With Shion's body placed into the last white jade sarcophagus, Damian couldn't help frowning.
The white jade stock was nearly depleted. There wasn't enough for a white jade headstone, so he would have to use an ordinary marble marker.
That would reduce the extracted attributes and very likely fail to yield the expected ultimate skills.
There was no helping it. The material for a tomb's headstone was extremely particular—downright picky. To output attributes, the headstone mattered most, followed by the coffin and other trim work.
Especially for Gold Saints, only a high-grade white jade headstone safely extracted attributes and ultimates. For His Holiness, he had to be all the more careful.
He could only pour everything into treating him right.
Damian had submitted requests to the Sanctuary several times, but the office still hadn't responded. Truly a pain.
Those clerks eat on the public dime and don't do the work.
He'd go over again in a bit. If those people still wouldn't issue stone, he'd go psycho on the spot and wreck their place.
Caw caw caw caw…
A few crows perched on the face‑like old tree croaked, as if asking for credit.
Seeing the big crows, Damian nodded in approval.
There was a pile of Cloth fragments under the tree—bits scavenged from the graveyard or filched from Mr. Mu—quite a lot in all, glittering in a heap.
Looked like the crow babies had worked hard lately.
Keep stealing for me!
These Silver and Bronze Cloth fragments were neither few nor many, but enough to smelt into a headstone. Since he had no white jade headstone, he would use all the remaining Silver Cloth material for Shion.
As Pope, Comrade Shion deserved a silver headstone.
Telekinesis—rise!
A heap of Silver and Bronze Cloth fragments shot up; a phosphorus flame leapt, and in an instant the shards blazed, melting into a fiery red headstone.
Damian flicked a finger, and a stream of water from the small lake swept in.
Sssss…
Water struck the red‑hot stone. White mist rose, warm vapor surging.
A breeze lifted; the steam thinned.
A silver‑white headstone floated in midair.
Clunk!
Under his telekinetic control, it dropped and seated precisely at Shion's grave.
The white jade sarcophagus holding Shion's body slid into the pre‑dug pit.
Damian set the lid, took up a spade, and began to backfill—carefully tidying the mound, tamping the soil, and laying the former Pope to rest.
Shion—Aries Gold Saint who survived the Holy War over two hundred years ago—was Mr. Mu's mentor and the true Pope who governed the Sanctuary for more than two centuries.
But thirteen years ago he was murdered by Gemini Saint Saga, who took his place.
When the final Holy War came, he would be revived and sent to assassinate Athena.
He was a legend in his own right. A pity he died too early—otherwise the Sanctuary would not be as it was.
This generation's Gold Saints were in decline, far weaker than the last. With the turmoil of the Saga incident, the Sanctuary had been hollowed out within.
Resisting the Underworld army in the Holy War was already back‑breaking. If not for the five Bronze Saints going full "unkillable mode," they likely wouldn't have cleared the Death and Sleep twin gods.
With a sigh, Damian looked to Shion's headstone.
[Body: Shion]
[Rank: Pope of the Sanctuary, Aries Gold Saint]
[Yield: Cosmo +31, Telekinesis +52]
[Extractable Abilities: Cloth Restoration, Crystal Wall, Crystal Robe]
[Grave Grade: Silver]
"As expected of the former Pope. Those stats are rock solid."
"So many attributes this time! Is it because the headstone used Cloth materials?"
Damian speculated.
Compared to the previous generation of Gold Saints, Shion seemed unremarkable, yet his attributes exceeded the others. Was it because the body was fresh enough—or because the headstone's quality was high?
Shion's body hadn't decayed after so long, showing his strength in life was tremendous—and these weren't even his peak stats.
Sure enough, it was all defensive techniques; Shion's big ultimate, Stardust Revolution, didn't roll.
It seemed only a gold‑grade grave would reveal a Gold Saint's ultimate.
A silver‑grade grave couldn't be expected to do too much. He'd wait until he found material for a golden headstone.
He raised a hand and pressed the stone.
Pure Cosmo surged into his body.
Wow—his Cosmo spiked at once.
And then came a vast swell of telekinesis.
The telekinesis carried a distinct mental force. It was as if his mind had been injected with concentrated chicken blood.
His spirit became clear as a bell—blissfully bright.
A full 52 points of telekinesis—his largest telekinesis gain from any grave to date.
His own telekinesis stat now certainly exceeded 160.
That instant doubling felt fantastic; even his spirit felt purified—crystal clear.
Telekinesis was tied not only to Cosmo but also to mental power. Damian could feel his awareness expanding outward.
The moisture in the air, the grassy scent outside the window, the wind on the leaves, insects crawling along distant bark—he sensed it all clearly, with a feeling that everything was within his grasp.
"The divine sense in xianxia novels can't be much more than this."
Savoring the elevation of mind and telekinesis, Damian was very pleased.
By now he was a telekinesis master, wasn't he? He wondered whose telekinesis was stronger—his or Aries Mu's.
Just then, a scene appeared before his eyes.
It showed Cloth restoration: Shion dripped a few drops of blood onto a Cloth, struck it hard, then continually poured Cosmo into it—hammering it with Cosmo. Cracks visibly knit shut, and in moments it was good as new.
A practical skill, indeed.
The second scene showed Shion performing Crystal Wall.
"His" opponents were Specters in Surplices, grinning as they closed in.
Wearing the Aries Gold Cloth, "he" cast Crystal Wall—a nearly transparent barrier rose before him.
The Specters unleashed their finishers—gloomy beams hammered the Crystal Wall, which rebounded them with violent force.
The attacks bounced back, striking the Specters and dropping them with their own blows.
That was Crystal Wall. Not only was it extraordinarily hard; it could reflect an opponent's attack.
Using Cosmo and telekinesis, one formed a semi‑transparent crystalline wall—harder than ordinary Bronze or Silver Cloths—and it reflected attacks.
A powerful defensive technique; its exact defense scaled with Cosmo strength.
So long as the opponent's move didn't exceed the wall's limit, the Crystal Wall would not break.
The third was Crystal Robe…[Note 1]
The scene in Damian's mind was the Pope's chamber.
His body was old and failing. He could palpably feel his waning strength—even his breath lacked its old force.
He looked at his hands—what should have been smooth palms were full of wrinkles and the marks of years.
"Saga, why have you come to see me?"
Shion spoke.
The Gold Saint kneeling before him was Gemini's Gold Saint—Saga…
[Note 1: Crystal Robe is a Shion technique in the manga. Many readers haven't seen it, so this note is added to avoid confusion. In fact, many of the author's changes derive from the original, LC, ND, Greek myth, building anew on the source—all with basis.]
(End of Chapter)
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