Twenty minutes later, Mo Tan led the seemingly dazed and vacant-eyed Wen Qiu, who appeared to be in a sage-like state, and Yu Cheng, who was blushing throughout, to the Holy Church United Chapel in Hofur City.
The fifty Holy Knights followed closely behind the three, creating a scene that resembled a leader on an inspection tour.
"This is far enough, Mr. Tairo, please let everyone get busy," Yu Cheng whispered to the bearded Holy Knight leading the group as they reached their destination.
"There are still many people in the city who need help; you don't have to look after me so much."
However, Tairo, the Holy Knight, hesitated.
After all, he had been instructed to 'keep a close eye on the little Holy Maiden no matter what,' so leaving with his team now seemed inappropriate.
But Holy Maiden Wang Yu's words also made sense; in the current situation, there were indeed many people who had gathered in the city and needed help...
Although this area, as the core of the Plague, had been a dead zone for some time, since the two Holy Maidens and hundreds of Holy Knights took up residence in Hofur City, refugees had continuously sought shelter or returned here.
In just a few days, a considerable number of people had gathered in this rather large city.
Besides a few lucky ones who had not been infected by the Plague, there were also many sufferers who had been infected to varying degrees, all of whom needed different levels of help and support.
"But Holy Maiden Xia Lian instructed us earlier..." Tairo awkwardly rubbed his hands, lowering his head to avoid the girl's clear, bright eyes, and hesitated, "She told us to watch over you."
Yu Cheng immediately shrank her neck and whispered, "I won't sneak out again, mm, I promise the Goddess!"
"Huh? Why are you promising me... Oh, my hand..."
A faint voice suddenly echoed in her mind, startling the little girl.
Tairo, however, naturally knew nothing of this.
Seeing that the other party had even invoked the Goddess, he could only helplessly turn and wave his hand, "You are dismissed.
Old rules: prioritize helping the severely infected commoners, and gather them in the purification zone as much as possible to await Holy Maiden Xia Lian's treatment.
Gods bless."
"Gods bless."
The Holy Knights, originating from different sects, responded in unison and then dispersed in an orderly fashion.
Knight Tairo then turned to Yu Cheng with a serious expression and said in a deep voice, "At least let me stay by your side... Hm?"
Whoosh!
A slender, long cross suddenly gently 'rested' on Holy Knight Tairo's shoulder.
Bang!!
The exceptionally robust man's face instantly turned pale, and the floor tiles beneath his feet immediately developed numerous cracks.
"Can't you be a little more observant!"
A crisp, pleasant, yet unrestrained voice sounded behind him, "She finally met an old acquaintance... an old friend.
Can't you be less rigid?"
"Who is this sister? Such speed, such strength!"
Mo Tan, who had been silent, couldn't help but inwardly marvel.
He felt that this elven woman who had suddenly appeared was clearly no ordinary person.
Leaving aside everything else, the slender cross, which looked like a staff, seemed to be crushing Tairo to death at this moment.
"Holy Maiden Xia Lian!" Tairo stiffly turned his head, resisting the terrifying, mountain-like weight on his shoulder with all his might, and stammered, "Didn't you tell me... Uh!"
His legs had already started to tremble.
"Times have changed; you Holy Knights just don't know how to adapt." Xia Lian rolled her eyes ungracefully, then casually hung the cross of unknown material on her back, and said with a smile, "Alright, I'm back anyway, so you can go get busy yourself."
Tairo immediately saluted without a word and quickly ran off.
"Holy Maiden~" Yu Cheng took small steps to Xia Lian, who was dressed in commoner clothes, and greeted her obediently, "Why are you dressed like this?"
The latter shrugged, "Everyone wants to be saved quickly.
If I hadn't changed clothes, I wouldn't have been able to come back.
But you, girl, why didn't you tell me your friend was coming?"
Yu Cheng shrank her neck, "I wanted to say something this morning, but Holy Maiden, you have morning temper..."
Xia Lian immediately awkwardly tugged at her long ears, chuckled, and then changed the subject, grinning at Mo Tan, "So you're our Wang Yu's old friend, huh?"
"Hello, Holy Maiden, my name is Black Vatican." Mo Tan, finally having a chance to speak, quickly bowed to the important figure before him and nodded, "Wang Yu and I are... uh, from the same hometown."
