It felt so good to be close to the witch!

This is an incredibly vast underground space, estimated to be several hundred meters high, with countless tiny openings resembling anthills on the surrounding rock walls.

In the center of the giant underground space stood twelve silver metal pillars, each over a hundred meters tall, with a radius of more than ten meters. These twelve silver metal pillars formed a circle, and between every two pillars was a golden energy light screen, making it impossible for outsiders to see the specific appearance inside.

Above the array of twelve metal pillars, a golden eyeball several meters long and closed floats.

"..."

Staring at everything before him, Mars' eyes were filled with utter shock.

From the magic array composed of those twelve metal pillars, he sensed an energy fluctuation as vast as the ocean. Compared to it, he was like a grain of sand in the ocean, so insignificant.

Even a demigod would probably be as insignificant as dust before such a wave of energy.

The thought crossed Mars' mind.

He shifted his gaze from the twelve metal pillars to the second thing that caught his attention.

They were black wooden crosses inserted outside the twelve metal pillars, their surfaces stained with dark red dirt, and hanging from these black wooden crosses were witches who appeared to be unconscious with their heads bowed.

There are nearly a thousand black wooden crosses, and at this moment, about two-thirds of them have been hung with witches.

This scene deeply shocked Mars.

Are these all witches sent from all over the empire recently? No, perhaps we should also include the "stock" of the Privy Cathedral over the years.

Not only were Mars and his group shocked, but Elena, Lilia, and Latie, who had seen the underground space through mind control and shadow creature projection, were also speechless with shock.

Just then, in the underground space, the golden eyeballs above the twelve metal pillars, which had been closed, seemed to sense something and suddenly opened. The pale golden beams of light enveloped the group from the Emerald Feather Province, with several darker golden beams landing on the Divine Punishment Knights controlled by Irina and the witch whose hair contained "black flies".

"Oh no! Disconnect your talent!"

The sudden change caused Lati's expression to change, and she hurriedly said...

Without Lati's prompting, the moment the beam of light struck, Elena and Lilia felt a terrifying sense of being locked onto them. The open golden eye seemed to pierce through the vast distance and layers of rock and soil, landing directly on them.

A streak of azure light rose from the Cathedral of the Privy Council and flew precisely toward the location of the three women. Its speed was probably close to the terrifying Mach 10!

"go!"

Without hesitation or delay, Latie took Elena and Lilia's hands in her left and right hands respectively. In the next instant, ripples spread through the space, engulfing the three of them.

Ultra-long-distance spatial teleportation activated!

Just three seconds after the three left, the azure light crashed down, shattering the earth layer by layer, and turning the suburban forest within a radius of nearly a thousand meters into an icy hell.

A figure slowly rose from the deep pit. The Chief of Divine Punishment stared at the spot where the three women had disappeared, his face extremely grim: "It's like this again... spatial abilities?"

"Space...space...the Witch's Guild, Vice President, the Space Witch Latie...it was you..."

"You're all courting death!"

The Chief of Divine Punishment had a gloomy expression, but noticing the many gazes coming from the direction of the royal city, he temporarily suppressed his anger, transformed into a stream of azure light, and returned to the Privy Cathedral.

……

Blackrock Territory, the lord's residence, a secluded place.

On the bed, Shanika slowly opened her eyes, cold tears sliding down her cheeks. She stared blankly ahead for a long time before she came to her senses.

It was only then that she realized her right hand was being held tightly by a pair of rough but warm hands.

Shanika turned her head and met a pair of eyes full of worry and affection.

"I'm here, don't worry."

A familiar voice flowed into her heart, dispelling the enveloping sorrow. Looking at Roy by the bedside, Shanika murmured softly, "I'm sorry, Young Master Roy, I've worried you..."

"It's alright, it's alright. Your safe return is more important to me than anything else," Roy comforted her gently, tenderly pulling Shani into his arms. "Did you encounter something in the Talent Evolution Space?"

“I saw the Mother Tree of Life swallowed by endless black mud, I saw the world utterly destroyed…” Shanika’s voice was filled with an overwhelming sorrow:

"Original sin and the abyss of evil relentlessly erode the world, causing it to gradually fall into endless darkness..."

"The Mother Tree of Life sacrificed itself to slow down the process of the world's collapse..."

"He divided his power into three parts..."

Through Shanika's sorrowful narration, Roy learned the entire process of Shanika's talent evolution and gradually understood why Shanika was so sad.

So the name of that pitch-black, towering tree is the Mother Tree of Life?

Roy remained silent.

If he still doesn't understand what the scene of Shanica's talent evolution space is like by now, he's simply a fool.

More than 500 years ago, during the Blood Moon War, or even earlier, the invasion of the Abyss arrived silently.

As the Mother Tree of Life in the world, He was the first to notice the anomaly.

However, the terrifying thing about the corruption of the Abyss is that even if you know about it, you are completely powerless to stop it.

We could only watch helplessly as the world was gradually corrupted until, in the end, it was completely destroyed.

That's how things should have been.

However, the World Mother Tree, which is the "Alaya Consciousness" of this world—or "Heavenly Way," "World Consciousness," etc., all mean the same thing—stood up and paid a huge price that Roy could not know. It sacrificed itself and forcibly knocked down the energy level of the entire world, thereby forcing the invasion of the Abyss to stop directly, which is why we have this still vibrant world today.

Roy had always suspected that Shanika's "healing" talent was extraordinary, but he never imagined that her background was this impressive.

