Chapter 1289 The Source Spring of Faith

The Zhuxue Duke’s source-powered skiff cruised through the night skies above Central City.

Jia Wei, with his subordinates, stood on the observation deck, watching the boundless night clouds sweep across the shattered stars, bathed in the faint starlight. The hemp robes of these adjudicators seemed to be plated with a layer of faint silver light.

The word "light" does not only appear in daylight.

Even when the great sun returns to nothingness, there are still thousands of strands of bright light falling upon the world.

And these rays are the "source" of their faith.

To see any ray of light in the world is to see the divine throne.

Standing beneath the portholes, the adjudicators felt calm and steadfast in their hearts. They knew that even in the Northern Continent, the Divine Throne was still with them.

"Duke Zhuxue, it has been a while… Your Excellency is still radiant."

Jia Wei was not one to offer flattering words.

For a "Great Knight" like him, all that was needed was to learn to wield a sharp sword and cut through any obstacles.

Flattery was a useless courtesy of the weak.

But at this moment, the words he spoke to Zhuxue had a hint of "flattery" to them.

In fact, this was not the case.

If one understood the "past" of these two, they would know that this was a heartfelt sentiment from Jia Wei... The relationship between the Western and Northern Continents was once very friendly, otherwise there would not have been the so-called Meng-Lin marriage alliance.

More than ten years ago, before Lin Chou took on the name "Zhuxue," he went to the Central Continent and studied in disguise for a period of time.

At that time, he studied hard at the Holy Cross Academy in Central Continent.

His classmates were all nobles.

Those who could enter the Holy Cross Academy for advanced studies were not just people from Central Continent. Most of them came from all over the world, many from famous and powerful families. Of course, there were also some exceptions... A very few "young disciples" entered the academy through their own efforts.

But that was not important.

What was important was that Jia Wei was also studying at the Holy Cross Academy that year and was a classmate of Zhuxue.

The world only knew that Jia Wei was the "Fourth-Order Supreme" Great Knight of Light City, crushing all opponents after donning the "Radiant Armor."

But what they did not know was the true face of the Great Knight beneath that heavy armor.

Before wearing the "Red Armor," Jia Wei had concealed his face... He had participated in the adjudicating action against the King of the Underworld twenty years ago. Although Light City publicly claimed victory in that action,

the actual battle was tragic.

Countless adjudicators had their very souls stripped away by the King of the Underworld!

Less than one in ten survived, and they were plagued by nightmares, unable to sleep at night.

Jia Wei, who was only sixteen years old at the time, was a "lucky one" in that adjudicating action. He was rescued by the Light Divine Throne and narrowly escaped with his life, but his entire face was defiled by the River Styx…

Beneath the heavy armor shrouded in light was a face stained with darkness and ugliness.

Therefore,

during his years of study in Central Continent, everyone regarded this young man from the Western Continent as an "oddity," unwilling to speak with him.

Jia Wei took serving the light as his lifelong creed.

He did not actually care about such "treatment" or the so-called "cold eyes"...

As a survivor of the war against the King of the Underworld, from the moment he survived, he had only one purpose in life—to become the strongest and then punish evil.

But there were always a few people whose attitude towards him was different.

Lin Chou was one of them.

Because of the good relations between the two continents, the two even became close "friends" during their studies.

However, after the end of their studies in Central Continent, Lin Chou and Jia Wei went their separate ways. As their status and reputation grew, the relationship between Light City and the Lin family became delicate. The friendship that the two sides had built up over many years became turbulent, and the distance between them gradually widened. Under these circumstances, the friendship between Lin Chou and Jia Wei gradually withered away like the evening breeze.

If it were not for the escape of the Light Divine Maiden,

the two would not have exchanged messages for several years.

"You're too kind."

Lin Chou looked at his former classmate and said calmly, "You are still the same as before, your iron armor remains."

Still frigid.

Jia Wei was cold as a knife all over his body.

He exuded a powerful aura that said, "Keep away." Just one look was enough to tell that this guy had a fire burning in his heart and must be a person of unwavering ideals and beliefs.

