Puning Port.
After patiently waiting at the hotel for two days, Ilya finally received news from the Church, but the message came from the Cathedral of Serenity.
This made her mood sink slightly, and her expression grew much more serious.
She hadn't expected that merely asking Saint Samuel Church about the origins of this new organization would alarm the Cathedral of Serenity, prompting instructions from them.
"The Yellow-Robed Monks, a newly emerging organization hidden in the darkness, walking on the edge of fate and following the shadow of a certain existence. Its founder is an elderly lady. She is both the creator and the guide of the Yellow-Robed Monks, the mentor who directs the entire organization forward."
"The abilities of their Beyonder pathway are adept at arranging fate, manipulating, and stealing. Exercise extreme caution when investigating them, especially their high-sequence Beyonders."
"The deity they worship is called the King in Yellow, the Lord of the Starry Sea in the distant cosmos, a chaotic, formless, indescribable being…"
Aside from these basic descriptions, there was also a very clear directive.
The Cathedral of Serenity hoped they would determine whether Sealed Artifact 008 had truly fallen into the hands of the Yellow-Robed Monks, and also identify the divine emissary recently descended within the organization.
Divine emissary? Ilya was very sensitive to that term.
For example, the Aurora Order claimed to have twenty-two divine emissaries, but that was only their own claim. The Church did not recognize such a title.
Because their strength did not warrant the weight of that title. A true divine emissary is a spokesperson of a god in the mortal world, capable of directly communicating with the deity and even wielding divine power, an existence even more terrifying than a Blessed.
This meant that the Cathedral of Serenity believed the mysterious existence worshipped by the Yellow-Robed Monks was comparable to a god.
There were many mysterious organizations in the Beyonder world, but only a few had true divine manifestations.
For example, the Demoness Sect that worships the Primordial Demoness, the Aurora Order that fanatically follows the Fallen Creator, and the recently active Rose School of Thought.
Of course, in the eyes of the Seven Churches, the deities they worship are all heretical evil gods, terrifying embodiments of corruption and filth.
However, in the information sent by the Cathedral of Serenity this time, there was no mention that this was an evil organization. It stated that they were skilled at hiding and waiting, rarely intervening in the real world, and had not caused any harm so far.
This was fundamentally different from the Aurora Order and the Demoness Sect.
Their positioning was closer to organizations like the Secret Order, the Psychology Alchemists, and the Life School.
The Churches of the Seven Gods do not indiscriminately suppress members of such Beyonder organizations. As long as they do not endanger lives or cause major disturbances, most of the time the Churches turn a blind eye.
After reading all the materials, Ilya gently rubbed her temples, thought for a while, and then summoned the Red Gloves team.
Once everyone had gathered, Ilya pulled out three pages from the pile of documents and said, "These contain information about this newly emerged organization. Read them yourselves later. If anyone has relevant information or clues, report directly to me."
"Our next objective is to determine whether Sealed Artifact 008 is in their possession, and to identify their recently descended divine emissary."
After assigning tasks and mentioning various precautions, Ilya dismissed the Red Gloves to review the materials on their own.
After reading through the information, Leonard clicked his tongue lightly. This organization called the Yellow-Robed Monks was deeply hidden, so much so that even the Church knew very little about them.
It was also his first time hearing the title "King in Yellow." There were only fragmentary descriptions of It, yet it inexplicably felt terrifying.
Rather than dealing with this secretive, patient organization, he would much rather deal with the not-so-bright Aurora Order.
After everyone finished reading, no one recognized the organization. It was the first time any of them had heard of it.
Seeing this, Ilya told them to rest for the night and begin the investigation the next day.
Back in his room, Leonard took a bath, lay on the rather uncomfortable bed, turned over, and began calling out to the old man in his mind.
"Don't ask me. I probably know even less about this organization than you do," the old man immediately shut him down.
Leonard thought about it seriously. "That makes sense. This Yellow-Robed Monks organization was only established about a hundred years ago. By then, you were probably already a wandering ghost, right?"
"Ah!" A sharp pain struck Leonard's head. He quickly apologized for his earlier sarcasm.
"The King in Yellow… the Lord of the deep sea in the distant cosmos… a chaotic, formless, indescribable being… Heh, such descriptions suggest a very high level."
Leonard's eyes lit up as he cautiously asked, "Compared to the Primordial Demoness and the Fallen Creator, which one is more terrifying?"
"There's one thing you must always remember: anything related to the cosmos is terrifying. If you encounter it, run as far as you can. If you can't avoid it… then buy yourself a better coffin."
"…" Leonard ground his teeth but didn't argue with the old man's small curse. Instead, he pressed on, "Old man, you still haven't answered my question."
"With your current strength, do you think you're qualified to interfere with the matters between gods?"
