Chapter 308

Chapter 308

"Tsk."

In the eternal, eroding vibration, someone made an unpleasant sound.

The Pillar Gods stabilized by the beams, due to their own slight resonance, could not hear this sound. The sleeping little Pillar God... now the only wandering poet, the Wind Sylph, was blocked from hearing it by the noise in his dreams. The Fallen Heaven, who made the sound, could naturally hear this unpleasant noise, leaving only the Black Sun as the deity who could hear it.

But the dark, lightless star merely listened.

"He has gone to such lengths just to preserve those fragments of divine realms that retain their authority. Perhaps I can tempt Him to merge with those authorities next; that would be a permanent solution," the voice said amidst the vibration, "but it’s a pity the Lord of Minds is hard to deceive... It doesn’t matter."

Merging incompatible authorities is a dead end, and the Lord of Minds isn’t foolish enough for that.

But keeping those fragments within His divine realm, the Fallen Heaven did not believe the Mirror's Pupil could sustain it forever.

One day, He would die because of the fragmentation of His divine realm, sooner or later.

So all He needed to do was wait for the Mirror's Pupil to die.

Though He knew this, it didn’t stop the Fallen Heaven from being troubled at the moment.

He was more eternal than this world, and logically shouldn’t need to feel this way, but being repeatedly hindered by a bunch of insects was truly annoying. He pondered whether to continue like this for another three thousand years or take a riskier approach.

...No, there’s no need.

The Fallen Heaven rejected the idea of taking risks.

The Silver Moon Maiden might be dead, but the true situation was that He had advanced further because another part of the former universe had vanished. Even the Nameless One had not retained the authority of the moon.

It was a pity that the Silver Moon Maiden wasn’t killed by Him; otherwise, He could have destroyed the concept of “moon” as He did with the Nameless One, making it impossible to restore.

Speaking of which, the Fallen Heaven recalled the dream the Mirror's Pupil made Him experience when He polluted Him.

Conceptual destruction is true destruction; even the Fallen Heaven and the Supreme Heaven no longer remembered what the stars of the former universe looked like. Yet the Mirror's Pupil retained memories of them, which might become a loophole.

"He must die sooner rather than later."

A deep voice, not the Fallen Heaven’s, spoke. The Black Sun, who usually didn’t make decisions, said, "Because of that Lord of Minds, my adepts can no longer help me with anything. I need to know the movements of the Dragon of Light."

"A group of mortals can’t do much anyway," the Fallen Heaven said indifferently, thinking about how the bones of the Mirror's Pupil’s father had never been found, wondering if they were sealed by the Bellringing Frost Crow Church.

The previous two times, creating illusions through pollution seemed to have a brief effect. If He could retrieve the bones of the Mirror's Pupil’s parents from the Bellringing Frost Crow Church, they could be used as a trump card when necessary.

The question was, how to get them out?

With six Pillar Gods guarding tightly, spreading power under the dome still relied on humans.

"But you’re right," the Fallen Heaven conceded, "we must find a way to prevent the Mirror's Pupil from prying."

Even darkness couldn’t truly block His vision, but... eyes aren’t essential for humans, and things without minds are easier to manipulate, right?

"First, remove those among the believers who serve as His eyes," the Fallen Heaven said bluntly to the Black Sun, "and give me the bodies."

The Black Sun didn’t mind.

He only said, "We still need apostles."

Each time an apostle appeared, they were quickly killed, even faster than the apostle of the Silver Moon Maiden: "..."

The Fallen Heaven: "Having three apostles does give the other side an advantage. We can start by killing the apostles of the Pillar Gods."

The conflicting twin apostles, who had an ambiguous relationship with the Mirror's Pupil, required special attention. However, removing the lion who had lived for over a thousand years and had become a demon would be better.

***

Solomon suddenly coughed twice.

The coughing drew the attention of his subordinates, preventing them from noticing the sudden pause of some light points within the light.

A few minutes later, after Solomon finished assigning tasks, his subordinates left, closing the office door behind them.

Solomon counted silently in his mind, three—two—

"Solomon." The Dragon of Light spoke before the Lion could count to one.

"There’s something I’m a bit concerned about," He said.

"What?" Solomon played along.

"The Mirror's Pupil said that the Fallen Heaven told the Nameless One that the Storm Authority was given to the Wandering Poet by the Wandering Poet’s original world," the Dragon of Light said.

Ah? Authorities can be given? Solomon felt the same confusion as Lin at the time.

But he didn’t ask, instead waiting quietly for the Dragon of Light to continue. Unexpectedly, the Dragon of Light stopped here, the light point swaying as if lost in thought.

Solomon: "..."

You gods who speak in half-sentences are really annoying.

But it also indicated that it involved something He couldn’t discuss with him. Solomon didn’t intend to press further.

He recalled the nonsense his Majesty had told Him when he inquired about the Mirror's Pupil, feeling relieved that his Majesty could keep secrets when necessary.

Well, as long as he cooperated, unlike the Mirror's Pupil who specifically probed, his Majesty could remain tight-lipped about matters.

Solomon didn’t dwell on his Majesty’s concerns; as an apostle over a thousand years old, he had already let go of such worries.

Different positions mean different responsibilities. Worrying on behalf of deities only hinders action. What he needed to do was ensure that his Majesty and the other Pillar Gods didn’t worry about mundane matters.

