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Before the surrender-fighting mage could finish speaking, he noticed all the mages staring intently at him, so he shrank back and swallowed his words.

Outside the temple, Artoria's Sword of Victory rested on the ground, her eyes closed as she awaited the decision of those inside.

Avalon has been released, enveloping the entire temple and suppressing the space around it, preventing the portal from opening. However, Artoria still held back, ensuring they could connect to the magic network.

"When do you think they're going to come out? They can't just stay inside forever, can they?" Ivan Vanko poked his finger at the ground, utterly bored.

When Ivan Vanko first arrived here, he was quite nervous. After all, he was a mage, a character with a high status in any novel or game. But the current situation disappointed him. They had blocked the door. Even if he couldn't beat them, someone should at least come out and show their attitude.

“Hey, do you think they might just come out and surrender?” Ivan Vanko said again when Kim Bradley didn’t respond.

"They probably won't... come out. Get ready!" Kim Bradley said, then vanished in a flash, his longsword in hand, and went to the other side of the temple.

He and Ivan Vanko were responsible for guarding the sides and back of the London Temple, and Artoria did not want any mage to leave the area without her permission.

Ivan Vanko's expression also turned serious. He placed his hands on the ground, and dozens of alchemical arrays that had been drawn beforehand lit up. The dazzling light illuminated the entire temple and also the white flag in the hands of the person who came out.

Wait... a white flag?

Ivan Vanko blinked, wondering if there was something wrong with his eyes, but no matter how many times he blinked, the white flag he saw was unmistakably there.

Kim Bradley was also a bit confused. Could these mages be any more spineless?

Artoria was extremely disappointed; as a knight, this kind of behavior was the thing she hated most.

As the distance between the two sides closed a bit, the white flag suddenly exploded, and weapons were pulled out of the mages' hands.

A fake surrender?

Artoria suddenly laughed. Although this behavior did not conform to the code of knights, it was at least better than surrendering without a fight.

She released her grip on the Sword of Victory and charged forward empty-handed.

Having lived for over two thousand years, Artoria's combat skills had been honed to perfection, and these mages were like children in her eyes.

Rushing into them was like a tiger among sheep; they quickly took down a whole group of them.

During this process, the mages who tried to break through in other directions were stopped by King Bradley and Ivan Vanko, who were blessed by Avalon.

Once there was no one left standing around, Artoria clapped her hands. Her only assessment of these people was that they were weak.

They were far weaker than mages of that time; their combat power was practically a step backward.

If the Kamar-Taj sorcerer had this level of combat power, even if she were stopped by the Ancient One, Artoria estimated that her Knights of the Round Table could have dealt with these people.

That way, what happened later wouldn't have happened.

This isn't just Yang Qiu adding some elements from the Kamar-Taj sorceress back into Artoria's backstory; it's actually true.

The competition and pressure among mages at that time was immense, stemming from other mages and dimensional invaders.

After the Ancient One unified the entire sorcerer world, later sorcerers no longer needed to directly face dimensional invaders, or rather, those who could directly face them all went with her to the Himalayas.

Other mages also shifted from direct competition to indirect competition, and the role of strength in determining status began to decline.

In addition, the Ancient One controlled all the "dark" spellbooks, cutting off their access to power at great cost. The alternative education did not keep up, which ultimately led to each generation of mages being weaker than the last.

It's true that the Ancient One made great contributions in many aspects, but she was very unqualified in terms of educating sorcerers.

"Their education is over. How many of them will wake up is up to them." Yang Qiu was a little speechless. In his opinion, the performance of the three temple mages was quite unsatisfactory.

Gu Yi smiled slightly. Observing the timeline was much easier and more convenient for her than for Yang Qiu, which was actually not beyond her expectations.

“No, that’s not enough,” the Ancient One said softly.

"What?" Yang Qiu asked back.

"Your next step in the plan is to let the mystical side officially reveal itself to ordinary people, right?" The Ancient One looked at the last fallen London sanctuary with her hands behind her back.

“That’s right. Part of the black pot was originally prepared for these temple mages, but since it’s not being used, it’s all been saved for the next stage,” Yang Qiu nodded.

“Let this performance begin with the end of Kamar-Taj,” the Ancient One said slowly.

Yang Qiu looked at Gu Yi in surprise. Gu Yi was going to completely disband the Kamar-Taj Sorcerer's Guild!

