Chapter 680: The Absurd Party

Amadina looked up and down, then down and up, at the naked Father Cali preaching several times, her gaze finally settling on her fiancé, Robert, kneeling beside him.

This young man, with pale skin as if long deprived of sunlight and brownish-yellow hair, had shed his usual cold demeanor and was similarly exhilarated, yet he restrained himself, patiently waiting for the priest to finish his sermon.

The other naked men grew increasingly restless, gradually stirring with agitation.

But it was clear they held Father Cali in deep reverence; even in the dream where their self-control had completely collapsed, they did not launch the party outright, only making occasional small gestures.

If the deity were watching here, He would burn them all to ashes… As a follower of the Eternal Sun, Amadina instinctively wanted to kneel beside him and bow her head in repentance.

What an act of sacrilege!

Father Cali held open the Sun's Holy Scripture, his expression wildly ecstatic as he continued preaching the teachings of the Eternal Sun to the naked men:

"The God says, the sunlight shines justly upon every man…"

During the sermon, Father Cali's gaze repeatedly swept across the faces, chests, and lower bodies of Robert and the other pure-blooded North Continent men, revealing uncontrollable satisfaction, delight, and pleasure.

Lu Mi had always considered himself well-traveled—he had even disrupted sacred church rituals before—but the scene before him now surpassed his imagination, leaving him momentarily stunned.

Were the priests of the Eternal Sun among the most "exceptional" of all Intis people?

In an instant, Father Cali's dossier and his observations from the past few days appeared in Lu Mi's mind:

He was a native of Port Palos, of pure West Baylan blood, a native from the bottom strata of the South Continent; he began as a church servant, seized an opportunity to change his fate, worked diligently ever since, and eventually became the parish priest of Tizamo Town.

He craved higher status, greater recognition—especially recognition from North Continent men…

"This long-standing desire twisted his lust, quietly targeting men from North Continent nations, seeking to conquer them and gain the recognition he imagined?"

"Robert and these others are clearly quite young. If Father Cali began this years ago, they were still minors with immature minds… Tsk, you priests…" As Lu Mi analyzed the situation, he thought again of his sister, Aurora.

In Kerdou Village, he had never liked entering churches, rarely attending Mass or prayer—not only because Aurora herself disliked it and set an example, but also because she had always worried, for reasons unknown, that Lu Mi, then only twelve or thirteen, might be alone with church clergy, repeatedly warning him: "Boys must protect themselves too," and "Many priests like little boys."

Suppressing the sudden surge of longing, Lu Mi watched Father Cali, still absorbed in his sermon, growing ever more ecstatic, and felt his earlier analysis must be correct:

A long, sacred sermon preceding a male Kuanghuan party was clearly not something a sane person could conceive—or execute. It was absurd.

But when combined with Father Cali's craving for recognition from North Continent gentlemen—especially recognition of his identity as a priest of the Eternal Sun—all of this became understandable!

"The only problem now is that the Eternal Sun and Saint Cien have been wronged—they've become mere props in Father Cali's performance art…" Lu Mi had just thought this when Father Cali finally finished his "brilliant" sermon.

He spread his arms wide and shouted:

"Praise the Sun!"

Robert and the other young men, equally exhilarated and equally naked, knelt on the ground, spreading their arms and chanting in unison:

"Praise the Sun!"

"Praise the Archbishop!"

The Sun has no desire to be praised by you… The Archbishop? Yes, that fit Father Cali's desire for higher status—in this male Kuanghuan party, he made all participants see themselves as the Archbishop, preached to them… and finally, passed on the divine light, the divine grace? Lu Mi could almost picture what came next.

Father Cali turned with profound satisfaction and carefully placed the Holy Scripture back upon the altar.

Then he walked to Robert's side, like an Archbishop bestowing grace upon his faithful.

The other men entangled themselves with one another.

Camille, Ria, and Lu Jianuo, watching the scene inside the church from another stained-glass window, were likewise frozen in shock.

Especially Ria—though she had endured many tragedies, this scene still made her feel her eyes, mind, and soul had been defiled.

Regaining her composure, fury surged within Ria.

Beside her, Lu Mi recalled a detail and, lowering his voice, asked Amadina:

"When did Robert become Father Cali's lover?"

Amadina tore her gaze away from the defiled scene and thought for a moment:

"About a year after Father Cali arrived in Tizamo—over three years ago."

