Who hid My Corpse!

As Isaiah's most accomplished disciple, Mina has always been aware of the affairs in Taoyuan Village and understands the current situation.

In simple terms, Tongue and Hand Eye, as the only two holders of multiple Corpse Blocks within Taoyuan Village, have reached the point of head-on confrontation, forcing others to pick sides. So even for teacher Isaiah, it's no longer feasible to just watch and remain passive. After all, if either Tongue or Hand Eye claims victory, it would be too late to intervene by then.

However, rushing to choose a side doesn't align with Isaiah's style—it makes it too easy to be led by the nose.

Thus, how to gain the initiative is something Isaiah and Mina have been pondering.

Fortunately, at this moment, the least noticeable Mr. Thumb stepped forward, using a near self-destructive method to provide Isaiah with a perfect entry point.

That is, to openly help Thumb deal with Tongue, while secretly targeting Thumb as well.

First, on the surface, Isaiah's action against Tongue fully meets the requirements. This is a request from the Contract Land, and he only acts after the failure of the delegations from Rhein and Eternal Nightmare, so no one would question his motives; he can legitimately eliminate Tongue.

After dealing with Tongue, as the one who exerted the most effort, he can rightfully make demands to the Contract Land to claim one of the three Corpse Blocks from Tongue.

Yes, Isaiah only wants one block. He knows well that trying to seize all three blocks in such a situation is asking for trouble, and if he dared to take them, he would immediately become the main target of hostility. Then the Contract Land along with the other major churches would end up pursuing him instead of Ulu.

So, on the surface, Isaiah only asks for one, making it hard for the Contract Land or other churches to refuse the request, while letting them fight over the remaining two.

That's the overt plan, but Isaiah's true target is Rocky's "Thumb."

Because Rocky's Thumb isn't in the open; apart from a few within Taoyuan Village and Rhein, not many people know he's also a Corpse Fragment Holder. This relates to Rhein's East Church traditionally being low-key, unlike that thoroughly dead West Church's Corey, who wanted the whole world to know about the eye he possessed.

And this conveniently offers Isaiah a chance to act. If Rocky were as flamboyant as Corey, Isaiah really wouldn't be able to target him.

Fortunately, this guy appears rash and mindless on the surface, yet he's quite cautious. Even if Isaiah were to kill him, there would be no evidence.

Yes, that's Isaiah's complete plan.

Utilize the requests from the Contract Land and Rhein and Eternal Nightmare's churches to legitimately set the stage to execute Tongue, while simultaneously dealing with Rocky. Of course, on the surface, it'll appear as a fierce battle between the deceitful and powerful Tongue against the brave and fearless Rhein Bishop, whose unfortunate sacrifice Isaiah avenges, albeit arriving late.

Thus, he eliminates Tongue and solves the Thumb issue, instantly possessing three Corpse Blocks.

Then, leveraging the residual power of the three Corpse Blocks, he would proceed to the agreed location with Hand Eye and take the final eye. At that point, no matter how many more cards Hand Eye has, they wouldn't be his match.

He will emerge as the final victor, consuming everything.

Throughout this process, no one would catch any evidence against him; only Rhein might discern the truth.

But so what? Without concrete evidence, who dares to take action against him?

He's neither the pursued Ulu by Rhein nor the Seven-Tone Player who destroyed the Holy Sound. He has the entire Star Relic Sect behind him.

With Rhein having lost three Archbishops, the Holy Sound destroyed, Lyra rebuilt, and the Contract Land unable to intervene, he becomes the ultimate authority. As long as he safely returns to Star Relic, even if the Contract Land senses something amiss, it would already be too late to act.

This is the entirety of Isaiah's plan.

In Mina's view, this plan could be described as flawless.

Only her teacher, the world's wisest and most knowledgeable person, could set such an elaborate plan in this short time.

From this perspective, the Rocky Bishop of the Orthodox high echelons, just like Isaiah, appears ridiculously childish.

Rocky frowned, glancing at Mina with a hint of wariness: "Miss Mina, why are you looking at me like that?"

...It seems quite perceptive.

Mina immediately flashed a harmless smile: "Before coming here, my teacher advised me to humbly seek guidance from you."

"Guidance on what?"

"In various aspects," Mina said bashfully, "I'll eventually take over my teacher's duties, but I've always lacked confidence..."

Rocky's frown deepened, his tone carrying anger: "So you're finding confidence from me!?"

Mina: "..."

She suppressed her expression to remain unchanged.

Just yesterday, Teacher Isaiah specifically instructed her to carefully observe Rocky.

Observe what?

Simply observe if he is genuinely that foolish.

Regarding Rocky, Teacher Isaiah also harbors some wariness. Much like in Taoyuan Village, Rocky's demeanor truly doesn't seem fit to share a table with them. Compared to any of them, even including the deceased Incisor, Rocky appeared overly... simplistic.