, his mental strength would reach an extremely exaggerated extent.
A strong mental strength meant stronger and more solid willpower. Besides, the Ancient God of Light had been suppressed by the Immortal King for thousands of years. Hence, it was almost impossible for it to try to influence Lin Li using the murmuring. Thus, although Lin Li had kept his guard high, he did not lead the team away immediately.
At this juncture, the team of the Gilded Kingdom was carrying out the ritual in an orderly manner. Saint Edmund was holding his scepter high, while the incantation he chanted became more and more high-pitched. His body was trembling slightly too, and it was as if he had channeled all his power into this.
Elder Zumar and High Priest Poer were standing nervously on the steps of the altar, gripping their scepters so tightly that their knuckles turned pale. Those below the altar were staring at the mysterious holy artifact, as if the ritual would be completed successfully as long as they kept their eyes glued to it.
The large mass of light that represented the God of Light, which was surrounded by seven monuments with sharp tops, began pulsing more and more quickly. In the beginning, the beating would occur only about once every few minutes, but now it was as fast as the heartbeat of a person after a vigorous workout. The changes were the reason that the members of the Gilded Kingdom kept their guard up, fearing that they would release the Ancient God of Light by accident.
However, the Ancient God of Light obviously would not be released so easily. When the frequency of pulsation was maximized, the seven monuments surrounding it began to change, while the magical crystals in the seven monuments began to light up. Immediately afterwards, mana flowed along the circuit, and quickly traveled up the monuments, causing the mageweaths to flicker quickly while emitting a powerful might.
At the same time, in the barrier formed by the seven monuments, several rays of light began to blast at the Ancient God of Light like bolts of lightning. Each ray of light that landed made the mass of light of the Ancient God of Light slow down. It was just like a tamer using a whip to lash a misbehaving beast.
At this point, the ceremony of the Gilded Kingdom had already reached a critical juncture, and a pillar of light came crashing down from the sky and onto the barrier. The barrier, which could suppress the ancient gods, did not hinder the pillar of light in the slightest, allowing it to shroud the holy artifact of the Illuminati that was hovering in midair. Under Edmund’s constant summoning, the holy artifact of the Illuminati slowly flew towards the outside of the barrier along the pillar of light that descended from the sky.
Seemingly sensing the aura outside, the mass of light that the Ancient God of Light had evolved into immediately began to struggle again despite having just been dealt with. However, the seven monuments were not kind to him at all. Countless rays of light immediately shot out from the void, and twisted the mass of light continuously.
Just like that, the Ancient God of Light was suppressed by the power of the seven monuments, while the holy artifact of the Illuminati followed the pillars of light to approach the top of the barrier. Seeing this, the people of the Gilded Kingdom couldn’t help but sigh in relief, be it Edmund, Zumar, or others. As long as they could successfully obtain the holy artifact, it wouldn’t be hard for them to resurrect Saint Aquilo. This time, the mission would be completed perfectly too.
However, at this point, High Priest Poer, who was waiting on the steps, suddenly dashed towards the altar. Elder Zumar, who was waiting with Poer, was momentarily confused by his actions, but he soon snapped back to his senses, and tried to stop him. All of a sudden, he felt an unparalleled force that blasted him away.
Elder Zumar was a high-level Sanctuary powerhouse. Even if his abilities were below the Sanctuary-realm’s peak, and he could not contend with peak Sanctuary-realm powerhouses, he wouldn’t be blown away immediately. However, now that this unbelievable thing had happened, the person who attacked was High Priest Poer, whose strength was the lowest among the Sanctuary powerhouses present.
While blasting Elder Zumar away, he did not pause for a single moment, and he soon arrived in front of Saint Edmund. Immediately afterwards, he pointed his scepter forward, and a revolving sphere of light appeared. The power of the light almost turned into a massive light vortex that blasted towards Edmund.
Under normal circumstances, given Edmund’s strength, it would definitely not be enough to cause him the slightest hurt. However, things were now different. He had originally channeled most of his power into the ritual that he was presiding over. Hence, he didn’t have spare capacity to defend and keep his guard up against others. At this moment, it was already the most critical point of the ritual, and it could not be disturbed at all.
Faced with the sudden attack of High Priest Poer, Edmund did not have any means to resist at all as he was simply blasted off the altar. This time, Edmund was severely injured. Due to the disruption of the ceremony, his mental strength faced a huge backlash, and he couldn’t recover immediately.
After blasting Edmund off the altar, High Priest Poer took two steps forward, and stood with his magic staff held high in his hand in the spot where Edmund was just now. They had initially already reached the final moment of the ritual, but High Priest Poer simply replaced Edmund’s mental strength with his own to take everything.
