“O devout believers… Though this world has already been swallowed by despair’s bitter darkness, you must always believe in the coming of the light.”
After pausing for a moment, Mu Xuan showed a kindly smile, as if to prove that the goddess herself had bestowed her grace.
“Just two days ago, the goddess answered our prayers and has agreed to bestow her power, sheltering her faithful believers. The boundless mercy of the goddess is something we must cherish with gratitude… Now, please, step outside and offer a solemn prayer before the sacred statue!”
After saying something he never could have uttered in his previous life, Mu Xuan was the first to leave the house, with Hel following close behind, arriving together in the courtyard outside.
Mu Xuan glanced around, discovering that beyond the courtyard was endless black mist, making it impossible to see anything at all, and only then did he turn his gaze to the statue.
The statue’s face was a bit blurred, but it was not hard to discern the expression of compassion for all beings. In the eyes of ordinary people, they would perhaps only sense holiness, kindness, hope… but Mu Xuan shivered.
The malice so thick it was almost tangible made Mu Xuan afraid to approach.
So, this statue wasn’t anything good either…
When was the statue corrupted… the thirty-eighth Pope?
Immediately, Mu Xuan denied this notion—the scepter’s power was still quite potent at that time, able to purify any corruption from the statue, so it couldn’t have happened then…
“Your Eminence… is something wrong?” Hel’s voice suddenly rang out, startling Mu Xuan back to his senses.
No, now’s not the time to think about that. Although the madness in Hel’s eyes flickered by in an instant, Mu Xuan still noticed it.
Mu Xuan calmly took two steps forward, turned to check that all the believers had come out from inside, and then continued to face the statue.
Forcing himself, he walked up to the statue, lowered his voice and called out, “Begin the prayer…”
After calling out, he pretended to kneel with devotion, burying his head low and beginning the prayer.
“You are the incarnation of a thousand stars…”
“You are…”
“…”
During the prayer, cold sweat kept breaking out on Mu Xuan’s forehead, dripping down as the overwhelming malice pressed in on him.
Yet, Mu Xuan neither fled nor attempted to look at the statue. He kept his head down throughout, completing the prayer ritual without missing a single step.
The slightest misstep—certain death!
That was Mu Xuan’s instinct.
Once the prayer finished, the entire place fell into a silence that lasted for three whole minutes.
Mu Xuan didn’t know about anyone else, but he was certain—the statue was absolutely judging whether or not he had noticed it!
Chewing sounds and the crunch of bones kept reaching his ears, and he could even feel warm liquid splattering across his face.
While the voices of prayer had masked these noises before, now they were shockingly obvious.
It was trying to tempt him to look up!
No matter how afraid he felt, Mu Xuan forced his emotions down, refusing to become an outlier among the crowd. As long as he held out, he would get his chance to smash this statue someday!
“Whew—” A believer let out a long breath, and behind Mu Xuan, noise rose up as people slowly stood and began returning to the hall in an orderly manner.
At that moment, all those strange sounds faded. Mu Xuan waited a bit longer before finally standing up.
“Your Eminence… why did you kneel for so long this time…”
Hel’s voice came from the side. Mu Xuan replied expressionlessly, “The goddess has only just bestowed her blessing. As Pope, I must express my devotion. If I don’t set an example, how would the believers view me?”
“And I was appointed as Pope—surely some must be dissatisfied…” As he spoke, Mu Xuan looked at Hel with a faint, mocking smile.
Hel was stunned, then lowered his head with a show of “anxiety,” hurriedly saying, “Your Eminence, your rise is only fitting—there’s no one more suited to be Pope than you…”
Mu Xuan gave a short, derisive laugh and didn’t bother replying to Hel any further, instead heading inside and walking straight toward his room.
Only after shutting everyone out did Mu Xuan finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He took a razor blade from his pocket, dispelling some of his fear, his eyes now filled with icy resolve.
The other believers hadn’t noticed anything, but both Hel and that statue—those must be dealt with soon…
However, with Mu Xuan’s current abilities, he could only take Hel by surprise. As for the statue… he had no confidence whatsoever.
“Tch… what a mess…” Maybe Hel had noticed some of his odd behavior, but with those words just now, he had probably managed to put Hel’s suspicions to rest for now.
But there was something Mu Xuan couldn’t figure out. Clearly, Hel and the statue could have wiped out the remaining believers and himself at any time—why keep stringing them along…?
It wasn’t like raising livestock, nor did it seem to be about harvesting negative energy.
Was there some killing mechanism… or…
Unable to make sense of it, Mu Xuan decided to change his line of thought. This wasn’t something that could be solved just by thinking.
The most urgent thing now was to deal with the anomalies in this courtyard.
Holding the scepter, Mu Xuan sat on the bed, feeling a headache. The original body had followed the church all the way through their “retreat,” starting as a low-level member with nothing to his name, and only after becoming Pope did he get some life-saving artifacts.
Because of this, even though Mu Xuan inherited the memories of the original body and all the Popes before him, he had no good way to turn the situation around.
This was truly a hopeless-level difficulty!!! Maybe if he had a double buff of whale spending and godly luck he could turn things around, but there was no way to top-up here!
Mu Xuan’s thoughts spun wildly, but by chance he brushed against the scepter.
Two or three points of light drifted from the scepter, catching Mu Xuan’s attention.
“What’s this…” In an instant, Mu Xuan thought of something…
With nothing else to try, Mu Xuan went straight for the simplest method. He pressed the tip of the scepter firmly to his forehead.
Those two or three points of light immediately burrowed into Mu Xuan’s mind, and a hollow, sacred voice echoed in his head.
“Spread… faith…”
At the same time, a torrent of power flooded into Mu Xuan’s body, but soon it faded away, leaving only a faint trace of holy power.
Then, the scepter bounced sharply away from his forehead, clattering to the ground. Looking at the scepter lying there, Mu Xuan finally broke into a genuine smile.
He could sense a faint connection to the scepter, and the slight power within him. This feedback of power was coming from the believers’ faith in the goddess!
Because of Hel’s proclamation that the statue would protect the believers, two or three of them had kindled genuine faith in the goddess—thus, the true power of the scepter had been activated!
Most importantly, what he gained was the feedback power, not just those three wisps of faith.
Which meant there was plenty of room for maneuver…
Not only could he passively grow stronger, he could also grant power to the believers. With this, he’d have many more options for dealing with those anomalies…