Chapter 347: Capturing an Evil Witch

By the time Anthony rushed to the Mercenary Society, an unknown number of onlookers had already surrounded the tent at the entrance.

For safety, Anthony's guards first drove the onlookers aside, and only then did he and Ang walk over and enter the tent.

"It's Ascetic Ang, it's Ascetic Ang. Could it be that the one who cast the Great Resurrection Art wasn't Lord Anthony, but Lord Ascetic Ang? That's very likely, no wonder."

Among the crowd, there were clearly many who had seen 'Ascetic Ang' before; Ang's appearance immediately triggered large-scale whispering.

Negris, projected onto Ang, also grumbled irritably to Du Luo Ken: "Talking about harvesting faith, it turns out he's just making Ang do the work. I knew it, this Anthony wouldn't do anything that wasn't profitable."

"Ah? Is it not profitable?" Du Luo Ken was somewhat surprised: "He sold the Light believers to the God of Undead. They should be in Soul Prison—uh, they prefer the stake."

Now it was Negris's turn to be embarrassed: "I just don't like the look of him, it's just routine complaining."

There was no such thing as profitable or not; what Anthony was doing now belonged to the most serious crimes in religion. No deity could tolerate such behavior. If the gods of Light were still around, they would have jumped out long ago to tear Anthony into pieces.

Negris certainly knew this; it was just a routine jab. On the contrary, if Ang really ignored Anthony, it would be Negris who got anxious first.

Entering the tent, the other party had been waiting for a long time, and Chairman Kaiqi, who had returned first, was also present.

The tent was large, the kind of military field tent where hundreds of people could squeeze in without issue. However, there were currently 'four people' inside: Ang, Anthony, Chairman Kaiqi, and a mysterious person wrapped entirely in a cloak, revealing only a pair of eyes.

In front of the mysterious person was a coffin, the kind that was narrow at both ends and wide in the middle, split into upper and lower sections, with an upper section that could be opened.

Besides that, there was a bag at the mysterious person's feet; judging by the bumpy shape, it was likely a person.

Anthony sized up the mysterious person for a while, then suddenly said: "Long time no see."

The mysterious person was startled and hurriedly checked himself up and down, thinking he had exposed something.

But after looking around, there was nothing; he was wrapped up tightly.

Realizing Anthony might be trying to bluff him, the mysterious person said in a muffled voice: "You issued the bounty. As long as I get Count Hesi's head, I can exchange it for a chance at resurrection, right?"

Anthony smiled and said: "That's right, as long as death hasn't exceeded one day, it's fine."

"What happens if death exceeds one day?" the mysterious person asked in a muffled voice.

"Memory loss? Incomplete consciousness? Becoming a lunatic? A walking corpse?" Anthony spread his hands.

The mysterious person nodded and turned to Chairman Kaiqi: "Chairman Kaiqi, you be the witness."

After speaking, he opened the bag at his feet, revealing Count Hesi's terrified face. A dignified Count had actually been captured alive to claim a bounty.

Seeing Anthony, Count Hesi said in extreme terror: "Don't, don't kill me. I'll give you double the bounty, double..."

Before he could finish, the mysterious person waved his hand lightly, and Count Hesi's head rolled down with a thud. Even the fountain of blood that should have sprayed from the neck was lightly suppressed by the mysterious person, turning into a seep so it wouldn't spray all over the tent.

Anthony curled his lips and muttered: "Six hundred lives, six hundred souls yearning for the Light. Go find the gods to compensate them; I'll send you to the Heavenly Kingdom to see them."

He turned his head and nodded at Ang, then whispered a sentence.

Ang tilted his head, then nodded and walked toward the coffin.

The mysterious person watched Ang, his eyes full of scrutiny and doubt.

Arriving at the coffin, Ang opened the upper section, revealing a corpse wrapped tightly in a holy shroud. Ang reached out and poked it; it was hard, but not the dry, hard kind—it felt like muscle.

Opening the shroud to look, it was indeed a corpse, and one that had been dead for unknown years. However, unlike a normal corpse, its degree of atrophy was very small.

A normal corpse would shrink to one-third of its size in life after drying out, unless it had been toughened like a zombie lich, which could retain about seventy percent of its weight from life.

This corpse hadn't been toughened, but it hadn't shrunk much either; it gave the feeling that the body was too solid to atrophy.

