[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-infinite-faith-system-join-the-divine-chat-group":3,"chapter-infinite-faith-system-join-the-divine-chat-group-infinite-faith-system-join-the-divine-chat-group-chapter-227":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Infinite Faith System: Join the Divine Chat Group",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1373407,1815,"Chapter 227 — The Vicious Saruman, Stirring the World","infinite-faith-system-join-the-divine-chat-group-chapter-227",227,"\u003Cp>It turned out the instigators behind everything were the wizards of Saruman’s council.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But... are they truly unafraid of public outrage?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is an assault on a nation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And those Orcs—nothing good comes of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What a monstrous deed!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don’t even think about succeeding! Even if you’ve captured my two brothers and are using my father as leverage, I won’t yield.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh? Even if your father has been poisoned?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn’s pupils tightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Poison?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Father’s recent weakness—he’s been poisoned!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gríma smirked—brazen, shameless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wanted nothing more than to drive a fist into his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at the furious little lioness and sneered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’ll give you one chance. I can spare your father’s and brothers’ lives.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What chance?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As a living sacrifice—offered to the gods.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the broad, sunlit corridor,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>where light should have warmed her,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn felt as though she had fallen into an icebound cell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This treacherous minister had waited for her refusal, only to spring this demand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What do I do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What can I do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn kept asking herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her opponent had laid his cards on the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her father had been poisoned. Her two brothers were in chains. Though the city’s people were with her in spirit,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the army was firmly in this minister’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that instant,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>darkness washed over Éowyn’s eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fine. I accept. But you must restore my father’s health. Otherwise, I won’t go to my death willingly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ah? My dear, you might be overthinking. A living sacrifice does not die. Only a death sacrifice dies.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gríma explained lightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t appreciate it in the least.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That afternoon,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>a proclamation went out in the capital of Rohan: Orc forces had breached three cities already.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To crush these hateful raiders,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Minister Gríma had personally invited the wizard Saruman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon the walls of Edoras,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>ten—no, tens of thousands—of troops surged and rolled like a black tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People shivered in terror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the face of such fearsome Orcs, they had no answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why hasn’t the master wizard appeared?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t know—perhaps the distance is too great.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Didn’t that snake Gríma invite him? Don’t tell me he’s run away!!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fear coursed through them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They detested the villain Gríma, yet simultaneously prayed for the wizard’s arrival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because these Orcs\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>had crushed all their pride.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rain of arrows from the sky just now hadn’t felled a single Orc.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of them even snapped an arrow mid-flight between two fingers,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>mocking them every which way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Advance. Launch a full assault on the human capital.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Orc host had finished mustering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the barked order,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>they hurled themselves against Edoras.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their thunderous roars\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>drew tears from many on the walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Orcs stood over two meters tall. They needed no catapults; they simply heaved stones the size of furniture and flung them at the ramparts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boulders flew like rain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A soldier on the parapet was nocking a cold-iron arrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A stone struck him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He burst like overripe fruit—meat and blood sprayed across the stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blackened battlements\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>were painted a fresh gore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn had withdrawn early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She cursed inwardly without pause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That damned Gríma—did he just toss our agreement aside like so much filth?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She knew Saruman had created these Orcs,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but confronted in the flesh,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>she felt a suffocating pressure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How do you fight such horrors?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Couldn’t they sweep the whole continent?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iron bones, iron hide;\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>limitless strength;\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>even enchanted arrows might fail against them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thrum—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as everyone thought Edoras was about to fall, a black light fell from the sky,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>striking the earth just before the walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It tore a trench a hundred meters deep,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and thousands of Orcs toppled in one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A divine command sent me to save the innocent. Tell me—are you devout believers?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mist-draped voice\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>descended from the clouds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saruman wore a robe inked with an abyssal sigil; he looked surprisingly young.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, he wielded supernatural might—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>to restore a youthful face\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>was nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The people of Edoras, hearing that voice,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>began to cry out in waves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Great wizard, we are believers of God!!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Please save us!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Kill these Orcs, please...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the cries swelled,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saruman added, \"The god I speak of is not some overseas idol, but the great and merciful Eternal God. Do you believe?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hush fell over the city,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>then broke like a dam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t care which god.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyone who could save them was a good god!