214: The Church's Big Plan

Inside the Formation, it was already Hell on earth.

Father Leo and his subordinates were in despair.

From all directions, there were endless black mist Howlers.

These monsters were tireless, unafraid of death, and launched wave after wave of attacks against them with reckless abandon.

Above the sky, the aggregated Howler, like a cruel monarch, overlooked its army besieging its prey.

It occasionally extended a giant black mist claw, and each attack sent the Church team scrambling, putting them in perilous situations.

“Father! We can’t hold on much longer!” A Judgment Knights’s left arm was gashed by a Howler’s bone spear, and black Death Qi spread along the wound, leaving his entire arm numb.

“Damn it! That demoness’s illusion Formation is too bizarre!” Another Knight frantically swung his heavy sword, shattering three pouncing Howlers, but more Howlers emerged from the black mist.

They were like people caught in quicksand; the more they struggled, the deeper they sank.

Father Leo’s face was already extremely grim.

His clergyman’s robe was long since stained beyond recognition by blood and mud, and the wound on his back throbbed with intense pain under the erosion of Death Qi.

“Hold on, all of you!” he roared hoarsely, his voice trembling uncontrollably, “Other branches will soon discover the abnormality here!”

“Reinforcements… reinforcements will be here soon!”

He didn’t even believe these words himself.

A considerable amount of time had passed since the battle began; if there were truly reinforcements, they should have arrived long ago.

The only possibility was that the demoness’s Formation not only trapped them but also isolated all aura and distress signals from this place.

They had been forgotten by the world.

…

Inside a room on the second floor of the Black Crow Town Inn.

Mo Yan sat leisurely in a chair by the window.

On the ground, One-Eyed Dragon slowly regained consciousness.

He shook his groggy head, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a young face.

It was the wealthy merchant he had taken for a fat sheep.

And behind him, the silver-haired woman watched him with a half-smile.

One-Eyed Dragon jolted, becoming fully awake.

He instinctively reached for the weapon at his waist but found himself bound tightly, unable to move.

“Awake?” Mo Yan’s voice was flat, betraying no emotion.

He shifted into a more comfortable sitting position and asked, “What is your mission?”

One-Eyed Dragon’s heart sank, knowing he couldn’t avoid this.

He dared not conceal anything and spilled all the details.

“Sir, we are just a group of mercenaries who work for money. The Church issues tasks every month, sending us to Black Crow Town or other towns to help clean up some… goods.”

“What goods?”

“It’s those things outside, we call them Howlers.” One-Eyed Dragon swallowed, continuing, “The Church provides Soul Guiding Lamps and Soul-binding Chainss, we are responsible for capturing, and then handing over the collected Souls to Father Leo.”

“As for what they do with these Souls, we truly don’t know, and we dare not ask!”

He was likely telling the truth; to the Church, people like them were just tools to be discarded once used, not qualified to know core secrets.

Mo Yan pointed out the window: “What are those monsters outside?”

One-Eyed Dragon looked in that direction, seeing a terrifying figure that blotted out the sky, and quickly explained:

“Sir, this land is cursed. Legend has it that when the Diens Empire fell, this was a fierce battlefield where countless people died.”

“The Souls of those who died unjustly could not rest, and were further polluted by the Death Qi and resentment of this land. Over time, they transformed into Howlers, resentful spirits without reason, who only knew how to wail and attack living things.”

“And Howlers are the form that resentful spirits evolve into after devouring enough Death Qi. They are stronger and more dangerous.”

“As for that big guy in the sky…” One-Eyed Dragon’s voice trembled, “We call it the ‘Body Integration’. That is the king of monsters born from countless Howlers and resentful spirits mutually devouring and undergoing Fusion under the stimulation of dense resentment!”

“It already has a bit of intelligence, and it’s very… very terrifying!”

This information was very useful to Mo Yan.

He finally understood the Light Church’s modus operandi.

