In just a moment, the Scepter Priest forcibly regained his composure, adopting a compassionate yet solemn expression. When he spoke, his voice was as authoritative as ever.
"This unfortunate soul has desecrated the Holy River, he must be sent to the Temple for purification immediately!"
He announced loudly, his voice resonating with power and intimidation, "Her soul has been corrupted, it must be sent to the Temple for purification immediately to prevent the evil from spreading!"
At this time, the priests finished drawing the Magic Rune, and began wrapping the white cloth layer upon layer with special metal bars and Talismans, as if handling a fragile and deadly treasure. The ritual ended suddenly and hastily. While tidying up the Magical Artifacts, Ian saw the youngest priest's hands trembling, almost causing him to drop the bottle containing black liquid. The senior priest glared at him and whispered something, making the young priest's face turn pale with despair.
At the priests' attempt.
The guards immediately wrapped the corpse in white cloth soaked with potion.
These people from the Temple swiftly moved into action, rudely dispersing the last few reluctant onlookers. They lifted the embalmed corpse with a special stretcher and quickly retreated towards the Temple. Ian was forced to step back, hiding in the depths of the reeds, watching the corpse being taken away.
Just as the Scepter Priest turned to leave, Ian keenly noticed one detail—he seemed to casually reach out to tidy the maid's skirt corner, swiftly pinching off a small piece of fabric in a movement so quick it was almost undetectable. Subsequently, he inconspicuously tucked the piece of fabric into his wide sleeve, as if nothing had happened.
Ian's brain started to work at high speed. This action was by no means coincidental. Why did the Scepter Priest want to secretly keep a part of the corpse? Was it for research? Or... to cover something up? As Ian watched the crowd begin to disperse, the hum of discussion buzzed like a swarm of bees. A few bold residents whispered at a distance, discussing the bizarre scene from earlier.
Ian also overheard the conversation of two fishermen behind him.
"Did you see that? Those Golden Sands..."
"Shut up! Do you want to be sent to mine?"
"But this time it's different, never found before..."
...
These people were discussing.
After most people had left, Ian approached the precise location where the body was found, crouching down, pretending to have a stomachache, but actually scrutinizing every inch of the ground.
The traces where the reeds had been trampled were still visible, golden sand remained on the soil, shining like tiny gold pieces in the sunlight. Just as he was about to use the Magic Wand to collect samples, he suddenly noticed a tiny blue dot flashing among the sand particles.
"This is..." Ian carefully parted the sand, revealing a needle-tip-sized blue crystal. It was so tiny that if the sunlight hadn't shone at a specific angle, it would have been impossible to notice. The minute crystal fragment, only the size of a needlepoint, emitted an unnatural glow.
Ian gingerly extracted it with his fingertips, placing it in his palm.
As his fingertip lightly touched the crystal, a familiar warmth immediately transpired—identical to the counterfeit he had seen in the Temple's Secret Chamber and in the crazy old man's hand.
This blue crystal... he recognized it. It wasn't a natural mineral, but an artificial imitation—the counterfeit of the "Eye of Ra." The true "Eye of Ra" is a legendary Holy Artifact, containing the power of the Sun God, capable of dispelling darkness. This counterfeit, however, is manufactured by the Temple for unknown reasons.
"A counterfeit Eye of Ra Fragment?" Ian concealed the crystal into a secret pocket within his sleeve, his brow furrowed. The maid's corpse, the golden sands of the eyes, the counterfeit Eye Fragment, the priests' abnormal tension.
These clues spun in his mind, yet he couldn't piece together a complete picture.
The Temple's reaction was quite intriguing. Their urgency in sealing the corpse, even employing "Sealing Magic Rune," indicated they were aware of the tremendous threat hidden behind this corpse. But the Scepter Priest's act of secretly keeping fabric hinted that the Temple was not monolithic, perhaps someone was secretly pursuing an unspeakable agenda.
Standing up to glance around, ensuring no one noticed, he quietly retreated to a more concealed bay. Here, the reeds were taller and denser, and the water flow more gentle, an ideal spot for casting.
Ian placed the blue crystal in his palm, pointing the Magic Wand gently: "Essence Reveal."
