The Light Church’s headquarters was located on the Holy Mountain of Light. The whole mountain was made of light-elemental elemental crystals and gave off a pure and tranquil sacred glow.
The Shrine of Light stood towering atop the sacred mountain.
Currently at the Shrine of Light…
Dressed in a pope’s cassock, Pope Hayes stood in front of an enormous Goddess of Light statue as he prayed piously.
“Your Holiness!”
Four Red-Cloaked Archbishops wearing looks of immense fury on their faces suddenly entered the hall.
The pope paid them no attention and continued to pray piously instead. At the sight, the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops refrained from interrupting him any further and waited quietly.
It was only when the pope finished his prayers a moment later that he finally spoke. He asked, “Didn’t you go to the Kroc Kingdom? Why are you back so quickly?”
As it turned out, the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were actually Archbishop Chicas and the other three that Meng Lei had just killed. However, the ones currently in the shrine were their alternate divine incarnations instead.
“Something terrible has happened, Your Holiness!”
Archbishop Chicas gnashed his teeth, trying to suppress his fury as he recounted what had happened.
In the end, he even added, “Not only has that wicked heretic dishonored our great Lord, but he has also shown no respect for the Light Church. We must punish him severely for that, Your Holiness!”
“That’s right, Your Holiness! That heretic is deeply mired in sin and wicked beyond redemption. We must burn him alive at the stake so as to serve a warning to the world!”
“There’s that bastard Amos, too. He’s hidden his cultivation prowess too deeply. To think he’s already actually secretly established a divine nation and stepped into the realm of a true god. His intentions should be punishable by death!”
The other three Red-Cloaked Archbishops also spoke up one after another, their speech filled with fury and hate. They practically hated Meng Lei with every fiber of their being for destroying their half-deity divine incarnations, causing their many years of painstaking cultivation to go up in smoke.
Pope Hayes listened to them quietly. Only when the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were done did he slowly ask, “Do any of you know that young man?”
“No, we’ve never seen him before.”
Chicas and the others shook their heads repeatedly. “We’re well aware of all the experts on the whole continent who are half-deities or stronger. However, that young man is the only one whom we’ve never heard of or seen before. Had he not been acquainted with Amos, I’d even have thought that he had popped out of thin air!”
“Not only have you not seen him before, but he’s also acquainted with Amos…”
Pope Hayes said leisurely, “If my guess is right, that expert that appeared out of the blue likely also comes from Heaven’s Vault Continent like Amos himself.”
“Heaven’s Vault Continent?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were taken aback for a moment.
“You may not know this, but there are a total of three continents in the material plane that we’re on. They are the Light Continent that we’re in, Heaven’s Vault Continent in the east, and the Gods-Demons Continent in the southeast.”
Pope Hayes said softly, “The three continents form a triangle in the Endless Oceans. Dozens of millions of kilometers separate one continent from another, and they rarely interact with one another.”
His words stunned the four Red-Cloaked Archbishops, and they stared at Pope Hayes in disbelief.
“There are actually three continents on this existential plane? That’s simply too shocking a piece of news!”
“Heaven’s Vault Continent! Gods-Demons Continent!”
“How unbelievable!”
“How incredible!”
“This information is top secret in the Light Church. Only the Popes, the Holy Sons, and the Holy Maidens of each generation qualify to be privy to it.”
“In that case, isn’t it quite inappropriate for you to also let us know of it, Your Holiness?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ expressions changed slightly.
“No, there’s no longer a need to hide it.”
A shrewd glint flashed across Pope Hayes’ eyes as he said, “It is the duty and mission of the Light Church to let our Lord’s glory shine upon the whole existential plane. Now that we have unified the Light Continent, it’s time for us to expand our reach further and let the other two continents bask in our Lord’s glory, too!”
“How our Lord shows compassion to the people!”
“How merciful of our Lord!”
“How brilliant, Your Holiness!”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ eyes shone brightly as they requested, “Your Holiness, do tell us a little about those two continents. After all, it’s only when one knows their enemy and themselves inside out that they may emerge victorious in all their battles!”
Pope Hayes nodded lightly and said, “Heaven’s Vault Continent is located to the east of Light Continent and is ruled over by the Dragons, the Fairies, the Beast People, and the Titans. These four races have each founded an enormous empire, and they respectively worship four different true gods—the Dragon God, the Fairy Goddess, the Beast God, and the Titan Spiritual God.
“Among them, the Dragon God, the Beast God, and the Titan Spiritual God are intermediate deities, while the Fairy Goddess whom the Fairies worship is a higher deity.”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ expressions changed greatly upon hearing what he said. They hastily asked, “Your Holiness, surely the four true gods have departed this existential plane by now?”
“Yes, they have,” replied Pope Hayes with a small nod.
“Phew! Good to hear that they’ve departed!”
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops heaved sighs of relief. The four great true gods simply gave them too much pressure. Should any of them still be around, sh*t would no doubt hit the fan!
“Heaven’s Vault Continent is the weakest among the three continents, so conquering it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. We should be able to conquer it just by deploying a troop of angels there.”
Then, Pope Hayes sighed and said, “The one that’s difficult to conquer is the Gods-Demons Continent in the southeast.”
Alarmed, the Red-Cloaked Archbishops asked gravely, “Your Holiness, could it be that there are also intermediate deities in Gods-Demons Continent?”
The Light Church wielded extremely fearsome power and could slay even regular true gods. Thus, the Pope would only find intermediate deities and existences beyond that level troublesome to deal with.
“There are indeed intermediate deities in Gods-Demons Continent.”
Pope Hayes nodded slowly. Then, he went on and said, “Gods-Demons Continent is completely unlike Light Continent and Heaven’s Vault Continent. There are no humans, Dragons, Titans, and so on there. Rather, it’s completely occupied by Magical Beasts!”
