Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 720 Spell Card: Star Ice

It took a long time for everything to return to calm again.

Only then did some passengers brave enough to stick their heads out of the cabin to look outside...but they could see nothing, only the tranquility amid the noise.

The deck, which was almost reduced to ruins, was brightly lit, and the embarrassed captain was directing the sailors, most of whom were injured but not seriously, to tidy up. The sounds of packing up and cleaning, accompanied by the occasional painful groans, made the place unexpectedly noisy.

However, above the sea, there was tranquility. There was no smoke, no body parts, and no remaining Dao power visible to the naked eye.

The sea, which seemed even darker under the light, now looked like an abyss that swallowed up all life.

——It looked like a huge battle had taken place here, but surprisingly, the backbone of the ship was not damaged.

"Everyone go back!"

The captain looked at the passengers who had emerged and advised in a hoarse voice: "The problem has been solved, the enemy has been eliminated - we are safe!"

"Is it a sea monster?"

someone asked.

"It's a 'sea bride'!"

The captain did not shy away from the question, but spoke directly: "But the problem has been solved - the sea monster has been killed!"

"Sea Bride!"

"That's... Poseidon!"

Some passengers lived in fishing areas and were well aware of sea monsters. They all felt uneasy, frightened, or relieved.

After their explanation, people were able to truly confirm that they had indeed encountered a sea monster.

In some relatively backward coastal areas, people have no way to deal with sea monsters - for these ancient creatures that are older than many Pillar Gods and require a fifth-level extraordinary person to kill them alone, the only way for most races is to feed them with blood.

Based on a primitive religious belief, those villages often call sea monsters "sea gods." Because even if a superhuman being is so powerful that he is inhuman, he will often die miserably if he fights against it, so it is not an exaggeration to call it a god.

They would "appease" these sea gods by regularly sacrificing young children as blood feed. The amazing thing is that these "sea gods" can actually stay calm for a while after eating - because they originally came to eat souls, not flesh and blood to survive, and their real needs are not much.

In the simple brains of the "sea gods", as long as food appears regularly in this place, they will think that this is their food refresh point.

Then not only will they not attack this place, they will even protect "their own food refresh points" from the invasion of monsters and tides, forming a kind of "shelter" in a physical sense.

They often attack villages that stop offering sacrifices, not out of anger, but out of doubt - is there something wrong here? Knock and see.

Hey, why did it explode?

Those brave villages that "continued to fight against the evil sea god and won" did not do so because the sea monsters were afraid of them, but because they found that the food here was not refreshed for a long time and they could not repair it themselves, so they gave up.

“Who saved us?”

Someone asked eagerly, "Is it the conservator?"

Many of them did not know Professor Laxmi, but those who could go to the Theocracy, even if they were not extraordinary people, often had enough understanding of extraordinary people.

The dim yellow light that had spread throughout the cabin and protected them came from the unique "preservation technique" of the extraordinary people of the Dusk Path.

On a planet with a relative lack of priests and a large number of legal necromancers, people have always held a respectful and awe-inspiring attitude towards preservers.

——Because they can be their own doctors and their own forensic doctors.

"not him!"

Other passengers denied it, saying, "We heard it - it was Miss Crawley! The conservator was completely powerless to fight the sea monster, so he asked someone to call Miss Crawley for help!"

Other passengers also came out to say that this was indeed the case.

Because several pieces of the deck were shattered at the time, many passengers heard about it.

"Okay, let's go back quickly! That lady doesn't want to be disturbed, she needs to rest!"

Before people could continue to talk, the ugly and ferocious captain threatened them with a stern face: "We still have to clean up the deck! Everyone get off!"

Then the sailors drove all the passengers off the ship.

Someone suddenly asked, "Excuse me, who is Miss Crawley who saved us?"

Hearing this, the captain also fell into deep thought.

He thought for a moment and gave a definite but vague answer: "She is a beautiful, elegant, black-haired lady. She is a human being."

"She is very pretty?"

Someone caught the key detail. "Very beautiful."

The captain nodded without hesitation.

This sentence triggered people's reverie. The benefactor who saved them from desperate situations, defeated the "God Killer" of the sea god, and saved everyone did not come out to accept gratitude.

With such an identity and a "very beautiful" appearance... then there is no doubt that this will become a very good news gimmick!
"Who is Miss Crawley?"

The passengers also had different fantasies about the chaotic unknown.

