Chapter 320 03-25 - 317: Entering the Underground Palace
Chapter 320: Chapter 317: Entering the Underground Palace
This day, just like usual, Qin Feng idly strolled around the Holy Mountain.
A dozen or so people followed behind him.
Originally, there had been a group of over a hundred following him, but he had found them annoying and had them whittled down to this number.
Besides the few teachers arranged by His Holiness the Pope, the rest were experts drawn from various legions of the Church Court, also assigned under him in the Holy Son Guardian Army as his guards.
These individuals were quite formidable, mostly being of the Golden Knight level and above, which even included a Holy Knight and a Light Sword Saint serving as the chief and deputy commanders of the Holy Son Guardian Army.
Qin Feng let them follow behind, and those elderly bishops responsible for teaching him etiquette and various church rules no longer insisted on lecturing him.
…
For many days, Qin Feng mostly treated their words like the wind past his ears, paying them no heed, rendering their speech ineffective.
Even when their talks became annoying, he would order these stubborn old men to transcribe their own rules to teach him a lesson that in his command, he was the rule.
Because of this, the parchment these elders had to transcribe was already taller than a person.
There was no helping it, the parchment was simply too thick, and they had too much to preach about. After hundreds of recopies, the wasted parchment was certainly not a small amount.
Qin Feng leisurely wandered from the residence of the Guardian Knight Order to the not-so-distant Light Knight Order, receiving respectful salutes from all knights and commanders. After a full tour that ensured his presence was noted by all, he then casually left the place, heading towards another nearby cathedral of the Cardinal Archbishop.
Now, everyone on the Holy Mountain knew that the newly appointed Holy Son enjoyed strolling around.
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Although some felt that His Holy Son seemed not very dignified, many others found him approachable and willing to engage more with ordinary cult members, which made most feel quite honored.
After all, the identity of the Holy Son was very intimidating, and on normal days, people with insufficient status couldn’t even interact with the esteemed Holy Son. Now that they encountered one who was willing to lower his status, they naturally felt delighted.
Thus, most people on the Holy Mountain harbored no ill feelings towards Qin Feng, and any slight delay caused by his presence was not a big issue.
On normal days, whenever important figures came to their places, they had to respectfully stand up and bow, so adding one more Holy Son to this ritual was not much.
As he was walking, Qin Feng suddenly saw an old man approaching.
He was an old priest.
Ordinarily, Qin Feng wouldn’t care about such a priest, as there were many on the Holy Mountain.
However, this priest caught his attention.
That was because Qin Feng noticed the priest was holding a book.
There was nothing unusual about books, but it was rare for someone to be reading a book while walking on the roads of the Holy Mountain. More importantly, the secret code that Priest Tuck had told him was related to books.
“Greetings, Your Holiness.”
Upon seeing Qin Feng and his entourage approaching, the old priest quickly hugged the book to his chest and bowed respectfully.
“Rise, no need for such formalities.”
Qin Feng waved his hand and focused his gaze on the book in the old priest’s hands, after scrutinizing the title, he suddenly smiled and said, “Quite diligent, huh? Reading a book even while walking?”
“You flatter me, Your Holiness.”
The old priest bowed and spoke, “My duty is to manage the church’s library, and dealing with books all day has made reading a habit.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Qin Feng said with a smile, “I too enjoy reading books quite a bit. Recently, I’ve found the books brought by my teachers a bit dull. Why not go to the Holy Mountain’s library and pick out a few books I’d like to read; would you lead the way?”
“It would be my honor to serve you, Your Holiness.”
The old priest naturally wouldn’t refuse and hurriedly led Qin Feng to the hall with the most extensive collection of books on the Holy Mountain.
Those following Qin Feng didn’t mind.
They were used to Qin Feng’s whims. The Holy Son normally didn’t put on airs or show any temperament, sometimes even chatting with a flower gardener for half a day about how to better care for plants and flowers.
So, they thought it perfectly normal for him, along with the book-responsible old priest, to seek out interesting books.
Following the old priest, Qin Feng arrived at the great hall of books, and after casually flipping through a few, he quickly grew impatient, stuffing the books back in place and told the old priest, “Go find some interesting books for me to bring back and read at my leisure.”
“As you command, Your Holiness.”
The old priest promptly agreed.
He was familiar with managing all the books here, so he quickly selected a few from the shelves and respectfully handed them to Qin Feng.
Qin Feng glanced through them casually, nodded in satisfaction, and ordered a Golden Knight behind him to gather the books, planning to read them later.
Afterward, Qin Feng casually visited several more places, and seeing that it was getting late, he finally returned to the Holy Son Palace located at the peak of the mountain.
Following a lavish dinner and dismissing the attendants, he returned to his bedroom, taking the few books with him, and upon using his Divine Sense, he immediately discovered a hidden compartment in the cover of a book recording the war history between the Light God Church and the Druids.
Extending his right index finger, a flicker of golden light traced gently over the cover, neatly opening a thin slit, out of which he pulled a thin piece of paper.
After reading all the information on it, his hand emitted a burst of Holy Flame, incinerating the thin paper to ashes.
