Chapter 174: Luo Hao Returns, the Holy Ape Appears! Murder Hidden, Sanlun Mountain!
Luo Hao, embracing a desire for death, looked up at the starlight, closed her eyes, and offered her neck for the slaughter.
Then, she only felt that the omnipotent authority of the past was being rapidly drawn away, the divine radiance faded, and only the profound spell power, refined to this day, remained within her body.
"This is...?"
Arthur lightly hooked his finger, and the Formless Thousand Winds constrained Luo Hao's delicate body and brought her before him.
He scrutinized the former Martial Arts Alliance Leader, who had once dominated with such arrogance, a playful curve on his lips.
"You are no longer a Godslayers. As the price for sparing your life, how about assisting me in finding The Great Sage Equal to Heaven?"
The exceptionally intelligent Luo Hao instantly understood the situation. Feeling the immense spell power within her body after her injuries had healed, she let out a soft snort.
"The victor is king, the loser is bandit; it has always been so. Remove the shackles, I, Luo Hao, would never go back on my word."
Arthur's eyebrow slightly raised. He could feel the decisiveness in her words, and this straightforwardness rather surprised him.
"You truly are different from other Godslayerss. Then let us get along well, Lord Luo Hao."
The Thousand Winds quietly dispersed. Luo Hao lightly tapped her toes on the void, her figure moving with a flurry of fragrant petals, and she stood by Arthur's side.
"As a prisoner of war, just call me Luo Hao. May I ask for your esteemed name?"
"...Arthur, Arthur pendragon."
Luo Hao carefully savored the unfamiliar name, her dark eyes reflecting the silver figure before her, her tone carrying a hint of inquiry.
"I haven't traveled outside for a hundred years, and I didn't expect such a talent like you to appear in a foreign land?"
Arthur shrugged noncommittally and went straight to the point.
"Since you arranged for Lu Yinghua to seek the patching heaven stone carving beforehand, you must have a quick way to find The Great Sage Equal to Heaven."
Luo Hao, who had inexplicably and quickly completed her mental transformation, nodded slightly and explained.
"By performing divination magic, one can locate the Sacred Ape. However, besides the patching heaven stone carving, some more thorough preparations are needed."
Arthur's eyes showed understanding. The Eastern art of deducing heavenly secrets indeed had a similar effect to Chaldea's Near-Future Observation Lens, Sheba.
"Then let's go, to have a good talk with those guys in Japan."
Before his words finished, the Thousand Winds rose from nothing, carrying their figures in a rapid ascent, disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.
...
Meanwhile, inside the dilapidated Western Sky Palace, Princess Alice and Erica coldly observed the rescue efforts of the Committee for the Compilation of True History.
Numerous strange-shaped Shikigami moved aside boulders and cleared wood chips, attempting to carve a path through the ruins, but their progress was as slow as a crawling turtle.
Erica's gaze swept over the Japan officials nearby, whose expressions were normal, and she reminded in a low voice.
"I always feel like something isn't quite right, Lady Alice. Don't you think these Japan people are too well-behaved?"
Princess Alice idly kicked at the gravel under her feet, oblivious to any potential small actions by Japan, and softly reassured.
"Miss Erica worries too much. The King is not a man without strategy."
"Our mission is merely to explore Western Sky Palace. As for the Committee for the Compilation of True History's minor actions, the King's spear will handle them."
Erica immediately understood, a sympathetic smile gracing her lips as she looked down at the Japan officials who were oblivious to the impending disaster.
"Heh, I don't expect these people to know when to advance or retreat, or to understand the times."
"It's a pity the Red Cross and the Sage Council are beyond reach, missing a golden opportunity to expand their influence."
As the two chatted, a line of police vehicles sped out from the secret passage of Western Sky Palace.
The surrounding roads had long been cleared, but the police cars were stepping on the accelerator like desperate fugitives, as if fearing that a second's delay would mean being swallowed by a flood of beasts!