The old man's blunt reply made Leonard chuckle awkwardly.
After a while, Leonard cautiously asked again, "Then… is there anything you want to remind me about regarding this matter?"
"Stay away from here. Go back to Backlund."
"Old man, that's not something I can decide," Leonard said with a bitter smile.
"Then why the hell are you asking?" The old man left behind that crude remark and fell silent.
"…" Leonard stared blankly for a while, feeling even less able to sleep.
…
Over the next few days, the Red Gloves team investigated the Yellow-Robed Monks throughout Puning Port, but found nothing.
No one had even heard of the organization. It was extremely secretive.
With no progress, someone proposed a new line of thought.
Perhaps Viscount Stradun was a member of the Yellow-Robed Monks. He invited Ince Zangwill to his home to scheme for 008, but Ince saw through it and killed him, after which Ince was relentlessly hunted by the organization.
It was a highly plausible guess, and Leonard agreed with this new theory.
If Viscount Stradun really was a member, then Hastur, who had conflicted with him, could be ruled out as a suspect.
At that moment, Ilya, who had also gone out to search for clues, returned. She announced that she had found traces of Ince Zangwill's battle in Puning Port.
Based on her investigation, she discovered that the ones who truly injured Ince and possibly took 008 that night were likely two individuals.
One of the traces was quite obvious, it belonged to a Beyonder pathway inherited by the Rose School, most likely a Sequence 5 Wraith. Ince had also been ambushed by him.
Ilya was confident in her judgment. She had once been the Church of the Evernight Goddess's head in the Southern Continent and was very familiar with the Rose School of Thought, including its split into the Indulgence and Temperance factions.
From her observations and deductions, the one who acted that night likely came from the Temperance faction.
With the clues of the Temperance faction and a Sequence 5 Wraith, they now had enough to proceed further.
When Ilya sent the information back to Saint Samuel Church, a reply quickly arrived.
The letter contained a name and detailed information.
Sharon, a lucky survivor who escaped during the internal conflict of the Rose School. Her teacher was one of the leaders of the Rose School, Reinette Tinekerr.
After the internal conflict, Reinette Tinekerr was suspected to have perished. Sharon crossed the sea from the Southern Continent to the Kingdom of Loen, briefly settling in Backlund, and had recently appeared in Puning Port.
A merchant ship from the Southern Continent, carrying a coffin containing a mummy, had mysteriously disappeared, suspected to be Sharon's doing.
As for why Sharon appeared in Puning Port from Backlund, the report offered a possible explanation.
While in Backlund, Sharon had frequent contact with a man named Hastur Campbell. Not long ago, Hastur Campbell had been appointed by the king to handle affairs in South Wales County.
Sharon was suspected to have followed Hastur Campbell to Puning Port at that time.
Such detailed intelligence made Ilya raise an eyebrow. It was clear the Church took this matter extremely seriously, even activating spies embedded within the Rose School of Thought.
Developing informants and monitoring every evil cult had always been a tradition of the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
"Hastur Campbell… in the previous investigation, the reason he clashed with Viscount Stradun was because of a beautiful girl. It seems that girl was Sharon."
"The Beyonders targeting Ince Zangwill were also exactly two… everything suddenly becomes much clearer."
Ilya began organizing the cause and effect of the matter. The once-obscured fog gradually cleared, revealing the truth.
If Sharon was a key target of observation, then Hastur Campbell also needed to be placed on the watchlist, perhaps even as the primary target.
Sharon was already a member of the Rose School of Thought, and even a temporary leader of the Temperance faction. It was impossible for her to also be a member of the Yellow-Robed Monks.
Thus, the one possibly connected to the Yellow-Robed Monks could only be Hastur Campbell.
Of course, it was also possible that neither of them was related to the Yellow-Robed Monks, they might have just happened to encounter the situation and acted against Ince Zangwill.
When Ilya shared her deductions and the information from Saint Samuel Church with the Red Gloves team, Leonard's mouth slowly fell open, his eyes turning somewhat vacant. After all the twists and turns… it really did connect back to Hastur.
Aside from slight shock, he didn't feel particularly surprised.
When the old man refused to answer directly, he should have already linked the matter to Hastur.
Although it still couldn't be confirmed, in his heart, Leonard had already basically concluded it was Hastur.
At that moment, a member of the Red Gloves team raised a hand slightly. After receiving Ilya's nod, he spoke:
"During today's investigation, we discovered an important clue. When Ince Zangwill arrived at Puning Port, 008 was already lost at sea."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's attention was drawn to him. Even Ilya's eyes showed a hint of disbelief.
Sealed Artifact 008 was already lost when Ince Zangwill arrived at Puning Port? Shouldn't it have been taken after he arrived?