Above The Sky
Chapter 427 - 427 397 Child's Prophecy 13

427: Chapter 397 Child’s Prophecy (1/3) 427: Chapter 397 Child’s Prophecy (1/3) “Do I need you to tell me that?”

Crushing the shattered skull beneath his iron-soled boots, Ian shook his head slightly, “What kind of organization Lingzhi Academy is, Teacher Hiliad had already told me long ago.”

The Truth Institute and Lingzhi Academy are the two major departments of The Empire responsible for managing Sublimators, whose influence extends throughout The Empire, with nearly every Sublimator having some form of connection with them to a greater or lesser extent.

Like when Ian received the Wavechant Legacy and became a Sublimator, his name was sent to the Imperial Capital by Viscount Grant, to be registered on the ‘Empire’s Legal Sublimator List’, organized and integrated under the ‘Truth Institute’.

Further, Lingzhi Academy, a subdivision of Lingzhi Institute, is one of the highest educational establishments in The Empire, from which many famous grand scholars and outstanding scientific researchers have emerged, and The Empire has fostered numerous cutting-edge technologies within this institution.

But just as there is light, there must also be shadow, and beneath their esteemed public status lurk the truly horrifying secrets.

Even without others saying much, stereotypes such as ‘bio-alchemists are all madmen conducting human experiments’, ‘Spirit Energy Users are all monsters who can read minds and twist people’s spirits’, and ‘never go near to an alchemist’s lab; strange incidents such as explosions/poison spreading/curses/sapping of lifespan happen there’—these stereotypes.

Basically, they are all results of Lingzhi Institute’s doings.

And most of these stereotypes aren’t wrong.

—They have indeed done such things.

“The black armor, it must be the Lingzhi Institute’s special operations group.”

It was only after slaughtering the other party that Ian was in the mood to seriously observe the other party’s condition.

The man who claimed to be the vice director of Lingzhi Academy was roughly one hundred and ninety centimeters tall, but was gaunt, likely due to some special bloodline.

He was dressed in glossy black, carapace-shaped armor, with joints mimicking the structure of some arthropods, revealing not a hint of skin.

A full-coverage helmet reminiscent of a motorcycle helmet lay tossed to one side, reflecting lightning from the sky.

The Lingzhi Institute’s special operations group has always been secretive, but those sharp enough to delve deeply into the darkest aspects of various places could always catch glimpses of them.

No one knows what these people are truly up to.

Often, by the time the special operations group’s plan has concluded, the locals are unaware that they’ve been there, or that they have even been used as test subjects in experiments.

But those rare lucky survivors who do happen to encounter them are able to sense an elusive thread through the special operations group’s activities.

Their activities in various locations all follow comprehensive plans…

layered one upon the other, interweaving together.

Just like the plan that took place in Leyan Territory this time.

The experiments involving various projects like ‘resurrection’, ‘Chosen One experiments’, ‘Echo’, ‘Artificial Spirit User’, ‘memory manipulation’, ‘flesh distortion’, ‘Prophet vessel’ and others, when combined in one place, were essentially like a perfectly ordinary, mad Baron conducting a sacrifice ritual for the love of his child.

“If it weren’t for me, even if the Radiant Nun uncovered Baron Leyan’s plan, it would have been just Baron Leyan alone who bore all the blame, while they could easily disentangle themselves from it.”

Clenching his fist and raising his head, Ian looked around at the valley, now a shattered battlefield, and slowly exhaled to calm the emotions within: “And I remember that Elder Prude seemed to have told me that our ‘Cheharlowa Family’s’ exploration of the Labyrinth from those years ago was backed by Lingzhi Academy.”

“They truly are everywhere.”

And it’s not just that—Ian also remembered his half-brother, the mad Weyges, who seemed to have been rescued by Teacher Hiliad from Lingzhi Academy.

It’s impossible to say that he didn’t harbor hatred for Weyges.

Regardless of the reasons or intentions, Weyges made teacher Hiliad leave him prematurely, and Ian could never feel a shred of goodwill towards him.

But that aside, Weyges had already been killed by him.

Merely in terms of the matter concerning Lingzhi Academy, he was undoubtedly a victim as well.

His experiences at Lingzhi Academy had definitely had a huge impact on Weyges.

And this impact shares a commonality with the characteristics of the Spirit Energy children…

“Can’t differentiate between love and pain, can they…”

Ian turned his head aside, looking toward the light points next to Baron Leyan’s corpse.

Those Spirit Energy children, one and all, had a severe deficiency in this regard—which in some aspects was quite similar to depression or bipolar disorder.