For example, the Mirror's Pupil Church... they actually didn’t need to worry about financial issues anymore, but it seemed His Majesty hadn’t realized that?

"I have arrived," said a figure echoing in his heart.

The old lion, over a thousand years old, felt a jolt in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged, though it made little difference to the one who had come.

Solomon, suspecting that Mirror's Pupil was intentionally trying to scare him, glanced at the round mirror on the table, now a standard fixture in the offices of city chief judges. Inside, he saw Mirror's Pupil, wearing a strange crown with a pink teardrop below his left eye, smiling warmly at him.

He seemed to be in a very good mood.

Something was off.

As far as Solomon knew, protecting the fragment of the Nameless One’s divine kingdom could put this young emperor in grave danger.

Hui Cui should have been tending to him all night... For Mirror's Pupil, love is also power, but could it be this effective?

Lin Yiran, who could hear Solomon's inner questions, smiled and asked, "Is Foming Bruley in the Protein City Court prison?"

"Um," Solomon, who had just urgently retrieved and analyzed the file of this "talent," asked, "Do you want him to be your professional servant?"

"I know his crimes warrant a life sentence in the municipal hall prison," Lin said, "but if not for him, I probably wouldn't have been able to intervene in the Storm Rift so promptly. If we consider this as making amends, how many more years would he need to serve?"

"This isn't about how many years," Solomon immediately replied, "Foming Bruley not only saw you and witnessed the divine descent of the Bellringing Frost Crow, but also saw the true form of the Wandering Bard and heard the voice of the Fallen Heaven through the Nameless One."

Since the Nameless One is already dead, Solomon skipped over that part: "It's unknown what expectations might be fulfilled, but he could become a professional servant of any of the four mentioned, though not necessarily yours."

Becoming a professional servant of Mirror's Pupil or the Bellringing Frost Crow would still be relatively better.

If he became a professional servant of the Wandering Bard or the Fallen Heaven, Foming Bruley's fate would be nothing but burning to death.

This was why Solomon did not imprison him in the ordinary municipal hall prison but in the Court prison.

"I understand," Lin said, "I'll give him a spot directly. Let him use a ritual to obtain a template profession to avoid disturbing the Wandering Bard and not occupy the quota of the senior Bellringing Frost Crow, who has little spare capacity."

As for the Fallen Heaven, no one even wanted to mention it.

To ensure the combat effectiveness of the Church and the Court, almost all quotas for professional servants of the Pillar Gods were filled. Only Lin's side, which was rebuilding from scratch, could conveniently transfer one over.

This was to save Foming Bruley's life, but as a blasphemer, many would see his life as not worth saving.

"The emperors are actually not angry about such blasphemy," Solomon warned, "but the Church will never tolerate it. Creating stories about deities is a usurpation of the interpretation of sacred texts. Once popular, various interpretations can cause disputes among believers."

"Oh~" Lin nodded, understanding. It was like the "you ooc'd" and "no, you ooc'd" battles between fan authors, right?

Interpreting sacred texts was a serious matter. Since the New Era, the Six Pillars of God Church had not split into new denominations; the Six Pillars maintained strict control. Lin needed to be careful and understood Solomon's point.

To maintain strict control, severe penalties must be imposed on similar creators to deter others from seeing their fate.

If Foming Bruley became a professional servant of the Mirror's Pupil Church, the toxic literature circle, aware of his crimes, might also be tempted to try.

"In that case..." Lin pondered. Foming was not a believer in an evil god, and he still felt that his crime did not warrant death.

Before he could think of a solution, he suddenly turned his head with interest.

A few seconds later, after hearing something, Lin turned back and asked Solomon.

"Chief Judge, have you noticed anyone attempting to break out of your prison?"

***

This breakout was meant to be discovered.

The Tribunal Headquarters, due to the destruction of the train, was temporarily stationed in Protein City, but the headquarters' judges could not remain entirely in Protein City. As mobile support forces, even Chief Judge Solomon had to teleport to many places daily.

They should have reorganized the Protein City Court by transferring personnel from other cities, but every city's court was short-staffed, making immediate reorganization impossible.

With no choice, the headquarters' judges continued to handle the work of the Protein City Court alongside their other duties.

They were all elite, unafraid of fatigue, but the recent divine war had left them busy, allowing the imprisoned evil god servants to notice the lapses.

At this moment, the evil god believers outside sent out a call to the prison.

Get out! You are all clean people who have never chanted the name of that peeping tom, we need you!

Thus, the prison break and escape plans were set in motion. Learning from past mistakes, they confirmed multiple times that there were no "eyes" on them, swore never to leave the Shadow Realm to be caught by Mirror's Pupil, and then began executing their plan.

The primary target was cities where the chief judge had died in battle, and the new chief judge had just taken office, causing confusion during the transition.

Secondly, some weakly defended cities that would desperately call for headquarters support were targeted as decoys to draw attention away from the main goal.

The Spire City Court prison could not be touched.

Protein City was also on the list, but a clever person suggested, "If our goal is to attract the mobile support of the Tribunal Headquarters and prevent them from interfering with our most important target prison, making them spend more time in Protein City could also work."

He was right.

So, action was taken in Protein City as well.

Thus, Foming, who had a fountain of ideas but no paper or pen to express them, found himself in a one-way transparent bright cell. Suddenly, this prison, where even shadows were not allowed, plunged into darkness.