Chapter 1055 – A Sages Time (2/2)

Several hundred Li Palace bishops and the bishops who had hurried back from the various Daoist churches stood behind them.

Far fewer bishops stood on the other side, and there was not a single Sacred Hall archbishop, but there were many cardinals.

The one common trait shared by these bishops was that they all had rather elderly faces.

No matter where one was, this elderly appearance signified years and seniority, and was in itself a sort of power.

The bishops of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education were amongst this crowd. More importantly, so was everyone from the Heavenly Dao Academy, the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green, and the Temple Seminary.

Only the Li Palace Academy, over which Linghai Zhiwang wielded massive influence, stood on the right. Its principal and Su Moyu stood in the crowd, intentionally maintaining a low profile.

Zhuang Zhihuan and the three bishops heading the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education stood at the front of their crowd, making no attempts to hide their thoughts.

Chen Changsheng glanced at Zhuang Zhihuan, then he looked at a certain place outside the hall.

The Sacred Light enveloped the entire hall, and some of it fell outside as well.

A hole had been torn in the heavy darkness outside the hall, revealing a certain place.

Bishop Mei Chuan was there.

No matter how warm the Sacred Light was, it could never drive away the chill on his body.

Because he was dead.

……

……

Back then, when Chen Changsheng became Pope, he was almost immediately driven out of the capital by Shang Xingzhou.

He was the first exiled Pope.

Three years later, he returned to the Li Palace, and in the first Congregation of Light he presided over as Pope, he had to face an extremely thorny problem.

The priests of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, Zhuang Zhihuan, and those elderly cardinals were all looking at him.

Rage and sorrow could clearly be seen in the eyes of these bishops of the conservative faction.

Of course, they still maintained sufficient respect for Chen Changsheng, still kept their emotions under excellent restraint.

Or else Mei Chuan's corpse would not have been outside the hall, but within the Great Hall of Light, displayed right in front of them.

Linghai Zhiwang impassively looked to that side, his eyes extremely cold and his complexion rather dark.

Since the moment he learned of what had happened in the Orthodox Academy, he had kept a close watch on the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education and these elderly priests.

He had not expected them to actually transport Mei Chuan's corpse into the Li Palace and even display it outside the Great Hall of Light.

He took this as a naked challenge to himself. Of course, it was also a warning.

This meant that the Li Palace was not a monolithic whole.

The strength of the Orthodoxy's conservative faction still could not be underestimated. Some people still might be supporting them from the shadows.

Linghai Zhiwang narrowed his eyes, his gaze moving back and forth between Hu Thirty-Two and Archbishop An Lin as he wondered, just which one of them is it?

Tonight was the Pope's first Congregation of Light. For something like this to occur was a great disrespect that he could not accept.

But he knew that it was not convenient for him to do anything right now, and he certainly could not have somebody take Mei Chuan's body away.

Too many people were watching, and a method of resolution that was too crude might cause some of the priests to lose control.

Of course, he was confident that by borrowing the Pope's prestige and his own status, he could forcefully suppress the situation.

The problem was that the fissure would not disappear. On the contrary, it would only get deeper and deeper.

It was clear that this was not what the Pope wanted.

Linghai Zhiwang turned to Chen Changsheng, suddenly somewhat expectant.

Many bishops in the hall were seeing Chen Changsheng for the first time. They had no opinion on the struggle between the new and conservative. They were also curious, expectant.

How would the Pope resolve this matter?

Yes, it was the Holy Maiden that had killed Bishop Mei Chuan. Prince Chen Liu had played witness to the entire thing.

Everyone knew of the relationship between the Holy Maiden and the Pope. She helped His Holiness make a choice, so she naturally must have prepared a reason for His Holiness.

Logically speaking, Chen Changsheng would only need to speak this reason to resolve the entire matter.

But for some inexplicable reason, many of the priests, including Linghai Zhiwang, and even some of the conservative faction, did not want him to do this.

There was no reason or basis for this desire. Perhaps it was because the stories over the past years had long since proved that he would not do such a thing.