Assassin's Chronicle

Chapter 349: A Special Cardinal

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Anfey, Anfey!" Blavi yelled as he hurried in from outside.

"Shh…Lower your voice," Christian scolded Blavi quietly as he closed his magic book.

"Is Anfey still in samadhi?" Blavi asked.

"Yes." Christian unconsciously glanced at the door. In fact, the inner room was set up with a sound proof magic array. No matter how loud Blavi yelled, he could not interrupt Anfey. Maybe Christian cared so much about disturbing Anfey that he thought too much about it.

"How many days has he been there? Anfey has not had any food yet," Blavi said.

Christian chuckled. "Is it abnormal for Anfey to have some special skills?"

"Are you sure he is fine? Should we go inside to check on him," Blavi said.

"Don’t worry. If he did not feel good, he would have come out." Christian smiled. "It will have been five days. The longest samadhi our professor could do previously was two days. I actually really want to know how long can Anfey do it." Christian said.

The door of the inner room was still shut. The sound proof magic array stopped any sound from entering. Anfey sat on the bed with his palms and bottom of his feet pointing up. He looked peaceful with his eyes slightly closed. Regular mages always chose the most comfortable way to sit when they did samadhi. This way they could get into the state of samadhi to do deeper into meditation. They would not even be able to hold Anfey’s position for half an hour.

There were two different theories in the field of magic. One theory was once a person had strong telepathy, he could have more magic power, while the other said that as magic power got stronger, the telepathy would get better. Even the wisest archmagi could not give a definite answer on which theory made more sense. Anfey was just an inexperienced mage. He had to be cautious because he had limited understanding of samadhi.

Anfey never paid attention to the magic in meditation. Every time he completed his samadhi, he always emptied out his magic power. The first reason he did that was because he was afraid the magic power would conflict with his internal qi. He cared more about the practice of internal qi than he did about magic. The second reason was that the magic crystal inside him trembled for no apparent reason when magic power reached a certain level. Intelligent people had a natural fear of anything they could not explain. Anfey was no exception. Finally, he could only change magic power since it was external power. He could not change himself.

The difference between combat power and magic power was similar to the difference between strengthening one’s character and lengthening one’s life span. The argument over character and life span was also the argument between Taoists and Buddhists. Taoists criticized Buddhists for only knowing how to do Zen meditation without paying attention to their physical health, while Buddhists criticized Taoists for only paying attention to strengthen their life span and ignored character development.

Anfey felt the argument between Taoists and Buddhists was pointless. Character was the real host of a person, while the physical being was just an agent. The person who only paid attention to life was similar to a person living in a shabby house without a peaceful mind. How could a person be in the state of samadhi without a peaceful mind? If a person only paid attention to prolonging his life span, he was nothing more than a stupid person in a fancy house. Developing only one or the other was extreme, and stopped people from performing to the maximum. The real Tao was to develop both.

Outside the inner room, Christian asked quietly, "Blavi, what made you rush here?"

"A mage group found a weird guy in the Eyes of Sky," Blavi said.

"Are you sure there was just one person?" Christian asked in surprise. In those days, humans were rarely seen in Transverse Mountain. In their routine check, they usually could only see some death spirits and run-away magic beasts in the Eyes of Sky.

"Yes, he was by himself," Blavi said.

"Let me take a look." Christian hesitated for a second, then walked outside. Black Eleven sat lost in thought next to the door. Christian said quietly, "Armin, I need go out now. Can you be in charge here?"

"Sure." Black Eleven nodded.

As Christian and Blavi walked to the center of the town, they released Levitation magic and flew to the top of the mage tower. From the birds-eye view, the whole town of Moramatch looked like a checker board. Christian took a look at the practice grounds. He was surprised. "Is that Suzanna and Shinbella again?"

"Yes, poor Shinbella," Blavi said.

Suzanna and Shinbella had fought many times in the past few days. They were both senior swordswomen, but Suzanna had the absolute advantage in the fights. Shinbella definitely could defend herself, otherwise Suzanna would have lost her interest in fighting a long time ago. Suzanna was fast, skillful, and flexible, like a leopard, while Shinbella was tough and strong-willed, like a lone wolf. Even when Suzanna would point her sword at Shinbella’s abdomen or knock Shinbella’s weapon away, or Shinbella was emptied of combat power, Shinbela would not give up in the fight.

