Chapter 283

Chapter 283

The third day after the divine battle.

Spire City, the Source Blood Church.

While Lan Luhui was sweeping the side hall of the church, official priests began to enter the side hall.

By the time he had put away his cleaning tools and left, Deputy Chief Judge Han Xuelie Ariben of the Spire City Court also brushed past him, striding into the side hall.

Lan Luhui, holding a mop and bucket, curiously turned his head for a glance and saw that in a short time, the spacious side hall was already filled with many people waiting.

Priests in red robes and judges in black windbreakers skillfully conversed with each other; some talked about the difficulties of clearing the city over the past few days, while others asked why they were suddenly summoned today.

Though their uniforms differed, those who had been summoned were all practitioners of the Mother of Sourceblood. Even the judges held ecclesiastical positions within the church.

However, priests who joined the court generally no longer followed the church's commands. The establishment of the court was to unify the combat forces of the six churches. Listening to both the church and the court would only lead to confusion among the grassroots combat personnel.

The church understood this and usually did not bypass the court to command the judges.

Therefore, it was rare to see ordinary priests and judges gathered together in the church, especially after the recent divine battle. Lan Luhui suspected something significant had happened.

The young rat boy harbored deep worries. The communication restrictions ended this morning, and as soon as they lifted, he tried to call the Source Blood Church in Album City, hoping the church brothers and sisters could pass a message to Lin, asking him to report safety to Spire City.

But the person who answered the phone from the Album City Source Blood Church was evasive. With a bad premonition, Lan Luhui pressed for more information, but the caller hung up!

Without proper training in confidentiality, one cannot keep secrets.

A slightly cold evaluation surfaced in his mind, and Lan Luhui continued to stand in the phone booth, holding the cold receiver.

Beep—beep—beep—beep—

The rhythmic sound from the receiver did not match the gradually chaotic heartbeat of Lan Luhui.

The attitude of the person who hung up represented only one thing.

Something has happened at the Tribunal Headquarters.

***

Should I eavesdrop?

Withdrawing his observation of the side hall, Lan Luhui, who was washing his mop, pondered.

Action follows intention, a maxim taught by Lin.

News of an incident at the Tribunal Headquarters would be communicated to the church. The church summoning practitioners might be to discuss this matter.

Lan Luhui, aware of how flimsy this reasoning was, still hoped so, because if the meeting mentioned the Tribunal Headquarters, it might also mention Lin.

Lin had just been transferred to headquarters at the New Year, and many of the summoned judges knew him. If something happened at headquarters, they would surely be concerned about Lin’s well-being.

Even if it wasn’t initially discussed, they would ask once the Tribunal Headquarters was mentioned.

Thinking this, Lan Luhui became more convinced. After washing his hands in the washroom, he stealthily returned to the corridor in front of the side hall.

He hid around the corner, planning to wait until the side hall doors closed before eavesdropping at the door. However, after wandering for a few minutes, Sina, a sister from the same church who guided his studies and practice, passed by with other intern priests.

"Lan Luhui," Sina called out, "Why didn't I see you in the study room?"

After finishing his cleaning, Lan Luhui, who should have gone to the study room, could only smile calmly.

Given Sina’s meticulous nature, she would certainly punish any sibling who skipped class. Today, however, she merely scolded him briefly and told him to quickly return to the group.

This good fortune did not make Lan Luhui happy. He was now very worried that using up his luck on small matters would bring a major piece of bad news next.

But whether it was good or bad luck, the young rat boy could not control it. At this moment, all he could do was pray.

His prayers seemed to work, as Sina led the intern priests into the side hall.

Except for those completely unavailable, the practitioners of the Mother of Sourceblood in Spire City gathered in the side hall today.

Spire City had over ten thousand practitioners, and the Source Blood Church, one of the stronger among the six churches, accounted for the majority, with about three thousand practitioners.

Now, these three thousand people were crammed into the side hall. Intern priests like Sina and Lan Luhui, who entered last, could only huddle in the corners, barely able to see the backs of adult practitioners even when standing on tiptoe.

"What's going on?" Familiar intern priests asked each other, "Has the Mushroom King gone mad again?"

"Or are we preparing for a long expedition to the Fungal Forest? I heard it has become very evil recently, with fungi rotting. Yesterday, someone even saw a lot of moss at the edge of the Fungal Forest."

"It’s impossible to spare manpower right now..."

"Maybe they’re ordering us to increase the production of farming facilities. In the future, many people will be afraid to eat mushrooms. We need to use starch synthesis plants and farming facilities to fill the food gap, otherwise, many poor people who rely on mushrooms to survive will starve."

"You must be joking! A city's productivity is limited by water flow. If we use more water to synthesize starch and raise livestock, there will be less water available downstream. This is a chain reaction, and increasing production isn’t as easy as you say."

"That’s true..."

Water flow and various farming facilities were managed jointly by the Source Blood Church and the municipal government. The young intern priests spoke about these matters with the authority of adults, quickly engaging in heated debates, their voices growing louder.