Even without the "Radiant Armor," Jia Wei was a cold person whom strangers dared not approach.

"I have come to Central City under orders to thoroughly investigate the 'Meng Xiao' case."

Jia Wei got straight to the point, slowly turning his body, no longer looking at the starlight outside the porthole, but facing Lin Chou directly.

He said slowly, "Meng Xiao is not only the 'Blessed Child' of Light City, but also the hereditary 'Duke Zhenyue' of the Northern Continent. In terms of status, both the Blessed Child and the Duke Zhenyue are top-notch figures."

"Indeed."

Lin Chou asked, "Light City's obituary is already known throughout the Five Continents. But if you really want to investigate the 'Meng Xiao case,' you must already know on your way here that he violated the Northern Continent's iron military discipline and was already burdened with the 'crime of treason' in the Disaster Zone!"

Meng Xiao directly summoned the Light Divine Throne to descend in the Disaster Zone... This action directly destroyed the strategic "trust" between the Northwest Continents!

The reasoning was very simple—

If the Light Divine Throne wanted to descend upon the Doru River, then what he should have done was to urgently convene a Supreme Council meeting to seek the Empress's opinion, rather than directly descending in his true form!

If the Light Divine Throne crossed the boundaries of the two continents, he would directly violate the ancient agreement that Divine Thrones should not interfere with each other!

Of course, if he convened a meeting, the Empress would directly refuse.

The Light Divine Throne had already guessed the result, which was why he made that choice.

This time... fortunately, it ended in failure.

If he had really descended successfully, no one could have predicted what the events in the Disaster Zone would have turned into!

In fact, there should have been a follow-up to the "summoning the Divine Throne" incident. The Supreme Council should have warned or even punished this act of crossing the line, but the Empress did not pursue the matter at all... Because she knew very well that the Light Divine Throne had already made arrangements before acting.

No matter how much the Supreme Council pursued the matter, the Light Divine Throne could always evade responsibility.

After all, this was a unilateral action by the "Blessed Child." As a Divine Throne, and one whose descent had failed, he could attribute the situation at the time to a "temporary accident."

The Supreme Council never engaged in such meaningless arguments.

So... it was up to the people below.

"..."

Jia Wei could not refute Lin Chou's words.

He simply said in a calm voice, "If he is guilty, then let him be dealt with according to the law. He should have been detained, then interrogated, and finally judged, instead of just... dying in the Doru River like that."

Lin Chou was also silent.

He also knew very well that the Northern Continent was not suitable for any "defense" on this point.

Meng Xiao's death was a concrete fact. The main reason was that the situation at the time was special, and this guy died too quickly. When Team Leader Lu Zhe rushed over, he didn't even see a shadow.

Most likely... he had already melted into the Doru River.

"I'm sorry, from the Northern Continent's point of view, Meng Xiao is only missing." Lin Chou said softly, "Our last contact with him was in front of Black Snow Mountain. He took the initiative to cut off contact with the Osmond flagship... We are not responsible for the situation after that."

The Northern Continent would not be responsible for Meng Xiao's death.

Unless... you provide evidence.

This sentence sounded a bit rogue, but what Lin Chou said was also the truth.

All of this was Meng Xiao's own fault.

"In the shrines of Light City, there are plaques where the souls of the 'Blessed Children' are stored. We can detect Meng Xiao's life or death... He is indeed dead now, and he died in the Doru River Disaster Zone."

Jia Wei's voice was a bit hoarse, and he murmured, "The adjudicators' trip to the Northern Continent is not actually to hold Central City directly responsible... We just want to find out the truth. If Meng Xiao really died in an 'accident,' then we have nothing to say."

"So?"

Lin Chou raised an eyebrow.

"We hope that Her Majesty the Empress can grant us certain 'privileges.' We want to go to the Doru River Disaster Zone to investigate the scene of the incident." Jia Wei slowly made his request, "In addition, we need a certain degree of 'independent handling rights.' The Northern Continent needs to open up certain permissions to the adjudicators."

"Heh..."

