Chapter 218: The Holy Mountain
Chapter 218: The Holy Mountain
The Primordial Cathedral.
If the Holy Mountain was the birthplace of the Radiant Lord, then this was the first cathedral of the Radiant Cathedral, holding an unimaginable status within the church hierarchy.
Compared to other grand cathedrals, the Primordial Cathedral, despite its later expansions, appeared rather small.
It could barely accommodate a few hundred people for prayer.
It was certainly no match for the grand cathedrals that could easily accommodate a thousand people to listen to a pastor's sermon.
Click!
The heavy cathedral doors slowly closed, and Sophia, dressed in the white robes of a Holy Maiden, gazed at the burning candelabras, feeling a sudden chill. She knelt before the statue of the Radiant Lord and began to pray, hoping to bring her spirit closer to the light.
"But... I never expected the Radiant Lord here to have a divine statue."
Although the faith of the Radiant Cathedral spread across the land, most of their churches did not have statues.
The only representation was a stone slate depicting the sun and the moon, symbols of light.
It was the same slate that Fang Xing had seen on his first visit to the church, the one trampled on by the Satanic Sorcerer...
In other words, the Radiant Lord was merely a symbol or a mark.
But in the Primordial Cathedral, He had become a 'personal god'!
Sophia looked up and saw a youth of extraordinary beauty. He seemed to be standing within a giant shell, his upper body bare, and something wrapped around his waist.
It seemed to be... a broken umbilical cord!
'No... how could a god be entangled with such filth and unclean things? I must have seen it wrong; it's just a special belt...'
Sophia quickly lowered her head, silently scolding herself for the thought.
"God... please forgive my sins."
Sophia whispered her prayers.
As if hearing her plea, a section of the floor in the Primordial Cathedral suddenly sank, revealing a downward passage.
"This..."
Sophia looked up in surprise, gazing at the Radiant Lord's incredibly handsome face, unable to speak for a moment.
The youth-like eyes of the Radiant Lord seemed to carry a trace of pity, and a hint of a smile appeared.
From within the underground passage, a mysterious voice seemed to be calling out...
"It's no harm to just take a look, right?"
Sophia couldn't suppress the longing in her heart. Holding a golden candelabra, she stepped into the underground passage.
The passage was short, and she reached the end in just a few steps.
Sophia saw an 'underground cathedral,' an almost exact replica of the one above ground.
However, there were no long chairs for believers to pray or sit, nor was there a statue of the Radiant Lord.
Instead, there were sinister and terrifying instruments of torment.
She saw a rack, a saw stained with blood and rust...
She saw an iron coffin standing upright, seemingly filled with sharp iron nails...
She saw a chair covered in nails, beneath which was a burning brazier, and from it, countless witches' cries seemed to emanate...
She also saw a strangely shaped wooden donkey with a bloody pointed object on its back...
"We all bear the sins of the seven deadly sins..."
"Only by enduring the torments of countless hells and washing away our sins can we truly see the Radiant Light..."
Sophia's eyes glazed over, and she muttered to herself.
She walked past one gruesome instrument of torment after another, reaching the end of the cellar.
She saw statues of saints, all of whom were once prominent figures in the Radiant Cathedral, having accomplished countless great deeds and praised even after death.
It was even rumored that after their canonization, their spirits returned to the side of the Radiant Lord, forever accompanying the god...
She saw an old woman, a blacksmith, and a knight...
"Saint Maria, Saint Lavion, Saint Longinus..."
The lifelike gray-white marble statues allowed Sophia to easily identify these 'saints' by name.
Suddenly, a sound of cracking marble came from the statue of Saint Longinus.
Sophia looked up in surprise and saw the lower jaw of Saint Longinus' statue open, revealing flesh and teeth within, and a mouth full of sharp teeth...
The same transformation occurred in the other statues.
Tears flowed involuntarily from Sophia's eyes as she saw, in the corner, several white robes stained with blood.
They were the garments of other Holy Maidens!
"Radiant Light..."
Sophia cried silently.
She had always thought that only evil spirits in various places would harm humans.
She never imagined that the Radiant Cathedral, the faith of humanity, and those saints were the monsters that required countless 'Holy Maidens' to feed...!!!
...
At the same time, on the Holy Mountain.
"Oh?"
In the Forbidden Library, Fang Xing, who was reading a secret manual, looked up. "Showing your true face?"
After having a drink with Vol, he couldn't be bothered to watch Vol flirt with the middle-aged female boss. He left a message and returned to the Holy Mountain.
With his martial prowess, infiltrating the library was not a problem.
After all, according to the information he had obtained earlier, the Primordial Spirit could no longer descend to the mortal realm in its true form.
With the Great Sun Buddha Palm by his side, Fang Xing naturally had no taboos.
"And... Primordial Spirits never refrain from devouring humans. They've completely turned into Demon Gods..."
