Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

A dreamlike scene slowly emerged from the shimmering purple crystal ball. Thick black spread out and covered the entire surface of the ball, but upon closer inspection, one could see a crack-like ray of light splitting the darkness in an extremely fine place, and a vortex-like white light engulfing the surrounding black.

This is a view of the deep sea at a depth of 28000 meters. The prophets used their extraordinary skills to further distort it and then rendered it onto a crystal ball in a form that humans can understand.

That crack is the unfinished sanctuary owned by the Moen royal family.

The vortex is the homeland of the spirit ravens, the sanctuary of the Raven King Shrike, Saint Vincent's contractor, and the Laurel Grove.

Hussein looked at the crystal ball and exclaimed, "Has the location of these two sanctuaries already been determined? How lucky! Prophet Amir said before that we could probably only find one sanctuary between 20,000 meters and the critical layer."

"I didn't expect there to be another one. These crows actually delivered themselves to our doorstep."

Several young prophets who were observing the ceremony clapped their hands excitedly and said, "If we can take down the Laurel Forest, won't we leave a good impression on the Great Prophet?"

"Definitely. But speaking of which, no wonder we couldn't find the Laurel Grove before. These crows were so cunning that they just happened to hang the Sanctuary at this water level. Who would have thought!"

"This is probably what the ancient sages meant by losing one thing and gaining another. Our node was destroyed, but we ended up finding a new sanctuary."

"This is probably the principle of alchemy! Although I don't really like those alchemists, I have to admit that their principles make sense."

The cheers grew louder and louder, and these young prophets all felt that they were about to be promoted.

Hussein, who hadn't interrupted earlier, said now, "Alright, alright, don't be complacent."

"We haven't taken Laurel Forest yet. We need to wait for our colleagues in Golden Moon Bay to take down the Raven King and for Prophet Amir to return before we can plan to take Laurel Forest. Everyone, prepare yourselves well now. Today is the full moon, a rare opportunity. Everyone must ensure that their souls are in perfect condition."

"understand!"

"clear."

Seeing that the young prophets were not arrogant, Hussein nodded in satisfaction and was about to go downstairs, but before he could take a step...

On the chair, the prophet on the left suddenly opened his eyes.

"Hussein! I see it, something is sinking!"

The prophet on the right also opened his eyes, his cloudy green pupils filled with fear and uncertainty.

He exclaimed in shock, "It's a deep-sea turbulence, no doubt about it! It's a deep-sea turbulence! It's huge, and the intensity of the turbulence is much stronger than the turbulence we had recently!"

Hussein stopped in his tracks, also taken aback.

——Deep sea turbulence!

There are only two possibilities for the appearance of deep-sea turbulence: one is that a sanctuary is rising or sinking, and the other is that a spirit is diving into the deep at an extremely high speed.

The former is large and stable, while the latter is small and volatile.

But what's going on with this deep-sea turbulence?

What does it mean to be both large-scale and intense?

Hussein asked, "Is it the Bloodthorn that was pulled up and floated to the surface by the Hand of Transformation some time ago?"

The prophet immediately shook his head: "Impossible! The water level in Bloodthorn has already risen to 20,000 meters; it's impossible for it to affect this location."

"That is......"

Before Hussein could finish speaking, there was a crisp "crack" of breaking glass, followed by a loud cry!

"Yo yo yo—"

He turned around in alarm, immediately sensing something was wrong, and shouted, "Everyone run! Get away from the ceremony!"

The elderly prophet, who had been lightly placing his hand on the crystal ball, let his palm fall limply onto the sphere, and two long streams of purplish-red blood flowed from his eyes. At this moment, his life or death was unknown.

The crystal ball, cracking and shattering, revealed a colossal beast, comparable to a laurel grove, slowly drifting in the deep sea.

Its whale-like body covered the dark seawater, its eyes were larger than laurels, and the edges of its eyelids were glowing with a dark gold color. The fine scales covering its entire body had a faint fluorescence and now occupied most of the crystal ball.

—Before Hussein and the many prophets could escape this place.

Dark seawater filled the cracks in the crystal ball, instantly covering the floor and spreading downstairs. Wherever it flowed, movement and thought became impossible.

All the prophets were frozen in place like statues.

The layers of scales that occupied most of the crystal ball began to wriggle, like silver-gray inchworms or metallic silkworms, all of them starting to move.

From the gap created by the movement, lobsters crawled out of the flesh and fell through the cracks in the shattered crystal ball. Countless small lobsters huddled together on the ground.

