10.10

About because of leaving Gagor and leaving the temple, in the last few days, Brainwashed Sheng was quiet and stopped clamoring for control of his body, which made Zhou Yunsheng breathe a big sigh of relief.

Right now, he was sitting in a luxurious and comfortable carriage, carving a statue of the God of Light. By doing so, Brainwashed Sheng would be quieter, appearing for only four hours a day to pray, and then proceeding to hibernate after touching the statue when he was done.

The Pope also went on the road with them, and when they passed through the Elf’s and Orc’s clans they would go their separate ways, one heading to the Dark Forest for training and the other returning to the Central Church.

Zhou Yunsheng knew that this continent was not peaceful, yet what he saw with his own eyes was even worse than what Joshua remembered from his previous life. Demonic energy seems to be everywhere, every time you pass by a small town, you will meet human beings who are parasitized by demons, they either kill openly or secretly cause trouble to make fear grow, stirring everyone’s originally quiet and peaceful life upside down.

There were even plants and magical beasts that had mutated due to the erosion of demonic energy and were lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to act. The land and the lake turned black, the grass and trees withered and the living beings became extinct, the scene was so similar to the end of the world that Zhou Yunsheng had experienced.

If this goes on, the situation will get worse. As the God of Light, shouldn’t he be benevolent? Shouldn’t he be spreading light and banishing darkness? Why did Adonis have the feeling of being a cold spectator? Could it be that he couldn’t defeat the Dark God?

Whenever Zhou Yunsheng speculated like this, Brainwashed Sheng would jump out to vigorously defend his father god, giving him a headache, and he stopped thinking about it for a long time.

The Pope’s team had been crashing behind him. Whenever they met a demonic creature, the martial artists and mages who came with the Pope would combine their efforts to strangle it, and had not seen the Pope show his face; even the Bright Boundary was held up with the help of the several priests around him.

After a long time, Zhou Yunsheng developed a guess. He knew that the Second Prince and Bao’er’s Bright Stone crowns and rings were shattered, and by the same token, the Pope’s scepter should not be preserved. The God of Light could even loathe his fated lover, and would be even less tolerant of the Pope. It wasn’t enough to destroy the symbols of his power, there was also the possibility of withdrawing the power bestowed upon him.

That’s right, in this fucked-up world, the power of the Light Priests could be withdrawn at any time, which was why Zhou Yunsheng didn’t dare to offend the Light God. The God of Light used his divine power to manipulate this world, manipulating all living beings into what he expected them to be, and even worse, even the spread of demonic energy could be the result of his indulgence.

Looking at it this way, the God of Light didn’t seem very bright. Of course, this thought he only dared to fly a flash in his mind for fear of letting Brainwashed Sheng sense it and make a scene.

He spread the gospel along the way, dispersing the demonic aura, slaying demons, and purifying the polluted land and water, so that the name of Joshua Priest gradually became widely known. Especially the people of the Sacajawea Empire simply worshiped him as a god.

On this day, they finally left the empire’s territory and set foot on the boundaries of the elf and orc races. The condition of this place being eroded by demonic qi was more serious than any other place, and along the way, large swathes of forest were shrouded in black mist, just like another dark forest.

And the magic plants and dark beasts appeared more and more frequently and at higher and higher levels.

Since there were no powerful priests to hold up the boundary, the Pope’s team suffered heavy casualties, further validating Zhou Yunsheng’s suspicions. However, he would never be kind enough to help the other party, instead choosing to stand by and watch. It would be best if the Pope could die on his way back to the Holy See, he hadn’t forgotten the Pope’s sinister eyes when he coveted the Scepter of Light and the Divine Robe.

—————————–

An Emperor-level Dark Saber-toothed Tiger leapt out of the grass and pounced towards the team. Its crimson eyes were filled with a desire for fresh flesh and blood, and its mouth spewed out black fire with strong corrosive properties that could not be extinguished no matter what as long as it got on a single spark. Clothes, human bodies, weapons, and even magic weapons would all be burned to ashes.

The only power in the world that could restrain this flame from hell was the power of light.

The priests of the Central Church had already consumed the power of light all the way, even if a few people joined hands, they could barely hold up a thin layer of halo, and being hit twice by the saber-toothed tiger was like ripples on the water surface, which slowly disappeared after a few rounds of swirling.

