Chapter 561 (1/2)
Hao Ren once dealt with a group of heretics in Dragonspine Ridge. He had seen their scripture at that time, but he did not know the complete structure of the Cult of Origination. He thought that the black book was their original Bible. It now seemed like the structural form of the Cult of Origination was very different from a normal religious organization. The group of heretics that was destroyed in Dragonspine Ridge was just one of its outlying groups. The scripture he got was clearly not the original Bible used by the core personnel. According to Ophra, many things in the original Bible were unique.
Hao Ren opened the black leather handbook. The handbook was just placed on the table and it gave out an unpleasant vibe as though some kind of evil obsession was still attached to the pages. The black handbook was not printed, instead it was written by hand. The edges of those words had a strange sense of jitter as if the writer had transcribed the crazy characters in a state of extreme agitation. It seemed as though the writer was losing self-control. Hao Ren tried to concentrate on fighting against the page that brought him a sense of exhaustion, and found some of the marked paragraphs under Ophra’s guidance.
“…The Voice of the Master let us praise the true name of the goddess. However, this real name cannot be spoken in human words, only devout believers can recite the name in their hearts… We serve the pure, primitive flesh and blood in order to get closer to the sacred form, so that we can wash away our sins…
“…The Voice of the Master fall upon the prophet and tell the prophet in the voice of the soul that the Disciples of Glory are guilty. They have stolen the blood of the goddess to extend their sinful lives. You will go to the mountain of the west and break a branch. Carve it into a stick and it will become the weapon as well as mark that the goddess has given her heir. Then, the judgment of the Disciples of Glory will come. When Manura, the scourge star shines again, the trial will come…
“…The mountain men who serve the flesh and blood walk barefoot around the Voice of the Master and the wounds on their bodies are healed again. They are clean because they have cleansed all of their sins with a portion of the flesh and blood. The Voice of the Master told the prophet that he is acting for the goddess. So the prophet commanded the mountain men to pay respects to the sacred statue of the goddess, not to the Voice of the Master, which is right…”
The words on the strange book continued to remain jittery. Hao Ren was already having headache after reading a few paragraphs. He rubbed his eyebrows and asked, “How did the heretics read this thing in one breath? The words are all jittery.”
“These blasphemous books have the power to attack one’s mind.” Big Beardy glanced at the book but frowned and immediately moved away. “The more pious one is, the easier one will be attacked by the book. Probably, only the heretics who are completely deviated from the teachings of the goddess can read it.”
“It’s also true that the heretics revered the goddess. Just that, their goddess isn’t so much in line with your goddess.” Hao Ren closed the damned book and asked, “What’s the Voice of the Lord?”
“It sounds like a radio station!” said Lily.
“Ahem… It’s definitely not the same as the Campus Radio.”
“This is the difference between the original Bible and the teaching code circulating outside.” Ophra just answered Hao Ren’s question, not caring about the Campus Radio remark. “In the original Bible, there is ‘the Voice of the Master’, whose source is unknown. According to the information available, the Cult of Origination began to develop after it received some kind of revelation from the Voice of the Master. All their actions, including doctrinal codification and the ritual of flesh and blood, are the teachings of the Voice of the Master. But when they faced the outside church, they hid the existence of the ‘voice’, and pretended that they were following the goddess’s order.”
Hao Ren frowned and asked, “Why do they hide it?”
“Perhaps it is also on the order of the Voice of the Master, because it doesn’t want too many people to know of its presence,” Ophra said and shook her head. “We’ve only found these things recently, and it’s unclear if the Voice of the Master is a human being. We can just roughly infer that ‘it’ should be a role similar to a god’s messenger, whom the Cult of Origination regards as the incarnation and mouthpiece of the goddess. Many of their miraculous abilities are also obtained from the Voice of the Master.”
The words “god’s messenger” gave Hao Ren the shivers as soon as he heard it. Thinking about it, he seemed to do the same job. Then he suddenly remembered the giant brain he had dealt with in the cavern at the Dragonspine Ridge.