The knight was still in the air and had nowhere to dodge; the only option he had was to channel all his strength of fighting to bear the full brunt of the attack!

 With a giant boom, the knight was slapped down like a fly and heavily hit the ground. After the dust had cleared, he was half buried in the ground. After surviving Thousand Waves, and another vicious attack just now, the knight was already severely wounded. The strength of fighting around him started to fade, and judging by his hollow eyes which were staring into the sky, he still hadn’t recovered from the daze of the impact yet.

 Han Jin of course would never give him any breathing room. He dove forward and punched the knight’s chest, whose thin strength of fighting could no longer protect him from anything. When the knight screamed in pain, Han Jin then immediately threw a fire charm into his open mouth.

 The knight’s scream suddenly became hoarse. He tried to use his hand to pry the charm out of his mouth, but that only spread the burning to his hand. He tried to use his other hand, but again met the same fate. In the end, after a final desperate roll on the ground, the knight stopped moving.

 Han Jin turned and strode toward the main battlefield. The soldiers in the front had already sensed something was horribly wrong and had fled into the distance, but the soldiers deeper inside were already blood-crazed. Screaming about captives and rewards, they continued fighting, oblivious to the looming danger.

 Without using Daoist techniques and relying only on Spirit Possession, Han Jin would not pose a threat to top-grade professionals. Thus, he never used Spirit Possession in the hopes of strengthening his damage, but instead relied on it to increase his reaction speed and tenacity.

 But common foot soldiers weren’t top-grade professionals. Bluntly put, they were nothing but cannon fodder. Their shining steel armor was as sturdy as tofu under Han Jin’s fist, and with every punch, a soldier’s body would break along with his armor. After only a few moments, Han Jin had already broken through their ranks, leaving thirty bloody corps in his wake.

 Only then did the soldiers come to their senses. As they finally looked back, they realized that all of their commanders had fled, and that the ground was littered with countless dead knights. Fear rapidly spread among them as they realized that dreams of promotions and riches were only illusions if they lost their lives.

 Once the first soldier started to run, the rest soon followed suit. Although Louise and her followers were still energetic, no one bothered to chase down the soldiers. It had nothing to do with their weapons or wounds; they were simply too dazed to think clearly.

 Louise and her bodyguards stared at Han Jin with a mix of shock and excitement. They could more than handle themselves in a fight, and if they hadn’t had to protect the fainted Panven, they would have charged into the thick of the battle long ago. However, they were still paying close attention to the battlefield, and it was truly amazing to see a powerful ally emerge.

 Louise was ferocious in battle, but her expression immediately changed when she saw Han Jin. Her eyes reddened, and she opened her mouth to say something but couldn’t find the right words. Louise had been spoiled with love ever since she was little, which had resulted in her arrogant personality. Everyone made way for her, and everyone was afraid of her. She had very few friends – true friends, that is. Other than her sister, the only ones close to her were Blanche and Panven. But now, the former had left her, while the latter was in a coma from a severe wound. She felt so sad she almost started pouring her worries out to Han Jin, but she steeled herself at the end.

 Han Jin gave Louise a nod and walked toward the unconscious Panven. He carefully examined the arrow in his back and felt his pulse, then shot a charm into his body. Finally, with a series of hand gestures, he gave the arrow a light tap, which instantly became soft and came out with a light pull.

 Only a thumb-sized wound was left in Panven’s back. The arrow had served as a plug when it was still stuck in Panven’s back, and now that it had been unplugged, blood immediately started pouring out.

 Han Jin’s hands rapidly formed a few more signs, and he shot a few more charms into Panven. The bleeding suddenly stopped as if a hose had been turned off.

 “My Lord… are you also a priest?” a guard said in surprise.

 “You could say that.” Han Jin smiled and glanced around. “Go find a stretcher. Lying like that is not good for his wounds.”

 “Of course, My Lord.” The guards didn’t bother waiting for Louise’s permission and turned toward the forest. Now that they had a full view of the battlefield, the messy field littered with body parts gave them quite a shock.

 “Is he ok?” Louise’s eyes lit up.

 “He’s fine. He can start walking again after a few days of rest,” Han Jin said in a quiet voice. Among the Daoist Classic of Six Ding and Six Jia, the six Jia were all techniques and arts with a sole purpose to kill, while the six Ding were techniques that focused on curing sickness and mending wounds. However skilled Han Jin was at killing, he was equally as skilled at healing, because his foundation lies within his energy reserve. Thus, Panven’s wound posed no problem to him.

 “That’s good to hear.” Louise sighed in relief.

 Han Jin glanced at the guards. “I take it you made it back to Moonlight City then?”

 “Yes.” Louise nodded.

 “Then why did you leave again?”

 “My sister told me to seek help from the Church.” Louise’s expression looked painful. Clearly, she did not want to leave Moonlight City, but under the ‘tyranny’ of her sister, she had to obey her orders.

