Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1338 - Chapter 1338 Chapter 899 Is This the Face Purification

Chapter 1338: Chapter 899: Is This the Face Purification Technique? Chapter 1338: Chapter 899: Is This the Face Purification Technique? Outside Black Soil Village, Little Bone lay on the ground, peering carefully into the village.

Its overly cautious behavior frustrated Adams so much that he didn’t even know what to say, grumpily commenting, “What are you doing? This isn’t the Chaos Plane, just a small village; what can possibly hurt you here? Why not just rush in and knock everyone out?”

Little Bone shook its head. It used to have this habit too, only to end up running into a king, unable to defeat him or escape, so being careful was better.

After observing for a while and sensing no threat, Little Bone advanced on its hands and feet. The Face Purification Technique acted like a pair of nimble hands, pressing down on its armor to prevent any friction or collision between the metal plates, not making a single sound.

A figure in knight’s armor thus crept into Black Soil Village like a dexterous thief.

Dawn had just broken, and the surroundings were eerily quiet, save for some noise from a barn. Approaching it, Little Bone saw the place was heavily guarded: several villagers with long spears and pitchforks patrolled back and forth.

Adams immediately sensed something was off, “Hold on, these aren’t ordinary villagers; they’ve had training. They patrol in pairs, one in front and one behind, maintaining a distance. They have wooden cylinders strapped to them; these cylinders are silent when walking but will make a loud noise if attacked and the person falls over. You’ll have to subdue them without letting them fall.”

Little Bone nodded and said, “You, control.”

“Eh? What do you mean? I contro–” Adams hadn’t finished talking when Little Bone tossed him out, hitting a guard in the back.

“I control! You! Bada!” Adams cursed furiously, so this was the method of control?

Despite his rage, when the bone club struck the guard, Adams did exert some control, causing the guard to stand stiffly in place.

As it threw the bone club, Little Bone dashed forward, the Face Purification Technique carrying it straight towards the front guard and punching him in the head.

As the guard fell, the Face Purification Technique precisely caught the wooden cylinder on him.

The stiffened guard at the back suddenly opened his eyes and bent down to pick up the bone club.

Little Bone paused, surprised. Had it not maintained control?

Just as it was about to rush over and deal with the guard, the guard spoke, “It’s me, I’ve got him under control, quick, get off the patrol route.”

Little Bone picked up the fallen guard, retreating back to the sandy outskirts of the village with the guard Adams was controlling.

“You keep watch; I’ll question him first.” The controlled guard’s eyes became lively as he began to speak almost to himself.

“We… are the Flowing Sand Thieves; this is one of our strongholds. All the villagers… are either our families or members. We… have a total of two hundred people…”

The guard’s vivacious speech faded, and his eyes quickly became clear, his tone switching to Adams’ to grumble, “Well, aren’t I in quite the pickle, the Holy Badge Knight among thieves.”

Then the guard lapsed again, “Paladins…? The boss wants to seize North Rock City, but it’s heavily guarded. The boss planned to lure a few Paladins here, steal their gear, and impersonate them to infiltrate North Rock City, but who knew we’d snare a fake one.”

Fake? Little Bone tilted its head.

The guard continued talking to himself, “Fake, no Holy Badge, no Paladin armor, and traveling alone. A Mobile Court usually consists of three members of the clergy.”

“Where is he? In the barn; the boss is interrogating him…”

The guard’s eyes totally faded, and his head tilted to the side, passing out.

From the bone club, Adams’ voice sounded, “What a waste, couldn’t handle a bit of mind control, so weak.”

Little Bone carried over the guard it had knocked unconscious and shoved the bone club into his hand.

“…He’s dead. Did you hit him that hard? Can you go a little easier next time? My mind control doesn’t work on corpses,” Adams said. “Forget it, we’ve asked everything we need to. Let’s break into the barn and rescue the captive; it’s just two hundred sand thieves, after all.”

Little Bone swung his bone club as he charged into the barn. With each swing, he knocked out one sand thief after another–over twenty in total, in just a short while.

