Euroasia, a hidden place.
Gray mist drifted, an ancient castle seemed hidden from the world.
Within the cold, ancient castle, only a few black-robed cultists and a blood-bearded butler were present.
The rest of his manpower had been distributed to various ritual sites.
Now, the arrangement of these ritual sites was nearing completion, and Pukala, the priest, broke into a smile at the thought.
Especially…
He looked east, "There's been no news of that old maggot for so long. This priest thought he was hiding deep, but I didn't expect him to be expelled by the Blue Star world."
"Stupid old maggot."
As fellow priests, spreading the glory of the gods, Pukala had clashed with that old maggot, as had priests from other cults.
Most of the time, what blocked their Scarlet Cult's path was not the native forces of the world; those weak natives couldn't do it. Only other ancient god cults were worth being wary of.
And this time, Pukala, as a priest of the Scarlet Cult, had entered this world called Blue Star early in the mysterious contact, gaining a head start.
According to the Emperor, around the same time as him, only one priest from Shadow of Gloom had entered by seizing the weak points of the world's changes.
"That old maggot has fallen and cannot enter Blue Star again for a while. Who else can stop this priest's ritual?"
"This is the great Scarlet Moon favoring me!"
"Praise the great Lord! May the light of the Red Moon shine upon all realms!"
Pukala looked at the butler, his kin, and asked, "How is the ritual site arrangement coming along?"
The blood-bearded butler said, "Priest, you requested maximum concealment, so the ritual arrangement took a bit longer… but it is now in its final stages. In at most another day, no, half a day, and it will all be ready."
A little slow.
Pukala was uncharacteristically not angry. Good things take time. He was just a little impatient.
"Once the site is set up, begin the ritual immediately."
"Before that…"
He felt the need to make more preparations.
He was slightly wary of the weapons called 'technology' in this world. Pukala was not afraid, but he was concerned about the ritual being disrupted.
He would not allow any unexpected occurrences.
Pukala took out a treasure—a scarlet horn.
"Use this horn to summon the strange evils and gather them towards the ritual site."
With these strange evils protecting them, his promotion ritual would be as sure as anything.
…
Torch Town.
Qianmian, the intelligence chief, was reporting that the mission to investigate the cultists' ritual had hit a snag.
"Five of the ritual sites have been confirmed, but the remaining two are handled by the blood-bearded people. They rarely appear at cult gatherings, and only one non-human-level blood-bearded person has been seen."
"I'm not confident in stealing the thoughts of a non-human-level blood-bearded person."
These remaining two locations were still undiscovered.
Of course, if Qianmian had more time, they would be confident, but they also knew that time was of the essence.
"Mentor, we can reserve some strength and destroy those few ritual sites. This might force out the remaining two locations."
"Perhaps that's the only way."
Fang You pondered.
He was preparing to act once Old Brother Black Blade also reached the fourth awakening.
Suddenly, Qianmian said, "A strong blood-bearded individual is summoning strange evils towards those ritual sites."
Strange races indeed had means to summon strange evils on a large scale.
However, Qianmian's mentioning of this was not the main point. Fang You understood Qianmian's intention and immediately opened the mission module.
He then silently thought, "Little Illusion, search all locations on Blue Star where there are unusual movements of strange evil tides… you can refer to the five locations marked earlier."
Five locations, one was the main base.
Among the other four, only two had strange evil group activity nearby, but it wasn't a strange evil tide with a large quantity and slow movement.
The quantity was not large; the number of strange evil tides marked as 'Three Stars, Group' missions was only one to two hundred, but they were all two-star strange evils at minimum.
And there were twenty to thirty three-star strange evils among them.
This force could not be considered weak.
And they were completely gathered together, moving quickly.
"Discarding the weak one-star strange evils, this strange evil tide moves much faster, and it's only one stream, not converging from all directions of the town, thus maintaining secrecy. By the time the local mystic department notices, it will be too late… if the local mystic department is even present."
"But this action is too conspicuous to my map detection!"
If it were just the movement of strange evil tides, he wouldn't be sure; there were too many everywhere on Blue Star.
But there were only five strange evil groups, all starting from two-star strange evils.
"One of these is located in the Sunset Country, sixty kilometers outside the capital of mist, and it hasn't moved, already on standby."
"Another one is located outside the City of Waves in the Wave Country, and it is also on standby."
His gaze was serious.
These two locations were the last two ritual sites that Qianmian had been unable to find. It was truly beyond his expectations.
