"???"
"What moved?"
"The statue—the statue moved!"
The middle-aged man’s startled reaction frightened everyone.
It startled Sean, too.
He instinctively held his breath, tensed his muscles, and remained utterly still.
Elvire and the others all turned to look at the statue.
"It didn’t move."
"It did move!"
The man insisted he hadn’t been mistaken. "It’s not moving now, but it definitely moved just a mont ago!"
The elder, Adelf, frowned slightly. "Kate, control your emotions."
The man called Kate, his face still flushed with excitent, said, "Teacher, please believe ! It just blinked!"
Adelf gazed at the statue for a mont before shaking his head and sighing. "Kate, we all know you greatly admire Lord Blake, but that’s all in the past. One must look forward. You’re a grown man in your decades; you can’t act like a child every ti Lord Blake is ntioned. You need to learn to be composed."
Everyone here revered Carl Black, and Adelf, too, felt nostalgic for the forr Era of Polymath. Back then, the Hall of Truth existed not only in the Void Technique Space but also in the Real World. It had been the Empire’s largest academy, cultivating countless Grand Mages and Mystic Scholars. Even the Church Court, which held the highest authority, had to treat the Holy Sanctuary with respect.
And that was to say nothing of Carl Black, the founder of the Holy Sanctuary. It was no exaggeration to call him the spiritual leader of all Wizards.
If Blake were still alive, who would dare call them Heresy? Who would dare launch a Witch Hunt Operation?
Being above Tier Ten was no joke. With a wave of his hand, he could have turned those Witch Hunters to ash.
But alas, there were no "if"s.
Elvire and the others couldn’t help but fall silent.
The already solemn atmosphere of the conference grew heavier at the ntion of a na from the past.
Adelf was the eldest person present, and he saw many things more clearly than these "children." Faith was certainly a good thing, but one couldn’t resort to pointless extremism, deceiving oneself with unrealistic fantasies.
"Everyone knows our current situation is more difficult than ever. But no matter how hard it gets, we cannot give up."
Adelf’s eyes, frad by wrinkles, were filled with earnestness. He looked at the group and said, "Without Lord Blake, we must rely on ourselves."
"We can admire him and rember him, but we cannot live in the past."
"The dead are gone, and the living must carry on. We must face reality. The crueler the world becos, the more resilient we must be. That which does not kill us will only make us stronger."
"We must carry on his legacy! One Lord Blake may have fallen, but thousands upon thousands of Blakes will rise to take his place!"
"Do you understand?"
The crowd: "We understand!"
Sean: "?"
’Wait a minute,’ he thought. ’I don’t quite understand.’
’At first, hearing the elder recount the past of the Sanctuary of Truth, he actually felt pretty good. It seed his forr self was indeed powerful—not just anyone could bear the title ’spiritual leader.’ But as he kept listening, sothing felt off. How could he be a mighty figure above Tier Ten one second, and then be declared dead and gone the next?’
Kate sounded rather wronged. "I really did see the statue move. Why won’t any of you believe ?"
"So what if it did move?" Adelf rebuked him in a stern tone. "A qualified Wizard should remain impassive even when facing the gallows, their heart as steady as a rock."
This referred not only to a strong will, but also to the control of one’s Magic Power, because the most fundantal use of a person’s own Energy is "emotion."
If a person was in a good mood, those around them could feel it. Likewise, if that person was dejected, others could sense that too. So-called "killing intent," "pressure," "the air of a superior," and the like were all manifestations of Energy released through one’s ntal state. To an ordinary person, this was known as an "aura."
Therefore—
"Never mind the statue moving! Even if Lord Carl Black himself appeared before you, alive and well, you must still show the proper composure!"
"The sa goes for the rest of you."
Adelf wasn’t just Kate’s teacher; he was an elder to the others as well. Since the topic had co up, he decided to take the opportunity to teach them a lesson. A Wizard’s training was multifaceted. Every single detail could affect the heights one might reach in the future.
And at every Dawn Conference, he led by example.
No matter how brutal and oppressive, or how exciting and joyful the content of the eting was, he would always maintain a calm heart. After all, an elderly Wizard Elder was expected to maintain a stern and dignified image in front of the younger generation.
"I believe that if Lord Blake were still here, he too would prefer to see you all acting mature."
As Adelf spoke, he rose and walked to the tall statue. He looked up at its indistinct face, a nostalgic light flickering in his aged eyes. Gazing at the statue, he seed to be transported back to the prosperous Era of Polymath.
Until the statue moved again.
The eyes that should have been grayish-white stone suddenly transford into a pair of deep, pitch-black human eyes. With a faint, almost imperceptible hint of resentnt, they stared at him quietly, unblinkingly.
Adelf blurted out, "Oh my fuck!"
Everyone: "???"
Sean: "..."
’So much for being composed.’
Kate, whose emotions had just begun to stabilize after Adelf’s scolding, beca agitated all over again. "It moved, it moved! It moved again! Did you all see that?"
Of course they saw it.
Not only did they see it, they saw it very clearly.
Everyone’s gazes had followed Adelf’s movents to the statue, and this ti, Sean had moved it on purpose. ’Since I’m already here,’ he figured, ’I might as well do sothing.’
Although there were still so things Sean hadn’t figured out, that didn’t stop him from reminding this bunch—he wasn’t dead yet!
The Hall of Truth had seven floors in total, each with an identical statue. The Era of Polymath had ended centuries ago. Aside from granting Wizards entry into the Holy Sanctuary, these statues had never shown any other sign of activity. Tonight was the first ti!
"It really moved?!"
"I’m not seeing things, am I? Its eyes... they turned into human eyes?"
The crowd gasped, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.
Elvire’s delicate lips parted slightly, her doe-like eyes wide, her lovely face a mask of astonishnt.
"How is this possible?"
’These statues were all personally crafted by Carl Black, linked to his very soul. No one could control them except for Carl Black himself—not even soone as powerful as my mother... Could it be? Is that man really not dead?’
"Lord Blake, can you hear ?"
While the Fla Crow Maiden and the others were still reeling from the shock, Kate was already overco with excitent. Despite his age, he was like a young fanboy eting his idol, completely forgetting what his teacher Adelf had just said.
Even Adelf himself had lost control of his emotions. His thick white beard trembled slightly, and his eyes even grew a little moist.
"Lord Blake... is it really you?"
...
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