The rest of the hall was also buzzing with noise, drowning out everything. Lan Luhui couldn’t hear anything clearly and had to stretch even higher on his tiptoes, trying to see if anyone was speaking on stage.

"Silence." A familiar, authoritative voice said.

Though Lan Luhui couldn’t see, he recognized the voice as Bishop Qiyin’s.

It was about to begin. The young rat boy’s heart raced as he listened to Bishop Qiyin announce the first important matter after a brief introduction.

The divine battle was won.

Winning the divine battle was expected. Every swift conclusion of a divine battle meant that the Pillar Gods had severely struck the invading evil gods, swiftly driving them back before they could cause significant destruction.

Once a divine war drags on for more than three days, those who have studied history know that it spells trouble. Although every divine war has ended with the victory of the Pillar Gods, the prolongation of the war signifies that the Inquisition and the Six Pillars of God Church will gradually become stretched thin in manpower, unable to prevent the followers of evil deities from carrying out massacres. It also means that the clash between deities will shift from the heavens above to the earth below, where even the aftermath could destroy entire cities.

This time, the divine war lasted only a few hours.

This was enough to prove that the Pillar Gods had achieved a great victory.

"Yes, I know you think I'm talking nonsense," Bishop Qiyin's leopard tail flicked, her joy impossible to hide as she said, "But I must say, celebrate, brothers and sisters! The merciful Mother has won a great victory! From now on, there will no longer be the Silver Moon Maiden and the Mushroom King; the power of life will finally be unified in the hands of our Lord!"

Her words were almost incomprehensible, and after a long pause, the centaur deputy inquisitor at the front raised his hand in a fist, letting out a roar-like cheer.

Others woke from their stupor and joined in, cheering and marveling.

The evil deities... well, not counting the Mushroom King, just the three major evil deities: the Silver Moon Maiden, the Black Sun, and the Fallen Heaven. These three major evil deities, in many people's eyes, seemed as eternal as the Pillar Gods. Even the practitioners of the Source Blood Church never imagined that one day, their war against the Silver Moon Maiden would come to an end.

But this was definitely a good thing, even if many did not understand what the unification of life's power by the Mother of Sourceblood meant, they knew it was a good thing.

"Perhaps, the flow of the Ley River can increase a bit in the future?" A novice priest, who had been arguing with a companion, said. If possible, she certainly hoped that Spire City's factories could synthesize more starch, raise more chickens, ducks, fish, and meat, feed more bellies, and nurture more lives.

She, who had never thought of plants as a food source, smiled as she listened to Bishop Qiyin announce the second important matter.

Bishop Qiyin said that a new Pillar God was growing.

Some people, upon hearing this, already guessed which deity the "new Pillar God" referred to. Bishop Qiyin said that the new Pillar God would soon come of age, though the exact date was unknown, the Six Pillars of God Church was preparing to jointly hold a ceremony to celebrate the new member's coming of age.

This meant much work needed to be done, such as demolition.

Convenient locations needed to be cleared to build new churches, and matters concerning communication with the Mirror's Pupil Church, setting up new departments and positions, and so on.

The buzzing of discussion once again drowned out the side hall.

"I told you," Han Xuelie's voice thundered, "the Mirror's Pupil doesn't seem like an evil deity at all."

"He first appeared in our Spire City, right?" someone pondered, "Perhaps this deity was born in Spire City?"

"The city hall has another reason to develop tourism, right?" a friend teased, "How could a deity's birth be the same as a human's?"

"Is developing tourism bad? The church's funds have been more generous these past few years." The speaker remained enthusiastic, "Praise the Mirror's Pupil, hoping for even greater generosity in the future."

"You're praising already?" the friend was speechless but wore a relaxed smile.

With the death of the evil deities and the addition of a Pillar God, such changes made these steadfast practitioners unable to resist generating new ideas.

Could their long war against the evil deities possibly come to an end one day?

Although no one knew what to do after the war ended, this did not stop everyone from being elated.

The only one who did not show a smile was Blue Phosphorus Gray. He realized that he would likely not get any news about Lin today.

Victory was certainly good, and the new Pillar God coming of age was even better, but at this moment, Blue Phosphorus Gray was concerned with only one thing: whether the cost of victory included the person he cared about.

His face turned grim, even when Bishop Qiyin gave them, the group of novice priests, a holiday.

Blue Phosphorus Gray even forgot to pack his luggage and rushed straight to Green Clay Street A12. When he arrived at Green Clay Street, panting heavily, and pushed open the door of A12, intending to discuss things with his family, he found that Hui Cui Dover, the inquisitor of Spire City, was actually in his home.

No, the inquisitor coming to his house should no longer be described as "actually."

What should be described as "actually"?

It was the black suit the inquisitor was wearing.

Everyone in Spire City knew that the inquisitor wore a black suit only on one occasion.

Whenever he wore a black suit, it meant that an inquisitor had fallen... and he would go to the fallen inquisitor's home to inform the family of the news.