Pastor's Tantra

When the sun rises, white mist rises from the forbidden swamp as usual.

But today is different from the past.

The quiet swamp suddenly split open, revealing a narrow and clean passage.

Merlin, who was wearing a dark blue robe and holding a long staff, stepped out slowly. He casually touched the staff on the ground, and as he moved forward, the clean and soft ground began to rise one step at a time.

It wasn't until Merlin completely left the swamp that the swamp that avoided both sides, like a living creature, closed again. And those temporary steps also disintegrated and collapsed into a ball of mud again.

"...That guy Jacob will really cause trouble for me."

Merlin sighed and reached out to push up his monocle.

But having said that, he didn't look unhappy at all like he was when someone troubled him. On the contrary, he looked very energetic and enthusiastic.

He had borrowed a door from the Fairy Kingdom and arrived at Jacob's workshop yesterday.

Just as he expected - Jacob indeed placed his ritual workshop at the bottom of the swamp.

To be precise, from the bottom of the swamp to the middle of the fairy kingdom. It exists neither in the Fairy Kingdom nor in the material world... but inside the Fairy Cave.

Of course, this place was not discovered by Jacob.

Because this "secret room" was dug out by Merlin back then.

This kind of large-scale ceremony will last for hundreds of years after it is completed. If it is placed in the material world, let alone the possibility that it will be corroded and weathered, and no matter how tight the defense is, it will definitely be discovered, destroyed, or tampered with.

The reason why he didn't put it in the Fairy Kingdom was because Merlin knew the personalities of the fairies too well.

They are full of curiosity and have a kind of confidence that "although I don't understand anything, I want to try it." If they discover the ritual, they will inevitably change it blindly.

So Merlin secretly opened a mezzanine in the Fairy Cave and stuffed the formation base inside.

——If the goblins want to go to the material world, they must go directly through the door. Not many people would look down to see if there is anything wrong with the keyhole when they enter the door.

Only humans trying to reach the Fairy Cave from here can discover its existence by searching carefully when passing through the portal.

Then as long as humans are blocked out, no one will discover this ritual.

So Merlin specially made a swamp and buried the goblin cave.

It was originally just a deep pit. It's that kind of dark, bottomless pit that's bottomless - if ordinary people jump into it, they might fall to their death. And if you use earth attribute spells in a panic during the fall, you will fall directly into the fairy kingdom.

And anyway, this purely material swamp cannot stop the goblin. Neither water nor mud can get the fairies' bodies wet, so the fairies won't realize there's anything wrong here. Naturally, he would not report to the Queen that there was something wrong with this hole.

In order to prevent passers-by from accidentally falling in, Merlin simply made this place a swamp. This way no one will slip and fall. This also prevents people from being seduced by the goblin cave and unknowingly walking near the cave entrance and falling in.

But the swamp at that time was just an ordinary swamp.

Jacob obviously found the village by following the goblin barrier, but it felt strange that he couldn't find the goblin cave. So he finally found the swamp and successfully used magic to open the door to the Fairy Cave.

But it's different from other humans. Jacob is that idler who will suddenly stop and study the door lock when he is halfway through the door.

So he naturally discovered the secret room left by Merlin and the Shadow of Avalon ritual in it.

What happened next was very simple.

Jacob has always been in contact with Vivian. He apparently learned the essence of this ritual from Vivian and tried to modify the ritual. Even the ordinary swamps left by Merlin were changed into special materials for making swampmen.

Anyway, this workshop is very spacious and can hide many ritual formations. Anyone who wants to destroy this ritual is unlikely to be found outside no matter how hard he searches. The best they can do is to rush into the goblin cave headlong.

What he got before was second-hand information after all - whether it was Aiwass or James, what he told him was vague after all.

After seeing the formation base with his own eyes and studying it carefully, Merlin finally understood the effect of this ritual:

Although this ritual is very immature, it can really bring down Ying Tiansi directly.

Why does it do this?

Because this ritual also contains the power of the Tiansi and even the power of the Pillar God.

