The most shameless alchemist in history

This sudden turn of events stunned everyone. The believers of the cult were awakened by the explosion. They stared blankly at the burning church, the ground shaking. The church, which had been magnificent during the day, collapsed amidst the raging flames and violent shaking.

"What's going on? Why is the church on fire? And what's all this noise... Oh my god, is this a punishment from the goddess?" One believer was confused and couldn't explain the terrible scene. He could only attribute it to the work of the gods and immediately prostrated himself on the ground.

"No, how could the goddess burn down the church that worships her? This must be the work of the devil, the devil!" Some people blamed the devil, which caused great panic. A large number of guards rushed to put out the fire, and believers also joined the firefighting efforts.

The fire near the church had already been put out once before, but this fire, caused by a series of explosions, was undoubtedly much more serious than before. A steady stream of injured people were carried out, and the cries of howl and grief blended together, making it a sleepless night.

Fortunately, the explosion gave the brothers Kotetsu and Kogen, who had hurriedly escaped the church, a temporary respite. They looked at the raging fire behind them and were not quite sure what was going on, because even if Zefa was ruthless, he would not blow up his own church.

"What exactly caused this fire..." Kotetsu asked in surprise and doubt; the commotion it caused was simply too great.

"It's gunpowder from the warehouse." After thinking carefully for a while, Hu Yuan quickly came to a conclusion.

"What gunpowder?" Kotetsu was taken aback, not quite understanding what his younger brother was talking about.

"The cult recently brought back a batch of weapons from the West, including a large number of new gunpowder guns and gunpowder, which are stored in the underground warehouse. However, the warehouse should be safe, with that fat man guarding it, nothing should happen..." Hu Yuan also fell into thought.

"Fatty? What fat guy?" Kotetsu had too many questions, so now was the perfect time to ask his younger brother.

“I don’t know where he came from. They’re not from the cult. There are four of them: a woman, a fat man, a boy (the one you fought earlier), and another guy whose appearance I don’t know. He always wears a black robe.”

Hu Yuan carefully recalled and came up with all that he could think of, and roughly described the appearance of the four people to Hu Che.

"That boy has the strength of the Flame Rank. What about the other three? Could they all be at least at the Flame Rank?" Hu Che recalled his battle with the boy Ji Ying with lingering fear. He had barely escaped with his life, and was only a hair's breadth away from dying under Ji Ying's shield-breaking sword.

"I don't know about the man in black robes; I haven't seen him make a move. But the woman and the fat man are both at least Flame Rank." Hu Yuan confirmed this, and an incredulous expression appeared on his face. Even though he was a high-ranking figure in the cult, he couldn't figure out the origins of these people.

"So, four people with the strength of Flame Rank or above suddenly came to the Order? This kind of thing... to be able to move such a number of Flame Rank experts, this is something that can only be done at the national level." As the captain of the envoy's guard, Hu Che knew that Flame Rank experts were rare in a country.

The sudden appearance of four such individuals is undoubtedly a formidable fighting force.

“They appeared a week ago. Zefa didn’t tell me anything about them. Zefa is the only one in the entire cult who knows their background. You know how Zefa works. If he wants you to know something, you will know it. If he doesn’t want you to know something…”

Hu Yuan paused here, a hint of sadness appearing in his eyes, because Zefa had always been an important companion to him.

"He doesn't want you to know the answers. No matter how hard you try to guess, you'll never find out, right?" Kotetsu said what Kogen hadn't said. He knew his former best friend very well, and his eyes were filled with complex emotions.

"Yes." Hu Yuan nodded in affirmation. He had been with Zefa for about thirty years.

"He's still the same as ever, with the same personality he had when he was young. Back then, we said he was mature beyond his years, like an old man with a deep mind. But we never expected that after so many years, even though we're almost old ourselves, he'd still be the same," Kotetsu sighed.

“No, he’s different from before, he’s a completely different person.” Hu Yuan shook his head and suddenly fell silent.

“You’re absolutely right, he’s completely changed, and it’s all my fault.” Kotetsu thought for a moment and agreed with Kogen’s words.

“No, it’s not your fault. Even if you hadn’t left back then, he would have ended up like this sooner or later. I knew it from the moment he decided to become a priest instead of joining the samurai order.” Hu Yuan was usually a man of few words.

