Because of the presence of the Hanged Man, there was no need to worry about being attacked by the Armored Shadow, so Lumian did not summon it in the name of Mr. Fool. Instead, he followed the simplest process, arranged the "Spiritual Wall", and summoned the Armored Shadow by summoning a messenger.
In front of the expanding green candlelight, the blurry shadow, wearing black fish-scale armor stained with gold, stood quietly in mid-air.
The miniature faces on the scales were distorted hideously and screaming silently, showing their own pain without any concealment, turning it into hatred and malice towards all living things around them.
Alger, the "Hanged Man" dressed as a sailor, took a step forward, and suddenly tiny silver-white electric lights crackled out from the "Spiritual Wall".
They disappeared in a flash and regenerated out of thin air, causing the hairs on Lumian and Franca's bodies to stand up and feel numb.
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In the extreme depression before the thunderstorm, the countless transparent faces on the "Armored Shadow" returned to silence, but the gazes full of hatred still existed.
Lumian glanced at the six gold bars on the altar, calmed himself down, and said in Hermetic: "I offer my sacrifice, please answer three questions for me."
The blurry faces on the surface of the "Armored Shadow" turned to the gold that was emitting an alluring light at the same time, conveying the thought of "yes" to Lumian.
Lumian then nodded to The Hanged Man.
The Hanged Man took a moment to think before asking the first question: "Who are you?"
Lumian repeated the question in Hermetic. As his contracted creature, Armored Shadow would only communicate with him in this case.
After a brief silence, the "Armored Shadow" once again spoke a language that only Franca could barely understand: "Conferred by the Heavenly Master, the God of Suppressing Ghosts, my name is Chen Tu."
Heavenly Master… Franca thought for several seconds, then quickly considered her words and said, “His surname is Chen, his name is Tu, and he is a deity appointed by the leader of Taoism, responsible for guarding against evil spirits.”
"What is Taoism?" The Hanged Man asked thoughtfully.
"What is the imperial decree?" Lumian turned his head to look at Franka and asked in Intis.
In his opinion, since it is called a sect, no matter what the prefix is, it is no different in essence from the Church of Fools and the Church of the Eternal Sun.
Franka showed an embarrassed expression:
"These two questions are long, let's discuss them later. I'm afraid Armored Shadow can't wait that long."
That's right... Lumian turned his gaze to Mr. "The Hanged Man".
The Hanged Man paused for a moment and then asked the second question.
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Lumian translated it into Hermetic: "What strange place is there on the eastern ocean
The Armored Shadow replied in a low and majestic voice: "There is a fairy mountain in the East China Sea, which has been lost since ancient times. Its name is Penglai."
Penglai... It really is my hometown... Franca was delighted and her translation speed became much faster:
"There is a mountain on the eastern ocean where various powerful wizards and special gods live. It disappeared in ancient times. Its name is 'Penglai'.
This passage was quite easy to understand, and neither Lumian nor the Hanged Man raised any questions.
After a few seconds, Alger, the Hanged Man, asked slowly:
"What unusual changes have occurred in the eastern ocean in recent years?"
In recent years? It is suspected that the "Armored Shadow" was killed by the "Underworld Man", detained by his side, and taken to the "Yellow Springs". The "Underworld Man" threw himself into the river one or two thousand years ago, and the "Blood Emperor" had just died or had died not long ago. How could he know what happened outside in recent years? Franca was puzzled when she heard this, but did not dare to correct Mr. "The Hanged Man".
After Lumian repeated it, the Armored Shadow replied coldly: "There is a corpse from Penglai floating on the river..."
Franka was stunned and blurted out:
"The mountain called Penglai has reappeared. A powerful wizard or special spirit who lived there died, and his body floated to a place that might be the 'River of Styx'! That is, the river where the 'Blood Emperor' Alistair Tudor was suppressed by the 'Underworld Man', the source of the 'Samaritan Woman's Spring'!"
What this means is that the ocean to the east of the world where "Armored Shadow" is located has undergone strange changes in recent years. The long-lost sacred mountain Penglai has reappeared, and powerful extraordinary people living there have died? Has the mountain called Penglai always stood in the East China Sea, or does it only appear occasionally? Lumian really wanted to ask, but according to the rules similar to summoning, he couldn't ask more questions.
The six gold bars placed on the altar disintegrated and turned into points of clear light, which merged into the surface of the fish-scale armor with a pitch-black base.
This time, nearly one-fifth of the nails were dyed gold, becoming sacred.
The "Hanged Man" watched the "Armored Shadow" disappear in the gloomy green candlelight. He did not speak for a long time, and no one knew what he was thinking.
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Lumian finished the ceremony, quickly cleaned up the altar, and turned to Franka and said, "You can explain the terms in the first answer."