Moonlight streamed into the second floor of the astrology shop, where all was quiet except for the rustling sound of shells grinding together.

................

In his bedroom on the third floor of his father's antique shop next door, Lundell Mercury, who was writing a letter, sensed danger.

Hmm...it looks somewhat familiar.

He put down his pen and checked the direction again—hiss, what kind of shady cult ritual are those prophets performing?

That doesn't make sense either. They're cultists. What kind of cult ritual could make them feel dangerous?

Londel went outside and beckoned a deacon over, patting him on the shoulder and saying, "Go to the prophet's astrology shop next door and find out what they're doing, making sure you're safe. If you can get to the second and third floors, go up and take a look."

The deacon felt he had been appreciated by the archbishop and was quite pleased. "I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

Lundl waved goodbye to the acolyte and returned to his bedroom to continue writing the letter. Finally, he wrote the address "Ansu Silver Castle" at the very beginning of the letter.

Half an hour later, there was a rapid knocking at the door.

Upon opening the door, he saw the abbot covered in sweat and asked, "Have you found out everything?"

The deacon wiped his sweat. "Archbishop, something's strange!"

"How to say?"

"They all seem to have been subjected to a time-stopping ritual! And, and..."

“That’s strange,” Lundell said, “but it’s none of our business, we don’t need to worry about it. Anything else?”

The assistant priest hesitated before arriving:

"Nothing else, but it seems those prophets have changed their business. They've switched from divination to aquaculture."

Chapter 316 Friendly and Kind-hearted Sulph

On the surface of the shattered crystal ball, the spirit whale that covered most of the sky like a dark cloud slowly moved away, and the sun slowly rose.

Not far from the Laurel Grove, the Upside-Down Temple landed steadily.

Tia slightly raised her hand on the altar, and the temple parted the viscous, deep seawater, settling at a depth of 28000 meters. Her own gaze pierced the boundary between the deep sea and reality, and through that small crystal ball, she saw the scene inside the astrology shop.

Neither she nor the group of deep-sea spirits beside the temple could actually influence reality. She could project the temple and its byproducts into the real world, but she'd still need the coordinates of an enemy!

As luck would have it, those prophets actually started probing the deep sea.

As the saying goes, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

Branna and Freya quickly noticed the gaze directed at Laurel Forest and promptly reversed its location. Tia, upon learning this, slapped her hand in frustration and, without letting Little Red actively pull the temple down, directly used the ghost ship's properties to project a portion of the spirit whale.

Projection comes at a price, and Tia timed it perfectly, sinking exactly three thousand meters.

"The distance is just right, but using water depth as a sacrifice for projection is a bit costly. And these people are actually from the Wisdom Palace, what a headache... Freya, how's the situation at Golden Moon Bay now?"

Tia, hanging upside down above the altar, cracked her joints, opened her eyes, and looked back at the temple, where she saw Freya, who had been waiting for a long time.

"We've just located the shrike. Would you like me to show you the specific images?" Freya asked respectfully, though a little apprehensive, not daring to look directly at Tia.

It wasn't that I was particularly scared; this witch was quite easygoing and cute. However, she was suspended upside down in mid-air, and her clothes were a projection of reality—the dress that clung to her skin was fine against gravity normally, but whenever Tia's soul returned to the material world, the anti-gravity effect would disappear, and then everything would fall down with a thud.

And this witch doesn't usually wear baggy pants or anything like that, which is even more terrifying when she comes to the temple in her pajamas or even naked in real life.

Although the true form in the temple was more like an exquisite ceramic doll than a physical body, with no organs and very smooth, it was still very unsightly—although she didn't know what unsightly meant, but since that's what Branna said, it must mean something very bad!

Freya was left with a deep psychological trauma from the last time she cooked up some terrible food.

But today, Miss Tia still had a human form, and her voice echoed in the temple, "Don't look at it yet. Save the video and tell me about the situation on the Shrike's side first."

Freya said, "Everything is back under control, my lord! After you extended your tentacles into the material world and destroyed the prophets' stronghold, most of the enemies attacking Shrike retreated. According to Shrike himself, even the Sequence 4 has left. There are probably three prophets still pursuing them."

"But the Knights of Golden Moon Bay arrived just in time. Grand Knight Lord Lovisa Bal, a Sequence 4 knight stationed locally, led three squads of knights to help relieve the siege. Now, Raven should be recuperating at the Knights' place."

"Then it's safe! But is the shrike seriously injured?"