On the contrary, in the Sagaya Empire’s procession, a young boy was sitting on a carriage, one foot dangling down and the other curled up, and was carving the wood in his hands with a leisurely stance. He did not hold a scepter in his hand to summon the power of light, nor did he chant any incantations, yet he was able to hold up a boundary that was radiant enough to rival the sun in the sky.

That saber-toothed tiger obviously sensed the teenager’s power, so it always avoided him, not daring to approach the group he was in the slightest. When it was occasionally hit by a martial artist or mage and crashed into the boundary laid down by the teenager, the feeling of intense pain that made even the beast’s core about to burst made it more and more fearful.

As a result, the Pope’s team took almost all of its wrath, and in just ten minutes or so, half of the manpower was casualties. One of the Light Priests couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted, “Priest Joshua, please help us! Don’t forget that it is your duty to protect the Pope.”

Zhou Yunsheng blew off the crumbs, gently caressing the face of the statue that was about to take shape with his fingertips, speaking carelessly, “You are wrong. The strong should protect the weak, I am only 18 years old this year, my position is only a small priest, how can my strength be compared to His Holiness the Pope who is 300 years old? You should turn to your Pope for help, not me, after all, you are his men, not mine.”

These words left the several Light Priests speechless. They glanced at each other and looked towards the carriage behind them.

Cold sweat broke out on the Pope’s forehead. Only he himself knew that as time passed, even if he didn’t participate in any of the battles, the power of light in his body was slowly escaping out of his body. It was as if there was an invisible hand that was erasing his attribute of light bit by bit, and if it continued like this, sooner or later, he would turn into an ordinary person.

No one understood better than he what kind of contempt and disdain a priest who had lost the power of light would suffer, not to mention the fact that he had been the high and mighty Pope.

Along the way, he desperately prayed to God the Father, and what he got in return was not a gift from God the Father, but a faster loss of the power of light. It was then that he realized that he had been completely disliked by God the Father.

Right now, he was afraid that he would not even be able to coalesce a single speck of light, let alone hold up a boundary. If the onlookers were to notice the difference, he could imagine what would await him.

To go out or not to go out? It didn’t seem to be a choice for him to make. The Pope’s teeth were clenched, his face twisted, and he hated Joshua into his bones.

But as one of the main attackers of this world, he was still a bit lucky, and as he was about to go and lift the curtains of the car, a radiant bright boundary suddenly appeared over the group, extinguishing the black fire spat out by the saber-toothed tiger and suppressing its power. Immediately afterward, several burly orcs and stunningly beautiful-looking elves appeared out of thin air in the boundary.

Their ranks were all around the middle Emperor stage, and they didn’t feel overwhelmed by joining forces to deal with a peak Emperor Dark Beast. However, in a few round trips, they saw an arrow attached with the power of light hit the heart of the dark beast’s brow, killing it.

The demonic qi quickly corroded the corpse of the dark beast, leaving behind only a black beast core that shone ominously under the sunlight. If another magical beast were to swallow it, another dark beast would be created.

An elf in white priestly robes leapt down from the tree he was standing in and chanted a purification spell to dispel the magic within the beast’s core before picking it up and handing it to his companion.

He had ankle-length blonde hair and a pair of emerald green eyes, and in his hand he held a scepter with three bright stones set at the top. He was the High Priest of the Elf Clan whose status was second only to that of the Pope, Berwindrick.

Because the elf race did not like to have contact with humans, the elf race’s temple was independent of the Central Holy See. Their high priests were not subject to the control of the Holy See, so they did not follow the title of bishop.

However, Berwyn and the Pope were not enemies, but instead had a strong personal relationship.

He glanced at the teenager who had seen death before with a cold gaze before getting into the Pope’s carriage.

“Herman my old friend, how are you?” He inquired in a low voice.

The Pope laughed bitterly, “I was injured while fighting a high level demonic creature, I’m afraid I won’t be well for a long time.” As he spoke, he ripped open his robe, allowing Berwin to view a huge black hole in his chest eroded out by the demonic energy.

This was the backhand he had arranged. He knew who had rescued Bao’er, and he also knew how corrosive the demonic qi left behind by the other party was, so he collected the demonic qi on the cell door, and poured it in after slashing his chest with a small knife. Although the wound was uncomfortable, it could at least help him cover it up for a while, and when he returned to the Central Church, there would naturally be a large amount of holy water that could clean the demonic qi.