Ian conjectured that this was a kind of spiritual illness.

This could completely deprive a person of their normal emotional perception, causing Spirit Energy Users to constantly slide deeper into a painful and empty abyss.

Or perhaps, the very act of forcibly awakening Spiritual Power postnatally is in itself a kind of illness?

Is it only the Spirit Energy of the Chosen Ones that is truly perfect?

These speculations might not necessarily be correct, or rather, they might precisely be what the Lingzhi Institute intended to ascertain with this research.

He had to admit, the psychological states of children like Yila and Weyges were indeed a warning for Ian.

He had indeed felt that, due to his prophetic Spirit Energy, he always regarded certain matters with excessive calm, unable to experience any extremely intense emotional fluctuations.

After all, if the trends of many things were known in advance, what surprises would there be in the mortal world?

It was natural to plan his future as if weaving a perfect web like a spider, without needing to hunt fervently; he simply had to lie in wait within the web and quietly wait for his prey to arrive.

This time, if the stimulation within Leyan Castle hadn’t been so overwhelming, and if the Radiant Nun hadn’t highlighted his inner rage, Ian would still believe he could calmly detain this vice director of the Spirit Wisdom Institute, prepare various measures for interrogation, and attempt to extract some information.

It couldn’t be said that such an approach was bad—on the contrary, from the perspective of a Prophet, it was certainly the best choice, with low risk and relatively high rewards.

“But precisely because I am a Prophet, I must occasionally choose some ‘not the best’ options.”

He patted his head and sighed, “Otherwise, I’m sure I would end up like other Spirit Energy Users, driven by ‘extreme emotions’ to trigger ‘Spirit Energy,’ and then get dragged further into extremes by the power of ‘Spirit Energy.'”

“Let me recall…”

With a frown, Ian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

After a while, the young man opened his eyes, and his furrowed brows relaxed.

With a smile and a nostalgic chuckle, he nodded, “That’s good.

I can recall the past, and though there were pain and sorrow, I still remember the beauty of studying with Teacher, taking care of my younger brothers, and living a loving life, clearly distinguishing the difference between pain and love.”

“I still love Terra, this world—mm, it’s true that Spirit Energy Users easily go to extremes, but fortunately, my mental state is very healthy.”

Whether that was true was up for debate, since he wasn’t exactly a psychologist, but at the very least, Ian felt that he was healthy.

In a certain sense, that was enough.

Assured of this, he walked towards the glowing spots.

“It’s all over now.”

Removing his helmet, Ian said calmly to these remnant souls, “Do you have anything you want to say to me?

Survival is not an option, although I don’t think you wish to survive.”

[Wow, big brother, you’re really handsome, even more so than before in the castle!]

Yila’s voice was still cheerful, although much fainter and weaker than before—yet his spirits were still high.

The child seemed happiest when close to death: [Ah, I forgot, I was going to say, we just blocked one of his messages!]

“…Thank you.”

Ian raised an eyebrow; he had indeed thought that faced with a powerful and unknown enemy like himself, the enemy would definitely seek help, and so he planned to clear the scene of any clues before withdrawing immediately.

But he hadn’t expected that these children still had the strength to intercept the message.

With that being the case, there was plenty of time to wrap things up; he could completely obscure the scene so that no one could decipher it.

With that thought, the young man couldn’t help shaking his head in amazement, “I thought you wanted to entrust me with hacking him to pieces.”

“After all, it’s very likely that the Baron’s offspring were killed by them, and you Spirit Energy children were deliberately created by them.”

[Big brother guessed right.

His soul was trying to escape just now]

What was merely a quip was responded to seriously by Linda: [But now, he’s in our hands]

At that moment, accompanied by the flickering of lights, a grayish-white spirit light suddenly appeared in the middle of the azure orbs, being relentlessly torn apart by the orbs, their fragments temporarily sustaining the existence of the azure orbs.

The soul of the Second Level Sublimator from the Spirit Wisdom Institute was unexpectedly snatched and shattered by these children without anyone realizing.

“Well done.

But your danger level has just increased.”

He smiled, then his expression returned to solemnity.

Ian watched the scene, then lifted his gaze and looked into the largest vengeful spirit orb, “So, besides this, is there anything else?”

“Do you want me to ease your passage?

I refuse,” he said slowly: “So many ordinary people that you killed wish for you to die in agony.”

“I’m no exception.”

[Of course, of course it’s painful!]

In unison, they cheerfully said: [But at the very end, we want to tell you, big brother, a prophecy]

[A prophecy that does not involve you, but should be related to you]