They occupied these “Gu breeding grounds” rich in resentment, allowed resentful spirits and Howlers to proliferate, and then regularly sent people, like harvesting leeks, to collect Souls.

These Souls, filled with resentment, were a usable “resource” for them.

However, the Church’s purpose for collecting large quantities of Souls remained unclear.

Mo Yan asked in confusion: “Why don’t they do it themselves? Those Judgment Knightss seem much stronger than you.”

“This… I’m not sure either.” One-Eyed Dragon shook his head bitterly, “I only heard Father Leo occasionally mention that they’ve been very busy in recent years, seemingly preparing for some big plan, and are severely short-staffed, which is why they give these dirty, tiring jobs to us mercenaries.”

“Busy preparing for a big plan?” Mo Yan keenly caught the keyword.

This might be the key to unraveling the entire instance’s mystery.

One-Eyed Dragon looked at Mo Yan in thought.

He knew that once he had told the other party everything he wanted to know, it would be his time to die.

His entire life, he had lived by the sword, killed countless people, and had long been prepared to die at any moment.

He just hadn’t expected such an ending.

His brothers behind him were all dead.

The third brother, who had a fiery temper and always talked back to him but was always the first to rush forward to block a blade for him; the seventh brother, who was silent but would share stolen bread with the little girls in town… They were all dead.

Dead on this cursed land, dead at the hands of those hypocritical priests.

And what was the point of him surviving until now?

An unprecedented sense of weariness surged into his heart.

One-Eyed Dragon suddenly laughed, a laugh filled with relief and endless sorrow.

“Sir.” He looked up, his single eye devoid of fear, only left with the stillness of stagnant water, “Can I ask you for one thing?”

Mo Yan raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

“Kill me.” One-Eyed Dragon’s voice was light, “Give me a quick death, don’t let me turn into those inhuman, ghost-like monsters outside.”

“Also…” He took a deep breath, and a deep-seated hatred burned in his eye, “Please, kill all those bastards from the Church!”

Mo Yan looked at the sudden outburst of emotion in his eye and said indifferently: “It seems there’s more than just business between you and the Church.”

This sentence was like a key, unlocking One-Eyed Dragon’s sealed memories and endless pain.

His body trembled violently, his facial muscles contorted, and his single eye turned blood red.

“More than just business! My whole life, I’ve lived to kill them all!” he roared, his voice hoarse,

“Everything I had, my home, was destroyed by them!”

“They stood in front of me and said my wife was a witch, said my five-year-old daughter was a demon’s offspring… and then they… they tied them to a stake and burned them alive!”

Flames, screams, the smell of burning flesh, and the indifferent yet fanatical faces of those white-robed priests, once again appeared before his eyes.

“I’ve been investigating, trying to find the bishop who gave the order back then, to avenge them. I became a mercenary, robbed money, grew stronger, all for revenge.”

“But… the Church is too powerful. I can’t even fight a priest from one of their branches, it’s like a joke.”

He looked up, his blood-red single eye filled with desperate hope as he looked at Mo Yan: “I know you are very strong, stronger than all of them! You can definitely do it.”

“Please, kill them all, leave no one behind!”

Mo Yan looked at him, silent for a moment.

He was somewhat surprised; he hadn’t expected this seemingly crude man to have such a past.

Even more unexpected was that he would actively seek death.

However, this was not important.

What was important was that his request completely aligned with his own goal.

“Your hatred means nothing to me.” Mo Yan’s voice was cold, “But they are blocking my Dao, and that reason is enough.”

“Good.”

Upon receiving this affirmative reply, One-Eyed Dragon felt a great burden lifted.

His tense body instantly slumped, as if all his strength had been drained.

He closed his eyes, and a relieved smile even appeared on his face.

“Thank you…”

Before he finished speaking, a sharp sword light flashed.

There was no pain, no struggle.

Mo Yan collected him into his talent space.

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked towards the battlefield in the distance, shrouded by the Formation.

“Harvesting Souls, preparing a big plan…”