The corpse vaguely retained its appearance from life; it was a very dignified middle-aged man.

Ang unleashed Holy Light and smeared it onto the corpse; the corpse slowly began to fill out.

Seeing this scene, the mysterious person's eyes widened, and he blurted out: "Purification Art? Impossible! Redefinition?"

Anthony smiled slightly without refuting. He had already confirmed the other party's identity. Since both were experts, explaining was meaningless—it was tantamount to covering up. Anyway, this was the Purification Art. As for why it caused such an effect, God had the final right of interpretation.

As for which god would explain it? How about... the Balance? Not convinced? Then, let's have a God War!

With the growth of Ang's strength, Anthony's confidence was becoming more and more sufficient. Before, he only wanted to compete for the position of Pope while the gods of Light were all gone; now, he had even started preparing to seize the right to interpret divine oracles.

Ang took out a bottle of supplement, poured it into the corpse's mouth, and took out another bottle to sprinkle evenly on the skin, unleashing Holy Light while sprinkling.

The continuous Holy Light nourished the withered corpse, and the corpse filled out rapidly as if it had been injected with water.

The mysterious person watched Ang's movements, his eyes becoming increasingly shocked. Any divine spellcaster, as long as they had seen Ang cast spells, would be involuntarily shocked: Is this too persistent? Can anyone really be this persistent?

Of course, no one could be this persistent, unless it was God himself.

While Ang was activating it, he suddenly picked up the holy shroud and covered his hand. Under the cover of the shroud, he reached into the Palace of Breath, took out an item to touch the corpse, and then quickly put it away.

The holy shroud blocked all perception and also blocked the mysterious person's line of sight. The mysterious person became anxious and turned sideways, about to peek, but immediately felt a figure flash in front of him—Anthony had already blocked his way.

"Exclusive secret technique, please don't look around, my lord," Anthony said with a smile.

The mysterious person glared at Anthony and then looked at Ang, only to see that Ang had already put the holy shroud down. He hesitated for a moment, perhaps thinking that in such a short time, Ang couldn't do anything bad, so he gritted his teeth and endured it.

Turning to Anthony, the mysterious person took a deep breath and couldn't help but ask: "How did you recognize me?"

"From your reaction. When I said long time no see, your first reaction was to check if you were exposed. Clearly, I know you," Anthony said.

The mysterious person realized: "So that's how it is. It seems I exposed myself. Anthony, you have the illumination of the Light of Wisdom; I hope you can do more things beneficial to the Light."

"Yes, my lord, I will properly purify the Light polluted by evil gods," Anthony smiled slightly and stepped back.

On Ang's side, it was just the final step. He unleashed Holy Light and hammered his fist onto the corpse's heart—Rebirth.

The corpse twitched all over, inhaled a large mouthful of air, and actually began to breathe autonomously, and the heart beat normally.

The mysterious person and Kaiqi widened their eyes in disbelief simultaneously.

Anthony explained at the right time: "Because the corpse has been dead for more than a day, we are not responsible for whether it can wake up, whether it can retain memories from life, or whether it will become mentally disabled. Please witness this, Chairman Kaiqi."

Chairman Kaiqi walked to the body, probed it, and touched it. Just as the blood flowed, the originally deathly white skin was gradually turning rosy. Upon touch, the sensation changed from cold to warm, startling Kaiqi into exclaiming repeatedly: "A miracle, it really came back to life? It really is a miracle."

Confirming the corpse had truly come back to life, Kaiqi walked toward Ang and bowed with his hand on his chest: "Lord Ang, you have performed a miracle. Loran Kaiqi of the Mercenary Guild pays his respects to you."

Ang tilted his head.

Anthony hurriedly cut in, grasped Kaiqi's hand, and explained: "Lord Ang has practiced asceticism for many years and is not good with words. I accept your tribute on his behalf."

"That's good, that's good." Through the feedback of Anthony's palm strength, Kaiqi realized that Anthony understood his meaning—using the name of tribute just to let Lord Ang remember his name—Loran Kaiqi.

Anthony was so sensible, and Kaiqi naturally had something to give back, whispering: "Lord Anthony, if there are still resurrection quotas, please be sure to leave one for me."

Then, walking out of the tent, Kaiqi raised his hands and said excitedly: "Lord Ang has performed a miracle, the bounty has been claimed!"