Yang Qiu admitted that he had had this thought. Kamar-Taj was already hindering the progress of his script. However, he quickly dismissed the idea. The Ancient One had been good enough to him. He couldn't go too far and destroy her 500-year-old legacy.

Anyway, keeping Kamar-Taj sorcerer around is just a little troublesome. Wasting some time and taking a few detours is just a way of repaying the Ancient One for her help.

Gu Yi nodded to the surprised Yang Qiu, put on his hood, and left through the portal, leaving behind a single sentence.

"Give me some time, the opportunity will come, and hopefully it will be the opportunity I most want to see."

Chapter 87 The Turbulent World Situation (Part 1)

Several days have passed since the three great temples fell one after another, and in these two days, Earth has ushered in a strange period of peace.

Apart from a few localized armed conflicts, there is no war on Earth, mainly because a certain world police force has calmed down.

Although the conflicts between the cultivation world, the mystical side, and the three great temples of Kamar-Taj were concealed by various barriers and spells, under Yang Qiu's laissez-faire attitude, various major powers found clues from multiple sources.

Even without direct contact with the mystical side, and without any mystical presence on their territory, they still managed to obtain a considerable amount of relevant information from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database.

"Xiao Guan, you've been in contact with them for a while now. What's your assessment of them?"

In a conference room in the capital of China, the leader put down the materials compiled by his think tank and asked Guan Zhen, who was sitting upright, a question.

“He’s someone I can be friends with,” Guan Zhen said, then realized he hadn’t been too simplistic and added.

"Their ideology is unclear, but their internal thinking leans towards exploration and innovation rather than closing themselves off and relying on intense competition to suppress the advancement of newcomers."

The leader nodded; this was largely in line with the speculation of the think tank and Guan Zhen's intuition.

"Another thing that is surprising is that, as individuals with extremely strong individual power, they do not seem to have a sense of being detached from the world, nor do they seem to have any intention of looking down on ordinary people. On the contrary, they regard protecting ordinary people as their own responsibility."

Guan Zhen hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "If we consider personal power as a form of wealth, I think they are much better than many of the people who got rich first. At least they are helping those who are not yet rich, instead of using various means to maintain their monopoly."

The leader nodded, thought for a few seconds, and looked at another leader, "What are the results of the desensitization experiment on Lin Zhengying?"

"The results were surprising. We urgently selected 50,000 people from different industries, ages and family backgrounds to conduct the experiment. In the experiment, we presented them with some of the choices that Mr. Lam Ching-ying faced, changing the possible advantages of magic into other advantages such as connections."

"Of the more than 48,000 valid reports we ultimately collected, only about 30 people reached the same level of self-discipline as Mr. Lam Ching-ying."

"It can be said that Mr. Lam Ching-ying had extremely strong self-discipline, and he always abided by the laws of China, without even committing any violations that could be considered administrative penalties."

Upon hearing this, the leader sighed, "The result wasn't too unexpected. After seeing the relevant exam questions, I also asked myself if I could have done it. The final answer was hard to say, haha."

After chuckling twice to ease the tension, the leader waved his hand and said, "We'll discuss this matter in more detail at this afternoon's meeting. You can give a brief overview of the international situation first. Xiao Guan, listen carefully, and if necessary, you can also send them a message to remind them."

"Yes," Guan Zhen nodded in response.

Another leader then stood up and distributed several documents to the people present.

"According to the intelligence department's analysis, to be cautious, the top 20 countries in the world by GDP have all directly or indirectly become aware of the existence of the cultivation world."

"Currently, apart from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, other countries are actively searching domestically in hopes of establishing connections with the spiritual community. We have also received inquiries from some countries asking whether we have already established stable connections."

"On the Russian side, they are setting up a supernatural academy, but progress is not ideal at present. It seems that the Russian mystical side has not shown a clear attitude, and the reason is currently unknown."

Upon hearing this, Guan Zhen, who had just returned, raised his hand and stood up after receiving a signal from his superior.

"Mr. Lam Ching-ying briefly revealed the reason to me when I returned."

"The decision to renounce the world by the domestic spiritual community and the mystical world abroad was made five hundred years ago."