Berwin fixed his eyes and his face changed, “This demonic aura is so overbearing, I’m afraid it’s left behind by whichever demon king in the Dark Abyss.”

The Demon King? More than that! The Pope laughed bitterly.

Berwyn immediately casts a few healing spells and sees the wounds ease slightly before whispering, “Bao’er is in the clan lands. I heard that you were assassinated by a priest named Joshua, yes? He was brought in badly injured, why would someone as kind and wonderful as that be willing to hurt him? What have ye been through?”

Since Bao’er was incoherent and showed a frightened and uneasy expression at times, and even kept having nightmares at night, the Elf King and the High Priest didn’t dare to ask more questions, but only knew that what happened to him was related to a teenager named Joshua.

Because the continent was deeply infested with magic, the elves and orcs, who used to live in different boundaries, now had to move to the same forest. They knew that the only way for the three remaining races to survive was to watch each other’s backs. The Beastmen also learned about Bao’er and were heartbroken.

Before they even met, the two tribes classified Joshua as an enemy.

The Pope’s eyes flickered slightly and sighed, “It’s just some competition for power. Joshua was originally supposed to be the next bishop of the Sacajawea Empire, and because of the arrival of Bao’er, he lost the opportunity ……” He was incoherent and punctilious, because he knew that the elf clan had always been simple and proud in heart, and was most impatient to hear these sneaky things.

Berwyn’s brow furrowed in disgust, and he decided not to ask any more questions.

“Speaking of which, across the street is the caravan of Priest Joshua. You should have seen him, right?” The Pope pointed outside the caravan.

“It’s him? No wonder he saw death! How does such a person deserve to be a Light Priest?” Berwyn’s impression of the teenager fell straight to the bottom, and when he heard a few orcs intending to make things difficult for the teenager, he didn’t bother much.

“Why didn’t you make a move just now? You clearly still have power left, don’t you?” A burly orc walked up to Zhou Yunsheng’s carriage and questioned. The orc clan had a straightforward character and said whatever they wanted to say.

Zhou Yunsheng glanced at him lightly, his deep sea-like eyes and features that were more delicate and beautiful than those of an elf caused the orc to faintly freeze.

One of the elves guarding the carriage heard the conversation between the High Priest and the Pope, and immediately drew an arrow attached with the power of light from within his quiver and aimed it at the teenager, shouting, “He’s the Joshua who hurt Bao’er!” The arrow had already broken through the air before the words left his mouth.

Bao’er was the great benefactor of the Elf and Orc clans, and this voice shouting out startled everyone, and they immediately grabbed their weapons and attacked.

Zhou Yunsheng hooked his lips in a cold smile and raised his index finger, using the sharp golden blade of light to split the arrows that had attacked close to him in half, instantly launching a Holy Light Arrow swarm attack technique without chanting a spell, shooting the many Emperor level experts into sieves. He did not attack their vitals, merely penetrating their limbs and leaving them lying in a pool of blood, unable to move.

“Herman, you and Bao’er have been disliked by Father God. He has withdrawn the power of light within you, right? No matter how many lies you use to cover it up, sooner or later, your dark hearts will be exposed to the eyes of the world. I, Joshua, do not care to walk with you fools. Farewell, but I hope you guys can keep your lives.” He finished slowly and methodically, picking up the knife to carve again.

The martial artists and mages who followed him laughed mockingly at the injured people lying on the ground and simply walked away. This forest had already been covered by a third of demonic energy and was filled with dark beasts and demonic plants, these people might not be able to walk out even with their limbs intact, let alone now.

“Too arrogant!” Berwyn couldn’t hold back any longer and jumped off the carriage, summoning a huge lightsaber to slash at him.

As the giant sword loomed over the caravan’s head, a burst of brilliant golden light suddenly erupted, engulfing it in nothingness. The furious strike of the continent’s most powerful Light Priest was so lightly defused, not even a single sound was emitted.

Only when the kicking hooves of the horses were far away did Berwyn come back from his shock. He immediately walked over to his companions to check their wounds.

