After sending Carlos and Colin, who were off to counterattack the Bright Guild, on their way, William cheerfully headed towards Rosslyn Chapel.
William didn't rush to learn gun-slinging from Carlos because, given Carlos's attitude towards him, William was confident he could learn it eventually.
The most pressing matter now was to eliminate the members of the Bright Guild. He hadn't forgotten that the assassins from the Bright Guild would target the families of the Hidden Council members, as the white-haired man had warned.
The best way to deal with these lunatics was to send them to meet Satan.
William grabbed a shovel from the church, dug a big pit, and buried the fifteen mercenaries. He then drove back to the hotel with the vase, took a good shower, changed his clothes, and looked happily at the vase on the table.
Langdon and Sophie, those two idiots, didn't realize the treasure they had in front of them. While this vase was indeed a modern replica, Langdon didn't consider that in a chamber filled with Da Vinci paintings, the second underground chamber wouldn't casually contain a modern replica vase in memory of Lamont's Maya.
The moment William entered the second underground chamber, he noticed something special about this vase. To keep it a secret, he didn't show any interest initially. When Langdon and Sophie were emotionally overwhelmed, he took the opportunity to take it. Later, even if they recalled William's peculiar behavior, he could simply claim it was a fake and that he had thrown it away.
If they wanted it, they could go find it in the Edinburgh dump.
The people in the church hall didn't care about William taking a vase since the contents of the second underground chamber were left by William's grandfather, and no one even knew there was a second underground chamber in the church.
William carefully inspected the vase and found, using his spiritual power, that the vase's base had been restored. This discovery made William overjoyed, as he had expected something to be hidden within the vase.
Carefully separating the base of the vase, he found an oil paper with some numbers and a message: "Do you remember the book I read to you in the hospital when you fell down the stairs?"
William immediately recalled it and felt a surge of happiness. Henry truly was a cunning old fox, for the "book" Henry referred to was actually a picture book. It was the first time he had heard the story of "Tim the Lion" when he was eight.
"Tim the Lion" was a comic book published decades ago, and it was easy to find online. William quickly understood the numbers related to the book.
"The lion guarding the angel's throne with a sword" was a clear reference to the angel statue in front of his family's castle.
Combining the sword and the Holy Grail, the location of the Grail became obvious.
The Devonshire family had always been associated with swords, for centuries. The angel statue was a female angel, and to an uninformed observer, there would be no questions. However, the female angel represented Lamont's Maya.
The angel's throne referred to the bronze base of the angel statue. William had previously wondered why a bronze base would be welded to granite, but now he realized that the granite was not ordinary at all; it was Lamont's Maya's sarcophagus.
Thinking about this, William felt a rush of excitement. My God, 270 years ago, the ancestors of the Devonshire family had daringly hidden the wife of that one above in their own garden.
However, thinking further, William broke out in a cold sweat. The meaning of the sword and the Holy Grail guarding the gate was now crystal clear. If other members of the Hidden Council found out, the Devonshire family would be in big trouble for daring to keep the wife of that one above as a guardian at their front door.
William immediately burned the paper in his hand. This secret must remain forever hidden in his heart, only to be revealed in a life-or-death situation.
He also understood why Henry wanted him to find Jacques Saunière. Henry and Saunière both wanted him to protect Sophie, as she was the last heir of the Saint-Clair royal family.
Only by ensuring the survival of the Saint-Clair family could modern genetic technology confirm whether Lamont's Maya and the Saint-Clair family shared the same DNA.
Only then would the sarcophagus of Lamont's Maya, held by the Devonshire family, be valuable. Otherwise, the significance of this trump card would be greatly diminished. Damn, this means I have to keep an eye on Sophie, make sure she gets married and has children.
The girl was already 32 and unmarried. No, Sophie must get married and have children. Who knows if, in a few years, Sophie will still be able to have children?
William was calculating in his mind. Langdon and Sophie seemed to have some feelings for each other. Sophie shouldn't resist the idea of marrying Langdon. Thinking this, William immediately had the shameless idea of giving them something that could make them fall for each other.
He didn't have the time or energy to wait for a long courtship, and with Sophie back in the Saint-Clair family, who knew if her grandmother would arrange a marriage for her? If that happened, who knew if Sophie would ever get married?
Acting on this thought, William quickly paid 1000 pounds on the dark web for expedited, cash-on-delivery, door-to-door service, leaving an address at a nearby park. He then got dressed, put on a hat and mask, and went out.
After paying and picking up the goods in the park, William didn't pay attention to the ambiguous look of the delivery guy. He gave him an extra 10-pound tip and turned away.
After wandering around a few blocks to ensure no one was following him, William returned to the hotel and called Sophie. Hearing that they were still celebrating at the manor near Rosslyn Chapel, William immediately accepted Sophie's invitation, drove to the manor she mentioned.
An hour later, upon arriving at the manor, he saw Sophie and Langdon standing together to welcome him. Smiling, he hugged and greeted them, chatting happily as they walked into the manor together.
Inside the manor, people smiled and nodded at William. These were members of the Hidden Council, descendants of the Knights Templar, who had been guarding the secrets of the Saint-Clair family and the Holy Grail.
Unfortunately, they didn't know the Holy Grail was no longer at Rosslyn Chapel.
After exchanging pleasantries with the people around, the three stood together chatting for a while. William, holding a glass of wine, joked with Langdon, "So, you've become an American member of the Hidden Council and a Sir Langdon?"
Langdon, delighted, replied, "I didn't expect the Grand Duke of Ireland to recommend me to King Philip of the UK for a knighthood. Although it's a lifetime title, I'm still very happy."
Of course, he was happy. The football player Beckham had gone to great lengths and used all sorts of means to get a low-ranking title.
"Haha, that's great news. Congratulations, buddy. We should celebrate properly." Saying this, William downed his drink in one gulp. Langdon and Sophie had no choice but to follow suit and drank a large glass of champagne.
After that, William kept finding excuses to drink with Sophie and Langdon. They were both in a good mood today and didn't want to refuse William. In less than half an hour, they were both a little tipsy.
Seeing that they had had enough, William got new glasses of wine for himself, Langdon, and Sophie from the waiter. He then said to Sophie, "Sophie, won't you show me around this manor? You know I recently bought the family castle in Oxford, but I'm having a hard time with the renovation and decoration. Can you show me around this manor for some inspiration?"
This manor was indeed her grandmother's leisure estate in Edinburgh, with many wonderful furnishings and decorations. Laughing, she replied, "No problem. I'll take you two on a tour."
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