Origin Paradise!

Lotus held his knight's sword and waited quietly.

He will be facing a duke who has lost his wife and is suppressing his rage; a tough battle is to be expected.

Smoke and dust billowed as a figure stepped onto the golden battlefield.

"Begin!" the demon wolf waved.

The 100,000 people of the capital closely watched the battle; nobles chatted and laughed, while clergy whispered among themselves.

The next moment, Jiang He's figure disappeared.

"Disappeared!"

"Space teleportation array?"

"No, it's pure speed!"

A gust of wind rushed towards him, and Lotus opened his eyes wide. He could barely make out the afterimage of his opponent's black armor. The incredible speed aroused his instinctive fear.

"How can it be."

boom!

A powerful punch landed.

Lutes gritted his teeth and drew his sword. The sword light of the Royal Secret Sword, Dragon's Fury, was extremely dazzling. But at close range, an ancient savage dragon with nine heads and eighteen horns, and unimaginably violent, charged fiercely.

The power of authority was activated to its peak for the first time since its arrival.

Boom!

The Imperial Arena was completely silent.

The ground, reinforced countless times by generations of alchemists, exploded, creating a giant crater a hundred meters in diameter. The uppercut shattered the knight's sword, destroyed the magic armor and hero's weaponry, and finally struck Lutus in the chest.

As he lay dying, Lutes saw the enemy's eyes.

It was a gaze filled with indifference and chilling coldness, a look he would never forget. He had recalled and regretted that night, which was nothing short of a nightmare, countless times.

It can't be wrong!

"mad……"

Boom!

The second punch shattered Lotus's skull, forcing his last words back down his throat.

Jiang He casually flicked the blood from his fist, ignoring the gazes that were filled with fear, astonishment, anger, or madness.

[Hint: Number of war victories +1]

Chapter 653 Dragon God Bloodline

In the blink of an eye, the battle came to an end.

Duke Rhine Augustus of the North defeated Saint Knight Ruth with overwhelming superiority, thus officially advancing to the quarterfinals.

Since all the Holy Ones who fought in the two battles had perished, it was clear to everyone that this Duke had no mercy. In no time, the name "Wrath of the North" spread throughout the capital.

Ignoring the wreckage of Lotus, Jiang He left the Golden Battlefield directly.

Throughout the entire Holy Tournament, there are only two people to pay attention to: one is Freya, the Elf Queen, who is a member of the Destiny Squad and is unsurprisingly eccentric.

Secondly, there is the cloaked figure of unknown origin, whose fighting methods rely on the servants of the dead, and whose two guards on the left and right are both Saint-level combatants in skeleton form.

When Jiang He entered the stands, an uproar of cheers and shouts greeted him. Unfamiliar faces filled the air, accompanied by fervent roars, and some even began to charge the Second Legion's lines.

"The Wrath of the North!"

"Lord Rhine, please allow me to follow you!"

"Killing two Saints, you are a sinner against the Empire!"

Jiang He turned a blind eye. It is worth mentioning that the First Legion has collapsed. Last time, he killed more than 90% of the elite Grand Knights. Since the Heavenly Father Church withdrew from the court, the reconstruction of the legion is a long way off.

Inside the passageway, Mirai Kamishiro had already left.

Standing here waiting is Belladonna, the former barmaid from the tavern.

The fact that the Shadow Sage became the leader of the Cult of Seven Gods largely signifies that the God of Shadows has returned to his throne. Belladonna, who had already become a Shadow Saint, naturally rose in status, and within the church system, she now has a fully-fledged god standing behind her.

"Your Grace, His Highness requests an audience."

"Ok?"

Jiang He turned her head and looked at the elegant young woman behind the gilded fence. Overnight, she had become a completely different person.

The second princess was surrounded by more than a dozen members of the royal family, like stars around the moon. Vigrid's expression was not very pleasant, but in public, the nobility of the royal family was beyond question.

