Quadruple split.

Chapter 2648 Interlude: Motivation
Time flies, time flies
After the girl finished speaking, there was a full five minutes of silence in the prayer room.

During those long three hundred seconds, neither Xia Lian, Marina, nor Kachina spoke, and Yu Chen lowered his gaze and silently twisted his fingers.

Finally, Kachina, who had broken free from Marina's fourth binding spell, broke the silence and asked with wide eyes, "So... Wangyu, you want to go find him?"

"Ah."

Yu Chen took a deep breath and nodded vigorously, saying, "I want to go find him. Although I feel that doing so will definitely give him a headache, what Sister Xia Lian said earlier is right. Neither he nor I should bear so much alone. So if I can take the lead... perhaps even if he feels a headache, he will feel a little more at ease."

Kachina was taken aback again and asked, "What does this mean now?"

"What I mean is, if I continue to be so 'understanding,' Hei Fan might be under a lot of pressure."

Yu Chen's gaze softened, and he said with a slight smile, "But if... well, it's a bit inappropriate to say this, but if I'm not so 'perfect,' maybe he can relax a bit and not put so much pressure on himself."

Upon hearing this, Xia Lian immediately narrowed her eyes and said irritably, "Sister, I clearly told you to think more about yourself and be a little more selfish. How come it's become about thinking about that brat in your eyes?"

"Because I'm a bad girl."

Yu Chen, who could never be associated with a bad girl, smiled and winked, saying, "Even if I were to do something selfish, I would find a respectable excuse."

Marina nodded slightly and turned to Xia Lian with a smile: "What do you think, mentor?"

"What do I think? I think that brat Hei Fan is incredibly lucky to have met such a wonderful girl like our Wang Yu."

Xia Lian rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Let Wang Yu think what she wants. She's different from me. I was really stupid back then and was kept in the dark by a bunch of bastards. I had no idea what Luca was struggling with. But this girl knows that brat Hei Fan very well, so whatever she thinks, she's definitely more thorough than me, right?"

Kachina nodded and agreed, "Indeed, you've always been a bit slow on the uptake, but Wang Yu is different."

"Thank you."

Xia Lian then flicked Kachina on the forehead, before turning to Yu Chen and asking, "So, Wang Yu, have you figured out what to do now?"

Yu Chen glanced with some concern at Kachina, who was struggling to get up from the ground three meters away. After confirming that the latter did not have a concussion, she breathed a sigh of relief and said with a bright smile, "I want to go find Hei Fan. I want to see him."

"It's long overdue."

Xia Lian put her arm around Yu Chen's shoulder, rubbing the girl's cheek as she cheerfully said, "But I refuse."

Yu Chen: "...Huh?"

"Ok?"

Xia Lian blinked and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Having finally mustered the courage to take that crucial step, Yu Chen stared blankly at the seemingly harmless, smiling, mature saintess before her, and asked in bewilderment, "Sister Xia Lian, what were you saying just now...?"

“I’m glad you made up your mind; I feel you should have thought this a long time ago.”

Xia Lian smiled with satisfaction and said cheerfully, "As for your plan to go north to find that kid Hei Fan, no way."

Completely caught off guard, Yu Chen was stunned and asked incredulously, "Why?"

"Because that's just how things are."

Xia Lian shrugged and spread her hands, saying, "Think about it, we've now accumulated the loss of one Just Saint, one Abundant Saint, the entire garrison of Dunbua City, plus our Dawn Cult's rising star, the genius commander who made a name for himself at the Academy City Exchange Conference, right?"

Yu Chen, who then remembered that Mo Tan was currently missing, said, "...Ugh!"

"So, against this backdrop, in order to demonstrate the attitude of our Holy Church Alliance, the joint investigation team recently departed from the City of Light and has now arrived at the Gospel Mountain City in the North. After that, they will go deeper into the North to confront the Blood Barbarians until the safety of Black Brahma and the other two Holy Sons is ensured."