Lu Mi frowned slightly:

"Was it in reality, or during the Dream Festival?"

"Of course in reality," Amadina answered without hesitation.

That didn't make sense… Father Cali had been in Tizamo Town for over a year—he should have grown calm, restrained, free of extreme desires and emotions. Why was he still targeting Robert and the others? Clearly, Father Cali harbored something abnormal, and it must be tied to the origin of the Dream Festival—hence his role in declaring its beginning… Lu Mi had just reached this thought when he saw Ria, furious, raise her bow and aim it at the increasingly obscene, foul-mouthed scene inside the church.

Almost simultaneously, Father Cali, in motion, turned his body.

Instantly, Lu Mi's eyes, one hand in his pocket, reflected the image of this dark-skinned, sunken-eyed, thinly-haired native priest—his naked form.

He immediately felt a cold, chilling breath spreading through his body, attempting to freeze his spirit entirely and replace it.

"Spirit Possession!"

So Father Cali possessed the ability to transform into a "vengeful spirit." No wonder, when I probed his weaknesses, I found them buried deep within his flesh, within his spirit… Ha, a "vengeful spirit" preaching in a church of the Eternal Sun, under sunlight… Who could imagine such a thing? Father Cali's "vengeful spirit" ability certainly didn't come from a potion—that would have been detected and purified… A divine gift? Lu Mi suddenly understood.

Leveraging his own Sequence 5 spirit strength, he struggled fiercely with Father Cali for control of his body.

He did not rush to activate the "Blood Emperor"'s aura imprint; instead, he looked at Amadina and spoke slowly, word by word:

"Enter dream. Let me and Cali…"

Lu Mi knew Amadina's forced dream-entry ability worked only one-on-one, but since Father Cali was currently possessing him, entangled with his spirit, perhaps they could be treated as a single unit.

Whether a "vengeful spirit" could dream was unknown to him—for now, he still had a backup plan.

With a crash, Ria's arrow shattered the stained-glass window, sending shards tumbling to the floor.

The arrow, wreathed in silver-white lightning, crossed ten meters, pierced the exact spot where Father Cali had stood, and embedded itself into the wooden table holding the candlesticks.

Crackling, sparks danced—the long table split in two and collapsed with a thud; the burning candle stubs rolled in all directions.

Robert, momentarily stunned by Father Cali's sudden departure, reacted—he opened his mouth and uttered strange words in an alien tongue.

Oooh!

A wind, as if from the far north of the Fosak Empire, howled forth—a blurred, grotesque, inhuman figure materialized out of thin air and slipped into Robert's body.

Instantly, a layer of armor-like ice formed over Robert's body, and in his hand appeared a massive, sharp, crystalline ice scythe.

Dragging the enormous scythe, Robert charged toward Ria, Camille, and the others.

Where he passed, the ground frosted over, and walls sprouted one after another of icy spires.

…………

On the fourth floor of the Buriu Inn, in a room facing the street.

After watching Lu Mi and the others pass through here and head toward the street where Saint Cien's Church stood, two figures emerged from behind the curtains.

One was male, with sharp features, skin like a North Continent man's, deep green eyes, dressed in dark gray formal attire and wearing a black silk top hat; the other was female, with delicate skin, refined features, deep blue eyes, wearing a light-colored practical long dress and a feathered hat adorned with pearls—clearly the couple Lu Mi had seen check into the Buriu Inn late at night.

They had arrived in Tizamo Town just minutes before the Dream Festival officially began.

Now, both man and woman had clear eyes, free of any extreme emotion or behavior.

"The Patrol Team suddenly sending people to Tizamo Town was indeed because they discovered the problem here," said the woman, whose beauty resembled carved jade, gazing out the window. "Now it seems they've also found a way to remain Qingxing and rational within this special dream."

The man, his expression cold, nodded slightly:

"But they know too little—and their direction is wrong."

"Let's begin our actions too," said the woman with the feathered hat, stepping first toward the door.

The two descended the stairs quickly, one behind the other.

As they passed the second floor, the woman in the light-colored dress suddenly paused, tilting her ear:

"Did you hear a strange sound?"

The man in the half-tall silk hat listened carefully for several seconds and heard a faint chewing sound coming from deep within a room on the second floor.

The sound persisted, unbroken.

(End of Chapter)