"Wow!" A commotion broke out all around. Everyone knew what Kaiqi's words represented—it meant someone had really been resurrected.

Ang and Anthony walked out of the tent, and the scene immediately became restless; everyone wanted to surge forward.

"Ah—Xilila—Mamie—..." A hymn sounded, soothing everyone's soul. The commotion gradually subsided. Anthony waved his hands, patrolling the area with great flair, and only after soothing everyone did he take Ang and leave.

During this patrol, Ang harvested an unknown amount of soul flames again.

Returning to his own territory, Negris asked impatiently: "Who is that guy?"

"Guli Anni," Anthony said.

"It's really him? Good fellow, who is he trying to resurrect?" Negris asked in shock.

"A divine body, otherwise why wouldn't he care if it could wake up? Once someone descends onto it, it will wake up," Anthony said.

"Then why did you resurrect it?" Negris asked, puzzled.

"The Church wouldn't have only one divine body. If you don't resurrect this one, they'll use another. The Lord is right here, so why fear a descended divine body?" Anthony laughed.

If he didn't resurrect it, Anthony's bounty would be equivalent to breaking his word. Compared to his reputation, a divine body was insignificant. Even true gods were useless, otherwise the Goddess of Redemption wouldn't have been raided.

"That's true, then why did you let Ang touch it with the Staff of Shadow?" Negris said.

Speaking of this, Anthony hurriedly asked Ang: "How is it? Did the Staff of Shadow take effect?"

Before Ang could speak, Du Luo Ken was already shouting indignantly: "What, you don't trust my alchemy skills?"

If the Staff of Shadow didn't take effect, wouldn't that mean Du Luo Ken's alchemy failed? For the builder of the World Transit Station and the designer of the Palace of Rest to be asked such a question, wasn't it tantamount to questioning his level? No wonder Du Luo Ken was anxious.

"No, no, I was just confirming if it hit the mark. Lord Du Luo Ken, you are truly amazing, even divine souls can be refined into weapons. It's too incredible, you are the greatest alchemist in history," Anthony blew a rainbow fart.

Du Luo Ken was not polite either: "You're right. Unfortunately, because of the divine soul crystal, the Staff of Shadow can only be used three times. I used it once when I tested it, and now I've used it again, so there's only one last time left. You guys use it carefully."

Guli Anni carried the coffin back and placed it in front of the God of Light Surface.

"It's my favorite body, you have heart." The Light Surface nodded to Guli Anni, and the flame on the torch dimmed slowly, soon becoming a small pinch.

And the divine body in the coffin suddenly opened its eyes.

Guli Anni reported the situation, but the God of Light Surface projected into the divine body shook his head and said: "This is not the Great Resurrection Art."

"I also feel it's strange, especially that Ascetic Ang, his power is too pure, it doesn't look like real Holy Light," Guli Anni said suspiciously.

"Too pure? Among the gods, the power of arbitration is the purest. Could it be one of his people? It's time to visit him."

In the following days, Ang ran around in various refugee camps, distributing food, performing miracles, harvesting faith, and stealing believers. Wherever he went, the devout believers no longer belonged to the gods of Light, all connecting to the little ghost here.

Constant repetition brought Ang back to his most familiar rhythm: sowing, fertilizing, harvesting. In the farm, he had repeated this for thousands of years. If he continued to repeat like this, he could harvest all the believers in the entire plane.

Unfortunately, believers were limited after all. A few days later, he arrived at the last refugee camp. This place was already very close to the sea at the southern end of the continent. Most of the people who had fled back from the Land of Sinking were settled along the coastline.

Thus, this refugee camp gathered many refugees from the Land of Sinking. Having fled back from the Land of Sinking, they had already become refugees, and now experiencing famine, they had nothing. Seeing Ang's arrival, they were extremely excited.

Ang habitually distributed food and performed miracles. Miracles included two types: healing and judgment. Under the shackles of original sin, the emotions of believers were often more intense than when healing.

Watching the shackles of original sin bind a greedy and gluttonous villain, a group of people couldn't help but cheer. They called out Ang's name in unison: "Ascetic Ang! Ascetic Ang!"

"My lord, we caught an evil witch, please judge her."

Following their words, a girl with her wrists bound was pushed over by them.

Ang tilted his head; this girl actually exuded a strange aura. ===== CHAPTER 348 =====