CHAPTER 499: CHAPTER 477: WEST←¿MISERIA?→EAST

Following the guide Aijia Lang and the Guard Holy Gunmen, Horn and his party arrived beside the rock wall.

Beside the dripping rock crevice, a zigzagging stone staircase twisted its way upward.

The sound of dripping water and footsteps merged, and the flickering of fire and phosphorescence played a symphonic tune, casting light and shadow across everyone’s faces, swaying left and right.

As the blue glow of luminescent moss grew denser, Horn and the others finally stepped onto the platform chiseled out next to the palace.

Vite was the first to run towards the nearby palace. He ran around with a torch, as if the cowardice from the Demon Hunter incident had vanished without a trace.

"This is the Shepherd Clan, no, no..."

"Oh, right, right, the style of the Noen Evil God, no, no, how could they have this technology?"

"Right, is it?"

"What kind of architecture is this, really?"

Hearing Vite’s cries of collapse beside him, Horn guided Jeanne to the entrance of the palace.

In front of them was a bronze gate with spiral ram horn patterns. Horn released Jeanne’s hand, stepped forward, and tried to push it, but it wouldn’t budge.

"Your Grace, this bronze gate has been rusted together over time and cannot be opened from this side. We’ll have to enter through the hole in the wall."

Fingers brushed over the stones exposed from the collapsed wall, and Horn bent down and stepped over it, his back brushing against the wall, yet he didn’t feel much roughness.

"Your Grace, these are the frescoes we discovered."

Entering the interior of the palace, before Horn could take a good look at the ancient palace, Raphael stood next to a row of orderly colonnades, pointing in the opposite direction.

As each pine torch was lit, a pungent smoke revealed a corridor, estimated to be about thirty meters long, extending into darkness.

Under the dim firelight, on one side of the marble colonnade with a shrine, indeed appeared a wall of fresco-like scrolls.

These frescoes were rather dim, but the colors had a kind of rustic warmth to them.

Beneath the smooth and winding lines, little figures walked among exquisite architecture and lush landscapes, with details vividly depicted.

Frescoes from the Ancient Aier Era generally used red ochre, blue copper, and lead yellow, and would typically fade after three to four centuries.

But it’s unknown what technique was used for these frescoes, as their colors hadn’t faded much, and Horn could even make out the blurred expressions on the little figures.

"Your Grace, I’ll take you to see the odd part..."

"No need," Horn closely observed the first fresco. "We’ll walk through the corridor and revisit the contents of the Gospel."

Perhaps due to limited space, the fresco doesn’t begin with creation but skips directly to the second Chapter of the Later Gospel, the Preaching.

This Chapter mainly discusses Miseria’s birth, life, apprenticeship, and enlightenment.

The content of the fresco is completely consistent with the Gospel, including the Saint Master being expelled from the sun city in the Imperial Capital of El Empire, and then going south to preach in the large city of Li Mod, where the local governor arrested him.

Arriving at this fresco, Horn’s pupils suddenly contracted; at this point, the fresco finally differed from the Gospel.

The Gospel describes Miseria’s beheading as Miseria lifting her head with her hand after being beheaded and reattaching it to her neck.

In an instant, her flesh and blood became whole, and the Saint Master resurrected and fought his way out of the sinful city of Li Mod.

However, in this fresco, after the ax-wielding figure beheads the golden-haired figure, the headless body indeed stands up as in the Gospel.

Yet, in the next painting, the headless body is seen wielding a chain and escaping the city, leaving the golden-haired figure’s head behind!

What does this mean? Running away as soon as you lose your head?

Treading on the cold and wet floor, Horn continued along the marble shrine pillars, frowning ever more deeply.

In the previous painting, the headless body of the golden-haired figure had just escaped, but there was no follow-up in this fresco.

Without a background, Horn could only see the golden-haired figure inexplicably standing atop a round table.

Though the governor figure wearing a red cone hat had a blurred face, Horn could still discern his terror.

In yet another painting, the situation changed again, as if the misunderstanding was cleared, the golden-haired figure vividly drove a cart away from Li Mod.

Wait, how did you reattach your head?

Horn touched the ring-shaped scar on his neck; at least he had a Flying Head Monster. Mother, how did you resurrect?

"Was a section missing in between?" Armand also noticed the anomaly, always feeling that something in the middle was omitted. "Why doesn’t it connect?"