Lin Chou looked at the adjudicators in front of him, and he found the scene before him to be very ironic.

When he left the Holy Cross Academy, the young him must not have thought that after many years, meeting his "old friend" again would be such an uncompromising negotiation scene.

Both sides concentrated their minds.

The adjudicators had traveled thousands of miles to Central City to "investigate the case."

The first step in investigating the case was naturally to obtain the Empress's permission.

If Her Majesty the Empress told them to scram, they would have to scram now.

Of course... the impact of this matter would also spread. After all, the explanation given by the Northern Continent was that "Meng Xiao died in an accident." If he really "died in an accident," then why wouldn't they allow the adjudicators to investigate?

"It's not that simple to enter the Doru River." Zhuxue said calmly, "Meng Xiao's 'inviting the gods' behavior has made the Northern Continent unable to trust the adjudicators' motives..."

Jia Wei was prepared for this, and he spoke again, "The spiritual sea of every adjudicator I have brought is absolutely clean... After they step into the Doru River, they will not take away any secrets of the Northern Continent's military. If they do not find any clues about the Blessed Child, they can accept the Northern Continent's military's 'spiritual sea cleansing' when they leave the Disaster Zone, erasing all irrelevant memories."

"Tap... tap... tap..."

Jia Wei waited patiently for a response.

Not far away, Zhuxue sat down and gently tapped his fingertips, slowly tapping the long table in a rhythmic manner.

Lin Chou, with a wireless communicator in one ear, fell into deep thought.

Soon after, a hoarse current seemed to come from the other end, as if someone was saying something...

Then there was the last sound.

"Tap."

A crisp settling sound.

Lin Chou raised his eyes to look at Jia Wei and said softly, "Alright. So, you want to enter the Doru River to investigate? I can agree to this condition."

...

...

"Zhuxue's source-powered skiff has left Central City."

That night,

Chu Ling passed this message to Gu Shen.

As the speed of [Deep Sea]'s updates and iterations became faster and faster, the source code could no longer keep up with the system's update speed.

Although Chu Ling could not have the highest authority... she could still easily mobilize a large amount of basic data in the Deep Water Zone.

Keeping an eye on Zhuxue's airship was equivalent to keeping an eye on the movements of these "adjudicators."

Gu Shen was practicing his breathing technique in the small courtyard.

He opened his eyes, and a wisp of flowing fire flashed in his pupils.

"Leaving Central City means heading to the 'Doru River Disaster Zone'!"

He knew very well what the message Chu Ling brought meant.

The preliminary negotiations between Duke Zhuxue and Jia Wei had been completed... On the surface, it seemed that the Northern Continent had made some concessions in the Meng Xiao case, choosing to agree to let the adjudicators enter the Black River to investigate.

But Gu Shen had been to the second floor of the阁楼 (Gé Lou, Pavilion), and he knew very well what a terrifying chess player the "Northern Continent Empress" was.

Even when the Light Divine Throne was about to succeed in summoning, the Empress sat firmly in the阁楼 (Gé Lou, Pavilion).

What was the adjudicators' investigation compared to that?

The Northern Continent wanted the adjudicators to investigate!

Once they investigated to the end and found no results... the adjudicators could only agree to the Northern Continent's so-called "accident" ending!

This was an upright and straightforward conspiracy.

But this choice made Gu Shen feel three points of doubt in his heart... Jia Wei had just boarded the airship and immediately reached an agreement. He had thought that the Northern Continent would try its best to delay it.

At the very least, they should not have allowed the adjudicators to advance so quickly.

Such decisiveness seemed to be guessing the ending.

Was there a possibility that Her Majesty the Empress was so powerful that she could see through the fog in the latter half of the "River Styx" and see the images at the bottom of the river?

Gu Shen felt a little panicked in his heart.

He suddenly worried... that his identity as the "King of the Underworld" had already been seen through by Her Majesty the Empress.

However... this worry seemed a bit superfluous.

The small courtyard on Suspended Mountain was now peaceful.

He was staying in the Northern Continent.

And he was staying very well.

