However, High Priest Poer obviously had his own opinion on this matter, and he unconcernedly said, “Zumar, your worries are completely uncalled-for. Are those forces of the Breezy Plains really willing to submit to the Tower of Dusk? The reason that they did is only because no one else can go against Felic. If Felic died, those forces would definitely flock to the Gilded Kingdom immediately.”
Upon hearing his words, Elder Zumar couldn’t help but smile bitterly. If Felic could be killed easily, there would be no need to make things so complicated. Everything would be much simpler. They could just send the Gilded Kingdom’s troops, and make the entire Breezy Plains a territory of the Gilded Kingdom.
“However, as you know, Felic’s identity is beyond just the president of the Tower of Dusk, he’s now also the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council. Have you never thought that the three arbitrators of the Supreme Council would definitely hold it against us if anything happened to Felic!?” Seeing how stubborn Poer was, Elder Zumar got a little anxious.
Although the Gilded Kingdom was a maritime kingdom, and belonged to a world that was almost independent of the mainland of Anril, it didn’t mean that they knew nothing about Anril. In particular, the Supreme Council was beyond just a powerful force on the mainland, and even to the Gilded Kingdom, it was still a massive authority that was above all factions.
If something happened to the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council, the consequences would be far greater than just a war breaking out between the Gilded Kingdom and the Breezy Plains. There would also be a war between the Illuminati and the Supreme Council. Given the superiority of the Supreme Council and the Illuminati, a war between them would definitely leave a massive impact on the entire world, which would perhaps be as great as that of the war at the end of the Dark Age.
However, after Elder Zumar mentioned the Supreme Council too, High Priest Poer remained silent with a smile. He didn’t oppose, nor did he express the slightest agreement with Elder Zumar’s words.
High Priest Poer’s reaction made Elder Zumar shiver uncontrollably as he had a vague feeling that there seemed to be some sinister intentions behind the smile of his old friend.
Seeing how indifferent and unresponsive High Priest Poer was towards his active persuasion, Elder Zumar had no choice but to shake his head helplessly and sigh. Besides, due to the conversation between the two of them, the ambiance in the pilothouse became a little somber. Elder Zumar stood up and turned to face the mysterious man in the black robe who was seated. He then said in a respectful tone, “Saint Edmund, we’re going to enter the stormy sea region soon, I’ll go out to patrol.”
Although Elder Zumar said that he was going out for a patrol, he actually just wanted to go out for a breather. Since he couldn’t persuade High Priest Poer no matter how hard he tried, he had no choice but to ignore it by choosing not to see it lest he was overwhelmed with worry.
The black-robed man who was addressed as Saint Edmund did not make any response ever since Elder Zumar began to argue with High Priest Poer. At this juncture, he simply assented arrogantly after hearing Elder Zumar’s words.
However, in the face of such a response, Elder Zumar didn’t seem displeased at all. He simply bowed respectfully before slowly leaving the pilothouse that felt oppressive.
High Priest Poer was not in the least bit surprised to see this scene. In the entire Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati, there were only a few who could make Elder Zumar put on such a respectful and deferential attitude. The black-robed man known as the saint Edmund was one of them.
There were four main sanctuaries in the Illuminati, namely the War Sanctuary, Life Sanctuary, Guardian Sanctuary, and the Chaos Sanctuary, each of which had different responsibilities. The War Sanctuary fought on behalf of the Illuminati, and its existence was the reason that the Gilded Kingdom could survive in the Endless Ocean where the High Elves and Sea Clan were present.
The duties of the Life Sanctuary was to treat those who were ill and rescue lives. At the same time, they also had to spread the doctrine, just like the priests of the Brilliance Shrine. Using some healing theurgy, they healed and alleviated the illnesses of people while turning them into their fellow devotees.
The Guardian Sanctuary was similar to the Court of Heresy of the Brilliance Shrine, and was in charge of maintaining the prestige and authority of the Illuminati by sanctioning the heretics who defiled the Illuminati externally. They also monitored the internal sector of the Illuminati. The Guardian Sanctuary could be considered the one with the highest authority among the Illuminati, with the members of the other three sanctuaries within its scope of supervision.
Among the four main sanctuaries, the one that carried the most responsibilities was the Chaos Sanctuary. The operation of a large force required plenty of processes and matters to be done, which was far beyond what the three major sanctuaries could fulfill. The most basic and mandatory requirements would be money and all sorts of resources that were needed for sustenance. Even a top force like the Illuminati required basic necessities.
One of the functions of the Chaos Sanctuary was to obtain various resources for the Illuminati to maintain a healthy operation. Besides, the Chaos Sanctuary was also in charge of research on potions, inscription, and alchemy and recruiting talents in all fields for the Illuminati.
However, this was only one part of the many functions of the Chaos Sanctuary, and some of the other duties were not made known to the public, such as doing some sordid things for the Illuminati. After all, a great force would still have to send some underlings to do the dirty deeds.
The leaders of the four sanctuaries were revered as saints whose status in the Illuminati was second only to the pope’s. At this moment, the black-robed man who seemed mysterious and was seated in the pilothouse of the Sea Demons was Saint Edmund, the leader of the Chaos Sanctuary.
Saint Edmund was a senior member of the Illuminati who had reached the Sanctuary-realm during the Dark Age. Using the entry to the Sanctuary-realm as a standard, Edmund was probably superior to Apophis and the three arbitrators of the Supreme Council.
