Zhen Jin and Zi Di successfully entered the highest floor of the control hub.
“Lord Priest, what happened?!” Seeing Jia Sha again, Zhen Jin barely believed his eyes.
Jia Sha was old and gray haired, he looked thin, and had eye bags, compared to when the four guardian templar knights brought up the divine artifacts, his body looked worse and more concerning.
Zi Di’s heart jumped, she suddenly realized: Jia Sha was squeezing too much divine power from his body!
Chaplains and priests relied on prayer to be imbued. The more pious and higher rank a clergy was, the more divine power they received.
Divine power poured into the body and transformed the clergy at all times, increasing their body and cultivation.
However, the number of prayers per day was fixed.
Normally, one would pray to Emperor Sheng Ming three times a day. Once in the morning, once at noon, and once at night.
The amount of divine power Jia Sha received each day was finite.
To invade the control hub, the divine power stored in his body and from prayer was not enough, thus he could only squeeze it from his body.
“It is very clear Jia Sha is sacrificing his potential, his aptitude has been greatly damaged and even his life energy has been exchanged for more divine power!”
Zi Di analyzed Jia Sha’s obsession over contribution internally, and suddenly understood something!
He paid a great price, too great in fact, even if he escaped this place with his life, he’d be a cripple (of course the aptitude of sect clergy took precedence) and would only live for two to three more years.
If possible, Jia Sha would have never risked it all.
But there was no other way!
Low level magic and battle qi was prohibited here, he could not count on others, he could only push up. If he didn’t push up, he wouldn’t escape, and if he couldn’t escape, he would die. In front of death, what is there to say about aptitude, lifespan, and the future?
As an intruder, he couldn’t use the spirit, he could only access the control hub tower. He had to attach divine power to the spirit, by the divine power’s powerful erosion, his spirit in the tower stepped towards victory and routed the tower spirit’s control, allowing him to wrest control of its scope of authority.
Why did Jia Sha thirst for the divine artifacts?
Because there was only one road ahead of him, he had to exchange the divine artifacts for contribution and use it with the sect and even gods to redeem his prospects.
If not, without heavenly contribution, even if he survived, he would be a cripple, a life worse than death!
Facing Zhen Jin’s bewildered gaze, Jia Sha closed his lips, he merely glanced at Zhen Jin and didn’t reply, nothing could distract him.
Suddenly, he heard a loud roar.
After a moment, a blue light appeared on the fourth floor.
Soon after, the blue light spread to form an oval door of light.
A teleportation door!
Regardless of whether it was Zhen Jin or the guardian templar knights, all of them happily looked at it.
“Hahaha!” Jia Sha laughed heartily, but quickly, because of his weak body, he fiercely coughed.
“Lord Priest, you succeeded! We can leave now; hurry let’s leave this place! Zhen Jin impatiently urged.
“Don’t worry, I already plundered half of the tower spirit’s teleportation privileges, this teleportation door is under my control, it is very stable, the tower spirit cannot interfere with it. Now……I am the one who says who goes first and last.” Saying this, Jia Sha deeply gazed at Zhen Jin.
Zhen Jin’s heart thumped, then he forced a laugh: “Of course Lord Priest, you are our leader aren't you?
Zi Di was pale.
Jia Sha no longer looked at Zhen Jin, rather he ordered the guardian templar knights: “The Green Jade Golden Coffin will be teleported first.”
“Yes my Lord!”
The four guardian templar knights lifted the Green Jade Golden Coffin through the teleportation door, completely bringing it to the other side.
As the divine artifact was teleported, the teleportation door violently fluctuated for a bit before stabilizing again.
As for where the divine artifact went, no one knew besides Jia Sha.
Jia Sha’s investment was valuable, he controlled teleportation door privileges and firmly held the initiative in this situation.
“Very good, very good.” Jia Sha exposed a smile; his original nervousness had alleviated by a lot.
Sending off the Green Jade Golden Coffin had consumed a great amount of magic power.
But there was still some magic power remaining.
Enough for another divine artifact, Jia Sha, and a small number of people.
“Now, send off the Mermaid Fairy Tale.” Jia Sha ordered.
Just as the guardian templar knights acted, the tower spirit’s voice suddenly came through: “Warning, warning!”
“Detecting loss of teleportation privileges, 55, 56, 58, 59, 61……”
“Teleportation gate has just opened, the artificial magic beast alchemy core module has been lost, attempting to shut it……”
“Unable to close the teleportation door.”
“Warning, warning. 65% of teleportation privileges lost. Tower spirit is unable to resist, currently losing, currently losing.”
Everyone was nervous for a spell, but quickly relaxed.
“Hahaha.” Jia Sha laughed again, “A false alarm, victory is already in my grasp!”
But at that moment, everyone heard the tower spirit say: “Tower spirit requests aid, requesting assistance.”
“No feedback from requested target.”
“68”
“Warning, 68% of teleportation privileges have been lost.”
“No response to requests.”
“Starting an emergency distress call, searching for external assistance.”
“Beginning detection privileges.”
“Scanning for those with level ten privileges……none.”
“Scanning for those with level eleven privileges……none.”
……
“Ding, sensing one with level eighteen privileges——Miss Zi Di.”
“The mystifying alchemy factory tower spirit requests your aid; it hopes you can lend a helping hand.”
“Your contribution will be recorded. Based on your contribution, you will obtain a corresponding reward from the tower spirit. You will receive a good impression and friendship from the alchemy factory master. From now on, you will get a discount on everything you purchase from this factory.”
“May I ask whether you accept this call for help?”
Under everyone’s dumbstruck gaze, Zi Di quickly responded and replied: “Yes!”
Magic light sprinkled, forming a formation contract in the air.
