546 The Presen

Like the God of War riding his giant horse of eight legs, the iron ship flew in the air, riding the thunder and the wind, charging forward!

Going through the wild wind and the mist, the ship charged forward. The lightning struck the ship, covering it with a layer of shining light. It was like a sharp saber stabbing into the hurricane.

The ship shook all over in the hurricane. Steel plates peeled off the ship like the scales of a fish. The Keel ballista, charged to its maximum power, reached a super high temperature. The horrible heat was conducted by the mechanical structure to the handle, which became hot as well.

Igor grabbed at the handle, enduring the pain with a wicked smile on his face.

"Hold on, hold on…" Grinding his teeth and staring at the target in front of him, he murmured to himself, "Not yet. Do not rush. Just one moment!"

Boom! The hurricane was pierced through by the ship. Led by the indigo moon, the ship flew over the sky and into the core of the hurricane.

The head of the furious Mountain of Nomadism was so close!

"Hello, b*tch." Igor laughed.

Boom! Super hot sparks immediately shot from the bow of the ship, lighting up the dark night. Horrible power was released from the Keel ballista. The steel arrow, driven by the high pressure, overloaded five times its original capacity, flew forward from the ship. The whistling sound of it seemed to tear up everyone's eardrums.

The modified arrow, disguised as a whale-hunting crossbow arrow, had a heavy chain at its tail. With pale vapor along its path, it pierced through the venom of the Mountain of Nomadism and dashed into its mouth. The monster's teeth were fractured and the flesh in its mouth torn into pieces. The arrow pierced the hard skull of the monster and into its brain.

The sticky venom spread out of its brain. Heated by the arrow, the brain of the monster was boiled into a pot of poisonous soup.

The monster screamed sharply, full of grief. Its mountainous body twitched and the horrible aether waves stopped.

No more wind. The hurricane ceased, and seawater fell from the sky.

With a big splash, the monster fell into the sea with the ship. Under the impact, the ship almost disintegrated. Three musicians of Modifications School spat up blood and struggled to keep the metric intact.

The ship was so broken that it was barely a ship anymore.

"My ship!" No time to feel the happiness of victory, Igor howled with misery, almost in tears. However, the painful shrieking and screaming of the Mountain of Nomadism was still prevalent.

Poisoned by the "Temperance," the Mountain of Nomadism twitched in pain, rolling up and down in the sea. Dragging the iron chain on the arrow, it pulled the iron ship forward.

"Still not dead after that?" Igor was so shocked.

"Only seriously injured." Soaked with the seawater, Ye Qingxuan landed on the ship. Staring at the snake in anguish, he said, "It was the descendent of a catastrophe. It may grow its head back."

The Mountain of Nomadism was totally mad. The wound was in no way fatal to it, and it was soon healed due to its strong life-force as a catastrophe. Yet the "Temperance" poison in the arrow inflicted great pain upon it.

The poison, enough to ruin hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, was boiling in its brain, eroding its bones and poisoning its blood along its spinal column.

The great pain broke it down. The monster rushed wildly, following the ocean's current. The ship was dragged by the snake. Nobody knew where they were heading.

"Make the chain tougher," Ye Qingxuan told the Son of Phoenix. "This is the best present. Don't let it get away."

Present? The Son of Phoenix smiled bitterly. Who do you want to give it to?

Bewildered, the Son of Phoenix followed the order and reinforced the chain. It was easy, compared to the reinforcing the whole ship. Then, under the magic of the Zither, the whole chain became a part of the string of the Zither, forming a heaven ladder.

A straight path was created to the brain of the crazy monster.

There was nothing as good as this for a musician of the School of Mind.

Ye Qingxuan Smiled and pressed his hands on the chain. Then, the remaining music theories from the Hyakume flew into the body of the Mountain of Nomadism. With the help of the poison of "Temperance," the music theories grew wildly in the snake's body.

Nothing was more vicious those music theories, for no catastrophe was comparable to the three pillar gods.

The poison of the Hyakume spread throughout the body of the snake. It devoured the blood and flesh to make itself stronger. Great power was transferred to Ye Qingxuan through the chain. But Ye Qingxuan didn't dare to keep any of this power. He threw it into the Clothes of Original Sin to help the clothing restore its power.

With Hyakume growing, the Mountain of Nomadism became no more than a dead corpse. With its last ounce of strength, it pulled the damaged ship forward without knowing where it was heading.

Finally, it stopped moving.

Its gigantic body floated in the water.

It was dead.

Finally, there was light in the silent lightless sea; it was from some fires. The fires were burning on the rocks like faint stars, lighting up everyone's faces.

In the light, they saw a layer of dark red blood covering the whole sea, continuing to spread. A thick acid smell arose from the blood, and the stench of rotting flesh was in the air.

With the fires, the rocks showed themselves; they were not rocks at all but piles and piles of corpses and bones. Those numerous corpses became fuel for the fires.

Far away from there, the island could be seen. There was a huge and dark castle atop the cliff. On top of the castle, a bright fire was burning. It must have burned a hell lot of corpses to be so bright.

The sailors directed the searchlight to the sea and saw clearly what was in the water.

"Devils! Mr. Ye, those are all devils!" the sailors shouted immediately.

"Yes. I know." Ye Qingxuan nodded. Through his sense of aether, he could feel the monstrous smell in the sea. All the corpses of the devils were incomplete. It was as if they had been shredded by a meat grinder. The corpses were tossed into the sea and became fuel to make fires.

On the deck, Igor was so frightened that he whispered, "Wh-where are we now?"

Ye Qingxuan smiled. "Everyone may get some rest now. This is our destination," he said.

"This is Alderney."

Alderney, a desolate island off the main route. No farm, no output, no minerals, no inhabitants.

Few people knew that this was Maxwell's estate, Keeper of the Seal of Anglo and head of the Fifth Department. Fewer people knew that a batch of people had moved here secretly. They left their homes and settled down here. They built everything they needed from scratch here, waiting to go back home someday. They were what remained of the Religious Court of Inquiry, the last hope of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Sacred City.

The final inquisitors.

…

Knowing where they were, Igor was still at loss for what to do. He looked at Ye Qingxuan and asked, "Shall we give them a signal?"

"No. Just wait." Ye Qingxuan sat on the deck and enjoyed the tea served by the organists. He said with a sigh, "The landlord has come to the door. Shouldn't you renters come out and say hello?"

Then, he sat there leisurely, waiting for the men in the castle to check everything out. On top of the castle, someone stared at Ye Qingxuan for a long while and then vanished.

Pretty soon, the gate was opened.

A middle-aged clergyman came, rowing a little boat. On the boat, there was a storm lantern l to lead the way.

"Follow me." The clergyman turned around, rowing his little boat toward the gate. Igor looked at Ye Qingxuan. Ye Qingxuan waved his hand.

"Just follow him. Don't go the wrong way. The things under the water are really troublesome," Ye Qingxuan said. He looked at both sides of the boat meaningfully. The middle-aged clergyman, obviously surprised, turned to look at him but said nothing.

Along the way, Ye Qingxuan checked out the defensive line and the constructions on the island. He said in amazement, "Congregation for the Doctrine, well done! Always preparing for an expedition to the east. Just one month and you've already turned this island into a fortress?"

The ship went into the harbor and the gate closed with a huge boom. In the secret harbor inside the cliff, a man went down the staircases and saluted Ye Qingxuan. "Please follow me. Bishop Carroll is waiting for you."