The time of entry to the Sanctuary-realm could not necessarily be used as a measure of the strength of the Sanctuary powerhouses. Otherwise, the Illuminati would have probably already developed to the point of expanding in Anril. However, as he was one of the four saints of the Illuminati, Edmund’s strength was naturally not to be underestimated. Even if he hadn’t reached the peak of the Sanctuary-realm, he probably wasn’t far off.
Although High Priest Poer belonged to the Gilded Kingdom, and did not have any affiliation to the Illuminati, he could not help but be cautious in the face of Saint Edmund. When he was arguing with Elder Zumar just now, he was afraid that Edmund would interject. If Edmund told him to forgo the matter, he really wouldn’t dare to say anything.
However, Edmund did not make any comments on this matter until Elder Zumar left the pilothouse. Thus, High Priest Poer heaved a sigh of relief.
Elder Zumar, who had left the pilothouse, was now standing alone on the deck of the ship, looking around the boundless and vast sea. Deep down, he was still feeling vexed. Even though High Priest Poer seemed confident in front of Zumar, the latter did not think highly of this old friend.
However, Elder Zumar knew that it would be pointless to dwell on this matter as the most important thing that he had to do now was to complete the task of exploring the ominous island. However, he would never have imagined at this time that the young man he was wary of was headed for the same goal as him thousands of nautical miles away.
The Star was traveling at a speed that was disproportionate to its massive size, crashing through the waves and sailing towards the depths of the ocean. In the pilothouse of The Star, Lin Li was frowning while looking at the massive map hanging on the wall. The pirates who had dominated the seas, Julio and Jack, were now standing behind him with some anxiousness while staring at the nautical map.
There were now a few new annotations on the spot on the map where the Ominous Land was. In fact, The Star had already completely deviated from the predetermined course, and if The Star‘s trajectory was marked on the map, it would become a large circle around that area of the sea.
Initially, the goal of The Star was very clear, and that was to follow the course to the destination mapped out by Julio. However, what Lin Li and Julio did not expect was that when The Star reached the destination, it was still surrounded by a boundless ocean, and there was no island in sight.
In the beginning, Julio thought that he had made a mistake in his calculations, and tried to recall the course they had traveled for a long time. Although he had found some errors, they still couldn’t find the island after rectifying the mistakes. Julio and Jack could no longer calm down at this point, for they feared that Lin Li would think they were intentionally hiding something.
Julio and Jack had a rich experience with Lin Li’s methods. When there was chaos in the Helena Port previously, the two of them were on The Star, and witnessed the course of the entire battle. Lin Li, the young president of the Tower of Dusk, could have wiped out the Fifth Fleet of the Gilded Kingdom easily. If the two of them tried to deceive him, the consequences would definitely be unbearable.
However, Lin Li did not blame Julio, but after circling around the sea, he frowned and scrutinized the nautical map carefully, as if he was trying to find some clues. He could sense that there was no reason for Julio to deceive him, and his previous projections were not too far off.
In addition to the location that Julio mentioned, Lin Li also drove The Star to the legendary island in the Gilded Kingdom where it was located. However, his efforts were proven futile. Since they still couldn’t find a trace of the island according to those rules, the problem probably lay with the island.
The island couldn’t have run away on its own! Although, logically speaking, the idea seemed to be a bit absurd, Lin Li had no choice but to start considering that issue seriously.
There was no reason for such a large island to suddenly go missing, and even if there were deviations in the legends that had been passed on for thousands of years, Julio who had traversed the seas for years couldn’t have remembered wrongly. Besides, in addition to these two clues, Lin Li actually searched for the place where the island should appear in the other world according to his memories, only to realize that there was still nothing.
Looking at the nautical map carefully, Lin Li suddenly remembered that when he was chasing after the Immortal King in that world, he saw that the Immortal King had chosen seven small islands to build the tower with the Void Spirit Mageweath.
Following the information in his memory, Lin Li marked the location of the seven islands on the nautical map. Actually, he had never understood why the Immortal King would choose those islands, because based on the distribution of those islands, there seemed to be no connection between them. However, he also felt that the Immortal King wouldn’t have randomly chosen those seven islands, because there was no reason to.
Firstly, Lin Li suspected that those seven islands might have formed a Magic Array or a mageweath or something like that. However, be it a Magic Array or a mageweath, or even an Alchemy Array, the magic nodes had to be connected with a magic circuit in order to exert its effects.
However, the seven islands seemed to be independent existences in the vast ocean.
Could it be that there is some magic circuit under the surface of the sea? Lin Li compared all the mageweath arrays, Magic Arrays, and Alchemy Arrays that he knew of with the map, only to realize that none of them fitted.
Of course, Lin Li had gained something out of it too. At least he could be certain that if the seven islands really formed something, it would be something that was beyond his knowledge as a Guru of all fields.
However, Lin Li did not give up. While Julio and the rest looked at him in bewilderment, he grabbed a pen, and continued to draw on the nautical map. His sketches were actually very simple as he merely connected the seven small islands with straight lines one by one. In his opinion, no matter what the seven islands could constitute, there had to be an invisible connection between them. Although it might not be accurate, it would be more intuitive.
As Lin Li continuously drew connections, a bizarre pattern which looked like an irregular polygon soon appeared on the nautical map. However, he didn’t stop at that, and continued to use lines to connect the non-adjacent islands again.
Lin Li suddenly paused as he discovered that the location of the island that Jeremiah had found out about was at the intersection of the connecting lines, perhaps by coincidence or something. Lin Li instantly perked up.