The Capital of Mist and the City of Waves were the strongest strongholds of the mystic departments in these two countries, yet they had been quietly set up as ritual sites?
Given the population of these two cities, they would undoubtedly play a significant role in the ritual.
"It's highly possible that even if the other ritual sites are destroyed, these two remaining core sites can still sustain the ritual."
"However, all seven ritual sites must be stopped."
Fang You discussed with Qianmian for a long time.
The enemy's strongest forces were clearly in the core area, the Capital of Mist, and the City of Waves. He planned to deploy Black Blade, An Jianyou, and the Thorns Siren.
But the other four locations could not be underestimated.
Apart from the ritual site where Qianmian was located, the other three might have contingencies prepared by the blood-bearded priests, or a diversionary tactic.
Moreover, referencing the ritual site where Qianmian was located, the cultists' strength was already considerable, and a slightly weaker team sent by him might not be able to take it down.
"There are at least two black-robed cultists, and beside them are three-star special strange evils that obey their commands, at least two or three."
"Grey-robed cultists and ordinary cultists are countless. They hide in the city, not showing the slightest abnormality."
"And there are seven sites distributed all over the country."
Europe had the most ritual sites.
But in Asia, Southeast Asia and the White Bear Country also had a ritual site each.
It was difficult for the Torchlight people alone to cover all of them.
"This is a matter of world safety, so we must fully leverage the strength of the mystic departments in various regions."
"The ritual site in Southeast Asia can be handled by the Huang Country. The Huang Country has stabilized considerably and can spare the strength."
The mystic departments of the White Bear Country and the Sunset Country were not weak.
However, since they had no contact, he did not plan to intervene directly. "With the style of these mystic departments, indirect guidance might be more effective… and so would be the case for Wave Country."
As for some countries with weaker local forces, there was no other option but to rely on his own Torchlight people.
Returning to the secret realm, Fang You brought up the current organization panel.
Apostles.
Sub-Apostles.
Quasi-Official Apostles.
The latter was an additional designation.
He was tallying the current combat power of Torchlight.
"Top-tier fourth-awakening powerhouses currently are myself, An Jianyou, and the Thorns Siren… but I don't count myself. In the plan, I will be responsible for ultra-long-range support."
This was true ultra-long-range support.
He had to leave some backup to prevent accidents and to guard against other means of the blood-bearded priests.
He himself, this super combat unit, would definitely be kept.
"Among the third awakenings, there are Black Blade, Xing Jinglei, Yiluoxi, etc., a total of 8 people. All official apostles have reached the third awakening. Among them, Black Blade's combat power is extraordinary, and it is entirely possible to fight against and defeat fourth awakenings."
"Oh, and Black Pupil."
After a few days of honing and a few days of staking out in a secret location, Black Pupil had also successfully entered the third awakening.
It was as easy as eating and drinking. Black Pupil, after the third awakening, had not fully unleashed their power, but Fang You believed they were not weak, just too lazy.
Black Pupil was also a top-tier third-awakening combatant.
He had also tried using a Sub-Apostle recruitment voucher on Black Pupil, just as he had used on the Thorns Siren and Old Tree Qingmu.
Now Black Pupil could go out freely—although this cat didn't want to; it was a homebody.
"Black Pupil can be a main force for one team."
"However, any ritual site covers an entire city, with a very wide range, and there are many cultists to face. Individual powerhouses are not enough."
He looked at the organization's second-tier experts.
That is, the Sub-Apostles. Because they started later, none of them had reached the third awakening yet, but they were not weak.
There were currently 146 Sub-Apostles, and among them, 59 skilled individuals had reached the second awakening!
Unknowingly, the number had become very large!
Among these 59 people were Master Ming Deng, Gou Ping'an, Xu Tian, Fan Anyuan, Roland, Luo Rui, and others, who were no less than top powerhouses in major countries.
As for the first-awakening individuals…
Torchlight had a total of 236 people! This number still couldn't compare to major countries, but the awakened individuals from Torchlight were all equipped with awakened weapons, had undergone various training against strange evils, and the vast majority of them had mastered offensive skills like Blade Slash, Cannon Fist, Palm Thunder, Fireball Spell, Triple Stab, or auxiliary and healing skills like Strange Evil Tracking, Purification, and Water of Healing.
Based on their respective awakened abilities and skill combinations, they were then formed into teams.
There were no weaklings among them.
The number of those who could fight against two-star strange evils with their first awakening was not small.
They were already strong and well-equipped!
They were no longer the few stragglers of the past.