740 The Original Meeting of the Grand Cardinals (1/2)

In Lance, the Holy City.

The whole Bright Hall was caught in awkward silence as if it had been frozen. Whether or not they were involved in the operation to capture artificial planets, all the Grand Cardinals lowered their proud heads, ready to embrace the fury of His Holiness.

The operation this time was too great a fiasco. It had been destined to be a failure since the very beginning. The risks that His Holiness took were pointless. Somebody had to be held responsible for that!

Compared to the legendary sorcerers of the Congress of Magic, the saint cardinals and divine knights of the Church enjoyed less immunity. Their positions and the powers under their control restrained the increase of their strength. The higher their position was and the greater power they had, the closer they would be to the Lord and the faster their strength would grow. The dependency was fundamental. Therefore, the punishment that they suffered was not insignificant and simply symbolic.

Also, before they grasped the mysteries of faith, the previous popes had the ”divine method” to cut off the connection between the punished saint cardinals and Mountain Paradise. They could only use their own heart of faith without being able to replenish it. Very soon, they would turn into the legends who were in a high level but lacked the corresponding strength.

The legendary sorcerers, on the other hand, were purely based on their own strength. Even if they lost their identity as a member of the Highest Council, nothing would be changed. They relied on the Congress of Magic for the combination of resources and an environment of arcana and magic studies. Therefore, they enjoyed much more impunity, and their punishment wouldn't really hurt them.

That was also one of the reasons why the Congress had been divided into many factions, and the internal conflicts could never be completely ignored. The supremacy of legends had both advantages and drawbacks.

Of all the Grand Cardinals, Philip was the most uneasy one. He was the one who came up with the plan. Benedict III gave him the greatest freedom and even personally took part in it, but he had screwed it up!

The intense explosion when the artificial planet detonated itself sounded like the mocking and malicious laughter of the Congress of Magic, which echoed on in Philip's heart, making it impossible for him to relax.

Even though he was a newly-promoted saint cardinal and a ”young man” who had the potentials to be a Saint, he had to consider how he should bear the fury of the pope and avoid ”losses” as much as possible.

After Pope Viken had united and stabilized the Church by introducing the ways to transform the body status via the feelings of believers and the ways to make use of the power of faith, they had all achieved a thing or two. They were able to steal the power of faith on their own, and their strength had been greatly increased. They no longer feared the disconnection from Mountain Paradise. However, it also meant that they were more dependent on the Church right now!

With the Saint Truth behind them, they were much happier than the experts who had to gather the power of feelings and disseminate faith on their own stealthily and arduously. They could openly steal the power of faith from the parish under their control according to a certain ratio without doing any extra things. If they were punished and dispatched to a remote parish, it would be a severe loss for them!

With the holy crown on his gray head and a platinum staff in his hands, Benedict III looked at the Grand Cardinals indifferently and did not say anything for five minutes.

He did not release the intimidation of a demigod, but the invisible pressure from him still froze the hall. None of the Grand Cardinals dared to speak.

Suddenly, he heaved a sigh. ”The accident this time had nothing to do with you. It was not your fault. Your plan was almost perfect, and the grand arcanists were distracted and stalled. Our only mistake was that we did not foresee that the evil sorcerers were so cunning that they set up such weird self-detonation devices on the artificial planet.”

His peaceful tone and his interpretation of the matter immediately thawed the grave atmosphere. Philip heaved a long sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart in sincere gratitude. His Holiness was indeed broadminded, farsighted, and reasonable.