Under the night sky of Tivian, countless pedestrians and carriages traveled back and forth on the streets illuminated by streetlights. A dark carriage was parked in the shadow by the roadside. Inside the carriage, Dorothy, wearing a shirt, a belted plaid skirt, and black leather boots, sat and carefully received the information transmitted by the Corpse Puppet from afar.
'I didn't expect... the personality modification of The Path of Depravity to be so overbearing... it can actually reach the point of replacing common sense. This effect is unexpectedly good...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. At this moment, she was testing her new abilities from The Path of Depravity, testing from personality profiling to personality modification.
Using the large number of letters exchanged with the Wolf Blood Society contact as a medium, Dorothy successfully completed the personality profiling of that mysterious contact. Then, using the information obtained from the profiling, supplemented by her powerful information gathering ability, she found the location of that contact and confirmed his identity with almost no effort.
Vaughn Hunter, this was the target confirmed by Dorothy. His apparent identity was the supervisor of a carriage company, while secretly, he was a hidden agent of the Wolf Blood Society remaining in Tivian. Over the past year, he was the one who had been exchanging letters with Vanya.
After visiting almost all the hospitals, cemeteries, slaughterhouses, and pleasure districts in Tivian, Dorothy finally found Vaughn from the clues within them. Then Dorothy immediately sent her Corpse Puppet to contact him and used the new ability obtained after completing personality profiling, cognitive modification, to directly disrupt Vaughn's perception of the value of events, making him consider originally crucial matters as trivial and originally unimportant information as confidential. This way, any information could be easily extracted.
As long as Dorothy completes a person's personality profiling, their worldview, values, etc., will be like clay that can be molded at will before Dorothy, requiring little effort to significantly alter them, just like Vaughn now. Even as a Chalk Tier Extraordinary, he can be easily manipulated by Dorothy and remain completely unaware afterward, with no inkling that anything is wrong.
'Although the effect of this cognitive modification experiment is very good, it must also be recognized that there is an effect of tier suppression involved. If I were facing a Scarlet of the same tier, the effect might not be so strong, and the premise of cognitive modification is personality profiling. Those cult Scarlet are all hidden extremely deeply, making it very difficult to profile them.
'Although this ability is strong, it also has many limitations. I need to use it reasonably rather than rely on it excessively.'
Dorothy continued to ponder in her heart. After summarizing the results of the new ability experiment, she began to seriously consider the new information she had just obtained from Vaughn.
'According to that Werewolf, the Wolf Blood Society is determined to get the ""true crimson mother"" this time, even deploying Scarlet. The scale is much larger than before.
'As things stand, the Wolf Blood Society is still very cautious. Vaughn doesn't know their overall plan; he's only responsible for conveying the information received from Vanya. However, on the day they actually act, Vaughn will also participate, so I will at least be able to know their specific action date.'
Dorothy pondered this in her heart. Now, if she wanted to investigate the Wolf Blood Society's overall plan, she could only search for traces of the Wolf Blood Society everywhere in the outer areas of Tivian, which was obviously very difficult. Furthermore, even if she successfully found them, the risk of using a Corpse Puppet to scout the Scarlet ""Cup"" was huge.
Therefore, Dorothy had no intention of finding that Werewolf in advance. She didn't need to waste a large amount of precious Spirituality to block disaster for the Church or deal with a Scarlet Werewolf alone. She could only provide some slight assistance to the Church and the An Yin Bureau in Tivian on the day of the opponent's action.
'The current Tivian Church does not possess Scarlet Tier combat power. If the Tivian Church encounters a Scarlet Tier threat under these circumstances, the Tivian Church can only rely on the official Scarlet from the Prit side.
'Among Prit's secret police and major military and political systems, the main persons in charge are often served by Scarlet. There should be at least two permanently stationed in Tivian. The Tier Sight range in Tivian is very wide. Since the source of Tier Sight's power is the faith of the city's residents, Tivian's five million people are the eyes of Tier Sight. Every citizen who believes in Shining Light Church can provide Vanya with a Scarlet monitoring area with themselves as the center and a diameter of several hundred to nearly a thousand meters. Tier Sight thus radiates outwards with population centers as rough outlines, completely monitoring the entire City and its suburbs.'
'Therefore, theoretically, as soon as that Scarlet Wolf Blood Elder approaches the vicinity of the City, he will immediately be discovered by Vanya, and then Vanya can immediately notify the official Scarlet of the Preet Kingdom in Tivian to come for support.'