After a moment, the formation concentrated and landed on Zi Di’s forehead, forming a magic formation tattoo.
The tower spirit said: “Contract established.”
“Please aid the tower spirit Miss Zi Di, defeat the intruder and seize the control privileges again. Priority targets are as follows: teleportation privileges are first, weather privileges are second, artificial magic beast privileges are third……”
“No!” Jia Sha madly roared, he raged violently as he suffered Zi Di’s attacks.
The attacks were relentless, with vengeful snarls, the privileges Jia Sha had obtained with great difficulty were being quickly lost.
The Blood Light Punishment Institution and War Merchant ended in mutual destruction, during that bitter struggle the tower spirit was heavily damaged, it was in a terrible state.
As the control hub brain, it couldn’t control the alchemy factory, most of the time it was forcibly dormant, or else it would have been completely destroyed.
As a result, as a silver level priest corroded the control hub, the tower spirit couldn’t resist.
During the contest over authority, Jia Sha was successful in every endeavor. The true restriction was the silver level priest’s divine power. Through divine power, he could invade the control hub.
In the mental fight over authority, divine force was a carrier of the mind.
However, the current situation was different.
After Zi Di agreed to help, her spirit was accepted by the entire control hub.
She was a magician that hadn’t used any magic; thus, she was in good condition. Although she only had iron level cultivation, her spirit exceeded that of an ordinary person.
Jia Sha was a priest, he had risked his life up until now, and was already a spent force. He resisted, his spirit had to attach to the control hub and erode it.
The conclusion of this contest was obvious, with Zi Di’s new strength and masterful spirit usage, Jia Sha’s spirit retreated again and again.
Not long after, the teleportation gate closed.
Zi Di didn’t close it, rather Jia Sha did it at his own accord.
If he didn’t close it, Zi Di could learn where the teleportation door led to.
“How can you have authority? You’ve been here!” Jia Sha tenaciously glared at Zi Di.
Zhen Jin also looked at Zi Di, stupefied.
Zi Di didn’t fear Jia Sha’s glare, then she glazed at Zhen Jin and sneered: “So Lord Zhen Jin, where do you think the body double came from?”
“An insignificant iron level magician!” Jia Sha’s heart was furious, arousing his full strength. However, he had reached his limit, even if he summoned all of remaining energy, he wasn’t Zi Di’s opponent.
“Do you know what you're doing?! Do you want to betray the empire? Zhen Jin, do you want to betray your convictions? Do you want to become a depraved knight?” Jia Sha asked.
Zi Di gently laughed: “Lord Priest, please don’t say such frightening things. We would never betray the empire; you also don’t need to unjustly accuse Lord Zhen Jin of betraying his convictions. We have no intention of being enemies, we only want to have a proper conversation.”
Jia Sha gnashed his teeth.
He really wanted to order the four guardian templar knights to kill Zi Di. But crucially, Zhen Jin was in front of Zi Di, Zi Di already saw through the situation and treated the templar knight as her protective talisman.
This skillful arrangement was truly unfavorable, and Jia Sha didn’t dare to give the order.
Feeling a slight dizziness in his mind, Jia Sha knew it was pure anger! But he couldn't do anything but calm himself.
“What do you want to speak about?” Jia Sha asked.
“Let's discuss contribution! Zi Di immediately responded, “During the whole journey, your Lordship Priest has the biggest, this we recognize. But can our contribution be negated?”
Zhen Jin reacted after and immediately added words with an attitude that clearly favored Zi Di.
Now was not the time to investigate Zi Di’s secret connection with War Merchant.
“I never wanted to negate your contribution!” Jia Sha gloomily said as he sweat.
“Then may I ask, where was the Green Jade Golden Coffin teleported to?” Zi Di’s voice was sharper than Silver Lightning.
Jia Sha coldly snorted and was exceedingly resentful: “Do you believe I would easily say that?”
Zi Di sneered: “But we also contributed to the acquisition of the Green Jade Golden Coffin. Lord Priest, you just said that you wouldn’t negate our meritorious services and contribution, but your actions don’t match your words.”
“If I didn’t receive the tower spirit's approval by a fluke, Priest Jia Sha, did you want to abandon us?”
Jia Sha’s head was faintly sore, he didn’t expect Zi Di’s sharpness and unreasonableness.
He shook his head, then spat, his complexion had calmed down: “Discussing this now is unnecessary! Even if I explained it better, with your lack of trust, you wouldn’t believe me. It’s like how I don’t believe you, thus I’m not saying where the Green Jade Golden Coffin was teleported to.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Zi Di smiled. “Wait until my spirit completely defeats you, after I grasp all teleportation privileges, I can check where it was teleported to!”
Jia Sha immediately turned pale.
If he controlled all of the teleportation privileges, he could remove the teleportation records. But his teleportation authority never reached 100%.
“Haha, Zi Di, beautiful work!” Zhen Jin laughed heartily.
“Perhaps we can make a transaction.” Zi Di said, her tone also became gentle, “We won’t force you priest, and we admit, your contribution is greater than ours. We only want to protect ourselves.”
“What do you want in the end? Say it now!” Jia Sha was extremely jittery, with no way out, Jia Sha could only compromise under Zi Di’s pressure.
Zi Di gazed serenely: “It’s very simple, I only want your Lordship Priest to use a resurrection spell to immediately revive Zhen Jin’s body double.”
“What??!!” Zhen Jin was stunned, he turned around and angrily glared at his fiancé.
Notes
In the end, it all comes down to benefits, who would have thought. Zi Di has always been a strange character, she loves the MC and hates Zhen Jin for obvious reasons, yet she never attempts to pit them against each other. Looks like the MC was a special thing purchased by Zi Di from War Merchant, sorta explains how he managed to get a bloodcore...I guess?