"Precisely because of that, I refuse to cultivate the Primordial Spirit, even if it's the fastest way to attain Martial Saint or even Martial God power... Plus, the restrictions are too great."
Fang Xing shook his head and looked towards the depths of the Forbidden Book Zone.
What he most wanted to see was the so-called 'Creation Slate' that was said to have emerged alongside the Radiant Lord.
However, he could sense a tight seal deep within the library.
Although breaking through wouldn't be a problem, it would undoubtedly alert the entire Holy Mountain!
"I'm counting on you, Vol, don't let me down."
Fang Xing looked down the mountain, his eyes filled with anticipation.
...
At the foot of the Holy Mountain.
Vol, who was flirting with the boss lady, had unknowingly stepped back onto the land of the Holy Mountain.
"Exile Vol... How dare you defy the orders of the Cardinals!"
Upon seeing Vol, Andrew's expression changed.
"I swear, I will not fear power!"
"I swear, I will protect the weak!"
...
Vol took each step with determination, his face revealing an indescribable firmness.
Thinking of Star's final hint before leaving without a word, he couldn't help but feel restless.
"Stop!"
Andrew's aura blazed as he said, "If you take one more step, I'll exercise the power of the Cathedral Knight and kill you here!"
"Scram!"
Red scales covered Vol's palm as he waved his hand.
In the void, a faint dragon's roar seemed to echo, and the blazing aura transformed into a giant hand, sending Andrew flying.
"Pfft!"
Andrew crashed into a pile of ruins, his body covered in stones, and a look of astonishment appeared on his face: "How... How could he be so strong? But it's useless, this is the Holy Mountain!"
As he pondered, Vol had already defeated a squad of Holy Knights and reached the halfway point of the Holy Mountain.
"Vol!"
A Cardinal Archbishop in a black robe stood in the darkness, and behind him seemed to stand a powerful spirit.
After so many years of radiance, even the Cathedral had gradually decayed.
What was revealed was a sense of entitlement from a superior towards an inferior.
Even if they were weak, those powerful individuals had to obey.
"You have defied the will of God. In the name of the Cardinal Judge, I declare... Cough... Cough..."
The Black Robed Archbishop spoke solemnly, but before he could finish, he was overcome by an unbearable fit of coughing.
"This is... a Spirit? You also bear a Spirit?"
He looked at Vol in surprise.
"When did the Radiant Cathedral start sealing Spirits within people?"
Vol's face was covered in red scales, as if he had transformed into a 'Half-Dragon Man'.
Dragon Spirits were among the Great Spirits, and they were even more bloodthirsty than ordinary spirits!
Furthermore, the last time Fang Xing sealed it, he added some special things, like the abilities of the Cat-Eating God!
"Cough... Cough..."
Coughing sounds echoed all around, affecting the knights, spirit servants, priests, bishops... Even the Black Robed Archbishop was coughing violently, struggling to breathe, let alone speak.
Some were even coughing up blood and fragments of internal organs...
This was the Dragon Spirit's killing method beyond the Dragon Flame—the 'Dragon Cough'!
Anyone within a certain range of Vol would contract 'Dragon Cough Syndrome', making it difficult to breathe, eventually leading to a miserable death.
"How dare you!"
A radiant light rose from the peak of the Holy Mountain, effectively suppressing the symptoms of the Dragon Cough.
Black Robed Archbishops were rushing over, and even the Pope was paying attention.
Even in its decline, the Radiant Cathedral remained the ruler of a world for countless years, possessing an immense foundation.
But in the end, a Great Spirit would inevitably be suppressed.
"I... will uphold my path as a Knight!"
Vol roared towards the sky, and terrifying flames erupted from his body, revealing a red dragon's roar!
...
"Well done!"
Fang Xing put down the secret manual in his hand, sensing the intense commotion outside. He extended his five fingers.
A massive palm print appeared and struck the depths of the Forbidden Book Zone.
— Heaven-Blocking Palm!
"Who?"
Countless objects around came to life, transforming into weapons and attacking Fang Xing.
In the darkness, a thin, bespectacled old man emerged.
He wore a black robe and was the Cardinal Archbishop in charge of forbidden books!
"With so much chaos down there, you still came up here to read? You deserve a beating!"
Fang Xing chuckled, and the Five Fingers Mountain appeared, pressing the old man down.
Even though a Great Spirit appeared from the old man's body, struggling, it was of no use.
"Oh? You've sealed a Great Spirit?"
"Among these black-robed wastes, you're one of the stronger ones..."
Fang Xing walked past the immobile old man, casually commenting, and entered the depths of the Forbidden Book Zone.
Here, there were no other books, only a grayish-white stele.
On the stele, there were dark brown bloodstains, forming lines of forbidden words...
(End of Chapter)
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