Wildfire City really isn’t big; the carriage sped down the street for less than five minutes before arriving at the entrance of the temple.

James Carter jumped off the carriage, gave a polite bow to the lady inside, and thanked her.

Inside the carriage, Molly looked at the departing James Carter through the gauzy curtain on the window. After a moment’s thought, she couldn’t help but open the window and say, “Su, it’s not safe outside the city lately. You don’t need to go to the cemetery for night watch tomorrow night. I’ll report this to Priest Pastor Paul at the temple.”

James Carter was stunned, unable to understand why this noble lady he’d just met less than half an hour ago was helping him so much. Could he have encountered the legendary love at first sight?

“That’s all, you can go in now.” James Carter’s reaction made Molly blush a little. She hurriedly said this, then quickly waved and closed the carriage window.

The temple was tall and imposing, over twenty meters high and covering more than a dozen acres. The entire structure was built from tightly fitted giant stones, their surfaces carved with mysterious patterns.

To James Carter, the mysterious patterns on the stones felt strangely familiar. Just before entering the temple, he took a few extra glances at them.

To others, this seemed like a normal action, but James Carter’s eyes had already imprinted every detail of those patterns into his mind like an ultra-high-definition camera.

In his mind, the patterns he’d once seen on the Holy Light rune stone also appeared, and the two were being compared with incredible precision.

Without Forrest Gump’s help, James Carter found this task a bit more difficult, but it wasn’t a big problem—the comparison results should come out soon.

The temple worshipped the Lord of Holy Light, who, in fact, was the deity of the entire human race.

Not only the Storm Kingdom, but also the neighboring Rose Principality, the Tarin Alliance, the Hanno Federation, and the far eastern Assyrian Empire all regarded him as the one true god.

This Lord of Holy Light had manifested undeniable miracles many times throughout the continent’s history, and had even, in ancient times, fought earth-shattering divine wars against the gods of other races!

Of course, all this was just legend, with no concrete evidence, but the power he bestowed upon priests was undeniably real—supreme holy light capable of dispelling all unclean things. Such an existence could not be disrespected.

Even if James Carter had been a dragon swimming through the galaxy in his previous life, here in this unfamiliar Shallow Bay, he had no choice but to behave himself.

He lowered his head and eyes, wearing a humble expression as he walked into the temple.

Behind him, the coachman waited until James Carter’s figure disappeared before speaking in a low, respectful voice: “Miss, you really shouldn’t have let that boy ride in the carriage. It’s not in line with noble etiquette. And the night watchman, having been in the cemetery, is covered in bad luck and resentment, which will have a terrible effect on your health. Also, the favor you just granted was inappropriate and may give that young man improper ideas.”

Listening to the coachman’s respectful yet forceful reminder, Molly felt a sudden, inexplicable irritation. Since childhood, everything had been about etiquette, etiquette—these rules and restrictions suffocated her.

However, this coachman was a fourth-generation loyal servant of the The Halter Family, personally appointed by her father to look after her. Out of respect for her father’s authority, Molly dared not let her annoyance show, and only replied softly, “I understand, Uncle Ryder. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

……

There was only one official presiding priest in the temple, with the religious name Paul. He had received the Lord of Holy Light’s recognition and possessed many incredible powers.

The Holy Light rune stone was made by him. No one else in the temple had such skills; the others were attendants, guards, cooks, and so on—altogether about thirty or forty people.

At this moment, Paul was leading the faithful in the temple’s blessing hall in the end-of-month ritual. James Carter quietly entered the hall, found an inconspicuous corner, sat down, and, like the other worshippers, pressed his hands together in front of his chest and bowed his head in silent prayer.

Although he didn’t know what the worshippers were silently reciting, James Carter was just putting on a show. His eyes were still darting around.

The blessing hall was very spacious, covering several thousand square meters and able to accommodate thousands of worshippers praying together.

At this moment, the entire hall was packed, yet completely silent. Only the gentle voice of Priest Paul occasionally echoed through the hall, sounding ethereal and sacred, filled with a mysterious power that could calm the soul and make one forget pain.

But none of this had anything to do with James Carter. He was just pretending, imitating the worshippers around him by folding his hands in front of his chest and bowing his head in pious prayer.

In reality, his mind had already flown to the mysterious patterns on the temple walls. His current body was quite weak; even a little deep thought would cause a dull ache in his brain, making it impossible for James Carter to fully process the information in his mind. But basic surface-level logical analysis and summary were still barely manageable.

He clearly displayed the patterns from the temple’s outer walls and the Holy Light rune stone in his mind, comparing every detail meticulously, trying to find a connection.

But unfortunately, although the patterns on the giant stones and the rune stone looked similar at first glance, a careful comparison revealed that, aside from a few similar structures, most had no connection at all. The patterns he found were vague and ambiguous, like looking at flowers through a mist.