The purpose of this ceremony is not just to bring down Ying Tiansi. Instead, he wanted to pull her to the material world, let her have a real body, and be bound by the power of balance, then seal her in the body, kill her in the material world... and thus usurp her Tiansi fragment.

There is no doubt that this is a ritual that transcends the path.

"——This is definitely not a prank by that woman Vivian."

Merlin was very unfortunate to realize this problem.

Because when he realized this problem, it meant that he was involved in a Tiansi-level conspiracy.

But Merlin was not afraid.

He just thought it was all very interesting -

He missed it last time, but this time he was finally able to catch up with the excitement.

The person who provided power for this ritual was the son of the Snake Father, Ouroboros...the Chief Tiansi who was honored as Huantiansi. He is the Tiansi of Beyond the Path, second only to the Snake Father, and the second most powerful great being in the entire Beyond the Path.

Huan Tiansi has the power of "reincarnation, rebirth, and reaching infinity". The essence of this ritual is not to violently bring Tiansi down... but to allow Tiansi to take a further step in reincarnation. Because of this, it is difficult to resist.

——Merlin certainly knew about this ritual.

In ancient times, there was a legendary human warrior who usurped the body of a giant dragon through a transcendent ritual of slaying a dragon and bathing in blood, and then ascended to the dream world. He eventually became Mian Tiansi in the dream world. From weak to strong, he constantly surpassed the former and became stronger until he reached the position of Tiansi Chief on the path of power.

When he arrived here, Mian Tiansi encountered a problem.

He couldn't get any stronger. Because He has concentrated all the power of the path that can be obtained in the dream world on his side, and at this moment, there is still a big gap between Him and the Supreme Heaven. He needs to enter the material world again and gain additional power of the new path through "behavior".

But unlike the apostles who can interfere with the material world, it is basically impossible for Tiansi who has gained authority to enter the material world again... However, Huan Tiansi broke this common sense.

Ouroboros provided a ritual called the "Ring of Ouroboros" for His friendship.

Mian Tiansi, whose strength reached its limit, successfully transformed into a mortal. He dispersed his excess power and created the "Knights of the Round Table" - these Knights of the Round Table became stronger through the dispersed power of Mian Tiansi. In the end, they followed Arthur and completed the great feat of defeating the kingdom of giants with their mortal bodies.

Only then can He compete with the Supreme Heaven and win, becoming the new Lord of the Path and the Silver-crowned Dragon.

Like an ouroboros, it devours itself and is reborn.

Devouring the entire self and gaining a completely meaningful new life is essentially "molting and rebirth". Transforming oneself into a stronger form gives rise to the possibility of transcendence again.

——Whether it was the ritual for him to usurp the body of the giant dragon, or the ritual for his subsequent return to the world, it was this Huantian Si who provided it.

Even in the early days... when he was not Mian Tiansi and had not yet defeated the dragon, he was still the contractor of Huan Tiansi.

Merlin remembered Arthur telling him stories from that era.

That seems to be a supernatural profession related to the concept of "shedding." This is also the fundamental basis for Mian Tiansi to be able to transform back into a human body and become stronger again.

But Yingtiansi and Miantiansi are different.

Ying Tiansi does not have the nature to transcend the path, and she does not want to replace Hengwo.

If the Queen of the Kingdom of Shadows were allowed to descend into the male body of Lancelot I and imprison her to prevent her from returning... that crazy woman would definitely go crazy. The gods on the path of love are much crazier than the extraordinary beings on the path of love.

However, according to what Merlin knew, there was no conflict between Huantiansi and Yingtiansi. Not only that, they didn't even have any contact.

So this is definitely not a personal vendetta.

——Then there is only one possibility to use this ancient ritual again.

"Huan Tiansi, do you want to... go further?"

Merlin raised his head and looked at the sky.

His eyes were deep and he murmured in a low voice: "Jacob...are you with Him? Are you also His contractor?"

So, what is Aiwass’s role in your plan?

A chess piece, a helper, a collaborator, an heir...

...or is it some kind of obstacle?