As a young man pointed, the second princess turned her gaze toward the passageway, a complex greed in her eyes. She had a strong possessive desire for the man of Marquis Elinoia, the eldest daughter of the Medici family, and it wasn't just because of her appearance.

In the territory of Augustus, she was completely controlled, but now she has gained the emperor's recognition; her noble dragon bloodline makes her the master of the empire.

In the dimly lit passageway.

Jiang He, intrigued, asked, "To pay an audience?"

Belladonna lowered her head, inexplicably feeling awe at the other person's authority.

"The original word was 'serve'."

"Interesting, they really think they're someone important."

Jiang He shook his head and strode forward. As he passed by, he slapped Belladonna on the shoulder, amplifying her great achievements with his fury.

"My abilities are not a secret."

"With the power of faith in the gods, you should be able to become a Saint soon after being promoted to Knight of Great Achievement."

"Remember to protect the princess well."

The power of faith, in a sense, is a potent remedy for enhancing strength, but it has a huge inherent flaw. Once the source of faith is lost, the faith lineage will fall from the level of life along with the gods. Just falling from heaven would cause the gods to lose their former glory; the weakness is too fatal.

Belladonna stood frozen in place, sensing the power rising within her, but she was gripped by panic.

Her strength improved too quickly. In just two or three months, she had traversed the path that other powerful individuals took half a lifetime to complete. It was as if a great terror was constantly urging her to continue on her journey.

As the Duke said, once promoted to Knight of Great Achievement, the full-fledged God of Shadows would not allow his saints to be merely at the Knight of Great Achievement level, as they would be utterly incapable of holding their own.

She didn't know when it started, but she was blessed with extraordinary luck.

“If…” Belladonna’s thoughts were in disarray.

But at that very moment, a chaotic gasp erupted from the stands. Before everyone's eyes, the Second Princess suddenly died, her body rotting like mud, blood flowing everywhere, and her once handsome and beautiful face rapidly peeling away. It was a death that seemed to come from hell.

"His Highness has been assassinated!"

"Quickly resonate with the dragon and come to its protection!"

"Go find the alchemist, quick!"

Behind the gilded fence, chaos reigned. Duke Vigrid's expression was grim. As expected of the God of Whispers, he had killed the Second Prince remotely without warning. In this way, the advantage that the Conquest Church had just gained in the court was immediately lost.

“I really have you under my control, Whisper.”

With the resonance of the royal bloodline, several holy dragons flew from the Golden Castle, causing a huge commotion along the way. Seeing this, the Seven Gods Cult decisively fueled the chaos. Although most of the cult members were unaware of the higher-ups' plans, the sudden death of the Second Princess made this the perfect time to intervene.

Amidst turmoil and riots.

Belladonna's body gradually grew cold.

……

Green Forest City in the North.

The headquarters church of the Secret Language Church is located here.

Due to the relocation of the political center of the North, Green Forest City, which had been ravaged by war, was not yet fully repaired. A group of figures appeared around the Whisper headquarters, a total of one thousand people, all of whom were Knights of Great Achievement.

—The Divine Guard Knights.

As the evil guardian, who also served as a storm priest in the Knights Order, began chanting, the sub-legendary forbidden spell, Little Heaven Storm, began to gather. This mysterious storm, which targets flesh, soul, and faith, surrounded the headquarters church layer by layer. The gale howled, and the two holy beings stationed inside fought desperately, but they withered and fell one after another.

The headquarters church collapsed.

Jiang He, who had secretly come from the capital, landed.

A raven landed and said, "Boss, the Medici family's funding for artists comes from the silver coins that believers offer to the gods after their deaths."

"Given that Vigrid was able to draw upon the Soul Silver Coins even after descending to the mortal realm, I speculate that the gods' storage location is likely in the mortal world, primarily to support the long-term maintenance and development of their respective churches."

"Second Brother has already led the Holy Domain puppets to the Storm Headquarters, so there shouldn't be any unexpected events."