"Ah! No! It said the Knights are all good people, and they even offer it delicious wine. They're much better than those stinking intellectuals in the church, and much better than those lousy witches!"

Tia was unfazed by this; in fact, she was quite pleased.

Wow, she can even stand on equal footing with the church!

As for the shrike being fickle, it doesn't matter. Can it endure for XX years, become a super god in the Knights, and then return as the Dragon King? If it had that kind of ambition, it wouldn't be receiving old wine from the church every day and struggling to even reach Sequence 5.

Tia said with satisfaction, "If the Knights are willing to make offerings, then let them do so."

Freya glanced at Tia discreetly and asked, "Should we let the Laurel Forest sink to a depth of 30,000 meters to avoid the risks?"

"It's sinking..."

Going down is a good idea, but Tia isn't too happy with it. She's not the type of player who likes to play defensively and take the initiative. To truly rise to the top, you have to be a super aggressive attacker!

After a moment's consideration, Tia said, "Prepare to raise the water level of Laurel Forest. Also, the images of the Shrike being attacked will be condensed into mystical illusions and demonstrated to me in the material world."

"Okay... Ah, my Lord! A surge?"

"Yes, to raise the water level, it needs to be at least above 25000 meters. Laurel Forest has that capability, right?"

Tia was aware of the potential of Laurel Forest.

Over the past eight hundred years, the Raven Seal has accumulated too much wealth for Laurel. The Raven Seal's requirement of only Sequence 8 has led countless priests of the Anzu Holy Church to choose it as their first holy seal in their practice. The priests used it so frequently that it left the impression among the citizens that "Raven = Divine Messenger".

The Raven Seal has been found in the lands of the seven seas, the Solomon Empire, and even in the theocratic states further east.

It can be said that if the shrike wanted to, it could immediately pull the laurel forest to around 10000 meters.

It could rise to a position infinitely close to the material world and then use the resources of the material world to enhance its own power. Although it is somewhat risky, the probability of success is very high.

—But it stubbornly clung to that safe, middling position of 30,000 meters for over 800 years...

This shows just how utterly pathetic this raven was.

But Freya was still puzzled. "Witch, raising the water level isn't as fast or as subtle as sinking, is it?"

"The Palace of Wisdom has indeed sent a great gift. However, it is not appropriate to transfer it directly to Roman and the Church now. Doing it too quickly will easily arouse suspicion. Let's wait a day or two, until the news from Golden Moon Bay reaches Fog Moon City and before it reaches Newland Port."

Tia didn't answer the question directly, but slowly closed her eyes, leaving only her voice behind.

"As for boosting the price of Laurel... of course, it has other uses."

.......................

.......................

Snapped!

Albert moved the bishop's chess piece diagonally three squares, picked up his black tea, and looked up to see Roman mixing an incredibly sweet little drink in the director's office.

Roman was trembling as he poured saccharin into a teacup from a small bag about the size of his palm.

He only moved the chess piece calmly after seeing Albert's gaze.

Albert, while playing chess, instructed, "Pedro will be arriving in Newport soon to preside over Eleanor's ceremony. Eleanor will also be in his care. I came to Newport when Eleanor arrived, and it's been almost six days now, so it's not convenient for me to stay here any longer."

"I'm leaving things here in New York, London and Hong Kong to you, my brother."

Roman slammed his fist on the table, indignantly saying, "Albert, you can't just call someone 'brother' when things go wrong. What kind of relationship is that? A week ago you were calling me a piece of dog shit, a lamb's slut, a dolphin's groom, a living male prostitute, a useless coward—and now this piece of dog shit, lamb's slut, groom, male prostitute, and piece of trash is your brother!"

Albert laughed a few times. "That's the royal family for you, Roman! But to be fair, at least we're still brothers for now, aren't we? We can talk about that dog shit next month."

Roman took a deep breath, resisting the urge to punch the prince in the face. Instead, he moved the king and chariot, placing the chariot ahead of the king. The situation on the chessboard instantly shifted in Roman's favor.

Seeing the change in the situation, Albert exclaimed in surprise, "How did you win so quickly? Can I take back my move?"

"No."

"No, I have to take back my move. No one can stop me today."

"Go to hell."

"Don't say that, Roman, we're still brothers."

"That's not OK!"

Albert touched his nose, stood up, and chuckled, "I'm not playing anymore. You're so unfriendly, and I considered you a brother. By the way, remember to keep an eye on New York Harbor."

After saying that, Albert picked up his cane and walked towards the door, his shameless behavior shocking Roman.