Adams said he hit hard, so Little Bone had held back a bit to ensure he only knocked them unconscious, not dead–an easy task for Little Bone, who had mastered the Pollination Technique after growing trees for thousands of years.

Emil hung suspended in the middle of the barn, his body badly beaten, having suffered many lashes. Hearing the commotion, he struggled to lift his head and, spotting Little Bone, his spirits instantly lifted, “Lord Sky Rider!”

Little Bone cut him down.

Emil knelt down gratefully, “Thank you, Lord Angu. You’ve once again saved my life. I am so useless.”

“You really are pretty useless. What happened? How did you get caught so easily? Even the horse got away, why couldn’t you?” Adams quipped.

Emil awkwardly explained, “As soon as I arrived at the edge of the village, they charged at me. I only managed to tie the reins before they pulled me down from the horse, and then I ended up like this.”

Adams inquired, “They said you’re a fake. What do they mean? Where’s your Holy Badge?”

Emil grew even more embarrassed and said in a weak voice, “I haven’t graduated; I’m still an apprentice knight. I don’t have a Holy Badge.”

“So you haven’t graduated and don’t have a Holy Badge, yet you dare to set up your own Mobile Court? You’ve got some nerve.” Adams was stunned. Was this kid for real?

Without graduation or certification, it’s just an unauthorized trial, impersonating a court.

In a pitiful voice, Emil said, “Given the state of the curia these days, they can’t even issue a Holy Badge anymore. I want to graduate and receive a Holy Badge, but the Paladins don’t want to mentor me. Without their guidance, how can I graduate?”

“Hold on, explain what this guidance is all about first? Why do you need that to graduate?”

“Ah? Aren’t you from the curia? You don’t know this?”

“He is, I’m not. You guys have a bone club? He can’t be bothered to talk, and you want him to explain to me? You explain it.”

Left with no choice, Emil had to explain the training process of the Paladins. Normally, Paladins were chosen from the devout faithful’s children or from orphanages, picking out those with potential to train from a young age in both fighting and martial techniques until they could sense the power of the divine.

From that moment, they automatically became apprentice Paladins.

However, to remove the ‘apprentice’ label, they needed the endorsement of a true Paladin. Each apprentice was assigned a Paladin as a teacher or guide, and only after an apprentice’s strength, character, and devotion were recognized by the Paladin, could the apprentice graduate and earn the title of Paladin.

Now, with the Church of Light in decline, not only could they not find a Paladin to guide Emil, they couldn’t even produce a Holy Badge.

The few available Holy Badges were reserved for the prominent cities, leaving none for the remote regions. Official Paladins were unwilling to come, so they ended up sending apprentice knights like Emil.

“Is the Church of Light really in such dire straits? Then why bother believing in it? Just give it up already.” Adams had a headache after hearing all this. So he was dealing with a volunteer Paladin who didn’t even receive a salary from the Church?

“Not a chance. I have been recognized by the Holy Light. I will uphold the Light until my death,” Emil declared with conviction.

“Fine then, say it out loud. Farming Knight, say it loudly, let’s see if you can really uphold the Light,” Adams said, irritated. How could someone afraid to proclaim his own title out loud claim he could uphold the Light?

Prompted by the challenge, Emil declared loudly, “I’ll shout it! I am Emil, the Farming Knight, under the Divine Seat of the God of Equality and Balance!”

As Emil shouted, his body was bathed in a holy radiance that formed several bands of light. They twined in front of Little Bone and then solidified into an Imprint.

Little Bone tilted his head, puzzled, grasping the Imprint in hand and instantly understood what was happening. Nodding, he said, “King, I have seen it. I bestow upon you power, Farming Knight, Emil.”

While speaking, the hand that Little Bone held the Imprint in glowed with sacred light, and with that hand, cloaked in Holy Light, he placed it upon Emil’s shoulder.

The holy radiance seeped into Emil’s body, and all his wounds visibly healed, smoothed out, whitened, and became tender… Was this the Face Purification Technique?