Chapter 88

In the silent cathedral, the boy tilted his head in confusion.

Herbert:?

Is that right?

"... All of them?"

"All of them."

Sssss...

After receiving a confirmed answer, Herbert drew in a sharp breath, feeling as if he'd wandered into the wrong story.

Dear Young Lady, isn't this script of yours... a bit off? Where's the merciful mother?

Shouldn't you have used your boundless compassion to redeem those traitors, then finally put down the golf club and forgive them?

How did you end up choosing "One breath, three thousand six hundred turns, boundless mercy saves all beings"?

Killing to protect life, cutting karma, not cutting people?

The Grand Archbishop saw Herbert's confusion and shook his head with a faint smile: "Child, you've misunderstood. The Young Lady is indeed compassionate, but she is no fool."

"From the very beginning, she understood better than anyone that compassion alone cannot save the innocent from the wicked."

"Only overwhelming power can make those lost lambs clearly recognize their errors and guide them back to the right path."

Herbert bowed his head in solemn respect.

Just as the Three Burials Master, who claimed to "bury heaven, bury earth, bury men," once said: If the donor cannot understand the Dharma, then the monk also knows a few fist techniques.

When someone refuses to listen to your reason, a bigger fist is the true reason.

He understood.

This Young Lady is not a monk—she is a warrior!

And classic mechanics at that.

Kindness must have sharp edges.

"Just as divine grace is as vast as the sea, and divine wrath as towering as a mountain, these two seem different, yet they are the same—both are the gods' domination over mortals."

The Grand Archbishop's explanation bordered on blasphemy against the nature of the gods, yet Herbert found it profoundly reasonable.

Grace or wrath—ultimately, they are merely the gods' tools for ruling their followers.

Thunder and rain, dew and frost—all are heavenly grace.

"And then what? What did the Young Lady do after that?"

By now, Herbert was genuinely curious about how the story would unfold.

How could such a powerful Young Lady possibly die?

Surely not by the gods themselves striking her down?

"After that..."

The Grand Archbishop turned a page of the scripture and continued his tale.

"After eliminating all the traitors, the Young Lady enraged the ancient evil god and suffered a furious assault from the evil god's cult."

"The evil god sent forth its minions: one Saint-tier Divine Chosen, three Epic-tier Holy Priests, and ten Legendary-tier Cathedral Knights."

As he spoke these words, the old man's voice grew low and somber, foreshadowing the tragedy to come.

Herbert fell silent.

This battle would be brutal.

The strength of this evil god cult force was staggering—this lavish team could easily wipe out an entire kingdom.

Yet just as Herbert expected to hear of Nie Nasha's defeat, the Grand Archbishop shifted tone and sighed:

"This battle did push the Young Lady to her limits—she fought for three days and three nights before eliminating every last one of these apostles, and even chased down the final fugitive for a full day and night."

"That's much slower than before."

Herbert:?

"Later, after eliminating these apostles, the Young Lady spent three more years traveling the mortal realm, personally destroying every single temple of the ancient evil god on earth..."

Herbert:??

"Finally, after uprooting all of the evil god's foundations, the Young Lady entered alone into the divine realm where the god's true body resided."

Herbert:???

Wait—stop!

The naive, unworldly boy felt his brain was about to melt.

It wasn't the evil god attacking her—she turned around and went to kill the evil god, right?

The heavens have turned upside down!

What kind of ultimate badass is this?

Are all Young Ladies this powerful?

The Grand Archbishop understood what Herbert was stunned by and kindly explained: "It's not quite as exaggerated as you think."

"At that time, the ancient gods had just awakened—He was already weak, and with His earthly churches all destroyed, His domain had been further eroded by the other believing gods. His power dropped another tier."

The believing gods did it too!

The gods are greedy.

They might not have lifted a finger to help Nie Nasha, but they certainly wouldn't miss a chance to kick a fallen dog and grab a share of the spoils.

Whoever wins, they back.

"Even so, the ancient god in that state was still far stronger than a Saint, let alone within His own divine realm, wielding near-infinite divine power."

"Normally, mortals had no chance of defeating Him. No one believed Nie Nasha could succeed."

Herbert calmed down, sensing the story was nearing its end, and asked: "And then?"

Later, Miss Xie Shen perished, vanishing utterly from the world; her authority was completely divided among the gods, and even if she were to revive, she could never regain her former power.

The Holy Maiden Nie Nasha also disappeared without a trace, and no one ever saw her again.

The Daodazhu Sect leader squinted, sighed softly, and waved his hand to close the scripture.

Both perished together.

"Then how… did she manage it?"

Killing a god while remaining mortal is extremely difficult, but not impossible; throughout history, more than a dozen god-slayers have existed.

But I have never heard of anyone who perished alongside a god within the god's own realm.

The Nourishing Spring?

"I did not witness the scene myself, but if I were to deduce it, she likely fused herself with the god realm the moment she entered it, forcibly transforming herself into one of its components… and waged a usurpation battle against the god for sovereignty over the realm, as a lesser deity."

"Enemy and ally were of the same origin, indistinguishable; in the end, after exhausting all divine power, they both met destruction together."

Thus, the grand and dramatic story of the Holy Maiden Nie Nasha came to a complete end, all returned to stillness, and the vision before Herbert vanished entirely.

But Herbert's consciousness remained trapped in that tale; he shook his head and murmured, "She possessed such immense power…"

Such power is truly astonishing!

The Daodazhu Sect leader sighed deeply, deeply moved, and murmured, "Yes, at that time, the Holy Maiden was already nearly equal to me in strength."

"Not much weaker than me."

Herbert:?

The boy's eyes widened, blinking rapidly at the old man who looked like a neighbor's grandfather, lips moving but no words coming out.

So you mean… you're even stronger than she was!!??

In that moment, Herbert profoundly understood the true weight of the Daodazhu Sect leader's title: "The Saint Walking Among Mortals."

It wasn't an exaggerated metaphor—it was a literal compliment!?

"... And then what?"

You've told me all this—what does it have to do with this statue?

You're not just giving me a lesson in secret knowledge for no reason, are you?

"Later… three hundred years passed, when the shattered god realm of the ancient deity rose from beneath the earth; the leaking divine power turned an entire mountain range into mist, shrouding it forever in His lingering resentment."

The old man turned to look at the blasphemous statue at the center of the chapel, his voice filled with emotion.

"Yes, the Holy Maiden Nie Nasha died."

"But… she did not perish completely."

(End of Chapter)