The Defeated Saintess Is On A Journey To Tame The Evil God Book 01 Chapter 05.11 - Gold

After leaving the night market, Xing Mo took Aurora straight to the marbled hall of the Sunflower Hot Springs.

An attendant in a yellow robe was already waiting for them: "Esteemed golden ticket holders, Ms. Xing Sheng and Ms. Xing Yu." The attendant bowed, "Your performance in the Game of Gold was impressive."

"Mhm." Aurora nodded perfunctorily.

"While we aim to fulfil all requests of our golden ticket holders to the best of our ability, I still need to ask before we proceed."

The attendant swept the two with his eyes: "Why are you interested in the boiler room?"

"I took the elective course Principles of Steam Alchemy Machines at the academy." Xing Mo answered without thinking, "So I wanted to take a look and see how ingenious the steam alchemy machinery are that supply energy to the hot springs."

She deliberately put on a fanatical look on her face to convince the attendant she was just an avid steam machinery enthusiast.

The attendant, evidently convinced, nodded and made an inviting gesture: "This way. After the tour, the duke suite awaits you."

The two followed the attendant through the marbled hall and entered a staff passage, heading underground.

As they descended the stairs, the surrounding decorations lost the refinement of upstairs, replaced by dark gray bricks and oil lamps fixed on the walls. Occasionally, the sound of steam could be heard.

About five minutes later, the two arrived at the steam boiler room located underneath the hot springs.

Bronze-colored pipes extended all over the space. The boiler room was about the same size as the hot springs. On the right side were cylindrical steam alchemy machines lined up, while on the left side rows of whale oil tanks emitting a faint blue light were erected, with a complex network of pipes and equipment connecting them.

In fact, the principle behind steam alchemy machines was very simple: the String Affinity Whale Oil was processed and mixed with a certain proportion of water, then heated to turn into a faint blue steam.

The steam would flood the string formation on top of the steam alchemy machines, causing a resonance in the designated strings, thereby prying the power of the strings out of thin air.

In other words, whale oil mixed with water could produce energy out of thin air.

As for the String Affinity Whale Oil, it stemmed from Storm Narwhal, a kind of mythical creature living in the Middle Sea. It could use its whale song to leverage the power of strings to create storms and currents in the sea.

The storms that approached the Citadel occasionally were usually caused by these whales. Their fate was usually to be locked in whale oil factories in the Northern District's Docklands and turned into whale oil banks.

"Please do not touch the machines to avoid unnecessary trouble." The attendant said to Xing Mo and Aurora as they were looking around.

"Okay." Xing Mo nodded. Thereupon, she strolled inside the boiler room, surveying the surroundings.

The alchemy steam machines triggered the power of the string of fire and then direct pure heat into the hot springs through pipes to maintain their temperature.

As she walked among the bronze pipes, Xing Mo activated her spiritual vision, hoping to find clues regarding the Tree of Life.

However, after looking for a long time, she still couldn't find any clues.

"Weird..." Xing Mo muttered.

They channeled the people's negative emotions into the Tree of Life magic formation and then what, nothing?

No way... that power must be going somewhere... and it's somewhere around here.

As Xing Mo was meditating about this, she realized she reached the end of the boiler room—there was a locked iron door in front of her.

"That's the maintenance room. It's dirty. Dear guests, please refrain from going further." The attendant said.

"I still want to go in and take a look." Xing Mo tilted her head.

"In order to give you the most comfortable experience possible, I ask that you stop here, dear guests." The attendant's face bore a smile, but his tone was particularly serious.

The boiler room is accessible, but not the maintenance room. This seems off...

I need to find a way to persuade him.

While Xing Mo was musing what excuse to use, the attendant suddenly spoke up: "Esteemed guests, please come with me. Allow me to show you the maintenance room."

His attitude suddenly changed, and the smile on his face became kinder.

Xing Mo was startled, then turned to look at Aurora, who was humming a melody, and asked: "What did you do?"

"Stop wasting time." Aurora clapped her hands, "Now, my good man, open the door."

Following Aurora's order, the attendant obediently opened the door and made an inviting gesture.

Only then did Xing Mo realize that there was a faint green light shining in his eyes.

It's the ability to pull people into a dream... it's the same ability that was used against me back then...

Xing Mo sighed helplessly, then followed the attendant into the so-called maintenance room.

After the three descended a few flights of stairs in the darkness, a huge space opened up before their eyes.

What appeared in front of them was a huge cavern with stalactites hanging from the ceiling, looking like the mouth of a Dragon.

Drops of black water gathered on the tips of the stalactites and dropped on the rocky ground one by one.

Then, Xing Mo saw the huge magic formation in the center of the rocky ground—

—a black Tree of Life.

The string magic formation was carved into the rocky ground. After the drops of black water fell, they would flow along the outline of the magic formation. The numerous drops didn't stick together, but flowed independently, creating a scene akin to stars moving in the sky.

A man wearing a loose black robe was standing in the center of the magic formation.

He waved his wand, causing the drops of black water to gather in the center of the magic formation, and then form a turbid gas.

The gas was the curse.

So that's how it was... they absorbed the negative energy generated by the people of the Southern District in their weary lives and used the string magic formation to convert it into the curse.

Then, they spread the curse to the people in the Southern District.

What were they doing all this for...?

Seeing as the man in the center of the magic formation did not notice him, Xing Mo raised her wand and approached cautiously.

When the man was within range, Xing Mo shouted: "Mister, don't move, put your hands up!"

The man froze, then raised his head, his face hidden under the darkness cast by his hood, with only a pair of green radiance gleaming in his eyes.

Next, before Xing Mo could do anything, he turned into fragmented shadows that dissipated into nothing.

"It's a projection. He's a user of the string of the shadows." Xing Mo sighed.

"Cautious little ant." Aurora uttered.

Xing Mo wasted no time. She promptly took out pen and paper she prepared beforehand, quickly sketching the shape of the string magic formation.

After she was done with that, she searched the space, trying to find more clues.

Soon, she found a table in a corner of the cavern, with quill pen, ink, and several scattered pieces of parchment on top.

Xing Mo spread out the parchment, then used her wand to light a candle.

But, when her eyes fell on a particular piece of parchment, she felt a chill creep down her spine.

"Steam Man's prey."

"Freyr Sunlight..."

"Estain Allorn..."

"Arcadia Sebourn..."

…

It was a long list, with Bishop Freyr Sunlight's name at the very top.

All these names belonged to high-ranking individuals of the Citadel, ranging from members of the White Tower Council to bishops of various churches.

Going down the list, when Xing Mo's eyes fell on the last name, her heart skipped a beat.

"Lucius Phillips..."

......