Worldly

Chapter 23 - Follow up

Wang Shu hasn't expected the priestess' move. It was so sudden that beyond barricading his body with superimposed layers of spiritual energy, he could do nothing more. She must've been truly desperate to disregard all witnesses and kidnap him so openly. Most worryingly is what she could do in the time it took to locate them. Though he knew she was not a threat to him, he couldn't say for sure she was alone in this. He wasn't strong enough. If an enemy proved stronger, he was sure a goner.

Despite his whirling thoughts, Wang Shu remained alert. The teleportation method wasn't familiar to him, but since his divine sense couldn't be deployed on such a journey, he couldn't decipher its mechanism. All he knew is that it was especially crude in comparison to the ones used in the Azure Cloud Continent, for even with his spiritual energy protecting him, a slight discomfort remained unavoidable. He could only imagine what it would do to a regular human. Though he doubted the Priestess cared much for his comfort in the first place.

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination.

Blinking his eyes to adjust to the new surroundings, Wang Shu was in awe of place he found himself in. It was a huge church hall with a high arched ceiling made entirely of a pure white color. Its walls, columns and marble flooring all in a spotless, untainted white with slightly darker runes exuding unparalleled holiness. This must be the main Nearynian church, he thought. Up ahead, at the very end of the hall, he spotted an erected altar on which stood an intricate carving of three connected leaves bathed in the afternoon light that filtered through the huge windows set up afar. From his memories, Wang Shu recognized that the sculpture represented nature which the Nearynian belief system was based upon. It wasn't very surprising considering that the Buryaqi race originated from a primal, foresteal environment.

"You really are special, huh" Wang Shu turned to the side and looked at the constipated appearance of the Priestess looking at him with envy and curiosity. He appeared every bit as tranquil and relaxed as he did before the teleportation whereas she was short of wheezing for breath, struggling hard to contain her dry-heaving.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asked. She's been pulling out all the stops to bring him to the church, there must be a reason. His interrogative tone was full of momentum that she felt compelled to answer.

"I was ordered to." Her subservient reply came readily that even she felt shocked.

"By whom?"

Valdis didn't answer. How could she when she didn't know herself. The pregnant silence was unsettling for both. Wang Shu sighed in frustration at his ignorance of what's to come. He was self-aware enough to doubt that his weak cultivation base might prove insufficient to defend him against this fiend that the Priestess answers to.

He was seriously entertaining the idea of wringing her neck and then leaving when the sound of faint laughter echoed in the hall alerting both of its occupants. It was hair-raising and full of creepy mirth. An intense pressure erupted all of a sudden and like huge crashing waves threatened to drown the two with the endless streams of its suffocating might. Wang Shu's eyes went cold in an instant. This was spiritual pressure! This person can cultivate and is more powerful than he is!

Wang Shu circulated his spiritual energy through his meridians to fight off the smothering pressure exerted on his body. The barely defensive measure kept him at least standing. Compared to ground-bound Priestess whose eyes were bleeding, he fared much better. He remembered feeling restrictions on her and now he knew who applied them. It seems like she had no choice either.

There was no way he could beat this person so all he could do now is attempt to flee. The idea barely surfaced his mind when an echoing click was heard. He snapped his head up only to see a short door opening through the alter. Its squeak sounded more like a screech from hell. The darkness beyond did nothing in quelling one's fear of what might be lurking in the yawning void.