The Villain Princess survived the Imperial Riot

Not all esoteric cultivators are war machines like the High Knights; this is more of a way of life and a path to immortality, with killing not being the fundamental purpose. Apprentice-level esoteric cultivators might not be as good as well-trained ordinary people in skirmishes.

In my consciousness, the luster of the mark dimmed by about a quarter.

"It's dimmed, but not gone. It should be able to replenish... Could it be trying to steal the other party's spirit through killing?" Hestia speculated. "Since it's a ritual vessel imbued with the aura of a witch, I might as well call it the 'Witch's Book'. I just don't know if I'll ever truly become a witch."

Hestia had considered the possibility of conspiracy, but that only added to her worries. It was most practical to seize the benefits while the empire still held its power. If she could ascend to mythical status before the empire collapsed, even if she couldn't defeat any conspiracy, she could always escape.

All that’s left is to pray that my mother’s spirit in heaven won’t do anything naughty.

In the evening, exhausted sobs could still be heard from Matildahl Miller's room. Iyana found Hestia, who was wearing an elegant dress woven with white and gold and a wide-brimmed veil hat, like a lady on a spring picnic.

"Your Highness, I'm ready. There are ninety-nine fairies in the villa acting as peepers. When I'm away, they'll help me monitor what's going on here... Uh, Your Highness, is there anything wrong?"

“Yes, and it’s a big problem.”

--"Tear"--

"Ah? Ah! Your Highness!"

Hestia didn't look at her, but searched for suitable clothes in the closet that took up an entire wall, throwing them one by one at the head of the bed, including a pair of deerskin boots, smiling like a cunning fox.

"You idiot, you're going to the cemetery like this? If you don't know, I would think I'm going on a spring outing with my ghost dad!"

"Then I'll go back to my room..."

"Right! Here!"

Volume 13: The Dreamer: . Flesh Alchemy

The snow wind is silent, and the violet moon is gradually moving.

The princess and her maidservant did not follow the hillside road into the lower city, but went straight over the cliff.

Iyana captured two beams of moonlight from the air, one obscuring the clifftop, the other scattering the bottom. When the two beams merged into one, the hazy, moonlit landscape suddenly shifted, and an old warehouse at Cloudtop Harbor appeared before Hestia's eyes. With just one step forward, miles of distance vanished into a single step.

Hestia felt a little dizzy. She rubbed her brow and asked, "Iyana, what realm are you in now?"

"Maybe it's the photo shoot..." Iyana said uncertainly.

"It's not a matter of appearance?" Hestia was a little surprised. "And what do you mean by 'probably'?"

"I have crossed the Silver Gate and, baptized by the new moon, transformed into a fairy body. But the so-called perfection is to illuminate my true heart and make myself complete, and I..."

Iyana shook her head.

She served Princess Lorraine and the Imperial Princess successively, and depended on the shadow of others all her life. The fate of the first half of her life was very different from that of the second half. The cruelty of the Princess was like an iron peak pressing on her path. With a flaw in her heart, it was naturally difficult for her to let it go.

"Okay." Hestia shrugged and didn't ask any further questions.

The finished photo is also good.

There are still more than ten years before the stage where destiny is lost and the whole world is chasing after it. The decree of the Divine Emperor is still in place, and the world is far from the point where immortals are everywhere and those who cling to appearances are as numerous as dogs. Wanzhao's secret cultivation is already the backbone after the leader of the secret cultivation sect.

Although it did not meet Hestia's expectations, it was still acceptable. Otherwise, she would have to carefully consider her trip tonight.

Dressed casually, with capes and rough-hewn makeup, they resembled female adventurers who had sailed the seven seas and visited ports around the world. They made their way to the Pavas Cemetery, nestled at the foot of the hill in the lower city.

Dark clouds loomed, and the moonlight faded. During martial law, the nearby brothels and taverns closed early, leaving the vast cemetery lit only by a few rusty oil lamps hanging on the pointed gateposts of the continuous iron fence. The atmosphere was dim and dark, and eerily dull.

As a witch who was inadvertently transformed by the Witch Book, Hestia felt a strong "death aura" hovering in the air as soon as she stood in front of the cemetery, and lingering souls were wandering in front of the collapsed tombstones.

"Your Highness, can you see?"

"Ah."

"I didn't expect Your Highness's spiritual perception to be so sharp," Iyana said in surprise. "Has Your Highness already embarked on the path of the Tao? However, a mystical disciple of the Path of Order should only have a hint of inspiration when it comes to the dead."

“I’m gifted.”

"I see... Actually, I think it would be... more suitable if Your Highness followed the same path as the Princess. Perhaps you could go further, even if you could practice both..."

Iyana would never have dared to say this yesterday.

Hestia didn't respond, but asked, "That's where the little thing's body was sent?"

"I didn't keep the mark alive out of fear of being noticed by other secret practitioners, but the route it took when it dissipated ended roughly here."

"Pavas Cemetery..."

Hestia frowned in displeasure as she looked at the tilted, rotting wooden sign above the door.

The smell of death is disgusting. She has a keen sense of perception and is even more disgusted by the rotten and dead air.

Her intuition told her that the deaths here were hiding a secret.

"Iyana, can you talk to those ghosts?" Hestia asked.

Iyana shook her head and said, "Although the Way of Heaven is also the Way of the Soul, I am not an orthodox spiritual practitioner. Those souls are merely the remnants of decaying brains. They have almost no wisdom or memory. With my attainments, I cannot obtain any useful information."