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eastern district was near collapse. If he left them now, they would be trampled under Orc hooves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These creatures were simply unkillable monsters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saruman smiled faintly and turned toward his Orc army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lifted his staff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A black space-spell unfurled—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and swallowed the Orcs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth it was teleportation magic; when it activated, space warped and the earth buckled,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>which made it look as though he had obliterated them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing thousands of Orcs vanish,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the people of Edoras roared with joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment Gríma came to Éowyn’s side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Well? What do you think of my master, Princess?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blonde princess swung her gaze toward him,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>complicated emotions in her eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By now she understood completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was nothing but a ruse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A conspiracy to spread a religion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An invasion of the kingdom of Rohan:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>seize control here and cultivate belief in the Eternal God. Orcs had no wits—tell them to believe, and they would only stare blankly,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>not knowing what to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rohan was different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the realm of humankind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I only hope you’ll hold to our agreement.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn gave up struggling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gríma chuckled and assented.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Saruman descended to the palace. Éowyn played the maidservant, introduced the wizard’s \"merits\" to her father, and secured his consent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ailing king\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>only wished to sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He cared little what Saruman wanted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whenever his daughter spoke,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>he nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half an hour later,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the treaty was signed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saruman was granted the title of Keqing (honorary) wizard, and the Eternal God’s faith became the state religion. All people were required to believe and to offer prayers three times a week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, many still harbored doubts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when they prayed,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>things changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone experienced a leap in strength and spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn watched, astonished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had imagined the country would descend into chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, the opposite unfolded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Night fell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn met with Saruman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He told her,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Though the princess hates me, will you thank me now? The realm is stronger, the people happier—are these not the things you wanted?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s true. But what do you want?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A black robe—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>a taboo garb.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary folk knew little of wizards,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but she did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could a sorcerer wicked enough to command tens of thousands of Orcs be so benevolent as to strengthen Rohan?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saruman smiled faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you don’t understand the Eternal Faith, you cannot grasp God’s greatness. My magic is ’evil,’ but that doesn’t mean I am. Although the cities were taken, the Orcs killed very few. You must admit that.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By then fresh reports had arrived:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>in the cities that fell,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>casualties were indeed low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She lowered her head and sighed. \"Tell me what you want to do, and I’ll listen...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gríma was already dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Gríma that Éowyn had seen was merely a puppet manipulated by Saruman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had only just learned this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In exchange,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn was to assist Saruman—or her father, her brothers, and all her subjects would die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s simple. Spread the faith across the realm, and then—in Rohan’s name—seek aid from Lady Galadriel of the Golden Wood!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No... impossible. The Elves won’t agree.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Elves have ever hated Men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s an ancient truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone knows it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saruman sneered. \"She will. Because Sauron will soon awaken, and the world will be in peril. She’ll have no choice!!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To reap belief,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>first sow chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rohan was but a seed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saruman had many means—and with the Eternal God behind him,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>he aimed higher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wake Sauron.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stir the One Ring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plunge the whole continent into a bloodstorm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only thus\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>could the Eternal God’s faith swell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, it would be bloody—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but what else could one do, when the gods of this world had no true worship?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Éowyn stared at Saruman in horror, seeing in him a demon wearing human skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Orcs teleported elsewhere\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>regrouped and stood ready.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well fed, they marched toward the Golden Wood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their orders were simple:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fight, eat, sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sleep, eat, fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No need to think—they were content every day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time quickened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pirates of the Caribbean—World\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>was entering the age of enforced faith.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to before, though this age was drenched in blood, it brimmed with a strange happiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because once you joined the religious territories,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>you received very generous treatment:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>no fear for your freedom, no dread of pirates’ sudden raids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Captain Jack sat on deck,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>studying the chart in his hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Only the Asian continent left. The rest of the world has joined the lands of faith. Come on...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this world, frail in force and inferior in might,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Captain Jack felt helpless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wanted to summon Heroic Spirits, but he couldn’t even collect enough tribute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What a sorry business.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt that, in the chat group, only he and Old Gao were the most miserable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mere mortal—what a sad existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A fleet of hundreds trailed behind the Black Pearl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their target: that last territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conquer it,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and the world could be promoted!\u003C\u002Fp>",1560,"2026-06-05T21:52:16.834Z",1,"novelbin.me","c9c63a5854f63310e64fc411f894a4e2ff04ed96b05bfecf413f3c9f14a831b9","infinite-faith-system-join-the-divine-chat-group-chapter-228","infinite-faith-system-join-the-divine-chat-group-chapter-226",391,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Finfinite-faith-system-join-the-divine-chat-group-cover.jpg"]