'Although the An Yin Bureau is incredibly inept when facing the Eight-Pointed Nest, it still has deterrent power against other organizations. The speed of a Scarlet Tier Wind Art User is extremely fast. That Wolf Blood Elder will be intercepted and blocked by the Scarlet Wind Art User before he even reaches the Church District. This way, he won't even be able to reach the Saint Chant Church...'
'So... on the day of the action, the Wolf Blood Society will either only use Chalk to infiltrate the Church to steal the book, or find a way to create an opportunity for that Wolf Blood Elder to forcibly enter under the obstruction of the Scarlet Wind Art User... And what kind of action they will take, I guess it will only be clear on that day...'
Dorothy analyzed this in her heart. After getting a general understanding of the current situation, her current plan was to continue collecting information while waiting for the opponent's move on that day. Before that, Dorothy also needed to make some combat preparations, which was essentially replenishing Spirituality.
To restore her much-needed Spirituality, Dorothy promised Adele that her main body would go and accompany her next time, thus borrowing two secret transmissions from Adele's collection in exchange.
Among these two secret transmissions, one was titled ""Flower Tread Dance,"" a pure dance book that recorded many types of mysterious dances with numerous illustrations, including dances for the public, offerings to gods, and courtship dances for lovers... It is said that these were passed down from the Fertility faith culture. This was the dance textbook Adele used when she was still in the dance club. Dorothy extracted 2 ""Cup"" and 2 ""enlightenment"" Spirituality from this secret transmission.
The other secret transmission was a fragmented hymn, written in Faloro language, praising a deity.
This deity was a goddess, known as the God of Love and Beauty, God of Flowers and Dance. The poem heavily praised Her unparalleled beauty, describing Her as the guardian of all beautiful things. The poem also stated that She was the God of Love and Romance, bringing together and guiding all those who boldly pursued love; people prayed to Her to seek true love in their hearts. The poem also said She was the God of Dance, capable of performing the world's most dazzling and captivating dances, and She was also the God of Flowers, able to make flowers bloom wherever She went, creating intoxicating vast seas of flowers.
From this secret transmission, Dorothy extracted 4 points of ""Cup"" and 3 points of ""enlightenment"".
'These two secret transmissions should have been left to Adele by her teacher... If I remember correctly, Adele and her teacher both seem to be Faloro people, and this hymn written in Faloro language, describing that Flower God and Beauty God, is She a deity belonging to The Path of Depravity? The style in Her hymn is completely different from the three in the current Taiyi Three Teachings, so She might be a subordinate god under the Fertility Goddess during the Third Era, the dancer among the sailor, hunter, pharmacist, and dancer...'
'Just like the Wind Knight faith is associated with Prit... did the faith of the Goddess of Beauty once spread across the land of Faloro?'
Dorothy analyzed this in her mind. Not long after, she shifted her attention to Spirituality and secret transmission. The secret transmission she had read before wasn't just what she got from Adele; there was also what Vaughn had directly sent over in the past few days to speed up Vanya's corruption.
This secret transmission was titled "Secret History of the Turbid Current". It recorded all the terrible things the Church did during the Turbid Current War, including but not limited to large-scale religious trials, mass burnings at the stake, numerous wrongful imprisonments of the innocent, blatant massacres of villages with heretical beliefs, and so on... Each incident was a bloody tragedy, portraying the Church as something even more demonic than demons. If an ordinary person without a stance were to read it, they would definitely develop an extreme aversion to the Church.
'This secret transmission... is specifically used by the Wolf Blood Society to smear the Church in front of Vanya. Even without considering Spirit Sight, it would make people hate the Church after reading it. However, this secret transmission was written by the Sea Abyss Church. Let's not talk about how much exaggeration is in it for now. Even if everything in it is true, the Shining Light Church is bad, but how much better is your Sea Abyss Church? I haven't not seen your conduct and actions; in large-scale wars, you would only be more tyrannical...'
Dorothy thought this as she judged the secret transmission in her mind. Afterward, she began to extract the Spirituality from this secret transmission, obtaining a total of 2"""Lamp""", 1"""Cup""", and 1"""enlightenment""".
To summarize, Dorothy's current Spirituality status is as follows.
8 cup, 4 Stone, 14 Shadow, 8 Light, 11 Silence, 8 enlightenment.
'Phew... Although the Spirituality gained isn't much, it's better than nothing. Especially the increase in 'cup' is too important; that 1 point before was truly terrifying...'