In the more than five hundred years since the Blood Moon War, the "healing" talent, or more accurately, the "life healing" talent, has awakened more than once across the vast continent. However, no witch who has awakened the "life healing" talent has ever reached the peak of the Grand rank and achieved a second talent evolution.

So this world has suffered such misery...

Having personally witnessed the invasion of the Abyss in the "Seventh Realm of Original Sin - The Realm of Lust," Roy knew very well just how remarkable it was that the World Tree of Life was able to stop the Abyss's erosion.

Even the god of lust, Tisel, could not stop the invasion of the Abyss in the "Seventh Realm of Original Sin: The Realm of Lust".

The World Mother Tree was able to do this even at an unimaginable cost; in its lifetime, its power was at least on par with that of the Lustful Demon God, Tyzael.

But what puzzled Roy was the meaning of what the World Tree of Life meant when it told Shanika about "the erosion of the Abyss and Original Sin." He knew about the Abyss, but what was Original Sin?

Is there some kind of relationship between the abyss and original sin? And what role does original sin play in this?

Speaking of original sin, Roy thought of the "Original Sin Cube" deep within his soul. What is its connection to original sin?

There was simply too little information for Roy to analyze.

"So, if you want to further evolve your talent, you need to absorb the other two fragments of the World Life Mother Tree's heart, right?"

In response to Roy's question, Shanica, having calmed down, nodded slightly:

"Yes."

"I can sense the approximate locations of these two fragments, one in the far north and the other in the far east. However, with my current strength, I probably can't absorb them. I'll have to wait until I reach the third stage of the Great Witch Realm before I'll be qualified to absorb and digest them."

"There's no rush to find them now."

Roy nodded: "Let's not think about these things for now. You've just completed your evolution, so you need to rest properly."

Shanica nodded obediently, and in Roy's warm embrace, she closed her eyes, her breathing gradually calming down.

Looking at Shanika, whose brows and eyes still seemed strained even after she fell asleep, Roy sighed inwardly.

He knew that this process of talent evolution had left Shanika with indelible memories. On the surface, her emotions had calmed down, but the turmoil in her heart was something she didn't know when it would subside.

After Shanika fell asleep, Roy gently placed her on the bed.

After getting up, he was about to practice the Flame Breathing Technique when suddenly he sensed something. In a flash, he silently rushed out of the hidden place and arrived in the courtyard.

As soon as Roy stepped into the place, he saw Latie, Elena and Lilia, who had fallen from the spatial ripples and were panting heavily.

The border duke arrived even earlier than Roy.

The demigod's perception was stronger than Roy's, so he noticed the anomaly in the space earlier than Roy.

Later than Roy and the Border Duke arrived Fuma and the witches.

"What happened? Are you all alright? Why do you seem to be in such a hurry..."

Roy stepped forward and asked with concern.

"Hu Chi... Hu Chi..."

Lilia took a deep breath and, once her breathing had calmed, spoke: "Lord Roy, we saw what was happening deep inside the Cathedral of the Privy! However, we were detected by a strange golden eyeball inside, and we hurriedly left before a terrifying knight arrived..."

“He is the Chief of Divine Punishment,” Latie added from the side.

"Don't rush, you're safe now that you're back. Tell me slowly," Roy said in a deep voice. "What exactly is the scene like deep within the Privy Cathedral?"

“Let me tell you,” Irina said, her fox ears perking up with excitement. “It was a very, very large underground space, with twelve silver metal pillars, each over a hundred meters tall… and nearly a thousand black wooden crosses, two-thirds of which were bound to witches…”

-

(Thanks to the generous donor "Book Friend 20221201103854332" for the donation!)

Chapter 196 First Visit to Witch Island

After Irina finished speaking, Lilia recounted the story from her perspective, and after hearing it, everyone present fell into a long silence.

"how so……"

The little angel Vivian pursed her lips tightly, her eyes slightly red. The witches bound to the black wooden crosses reminded her of her past self.

If I hadn't met Lord Roy, I probably would have been one of them, right? No, before that, I probably would have already lost control and mutated into a monster...

Ais didn't speak, but her eyes grew even colder.

Although Toni, whose emotions have become detached due to mechanization, is not a citizen of the Kolei Empire, as a member of the witches, her inner emotions are still turbulent.

"An array composed of twelve hundred-meter-tall metal pillars, nearly a thousand witches..." After a long while, the border duke slowly spoke:

"I also have some understanding of the temple's formations. Large formations cannot be powered by the energy of an individual, so they often require the power of a large number of magic crystals or even magic pulse points."

"The royal capital, Saint Fuye, possesses only two giant magic veins within the empire, controlled by the royal family and the temple respectively. The giant magic vein controlled by the temple is located beneath the Cathedral of the Privy Council, which meets the basic requirements for setting up a large-scale array."

"The power of the temple's formation can be simply judged by the number of metal pillars. Two, four, six, eight, ten. Before today, the most powerful temple formation I knew of had only ten pillars. That was the temple's main base, the protective formation of the Holy Mountain."

"A terrifying formation built with twelve metal pillars as its foundation—even I've never heard of such a thing before..."

"Miss Elena, Miss Lilia, do you have a way to recreate the scene? I'd like to observe it more closely; perhaps I can glean some insight into the function of this formation?"

Faced with the Border Duke's question, Elena awkwardly flicked her large tail. She could read what the controlled person saw and heard through mind control, but to share it, she had to first gain mind control. With her current abilities, it was impossible for her to mind control the Border Duke.

Lilia nodded: "No problem, but the images I can present are only in black and white, so some details will be missing."

“No problem, a general outline is enough,” the border duke said readily.