 “The Church?” Han Jin frowned. Jeddes had only told him to find a few generals among the Knights Templar, and hadn’t even mentioned the Pope. With Jeddes’ intelligence, he shouldn’t have made such a careless mistake. Unless… he thought that the Knights Templar had truly fallen into a trap, and that no matter what the Pope did, Nicolas would always be one step ahead of him. In other words, the Pope was a dead man.

 “War has already arrived in Moonlight City. Do you know who Nicolas sent first?” Louise whispered, “The Knights Templar!”

 “I know.” Han Jin sighed. This was truly a tragedy. He knew that Nicolas was only turning the Knights Templar against Moonlight City to exhaust both of their strengths before he jumped in and finished both sides off. Not only could he conquer Moonlight City and wipe out the Knights Templar in one fell swoop, but he could also destroy one of his biggest obstacles on his quest for domination: the Church!

 The problem was, it didn’t matter if he knew. What could he do? Go to Moonlight City and explain this to the Knights Templar? Tell them that they are being deceived and that Nicolas was the one who had murdered Jeddes?

 Who would believe him?

 Jeddes had said that, aside from his unfathomable power, one of Nicolas’ other dangerous traits was his forbearance. Before this war, Nicolas had maintained a close relationship with the Church. About three years ago, one of his children, a boy, was born, and he had personally gone to the Church to ask the Pope to baptize him. After every war, he would kneel in front of the God of Light’s statue to beg for forgiveness. Of course, that had never stopped him from launching his next campaign. Though this attitude of repenting but never changing his actions was quite shameless, Nicolas had managed to win many’s approval. Not only that, after he had established his kingdom, the first kingdom since the continent had fallen into chaos, he had even kneeled before the Pope to be crowned. Many had attended that coronation, and the grand ceremony had made the Pope extremely pleased. A king kneeling before him was quite an honor! An honor that the Church hadn’t had since the continent had fallen into perpetual war.

In Jeddes’ words, Nicolas”honeymoon’ with the Church had lasted for more than a decade; who would believe that Nicolas had suddenly turned against them? Even Jeddes, who had fallen at Nicolas’ hand, hadn’t believed that Nicolas would suddenly attack him, let alone everyone else!

 It was an absurd and helpless feeling, like watching a car driving straight toward a cliff while everyone in the car was already mad. No one would listen to you if you knocked on the window, and if you stood in front of it, you would be crushed. Thus, you could do nothing but watch the car drive off the cliff.

 “Sigh…” Han Jin sighed. “It’s useless. Didn’t I tell you? The Church has already lost the Divine Crown. Did you not tell your sister that?”

 “I did.”

 “Then… why did she still tell you to go to the Church?” Han Jin was confused.

 “Panven once told me to never lose courage.” Louise bit her lips.

 “Huh?” Han Jin didn’t understand her meaning.

 “You won’t understand,” Louise said in a bleak tone. “Panven said that Moonlight City was most prepared to go against the Knights Templar, but, at the same time, also least prepared to go against them.”

 Seeing the confusion in Han Jin’s eyes, Louise explained, “Moonlight City can stand against the Knights Templar’s attacks, but… the Knights Templar represent the Church, and if they join the battle, it could have an enormous effect on our soldier’s morales. If the Church really did side with Nicolas, destruction is the only fate waiting for Moonlight City!”

 “That’s why…” Han Jin said as he considered the situation. “Your sister is trying to raise morale? So she sent you to seek help from the Church to… to prove that the city and the Church have not become estranged. Otherwise, your sister wouldn’t send you inside the tiger’s den.”

 “At least that will bring our soldiers some hope.” Louise finally couldn’t hold back her sadness anymore and tears rolled down her cheeks.

 Han Jin smiled bitterly. He had already told every secret to Louise, and when she had met the real Lola, she must have told her everything. Lola must have then immediately realized the severity of the situation and sent Louise to seek help from the Church, while he, Han Jin, had only understood the problem after Louise’s explanation. Clearly, when it came to politics, he was leagues behind Lola. How far was he from Nicolas, who was leagues ahead of Lola?

 “I must work harder!” Han Jin thought to himself. He must study harder and cultivate harder, not only in terms of Daoist techniques, but also his intelligence and strategy. The only reason he had become the leader of his team was because he was the tallest among dwarves! Cessacioun was only a bard, and although he had seen the world, it didn’t mean he understood it. He did not have the opportunity to dig up the truth that was often buried under lies. This was even less so for Moxinke. He was a warrior that had some street smarts in him, and although he could lay down his life for friends, if you asked him to use his brain… forget it! Sunier had experienced an epic war, but she too was only a soldier. Even though she was used to blood, she still could not tell other intentions or characters; on the contrary, part of her heart even remained innocent.

Others had the luxury to be innocent and naive, but could he? His recklessness had resulted in Edwina’s death, while his soft heart had almost gotten him killed by a child. It was true that failure was necessary for success, but that saying was too hypocritical. How many opportunities could a man have to learn from failure? Sometimes, a single failure could ruin one’s life forever!