This is embarrassing me! After complaining silently, Franka said while thinking:
"To be conferred is equivalent to a gift, yes, a gift!
"This 'Armored Shadow' named Chen Tu was granted a position within the church or the kingdom of gods, thus gaining the corresponding power of grace and being able to guard against evil spirits.
"This was not granted directly by the gods, but rather by the leader of the sect who performed a ceremony on behalf of the gods and bestowed the title."
Lumian listened carefully and had a clearer understanding of the matter of the enthronement:
A more institutionalized system of gifts not only deeply binds the power of gifts with specific positions, but also allows the agents of gods to play a more important role.
"That's basically it. If I were to talk about it in depth, it would involve a lot of things and I simply can't finish talking about it in a short period of time. For example, the heaven, the underworld, rituals, receiving the ordination certificate, etc., etc. I don't know many of them very well myself. I just know the nouns." Franka exhaled.
Seeing that Mr. Hanged Man and Lumian were still looking at her, she trembled inwardly and said, "You guys, you won't really let me tell you, will you?"
The Hanged Man nodded slightly:
"I know it's difficult for you to speak on the spot, and there will be many mistakes. You can go back and slowly recall and organize it, and form a written document, and then pass it to me through your Major Arcana card."
"Okay." Franka was thankful that Mr. "The Hanged Man" was easy to talk to, very reasonable, and good at thinking from other people's perspectives. Then she muttered silently:
How come I agreed so quickly...
The Hanged Man had a rather dignified demeanor, but without obvious arrogance. He smiled and said, “After you get the paperwork done, you can think about what kind of compensation you would like.”
There are many things that Franka wants, for example, a magical item similar to the "Hum-Ha Technique", a seal that allows her to "teleport", the potion formula for Sequence 5 "Witch of Pain", etc.
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She immediately fell into a struggle, thinking about the reward in advance, and almost forgot to explain the term "Taoism" until Lumian reminded her.
After pondering for more than ten or twenty seconds, Franka said in a very concise way:
"That's a sect that worships the laws governing the operation of the world and the corresponding philosophy, and shapes them into special gods for worship. Their leader is called 'Tianshi', which means a teacher who understands the Way of Heaven and spreads the Way of Heaven. Well, this is how I understand it. 'Tiandao' is the laws governing the operation of the world and the corresponding philosophy that I just mentioned."
"'Tianshi' is equivalent to the Pope, the Pope, the Patriarch, and the Matron. They are different names for leaders of different sects?" Lumian tried to extract the key points.
Franca was stunned for a second and said, "You can understand it that way."
As long as you don't consider joining Taoism, there is no big problem with this understanding.
Lumian nodded immediately: "It sounds like the 'Heavenly Master' and the 'Underworld Man' are on the same level."
"I think so too." Franka agreed deeply.
When the two were talking, "The Hanged Man" Alger seldom interrupted and listened quietly most of the time, only occasionally expressing his own thoughts or raising some questions, which allowed the conversation to continue smoothly. Lumian and Franca said a lot in one breath.
Finally, the holder of the Major Arcana looked at Lumian and said, "Armored Shadow's three answers have been of great help to me. What reward do you want?"
Is it of great help? Apart from giving us a deeper understanding of that world and knowing that the missing Penglai Mountain has reappeared, it has no practical significance... Lumian followed the reminder of the "Magician" lady and said without hesitation: "I want the opportunity to explore this ghost ship."
Franka didn't expect Lumian to ask for such a reward. She was a little stunned at first, but then she became excited: I want it too. I also want the opportunity to drive a ghost ship and study it!
The Hanged Man glanced at Lumian and said:
"You have indeed sensed the specialness of the Blue Avenger. It is one of the heritages of the Tudor Empire. Do you want to explore it now
Before Lumian could answer, Thermiporos's majestic voice suddenly rang in his mind: "Danger."
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Danger... Is it true? Was Thermipolos giving the warning simply because he was worried about being implicated by me, or was he afraid that I might gain something special during my exploration of the Blue Avenger, which might destroy the disaster lurking in Trier and cause his plot to fail? Lumian didn't know whether he should believe Thermipolos' words.
Thermipoulos continued in a deep voice:
"If you want Alistair Tudor to be resurrected in your body, you can explore now."
Lumian didn't care what Thermiporos said, and remembered the "magician" lady's previous hint:
You decide when to start exploring...
The underlying meaning is, can we consider postponing it? Otherwise, there is no need to add such a sentence, just say "reward can be an opportunity to explore"... Aurore's favorite concept is "balance". The various negative effects in my body are temporarily in a state of balance, so there is no need to rush to strengthen the aura of the "Blood Emperor"...
Lumian, who had become a "conspirator", quickly made a decision: "Mr. Hanged Man, I want to explore the Blue Avenger again when the time is right."