...

...

The adjudicators searched for a full seven days in the Doru River Disaster Zone!

For these seven days, forty-three adjudicators had scoured Black Snow Mountain and searched the Black River... Unfortunately, they could not even find a grain of Meng Xiao's ashes. The famous "Blessed Child" of Light City had disappeared into thin air.

On the other hand, on Black Snow Mountain... they found some "unexpected gains."

Although Black Snow Mountain had experienced a major impact and the mountain had undergone violent tremors,

these adjudicators still dug up some "acquaintances" who had been burned to ashes from the snow, which had been piled up in countless layers... The aura of light on the adjudicators' bodies could not be concealed.

They silently collected these "ashes" and brought them back to Jia Wei.

"This is what was left behind when Meng Xiao 'invited the gods' back then."

Team Leader Lu Zhe followed closely behind the adjudicators as they entered the Disaster Zone. This was the "new mission" that Zhuxue had arranged for him... As the Northern Continent's "Fourth-Order Supreme," he would accompany the "honored guest" Jia Wei throughout the entire process, assisting in the investigation of the Meng Xiao case.

This was a kind of silent "balance," and it was also a kind of "counter-deterrence" to deal with the "deterrence."

The adjudicators looked at the remains of their comrades, and their expressions did not change much.

Being burned to ashes by the Blessed Child was nothing.

The only regret was that they were not included... If more power from those who had offered their lives had been added, perhaps the Divine Throne would have successfully descended at that time.

Lu Zhe knew very well what these guys were thinking, so he added appropriately, "I forgot to say, there are also some remnants of 'replicas' in these ashes. Black Snow Mountain can replicate the power of transcendents and produce counterfeit goods. When I passed by, I cleaned up these replicas... Well, if you don't mind, you can also bring these remnants of the replicas back and worship them as ashes. After all, they are theoretically from the same source, so there is not much difference."

Jia Wei could do nothing about Lu Zhe.

These days, he had been observing this Team Leader...

This was a monster that, like himself, was deliberately in his current position. If they really fought, neither of them would gain an advantage. Although he had the "Radiant Armor," it was, after all, a defensive item.

The meaning of Lu Zhe's existence was to stick to him like chewing gum, preventing the adjudicators from taking any "irregular" actions.

After seven days of investigation,

the adjudicators had gained nothing.

Lu Zhe accompanied Jia Wei on a trip to the Black River.

According to Light City's intelligence, the Doru River was very likely to be the "River Styx" left behind by the King of the Underworld. Perhaps it even contained the grudges of the "adjudicators." However, this active Great Knight spent a great deal of effort and used more than one "light-sensing sealing item" but did not find the slightest clue... Not to mention "adjudicators," there wasn't even a single hair.

"Brother Jia, don't you also think... it's too strange?"

Lu Zhe said with emotion, "We also searched the Doru River back then. Meng Xiao was as if he had been burned to ashes and sprinkled into the Black River... He disappeared without a trace."

"Burned to ashes... sprinkled into the Black River..."

Jia Wei's face under the red armor was very unsightly, and he said coldly, "I have seen the list of those who restarted the mission. None of your captains in the Northern Continent can do this!"

Lu Zhe shrugged.

Jia Wei suddenly stared at the Team Leader... Theoretically speaking, it wasn't as if there wasn't one at all.

There was one right in front of him.

"Don't look at me." Lu Zhe said indifferently, "My mission is to 'capture Meng Xiao.' The Northern Continent's court also wants to give him a trial... If he saw me, he might still be able to save his life."

Looking at the adjudicators' ashes packed in the "wooden shrine,"

Jia Wei fell into deep thought.

When he set off from the Western Continent, he knew that this investigation would probably not be an easy task, and the adjudicators had to be prepared for an ending of "no success." And now the investigation of the Doru River Disaster Zone... was enough to show that the current situation was infinitely close to that worst ending.

He had not obtained the slightest bit of substantive evidence.

On the other hand, the "team members' ashes" discovered on Black Snow Mountain confirmed the fact that Meng Xiao had violated the iron laws of the Northern Continent.

