"Carnivore or herbivore, the differences do not lie in its fangs nor its shape," the pope murmured. "You must assess whether it is greedy, whether it has the heart that is eager to bite and swallow… were you able to detect that scent?"

Master Ja was dumbfounded. Ziliujin with high purity when burnt created almost no scent; only Gu Yun and dogs would probably be able to detect it. He tried to ask: "Your Majesty refers to... the scent of sea water?”

"It is the stench, my son," the pope whispered. "If the devil truly existed in this world, then it would definitely be this little mineral with blue and violet flames. From the day it pierced through the ground, it had ignited this damn era. It turned the Children of God into the hearts of iron monsters."

Weren't the machines that burned Ziliujin man-made?

Master Ja shrugged, he did not rebut, but he also somewhat disagreed.

The pope no longer explained, he only bowed his head and began to kiss the ring on his hand with the symbol of a scepter and repeated a simple prayer.

"Forgive me," he whispered. "Please forgive me."

At this time, a cluster of signaling fires of a deep blue color suddenly appeared at the two leading ships, soaring into the high sky.

The shade of Master Ja's eyes seemed to have blended with the color of the flame. He tried to contain himself, but for a while, it was still difficult to suppress his excitement: "Your Majesty, it begins!"

https://www.northwestflower.net/sha-po-lang/book-2/chapter-7-national-calamity/7-ii

The seventh year of Long An, the eighth day of April.

It was the third day since the Marquis of Order, Gu Yun, moved from the hot springs to the prison cell in the capital.

The dungeon was very cold and sinister. Fortunately, as the capital entered spring, the chill had gradually dispersed. It was already warm, the pile of grass and straw in the cell was even softer than his marching bed in the military camp. It was not uncomfortable to live in for a few days, Gu Yun thought of it as going on a vacation.

All around him was silence. There wasn’t even an inmate to chat with. The jailer was a puppet that could not speak. This was the innermost cell in the imperial prison, if one wasn't of the royal bloodline, they were not allowed to enter. Even Tan Hong Fei, the commander of the Northern Camp, was not qualified to stay.

The last person who qualified to be here was Wei Wang, the biological brother of the Emperor. Gu Yun enjoyed the single room treatment, there was no other choice but to stay alone.