The circular wounds were bubbling with blood, and the rolled-up flesh was burned to a charred black color by the light arrows, with pure and incomparable power of light remaining on them. Berwyn cast several healing spells one after another, but failed to let these wounds heal even by half.

“How could he possess such a powerful force? This shouldn’t be.” Berwin looked toward the Pope suspiciously. A person with darkness in his heart could not be favored by God the Father and possess the power of light.

The Pope had been prepared for this and spoke in a hard voice, “Did you not see his face? Didn’t you notice his unique hair color and eye color? He is the type of young man that Father God loves the most.”

Berwyn shook his head in denial, “No, God the Father would never be that shallow and condone a despicable person just because of his looks. Herman, don’t you ever say such things again in the future.” He had doubts in his mind, but did not pursue the matter further.

At this time, several Light Priests who had followed the Pope with them suddenly spoke, “Your Holiness the Pope, Lord Berwyn, we have decided to follow Priest Joshua to the continent for a tour, so we’ll take our leave now.” The words fell with a slight bow, and they chased after the caravan towards the front.

Several martial artists and mages who knew the inside story also took their leave immediately. They had witnessed the glorious spectacle on the day Joshua Priest was baptized. He slowly walked out of the golden pool in his divine robes, surrounded by countless white points of light, just like a heavenly god descending into the world. To be disrespectful, his elegance was no less than that of the beloved God the Father.

God the Father sprinkled the sky with red moonshine for him, and that passionate and surging love was clearly felt by all. One is a powerful priest destined to become a god; the other is the pope who is rejected by God the Father and is full of lies, it is self-evident who to choose to be loyal to.

They would not tell these elves and orcs the truth. Humans across the continent knew that elves and orcs were the most stubborn of races, and once they believed something they would never change it unless they were proven wrong with facts.

Judging from their words and actions just now, it was likely that Bao’er was hiding in their clan lands after the jailbreak. Hanging out with blasphemers and giving each other protection, they would have to pay for it sooner or later, so they must not go with them.

The Pope’s eyes stared grimly at the distant backs of the group and turned back to see Berwin looking over with a probing gaze.

He waved his hand in feigned exhaustion, “Let’s go, they’ve been mesmerized by Joshua.”

Berwin withdrew his gaze and led the crowd on their way in silence. Several of the injured were stunned by the teenager’s powerful strength, and for a long time they could not get rid of that mountainous feeling of awe.

The guide Zhou Yunsheng picked was a human who was not familiar with the Forest of Elves, and after circling around many long distances, he instead fell behind Bowen and the others after three or four days. However, he supported the boundary at all times, eliminating the harassment of the dark beasts and magic plants, and it was easy to walk all the way. He did not accept the allegiance of the Pope’s subordinates, yet he did not drive them away either, but silently gave them shelter.

This is certainly not something the cold-blooded Zhou Yunsheng would do, but rather the decision of the brain-dead Sheng. He was gentle and kind, sensitive and fragile, no less than portraying the world with the most beautiful sentiments, with a personality that was the complete opposite of the sensible one.

He would occasionally burrow out of his subconscious and plop down by the car window, surveying everything outside with curious eyes before holding the statue of God the Father in reverent prayer.

On this day, he was about to pray when he saw a thick black fog appearing in front of him, covering the trees and the sky, with vague booming noises coming from it.

The black mist was moving slowly, and it had already spread close to the caravan without waiting for it to turn around. When the people took a closer look, they couldn’t help but reveal horrified expressions. It was not a black mist, but many butterflies infested with demonic gas. They spray venom from their mouthpieces, and their wings drop highly poisonous scale powder, if one or two of them can be dealt with, but when they encounter a group of them, the only thing they can do is to wait to be corroded into a puddle of blood.

Wherever they flew over, it turned into a place of death, and even powerful dark beasts and magic plants were not spared.

The crowd immediately turned around and prepared to retreat, but they heard a clear voice coming from within the carriage, “Gather around me and don’t step out of the boundary.”

A semicircular golden film of light shrouded the caravan, all the butterflies that hit the film turned into dust and dissipated, and the caravan slowly advanced along the path opened up by the ancestors, appearing so quiet and leisurely amidst the rumbling sound of stirring up wings.