"The Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, the highest leader of Kamar-Taj and the main guardian of Earth's mystical side for the past five hundred years, had a conversation with the Clock Tower's highest leader, Kiran, and the Heavenly Court's highest leader, Emperor. The content of the conversation is unknown, but it set the tone for seclusion."

"After gaining the approval of Kiran and the Celestial Emperor, the Ancient One met with the other leaders of the mystical forces and finally reached a consensus."

"The largest known force that has violated the rules is the Knights of the Round Table in England, whose supreme leader is the ancient Celt, King Arthur - Artoria Pendragon, who lived more than two thousand years ago."

"The reason for the violation is unknown, but the result is that only one in ten of the Knights of the Round Table survived. It is said that King Arthur was also affected by this incident. A hundred years ago, he was already a half-legendary, but a hundred years later, his strength has regressed instead of improved. Without relying on special equipment, he has fallen out of the first tier."

"By the way, the most recognized combat power at present is the Heavenly Emperor and the sorcerer Kiran. Both of them are figures who have integrated all the supernatural personnel under their command and created a top-level force. The Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, is slightly weaker than them. However, these are just Mr. Lam Ching-ying's guesses when he was bored, because the three of them have never had a direct conflict."

"As for the first tier, Mr. Lam Ching-ying was vague and seemed to have no standard, as if it belonged to the generally accepted category."

"So, although it seems that the three great temples have been breached, this does not seem to affect the relationship between the Ancient One, the Kiran, and the Emperor. According to Mr. Lam Ching-ying, the Ancient One did not have time to manage so many people. The so-called masters of the three great temples were basically left to their own devices. The real masters of Kamar-Taj are all in the Himalayas."

"Therefore, no one has yet received accurate orders on whether to continue and completely eliminate the three temples, nor does anyone know whether the escapist treaty from five hundred years ago is about to be abolished."

"Therefore, the remaining Russian alchemists will absolutely not make any statements until they receive accurate information."

The leader nodded, indicating that he understood, and gestured for the other leader to continue.

"Since Xiao Guan mentioned Britain, let's talk about Britain first."

"Based on our current analysis of the information we have received, intelligence personnel believe that the British leadership seems to be considering expelling King Arthur from Britain."

"Furthermore, according to further intelligence, they seem to want to use the clock tower from the US side to devour one enemy with another."

"Wait, why would they do this?" the leader asked. The document in his hand was a simplified version; the complete analysis would take a long time to read, and since it was just a small meeting, such a complete document was unnecessary.

Another leader quickly flipped through the records in his hand. Not to mention the leader, even he, who was in charge of this area, was initially a little confused when he saw this part, and couldn't understand what the British were thinking at all.

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Madness and Hidden Intentions (Part Two)

After reviewing the documents, the leader also organized his thoughts.

"Based on information analysis, the most likely explanation is that the current leaders of John Bull believe King Arthur was an ancient Celt, and the Celt kingdom was long ago destroyed by the Saxons. If they were to trace their lineage, they would be descendants of the Saxons, so..."

"Just because of this?" Even a high-ranking leader like him couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Artoria is now the strongest known person besides the leaders of those two major forces. Just because of this conjecture, this group of John Bulls wants to drive her to the opposite side of them and drive John Bulls out without making contact.

Even if they really wanted to do that, didn't anyone remind them of the issue of their capabilities?

The opponent possesses extremely high individual strength, making them a troublesome force for any nation. Once they enter a city, they are essentially invincible.

Even if the army is mobilized, it may not be able to win. Various large-scale weapons are also restricted. In addition, the enemy's individual flexibility and speed advantage makes strategies such as strategic retreat completely useless.

To deal with King Arthur in the city, those guys would have to dare drop a nuclear bomb on their own land...

Putting aside how heinous this behavior is, even if it is truly heinous, it's hard to say who the nuclear bomb might land on.

"The main reason is this, and the secondary reason is that someone was fueling the fire behind the scenes."

"We have now discovered lobbying groups from the United States, who are using various means to push forward this expulsion plan."

The leader giving the report began, saying that intelligence personnel had discovered that some hawkish forces were approaching the waters off John Bull, and that John Bull seemed to have received some orders and was not trying to stop them at all; in some places, an additional fleet had appeared overnight.

What? So many?

They're very good at changing the flag and using a self-deceiving tactic, which is exactly what they do when facing a viral outbreak. They bury their heads under the covers and think, "Virus? What virus? It doesn't exist."