Kraus didn't have everyone leave together.
“Bo Er, Glock, seal the scene and search the workshop thoroughly.”
The two took their orders and headed back with the peripheral Nightwatchers.
The rest of the group escorted the surviving members of the Grey Covenant back to the branch.
Nine’s body and head were separated and placed into two cocoons, dragged at the very back by Lake’s Swarming Worms. J and Q had their limbs wrapped in insect matter and were half-dragged, half-carried away. Lu Yuan personally carried the seed and the wooden man, while Jie’s head remained in the attendant’s hands.
No one spoke on the way.
The Guardian did not follow. After the battle ended, the old man’s hunched figure vanished into the night in a different direction, and no one moved to stop him.
Adrian walked in the middle of the group. He glanced at Nine, who was wrapped in a cocoon, and walked over.
He crouched down and pressed his right hand against Nine’s severed torso. His palm glowed with a faint, gentle light that was almost invisible, but Nine’s mouth, which had stopped moving, twitched again, and the fluids leaking from the cut solidified.
“Still alive even with its head off; the vitality of a Glazed Water transcendent is truly something.” Adrian stood up and brushed the dust off his hands. “But it won't last much longer if we keep dragging this out. I’ll apply a layer of blessing first so it doesn't die on the way.”
Lu Yuan watched him. The sight of an Archbishop using a blessing to prolong the life of a rank 4 eerie transcendent from the Grey Covenant was abnormal no matter how one looked at it.
But no one raised an objection. Everyone knew a live prisoner was worth more than a dead one.
It was still before dawn when they returned to the branch.
Margaret had completely reverted to her usual self.
The pale blue water film had receded. Her face was still slightly flushed, but her expression had returned to that weary, lethargic look. Her eyelids drooped halfway, and her pace slowed down. She looked nothing like the fanatical woman on the battlefield who had been draining blood while shouting, “You’re so weak!”
She led the way to lock up the three prisoners from the Grey Covenant. Nine’s body and head were placed in two separate detention rooms, while J and Q were each given their own. The three rooms were separated by the length of a corridor, ensuring they couldn't hear each other.
The rooms were equipped with specialized inscription locks. Although their restraint on rank 4 transcendents was limited, the members of the Grey Covenant were in poor condition, so it was sufficient for now.
Two Nightwatchers were stationed at each door, and Lake’s Swarming Worms covered the corridor floor in a thin layer, acting as a living alarm.
After finishing the arrangements, Margaret stepped out of the corridor and wiped her hands.
Lu Yuan couldn't help but steal a few extra glances at her.
Margaret noticed his gaze and paused for a moment before giving an embarrassed smile.
“What are you looking at?”
She tilted her head, her tone carrying a hint of laziness.
“Next time you come to scrounge for medicine, remember to actually do some work.”
As she spoke, she made a grasping motion in the air with her right hand, her fingers closing together with a gesture that implied she would squeeze him flat.
Lu Yuan gave an awkward smile.
‘She’s definitely someone I can't afford to provoke now.’
Margaret said no more, let out a yawn, and slowly walked toward the supply room.
The two hooded figures nodded to Kraus and then left quickly. They clearly had other matters to attend to.
The attendant placed Jie’s head into a tin box sealed with inscriptions, indicating he was taking it with him, and then silently withdrew from the branch. His mission was complete, and it was time to report back. Besides, the place where the Count was currently staying was a bit dull; who else would be by his side if not him?
Archbishop Adrian, on the other hand, was in no hurry at all.
He didn't leave; instead, he began wandering around the branch, looking here and there. He peeked into the entrance of the logistics warehouse and then stood by a window at the end of the corridor for a while, his kind face always wearing that faint smile.
He even went to see Hope.
“What a marvelous aura, though it’s a pity...”
The Archbishop looked at Hope and shook his head.
Lu Yuan could tell that this Archbishop had no intention of leaving until he asked about the whereabouts of the seed.
...
Kraus stood at one end of a table.
Lu Yuan stood at his side.
“Alright, have you thought things through on the way back? Ask away.”
Kraus’s gaze landed on Lu Yuan’s face, and he spoke with a small smile.
Lu Yuan organized his thoughts.
“Was keeping the Grey Covenant members alive decided before the battle started?”
“It was.”
“Why?”
Kraus didn't answer directly but asked a question in return.
“Why do you think they didn't leave?”
Lu Yuan was silent for a few seconds. A group of rank 4 transcendents skilled in assassination, lingering in a city that was hostile to them and doing nothing... He had thought about this problem on the battlefield, and now that Kraus was asking, the answer was obvious.
“They couldn't leave?”
Kraus didn't respond, but he didn't deny it either.
Lu Yuan continued his train of thought. The Man on the Wall had cooperated with the Grey Covenant to have them carry out a mission in the Bronze City, but at some point, the Grey Covenant realized they were also part of the plan. They wanted to run but couldn't, because taking something from the Man on the Wall meant being subjected to corresponding restrictions.
“The Man on the Wall needed them to stay here.”
Kraus finally spoke, saying only one word.
“Sacrifices.”
Lu Yuan thought of the ritual in the underground hall—five wooden men kneeling around a seed. The Grey Covenant thought they were presiding over the ritual, but the ones presiding over a ritual could very well be part of the ritual itself.