The next morning, while Qin Feng was eating breakfast, he bit into something hard in his cream bread.
It was a Space Ring.
Qin Feng discreetly tucked it into his pocket without letting anyone notice.
At noon, he wandered about Holy Mountain as usual.
However, this time, as he passed by a heavily guarded palace not far from the Light Temple, curiosity led him there.
“Holy Son, this is the Holy Mountain Underground Palace; there’s nothing much to see here. Perhaps—”
The Red Robed Old Bishop who followed behind Qin Feng tried to persuade him to go elsewhere.
Upon hearing this, Qin Feng turned around and looked at him indifferently: “What, is my status not sufficient to be here?”
“Uh… that’s not what I meant.”
The old man suddenly regretted his words. After interacting with the Saint Heir for a few days, he had roughly figured out his temper—it was that of a boy who hadn’t matured yet and was in a rebellious phase.
Sometimes, the more you didn’t want him to do something, the more he would do just the opposite, just as when they had tried to constrain him with intricate rituals, only for him to abandon all ceremonies outright, making them copy those damn ritual rules a hundred times.
Now, entering the Holy Mountain Underground Palace was no different. If he had spoken differently earlier, considering the Saint Heir’s usual temper, maybe he would have just walked away.
Instead, his words had now triggered the Saint Heir’s defiant nature, making him adamant about entering the Underground Palace.
Thinking about this, Qin Feng and others arrived at the entrance of the Underground Palace.
“Greetings, Holy Son.”
A group of Knights guarding the entrance of the Underground Palace knelt and saluted, and the leading Knight Commander asked: “May I ask what business the Holy Son has here? This is a vital area of Holy Mountain, and if the Holy Son has no urgent matters here…”
Qin Feng, whose face had been gentle, became icy as he turned to glance at the Red Robed Old Bishop who closely followed him: “It seems that the identity of the Holy Son really amounts to nothing when even a Chiliarch of the Guardian Army dares to dismiss me outright.”
“Holy Son, please calm your anger.”
The old Bishop apologized immediately, then glared fiercely at the Knight Commander: “You fool, how dare you block the Holy Son’s path without realizing your position? Do you want to be sent to the Judicial Court in the back mountain?”
The Commander paled, immediately kneeling on the ground: “Please forgive me, Holy Son; I meant no disrespect. I am merely following His Holiness the Pope’s orders to guard this place and am compelled by my duties. Without His Holiness’ orders, I dare not let anyone in, and that has inadvertently offended the Holy Son.”
“Your duty does not include obstructing the Holy Son’s path!”
The old Bishop rebuked: “With the Holy Son’s status, where on Holy Mountain can he not go? The Holy Son just wanted to look around here casually; what harm could possibly come from that?”
“Yes, yes, I have recognized my fault, and I beg the Holy Son’s forgiveness.”
Sweating profusely, the Knight Commander, noticing the fierce looks from the two Holy Knights and the Sword Saint behind Qin Feng, became frightened and hastily begged for Qin Feng’s mercy.
“Enough, it’s not a big deal. Stand up.”
Qin Feng waved his hand dismissively and said, “Open the temple doors; I want to take a look inside.”
“Yes.”
This time, the Commander hesitated no more, dutifully opening the temple doors, respectfully ushering Qin Feng and his accompanying party into the grand hall.
“Greetings, Holy Son.”
Inside, a few people were busy arranging some items. Upon seeing Qin Feng and his group enter, they quickly stopped their busywork to salute him.
Qin Feng nodded slightly and asked, “Who will tell me what the situation with this Underground Palace is?”
Among the Priests already in the hall, a middle-aged man stepped forward, bowing and said, “Reporting to the Holy Son, this Underground Palace is a stronghold of our Church Court, consisting of three levels, each storing many precious items.
“The first and second levels house treasures and valuable documents collected by the Church over the years. As for the third level, it is the core of the Underground Palace, but it can only be opened with His Holiness the Pope’s Magic Key.”
“I see.”
Qin Feng nodded casually: “Since His Holiness the Pope has sealed the third level, I won’t bother visiting it, but I’m curious about this place. You lead the way and show me around the collections here.”
“This…”
The middle-aged Priest hesitated.
“Get moving.”
The Red Robed Bishop glared at him: “The Holy Son is still young and quite curious about rare items. It’s an honor for you to guide the Holy Son around; why hesitate?”
“Yes, yes, it’s an immense honor for me. How could I refuse?”
The middle-aged Priest quickly stepped forward and led Qin Feng toward the entrance: “However, most of the items here are sealed with magic. Your Highness can only look at them, not touch.”
“That’s fine; I’m just here to look, and I don’t intend to take anything.”
Saying this, he turned back to look at the Red Robed Old Bishop: “You come with me too; let’s not have anyone else follow. Since this place stores treasures, it’s better not to have too many people coming inside.”
“As you command, Holy Son.”
The Red Robed Old Bishop, hearing this, actually felt a slight surge of joy.
It seemed his long efforts had finally yielded some results.
Although the Saint Heir had never really appreciated his teachings, at this moment, he still chose to bring him along, excluding others.