'Then, the next step is to slowly wait for those guys from the Wolf Blood Society to act. This shouldn't take too long.'
After letting out a long sigh, Dorothy said this. Then, she turned her head to look out the car window at the street under the night sky.
...
During the daytime, the outskirts of Tivian.
Under the hazy sky, a light drizzle slowly fell, and the air carried a hint of chill.
In the gloomy rain, on the top of a small hill somewhere, several figures were standing. They were all wearing black raincoats and looking together at the blurred outline of the distant large city in the rain and mist.
Among this group of people, the leader had a taller physique than the others, a sturdy figure of about two meters covered under a wide, pitch-black poncho, appearing particularly prominent. Under the hood of the poncho, what was revealed was a rather ferocious face.
It was a dark-skinned man's face, full of bulging flesh, with fierce eyes. Both cheeks were covered in dense red tattoos, all depicting abstract wolf totems. His entire being exuded a dangerous aura of being constantly ready to strike, as if he would launch an attack in the next second.
"Elder Duval, new intelligence has come from the Altar of Severed Limbs. This time it's Mike's. The informant Smith left behind has finally agreed to cooperate."
At this moment, a subordinate also wearing a poncho walked up to the tall figure and reported with a respectful expression. At the same time, the figure called Duval slowly turned his head and then spoke in a heavy tone.
"How is the situation?"
"The White Prayer's intelligence has been written out by the Altar of Severed Limbs. According to the content, Francesco is indeed no longer at Saint Chant Church. So far, Holy Mountain hasn't sent a new Archbishop over, suspected to be due to political infighting at the Saint level. The one currently in charge of Saint Chant Church is just that little Sister named Chafelen. Although she's famous, she's only a Chalk. The only thing she can do is rely on Blessed Items to maintain the Vision of Ranks.
"Now that White Prayer has also drawn us a map of the Saint Chant Church's Church District, marking the location of the Restricted Section, we have obtained everything we wanted."
The Wolf Blood Society subordinate wearing a poncho reported respectfully. Listening to his words, Duval paused slightly, then continued to speak.
"Has the authenticity of the intelligence been confirmed?"
"This intelligence has been cross-referenced with the intelligence Mr. Sand collected before. They are almost completely consistent. For two pieces of intelligence from completely different sources to match so well, their accuracy can almost be confirmed."
The subordinate continued to speak respectfully. Listening to his words, Duval breathed a slight sigh of relief. Then, he slowly began to walk, moving to the other side of the distant hilltop. Standing there was another figure hidden under a black poncho, standing alone away from the Wolf Blood Society crowd.
"I didn't expect the intelligence you provided this time to be completely accurate, with no extra little tricks hidden... It seems your intention to cooperate this time has some sincerity..."
Duval spoke slowly towards the solitary figure. After turning around, the figure revealed a dark-faced, slightly plump male face. Upon seeing Duval, he immediately smiled, bowed, and spoke.
"Of course, esteemed Elder. This time, we sincerely hope that the Taiyi Three Teachings can reunite, letting go of past grudges. Naturally, we won't play petty tricks like before."
"Hmph, you weren't like this before..."
"Alas, times change. After all, no matter what, our Plague Lord and your Gluttony Monarch were born from the same Placenta. We and you are also siblings, thicker than blood. Occasional friction between brothers is normal, but when it comes to truly major issues of right and wrong, everyone should work together. We are all one family, don't we all have the same great Mother?"
Continuing with a smile, the man named Sand said this to Duval. Listening to his words, Duval didn't say anything further. Instead, he directly continued to speak coldly.
"Let's not waste any more words. All the intelligence has now been confirmed. We will begin acting tomorrow. Since you said you want to show sincerity, then come along with us."
"Yes..." Sand continued to bow to Duval as he spoke. Then, seeing Duval about to leave, he immediately called out to stop him.
"Please wait, Elder. Since you have trusted my intelligence, I can now brief you on the next phase."
"The next phase? What else does your bug's nest want you to do?" Duval turned his head and said to Sand. At this moment, Sand took out a small box and held it in his hand.
"Nothing much, just a few gifts for you, Elder Duval. According to Chief Karua, this is both compensation for our past impoliteness and some assurance for this operation."
As he spoke, Duval opened the lid of the box in his hand. What appeared inside was a strange worm, slightly squirming and twisting, its body sticky and smooth.