In the middle of the convoy, an inconspicuous man with a toothbrush mustache clutched a briefcase tightly, looking left and right suspiciously, his clothes drenched in cold sweat.
"Faster! Drive faster!"
The box contained all the intelligence from the Three Sacred Needles of Japan concerning the Sacred Ape, which had just been retrieved from the secret vault of Western Sky Palace by an earth-traveling Shikigami. It was their last trump card!
Once it fell into the hands of that King, the Committee for the Compilation of True History...
No!
The entire Japan would never have a chance to rise again!
Boom—!
A silver lightning bolt plunged vertically, the asphalt road exploded with a roar, kicking up a sky full of dust!
Lancia, riding a swift white horse, broke through the wind and waves. Electric arcs leaped on the Reverse Thorn Lance in her hand, and the roaring, diving convoy instantly all stalled!
The terrifying inertia from extreme speed to sudden stop fiercely gripped everyone's hearts. All the airbags deployed, shaking the Onmyoji inside the cars into a daze.
"As a martial artist, I would not willingly harm mortals, but you dare to defy the King, and your crime deserves death!"
Lancia's voice was like ice, her sacred declaration echoing across the fields.
"I hereby declare to the brave and unyielding knights: do not retreat, advance with one heart, and crush the enemy!"
The silver armor covering her entire body instantly disintegrated, flying into the sky, and in a flash transformed into a hundred valiant knights clad in armor, drawing bows and nocking arrows, their killing intent filling the heavens!
The Onmyoji of the Committee for the Compilation of True History staggered out of their cars, looking at the divine retainers before them, whose killing aura soared to the sky.
They sullenly summoned numerous Shikigami. Lancia looked down at these stubborn fellows and shook her head indifferently.
"Stubborn resistance, utterly meaningless. Attack them!"
At her command, arrows rained like locusts, and warhorses neighed!
The hundred-cavalry squadron, with an unstoppable force, instantly broke through the fragile Shikigami defense line, trampling those Onmyoji and their delusions into dust!
...
When Lancia returned to Western Sky Palace with the briefcase, Arthur was sitting in the shade, indifferently watching Guinevere mete out punishment to the remnants before the ruins with her Demonic Realm Spear.
Lancia did not even look at the well-deserved tragic scene. She dismounted and presented the briefcase with both hands.
"My King, as you expected, the Committee for the Compilation of True History harbored malicious intentions."
"Mmm, you've worked hard, Lord Lancia."
Arthur casually took the briefcase, and with a slight exertion of his fingertips, the alloy case shattered. He took out a handful of ancient-looking bamboo slips.
"Omikuji? Are the gods of Japan still playing these tricks?"
Arthur scanned the divination slips ten lines at a glance, then casually handed the patching heaven stone carving and the Omikuji to Luo Hao.
"Here, it's up to you now. As long as you help me find the whereabouts of The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, you'll be free."
Luo Hao gazed deeply at Arthur, then silently took the Omikuji and the patching heaven stone carving. The spell power within her body surged, and golden lotuses bloomed from the ground!
Lotus petals, as if materialized, enveloped her, and a profound and mysterious aura permeated the air, causing everyone present to shiver.
'To use human power to calculate the trace of a god, I'm afraid it might be insufficient.'
Arthur's mind stirred. He stretched out his palm to the void and spoke loudly.
"All of you who float between heaven and earth, please lend your power for a moment. By the King's name, I command you, turn into sweet dew!"
The spirits of heaven and earth responded one after another. Particles of five colors condensed into substance, dripping from directly above the lotus platform, injecting energy into this grand divination magic.
In just a moment, Luo Hao's figure, like a celestial maiden from a heavenly palace, gracefully stretched and lightly stepped out of the lotus platform, the light in her phoenix eyes completely concealed.
She raised her head, looked at Arthur, her expression more solemn than ever before.
"Found it, within Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, the Miwa Mountains."
She paused, her voice taking on a hint of difficulty and warning.
"But the result of the divination is a great ill omen."
"Besides The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, there are countless evil gods there!"