Xia Lian, unusually serious, analyzed the situation with remarkable clarity and composure, as if possessed by some evil spirit. She said, "Under these circumstances, if you, as the Holy Maiden, suddenly decide to go to the Northern Territory, it would violate the basic logic of this matter. In addition, Wang Yu, you are the Holy Maiden of our Dawn Sect, and Hei Fan is the person in charge of Dunbuya City. The fact that there was something fishy about that previous disappearance is basically an open secret."

Just then, Kachina, who had just gotten up, covered her head and asked curiously, "But wasn't there something fishy about this whole thing? Black Van and the others didn't lose anything at all... Ugh!"

"Black Van and the others have certainly disappeared."

Marina, having sealed her best friend's lips with the sacred words for the fifth time, sighed and said softly, "At least until they decide they're no longer going to be missing, they are missing."

“We know, Wealth knows, Justice and Abundance mostly know, and after that precocious little fellow Madolan took a stroll and came back, anyone with a normal brain wouldn’t think that Black Van and the others are still in danger.”

Xia Lian smiled and said very directly, "But the problem is, even if everyone knows these things but doesn't say them, they can't be made public, otherwise the nature of that investigation team will change."

After a moment's thought, Yu Chen understood the implications and muttered with a conflicted expression, "Then I..."

“You are the Holy Maiden of our Dawn Cult, and Black Brahma’s nominal lover. Although it seems legitimate for you to go, it’s one thing for you to volunteer, but it’s another thing if we actually let you go.”

Xia Lian crossed her arms and said earnestly, "As Hei Fan's lover, you can certainly be willful, but if the Dawn Cult allows you to be willful and is willing to risk the Holy Maiden and the New Star being wiped out in one fell swoop to allow you to go north, then it is tantamount to telling everyone that this is all a 'setup'."

Although she understood this principle, Yu Chen, whose resolve had been dampened after much effort, still managed to stubbornly insist, "But Ya Li clearly had plans to go north with the investigation team. She is a saintess just like me."

“She is different; she is a saint of the Wealth Cult.”

Xia Lian shook her head and said seriously, "And you are one of the biggest victims of this disappearance incident, the Holy Maiden of our Dawn Sect, and your lover, Hei Fan, is the highest-ranking official in Dunbuya City."

Yu Chen: "..."

"And the most important thing is this."

Xia Lian calmly gazed into Yu Chen's beautiful, clear, and somewhat lost eyes, and said seriously, "Fiari Graham is the strongest among your generation of Chosen Ones. Do you remember the Academy City Exchange Meeting? Unlike you, Black Vane, and Black, she is a formal member who can represent the Holy Church Alliance. Putting aside her skills, even if we only consider combat power, Philip and Avery, both of whom are Epic-rank, together probably wouldn't be a match for Fiari."

Although Yu Chen already knew that Fiyali was strong, he was slightly taken aback, never expecting her to be this strong, and asked in surprise, "Is Fiyali really that powerful?"

"That's just how amazing she is."

Xia Lian nodded, her expression somewhat subtle as she smiled and said, "It's not that her talent is stronger than the other holy sons, but mainly that Fiyali's compatibility with the Goddess of Wealth is too high. To put it this way, under normal circumstances, only those who have an extremely good affinity with the deity can become a chosen one of the gods, and the difference in compatibility between a normal chosen one of the gods and Fiyali in terms of divine affinity is... about the same as the difference between a normal believer and a chosen one of the gods."

Yu Chen: (O_O)
"By the way," Marina chuckled softly, covering her mouth beside her, "the compatibility between our mentor and our goddess is no less than that between Princess Fialy and the Goddess of Wealth."

Yu Chen carefully recalled the art style of the Goddess of Dawn, and then nodded as if possessed, subconsciously saying, "I can imagine it."

Xia Lian felt as if she had been attacked, but had no evidence: "..."

"Well."

Yu Chen, after regaining his composure, looked intently at Xia Lian and said seriously, "So, if I want to go north..."

"Either Black Vane uses his strength to convince everyone and turn the north into a smooth road that will absolutely not harm a single hair on your head."

Xia Lian smiled gently and said softly, "Either you use your abilities to convince everyone that even if you go to such a dangerous place, nothing will happen to you."