“So you kept them alive? Were you worried that killing them would also be a part of the sacrifice?”
“Mhm. Unless the people from the Grey Covenant are idiots, they wouldn't have the guts to look for trouble with me in broad daylight. But it happened, and that makes it interesting. If it was an order from the Man on the Wall, then it makes sense.”
Kraus walked to the window, clasping his hands behind his back as he looked outside. The Sea of Knowledge above the Polymath Tower radiated a shimmering halo.
“If they succeeded, it would be a fight to the death. If they failed, any normal person would want revenge, wouldn't they?”
“Besides, living rank 4 transcendents from the Grey Covenant can be exchanged for quite a few things from the Empire.” Kraus’s voice remained flat. “Dead ones are worth nothing.”
“What about Jie?”
“The Count needs to show deterrence.”
Kraus’s explanation was brief. What Jie had done at the Count's Mansion had directly crossed the Count's bottom line. The attendant had come with orders, and killing Jie was one of the conditions.
“It can be considered the price she paid for her actions.”
Lu Yuan didn't press further.
“Regarding the Polymath Tower... when did you start suspecting them?”
The corner of Kraus’s mouth twitched.
“Half the reason for attacking the Grey Covenant this time was to test the Polymath Tower. The moment Him saved K, it was confirmed.”
He glanced at Lu Yuan.
“As for the Vice Dean.”
Kraus’s tone turned cold.
“He really wasn't being honest. We’ll give him a proper interrogation when we get back. The death of a Vice Dean is nothing significant.”
Kraus stopped there.
Lu Yuan didn't leave.
He placed the coat wrapped around the wooden man on the table and pulled back a corner. The bark-textured surface glinted with a dull luster under the light, its kneeling posture frozen in place.
“I perceived its residual aura on the battlefield.”
Kraus’s gaze fell on the wooden man, but he didn't speak.
Lu Yuan recounted everything he had seen. A man drinking a deep green potion, his body mutating and woodenizing, eventually becoming a wooden construct in a kneeling posture. Then the vision didn't stop; the wooden man connected to another place.
“A world composed entirely of trees. The ground was roots, the sky was a canopy, and it stretched beyond sight.”
He paused for a moment.
“There was something moving in the depths. It was massive—so large that the entire world seemed to move out of its way as it walked. My perception was bounced back the moment it touched its silhouette; I couldn't even hold on for a second.”
Kraus was silent for a while.
“You’re sure there was nothing wrong with your perception?”
“Yes.”
“Then we need someone at rank 5 to take a look.”
Kraus straightened up from the wall.
“Let’s go.”
...
The night had not yet receded.
The two passed through the branch's back gate and followed the narrow alleys of the inner city toward the clock tower.
There were no pedestrians on the road; only the inscriptions at the joints of the walls glowed faintly.
Lu Yuan felt something was wrong when they were still a hundred paces from the clock tower.
The last time he came, the Guardian’s aura had been steadily pressed around the clock tower, dense and unmoving. Now, pitch-black aura was seeping out from the cracks in the clock tower’s stones in intermittent bursts, no longer fully contained.
However, the seepage stopped within three paces of the clock tower's outer walls.
Lu Yuan noticed the reason. Circles of inscriptions were embedded in the stone walls of the clock tower. Unlike the inscriptions elsewhere in the Bronze City, these etchings were deeper, the patterns more dense, and they gave off a faint dark gold luster.
The power of the inscriptions was constantly pressing inward, forcibly restricting the Guardian’s overflowing pitch-black aura to the confines of the clock tower.
This was the reason the Guardian always stayed at the clock tower; there were things here that helped him suppress his own transcendence, preventing him from losing control completely.
Kraus’s footsteps faltered for a beat, but he didn't stop.
The door at the base of the clock tower was half-open.
The Guardian was sitting on a stone bench in the corner.
The moment Lu Yuan entered, he saw the old man’s state, which was completely different from a few hours ago on the battlefield.
His hunched body had shrunk even further, and his grey-white hair was scattered over his shoulders, with a few strands reaching his knees. His right hand rested on the edge of the stone bench, the veins on the back of his hand thicker than before.
Pitch-black aura swirled around him, but it was clearly not being released intentionally; rather, he could no longer control it, and it was seeping out from the gaps in his body.
A black eyeball would occasionally surface within the aura, opening for a moment before sinking back in.
Grey-white text jumped out at the edge of his vision.
【Environmental Perception: High-risk pollution source detected. It is recommended to keep your distance.】
The Guardian looked up, his cloudy eyes rolling as they landed on Kraus and Lu Yuan.
“You’ve come?”
His raspy voice was even lower than it had been on the battlefield.
Kraus didn't waste words.
“Sir, please take a look at this.”
Lu Yuan stepped forward and placed the wooden man on the ground in front of the Guardian.
The old man lowered his head, his cloudy gaze landing on the wooden construct in its kneeling posture.
Pitch-black aura surged from his body and clung to the surface of the wooden man. Several black eyeballs emerged, slowly circling the wooden man, each one wide open.
Then, the Guardian’s expression shifted.
“Where did this thing come from?”
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