Sword light streaked across the sky, accompanied by the gentle singing of the wind.
Dartnerly's strike contained an overwhelming amount of power as it collided head-on with Rise With the Wind.
As the resulting surge of energy erupted, the entire night sky over Tail Fin Town was illuminated by its brilliance.
When the light finally faded and everyone's eyes adjusted to the dim surroundings, they realized that Nemus had already sheathed his sword.
As for Dartnerly, a trace of bewildernt appeared on his previously resolute face.
His body slowly collapsed backward. A deep sword wound surfaced on his torso, and copious amounts of blood scattered in the howling wind, blending into the dark night.
"How on earth did I lose?" Following his anger ca sheer confusion. Three days later, as Dartnerly looked at the newly released Dalos, he still had not figured out the answer to that question.
However, an even greater doubt soon rose from the depths of his heart. 'Just what exactly is Nels trying to do?'
Under the conditions of a formal duel, even if Nemus had killed him that day, it would have been considered perfectly justified.
Yet, after his ultimate strike was bafflingly broken and half the roof of their estate was sheared off, Nemus had not delivered the killing blow to his heavily injured body. Instead, he chose to simply end the duel.
Furthermore, upon claiming victory, Nemus did not make a single demand. He only stated that he was completely severing all ties with the Dartnerly Family from then on.
Right after that, Nemus prepared to leave. As he walked past Dartnerly, he whispered that he would release Dalos and welcod them to continue looking for trouble with him.
This was the exact reason why Dartnerly's expression looked so incredibly ugly upon seeing Dalos's safe return.
Because Nemus was displaying absolute and utter contempt for the entire Dartnerly Family.
But even so, there was nothing they could do about it.
Nemus had completely and utterly defeated them.
At this mont, Dartnerly could feel that the morale of the entire household had plumted to rock bottom.
If the family could not find a way to turn things around soon, they would likely fall into rapid decline, and the mbers would scatter as they lost all hope.
He was faced with two choices.
The first was to stop all of his current sches, begin pacifying the family mbers, and utilize the household's remaining foundation to nurture the younger generation.
He could wait a few decades until soone within the family managed to break through those obstacles to beco a Golden Seed. Then, he could make one massive gamble, betting the entire family's future on that individual to seize an opportunity to ascend to the Golden Rank.
Alternatively, he could gamble everything right here and now. Cici Marie was a half-finished Golden Elixir, and Nels also possessed the qualifications to beco a Golden Elixir.
By gathering their power and using the Holy Blood to completely awaken his own Saint's Essence, he would finally have a chance to break through to the Golden Rank himself.
So, which option should he choose?
Originally, Dartnerly had firmly committed to the latter. He was well aware of the family's predicant; the longer they dragged this out, the more severe their problems would beco.
As the Saint's Bloodline diminished with each passing generation, the barriers to advancent remained. The probability of a genius appearing within the family would only continue to decrease.
Choosing to wait was rely a slow and agonizing death. Only by fighting for it right now could they grasp their final glimr of hope.
However, under the looming shadow cast by Nemus, that glimr of hope now seed incredibly fragile and faint.
He waved his hand, dismissing the family mbers to continue their respective duties.
Dartnerly fell into a conflicted state of deep contemplation. However, after so ti had passed, Dalos suddenly sought him out.
Because of his previous "deal" with Nemus, although Dalos had no intention of fully honoring it, he had still gone to investigate the relics left behind by Nels's parents.
He figured he might be able to uncover Nemus's true objective by doing so.
Consequently, he managed to find so rather unique items among them. "Patriarch, take a look at this!" Dalos pulled out a stack of docunts, his expression concealing a hint of undeniable excitent.
Dartnerly took the docunts absentmindedly. They had already flipped through the items Ron had left behind countless tis and were intimately familiar with their contents.
He did not believe they could discover anything new from them.
Still, even though Dalos had failed this ti, he was still one of the more reliable mbers of the family. If he was this excited, perhaps he really had found sothing.
Dartnerly opened the files and quickly located the source of Dalos's excitent, which had been specially highlighted.
It was the section related to the Saint Child Project.
The Old Priest and his group had once used the blood of multiple Saints as a reference to cultivate an artificial embryo, intending to manufacture a Saint Child.
In fact, Cici Marie was a specin they had created by referencing this very concept.
However, judging from all the circumstances, Cici Marie could only be considered half a success.
"Patriarch, you must have also realized it. The Old Priest conducted an experint in Finback Village too," Dalos reminded him from the side, instantly throwing Dartnerly's train of thought wide open.
They understood the Saint Child Project far better than Nemus did. The only reason they had not thought of it before was simply because they were too familiar with it, falling into a fixed pattern of cognition.
Now, as they re-examined the docunts, new discoveries imdiately ca to light.
"Finback Mountain! If the Saint Child created by the Old Priest truly exists, he must definitely be on Finback Mountain!" Dartnerly, who possessed so knowledge of Alchemy himself, instantly deduced the corresponding information and made an accurate judgnt.
"Before a Saint Child completes their cultivation, they require a colossal amount of nutrients. Right now, only a Floating Whale can provide that level of nourishnt."
When cultivating Cici Marie, they had not strictly followed the Saint Child procedures. It was simply too expensive, and they couldn't even afford to gather so of the required materials.
That is, unless they resorted to illegal thods—like the Old Priest, who carved a hole into Finback Mountain and relentlessly siphoned off the Floating Whale's resources.
The problem was that the family's special status made it extrely difficult for them to conduct such operations outside their own territory.
"Under these circumstances, there's a high probability that the Saint Child the Old Priest created is still on Finback Mountain!" Dartnerly suddenly beca agitated with excitent.
He was all too aware of the terrifying power a true Saint Child possessed.
The Old Priest had begun presiding over the Saint Child Project forty years ago, and it was abruptly halted twenty years ago.
During the twenty years the Church led those experints, nobody outside the Church knew exactly how many Saint Children were successfully produced.
Due to complications from the experints, many of those Saint Children died prematurely. However, a select few successfully integrated into the Church, rapidly displaying horrifying levels of aptitude.
They might have had so underlying issues, or perhaps their ntal states were flawed due to the nature of the experints.
But none of this could negate the fact that the Church had gained an extraordinary batch of talents.
If the latest Saint Child was truly hidden within Finback Mountain, there was an extrely high chance that he possessed the bloodline of their Dartnerly Family.
After all, because of Ron back in those days, they had provided a massive quantity of Holy Blood.
After the Old Priest was ousted and left Sky Spring City, the only Holy Blood he likely still had access to was that of the Dartnerly Family.
After all, the other Saint's Bloodlines were not nearly as destitute and desperate as they were.
Even if that wasn't the case, they could still absorb the child into their ranks, as long as he could bear the family's na!
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