Yu Chen sighed and said with a wry smile, "Sister Xia Lian is so mean! She gave me a whole lecture, but in the end, she won't let me do anything..."

"Giving you a good talking-to is for your own good; not letting you do anything now is also for your own good."

Xia Lian stood up, pinched Yu Chen's cheek, and then walked out with Marina and Kachina without looking back, saying loudly, "In short, think it over yourself."

……

A moment later, at the Battle Sisters' Abbey, in the small garden...
"I must say, mentor, you have truly impressed me this time."

Marina, who had been pulled onto Xia Lian's lap, breathed a sigh of relief and said with a look of satisfaction, "I was prepared to inform His Holiness the Pope as soon as possible to prevent you from taking Wang Yu to the north in a moment of impulsiveness."

"Ugh."

Xia Lian sighed softly, looking quite forlorn, and said, "How do you know Ambrose wasn't wary of me?"

Marina: "...Huh?"

“Is there such a possibility?”

Xia Lian's expression remained melancholy as she weakly said, "Before I came here, I went to the Great Chapel to find Ambrose and told him that I wanted to take Yu Chen to the Gospel Mountain City in the north, but he tried his best to dissuade me."

Marina reacted quickly, exclaiming, "So what you were saying to Wang Yu just now, Master..."

“Ambrose told me all of this.”

Xia Lian twitched the corner of her mouth and said in a dry voice, "That old man is good for nothing, but he's really deep and cunning. I guess the reason that Tiffello chose him as his successor was because the two of them were quite compatible in this regard!"

Kachina, who was standing to the side, clicked her tongue and said something fair: "Anyway, as long as there is a problem that you don't like, you will basically say that it is related to His Majesty Tefero."

"It's because that person has absolutely no redeeming qualities!"

Xia Lian snorted and said irritably, "Anyway, Ambrose absolutely refuses to let me take Wang Yu to see Hei Fan this time. Sigh, even that little 'witch' from Academy City has already gone there. Our Wang Yu is at least a legitimate girlfriend, so why can't she go too!"

Kachina: "Yeah, yeah! Why should Wang Yu... Waaaaah!!"

"Don't make things worse."

Marina glared at Kachina, whose mouth she had sealed with her holy words, and turned to Xia Lian, who was holding her, and said with a wry smile, "Didn't you just tell Wang Yu the reason yourself? If she goes now, firstly, it won't be proper, and secondly, she's not strong enough, so she could easily be in danger."

Xia Lian rolled her eyes and said angrily, "Just let me come along. With me by your side, not to mention Wang Yu, even if Hei Fan wanted to pee on the cliff, the Lizard King would have to carefully serve him, afraid that the brat would fall!"

Marina sighed, "Stop being unreasonable. The Knight of Madolan has returned. How could you possibly have the chance to go to the north in person?"

"Humph."

Xia Lian rested her chin on Marina's head in her arms and pouted, "Anyway, I've already made a deal with Ambrose. He's in the right this time, so I won't stoop to his level. But if Wang Yu can break through to the Epic level, he'll have to let Wang Yu move freely."

“Uhuh!!”

Finally breaking free from the Holy Word once again, Kachina gasped for breath and said with some hesitation, "Epic rank isn't that easy to reach. Wangyu has great talent, and she's a chosen one with an affinity for the goddess far surpassing mine and Sister Mary's, but it's only been less than a year since she seriously started diligently studying divine magic. No matter how hard she works, she can't possibly catch up this time..."

"Yeah, I also think she'll most likely miss the trip up north."

Xia Lian sighed and said softly, "So even if Wang Yu is able to go north this time, it's probably because that kid Hei Fan really managed to take care of those Blood Barbarians, but—"

"But what?"

"You guys don't actually think that Black Vane will give up on causing trouble, do you?"

"Uh?"

"Like I said, although I'm not very smart, I've at least lived a long time, so even though I don't know that kid's purpose, I can guess a little bit. That kid definitely won't stop here so easily..."

"..."

"So, even if it's just for Wang Yu's sake, we should give her some motivation."

……

Meanwhile, in the prayer room

【Hi--】

"...?"

My name is Delia, do you remember me?

Chapter 2639: The End