Since Iyana said so, Hestia had no choice but to go into the cemetery to look for clues. Enduring the terrible smell of decay, the princess was agile and relied on years of training to climb over the fence. Then, Iyana seemed to transform into a misty star shadow and passed through the door.

The bodies of the deceased are usually not buried immediately, but kept in the morgue to wait for the grave to be dug. During this period, the undertaker at the cemetery will clean and disinfect the deceased, tidy up his appearance, and give his downtrodden life a final dignity. After the grave is dug, the family and the church priest will be invited to hold the funeral.

Ignoring the regrets lingering in the group chat, Scarustia approached a small two-story house located at a corner of the old man's tomb. A donkey cart was parked in the stable next to the house, and the old donkey stared at the uninvited guest with its bright eyes.

"Shh, be quiet."

After confirming that the donkey was not alert, Hestia pushed the door tentatively and found that it was not locked.

"squeak--"

As soon as the wooden door rubbed against each other, Iyana pressed her fingers on the door panel. A halo that was invisible to the naked eye quickly penetrated into every corner of the building, instantly eliminating all movement.

The house faced the incinerator, and in front of it were morgues with corpses wrapped in linen placed on them.

"Your Highness, two people are hiding in the basement." Iyana immediately became alert. "There are seventeen trigger traps, and I have cut off all of them."

"You lead the way."

……

In the dim basement, cabinets are arranged side by side in a square shape, and the walls are made of blood-red square bricks. At first glance, it looks like they were crushed in a meat grinder and then shaped by molds.

Beside the autopsy table, a hunched old man stood eagerly before a veiled figure, as submissive as an old dog. "Madam, the last batch of bodies has been transported to the designated location. The next batch will probably have to wait until the martial law is over. As you know, the cemetery robbery case has alerted the police, so we have to stay out of the spotlight for the time being."

"I don't need another batch of corpses. I'm here to tell you that Genting City is no longer peaceful. Here are twelve tickets and a check for one thousand Thai pounds. This is a merchant ship to the New World. It departs at ten this morning. You must pack your things and leave through the sewer tonight."

"So urgent?" the old man was surprised.

"The situation is different. Someone told me that the association's research may have been discovered by the authorities."

"Because of the body theft?"

"I'm afraid not. Okay, quickly destroy all unnecessary items and leave the empire."

"So urgent? Ma'am, I can hide in the sewers. That's our ghouls' lair. The police won't be able to catch me even if they dig deep underground...Okay, I'll do as you say."

Realizing that the situation was more serious than he had imagined, the old man knelt down respectfully and kissed the back of the other person's hand.

"Madam, I will never forget your kindness to me. Even in this new world, my family and I will remain your loyal servants. Your pursuit has been my lifelong wish."

After saying that, the old man took the ticket and check. He pressed the secret compartment of one of the wall tiles, and the cabinet slowly moved, revealing a path leading to the sewer.

"Oh!"

Just as he was about to leave, a fire suddenly lit up in the shadows of the secret room entrance.

The woman in the burqa subconsciously dodged before the gunshot, and the alchemical lead bullet landed on the old man's side, tearing a bloody hole in his waist.

"Ahhh, ma'am, there's an enemy attack!"

"who!"

The woman turned around in fear, only to see two slender figures in cloaks appear in her sight.

Why were these two people able to come in without her noticing at all?

"You can avoid this?" Hestia frowned slightly.

"The spirits of high-level secret practitioners are immersed in dreams. Their instincts are to always be alert to their surroundings, and obvious killing intent can be easily detected." Iyana explained softly.

"Tsk, I didn't mean to kill her." Hestia frowned. She wanted to capture her alive, but then sneered, "But I have to kill her now. Get rid of her for me."

Iyana responded, then stretched out her bare hands, and invisible magic surged.

"who are you!"

The woman questioned, but was destined to receive no answer.

She drew out her sword and cut Mio's palm. As the blood of the neighboring creatures continued to flow, the red bricks of the entire secret room began to wriggle, turning from the outside to the inside like peeling skin. One by one, bodies without skin, eyes, ears, nose bones and lips crawled out of the cabinet.

She wanted to activate all the arrangements in the cemetery, but soon found that her spirit had lost control of all the secret arts.

Seeing this, the woman, who had no intention of fighting, turned around and fled, but before she could really take the next step, she fell to the ground with a strange step.

"What did you do!" the woman asked angrily.

"Oh!"

Hestia pressed the hammer of her revolver, and the alchemical lead bullet was fired again. Under the gray robe, a snow-white arm was torn into the sky by the burning impact.

"Ah ah ah ah ah--"

The woman screamed hysterically.

"What did you do to make her so anxious?" Hestia asked leisurely.

"I cut off her connection with everything," Iyana said softly. "The transformation and communication of all things require a medium. Countless media drive the operation of the world. I first severed her connection with the cemetery corpses, then the connection between her connection with the boots, and then her connection with the earth..."

As if echoing Iyana's words, Hestia saw that the woman actually floated up from the pool of blood.

"The path of heaven..."

The woman covered her throat and felt that the air was moving away from her, and the blood in her body was about to boil.

"Normally, I also need a medium to allow such secret techniques to work on spiritually powerful individuals, but she follows the path of flesh and blood alchemy. Here, there are corpse bricks stained with her blood... Ah, Your Highness, don't touch it. Her blood may contain a curse!"

Iyana was sharing her knowledge with Hestia when she noticed that Her Highness wanted to touch the blood on the surface of the corpse brick and hurriedly stopped her.

"Oh, flesh alchemy." Hestia pointed her gun at the woman's forehead. She was covered by a burqa, with only a pair of emerald eyes exposed. "You have three chances to convince me not to kill you."