At this moment, Aleister was in his room, leisurely playing with the newly sealed Phantom Card. Carefully studying the card's surface full of hints, mysterious knowledge continued to seep out of it, and Aleister, who had a pure and transcendent heart, greedily absorbed it.

This card was originally "Temperance", but now it is called "Art" or "Alchemy".

In the middle of the Tarot card there is a strange man with two heads - this man has both male and female characteristics, and the two heads, one male and one female, are placed on the left and right sides of the picture like mirrors.

He is pouring water and fire into the crucible. On either side of the crucible stands a white male lion and a red female vulture - their positions are similar to the Lovers card, but the colors are opposite. The Lovers card is a red lion and a white vulture, with the opposite expressions and figures.

At this moment, the white lion placed his paws on the crucible, dripping red blood; and the fiery red female vulture spat out white saliva - some people believe that these creatures flying high in the sky have no saliva, or that they hold their saliva in their mouths when they fly, and once they are attacked and spit it out, they will die.

Therefore, they can also symbolize the earth and wind respectively.

At this moment, the crucible was overflowing with flaming water. They stepped on the cold fire, but they did not look painful. In the crucible, it seemed that something brilliant was about to be born—the hermaphrodite with two heads, whose heart was also burning with the brilliance of the sun.

"Moderation" can be understood as "restraint" or rational "constraint". But its correct interpretation should be "using unreal things to control something real", which will lead to a result - balance.

This card describes the process of "things being purified and cleansed" under the influence of the power of balance, which is exactly the origin of alchemy.

In this tarot card, the strange man has the moon on his head and the sun on his chest. The mirror reflecting the male and female sides just connects the sun and the moon, which also seems to symbolize the subtle relationship between the twin mirrors, Hengwo, Xitiansi and... as the founder of alchemy, the "predecessor of Huantiansi".

In a sense, this card is closely related to Aiwass.

Aiwass and Aleister are exactly in this androgynous state. And he also happens to "connect the sun and the moon with the power of mirrors and balance." And the reconstruction of wind, earth, water and fire in the crucible seems to be related to Aiwass's ability to create phantom cards.

"So that's it..."

Aleister murmured.

She suddenly got a hint from the card - or a revelation of a truth that had already existed but no one cared about.

As we all know, alchemy is closely related to metaphor.

Just like the alchemists of the Star Antimony school, who did not believe in the existence of the Philosopher's Stone but yearned for the refining of "Star Antimony" - The "Triumphal Chariot of Antimony" written by Valentine I tells the story of sublimating animal nature into the transcendent way of God.

The red phase of the star was a good friend of Valentine I.

He regarded this book as a method to verify the "perfect man" and felt that the seven-fold path of "sublimating animal nature into God" was equivalent to the process of cleansing the animal nature of the Son of the Moon.

Although Aleister felt that Valentine I probably didn't mean that...but what was outrageous was that the Red Prime Minister was just looking at this book that actually didn't talk about this matter at all, and he was forcibly developing magic skills. From the perspective of the final result, he actually succeeded!

I can only say that this is a kind of Ouyang Hong appearance.

But in fact, while "Star Antimony" is a metaphor, the Philosopher's Stone can also be a metaphor - if you put your soul into the crucible of your body, put in dreams, fears, hopes, and desires, re-refine the earth, fire, water, and wind, and purify everything about yourself... then a truly perfect thing can be born.

That is the "philosopher's stone" - the greatest alchemy that can turn stone into gold. It also means making incompetent people like "stubborn stones" shine... turning those dark things into brilliant light.

This……

“…which is exactly what I’m doing.”

Aleister murmured.

She found the entry point.

Didn't the alchemists of the Star Antimony School realize that there was actually nothing wrong with the Philosopher's Stone theory?

I'm afraid that's not the case.

But they can no longer turn back - they would rather continue to make the mistake.

Thinking of this, Aleister smashed the projected card into pieces.
Its attributes flashed through her mind:

[Spell Card: Star Ice (Art)]

[Required: Water 4]

【Action, Summon, Non-Contact】

[Effect: Summon colorful Star Ice, shape it in a simple way and keep it for a while. Anyone who looks directly at the Star Ice and tries to destroy it or understand it will fall into a deeper and deeper illusion; those who fall into the illusion due to this effect will be frozen; those who are completely frozen by this effect cannot actively get out of the illusion, even if the Star Ice no longer exists]

(End of this chapter)