Chapter 110: You Are Not a Believer of the Light

Faller chattered ahead as the guide, Old John trailed behind with a tense, uneasy expression, and the constable brought up the rear, trembling.

Nag Lisi projected into An Ge’s soul, filled with frustration and sighs: “How could it be such a coincidence that there’s a stupid Holy Maiden? How could it be such a coincidence? Sigh…”

The ascetic was the most suitable identity for An Ge to impersonate; ascetics were also fitting to appear here at this time, but the true reason an ascetic would appear was exorcism.

Ascetics are the most resolute among all clergy of the Light Church, capable of enduring prolonged solitude, abandoning all comforts, discarding all emotions and relationships, and forging their faith and will in the harshest environments.

Anyone with even the slightest hesitation could never endure it; those who become ascetics are utterly free of distractions, with unwavering willpower.

Exorcism, of course, means expelling demons from body and soul.

Some people, once perfectly normal, suddenly begin babbling nonsense, attacking others, destroying property, speaking strange and bizarre words—they are possessed by demons; once the demon is expelled, they return to normal.

Demon possession does exist; as Phelin once said, the plague in the Undercity was triggered by a corpse possessed by a demon.

But ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of what the Light Church calls exorcism are mental illnesses; demon possession is resolved with a single Purification spell—no special exorcism needed.

Mental illness refers to disorders of the mind; it is not the same as neurological illness.

Neurological illness refers to diseases of the nervous system, such as epilepsy, Savant syndrome, Parkinson’s, autism—physical lesions of the nervous system.

Mental illness refers to disorders of the mind, such as multiple personality, emotional disorders, delusions, schizophrenia—no obvious physical lesions; if mild, they aren’t even considered illnesses. But mental illness can trigger physiological changes, such as depression.

OCD, cleanliness obsession… perhaps everyone has a slight mental issue, which is why they’re so “mental”…

Sometimes people confuse neurological illness with mental illness, because those with neurological lesions are more prone to developing mental illness, especially when sleep-deprived or overexhausted.

If a priest cannot heal it and an ascetic must perform exorcism, it is 100% a mental disorder—after all, if a demon truly possessed someone and couldn’t be exorcised, you could just burn them.

Ascetics are the most resolute of all; what ordinary people call mental illness, ascetics would merely think: Huh? What’s mental? Oh, what’s illness? Not eating counts as self-harm? Self-harm is an illness? I often don’t eat—do you think I’m ill?

Compared to ascetics, most mental patients seem perfectly normal.

As they walked toward town, An Ge was the calmest of all, curiously glancing left and right.

Faller led the way while explaining: “Holy Maiden Shamarah is our Marah Town’s greatest pride—her very name is taken from our small town. She was chosen as a Houbushengnv at twelve, summoned a Holy Spirit at sixteen, and achieved Holy Spirit possession at eighteen—but even after fifty years, she never heard the Divine Oracle.”

“Several years ago, she began showing symptoms of demon possession—constantly demanding to see Pope Gurianni, claiming the gods have vanished and urging everyone to rescue the Divine Realm. Of course, no one believed her ramblings; everyone assumed she’d gone mad from never hearing the Divine Oracle.”

“Then, over a month ago, Holy Maiden Shamarah suddenly lost her ability to achieve Holy Spirit possession and began screaming that the Divine Realm had fallen, the Divine Realm had fallen—only then did we confirm she was possessed. Perhaps she’s just grown old; other Holy Maidens hear the Divine Oracle, but she doesn’t; other Holy Maidens achieve Holy Spirit possession, but she doesn’t.”

“So the Pope ordered her sent home to rest, promising to send an ascetic to treat her. Then Nicholas’s incident happened, and now we’ve finally waited for you, Lord An Ge—Holy Maiden Shamarah is our Marah Town’s pride. Please, save her.”

As Faller droned on, Nag Lisi could no longer hold back, prompting An Ge to relay the question: “Are you a local? How old is Shamarah?”

“Holy Maiden Shamarah is sixty-eight this year. As for me, I’m not a local, but I’ve lived in Marah Town for fifty years—everything I am belongs here,” Faller replied.

After speaking, Faller cautiously glanced at An Ge and found the ascetic showed no reaction, as if he hadn’t heard a word.

“No wonder ascetics—Lord’s expression is utterly unreadable. Impressive, impressive,” Faller thought inwardly.

An Ge naturally had no expression—he hadn’t asked the question. But inside his soul, Nag Lisi was already pondering.

“Sixty-eight? Quite young. Plenty of young men would find her attractive. Look at Faller—his eyes lit up saying her name. He’s got ulterior motives.”

“She lost Holy Spirit possession over a month ago? That’s normal—the Divine Realm fell, all Holy Spirits and Angels fought to the death—how could she still possess one? But other Holy Maidens still hear the Divine Oracle? Still achieve Holy Spirit possession? How is that possible? Are the Light Gods not dead?”

“If the Light Gods vanished, then the other Holy Maidens hearing the Divine Oracle are lying; if they’re not lying, then the Gods haven’t vanished; if they’re not lying and the Gods did vanish, then someone is faking the Oracle—that’s sacrilege.”

“It seems necessary to capture one of the Holy Maidens and investigate. Soul-searching should be very useful here.”

The group soon arrived at Marah Town and entered Shamarah’s home—a simple brick-and-stone house—but inside, every wall had been reinforced with iron bars.

Inside, they opened another iron door, descended stairs, and went over ten meters underground into a sturdy dungeon.

Before entering, Nag Lisi had An Ge summon Holy Light to conceal his true appearance, since An Ge’s current form was a disguise created by the Straw Man’s Hat—anyone with stronger spiritual power could pierce it.

But with An Ge’s monstrous spiritual power, even Nicholas couldn’t see through it; Nag Lisi wasn’t truly worried, merely taking precautions—who knew what strange abilities the Holy Maiden might have?

For example, Lisa, the former Holy Maiden, had countless strange abilities—but since she abandoned her faith, most were unusable.

But Nag Lisi was wrong this time. Had An Ge not summoned Holy Light, nothing might have happened—but the moment he entered the dungeon with Holy Light, he first saw a graceful back: kneeling before a divine statue, her waist straight, solemn and sacred.

Hearing the noise, Shamarah turned her head, studying An Ge with curiosity: “Your Holy Light is too pure. You are not a believer of the Light. Who are you?”

Nag Lisi ’s entire attention was drawn to Shamarah’s eyes—those eyes were impossibly pure.

And her face—smooth, clean, like that of an eighteen-year-old girl. But wasn’t she sixty-eight?