Lind spent two seemingly leisurely days in the holy city of Van Rahir.
He lingered in the market selling exotic treasures of the Eastern Continent, choosing a set of silver teaware inlaid with moonstones and exquisitely carved for Alice, colorful and soft silk shawls for Nazra and Leonis, and some cute elf wood carvings and wind chimes that made ethereal music for the children.
These exotic gifts, like his calm demeanor, were all carefully crafted disguises.
His true attention, like an invisible spiderweb, penetrated the luminous facade of this holy city through the [Deconstruction of the Halo] and his unique perception of the Shadow Abyss, exploring its hidden threads.
Sure enough, he noticed something was wrong.
Not in grand cathedrals or prayer halls brimming with sacred energy, but in the deepest parts of the city's intricate underground passageways, abandoned tombs, and foundations.
A faint, intermittent sense of emptiness, yet subtly resonating with his own Shadow Abyss power, emanated from him.
Following this strange feeling, Lind, like the most experienced hunter, avoided all eyes and ears and ventured deep into the unknown area beneath the Holy City.
Finally, in a forgotten corner of a stone chamber, where the walls were covered with faded ancient sealing runes, he saw—a crack.
A fissure, only a finger's width and half an arm's length, is embedded in the rock like a black lightning bolt.
It lacked the menacing, all-consuming terror of the Howling Abyss Rift; instead, it resembled a… tiny wound oozing black blood beads, silently radiating a pure yet restrained aura of the Shadow Abyss.
"So small?"
Lin De's purple eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of doubt rising in his heart. According to his understanding of Ying Yuan, once such a rift connecting two dimensions is formed, it is often torn apart and expanded by violent energy, and it is very rare for it to be maintained in such a stable and small state.
He immediately expanded the search area, and activated the [Deconstruction Halo] at full power, sensing deeper and more remote corners underground.
Soon, a second, a third... more tiny cracks were discovered.
Their distribution seems to follow some ancient pattern, mostly located near the nodes of giant underground light veins in cities, or under some particularly solid ancient foundations.
These fissures are independent of each other, yet they subtly form a vast and complex network through the conduction of the earth's veins and rocks.
A startling deduction instantly formed in Lind's mind!
"So that's how it is... The entire Vanrahil is actually a gigantic man-made sealing array!"
He muttered to himself, his tone carrying a rare hint of amazement and a chilling realization.
These tiny rifts in the Shadow Abyss are by no means naturally formed! They are part of this massive sealing system, deliberately left as "pressure relief valves" or "energy conversion interfaces" when the Holy City was built or something was suppressed!
The power of light of the Holy Spirit Lucius and the power of nothingness of the Shadow Abyss reached a certain extreme balance and confrontation in the underground of this city.
The power of the light veins is like the bars of a cage, and these tiny cracks are vents deliberately left on the cage to channel the excessive pressure of the Shadow Abyss.
Their size and number are strictly controlled, ensuring that the power of the Shadow Abyss will not erupt, while also allowing the Church to utilize them in special ways (such as certain forbidden divine arts that require extreme negative energy?).
However, with the fall of the Holy One, the source power of the light veins, the core that maintains this balance, is constantly weakening and losing its "activity".
The cage bars are rusting and loosening!
These previously tightly controlled "pressure relief valves" began to become unstable, and the power of the Shadow Abyss was slowly and continuously seeping outward through these tiny cracks.
Although the current speed is extremely slow and the amount is very small, it has not yet been noticed by the priests on the ground who rely on traditional Holy Light perception, but this trend is irreversible.
"The people on earth, and even their leaders, are probably still intoxicated by the glory of the past and know nothing about it."
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Linde's mouth.
What a great irony! Beneath the Holy City, the largest city of the Holy Church, lies not a sacred foundation, but a Shadow Abyss Seal that relies on divine power to maintain itself but is now on the verge of collapse!
He stared at the tiny yet deadly black crack before him, and a brilliant and audacious plan quickly took shape in his mind.
He originally planned to use the "bright halo" to simulate miracles and gradually infiltrate and control the church.
Now, this underground discovery has given him a more direct answer.
Why bother trying to imitate the glory of the old gods?
When darkness surges from the very foundation of their faith, devouring the light upon which they depend for survival, whoever can bring "order" will be the new "god"!
Linde extended his finger, the azure crystalline energy at his fingertip shimmering slightly, and gently touched the edge of the crack.
He doesn't need to expand it, at least not now.
What he needs is... to understand it, to control it, and then... at the crucial moment, to gently push over the first domino.
"Aster".
He made silent contact through the magic network.
"My lord."
"Adjust the plan. Objective changed: While maintaining infiltration of the Church's upper echelons, secretly map the entire underground area of the Holy City, especially the precise coordinates of all discovered and potential Shadow Abyss rifts. I need the most detailed energy flow model and structural stress analysis."
"Understood. Should we send infiltration units?"
"No. I must handle this personally. You will be responsible for external data support and coordination. Activate the highest level of stealth protocol; I don't want anyone to be aware of our actions."
"Yes, ma'am."
After ending the communication, Linde once again turned his gaze to the deep, minute crack, his eyes gleaming with a dark light like that of an abyss.
"The Holy Spirit is dead, and the light is about to be extinguished."
He murmured softly, as if announcing an impending fate.
"And when darkness rises from beneath the Holy Throne..."
“...I will bring you a new order. With steel, with analysis, with...my way.”
His figure slowly blended into the shadows below, and he began to meticulously explore this enormous "sealed city," laying the initial and final foreshadowing for that decisive moment to come.
The fate of the Holy City has already been quietly placed in Lind's hands underground, unknown to anyone.
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