I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

As a professionally trained individual, the "Thousand-Faced Apostle" believed it was impossible for anyone to approach silently without being detected.

But then that hand patted his shoulder, and he hadn't felt anything beforehand.

Looking at the other person's face, which quickly switched from surprise to wariness, Ji Tian suddenly realized that his earlier "Please stay" had not really had any calming effect.

Sigh, it seems my social skills still need improvement.

Instead of wasting time talking, let's take action.

Before the other person could speak, he raised his hand and slapped him to sleep.

At the same time, Ji Tian made a hand seal with his other hand, and an invisible barrier instantly enveloped the two of them.

Sounds, sights, and magical fluctuations were all locked within a three-foot radius.

Elena stood a short distance away, watching Ji Tian's swift and decisive movements, and asked in a low voice, "Who is he?"

"I will know once I search the soul." Ji Tian placed his hand on the man's crown, his divine sense like a needle piercing into the man's sea of ​​consciousness.

The Nascent Soul stage cultivator's divine sense was powerful and precise; the other party's memories were like a haphazardly stacked book, with each page unfolding before him.

From the moment he devoured Edmund, to the scene of his conspiracy with a certain grey-robed man, and even earlier in his training, infiltration, and awaiting orders...

However, Ji Tian's brows quickly furrowed.

He discovered that many of these memories showed signs of breakage and repair—as if someone had used a fine scalpel to cut off certain parts and then sewed on another piece of cloth, a rather skillful technique.

He even discovered an extremely hidden seal deep within this soul, beneath which was a brand with the name "Disciple of the Third Apostle of the Order of Light" engraved on it.

This is not the real "Thousand-Faced Apostle," but most likely that person's apprentice, a substitute carefully modified by the real person.

The altered memories mostly revolve around a conspiracy involving a member of the Augustus family.

Ji Tian withdrew his divine sense and began to consider some possibilities.

Elena asked nervously, "How is it?"

Ji Tian glanced down at the unconscious man on the ground. "He was just a pawn, but his very existence was a fuse. Someone wants to use him to start a storm."

He offered no further explanation, dragged the unconscious fake apostle to a roadside bench, and reached out again. His spiritual power seeped into the apostle's body like threads, flowing upstream along the magical pathways to find the imprisoned soul.

Within the merged memories of the other party, he discovered that this fake "Thousand-Faced Apostle" had not yet had time to directly annihilate the soul of the one being devoured for some reason.

found it.

Edmund Caster's original soul did not dissipate; it was merely suppressed and imprisoned deep within his consciousness by a forbidden technique.

His consciousness was already blurred, and most of his memories had been stripped away, but his soul was still there. As long as the soul was not destroyed, there was still a chance to make amends.

"You're lucky to have met someone who can 'rewind time.' If it were anyone else, you'd be doomed, even though I'm not very skilled at it yet."

After saying that, Ji Tian clenched his hands, and golden spiritual power condensed into a small vortex in his palms. "Time Reversal" was suddenly activated.

He had only used it on a piece of clothing before, and had never tried using it on a living person, but he already had a sense of the difference between living and inanimate things.

He only rewound time to three days ago, the morning before Edmund was devoured, when the imprisoned consciousness deep within his soul seemed to be pulled from deep water by a hand, slowly rising to the surface...

A moment later, the young man on the ground trembled slightly and slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were cloudy for a moment, then gradually focused.

He saw Ji Tian, ​​his lips moved, and he uttered a hoarse, breathy voice: "Where...am I?"

It seems we succeeded. As expected of Ji Tian!

He had no interest in answering the other person's three philosophical questions. He simply raised his hand and tapped the other person's forehead, stuffing the fragments of memory that had been stripped away back into his sea of ​​consciousness.

Edmund's body shuddered violently, then he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep—this time, a true sleep.

Ji Tian stood up, dusted off his robes, and said, "After he wakes up, he won't remember what happened these past few days. I've also erased those altered memories. He'll think he came to school normally."

Elena stayed by Ji Tian's side, watching his various actions in disbelief.

Ji Tian looked down at his palm. The soul of the "fake apostle" he had just knocked unconscious had been extracted and condensed into a hazy ball of light, hovering between his fingers.

His original body was hidden in a hotel outside the academy, while the true mastermind, the "Thousand-Faced Apostle," was located—

Ji Tian raised his head and looked towards the northern horizon.

With insufficient information, we can only determine the general direction, but the exact location is still unknown. We can only hope that the other party will do something else and reveal their true intentions.

Ideally, the other person should take the initiative to perform divination or predict one's future, so that one can then reposition oneself in a different light.

……

at the same time

In an abandoned basement on the outskirts of the capital.

The candlelight was dim, and the air was filled with the smell of old wood and rotting straw. The basement walls were covered with twisted runes that flickered in the firelight, like writhing snakes.

A figure knelt before the altar.

He wore a dark gray cloak, the hood covering most of his face, revealing only a pale chin and a pair of eyes that gleamed with a dark red light.

Before him lay a black page, on which was only a blurry, ever-changing shadow, as if it were alive.

The sacred artifact of the Order of Light, the "Book of Seven Pages," theoretically possesses the ability to rewrite reality and distort history, but the price is extremely high; no one in the Order has yet been able to activate the complete "Book of Seven Pages."

This book was divided into seven parts, each held by an apostle. Its power, scope of influence, and cost were greatly reduced: it could only exert its maximum effect when logically sound, its scope of influence was only as large as that of ordinary church relics, and the maximum cost was no more than the holder dying from blood loss.

What he held in his hand at that moment was one of those pages.

He bit his index finger and wrote on that page with his own blood.

The handwriting was crooked and uneven, yet it carried a strange, undeniable power:

"After Prime Minister Augustus came to power and learned of the actions of his family's front man, he was eager to eliminate the Order of Light in one fell swoop, but it seemed unwise to rely solely on his own power. So he outwardly agreed to the Order's request, but in reality, he arranged for his second son to prepare to report him when the 'Thousand-Faced Apostle' officially took action."

"The word 'Apostle' naturally attracts the attention of the Church. Even Augustus's arrival is not as fast as the Academy's higher-ups. At that time, the relationship between the Order and the Prime Minister's family will be exposed. And while the three major powers of the Royal Family, the Academy, and the Church are focusing their attention on the Academy and the Order of Light located in the North."

"I, the true 'Apostle of a Thousand Faces,' will use the portion of believers who migrated from the North to the slums of the capital as anchor points to launch an unprecedented sacrifice within the capital, to please the light in my heart."

After he finished writing, he slowly ran his finger across the end of the page, checking if the logic was sound: the prime minister wanted to break away from the cult after taking office; the church rejected what they called "heretics"; the students of the Royal Capital Magic Academy were devoured, and the forbidden library was almost invaded, so they certainly wouldn't let it go...

The "Thousand-Faced Apostle" nodded, and finally left a line of crimson words on the page with his blood:

"That makes sense."

The dark red lettering on the page slowly seeped into the paper, disappearing as if swallowed up.

Immediately, a faint glow emanated from the entire page of the book, as if some higher-level power was responding to him.

He raised his head, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

The capital city is about to become an altar for sacrifices.

Those powerful figures who think they control everything are merely pawns on his "Thousand-Faced Apostle" chessboard.

That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?