The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

Chapter 149 Anomaly

Speranza, the eternal city of holy light, is constantly choked by a deathly silence.

Even though the streets on both sides are paved with extremely pure white porcelain stones that are not stained with a speck of dust.

The raw material for this stone is located deep within the earth's crust, crafted by holy light and magical energy and by master craftsmen, and the price spent on it is immeasurable.

Furthermore, the towering buildings lining both sides of the street are covered with magnificent scriptures praising the gods, carved on every inch of their stone walls.

A faint scent of sandalwood wafted through the air in Speranza.

There was no dust, no chaos, and even the strength and angle of the wind were altered by the holy light to become restrained and rhythmic.

However, this tranquil atmosphere was torn apart by an overwhelming sense of anxiety and anger in the "Council of Judgment" deep within the Holy See Cathedral.

"That idiot Uriel not only lost Hart City, but he also threw away the Church's hard-earned reputation into a cesspool!"

On one side of the long table, an elderly man dressed in a red and black judge's robe slammed his fist on the table and stood up!

It was none other than West, the head of the Holy City's law enforcement, an eighth-rank saint.

The old man's eyes were bloodshot as he slammed a secret letter, sent urgently, onto the table!

"Look at this! The church is collapsed, the embryo is shattered, and those squads didn't even leave behind complete corpses! Do you know what those old mages from Starmoke said?"

He said we were a bunch of giant babies hiding in the womb of holy light!

The sound carried a magical energy that seemed to cause the hems of the clothes of the people around to flutter for a moment.

Discussions erupted in the council chamber.

"I heard that the black-robed alchemist beheaded Uriel in full view of everyone?" A fat cardinal took out a handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead; he knew Uriel's strength all too well.

"The alchemy displayed by that black-robed monster was not conventional at all!"

"And that etheric carrier, damn it—what were we all painstakingly collecting materials for? To give it away to that black-robed monster for free, and then offer our faces to be slapped?!"

Accusations, complaints, anxiety, and fear intertwined beneath the colorful dome.

Only the young man sitting at the head of the long table remained indifferent.

Goethe Isgell, the youngest archbishop in church history, was also Uriel's nominal mentor.

His red and black robes were completely unadorned, except for the thorny sun badge around his neck, which shone brightly under the lamplight.

Tap—tap—

With his fingertips lightly tapping the table, Goethe was bestowing upon each of the saints present a moment of free speech.

"Time's up."

He slowly opened his golden eyes.

The moment that voice fell, the entire noisy council hall seemed to have been instantly drained of all its vitality!

West, who had been grumbling just moments before, immediately shut his mouth, burying his head in his high collar like an ostrich.

"Uriel's death was a foreseeable loss; his failure lay primarily in his inability to control the common people, a stark contrast to Speranza's case."

"But, Lord Goethe, if the rebellion in Hartburgh is not quelled—"

"There is no need for suppression. Only after the waste from Uriel is burned can it become fertile soil suitable for seed growth."

Goethe slowly rose, walked towards the relief map in the center of the hall, and stood before the mural of the gods bowing in submission, bathed in the light falling from the dome.

"Vester, just keep up that 'Eastern Expedition' mentality. Let's see who outlasts whom between you and the old guild master mage sitting in that tower."

Goethe pointed to the crystal tower symbol representing Starmock and continued, "His will is currently beyond the Holy See's capacity to digest, so we will respect the safe haven of truth, and those fish that leave the harbor..."

He turned his head, tossed a token inlaid with a thorny sun pattern onto the table, and said coldly.

"Pass on my decree: issue an order to exterminate alchemists."

At that moment, a red magic net instantly pierced through the map, covering the entire continent of Mankade!

"I will make all the alchemists on the continent either kneel at the foot of the cross or die on the cross."

West rose and bowed, asking in a deep voice, "What about the most threatening one, Junevo Sol? His reputation has reached its peak, I'm afraid—"

"Ha, that's a monster—he's the most fitting 'ascension model'."

Goethe pulled a piece of parchment from his sleeve, bit his fingertip, and wrote in gold ink on it.

"Uriel made a relatively correct decision before he died. Do you remember the 'objectification of God' plan there?"

"That place holds the remains of countless experimental failures and the life force of victims, and now, that life force is being transformed into the most primal curse with Uriel's detonation."

Goethe ripped open the curtains of the French windows, a ferocious grin spreading across his face.

"Only those who survive deserve to meet me —"

"Go, go and carry out my will—I want to see whether they build the house first or are devoured by their own family."

He left the council chamber first, leaving behind only a lingering chill.

On the ruins of the former cathedral in Hart.

The sun was setting, and a crimson glow fell on Yunefu's shoulder. He stood before a stone beam that hadn't yet been moved, feeling the [Root of the Sand Sea] throbbing restlessly.

The wind blew in from the south, carrying the stench of decay after a period of abundance.

"Wayne Forest, huh?" he murmured, but couldn't help recalling the "assimilation phenomenon" he had seen on the surface.

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It seems that the source of this assimilation may not only be the ancient iron-core tree, but also the product of the "materialized god" at a deeper level.

However, Uriel was already dead, and Lao Liu had not received any news of the white-robed men infiltrating—there should have been no one in charge of this project.

"The atmosphere in the forest is chaotic, Yunefu—the capacity of this atmosphere far exceeds that of the creatures devoured by the dried-up sea worms."

.

Iseria appeared behind him without his noticing, and in her view, the once lush forest was "wriggling" at an abnormal speed.

The roots of every tree are entwined with a sticky sorrow, and the veins of every leaf tell a story of a painful past.

Those beings imprisoned in the laboratory, those failed divine vessels—at this moment, they were forcibly mixed together by a torrent called "Calamity," rushing towards this newborn heart.

"It seems this holy water is indeed much thicker than I imagined."

As Yunevo pinched his cheek, he couldn't help but think of the distant Speranza.

When the monster tide invades—will they take advantage of the chaos?

Or will they wait until Hart recovers before launching a thunderous attack again?

"Iseria, call a meeting with the people in charge in the city."