Chapter 86

In the evening, Li Huailin didn’t go online either. Apart from writing a guide for Ye Hang, he mainly searched for information about skill books. However, the search results were not very promising. At the current market prices, a skill book was worth about as much as a piece of gold equipment, which was essentially priceless. Even the worst skill book wasn’t being sold, and the demand was astronomical. Li Huailin could easily find over 100,000 posts requesting skill books, making it difficult for him to find the information he needed.

"I didn’t expect skill books to be so valuable. I actually managed to get two of them; I feel like I should pay respects to my ancestors." Li Huailin still had two decent skill books in his bank. Originally, he wanted more, but now he thought having two was already pretty good.

"Since I have nothing to do tomorrow, I might as well go and farm the Poison Snake Cave in the Abyss a few times. Maybe I can get another skill book." Li Huailin had already obtained two skill books from the Abyss dungeon, proving that the drop rate was quite high. If that didn’t work, he could just farm the 15-minute Poison Snake Cave multiple times; he should be able to get one.

"Alright, tomorrow I’ll log in, go to the church, hand over the items, and then farm the Poison Snake Cave a few times. That’s decided." Li Huailin stretched lazily, checked the time, and then went to sleep.

The next morning, Li Huailin woke up at 7 o'clock on time, ate a little, and then logged into the game.

Upon logging in, Li Huailin appeared at the entrance of the Borlange dungeon. Since he had logged out inside the dungeon yesterday, the party disbanded, and the system teleported him to the dungeon entrance. This time, Li Huailin was prepared with a return scroll. He opened his inventory, found the scroll, and 10 seconds later, he appeared in the center of the main city’s square.

"Really convenient." Li Huailin couldn’t help but marvel at the return scroll. No matter how powerful a skill was, it couldn’t compare to the return scroll, which was like warping through space and teleporting.

The next task was to find the church. This was actually quite convenient because there was a dedicated church area in the City of Divine Blessing, where some areas were for Paladins to learn skills, but other areas were off-limits to players.

Since the quest didn’t specify who to find, Li Huailin wandered around the buildings that players could enter, chatting with a few NPCs. However, he found nothing. The NPCs only sold items and repeated the same lines, the most common being, "You are not a Paladin; you cannot receive the protection of the Holy Light."

"Is this a scam?" Li Huailin thought.

Finding nothing in the general area, he could only go to the cathedral. The cathedral was one of the most magnificent buildings in the main city, second only to the palace. However, it was the church’s headquarters, with many important NPCs inside, and players couldn’t enter.

Li Huailin was also stopped by two guards as soon as he reached the cathedral’s entrance.

"Sorry, the area ahead is a church stronghold; only church members can enter," one guard said to Li Huailin.

"Uh... I’m looking for someone," Li Huailin thought for a moment and said.

"Who are you looking for? We can inform them for you. If they want to see you, we might let you in," the guard replied.

"How would I know who to look for?" The quest didn’t specify, and Li Huailin didn’t know which NPC it was.

"In that case, we cannot let you in," the guard said matter-of-factly.

"How troublesome." Li Huailin scratched his head.

"Wait, what’s that on your chest?" One of the guards suddenly noticed the Guardian of the Divine Sword emblem on Li Huailin’s chest and said with a surprised expression.

"Oh, this?" Li Huailin lifted the emblem for the guards to see, "The Guardian of the Divine Sword emblem, do you recognize it?"

"What? You are actually a Guardian of the Divine Sword?" The guard suddenly became respectful, "I will inform the Cardinal immediately. Please wait a moment."

"Hey? From this guy’s attitude, it seems the Guardians of the Divine Sword are highly respected in the church. How different from what I imagined." Li Huailin, not knowing the situation, could only wait and see how things developed.

One of the guards immediately ran into the cathedral, and soon Li Huailin heard a system notification.

System Notification: Your "Guardian of the Divine Sword" title has been recognized by the Church, opening Church Reputation.

System Notification: Due to your "Guardian of the Divine Sword" title, the Church’s favorability towards you has decreased by 40 points. Current favorability: Hatred.

"Damn!" Before Li Huailin could react, a large group of guards suddenly emerged from the cathedral, surrounding him.

"This... although it’s different from what I imagined, the result is still not too far off," Li Huailin said calmly, standing in the middle of the guards.

However, the guards didn’t attack. After a moment, the guards in front of Li Huailin parted, and several people walked towards him. The leader was a man in a red robe, with a white holy garment underneath and a white and gold crown on his head. Li Huailin saw his name: Cardinal Dugusbi Velli.

"You are the Guardian of the Divine Sword?"

Cardinal Dugusbi said to Li Huailin, his tone very unfriendly. Li Huailin could feel the disgust in his words.

"What the hell is going on." Li Huailin shrugged, "Yes, that’s me."

"Actually shamelessly admitting it." Dugusbi said, "I don’t know why the Guardian of the Divine Sword chose you. Someone like you being given the title of Guardian of the Divine Sword is a tragedy."

"Damn, old man, if you want to fight, just fight. Stop the constant taunting, okay?" Li Huailin said indifferently. Dying would be better; the bishop’s area was in the main city, so he would have a way to die in the future.

"Out of respect for the Guardian of the Divine Sword, I will not execute you here, but I don’t want to see you again. Leave!"

Dugusbi said sternly.

"Hey, please don’t spare me. I’m such a heinous criminal; don’t you think keeping me alive is affecting the socialist harmony? Just kill me to purify the city’s atmosphere," Li Huailin said quickly.

"Thank your Guardian of the Divine Sword status. Otherwise, I would have executed you here today," Dugusbi said with disgust. "Leave quickly, and don’t let me see you again."

"Thanks a lot." Li Huailin rubbed his forehead, "I’m not leaving today. I want to see if you’ll do anything."

"Shameless scoundrel, guards, stop this person. Do not let him enter the Church. The holy cathedral cannot be polluted by such a person."

Cardinal Dugusbi said and turned to leave without wanting to talk to Li Huailin anymore.

"Hey, wait a moment." Seeing that Dugusbi wasn’t going to kill him, Li Huailin was a bit disappointed but could accept it. The main thing was to complete the quest.

"What else do you have to say?" Dugusbi was actually stopped by Li Huailin and turned to ask.

"Please, if anyone knows who this should be given to, take it away quickly." Li Huailin took out the unused black core from his inventory.

Everyone present changed their expressions, especially Cardinal Dugusbi, who soon became furious and shouted, "The aura of darkness! You are carrying such an evil thing. You are beyond redemption!"

"Damn!" Li Huailin, who was there to complete the quest, thought it would be better to taunt, "Yes, it’s mine. Come and kill me if you can."

"You... " Dugusbi waved his sleeve, "Let’s go. Let him be. Such a despicable person will be punished by God."

"Hey... don’t go yet..." This time, Li Huailin really couldn’t stop Dugusbi, who left without looking back.

"So, I can’t complete this quest?" Li Huailin looked at the black core in his hand, "What’s going on? Do I have to slaughter the Church to raise my reputation to positive to complete the quest? How troublesome is this thing?"

"Whatever, if I can’t complete it, I can’t. Handing it in would just deduct experience points anyway. I’ll keep it." Originally, he thought he could just go to the Church and complete the quest, but now it seemed too troublesome. He decided to keep it and easily gave up.

"Go farm some skill books." Li Huailin turned to go to the Poison Snake Cave to farm skill books, but before he could take a step, someone called him.

"Wait, hero, can I see what you have in your hand?" A voice said from behind Li Huailin.

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