Wen Qiu also finally recovered from the previous excitement.
The little girl first curiously sized up the new older sister who had appeared before her, and then, as if relieved, exclaimed, "Great, this sister's chest isn't that big!"
Yu Cheng: Σ(°△°|||)
Mo Tan: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
Xia Lian: "..."
Wen Qiu also seemed to realize she had said something wrong and immediately blinked her eyes as if it had nothing to do with her, trying to whistle... but no sound came out...
However, Xia Lian's psychological resilience seemed quite good.
After a moment of silence, she half-squatted in front of Wen Qiu and said earnestly, "Little girl! The Goddess is fair to everyone.
There's nothing to envy about not being able to see your feet when you look down.
Think about it, at least we can sleep on our stomachs whenever we want..."
"Holy Maiden!" Yu Cheng exclaimed, blushing, and then pulled Xia Lian's sleeve hard, "Don't talk about such things anymore!"
"Alright." Xia Lian pouted, then stood up and patted Mo Tan's shoulder casually, asking with an unusually serious expression, "Boy, are you our Wang Yu's sweetheart?"
Mo Tan instantly froze and quickly shook his head, "No!"
"Holy Maiden!!" Yu Cheng was almost in tears.
Xia Lian, however, looked at Mo Tan with great suspicion, "Then why does Wang Yu keep mentioning you to me?"
"Did I?!"
Yu Cheng was surprised.
She remembered that she hadn't mentioned Mo Tan to Xia Lian many times; on the contrary, the other party had become unusually enthusiastic after learning that she had an old friend coming this way.
"For Goddess's sake..." The girl stomped her feet, her face flushed, pleading with her Holy Maiden, who was both a teacher and a friend, kind-hearted, cheerful, and incredibly gossipy, "Please stop overthinking!"
Mo Tan also smiled wryly, "I just heard that the Plague here is quite serious, so I wanted to come and help."
"Tsk tsk, it seems you two really aren't that kind of relationship." Xia Lian's shoulders drooped slightly in disappointment, then she seriously examined Mo Tan with her eyes, which suddenly filled with a hazy glimmer, and shook her head, "Your level is too low; you can't be of much help."
Mo Tan merely spread his hands, his expression unchanged, "I'll try my best to do what I can..."
"Wait a minute!"
Xia Lian suddenly widened her eyes and asked very seriously, "Do you know Discipline Priest Divine Arts?"
Mo Tan was stunned for a moment, then remembered his Law Decree Shield, and nodded indifferently, "A little."
"Is that so." Xia Lian frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, then turned to Yu Cheng and said, "Wang Yu, you take this little girl and settle her in, have someone wash her up or whatever.
I have something I want to talk about with your fellow townsman for a bit.
You two can catch up later."
Yu Cheng tilted her head curiously but didn't ask further.
She just took Wen Qiu's small hand and smiled at Mo Tan, "Then you two talk first; I'll take little Wen Qiu inside."
With that, she pulled the girl and walked into the chapel, leaving only Mo Tan and Xia Lian at the entrance.
A moment later...
"Is there something, Holy Maiden?" Mo Tan broke the silence first.
He looked at the Goddess before him, who seemed to be spacing out, with some confusion.
Although he wasn't worried about what this important figure, whom he was meeting for the first time, might do to him, he was curious as to why she wanted to talk to him alone.
Xia Lian looked up, her expression quite puzzled, and after carefully examining Mo Tan for a while, she slowly spoke, "First, use a Law Decree Divine Art."
Mo Tan didn't ask further and obediently raised the cross in his hand, using a Law Decree Shield on Xia Lian.
"Hm, that's really weak." Xia Lian felt the faint divine power around her, commented casually, then smiled slightly at Mo Tan, "No offense, you continue."
The latter blinked, "That's it."
"That's it?"
"Yes, I only know this one Law Decree Divine Art."
"Huh?" Xia Lian looked particularly surprised.
She was stunned for a while before asking, "Then where did you learn this?"
Mo Tan hesitated for a moment, then finally took out a stack of somewhat yellowed papers from his satchel and handed them over, "I learned it from here."
That's right, this stack of items was the special item he had obtained earlier in the small chapel in Dieyan City—Niewa · Fao's manuscript.
