The gate of the river was not closed, and it looked as usual. Below it, a secret door opened, and two figures descended one after the other onto the suspension bridge on the river, moving forward against the splashing waves below.

The person walking behind, wearing a gray robe, his hood swaying in the wind, but it was not lifted, as if an invisible force was stopping this from happening.

The person who walked in front had gray hair, and judging from the hair color alone, it was already in his twilight years. His face is indeed the same, his face covered with ravines and the hand holding the drawbridge silently speak of the vicissitudes of his experience.

Naturally, it is cheese that walks behind, but Jung who walks in front. In fact, the mage was also taken aback when he saw the change in the latter, and it was not uncommon for vampires to be able to adjust the details of their appearance, such as hair color and eye color.

The real anecdote is that out of an aversion to death, the Bloods tend not to allow themselves to appear old, and aging means ruin, evoking palpitations for the lost. But Jung did just that, and he did not shy away from changing his appearance into an old man in his twilight years, and he also showed a gesture that matched his appearance. Although most of that was because he was walking on the water.

Vampires are afraid of running water, they can't actually kill a Bloodline with the blood of a True Ancestor, but the constant flow of the river is enough to be a natural coffin to seal off the nobles of the night who accidentally fall into it. Throwing into the sea, therefore, is a cruel torture in the Bloods than exposure to the sun, because it means eternal darkness and loneliness.

However, out of consideration for the recovery of the blood of the True Ancestor, there are only a few Bloodlines who have been subjected to this kind of torture throughout the entire history of the Twelve Bloodlines, and in the entire Bloodline Law, this punishment has never been regarded as the result of the sentence, because even the writers themselves were afraid of it.

Fear is a delicate thing, it's a bit like wine, it's very strong when you first taste it, you will choke until you cough, and if you drink it right, you will vomit and lose consciousness. There are always people who vow never to drink again, and then when night falls, they fill their glasses again. Fear too, the droplets of water splashing on the skin, the coldness that reminded Jung of the moist dirt that would pour into the nose, into the lungs, into the whole body, that was the feeling of death.

But since he made this ropeway as a backup passage, he naturally didn't kill himself. He knew that the water, while it reminded him of death, didn't really bring him back underground.

Fear fermented into a more subtle emotion, the most powerful stimulant, and Cheese, who walked behind, could not see how distorted the smile on Jung's face was now. The twisted smile didn't disappear until they reached the end of the drawbridge and climbed a flight of ladders.

When they climbed to the floor, the mage realized that it was supposed to be some slave trader's storehouse, and that a large number of cages covered with curtains were piled up here, some empty, some of which made unknown noises. Both the Bloodlines and the Grey Robe have the ability to see in the dark, so they can easily navigate between dark cages without tripping.

"It used to belong to a slave trader who profited from the trafficking of civilians from other regions. I thought his business was having a non-benign impact on the city, so I took over his business and the turf. You see, it's one thing to turn prisoners of war into slavery and debtors, it's another thing to plunder civilians at will, the former is part of business, and the latter is to undermine identity. If all people could be turned into slaves, who would try to get close to here? Respect is necessary for development. Jung explained softly, and it was clear that he took the concept of respect very seriously.

"The respect of the city has made it devastated, and there are too many dark corners to breed too much decay. I've never heard of any city where there are three cult gods at the same time, let alone just the ones related to the flow of water. When the power of these fellows grows larger, there will be no development to speak of, and the arrival of a fanatical sacrifice will be enough to destroy everything. Cheese's brow furrowed slightly, and the Blood's frivolous words made him feel very dissatisfied.

Self-discipline is a must for those who have lived most of their time in the Grey Tower and the Grey Lion, and so is the ethics developed by self-discipline, and if respect means the destruction and contempt of morality, then it is not a matter of respect, but an excuse for madness under the guise of respect.

"That's why I chose to walk with you. Rushing is a big tree full of vitality, and its branches sometimes grow too dense, which requires people like you and me to prune it. As for you saying that there are too many cultists here, then I would like to tell you a subtle reality. When there were only one or two god-worshipping forces in the city, people had to hunt down every cave like they were looking for mice. But when the cultists here multiply like rabbits, they form an effective counterbalance between themselves. The sacrifice you are talking about is not something that no one has prepared. But guess who was the one who destroyed the sacrifices in the end? not me, not any of the big men in the city, but some other cultist. They will not tolerate someone who will be brought in before they do. There was some bitterness in Jung's voice.

For a person who has a bitter hatred for the evil god, the words just now are light, but in fact, no one knows better than him the sense of powerlessness that must rely on the cultists to check and balance each other to maintain safety.

He longed to purge the damn thing from this city, from the world, but he was limited by his abilities. And that's why he chose to act with Cheese this time. From the abilities displayed by the gray robe, Jung saw hope, hope for breaking the current deadlock.

Cheese wasn't stupid, and he had already faintly sensed something from the inconsistencies in the Blood's words.

"Maybe you're right. It's just that these guys are hidden dangers after all, and containment will only work when the strength is equal, and if someone breaks the balance of power between them, it will not be solved by a word of checks and balances. And until then, I want you to tell me what we're aiming for this time. I've dealt with many evil gods, not including Frogwalker, and I don't know much about Him and His followers. ”

Jung nodded, he brought Cheese here for the purpose of doing so. He confirmed his location, reaching out and tore open a thick piece of cloth to reveal the iron cage underneath and its contents, "Frogwalkers, like his name, resemble the frogs of our world. But it's just an outward resemblance, or people can't really describe it with what they already know, so they can only name it with the closest image. His followers were generally active near the river, engaging in all sorts of despicable business in order to earn money and power, gain status among the followers, and achieve what they called the great transformation. ”

The contents of the cage, grotesque and disgusting, it was a dried corpse, and it looked like the cause of death was to die of hunger and thirst in the cage. The limbs of the dried corpse are delicate, even if there are no muscles, the structure of the bones and skin can be seen that the back of its limbs, that is, the lower arms and lower legs, are abnormally developed, while the front end is degenerated and atrophied.

In the same way, the holes that took up almost half of the skulls looked terrifying, and if they were eyeholes, I am afraid that they would not have been too frightened when they were alive. The corpse's skin seemed to have lost its elasticity, crumpled and curled into a disgusting ball. In general, it looks like a frog-like creature with human-sized and some humanoid features, but if you look closely, you can see that the frog-like features on this thing actually only look similar to frogs, but their functions and structures are different.

"This guy was interrupted during the transformation ritual, and it was so converted that it was almost successful. However, another group of cultists attacked and the ritual fell short. Thanks to this, I was able to get my hands on this precious collection. To get back to the point, individuals who are successfully transformed are known as amphibians and have the ability to survive on land and in water, spending most of their time in the water. Amphibians are the upper echelons of the Church, and the believers who maintain their human form are only peripheral members, and only a very small number of missionaries have not been converted in order to develop their faith, and it is quite difficult to discern the status of those priests. So if you want to get information quickly, it's easiest to capture an amphibious directly. ”