Mercenaries were intrigued by two senior swordswomen’s fighting at the beginning, but they only watched once. It was not fun to be affected by the aftermath of their combat power. An innocent mercenary had been hurt, so no one wanted to get close to them.

"Master, something is not right. Right now there are more death spirits," a mage said urgently.

Christian laid his eyes on the Eyes of Sky. A guy in a Church of Light priest gown walked slowly in the forest. Zombies were everywhere in the radius of a dozen of yards around him. They looked fierce and roared, but none of them dared to get close to that priest.

"Is he a cardinal?" Christian was shocked for a second. He recognized him as a cardinal from his gown as well.

"We have watched him for a while. He does not have any followers. How did he walk up here alive?" the mage said with a bitter smile.

"Those death spirits seemed to be afraid of him," another mage said.

"Of course, everyone can see that," Blavi said impatiently. "Christian, that guy looks he is coming our way. With his speed, he reach Moramatch in the afternoon."

As Christian wanted to take a closer look at the guy, the cardinal had already walked into a thick forest. The Eyes of Sky could not see though the forest, so Christian could not see anything.

"No matter what, he is alone, and our friend. He probably could bring us some information from outside," Christian said. "Should we send someone out to meet him?"

"No need. I think the cardinal will not be in any danger. If we send mercenaries out to meet him, those death spirits definitely would attack them. We should not lose them for nothing," Blavi said.

"Master, the number of death spirits keeps increasing. I think we should get ready for the fight," a mage said.

Winter was approaching. Some trees in Transverse Mountain had lost their leaves while others were evergreens. In some clear areas, they could see a large number of death spirits walking. Christian had only paid attention to the cardinal at the beginning. With the reminder from the mages, he noticed groups of death spirits. He could not help getting nervous. "Blavi, can you go and get Alice for me. I am going to look for Anfey. Hurry!"

"Ok. Look, that guy walked out of the forest!" Blavi suddenly yelled.

Christian turned around to look. That cardinal had walked out of the forest and stopped at a gigantic rock. He slowly took a seat on the ground and leaned against the rock. He took a piece of bread out of his shirt and nibbled on it. He looked up at the sky to check the time. The zombies tightly surrounded the gigantic rock as they roared, but they still dared not to get close to that cardinal.

When the cardinal looked up, everyone got a chance to see his face. He was a middle-aged man. He had a pretty handsome face but looked very serious. He did look like a cardinal.

"You guys watch him. Blavi, let’s go," Christian said.

"Ok. Master, you…" Before the mage could finish his words, he was shocked and his face turned very rigid.

Christian was shocked as he followed the mage’s eyes to take a look. The cardinal in the Eyes of Sky stood up with the piece of unfinished bread in his mouth. He unbuttoned his pants. It was normal when nature called. But what was shocking was the cardinal’s looks and moves. He had looked handsome and serious a second ago, but now he had this ugly look on his face. He kept moving his head like he was on drugs as his pelvis pushed back and forth. He walked in a weird way and created different arches in the air as he walked to those zombies.

Where the cardinal walked, the area emptied of zombies. It looked like humans seeing devils. After walking in a half circle, he finally finished urinating. That cardinal pulled up his pants and wiped his hands on his gown. He did not care about his dirty hands and grabbed the bread in his hand and kept eating.

"What the f*ck!" A few mages could not help spitting. Most mages like to be clean. It was not hard for them to maintain hygiene as long as they released a spring magic spell. Therefore, they could not understand why the cardinal did that.

"Is he really a cardinal?" Christian could not believe his eyes. He thought all cardinals were humble, merciful and forgiving. How could this carnival do something like this?

"Master, he looks like he is from Gruce Principality," a mage stuttered

"How do you know?" Christian asked.

"He was dancing, wasn’t he? Those moves were similar to the Harvest Dance in Gruce Principality."