Its purpose was simple: to give him a class change quest and teach him the Law Decree Shield spell.
Although Mo Tan had grown quite a bit during this time, the quest to obtain the Discipline Priest profession had not been completed.
However, since he had already accepted the class change quest, it didn't matter if he showed the manuscript to Xia Lian.
Moreover, Mo Tan didn't believe that a Holy Maiden of the Dawn Sect would snatch this thing away.
"This is Niewa · Fao's manuscript..." Xia Lian looked down and immediately accurately stated the item's name, which surprised Mo Tan a little.
NPCs couldn't see item data, so if this Holy Maiden could recognize it immediately, did that mean...
"I'm going to get rich?!"
Mo Tan couldn't help but think.
"Here, take it back." Xia Lian, however, didn't notice what Mo Tan was pondering.
She simply handed the item back to him and said with a smile, "Keep this broken thing safe."
Mo Tan: "..."
He knew he had definitely overthought it just now.
And Xia Lian, after Mo Tan put the manuscript away, chuckled and twisted the knife, "Who gave you this scamming thing?"
"It was an old priest." Mo Tan's mouth twitched slightly.
He couldn't help but ask nervously, "Why do you say it's a scamming thing?"
Xia Lian shrugged, "Do you know Holy Word?"
Mo Tan shook his head.
"Alright, rookie~" Xia Lian shook her head helplessly and quietly explained to Mo Tan, "Holy Word is a very widely used divine art, a skill that most High-Rank and mid-rank clergy must master.
It has excellent effects in any situation, performing well in healing, defense, buffing, crowd control, and attack, and it consumes very little of the caster's own energy."
Mo Tan nodded, "I see, but what does this have to do with this manuscript...?"
"It does." Xia Lian smiled very happily and said cheerfully, "After learning what's in this manuscript, you'll never be able to use Holy Word in your life."
Mo Tan instantly froze, "Huh?"
"That's right, Law Decree Divine Arts and Holy Word are not compatible." Xia Lian fiddled with her long ears and said leisurely, "Once you learn one, you absolutely cannot master the other.
And in the eyes of most people who aren't crazy, Holy Word is far superior to Law Decree Divine Art."
"How so?" Mo Tan quickly asked, "What's the difference?"
"The power of Holy Word comes from faith.
Strictly speaking, it's the caster speaking 'Holy Word' in the name of God, like this~" Xia Lian said, suddenly extending a hand and pointing at a wild flower not far away, whispering, "In the name of the Goddess, the light of grace shall protect you."
As soon as she finished speaking, a 'shell' emitting a dazzling halo appeared around the wild flower.
Although it was only a thin layer, for some reason, it gave Mo Tan a feeling of 'indestructibility'.
"Is this Holy Word?" he asked subconsciously.
"That's right." Xia Lian nodded and shrugged, "It has power that other divine arts or spells of the same type can hardly match, but the consumption for the caster is almost zero.
As long as you are devout enough, you can use it, and the threshold isn't high.
How about it, pretty good, right?"
Not just good, but quite good!
"What about Law Decree Divine Art?" Mo Tan asked nervously.
"Law Decree Divine Arts and Holy Word have similarities, but their power comes from the caster themselves, so the consumption is not low.
And because there are no Discipline Priests in the church anymore, even if you want to learn more, there's nowhere to learn them." Xia Lian made a face, looking a bit gleeful, "In terms of power, it doesn't seem to be that great either, after all, human power cannot compare to God's."
Mo Tan smiled wryly, "So because I learned Law Decree, I'm destined to never use Holy Word in this life, is that right?"
"Yes~" Xia Lian smiled very brightly.
"Does Law Decree Divine Art have any advantages?"
"Maybe, but I'm not too sure about the specifics, so I can't tell you."
"Uh..."
"Alright, I've said everything I needed to say.
I still have things to do.
You go catch up with Wang Yu."
"..."
Ten minutes later
Chapel, Prayer Room
Xia Lian, having finished her prayer, slowly stood up from before the Goddess statue and suddenly let out a sigh of melancholy.
She recalled a small-scale holy war from three hundred years ago.
It was unimaginable that such a powerful false god would also panic and tremble.
Just a casual remark...
And it was instantly shattered, body and soul destroyed.
Chapter 155: End