When he was young, he was not good at speaking and always stood behind his older brother. Whenever something happened, his older brother would step forward to solve it for him. As a result, many people said that he was a coward hiding in his older brother's back. When he was a child, many people would make fun of him for this.

Even many people around Hu Yuan advised him, "He's so big, why be so weak? Be tougher when things happen, so people won't look down on him!"

Hu Yuan always responded with a smile, and he never took those gossips to heart. This was not because he was really weak. In fact, once when someone spoke ill of his brother, he single-handedly beat more than a dozen people on the other side until they were unable to move.

He never boasted about it, because he thought it made no difference whether he did it or his brother did it. Since he did it, why shouldn't he just stay in the background? It was a very simple question that he didn't want to bother thinking about.

He was a silent observer, and he saw and remembered everything Kotetsu and Zephyr did. So when his brother ran away, he was confused, lost, and angry, but he didn't blame him.

Because he knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, just as he knew Zefa would eventually end up on this path.

"Really? Zefa used to be very kind. If it weren't for..." Kotetsu thought of someone from long ago. Back then, there weren't just him, Kotetsu, and Zefa; there was another person, making a total of four.

“It’s all in the past. I can’t even remember what she looked like.” Hu Yuan shook his head, interrupting Hu Che.

“That’s true. There aren’t that many ‘what ifs’ in this world. So, what about us… um? Who’s over there?” Kotetsu nodded gently, as if he had returned to his glorious youth, those were such spirited years!

But almost twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye, and gray hairs have begun to appear at my temples. How much of the dream I cherished in my youth has I actually achieved?

Just as Kotetsu was feeling sentimental, he noticed a figure flickering in the distance, which immediately put him on alert.

"Don't be nervous, Uncle Kotetsu, it's us. How are you? And who's next to you..." The flickering figure revealed his true identity. Upon seeing who it was, Kotetsu relaxed his guard, because it was none other than Du Lei and Hyo-o.

"I'm fine. This is my younger brother, Hu Yuan. You met him during the day." Hu Che pointed to Hu Yuan and gave a brief introduction.

“But wasn’t he our enemy during the day?” Leopard Tail was wary of Tiger Source.

“Since Uncle Kotetsu says he’s alright, then he must be fine. But you seem to be injured?” Du Lei went up to check on Kotetsu’s condition and found that Kotetsu was seriously injured with multiple knife wounds on his body.

“Likewise, you’re not much better off.” Kotetsu grinned, pointing at Hyobi and Durei.

“Looks like you’ve been through a fierce battle. Now that we’ve reunited, let’s get out of here quickly.” Du Lei smiled knowingly and didn’t ask any more questions. He looked at the raging fire behind him, which was all his doing.

"How is Miss Wenli?" Kotetsu was more concerned about Wenli's situation, because he had not seen Wenli since they were taken away.

"Don't worry, Miss Winry is safe. We're going to meet them now," Dure told Huttetsu to put his mind at ease.

"Did you set that fire?" Hu Yuan suddenly asked Du Lei.

"What?" Du Lei looked at Hu Yuan in surprise, not understanding why he would ask such a question.

"You detonated the explosives in the underground warehouse, didn't you? Only detonating the explosives could have caused the entire church to collapse." Hu Yuan's expression was somewhat grave.

“This…the cult is involved in arms trafficking in private, we are just…” Leopard Tail saw Dure being questioned and stepped forward to try to explain and exonerate him.

“It was indeed me who detonated it.” Dure waved his hand, signaling Leopard Tail to step aside, and then nodded.

"Do you know that blowing up the church will have a chain reaction, which will involve many innocent soldiers?" Hu Yuan demanded sternly.

“I know,” Dure replied calmly in a soft voice.

"Now that you know this, can you still do it with a calm mind?" Hu Yuan stepped forward and grabbed Du Lei's collar.

"Huyuan..." Hu Che tried to go forward and persuade his younger brother, but he knew Huyuan's personality too well and knew that it would be useless for him to persuade him.

"This is the most favorable situation for the current situation. This explosion can not only get us out of our predicament, but also directly disintegrate the cult. It's a win-win situation. Even if I had to do it again, I would still choose to detonate the explosives. If I have to blame someone, blame those people for storing the weapons in the church's basement of the church!" Du Lei responded righteously to Hu Yuan's question.

