Chapter 40

Chapter 40

"Today, there is an important task I must entrust to you. If you perform it well, the gods will forgive your past sins and end all punishments. Should you perish in this mission, the divine will also spare you from further suffering in hell." Ning Chan stood before Hector and the others, his eyes half-closed, his face impassive.

Hearing this, the kneeling crowd raised their heads in surprise and looked at him with hope. They had believed their lives would be filled with endless suffering, yet now the Holy Son was offering them salvation.

These men knew Ning Chan’s "true identity" and thus trusted his words completely.

Perhaps because they had been diligently fulfilling the tasks assigned by Lord Holy Son, the agonizing pain they endured had become less frequent. Only during their weekly rest days did the agony return in full force, while on ordinary days, they suffered only small, burning pricks—unpleasant but tolerable.

If they worked particularly hard on a given day, even these stings would lessen.

Because of this, they despised rest days, transforming into workaholics, pushing themselves nonstop.

The newer knights, seeing their seniors so dedicated, didn’t dare slack off either. They were driven to train rigorously and execute missions diligently.

Faced with this group of men scrambling to outdo each other and seize every task, Hector and his companions felt not joy but resentment. If these newcomers took over all the work, what would they have left to do?

Despite their best efforts, some of the newcomers surpassed them, "usurping" their roles.

Had they not been sharp enough to train harder and extend their working hours, the punishments would have found gaps to strike them again.

Now that a way out was finally here, they were willing to pay any price to try it.

Living would be best, but dying wouldn’t be a loss.

"We implore the Holy Son to guide us. We swear in the name of holy knights that we will never betray our faith, that we are willing to do anything for the divine, unafraid of death."

Hector, as their leader, proclaimed this oath loudly, and the others echoed their loyalty.

"Good. The gods will watch over you. What I say next must remain between us—no one else must learn of this, or your lives will be in danger." Ning Chan explained the mission to them and gave them one final chance to reconsider. "I am sending you to the territories of other churches. By any means necessary, you must expose their past wrongdoings and ensure the truth reaches as many people as possible."

As if recalling something, Ning Chan sighed. "The divine is merciful and wished to reduce the suffering of all souls after death. But now that devils have emerged, He is preoccupied with purging them and can no longer spare attention for the deluded people. This is our last resort—to awaken them sooner. If they persist in their errors, endless torment awaits them."

Ning Chan placed a hand on Hector’s shoulder, as though transferring strength to him. "When you go, you must conceal your identities. Do not claim to be from Lis Church.

"This is a test for those people. Lis Church is under the protection of the true divine. If they acknowledge these crimes merely out of fear of divine wrath, without genuine reflection and judgment, their eyes and hearts will remain clouded.

"This is a glorious and noble mission. You will rip off the devils’ masks and expose the darkness in men’s hearts to the light. Through your guidance, their damned lives will be redeemed.

"Are you willing to accept this task? To walk this path of darkness, to save the blinded masses, and to reclaim the purity within yourselves?"

Hector felt his heart pounding violently. Could they truly accomplish such a feat?

The others stared at Ning Chan with burning gazes, their hearts ablaze with passion. If they succeeded, they would cleanse their sins and become true heroes!

"Lord Holy Son, we are willing."

Ning Chan looked upon them with satisfaction and waved his hand. A row of glass goblets appeared before them. "Since you will be far from the church and carry the divine’s aura, the devils might find and slaughter you.

"Thus, the divine will bestow upon you a blessing. It will temporarily shield you from your punishments and conceal the divine’s power within you. Henceforth, you must report your mission’s progress once every year to receive renewed blessings. If you ever fail to obtain this blessing, the devils’ backlash may claim you. I pray for your safe return."

"We thank the divine for this grace."

Hector and the others carefully lifted the goblets and drank slowly.

The scorching liquid burned their tongues. As it slid down their throats into their stomachs, it felt as though they had swallowed flames.

The rich aroma spread through their mouths, and soon their bodies grew light, their minds dizzy. A weightless euphoria—like their souls had broken free—filled them with intoxicating bliss.

Is this the real holy water? The power contained within is truly extraordinary—they could barely withstand it.

Ah, their bodies are simply too weak.

