Chapter 655: You

Seeing Katherine arrive, Sister Sophia finally let out a breath of relief.

She hurried forward and explained the entire sequence of events.

After hearing the whole story, Katherine's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Damn it, I invited Xu Jingming here specifically to show him the beautiful side of the Holy Church.

But now you come right out and call him a lowly race—how are we supposed to play this?

Katherine's chest heaved violently; after a long moment, she suppressed the urge to finish Denis off.

She turned to Xu Jingming with an apologetic expression:

"On behalf of the Holy Church, I apologize to you."

"I assure you Denis is an exception within our Holy Church."

"Our Holy Church treats every believer with absolute equality."

Then she ordered Leo: "Leo, instructor, let this matter end here."

"Yes."

Leo, the eighth-rank Grand Master who had been filled with rage moments ago, now bowed meekly before Katherine like a quailing quail.

【Katherine's prestige within the Holy Church is truly extraordinary.】 Xu Jingming thought silently.

He also noticed that not far behind Katherine walked an eighth-rank peak Grand Master.

This must have been assigned specifically to protect her.

"Holy Light!"

Brilliant golden holy light blazed from Katherine's body and flowed into Denis's body.

Denis, who had been on the verge of death, revived as if by a final flicker of life and regained consciousness.

The moment he saw Xu Jingming, Denis cried out:

"Holy Maiden, Xu Jingming tried to kill me—please, take my side!"

"Take your side?"

Katherine's emerald eyes turned cold as she looked at Denis and said:

"Xu Jingming was invited by me—he is my friend. You knew this yet still mocked him."

"Now apologize to Xu Jingming, or I cannot guarantee you'll remain in your position as Holy Son."

Upon hearing this, Denis's face turned pale.

As the Holy Church's Holy Son, he had enjoyed abundant resources and cultivation support.

Losing this status would mean falling from heaven straight into hell!

【Katherine would cancel my position just for some outsider? Damn it! Absolutely damn it!】

Denis roared inwardly, yet showed no outward sign of defiance:

"Respected Mr. Xu Jingming, I was wrong—I should not have spoken so rashly."

"How do you feel about this apology?"

"If you think it's still insufficient, I can make him offer another."

Katherine asked.

As if the S-rank Holy Son were just an ordinary believer she could manipulate at will.

In truth, to her, he was exactly that.

Her mother was an Ultimate, and controlled the entire Holy Church.

Not even removing Denis's privileges—killing him outright—would draw a single word of protest.

"That'll do."

Xu Jingming clearly saw Denis's inner resentment.

But he had no interest in further entanglement—after all, that punch had already delivered sufficient punishment.

The Divine Thunder still raging within Denis's body wouldn't be easily purged.

"Alright, let's go—I'll take you on a tour of our Holy Church."

Katherine dismissed Sister Sophia and personally led Xu Jingming and Xia Lan deeper inside.

After the group had walked away, Priest Leo finally exhaled, muttering to himself:

"Xu Jingming and the Holy Maiden seem to have an unusually close relationship—I'd better treat the people from Daxia better from now on."

"Also, when I unleashed my aura just now, Xu Jingming didn't show even a hint of fear."

Is it because he has a high-grade protective talisman, or does he truly believe he can match me in combat?"

After thinking it over, Leo leaned more toward the former.

After all, there's a fundamental difference between an eighth-rank Grand Master and a seventh-rank Master.

And the gap between a seventh-rank Master and a sixth-rank Ability User is dozens—even hundreds—of times over.

Even if Xu Jingming has an SS-rank Ability, he shouldn't be able to fight across two major ranks.

"Thinking too much won't help—let's take the Holy Son to get treated first."

Looking at Denis, still collapsed on the ground, Leo sighed.

As the Holy Son's guardian, any mishap involving the Holy Son would reflect poorly on him.

Logically, as an eighth-rank Grand Master, he should have easily blocked Xu Jingming.

But he never expected Xu Jingming would dare strike within the Holy Church!

He reacted just a fraction of a second too late—by the time he moved to intervene,

Denis's protective talisman had already been shattered, leaving him critically wounded and near death.

"At only twenty, he's already stronger than the Holy Maiden."

And I heard he rose from nothing, with no guidance from an Ultimate."

To reach this point, he's nothing short of a prodigy..."

With a silent sigh, Leo bent down, lifted the half-dead Denis, and hurried toward the infirmary.

"Our Holy Church was founded 140 years ago, when..."

On the other side, Xu Jingming and Xia Lan toured the Holy Church building under Katherine's guidance.

The building was indeed lavishly constructed.

Based on their worship of the God of Light, religious carvings were everywhere, thick with spiritual atmosphere.

But what Xu Jingming disliked most was precisely this.

He trusted only himself—he never believed in others, let alone some vague, ethereal deity.

During the tour, Katherine subtly revealed her aura.

"You've advanced?" Xu Jingming asked curiously.

The aura Katherine now displayed was unmistakably sixth-rank upper tier!

"I trained last night—happened to break through."

Katherine smiled, her tone tinged with quiet pride.

Since she couldn't match him in combat power, she could at least take pride in her advancement speed.

The Yuan Energy Pool in Qingfeng Secret Realm had greatly boosted her.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have reached sixth-rank upper tier until three or four months later.

"Jingming has advanced too," Xia Lan couldn't help saying.

She had only just noticed Xu Jingming's aura shift when he struck Denis.

"You've also advanced to sixth-rank upper tier?"

Katherine's eyes widened in shock as she exclaimed.

"Same as you—I broke through last night during training, by accident."

Xu Jingming grinned.

"How can that be the same?" Katherine's delicate face was filled with pouty resentment.

She had remained at sixth-rank middle tier for half a year, and only broke through thanks to the Qingfeng Secret Realm's Yuan Energy Pool.

But Xu Jingming had already reached sixth-rank middle tier while in Qingfeng Secret Realm.

Now, barely a month later, he'd advanced again to sixth-rank upper tier—completely unlike her situation!