Chapter 804 – Array Yourselves Before Me (2/2)

The investigation ultimately became a negotiation. The negotiations were still not finished, with the important figures departing with a brush of their sleeves, yet the contents of what was discussed spread like a wildfire throughout the town.

In a very short time, everyone in the town of Mount Song knew of what had happened that night in the mountains, and the crowd naturally could not help but consider the news rather absurd as they spread it.

The Divine General had actually plotted to harm His Holiness the Pope? And there were other factions involved? Those evildoers had all ultimately died under His Holiness's divine punishment?

The most shocking news of all was naturally that the enigmatic master of the Cinnabar Pill was actually the Pope!

The Cinnabar Pill was actually refined from the righteous blood of the Pope's innately sacred body!

Three holy carriages were escorted out of the army headquarters by countless Orthodoxy cavalry, heading to the church on the west side of town.

The crowd along the streets parted like a tide, prostrating on the ground.

This was because three great figures of the Orthodoxy sat within these three holy carriages, but also because they were expressing their gratitude towards the benevolence of the Pope.

Some of the people had rather spirited eyes, allowing one to tell at a glance that they were cultivators. Others were dressed in the unique attire of array masters. The common trait was that they were all injured, great and small.

When the Orthodoxy carriages passed, those people silently kowtowed.

Some of these people had rather mixed expressions, but they also prostrated to the ground.

Those on the path of cultivation only prostrated to the heavens and earth, to their sovereign, to their parents, and to their teacher.

They were naturally not prostrating to the three Prefects of the Orthodoxy within the carriages, but to the Pope.

They had all once suffered severe injuries on the battlefield. If they had not been lucky enough to obtain a Cinnabar Pill, they would now be white bones buried in the yellow earth.

Only today did they realize that it was the Pope that had saved them, and that the Pope had used his own sacred blood. When they thought of the Pope's compassion, how could they not be moved to tears? And when they thought about how the Pope's blood now flowed through their body, how could they not revere him?

Even those cultivating experts who belonged to other factions could not use their faction as an excuse to leave. They similarly prostrated on the ground.

……

……

The biting winter wind raised up the curtain of the window, yet failed to enter.

Just like the holy carriage of Holy Maiden Peak, the holy carriages of the Li Palace were also equipped with an array that kept out the wind, leaving the inside as warm as spring.

An Lin looked through the window at the crowds lining on the street. When she saw those cultivators and array masters, she slightly froze for a few moments.

After some time, she muttered to herself, ”His Holiness the Pope seems different from the past.”

This was an expression of emotion, and also a sigh that carried a very deep meaning.

As one of the Prefects of the Orthodoxy, the Archbishop of the Divine Edict, just what did her expression of emotion signify?

An Hua sat beside her and heard these words loud and clear. She very quickly came to understand what An Lin had meant.

The past was actually just three years ago.

Three years ago, Chen Changsheng was a calm but determined young Daoist. But now, his attitude towards the struggle over the Divine General of the Mount Song Army and the countless admiring gazes incited by the Cinnabar Pill all seemed to signify that both his view of the world and his methods had undergone many changes.

”Auntie, you've misunderstood His Holiness. The matter of making public the truth of the Cinnabar Pill was my idea.”

An Hua looked at Archbishop An Lin and earnestly said, ”The actions of Saints naturally need to be made publicly known, or how else can the people be guided towards good?”

An Lin gazed at her niece and smiled, tenderly caressing her hair. She thought to herself, you currently deeply revere His Holiness, but how could you know that when that young Daoist first entered the capital, words like 'reverence' didn't even exist in his mind?