Swear Fealty To Me, My Subjects!

Chapter 72: Little Secret in the Monastery

As a rift in space opened, Rayne and Hela arrived at a forest in the south of the mortal world.

This place was located in a dwarf kingdom. In the depths of this vast forest, there was a famous sacred ground.

It was a monastery built by the lake.

Even though it was located in a remote area, there were many travelers that made pilgrimages every year.

At the risk of being eaten by the fiend beasts in the forest, they came to visit.

All of this was because there was something extremely special about this monastery.

It was one of the few sacred grounds in the mortal world that would not be polluted by the Nether Realm corruption.

Its name was Remembrance Pure Land.

The origin of Remembrance Pure Land's ability to resist the Nether Realm corruption came from the unique water quality around the Pure Land—the Lake of Remembrance.

This special spring water could negate the Nether Realm corruption value, causing fiends to require more time and energy if they wanted to corrupt this area.

In theory, if the fiends of the Nether Realm were bent on invading this place, there was a way.

However, the cost-performance ratio was extremely poor and unacceptable.

Therefore, it was not wrong to say that this was a sacred ground that would not be affected by the Nether Realm corruption.

It was precisely because the monastery had the characteristic of blocking the Nether Realm corruption that many pilgrims from the mortal world came due to its reputation.

They wanted to cleanse their minds and souls in the sacred ground and find their inner selves in a Pure Land that was not corroded by the Nether Realm.

The officials of the monastery were very open-minded about this as well. They expressed that they welcomed pilgrims from all over the world as long as money was paid.

Rayne did not have any boss to take down in Remembrance Pure Land.

He was only here to meet someone and take something.

After obtaining the mission item, he would be able to head to the epic battlefield that was truly lethal.

In fact, he might have to use Gold Village to have a chance of clearing it...

However, before heading to that battlefield, he would probably stay in this monastery for a long time.

That was because according to the tradition of the monastery, those that wanted to meet the divine being of Remembrance Pure Land would have to spend a month in the monastery to cleanse their minds.

Today, Rayne and Hela were the first guests received by the monastery.

The door of the monastery was sealed and in front of it, a monk in a linen hood was in charge of welcoming the pilgrims.

After Rayne explained his identity and purpose for coming, the monk smiled and nodded, warmly leading Rayne to their guest room.

Next, the monk explained to Rayne about the rules of Remembrance Pure Land.

Due to the fact that Remembrance Pure Land was a sacred ground that could defend against the Nether Realm corruption, anyone who entered the sacred ground could not bring the evil thoughts of the mortal world into the monastery.

Indulgence was forbidden, desires were restricted and one must not lose control of their emotions.

Inner peace was more important than anything else here.

Everything was to cleanse the minds of the pilgrims and help them escape the potential influence of subliminal chaos.

Apart from the official pilgrimage package that was offered, after the monk ascertained Rayne's noble status as the prince of the Haines Empire, Rayne was informed of an additional rule that outsiders did not know about.

[If you wish to meet the giant of the lake, please cultivate in the monastery for a month with refrained desires and wait to be summoned.]

…

After paying, Rayne and Hela were welcomed into the Pure Land and each obtained a room in the monastery.

Rayne had a calm expression the entire time. He completed a series of formalities step by step and obtained the right to move in.

After all, Rayne had already repeated this boring conversation countless times in his previous reincarnation cycles and was already familiar with it.

However, Hela was not too happy.

That was because this was a dishonest merchant monastery!

She was charged a bottle of golden-grade potions as entrance fees!

That was bloody golden-grade medicine!

The entire monastery with the package included was probably not even worth a single drop of that medicine!

Rayne expressed his calmness. "They were merely choosing their targets. When they saw that I was from the royal family, they requested a higher price."

Hela sneered and said hatefully, "They saw that I'm a demigod. Aren't they afraid that I would just burn this lousy monastery down before dragging out their giant of the lake to wallop it after they scammed my money?"

But then again…

Hela asked, "Your Highness, are you really going to follow their rules and be a monk here for a month?"

Rayne shrugged. "After all, that's the only way we can meet the giant of the lake who knows everything, right?"

Even so…

There was something that Hela could not understand.

"However, Your Highness, can abstinence and cultivation really defend against the Nether Realm corruption? Why haven't I heard of such a thing before?"

It was not that Hela had not heard of this before.

It was because this matter did not exist at all.

In reality, no matter how much somebody abandoned their emotions and cultivated painstakingly, the act alone could not determine whether the Nether Realm would invade.

Although it was true that evil gods and fiends fed on the emotions of mortals, they were already full by the time they invaded the mortal world!

This so-called cultivation was merely a religious ritual created by the monks of Remembrance Pure Land.

There was no practical meaning to it.

Of course, Rayne did not mind.

He would just take it as a break if he stayed here quietly for a month.

However, there were some people who truly could not take it.

Hela looked at Rayne's side profile in a daze, feeling extremely restless.

It was clear that she could not accept the meaningless mandatory terms of the monk.

Suddenly, she had an interesting thought.

Hela said, "By the way, Your Highness, since the ritual of these cultivators is meaningless, doesn't that mean that it won't affect anyone even if someone breaks their vows?"

Rayne shook his head. "There's still an impact. They'll chase us out and I won't be able to see that giant."

"Isn't it fine as long as we're not discovered?"

Hela revealed a wry smile.

Her body pressed against Rayne silently as she activated her magic and asked softly,

"Ah, Your Highness! Look, what's this?"

Rayne froze for a moment. "The universal forbidden curse, Light of Ascension?"

Hela activated another spell and asked, "What about this?"

Rayne replied, "It's an ordinary invisibility technique."

Hela closed her hands slowly and augmented the Light of Ascension on the invisibility.

Instantly, an enlarged bubble of invisibility enveloped the two of them.

Hela revealed a sly grin. "Now, nobody will see us..."

...

. In Mahayana Buddhism, Pure Land also refers to the heaven that they will arrive at after they pass on in life