Chapter 97

"I don't know if they will believe it, but your Church of Light's gods will evaporate you directly," Negris curled his lip, sneering at this whimsical and nonsensical talk.

What is a God-favored person? That is a person favored by God's grace, whose gaze is forever cast upon them. Anthony actually wanted to impersonate a God-favored person? The first one not to let him go would be the gods of Light.

Anthony hesitated, looking around like a thief with a guilty conscience, and found that Ang had run to one side, took out a new bottle of Life Essence. The Angel Skeleton and the Little Zombie followed him left and right, dripping a drop on anything new they saw, and then gathered around to watch.

"Ouch, what a waste. You don't manage him. Life Essence, the World Tree only produces a little bit in a year. No matter how good your relationship with the elves is, it's very hard to get. Too wasteful." Anthony said painfully.

In the past, every time he reincarnated, the hardest thing to get was Life Essence. Even when he reached the position of Archbishop, high and powerful, he still needed luck. Often he couldn't get enough for three or five years or even ten years. Seeing Ang play like this, he felt very heartbroken.

A strange look appeared on Negris's face. He held back for a few times before saying: "Hehe, I can't manage him. The Undead Divinity is on him. I'm under his management now."

But he secretly thought: In the future, elves might not necessarily be able to get Life Essence. The World Tree's Life Essence belongs to us. If elves use too much, they have to ask Ang for it.

This was one of the benefits he asked for from the World Tree.

At the same time, in the elf kingdom of the main material plane, High Priest Kai Auntie Auntie Auntie Lan Dai Er was looking at the collected Life Essence, worriedly saying: "The World Tree's Life Essence increase has decreased by four-fifths. Is the God of Life already exhausting?"

She inquired about the World Tree's situation, but didn't get a response, so she could only attribute it to natural aging.

"I hope this day doesn't come too early." Kai Auntie Auntie Auntie Lan Dai Er reluctantly pressed her forehead against the World Tree's rough bark.

Anthony turned his face away, not seeing it meant not hurting. Instead, he lowered his voice and said to Negris: "I have suspected one thing all these years. After seeing the Purification Jing Jing Yan Shu, I suspect it even more."

"What thing?" Negris perked up. This was the Abyss of Rest, all his own people were here, and there was the Wind of Rest blowing outside. And Anthony, a former Black Knight Emperor and Cardinal, still had to deliberately lower his voice to speak, so the matter must be very important.

"I suspect that the gods of Light, like His Majesty, have disappeared," Anthony said word by word.

"Impossible!" Negris gasped. Seeing Anthony looking like he wanted to pounce over and cover his mouth, he reacted and lowered his volume: "The last time you sent people, there were priests and holy knights. The Holy Light they used could still add damage to heretics. If the gods are gone, then why can you still use the power of Holy Light?"

"Holy Light is still there, but the gods who control it have very likely disappeared," Anthony said quietly.

"Holy Light and the gods can be separated? If they disappear, they must disappear together," Negris said.

Anthony pulled Negris to squat down: "That's why I only dare to suspect. I can also borrow divine power normally, but the power of Holy Light and the gods can still be separated. Didn't you say before that believers created gods, not gods created life? The gods are gone, but the believers are still there. So, is it possible that the Divinity of Light is actually still there, but the person who controls it has disappeared, just like His Majesty?"

Negris frowned and thought hard. After a while, he said: "Theoretically, there is such a possibility. The Undead Divinity is also there, but there are no believers. You don't know how miserable Ang was when he first arrived at the Undead Temple. Only one Silver Skeleton Priest was left, and the first believer was exchanged for grain."

"Originally I was just a bit suspicious and never dared to be sure, so when they wanted to choose me as Pope, I faked my death and slipped away, fearing being seen through by the gods of Light. But after seeing the Purification Jing Jing Yan Shu, I have to face this possibility, because the Church of Light hasn't had any new divine arts for more than a thousand years. No one can define Holy Light."

Negris's expression became solemn.

Defining Holy Light means creating new divine arts. What are divine arts? Magic with God's will.

Creating new divine arts is difficult. It's not difficult to say it's difficult, and it's not easy to say it's easy. Creating brand-new divine arts is very difficult, requiring extremely high magic level and theoretical foundation, as well as a flash of inspiration and a deep understanding of God's will.