This left Hu Yuan momentarily stunned, unsure how to respond for a long while.

487. Utilization Value

The two fires that Herenburg experienced in one short night, to some extent, changed the future of the Order of Light. If the first fire had successfully burned Winry and her group to death, the Order of Light would have had a bright future, at least in the Mountain Kingdom.

Unfortunately, the first fire failed, and Winry and the others escaped. This made Bishop Zephyr very anxious, but he remained calm. He knew that everything was still under control, that he could still salvage the situation, and that he had a backup plan. But the second fire made him completely despair.

Outside the rumbling ruins of the church, a large number of religious guards were trying to put out the fire. If it were just burning, it would be one thing, and some things could be salvaged. But the situation facing the church was not just about being burned down; the entire foundation of the church had collapsed.

Even after the fire was extinguished, the extremely luxurious church was completely reduced to ruins. Bishop Zephat knew this very well. He stood there blankly, unmoved by the people running around him. Even with the raging fire and scorching heat, he couldn't help but shiver.

"My church... my church... is it all over just like that?" This all happened too suddenly for Bishop Zefa. He had painstakingly built it up for many years, and he never expected that so many years of hard work would be destroyed in an instant. Just a second ago, he was still planning his grand vision for the future.

But the next second, all his ideas and ideals were destroyed with that deafening roar. Even someone as mentally strong and composed as him had his lips turn blue and purple. He knew he had no chance to rise again; he would never have another twenty years of youthful vigor.

Just as Bishop Zephat was teetering on the brink of collapse, two pairs of eyes were coldly watching him from a short distance away. In the vast Harrenhal, there were not many people who dared to look at him with such eyes; to be precise, there were only four, and two of those four were already dead.

"That idiot Zefa always thinks he's someone important, that he can make a name for himself with his meager abilities. He takes himself too seriously, but he doesn't realize that in our eyes he's just a tiny ant, an ant that has lost its usefulness," someone said sarcastically.

The person who spoke was dressed in a black robe, which covered him from head to toe, making it difficult to see his appearance. Judging from his build, he was of medium height and not tall. His voice was hoarse, and it was difficult to determine his age, but his eyes were particularly deep-set.

“Poison Kiss and Matan have both been killed. They were both Flame-rank magic users. Where did these experts from little Harrenburg come from?” A young man next to the black-robed man gritted his teeth in hatred. He spoke resentfully. If Bishop Zephat saw him, he would definitely recognize him.

He was none other than the very same person who had stood before Bishop Zephyr not long ago, helping him deal with Kotetsu's Shadow.

"Their deaths were indeed unplanned, just like the Night Ravens who died in the Snow Country a few months ago. However, our mission objective has been achieved, so they can be considered to have died a worthy death." The man in black robes was quite open-minded about the deaths of his companions, and his reaction was very calm.

"So what should we do next? Aren't we going to kill them?" Ji Ying wasn't as easygoing as the man in black robes. He was still resentful of the people who killed his companions, and what bothered him even more was Hu Che, who escaped right under his nose. He didn't want to let them go so easily.

“No need, let’s leave here… Hmm?” Just as the man in black robes was about to turn and leave, someone walked towards him.

"It was you! You did it all!" Bishop Zepha rushed towards them, pointing at the man in black and shouting his accusations.

"What do you mean we did it? Hey, uncle, you'd better watch your mouth." Jiying had never taken Zefa seriously. He glared coldly at Zefa, not expecting Zefa to suddenly rush over at this moment.

“I had questioned the location of the arms storage long ago, but you insisted on storing the arms in the church’s basement, saying it would be convenient to retrieve them, and that you would send people to guard it to ensure everything would be safe. The result was that the arms exploded and the church collapsed completely…” Bishop Zefa clenched his fists.

He was trembling with rage. He hadn't come to find the man in black robes for no reason. He had many suspicions before, but he hadn't shown them because of the man's powerful background. Now that this had happened, he finally vented all his dissatisfaction.

"Uncle, you have to be responsible for your words. You can't just frame us for this." Jiying stepped forward and threatened, while Captain Rafa behind Bishop Zefa immediately led his guards to surround the black-robed man and Jiying.