At this moment, the people below the altar finally realized what was going on up there. However, apart from a group of people who immediately went over to check on Edmund’s condition, no one else dared to rush up to the altar. One reason was that they knew that they were too incapable, and the other reason was that they could not understand what was going on.
After all, for these people, Saint Edmund and High Priest Poer were not to be provoked. Besides, they did not belong to the Illuminati in the first place, and most of them were from the Gilded Kingdom. Since they were direct subordinates of High Priest Poer, they did not dare to act presumptuously.
Elder Zumar, who had been blasted away, was not that severely injured, so he immediately flew back to the altar, and tried to strike at High Priest Poer. However, he was still a step too late. Just as he was nearing the altar, the holy artifact in the barrier already flew out from the pillar of light, and fell straight into the hands of High Priest Poer.
“Poer, what were you doing!?” Elder Zumar exclaimed in disbelief. They had already defeated the Titan and the Radiant-winged Giant Python, but they were hampered by someone of their own team in the end.
High Priest Poer raised his hand to catch the flying holy artifact, and in the instant that he did, he was shrouded by the infinite light. A massive amount of mana emerged from the light like a tide, and the light that he was shrouded in condensed into a massive pair of radiant phantom wings immediately afterwards. There was faint divine power being exuded by it.
High Priest Poer had obviously grabbed the holy artifact, but he did not immediately respond to Elder Zumar. Instead, the phantom-like wings behind him suddenly vibrated and spread towards the surroundings like ripples. He then held the holy artifact high in the air and guffawed loudly.
“Poer, are you out of your mind?! Do you know what you’re doing?!” Elder Zumar had almost reached High Priest Poer, but was swept away by the spatial ripples and pushed backwards without any means to resist.
At this juncture, Poer seemed to have finally snapped out of his exhilaration as he proudly and disdainfully said, “Out of my mind? Of course not. I know exactly what I’m doing. I followed you guys all the way here precisely for this moment. Now it’s time for me to harvest everything!”
“What are you talking about? Our mission is to resurrect Saint Aquilo. What are you doing this for?!” Zumar could not believe his ears at all, and even if he wanted to do that, it would be too terrifying.
“What for? The Illuminati now belongs to the Gilded Kingdom. What do you take the Gilded Kingdom for? A tool or a slave? The kingdom wants to develop and expand to the mainland. What have you done? Not only did you refuse to contribute, you even tried to talk to the forces in the Breezy Plains about reaching a peaceful agreement. It’s only a matter of time before the kingdom gets destroyed by you!” High Priest Poer seemed to have several years of resentment pent-up within him, which he vented all at once. He even seemed to have broken into hysterics.
High Priest Poer’s words immediately made Elder Zumar infuriated. Without the Illuminati, the Gilded Kingdom would have never gained a foothold in the Endless Ocean or developed to its current extent. During the Dark Age, there were High Elves on the mainland and the Sea Clan in the Endless Ocean. If not for the Illuminati, the Gilded Kingdom would have long been destroyed.
“You’re full of nonsense. In the history of the Gilded Kingdom, the Illuminati have blocked several invasions of powerful enemies of the kingdom, and resolved so many crises for you guys. Not to mention the siege of the marine beasts, didn’t the Illuminati pay a huge price to keep the High Elves and the Sea Clan out of the Gilded Kingdom when they launched invasions against you? As the high priest, you couldn’t have forgotten about that.” Elder Zumar wanted to go up and snatch the holy artifact from Poer, but he knew that he was no match for the latter. Hence, he pinned his hopes on verbally arguing with him in hopes that High Priest Poer would regret and repent after hearing his words.
However, after hearing Elder Zumar’s words, High Priest Poer sneered, and said, “Don’t make yourself sound so noble, do you think everyone is a fool? Actually, everyone was well aware that once the High Elves or the Sea Clan had occupied the kingdom, the Illuminati would’ve lost their foothold. Anril has been ruled by the High Elves for so many years, and the humans weren’t annihilated at all. Who said that the Gilded Kingdom would definitely be destroyed by the High Elves? You said that you were doing it for the kingdom, but you were doing it for yourselves.”
Elder Zumar was rendered speechless by his words. No one could be sure about that. After all, since the matter hadn’t happened yet, there were endless possibilities. Although the invaders would suppress the people and practice slavery, those were possibilities that everyone could think of as it could be considered common sense. However, if someone said that the High Elves would make the people of the Gilded Kingdom their guests after occupying the land, no one could say that that would definitely be impossible, because no one knew if the High Elves wouldn’t act out of the ordinary.