Chapter 195

Chapter 195

Deputy Judge Han Xuelie of Spire City entered the venue.

The large meeting room was not yet sealed off; once it was fully secured, Han Xuelie would be responsible for the security inside the room.

The Chief Judge would remain outside the venue. As an Apostle, Hui Cui's vast attack range made her more suitable for supporting other cities. Focusing his attention solely on this four-hundred-square-meter tiered meeting room would be a tremendous waste.

That said...

Han Xuelie glanced at the blind ritualist adjusting his tie in a new black suit beside the podium, feeling that the Chief Judge’s choice to protect one over another was too agonizing.

This dark-skinned centaur thought of his ex-wife and his daughter Shanta, who had no interest in dating, and couldn't help but sigh. He stepped with his right prosthetic leg to the other side of the podium.

"How is it going?" he asked Director Yuanhu of the Communications Section.

"We have all entered," said Director Yuanhu, who had large eyes, as he stared at the several work terminals assembled before him. "Most cities have also connected, see, only a few are left."

Han Xuelie looked down and saw a screen displaying a dense list of city names. Most of the city names were in the orange color of the Gluesmith Church, indicating they had connected, while a few remained white, indicating their meeting rooms had not yet joined the network.

"Only six minutes until ten o'clock," Han Xuelie squinted at the clock hanging on the podium. "Not connected yet, did something happen?"

"There are always unexpected events," said Director Yuanhu. "With so many cities and people, how can there be no issues?"

"Hmm." Han Xuelie grunted softly, crossing his arms and reading the names of the few remaining unconnected cities clearly.

Tianqing City... Tansan City... Albun City...

Han Xuelie believed in paying attention to small details. The people attending the meeting had been trained; if they were still dawdling at this point, it indicated poor quality from the city's court!

Fortunately, even the cities Han Xuelie considered "poor quality" successfully connected five minutes before the meeting started.

"Verify the number of attendees."

"The numbers match the list."

"Cross-check."

"Wait a moment..."

Cross-checking involved a judge from another city remotely verifying the participants of this court.

Regardless, even Apostles could not extend their spell ranges across the entire continent. If a Demon Apostle used a Desire Spell to confuse minds and infiltrate the venue, those influenced might not recognize her, but people from another city could not be affected through the screen.

This was not the first time the court had faced Demon Apostles; these measures were well-practiced.

Attendees also had to pass inspections by Holy Knights, Light Mages, or Demon Hunters, all belonging to the Order of the Dragon of Light. Especially Demon Hunters, who were particularly sensitive to corruption, ensuring no followers of evil deities entered.

"Pity, mental influence, if it only alters minor perceptions without causing a loss of humanity, cannot be detected by Demon Hunters..." Han Xuelie sighed as he assisted in checking the faces of attendees from another city, making them hold up their credentials and matching them with photos. "First the Dream God, then the Demon profession, the realm of the mind is truly despicable!"

"Yes," Director Yuanhu agreed. "I heard that since the appearance of the Dream God, sealing memories and desires has become more difficult than before."

This was clearly internal information from the Gluesmith Church, and Han Xuelie was startled.

"Why has it become more difficult?" he asked.

"The mind has gained power, and desire, as a lower authority, has also strengthened. As for memory, it was once an intangible and powerless entity, and the difficulty lay in separating a piece of memory. Now, memory possesses mystical power and even a certain level of activity, requiring suppression before it can be sealed."

Director Yuanhu commented, "The new gods are asserting sovereignty over their domains, turning what was once vague into clear boundaries."

If things continued to develop, perhaps one day, sealing memories and desires would require assistance from Seers of the Mirror Eye.

But how could they seek help from practitioners of evil deities? Such a future made Han Xuelie frown.

He said, "Alright, confirmed."

The dark-skinned centaur clicked to confirm, and the name of the city randomly assigned to him appeared with "Passed" behind it, indicating that no abnormalities were found among the attendees from that city.

On the display screen, more and more cities showed "Passed," and finally, at nine fifty-nine, all cities' attendees passed the inspection.

Director Yuanhu stood up and began connecting according to yesterday's procedure.

Meanwhile, outside the meeting room, Director Ming raised his hand to seal the entire room.

The ritualists already seated in the tiered seats saw orange magical energy flow through the floor and ceiling beneath their feet.

"How long will the conference last?" some of the ritualists who were seeing this for the first time whispered. "What about meals?"

"The seals will be lifted during breaks, and besides, sealers need rest too," another ritualist replied.

The buzzing whispers swirled around everyone's ears like tiny insects. Chixia twitched his ears and looked at Lin beside the podium.

He had drifted off for a moment, awakened by the dimmed lights.

On the large screen in front of the lectern, the host of this conference had already appeared.

It was a Kaleri bull-man of the same race as Director Ming. His clear and precise speech proved he was also a ritualist.

"Greetings to all ritualists and assistants present at this conference," the Kaleri bull-man smiled directly at the camera, speaking fluently. "Welcome to the 96th Conference on Ritual Symbols and Applications. Although I would like to say some clichés about recent developments in ritual studies, due to the special nature of this conference, please forgive my brevity, otherwise the sealers and teleporters might be exhausted..."

Subtle laughter rippled through the meeting room.