What was even worse was that Light City's intelligence about the "Doru River" also needed to be re-examined.

Because he had not found any [Gates] in the latter half of the Doru River.

Perhaps it was because they were damaged, or perhaps it was because of other unknown reasons... No matter what the reason, the "King of the Underworld's遗迹 (yí jì, ruins)" that the Divine Throne had tried so hard to find had its clues cut off here...

Without taking away the ashes in the wooden shrine,

the Red Armor Great Knight used a wisp of spiritual energy to ignite the wooden shrine again, burning up the remaining aura of light in the ashes at the same time.

At the foot of Black Snow Mountain, he forcefully crushed the blazing firelight.

Jia Wei gathered the adjudicators and announced the end of the investigation, "The Disaster Zone trip... ends here."

"Next, return to Central City."

...

...

The adjudicators' investigation in the Northern Continent had attracted the attention of many people.

The nobles of Central City encountered the adjudicators' "abrupt greetings" at the dinner party at the underground research institute.

This matter had been fermenting in the Deep Water Zone for the past few days.

The Northern Continent's transcendents felt disgusted and angry at the arrival of the "adjudicators" from the bottom of their hearts.

Her Majesty the Empress had won a victory.

These people were investigating under the guise of "celebrating," which was undoubtedly to suspect that someone in the Northern Continent had wiped out Light City's Blessed Child.

In their view... the so-called Blessed Child was actually a "traitorous" thing. As the Duke of the Northern Continent, he had violated the iron law, stabbed his comrades in the back, and disrupted the mission. He should have been brought to the transcendent court. And he happened to encounter the shock wave brought by the "Traveler" and died in the Doru River. No matter what, the Northern Continent should not "take the blame" for this.

Therefore, Jia Wei's act of leading people to investigate the case had been subjected to a great deal of scolding in the [Deep Water Zone] in just a few days!

The pressure on the adjudicators to investigate the case had increased again.

After leaving the "Doru River," Jia Wei also received "caring greetings" from many big figures in Light City at the first time. The content of the "greetings" was roughly the same... Whether the adjudicators had found the Blessed Child's relics and evidence that could define the Northern Continent's murder, and so on...

But unfortunately,

after he fed back the "investigation results" that he had gained nothing, those caring big figures all felt disappointed.

Even Jia Wei himself began to doubt.

Was there still a need to continue the investigation of the Blessed Child's case file?

Without remains, without relics, and without even a trace of the aura of light, everything had disappeared into the Black River... Even if the Divine Throne came in person, he would probably not be able to find evidence...

In fact, the following "investigation" could still be carried out because Light City still had a long list of names.

On these lists were all the transcendents who had a "close relationship" with Meng Xiao.

Perhaps they could make a breakthrough by visiting them one by one.

However... the resistance that the adjudicators were facing in the Northern Continent was already getting bigger and bigger.

Just as Jia Wei was sinking into the mire, his spiritual sea received a very important guiding message.

This message came from the [Temple] of Light City.

The Blessed Child led his followers into the Doru River Disaster Zone to summon the Light Divine Throne, which was the [Temple]'s plan.

If we go a step further back—

Then, years ago, Meng Xiao went to the Northern Continent in his capacity as the only son of Duke Zhenyue to inherit his father's title, family property, and authority... This was also an arrangement by the [Temple]. If the [Adjudicators] were the Divine Throne's hands, then the [Temple] was the Divine Throne's eyes and will.

The light of the [Temple] could fall on every corner of the Five Continents.

"Among the relics of the former Duke Zhenyue inherited by Meng Xiao, there is a 'bracelet.' This is an extremely important 'sealing item' for Light City."

The [Temple]'s guidance was simple.

"Jia Wei, at close range, you only need to activate the 'Radiant Armor' and fully stimulate the aura of light. Then you can sense the existence of that bracelet spiritually... Visit the people on the list in turn. As long as you can find the 'bracelet,' you will have found the murderer of Meng Xiao."

...

...

(There will be another chapter tonight)