Lady Storm is Lilith.

Storm Sage is the King of the Wild Hunt, the Knight of the Past.

The Storm Archbishop is in the capital, investigating the cause of Eleanor's death, and has no time to attend to the headquarters in Augustus.

Lao Hei's actions constituted embezzlement by his own subordinate, posing no risk.

Jiang He entered the headquarters of the Secret Language. In the divine chamber under the great statue, there was a space shaped by alchemical matrices and the power of faith. Its sturdiness and concealment were excellent. Even spatial powers might not be able to detect or crack it.

"The resources for the advancement of the Underworld Puppet are almost complete."

Within the secret chamber of the shrine, there are approximately ninety million soul silver coins, equivalent to nine million gold coins. The church's wealth far exceeds that of a local duke.

Jiang He took them all, and then the spatial authority enveloped the surroundings, and the entire Divine Guard Knights were teleported away.

……

Imperial Autonomous Dominion, Sea Serpent Island.

When Old Black arrived, the number of Soul Coins had reached 160 million. This was the accumulation of Storm and Whisper over a long history. Behind each Soul Coin was the death of a believer.

On the coast, the Sea Serpent Knights drove away all the local indigenous tribes. Around the campfire, Lao Hei, Wu He, and Si Ning sat together. With nothing to do, Si Ning took out the Void Card first.

The Netherworld puppet descended, and soul coins kept appearing in Jiang He's hand. One by one, the coins melted into liquid and were poured onto the puppet's head. After the reversal, the silver coins that originally contained life force became dead, and the Netherworld puppet's aura continued to rise.

Until a certain boundary was crossed, the world changed drastically.

Dark clouds rolled in, turning the sea black. Life was extinguished on the shore, and death spread wildly. The body of the underworld puppet shone with a deep, dark luster, created by the power of heaven and earth and the state of a hero.

[Name: King and Minister of the Underworld]

[Heroic Sanctuary Energy: 4500 points]

[Life Level: Peak Beings of the Heroic Age]

[Strength: 75 (Power of the Wei River)]

[Constitution: 75 (Tomb Guardian/Sacrifice)]

[Agility: 75 (Soul Burial Light)]

[Spirit: 75]

[Charm: 21]

[Immortal-level Energy Property: Death LV75]

[Special Innate Talent: Human Puppet - After striking a target with the Myriad Spirits Scythe, inflicting penetrating wounds, the user can control the target's body using the soul light threads of a mysterious realm. The number of wounds is proportional to the degree of control (for characters of the same rank and below), with a maximum of ten.]

[Skill ②: Billion Bodies - The Death Puppet contains the deaths of billions of living beings. Attacks do not pose a fatal threat, but rather erode the "death" within it. When the "death" is exhausted, it transforms into a physical form and can regenerate over time.]

[Other skills: Heroic State, Heroic Body, Soul Light, Scythe Master LV1, Death Scythe, Malicious Lock-On, Divine Transformation - Underworld Evil Spirit]

[Note: Peak combat power of a normal hero/King Chen]

Jiang He beckoned, and the King of the Underworld transformed into a crown, which landed directly on his head. This thing was less of a puppet and more of a combat tool.

As the Sun King, the Future Knight, gave the order, the enormous nine-headed sea serpent came as commanded, but along the way it let out uneasy roars from its instincts. Its soul had only been reborn for a few months and it lacked the ability to judge the situation.

The moment I saw Jiang He.

The nine-headed sea serpent sensed a chilling killing intent.

“You are worthless,” Jiang He said.

His promotion to King of the Underworld retained his deathly nature. Compared to the Sea Serpent Cult, he preferred the Church of Death as the faith to unify the northern and southern continents.

The nine heads began to roar.

A storm is forming that will encompass the entire Sea Serpent Island and the surrounding hundred miles of sea, and the power of heaven and earth is responding to its call.

Jiang He simply snapped his fingers in response.