Zhou Yunsheng lifted the curtains of the car and sat with his guide, holding the statue of God the Father in his hands and praying. No matter how horrifying the monsters were, no matter how dark the outside world was, because of the existence of the Father God, he was fearless. The golden film of light radiated more and more brightly because of his devout faith, and it had a tendency to disperse the black fog.

However, butterflies were creatures that tended to light, and they would not retreat due to the powerful destructive nature of the light film, but instead surrounded them more densely. One batch turned into smoke and disappeared, another batch would soon fill the gap, and over time, Zhou Yunsheng’s caravan became the center of the black mist, making the pressure on the passersby trapped elsewhere greatly reduced.

The boundary laid down by Berwin was only left with a thin layer by the impact of the demon butterflies, and was about to disappear. There was so little light power left in his body that he could barely even light his scepter, and bean-sized beads of sweat spread all over his forehead and spine.

I don’t know when it started, but the Forest of Elves became more and more dangerous and seemed to be assimilating with the Dark Forest. He had met many crises, but for the first time, he felt the fear of death. He knew that in a short while, the boundary would completely disappear, and everyone would be gnawed and sucked by the Demon Butterflies, turning into a puddle of blood.

He anxiously surveyed his surroundings and realized that a brilliant golden light suddenly flashed out in front of him, and immediately shouted, “There’s a Priest of Light in front of us, hurry over there!”

The crowd immediately abandoned the carriage and ran towards the light source.

“How is it you?!” Seeing the person inside the light membrane, Berwyn was a million times more surprised.

Zhou Yunsheng had just finished his prayer and looked over with a gentle gaze. If it was the sensible him, he would definitely not lend a helping hand, but the current him was unable to see death. He did not speak, and with a slight wave of his hand he expanded the film of light by a few points, enveloping Bo Wen and his party.

Warmly, the pure power of light flowed through the air, another world completely different from the dark outside world. Berwin could even catch a hint of pious faith in the air that had not yet dissipated, and there was a vague Sanskrit sound of the divine realm coming from the void, making every one of his pores stretch.

He looked toward the opposite side with a stunned gaze, unable to believe that the gentle and beautiful teenager in front of him, who could rival the morning sun, was the despicable and shameless person that Bao’er and the Pope were talking about.

Several other clansmen who had been seriously injured by the teenager also held their voices and didn’t dare to speak. The air inside the boundary was too solemn, as if this place was not the middle of nowhere, but a small temple, making them not dare to make a move.

Zhou Yunsheng saved them, but he didn’t want to take care of them, taking out the statue to slowly engrave the gorgeous face of the Father God, and his azure eyes were filled with warm love.

Berwin’s mood could no longer be described as surprise, but rather horror. Without using the scepter’s enchantment or chanting incantations, he was able to hold up such a huge and sturdy boundary and use it twice in one mind, the teenager’s strength far exceeded his imagination. I heard that he was only 18 years old this year and had just reached adulthood, where on earth did he get such a powerful strength from?

He asked with this in mind, not expecting an answer from the teenager, but he didn’t expect the teenager to speak slowly, “I immerse myself in the Trial Pool every day for cultivation.”

At these words, Berwyn fell silent and glanced towards the Pope after a moment of thought. The Pope’s face changed and he lost his voice and cried out, “This is never possible!”

Since eight hundred years ago, no Priest of Light has ever been able to enter the Pool of Trials. Anyone who tried was burned to ashes. Legend has it that only the purest of souls survive.

Berwyn had tried it, too, and withdrew it with severe pain after reaching in with just one finger. He knew that his heart and soul were not pure, and he was ashamed of it for a long time afterward.

If the teenager was truly able to immerse himself in the Trial Pool without any damage, he could never be the kind of person described by the Pope and Bao’er. One might have been deceived!

He tried to give his old friend some credit, and was once again deeply shocked when his eyes touched the ground. Wherever the young man’s film of light enveloped, the demonic aura dissipated, the grass turned back to its verdant color, the flowers scrambled to bud and open up in front of the young man, the demonic butterflies rumbled and swooped over, then silently turned into dust, and the demonic aura was purified along with the poison.

The power that can revive everything in such a holy and divine place is never the power of light, but the power of God!

Berwyn’s body stiffened completely at the thought. Perhaps he was traveling with a demigod or even a god, whom he and his people had tried to harm earlier. God of Light above, tell him this isn’t true!