Chapter 441 – The Bell Rings Out the Call to Return Home (1/2)

Chapter 441 - The Bell Rings Out the Call to Return Home

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The great hall of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education was very quiet. Luoluo remained seated, not coming over.

The Pope calmly gazed at Chen Changsheng, saying, ”It is my view of the world, so it can only change because of the world.”

Chen Changsheng contemplated this, then said, ”I still don't understand.”

The Pope calmly replied, ”You do not need to understand…old people like us have experienced too many storms, seen too many sunrises and sunsets. We have already become numb to many things. Often we regard the ways of the world as vapid and dull. We do not mind using a few methods that are not so beautiful, and even do some things that go against our own convictions. However, in many cases, we do things this way not because we want to protect something or the other, but because we clearly understand where our responsibilities lie.”

”Responsibility?” Chen Changsheng asked.

”Yes, the longer you live, the greater your responsibility,” the Pope replied. ”The responsibility we have towards this world only gets heavier and heavier as time passes by. We have a responsibility to seek an even better future for humanity. For this, we can bear any bad reputation, disregard any price. Back then, I became an enemy of your teacher. Now, I have become an enemy of the Empress. Both were for this reason.”

Saying this, the Pope walked into the depths of the great hall and then did not emerge again.

Chen Changsheng and Luoluo walked out of the great hall, walked down the stone steps, and came to the row of maple trees in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education.

The maple trees in spring were green, but in the twilight, they were the red color of blood. Now in the night, they had become black.

Originally, all colors were painted by the heavens and the earth.

After not too much time had passed, the heavy ringing of a bell rose up from the hall.

A bell also rang out from the Li Palace.

The bell rang out. It was the call to return home.

The scriptures of the Orthodoxy had always held that the death of a person was not like the extinguishing of a lantern. The soul would not stay on this world but would return to the sea of stars.

Amongst the ocean of stars in the night sky was the Divine Kingdom, Heaven; this was the true eternal homeland.

In the instant the bell rang, Archbishop Mei Lisha's soul calmly departed the human world, his divine soul silently returning to the sea of stars.

There was no conspiracy and also no grand and magnificent conclusion, only a calm and ordinary departure in compliance with the rules of life, just like many ordinary old people.

But, in the end, he was no ordinary old man. He was the eldest member of the Orthodoxy, an Archbishop of the Sacred Halls that held the highest status.

He had seen three Popes appointed and four generations of Holy Maidens. He had seen Emperor Taizong, he had seen Zhou Dufu, he had seen Chen Xuanba, and he had seen Wang Zhice. He had witnessed life and death in the Hundred Herb Garden, witnessed blood and fire rage through the Orthodox Academy. He had seen countless years and knew countless secrets. As he departed, those years and secrets were buried together.

Hearing the ringing of the bell, Chen Changsheng raised his head to gaze at the starry sky, the windblown leaves sometimes obscuring and sometimes cutting off the night sky.