But creating is difficult, moving is not difficult, right? For example, Purification Technique, originally just an arcane technique for purifying water quality and food. After moving it to become a divine art, it became the basic divine art for purifying heretics.

And after moving it to become a divine art, the casting threshold is greatly reduced. It doesn't require a mage. As long as it's a priest, or even some particularly devout believers, they can use this basic divine art.

This led to the Church of Light being invincible in spreading.

In this era, no matter which plane, the biggest enemy of life is all kinds of diseases and famines.

And clean water and food are the best measures to reduce diseases. Someone once did a statistic: two villages with similar populations, one with clean water and food, the other without. The difference in disease incidence between the two villages can reach twenty times.

Even for external injuries, bandages purified with cloth are easier for the wounded to recover than bandages with unpurified cloth.

So when a priest who knows Purification Technique comes to a village, what will be the consequence? The incidence of disease drops by more than ten times. Isn't this a miracle?

Creating new divine arts is difficult. Is moving magic to become a new divine art difficult? If it's difficult, why did Lisha create a new divine art as soon as she met Ang?

Even if it's difficult again, put it in a religion with a scale of hundreds of millions of people, millions of clergy, and a thousand years of time, and it still can't produce new divine arts. Then the problem with the gods is serious.

Either it's relatively 'natural' like the World Tree, or there are other reasons, or it's disappeared.

After thinking for a while, Negris asked: "What do you plan to do?"

"Nikolai must be killed. He dared to ambush me. But I don't want to kill him so simply. I want to get my hands on what he cares about most, and then use that thing to smash him to death. So I plan to run for Pope. And before that, I need the identity of a God-favored person, and at the same time, verify whether the gods of Light are still there or not." Anthony said while deliberating.

"How do you verify?" Negris asked. Although he is the God of Common Sense, how to verify whether the gods are dead or not is not within the scope of common sense.

Anthony looked at Ang and asked in a low voice: "Will Ang allow his believers to believe in other gods?"

Negris thought about it and said uncertainly: "He should, uh, definitely will. This guy, as long as you are willing to exchange equivalently, you can believe in as many as you want."

Ang doesn't have the concept of believers at all. Others offer him soul flames, and he returns equivalent things. He doesn't care whether you believe in him or not.

"But the gods of Light won't. Those who don't believe in God are all lambs and need to be redeemed. Those who believe in other gods are all heretics and need to be saved. Undead and demons are all heretics and need to be eliminated. I will believe in another undead. If the gods of Light burn me to death on the spot, then they haven't disappeared."

After speaking, Anthony walked quickly to Ang, knelt down in the most submissive posture, and said piously: "My Lord Ang, I am willing to offer the most devout faith, praying for your protection. Your will will become the direction I move forward—."

A Black Knight Emperor with an incomparably tyrannical soul, a super divine stick who has reincarnated more than ten times and climbed to the position of Cardinal of the Church of Light every time, his faith is no longer soul flames.

Only to see a light shadow emerge from Anthony's body, walking step by step toward Ang, stopping only at a distance Ang could reach, and humbly extending his palm upward.

Ang tilted his head and curiously poked the light shadow's palm. The light shadow immediately turned into a beam of light and entered Ang's body.

Negris gasped and muttered: "Lisha, come over and see, this is the real God-Soul Warrior."

A real God-Soul, after being offered to God, becomes a warrior that God can drive. God will bestow power upon it, and when the believer needs it, God will descend directly. The combat power of a God-Soul has no upper limit; it depends on how much power God bestows and how much power the believer can bear.

Fun. Ang summoned the God-Soul from time to time, then input a soul flame, seeing the God-Soul solidify a bit, then input a soul flame, and the God-Soul solidified a bit more.

Anthony, who had completed the ritual, returned to Negris's side, spread his left hand, and offered a Holy Light, then spread his right hand and offered another Holy Light.

He wiped the Holy Light on his left hand onto Negris, and there was no reaction. Only heard him mutter:

"Now it depends on whether the gods of Light will burn me to death on the spot. If they burn me to death, remember to let Lord Ang resurrect me."

After speaking, he wiped the Holy Light on his right hand onto Negris. Zzz zzz zzz, the Holy Light that adds damage to undead creatures roasted Negris until he was sizzling with oil.

Negris jumped up and whipped Anthony with his tail: "Ku Ba Da, if you want to try, can't you find a skeleton to try!"