Chapter 647: The Mystery of the First Pope's Death

"The Holy Church?" Hearing Lingyun's words, the Pope could not help but frown.

The Holy Church is no ordinary place; even as the Pope, he could not allow just anyone to enter and exit that place at will.

However, the Pope recalled the portrait hanging in the Holy Church, said to have been painted by the hand of the God of Light himself, as well as the Double Domain that Lingyun had previously displayed; these two things combined truly gave Lingyun the qualifications to enter the Holy Church.

After all, when the God of Light left the Continent, he had once issued an oracle: if it were a descendant of the Lingyun Mercenary Group, they could enter and exit the Holy Church at will.

"Is there perhaps something special within the Holy Church?" the Pope asked.

"If I said that the source of this appearance of Demon Qi is right here in the Holy Church, would you believe me?" Lingyun asked with a light chuckle.

"This, this is impossible!" Hearing Lingyun's words, the Pope's expression instantly turned very ugly. "The Holy Church is a place shrouded in the glory of the God of Light; how could it possibly be the source of Demon Qi?"

"Then you might as well think about what the Sacred Gears that have been invaded by Demon Qi this time have in common," Lingyun said indifferently.

"In common?" The Pope began to ponder, not knowing what he was thinking about.

"These Sacred Gears were all once stored in the Holy Church!" Shalier, who was to the side, suddenly spoke in a deep voice. "If I remember correctly, these Sacred Gears have all been placed in the Holy Church during this period!"

Hearing Shalier's words, the Pope's expression turned ugly all at once. If this were truly the case, then wouldn't it be just as Lingyun said, that the source of this Demon Qi is precisely in the place shrouded by the glory of the God of Light? If this were truly the case, then for the Light Church, it would be a supreme disgrace!

"Now, shall we go to the Holy Church and take a look?" Lingyun asked.

The Pope's thoughts raced; he knew that this trip to the Holy Church was absolutely unavoidable. If the source of the Demon Qi was not discovered in the Holy Church, then it would naturally be a good thing. But if the source of the Demon Qi really was in the Holy Church, he would also be able to suppress this incident before the Demon Qi erupted, preventing an accident.

"Shalier, Mr. Lingyun and I will head to the Holy Church first; I leave the guests here to you to entertain!" The Pope once again expanded his Light Domain, shrouding himself and Lingyun, and then disappeared into the air.

Before the Holy Church, golden light flashed, and two figures appeared on the steps.

Lingyun gazed at the magnificent Holy Church before him, and a trace of nostalgia could not help but appear on his face. Back then, he had drawn the blueprints for this place, and then it was built by the God of Light. Unexpectedly, so many years had passed, and now the entire great church still maintained its original appearance, not changed in the slightest.

"This place seems not to have changed at all!" Lingyun said.

"This place was built by the Lingyun Mercenary Group and Lord God of Light together back then; it is a place shrouded in the glory of the God of Light. How would we, these ordinary people, dare to make any modifications to the Holy Church."

"Let's go!" Lingyun lifted his leg and walked into the Holy Church.

Seeing Lingyun's familiar and practiced manner in the Holy Church, a flash of surprise appeared in the Pope's eyes. Looking at him now, it seemed as if he had wandered through the Holy Church many times.

Not long after, Lingyun appeared in a great hall; in the center of the hall was a huge statue. The statue emitted a faint fluorescence, and surging with it were massive fluctuations of Divine Power.

After entering the great hall, the Pope respectfully performed a deep bow toward the statue. Lingyun gazed at the statue before him and silently recited in his heart: "Long time no see!"

After performing the deep bow to the statue, the Pope stood up, and massive Light Elements continuously spread out from his body; before long, they stirred the Light Elements throughout the entire Holy Church. The Light Elements surged within the Holy Church, and only after washing over the entire Holy Church several times did they calm down.

"Mr. Lingyun, I have already inspected the entire Holy Church, but I still have not detected the presence of Demon Qi," the Pope said to Lingyun with a frown.

"That is because they are too cunning; it is normal that you cannot find them for the moment," Lingyun said with a smile.

Afterward, he turned the topic to a Long sword placed in front of the statue of the God of Light: "Your Holiness the Pope, I wonder what the origin of this sword is?"

"This sword?" Gazing at the Long sword placed before the statue of the God of Light, the Pope had a trace of nostalgia in his eyes. "This sword was brought back by the first Pope after the Millennium Holy War; it contains massive Light power, and it is said to be the personal sword of the God of Light."

"The personal sword of the God of Light, are you sure?" Lingyun glanced at the Pope, a trace of a smile flashing in his eyes.

"Hm? Could it be that this sword has some other origin?" the Pope asked with some confusion.

"Of course. By the way, how did the first Pope after the Millennium Holy War bring this sword out back then?" Lingyun asked.

"I am not clear on this either; the records in the classics are also very vague. When the first Pope brought this sword back, he was already seriously injured and passed away not long after," the Pope said.

"Seriously injured, do you know the reason?"

"This is not very clear. In the records of the classics, the first Pope suddenly left at that time, and when he left, he also took a group of elites with him. But in the end, among these people, only the seriously injured Pope returned. In the records of the classics, they were attacked by a mysterious person, and the person who seriously injured the Pope used long-lost Soul Magic." The Pope clenched his fists tightly as he said this. "At the time, this incident caused a great sensation and stirred up quite a storm on the Continent, but the culprit was very cunning, and in the end, we still did not find the culprit."

"Long-lost Soul Magic?" Lingyun pondered, keeping this matter in his heart.

After all, if it were truly someone who wanted to use their own soul to replace the soul of the Demon World lord to manipulate his remains, then this person must possess extremely superb Soul Magic. And the first Pope being attacked was very likely because he discovered the traces of that person, and the other party chose to kill him to silence him in order to cover up their actions. And this person must also be the one who destroyed the Seal Array that Lingyun left behind.

However, the first Pope's strength was extremely high, and he also had a large group of experts accompanying him; to be able to kill all these people, this person's strength must have been top-tier during the Millennium Holy War. In this way, the scope of the target could be narrowed down a lot.

"I'll have Andiya investigate it when the time comes; perhaps we can find some clues," Lingyun muttered in his heart.

Then, he looked toward the Pope: "Don't you want to know where the source of the Demon Qi I mentioned is? Then watch closely!"

Having finished speaking, Lingyun directly reached out and grasped the Long sword in front of him, and his Double Domain instantly shrouded it.