abcnovels
Chapter 78
Chapter 78
78 Crowmen and Silence
“What’s your name?” William looked at the person kneeling in front of him and asked.
“As a member of the Crows, I don’t have a name. I can only call myself the Crow Feather Prophet.”
William frowned slightly and continued asking, “How did you know I would be here?”
“My lord predicted your return and ordered me to welcome you here as well as congratulate you,” the other party continued respectfully.
This was the first human William met who knew his identity after transmigrating.
Or rather... someone inhuman?
“You’re a Crowman?” William looked at his crow-like round and deep amber eyes and asked.
“Yes, Presiding Judge,” the other party maintained his previous posture and replied.
“But I remember that the Crowmen were killed in that purification a thousand years ago.”
Crowmen weren’t like humans or elves. They were intelligent creatures that originally existed in Currere.
They were the product of a curse.
It was said that the Crowmen first appeared in the 20th year of the Platinum Calendar not long after the creation model of the Seven Holy Spirits was proposed.
Back then, there was a group of scholars who had set a grand goal of understanding the essence of the Moon Realm. They firmly believed that the Moon Realm wasn’t a direct product of the creation of the Seven Holy Spirits, but a more complicated formation principle. Moreover, they believed that this path could bring them true eternal life. For this reason, they began a lot of research on the Moon Realm and went far enough down the rabbit hole.
It was so far that it angered the three Void Sovereigns.
The Whispering Empress, the Lord of the Dark Tide, and the Pale Poet.
The three Void Sovereigns gave them eternal life.
At the same time, They cursed them.
The Whispering Empress made the threads of the conspiracy forever connect to their eyes. They could deduce countless cruel fragments of the future because of this, and the countless tragic possibilities would torment them forever.
The Lord of the Dark Tide tore through their original souls and sewed blood and shadows on them, causing their emotions to constantly switch between bloodthirsty madness and depression.
As for the Pale Poet, he gave them a physique that constantly brought bad luck to them and their surroundings as long as they existed in the world. From then on, misfortune and calamity would always accompany them.
These three curses complemented each other. Extreme emotions made them anxious to change the terrifying future they saw, but the bad luck that surrounded them always pushed the future toward an even more miserable state.
This cycle repeated.
Despite obtaining eternal life, they had to endure eternal torture.
Most of them broke down and degenerated into monsters before being killed. A small number learned how to control their minds and not be driven mad from the torment. They survived and even learned how to use the power of the curse for their use.
These people were the Crowmen of the future, a hidden group that could see the future uncontrollably. They could use shadows, blood, and their rage as weapons and bring misfortune to their surroundings.
They were considered bizarre and ominous symbols on the continent and were even categorized as Lunar Monsters.
On the eve of the Moon Realm’s first full-scale invasion a thousand years ago, the seven kingdoms, with the support of the Holy Spirits Church, launched a cleansing campaign across the continent against the Moon Realm curse to eliminate the latent dangers in Currere.
The Crowmen were declared completely extinct in this purge.
Except for one person...
“Yes, Presiding Judge, but as you know, a Crowman escaped that purge,” the Crow Feather Prophet replied.
William naturally knew.
Coles Jackdaw, the last Judge, and the last Crowman.
William did not doubt that Coles was the last Crowman in the true sense of the word. After all, he had the label ‘The Last Crowman’ on his character stats.
“Yes, but that person isn’t you. What’s your relationship with him?” William asked solemnly.
Crowmen were unable to produce offspring. Their only legacy was that they could transfer their curse to another volunteer before they died.
However, it could not be the Crowman in front of him. This was because if he could luckily survive Coles’s powerful curse, his strength wouldn’t be at this level.
“That lord scattered his curse and left behind his legacy. We are newborn Crowmen who have inherited his legacy,” the Crowman replied.
William continued asking, “So the person who predicted my arrival is Coles Jackdaw?”
The person didn’t reply and continued maintaining his respectful posture.
The expression on his face seemed to be saying-I can’t say.
William noticed that the other party had mentioned the name Crows.
William had some understanding of this secret organization.
Previously, he had moved a large cabinet from the Astral Lighthouse’s archives in Thorn City. As for the self-destruct restriction engraved on the cabinet, William returned to the Twilight Fortress and used the tools in the underground enchantment room to crack it after settling the matters in the Holy Sepulchre.
Most of the documents were information about the many Churches engaging in Moon Realm worship north of the Blackwater Province-including the secret societies that secretly preached in the Rose Palace’s Mage Hall and Offa University. The details gave William a new understanding of the Astral Council’s intelligence-gathering ability.
According to Vincent, Duke Simon had a secret agreement with the tower guardian back then. All evidence of Moon Realm worship in the Rose Palace’s Mage Hall had to be destroyed. However, from the looks of it, that old fellow didn’t keep his word. Instead, he kept a trump card. It was unknown if he was planning on using it when things turned sour in the future.
Unfortunately, he didn’t expect Simon to not be a kind one. Perhaps he had expected it, but he didn’t expect the other party to turn on him that quickly and be more ruthless. Therefore, he didn’t manage to wait till the day this information could be used.
The information contained a report about a Moon Realm worship organization-the Crows. It drew William’s attention.
This was because the word that appeared the most in that report was “unknown.”
Specific worship target: Unknown; goal of the activity: Unknown; Organization structure:Unknown; Group size: Unknown...
Other than confirming that the other party’s worship target wasn’t any Void Sovereign and that every member who joined had to swear an oath called Silence, there was no other valuable information in this document.
As for the oath called Silence...
According to the Astral Lighthouse’s records, they had once captured a peripheral member of the Crows and interrogated him to reveal the identity of the person they idolized. However, the other party said that he had already sworn an oath of Silence and couldn’t say anything about his master.
Out of solutions, the tower guardian personally used the Commandment of the Dead, hoping to dig out some information from the other party’s dead spirit. The other party was torn to pieces by an unknown force after saying the name of Father of the Crows.
It was the same situation as when William interrogated the Offa University traitor, David Obis.
Saying his name would result in complete silence.
Therefore, William looked at the silent Crowman and didn’t continue asking.
He thought for a few seconds before asking, “So you can’t say anything?”
The person nodded.
“I’ll do the asking. Can you only nod or shake your head?”
“That won’t do either. This is the restriction on our activities in Currere. Any information about my master has to be kept silent.”
The person shook his head.
William felt a slight headache.
It wasn’t easy for him to obtain clues about the Judges, so why was he in this situation?
Why was everything a riddle?