Chapter 94

While Ang was researching the Life Essence, he received an urgent call from Silver Coin. Then, he brought Nigris to the Rebirth Altar, activated the teleportation array, and heard Anthony’s dejected voice from the other side: "God of Knowledge, this time you have to help me. Lend me the Rebirth Altar for a moment."

"What happened? Why do you need the Rebirth Altar?" Nigris asked in confusion. What could possibly require the use of a Rebirth Altar and make a former Black Knight Emperor, now a Cardinal, so dejected?

"Ah, it’s a long story. I was careless and got ambushed. Now I only have my Sacred Substitute left, but it can only last for twenty-four hours. I need to find a way to reincarnate as a Black Knight or a living person, or I’ll dissipate. So, please, God of Knowledge, lend me the Rebirth Altar," Anthony sighed.

"Why don’t you just reincarnate? Why do you need the Rebirth Altar? Don’t tell me that after all these years in the Material Plane, you don’t even have a place to reincarnate? Haven’t you reincarnated many times before?" Nigris asked, puzzled.

Anthony sighed again: "That’s why I was careless. My secret bases and safe houses were all discovered. I didn’t have time to prepare the equipment and materials for reincarnation, so I have to reincarnate as a Black Knight first and then find a way to become a living person."

"All discovered? A spy?" Nigris was surprised.

"Ah, maybe not a spy. I was careless. I’ve been using these bases and secret rooms for one or two hundred years, and to save trouble, I never moved them. They were figured out. There were too many of them—two Sword Saints, six High Mages, one Demon Breaker, and one Boundary Breaker—all targeting me. If not for my decent melee skills, just the High Sword Saint’s ambush would have killed me."

Nigris was deeply shocked. Demon Breakers and Boundary Breakers? Such rare professions were sent to assassinate Anthony? Who did he offend?

"Ah, who else? Nicholas from the Western Diocese of Humanity. He’s always seen me as the biggest competitor for the position of Pope. I know who the High Sword Saint is—a well-known human strongman. But I shattered his head with a Divine Fist. Unless he can reincarnate, Nicholas will be short one High Sword Saint."

"Then what?" Nigris asked, still waiting for the name.

"Then the other assassins surrounded me. The Demon Breaker broke my defenses, the Boundary Breaker broke my barriers, the six High Mages restricted my movement, and the second Sword Saint stabbed me. I had no choice but to activate the Divine Protection and teleport away."

"Then what? Do they have someone who can break the Divine Protection?"

"Also? Ah..." Anthony sighed deeply, having sighed countless times since the conversation began, clearly deeply affected: "No, I teleported away, back to my base. But they had planted goblin bombs under the teleportation array in the secret room, and they blew me up along with the house."

"Impossible, you would make such a low-level mistake? No one was protecting your place? They could just plant bombs? What about Polk and the others?" Nigris found it hard to believe. How could such an important place be left unguarded? What about the two Black Knights?

"Ah... When you brought him back, you erased some of his memory, right?" Anthony asked.

"Yes," Nigris said confidently. Captives must have their memories erased to prevent leaks.

"Ah, I did the same, so they weren’t where they should be, and thus...,"

"..." Nigris didn’t know what to say. It was a series of unfortunate coincidences. If not for these, with Anthony’s strength and preparations, he could have escaped safely even if he was assassinated.

But the enemy didn’t fare well either. The High Sword Saint was shattered by his Divine Word—Unbreakable, combined with his Sacred Aura, which was no less powerful than a High Sword Saint’s, with one punch to the head.

"Do you have any other backup? Like an additional base?" Nigris asked.

"Of course, but the materials for reincarnating as a living person need to be prepared in advance. I only have twenty-four hours left, now twenty hours, not enough time. Fresh corpses are easy to find, but the Life Essence of an elf is hard to get. I’ll reincarnate as a Black Knight first and then figure it out," Anthony said dejectedly.

Life Essence? What a coincidence? Nigris turned around and saw Ang pouring the Life Essence into his hand.

"How did you find Silver Coin? Why is he so cooperative?" Nigris asked.

Anthony loosened his grip on Silver Coin’s neck and smiled: "I had a friendly and intimate conversation with him, so he cooperated. I must say, Silver Coin is still too young. Since he left Greenleaf City, at least six factions have been watching him. If I hadn’t erased the information about him and the people involved, he might have been captured by now."

"Ah? Really? He’s only in his nineties, too young. But Ang can protect his soul, so let them capture him. They won’t get anything out of him," Nigris said indifferently.

"Yes, yes, ha ha, too young," Anthony said, completely letting go of Silver Coin’s neck and laughing.

After discussing with Ang, Nigris asked: "If you reincarnate as a human, besides the Life Essence, what other materials do you need?"

Nigris believed Anthony. With him in the Church of Light, he had indeed hidden many things about the Resting Abyss. Otherwise, over the past thousand years, the former world’s transfer station would have seen more visitors, who would have known about its former glory, instead of just thinking it was a barren abyss plane.

So having a Cardinal to protect him had its benefits.

"Mainly the Life Essence and a fresh body. Other materials are easy to get, but where can I find the Life Essence now?" Anthony said.

"Uh, the Life Essence, I happen to have some," Nigris said.

"Really? You have such a hard-to-get item? Did you trade for it with a World Tree sapling? I’ll go get a fresh corpse then," Anthony immediately perked up.

Reincarnating as a Black Knight is boring. He’s been a Black Knight Emperor for so long, lazy and doing nothing all day. How can that compare to being a living person, where he can play with others every day?

"Uh, what’s the point of just finding any corpse? If you’re going to reincarnate, reincarnate back into your original body and continue being your Cardinal Anthony."

"Can’t, my body was blown to pieces."

Nigris glanced at Ang, who was dripping the Life Essence onto a small sapling, and smiled: "Do you have any relics with your blood or flesh? If so, we can try to recreate your original body."

"???" Anthony’s mind was filled with big question marks. He looked down at the blood-stained bishop’s badge on his hand, where a symbol was slowly flashing.