The crystal floated up, starting to rotate slowly. The silver light emitted from the wand tip enveloped it like liquid, gradually revealing its internal structure—outwardly pure blue, yet inside filled with black filament-like substances, identical to the contaminated fragment within the Temple. The most astonishing part was, as the analysis spell entered the third phase, the crystal suddenly projected a vague vision:
A dark room, seven crystal containers arranged in a circle, each containing a floating human brain. The central column's blue fragment was pulsating, while golden threads connecting the brains continually transported some substance inside... The vision abruptly stopped here.
The crystal "cracked" into two pieces, falling into Ian's palm, faintly losing its luster. Staring at the remnants, Ian suddenly understood the meaning of the maid's wrist mark—the three concentric circles represented the arrangement of containers, the central eye was the worshipped fragment! The people from the Temple not only aimed to fabricate the Sun God.
They also intended to create a Divine Artifact?
"What a sacrilegious act, it's akin to madness before destruction!" A distant horn sounded, announcing noon was near. Ian stored away the crystal remnants, taking one last look towards the Temple. The magnificent architectural complex gleamed under the scorching sun, but in his eyes, it seemed shrouded in an invisible dark mist.
Even sunlight couldn't penetrate.
"It seems I'll have to make another visit to the Temple tonight."
Ian muttered to himself, unconsciously brushing his fingers over the Magic Wand.
The maid's death, the golden sands of the eyes, the counterfeit Eye Fragment... these clues were like scattered pearls, and he was about to find the thread to string them together.
As Ian turned to leave the riverbank, he failed to notice the series of unnatural bubbles rising behind him in the river water. A shadow resembling a human hand flickered once underwater, then swiftly vanished into the murky river. Further away, a small bird perched quietly on a palm tree, its wise eyes fixed on Ian's departing silhouette.
When Ian pushed open the wooden door of the "Golden Palm" restaurant, the morning light slanted through the ceramic bead curtain over the lintel, casting mottled shadows on the stone floor. He chose a low table near the window to sit at, his fingers tapping the table three times, summoning the owner to finish the breakfast he hadn't enjoyed earlier.
"Did you enjoy the spectacle?" The one-eyed owner set down the steaming fig bread, lowering his voice, "The city's now crawling with the Temple's spies."
"Not much of a spectacle," Ian replied with a slight smile, using a special knife to slice the bread. This seemingly ordinary cutlery was lined with Mithril, capable of detecting most common poisons. The aroma of the bread, mingled with the sweetness of honey and cinnamon, perfectly masked the weak magical fluctuations emanating from the blue crystal in his sleeve.
The restaurant's noise was even more chaotic than usual. Three burlap merchants clustered in a corner, nervously glancing at the door; two women who looked like laundresses whispered together, their clay cups long empty yet not refilled; even the usually noisy fish vendor was peculiarly quiet, tapping the table continuously with stubby fingers.
"... Heard the sands in the eyes can move..."
"... My cousin in the Guard Team said the maid's tongue was..."
"... The High Priest personally ordered the burning of the family that dressed her before; seems the family was taken away too, but it's unknown if they'll be released..."
Fragmentary conversations floated into Ian's ears. He leisurely dipped honey, feigning interest in the newly served date porridge, but actually scanned the entire restaurant with his peripheral vision. When the third group of patrons hurriedly settled their bills and left, the curtain flipped again, bringing in a gust of wind with a river smell.
It was a woman.
She wore a simple linen dress typical of a merchant's wife, yet her gait still carried the unique rhythm of a priest. The woman, minus her black robe, wore a Thebes-style beaded veil, but those runes remained visible in Ian's eyes—as expected, the black-robed woman emerged from the crowd.
Sitting across from him.
"The river fish soup here is quite good."
Ian pushed over an empty bowl, the crisp sound of bronze meeting stone echoing.
The woman did not touch the cutlery. Her fingers formed a peculiar sign beneath the table, causing Ian to immediately feel the surrounding sounds blur—a simple Sound Insulation Spell, yet the casting method was typical of the Helio-Polis school.
"You saw it last night, the situation in the Temple."
She spoke, the beads on her veil quivering slightly, "Those containers, those connected brains, and..." Her voice suddenly lowered, carrying a metallic sharpness.
"The thing that is awakening."