"No, this is a scroll painting, it looks casual, but it has strict requirements on the painting’s dimensions." Vite, who had undergone a lot of artistic training, said with wide eyes as he pressed his head against the mural, "There are no traces of repainting or missing parts."

No traces of repainting or missing parts?

Horn didn’t say much and just continued forward along the corridor.

According to the Gospel, the later story was about Miseria escaping from Li Mod, feeling that there was too much sin in the Western Continent, and following the sage’s guidance to preach in the Eastern Continent.

This led to the Chapter of "Gospel: Records of the Eastern Tour," where Miseria immediately went wild, wild, terribly wild, killing the natives of the Eastern Continent mercilessly!

The dwarves were driven to the mountains by Miseria, and the giant dragons who originally ruled the Eastern Continent were exterminated in the Dragon Sleep Mountain Range by Miseria, while the evil gods fled to the grasslands.

Under these achievements, the poorer and purer El people of the Eastern Continent quickly converted to the Miseria faith.

At the time, Horn felt something was off, because the Gospel was always more about reasoning than narrative, preaching more than killing.

In everyday circumstances, Miseria was very restrained, generally resorting to fists only when the teachings were ignored.

How come in the "Records of the Eastern Tour," there’s no reasoning, just killing?

In the church’s explanation, this was understood as eliminating the deeply sinful heretics being the only way, thus the massive slaughter.

Yet the mural content now indicated that after leaving Li Mod, the golden-haired Miseria did not travel east but went west instead!

That was the empire’s core heartland.

Unlike the "Records of the Eastern Tour" where there was constant killing, this golden-haired figure seldom took action, preaching along the way, healing the sick, and recruiting followers.

The content of the three paintings showed she managed floods, droughts, and bandits, won over three followers, and countless new believers...

"Your Eminence, what’s the matter?" Following behind Horn, Raphael asked as he saw Horn suddenly stop walking.

Looking at the mural’s content, the muscles on Horn’s brow twitched.

The drowning blue-haired woman, the green-clad ranger cutting trees, and the laughing red-nosed clown.

These three followers with haloed heads matched none of the saints in history but corresponded exactly to the three evil gods in the "Gospel: Crossing the Sea" Chapter!

The Lake Nymph, Green-clothed Guest, and Clown God represented lust, plague, and greed respectively.

On Miseria’s leading of the remaining people east, the three evil gods were sent by the Devil’s order to block the immigrants, engaging in a battle of wits and courage, eventually being outwitted by Miseria.

These three evil gods were also considered the ancestors of witches, ogres, and vampires.

But on this mural, the golden-haired Miseria was actually sitting around a bonfire preaching with her three sworn enemies.

The dark corridor quieted down, leaving only the sound of everyone’s breathing.

Looking at the mural before her, Jeanne felt an indescribable absurdity.

Unlike Horn, whose tomb-gilded hands constantly counted money, and the Saint Master indulging in pleasures, Jeanne was much more devout, a fact unaltered even despite becoming a witch.

Having experienced so much, especially with the existence of a certain Saint’s Grandson, Jeanne believed that no matter how outrageous the situation, she wouldn’t be surprised.

Yet the scenes on these murals left her gaping with disbelief.

It’s too absurd.

Armand, who came out of the Monastery and was incredibly familiar with the Gospel, was even more dumbfounded, unable to utter a word in shock.

"By the Saint Master above, by the Saint Master above... this is sheer blasphemy!"

Clutching their cross-like symbol in hand, several seasoned believers started praying with shaking voices.

Following in Horn’s footsteps, the group’s mood grew heavier, yet fortunately, the subsequent murals returned to normal.

With three followers, upon reaching the bustling empire’s heart, the golden-haired figure started preaching to the poor, teaching them about farming and breathing techniques.

This scene astonishingly resembled the final section of the "Records of the Eastern Tour," where Misera similarly developed her force in the Eastern Continent.

Then came the classic plot twist: the Empire’s governor once again captured Miseria and took her to Imperial Capital Yongxia City.

Here, the mural miraculously connected with the final section of the "Records of the Eastern Tour."

If Horn guessed correctly, the subsequent mural parts should present the longest Chapter of Miseria’s biography in the "Later Gospel," the Crossing the Sea Chapter.

"What about later?" Horn was dazed when he realized there were no more of those dim colors and smooth lines on the wall.

"Later, why isn’t there a later?"