If you're worried about exhausting them, why bother with the joke? Han Xuelie thought, using his Blood Knight ability to monitor the blood flow of everyone in the room while clicking on a city's name.

It was Tianqing City, which he considered to have poor quality.

Clicking on Tianqing City's name, he could see the scene captured by the camera in their meeting room. Unconvinced, Han Xuelie checked them again, confirming everything was correct before moving on to Tansan City.

Tansan City was also fine.

The Kaler Cattleman, who was hosting the conference, said, "... introductions complete, next, we will hand over to our first guest, Mr. Lin!"

The camera cut to the meeting room in Spire City.

The blindfolded ritualist took a deep breath and walked up to the podium.

He placed his hand on the lectern, looked at the camera placed among the audience, and spoke into the microphone: "Greetings, esteemed seniors, I am Lin. I have been invited to speak today and am the first to do so because of the paper I published last week in the Journal of Ritual Studies..."

Han Xuelie glanced at the podium, ensuring no one else in the meeting room was approaching Lin.

"Since its publication, many people have asked me questions about this paper. After tallying them up, I found that the main concerns revolve around these points: first, how can a ritual array be reduced to such a small size without affecting its efficacy..."

Satisfied with the safety, Han Xuelie's attention returned to his work terminal, where he opened the name of the next city.

Protein City.

"... Indeed, reducing the size of the ritual array cannot help but affect its effectiveness, so additional measures must be taken with the ritual materials, but how exactly..."

The clear voice of the blindfolded ritualist echoed in his ears as Han Xuelie pulled up the profiles of the attendees from Protein City, comparing the photos with the people present.

No problem... No problem... No problem... This person looks a bit pale...

Muttering to himself, Han Xuelie confirmed there were no issues in Protein City.

Just as he was about to log out, his hand paused on the mouse.

Han Xuelie zoomed in on a particular frame from the live feed. In the image, the pale-faced individual's features were clearly visible.

The tall Horseman bent down, his eyes almost touching the screen as he examined the man.

When he first looked, the man already had a pale complexion, and now, his face had turned a sickly blue.

Something is wrong, Han Xuelie immediately marked him on the work terminal.

In the meeting room in Protein City, the judge responsible for security heard a "beep" and pressed his earpiece.

Before he could finish checking the new message, he heard several more "beeps."

It wasn't just Han Xuelie who had marked the blue-faced individual.

The judge, now tense, looked up at the man, whose face was not only blue but had turned gray. The man turned his head and looked back at him.

Then, the man even gave him a stiff smile, before—

Crack!

A projectile shattered the alchemical spotlight above everyone's heads!

The meeting room suddenly plunged into darkness, with only the large screen at the front still glowing. On the screen, the blindfolded black-haired ritualist continued speaking calmly: "Second, does reducing the symbols significantly lower the error tolerance of the ritual array? Yes, some past ritual arrays used repeated symbols to prevent mistakes by the ritualist, but with this reduced ritual array..."

"Light!"

Several people in the meeting room shouted simultaneously, including ritualists and light mages.

Light flooded the room again, and the man whose face had turned blue and gray was seen lunging forward, grabbing and biting the ritualist in front of him.

"It's a necro-skin!"

"How did it get in?!"

"Is there a funeral guide here?!"

Screams and cries filled the air as chaos erupted in the meeting room in Protein City.

Despite Han Xuelie's warning, the situation had escalated to this point. He clicked his tongue and, learning from the mistake, refocused his attention entirely on the meeting room in Spire City.

But even as he refocused, his mind couldn't help but ponder.

Putting aside how the necro-skin infiltrated the meeting room, why did it break the alchemical spotlight before attacking?

Feeling a sense of foreboding, Han Xuelie turned to Director Yuanhu and said, "Keep an eye on things; I need to interrupt the lecture and conduct another inspection."

Director Yuanhu: "Alright—ah!"

A shadow! A shadow burst from the pocket of a ritualist's robe, rushing toward Lin on the podium as the ritualist's face turned to one of horror!

It emerged from the ritualist's tightly closed wallet. Yes, even the alchemical spotlight couldn't penetrate the darkness inside a sealed wallet.

But how much darkness could fit in a wallet? At most, enough for a finger. How could it possibly accommodate a person?

No, wait! There are those who can enter and exit...

As Han Xuelie rushed toward the shadow, he heard people exclaim in shock, "The King of Shadows!"

It was the Black Sun's divine apostle, the King of Shadows, Heng Ruan'aken!

Han Xuelie couldn't catch up; in the blink of an eye, the shadow reached Lin!

At that moment, the light from the alchemical spotlight formed a barrier, blocking the shadow.

Not only did the light block the shadow, but it also tried to bind it in a prison. Unfortunately, the shadow nimbly evaded.

Simultaneously, several shadow spheres thrown at the alchemical spotlight dissolved in the light.

This confrontation lasted only a moment before the shadow fell to the ground, revealing a human form.

Heng Ruan'aken, fully cloaked in black, glared at the alchemical spotlight and cursed, "Old thief Solomon! Shouldn't you be haunting the East Coast with the headquarters of the Judicature?"

A LionMan, radiating golden light, appeared from the light.

He innocently spread his hands and said, "Yes, my headquarters is currently on the East Coast, chasing after you, who is supposedly there. So, why are you here, Mr. Heng?"