Watching the "Dark Knights" get utterly disoriented by cups of high-proof liquor, Ning Chan allowed a smile to creep onto his face.

Go on, let those madmen outside tear each other apart—dogs biting dogs.

Still, though Ning Chan wouldn’t mind seeing them dead, compared to the untrained rabble outside, he’d prefer these men to accomplish at least some of their mission before perishing.

So, to show his support for their work, Ning Chan gave each of them operational funds and arranged for people to set up businesses in the areas they were heading to.

If they needed anything, they could purchase it from those merchants—but they must never reveal their identities.

Holding the weighty gold in their hands, Hector and the others were moved to tears, completely unaware that for Ning Chan, this was merely moving coin from palm to palm—just a slight reduction in profit.

Before casting them out, Ning Chan also made them write confessional letters, detailing the sins of their past, the transformation of their mindset, and warnings for future generations.

After collecting these notes, Ning Chan promptly banished them from the church to carry out their mission.

A few days later, before any news of their exploits could spread, Ning Chan received a distress call from a neighboring town.

"What did you just say? Those things have overrun their area, forcing people to abandon fishing in the sea?" Ning Chan pointed at the crab crushed under a rock, his eyebrow twitching.

"Yes, these crabs are terrifying—they’ve swarmed the entire beach, leaving no place to step. The locals rely on fishing for survival, but now they can’t even enter the water. They’re on the brink of ruin." Harry lamented with performative pity, his dramatic tone setting Ning Chan’s teeth on edge.

Of course, Harry didn’t genuinely care about the fishermen’s plight—he was just seizing any opportunity to flaunt himself in front of Ning Chan, hoping to lessen his own punishment.

He was a dyed-in-the-wool narcissist, willing to become anything if it meant easing his own suffering.

Ning Chan knew full well that Harry was a rehabilitation failure, still harboring occasional malice and dark thoughts. But as long as he didn’t act on them, Ning Chan could still make use of him.

Ning Chan had calculated it—given their current physical state, Miced wouldn’t survive past next winter, and Harry wouldn’t last much longer either.

Compared to Harry’s petty schemes, Ning Chan was far more interested in the giant crab before him.

As the saying goes in China, no matter how rampant a creature is, if it’s edible and delicious, people will eat it to the brink of extinction. And if it has special properties, chances are it’ll be devoured into oblivion.

These so-called "black pincers" were clearly just crabs—and judging by the season, they should be fat with roe, perfect for eating.

"Understood. Issue a notice—Lis Church is purchasing black pincers. Ten live for a copper, thirty dead ones for the same."

Harry gaped at Ning Chan in disbelief. What was this? They were helping deal with the crab infestation, yet they had to pay for it? "This… this doesn’t seem right. You warned that generosity breeds ingratitude—why pay now?"

"My reasons are my own. Just do as I say." Ning Chan had no patience to explain to Harry, nor did he care to waste words on an unredeemed wretch. Once the decision was made, he dismissed him.

Harry lingered outside the door, frowning in confusion, but ultimately left without figuring it out.

Bah. Not his coin to fret over. If the Saint wanted it this way, so be it.

The quest board of Lis Church displayed ten large blackboards—the two largest were filled with tables updating twenty missives in fine print.

The remaining eight boards listed bounties of the day, boldly inked.

Harry had his men take down one large and one small board. He wiped a message off the large one with a damp cloth and replaced it with an update from the smaller board.

Then, after clearing the small board, he wrote down Ning Chan’s crab-hunting mission, adding a crude likeness of the beast beside it. To perfect the presentation, he even hung the pancaked crab corpse beneath the board.

The habitual bounty hunters who frequented the quest board for updates immediately snapped to attention at Harry’s actions.

They were already on edge before the small board was even raised.

Every time Lis Church issued a new task, as long as they acted quickly, they could always rake in good money—they just didn’t know if they’d have such luck this time.

The small blackboard was slowly lifted back up, and as they stared at the message, their eyes lit up with greed.

Black-clawed worms—those ugly creatures—could actually be exchanged for money, and at a high price of ten for a single copper coin.

They had to move fast. Word was, those things were all over the place in the neighboring city—just go, and you could gather cartloads of them.

This wasn’t black-clawed worm hunting—this was cash grabbing!