“Magical Beasts?”
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops were a little dumbfounded.
“Yes, Magical Beasts. They are the only creatures on Gods-Demons Continent. That place is entirely the Magical Beasts’ paradise.”
A sighing Pope Hayes said, “All the Magical Beasts there worship only one true god—the Magical Beast God. On top of that, not only is the Magical Beast God an intermediate deity, but it’s currently present in Gods-Demons Continent itself!”
“That doesn’t make sense, Your Holiness. Since the Magical Beast God hasn’t departed the existential plane yet, then that means it hasn’t been 10,000 years since its deification.”
A puzzled Archbishop Chicas went on. “As everyone knows, one’s cultivation speed would become extremely slow after becoming a half-deity, and a true god’s cultivation speed is even more shockingly slow.”
“How can the Magical Beast God possibly be an intermediate deity when it hasn’t been 10,000 years since its deification?”
“That makes sense. A true god that hasn’t yet passed the 10,000th-year mark since its deification can’t possibly be an intermediate deity, and as long as it’s not an intermediate deity, we have no need to fear it!”
“Once we slay the Magical Beast God, won’t Gods-Demons Continent be as good as secured?”
The other three Red-Cloaked Archbishops also voiced their thoughts one after another. Their countenances were filled with puzzlement.
“No, you’re mistaken.”
Pope Hayes shook his head lightly as he said, “Although it hasn’t been 10,000 years since the Magical Beast God’s deification, it is indeed a powerful intermediate deity. It’s undoubtedly an invincible presence on this material plane!”
“So it really is an intermediate deity!”
“How can this be!?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops couldn’t help but gasp in complete astoundment.
Intermediate deities might be nothing in the vast Void, but they were absolutely invincible existences in low-end material planes.
Why?
Because low-end existential planes were off-limits to higher deities, Great Perfection-level deities, as well as Chief Gods. Even if they were to cast their divinity projections into the planes, the divinity projections would only be able to display a pinnacle-level half-deity’s combat prowess at best.
Pinnacle-level half-deities?
An intermediate deity could blow them into smithereens with just a puff of air.
“Is that really true, Your Holiness?”
Archbishop Chicas was filled with disbelief.
“Of course!”
Pope Hayes nodded lightly. Then, he added, “The Magical Beast God was already a lesser deity 4,300 years ago, while it broke through to the intermediate deity stage 1,200 years ago.”
“It used only 3,000 years to go from a lesser deity to an intermediate deity? How exactly did it achieve that?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were shocked.
,000 years?
What could one even achieve in that amount of time? Nothing but just a nap!
Yet the Magical Beast God had gone from a lesser deity to become an intermediate deity within a short span of 3,000 years. Its cultivation speed had practically put everyone to shame!
“Things would indeed become very tricky if the Magical Beast God really turns out to be an intermediate deity.”
“An intermediate deity… How are we supposed to contend against something like that?”
“There’s no way we can contend against an intermediate deity even if we assemble all of the Light Church’s forces! How are we supposed to fight back if the other party counterattacks us instead?”
Pope Hayes explained, “The Graveyard of Gods And Demons is in Gods-Demons Continent itself. The Magical Beast God’s astonishingly fast cultivation speed is likely because it had gotten hold of something from the graveyard—for example, a divine core!”
“The Graveyard of Gods And Demons?”
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops were taken aback. They asked, “Your Holiness, what’s the Graveyard of Gods And Demons?”
“The Graveyard of Gods And Demons is the final resting place of many gods and demons. It’s said that a meteor had crashed into Gods-Demons Continent over 30,000 years ago, and gods and demons of the Void descended upon the world shortly after the meteor crash.”
Pope Hayes said softly, “A war between the gods and demons then broke out after that. The war was extremely fierce and bitter, and innumerable gods and demons perished in that shocking battle.
“After the war ended, the surviving gods and demons left Gods-Demons Continent while the fallen ones remained in eternal rest in Gods-Demons Continent. Thus, Gods-Demons Continent is also referred to as the Graveyard of Gods And Demons, meaning the place where gods and demons are laid to rest.”
“A war between gods and demons?!”
“Fallen gods and demons!”
“The Graveyard of Gods And Demons!”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops’ eyes shone brightly as they listened to Pope Hayes’ explanation. That was a place where gods and demons were buried! Wouldn’t there be treasures in every corner of the place? As well as divine cores?
If they could find a divine core and assimilate it, they might be able to become true gods, too!
“Every generation of the Light Church’s Holy Sons and Holy Maidens is required to head to Gods-Demons Continent for training. Only those that return alive can qualify to inherit the position of Pope,” said Pope Hayes leisurely.
The Red-Cloaked Archbishops looked at Pope Hayes and asked, “In that case, does that mean that you’ve also been to Gods-Demons Continent, Your Holiness?”
“That’s right.”
Pope Hayes nodded slightly and said, “I have indeed been to Gods-Demons Continent in my youth. Additionally, I even stayed there for over 30 years.”
“Really!?”
The four Red-Cloaked Archbishops were greatly astonished. The Holy Sons and Holy Maidens’ cultivation process had always been the church’s biggest secret. Even Red-Cloaked Archbishops like them whose positions were second only to the Pope weren’t privy to it.
Never would they have ever thought that the Pope had actually stayed in Gods-Demons Continent for over 30 years.
A whole 30 years!
Did the Pope ever find a divine core there?
Archbishop Chicas asked carefully, “Your Holiness, it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen the Holy Maiden. Might she have gone to Gods-Demons Continent?”
“Yes, that’s right. She has indeed headed to Gods-Demons Continent.” Pope Hayes didn’t deny it.
Suddenly, an aloof voice rang out.
“Sir, I’m back!”