“This is not a frame-up. If it weren’t for the intruders who set the fire, you would have definitely set fire to the church and blown it up afterward. This is consistent with your usual style of doing things. I should have expected this.” Bishop Zephat suffered a heavy blow.

Even so, he managed to sort out his thoughts immediately.

"Then why should we do this? We went through so much trouble to transport the weapons here, only to burn them all. What good does that do us?" The man in black robes waved for Jiying to step aside, and then asked Bishop Zefa a question.

“The arms deal is just a pretext. Your real purpose is not arms, but…” Bishop Zephat’s lips moved slightly, uttering a single, barely audible word only to the man in the black robes and himself.

"How did you know such a thing?" The black-robed man, who had been very composed, suddenly changed his expression and pointed at Bishop Zephat, shouting angrily.

"Hahahaha, just as I thought, just as I thought!" Bishop Zefa laughed wildly, his laughter both manic and desolate.

"Clearly an ant, yet daring to look up at the vast sky, you're just asking for death!" The black-robed man's voice was like a taut bowstring, his gaze fixed on Bishop Zefa, revealing a sinister intent.

"Your Excellency, please give the order!" Although Captain Rafa next to him didn't understand what was going on, he could roughly guess that the black-robed man in front of him bore an inescapable responsibility for the current state of the Order.

"So, boss, what do you need me to do?" At the same time, Ji Ying, who was next to the man in black robes, also asked for his opinion.

"Kill them all. Since he wants to die, grant his wish and let him go to see his goddess." The man in black robes turned and left.

"You won't get away!" Captain Rafa led his men in pursuit, trying to block his escape route.

"I understand. Killing is something I'm best at, and I never get tired of it, hehehehe, here I come!" Jiying gripped his short sword, a fierce glint in his eyes, and charged towards Captain Rafa and Bishop Zefa!

488 The Changes in the Order

Hu Yuan was very dissatisfied with Du Lei's act of setting fire to the church and destroying it. He originally wanted to reprimand Du Lei, but the latter's attitude was very tough and he was completely unrepentant. This made Hu Yuan stunned and he didn't know what to say to him for a moment, and the situation became deadlocked.

Kotetsu was also caught in a dilemma, because Kogen was his younger brother and Du Lei was his companion, making it difficult for him to choose which one to help. Moreover, both of them had their own reasons, and he could not distinguish right from wrong. In the distance, the fire was still burning fiercely.

"Who are those people up ahead... Mr. Dure? And Mr. Kotetsu? That's great, you're all safe and sound." Just then, a voice came from not far away. Dure immediately turned his head and saw Wenli, Bailing, and the others walking over.

“Miss Winry? What are you doing here? Aren’t you…” Dure was surprised by Winry’s appearance, because Winry had clearly been unconscious and had a high fever, and should have been resting in bed, but now she was standing in front of him.

“Miss Winry woke up shortly after you left. She saw that something terrible had happened at the church—a fire and an explosion—and she was worried. She insisted on coming to find you, and thankfully she found you.” Bailing breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Dure and the others.

"Don't just talk about them, there's me too. Miss Winry, you don't look too good. Are you alright?" Leopard Tail was quite dissatisfied that Winry only addressed Dure and Kotetsu, so he came over. He originally wanted to complain a bit, but Winry's pale and bloodless face worried him.

“Of course, there’s also Mr. Leopard Tail. By the way, this is…” Wen Li said with a smile, then turned her attention to Hu Yuan. She had a good memory and remembered seeing Hu Yuan once before, but at that time they were on opposite sides.

"He is my younger brother, Huyuan. I was able to escape thanks to him," Huche quickly explained.

“So it’s Mr. Hu Yuan.” Wen Li nodded and smiled at Hu Yuan.

"Oh my god, what happened to the church...?" Behind Winry and her group, Connie also came over. She looked at the burning church in the distance in astonishment. As a devout believer, she also began to pray upon seeing this scene.

“There were some minor mishaps, but I think… Bishop Zefa’s hard-earned business over the years is now completely ruined.” Dure turned to look at the raging fire. He didn’t say that it was his doing, after all, it wasn’t something to brag about.