Chapter 632: Cunning (1/2)

GDK 632: Cunning

As Han Shuo headed for the Cardinals’ Hall, Wolf described everything about the eldest cardinal to Han Shuo in great detail. Han Shuo felt sick to the stomach just hearing about the cardinal, having not even met him.

This cardinal named Kironlo had not just helped establish the Calamity Church. In fact, the whole reason that the entire Profound Continent joined forces in cracking down on the Calamity Church several hundred years ago was entirely thanks to this very person!

Why? Because back then, he had indiscriminately released the ‘Plague’ all over the Profound Continent, turning commoners of many countries into undead creatures overnight. The Plague was a type of infectious necromancy disease. Those who were infected by the plague would turn into zombies, and they would subsequently spread the disease further by biting other people.

Thanks to that nutjob Kironlo, who released the plague in each country, turning a great number of the populace into creatures of the undead, every single nation on the Continent was outraged. Before that deranged act of Kironlo’s, although the Calamity Church’s reputation on Profound Continent wasn’t as great as that of the Church of Light, it was still highly respected. Members of the Calamity Church back then could stand with much pride among the rest of the continent.

However, after the plague went viral, every country was panic-stricken and their attitudes towards the Calamity Church turned hostile. Consequently, the Calamity Church became the public enemy of the whole of Profound Continent.

During the battle against the plague, the Church of Light mobilized all of their white priests and toured each and every country. They exhausted a great amount of energy in purifying the masses of undead creatures infected with the plague.

It was also during that period that the Church of Light, which was then just a small religious organization, seized the once in a blue moon opportunity and climbed to the top spot as the number one religion on Profound Continent. Meanwhile, the Calamity Church became loathed and despised by all countries and had to flee into constant hiding. It was also around that period that this underground headquarters of the Calamity Church was established.

Kironlo, the main culprit of the catastrophe, was very lucky not to lose his life. Although some of those in the Church held grievances about his actions, as Kironlo was one of the eldest seniors of the Church and the Church’s existence was critically threatened at that time, they decided to exercise patience. In the aftermath, Kironlo, too, had recognized the detrimental effects his unspeakable actions alone had brought on the Calamity Church. In the following hundreds of years, he lived a reclusive life and stayed far away from affairs about the Church.

Kironlo was incredibly mighty to begin with. His painstaking cultivation during his hundreds of years of seclusion had allowed him to progress even further. He became one of the mightiest ancient existences of the Church. Kironlo’s current influence within the Church was second only to the Pope as many core members of the Church had previously received coaching from Kironlo. The lengthy passing of time had effectively pushed any memory of his grave mistake into the deep, dark annals of history. After keeping low-profile for many years, when he saw that the Church of Light was on the brink of destruction, he decided to emerge and stir up havoc yet again.

The Cardinals’ Hall was located at the center of Calamity Church headquarters. The hall had a solemn and heavy atmosphere. There was a bright magical lamp hanging from the ceiling made of dark stone and patterns of various evil gods carved onto every inch of the walls around them. Comfortable hides of some magical beasts were laid over the hard stone seats. White bones arranged into bizarre shapes were placed at the four corners of the Cardinals’ Hall.

When Han Shuo entered the hall, the dozen or so cardinals and that big fatty Pope had their gazes focused on Han Shuo. They were all of varying strengths. The mightiest was a basegod, while the weakest were sacred grades. They all looked extremely old and gave off an intense aura of wickedness while their eyes glittered either cruel, sinister, or unfeeling radiances.

Apart from the big fat Pope, there were altogether thirteen cardinals. Among them, one was a basegod, three were demigods, and the rest were all sacred-grade experts. Most of them cultivated in the energy of death, darkness, destruction, and summoning.

Wolf had described Kironlo’s appearance to Han Shuo beforehand. But without even deliberately sensing using his consciousness, at first glance, Han Shuo could tell that the tall and thin Kironlo with devilish green light radiating off his eyes was the guy. His body gave off so much aura of death that almost no presence of life could be felt from him. He had more similarities with an undead than a human.

While Han Shuo was scanning the crowd gathered in the hall, the crowd too were sizing Han Shuo up – especially Kironlo. Not only did he not care to conceal the hostility in his eyes, he would not stop examining Han Shuo with a gaze that would make an ordinary person feel their blood run cold.

Suddenly, a pulse of soul-probing energy from Kironlo came wrapping at Han Shuo. The corners of Kironlo’s mouth had even curved to make an eerie sneer when that soul energy was launched. It appeared that he wanted to humiliate Han Shuo.

Han Shuo, who came in with a stratagem, wore a genial smile all along and sized Kironlo up with a big smile on his face. Then, his consciousness struck. A soul energy much more powerful than that of Kironlo’s suddenly pulsated and fiercely pounded on Kironlo.

“Oww… “ Kironlo cried out in pain and held his head sorely. That inhuman appearance of his became even more malevolent and horrifying.

“How, how dare you attack me!” Kironlo who was smitten, after the pain in his head slightly eased, shouted and glared at Han Shuo with his gloomy and cold eyes.

Han Shuo did not respond. Instead, he looked at the big fatty in all smiles and said in an innocent manner, “Your Holiness, who is this person? I have just entered and haven’t even taken a seat. Why is he trying to slander me?”

All those present there were of decent strength. Although most of them were incapable of knowing what actually happened, they could faintly sense with their souls that the two had a confrontation. That innocent face of Han Shuo’s appeared very genuine. He had obviously gotten the better of Kironlo and yet he could pretend as though he was wrongly accused, and appeared so genuine at that. He immediately won the unanimous approval of everyone present for his skills in deception.