Swan City, Radiance Church.
In the spacious prayer hall, Archbishop Ajani was leading the believers in prayer according to the requirements of the ceremony.
Today was Sunday, and according to the customs of the church, all believers were required to perform morning prayers on this day.
Of course, no matter how big the prayer hall was, it could not accommodate all the residents of Swan City. Those who could stand in the hall were basically the nobles of Swan City.
As for the commoners, they could only squeeze in the square outside the church, on the streets, and even in front of their houses.
As the prayer deepened, the white crystal scepter in Ajani's hand gradually glowed with platinum holy light, reflecting the radiance of the morning sun. It filled the entire prayer hall and continued to spread, coating the entire Swan City with a layer of holy light.
At this moment, Swan City showed its most sacred side.
Under the illumination of such a divine miracle, hundreds of thousands of believers knelt on one knee, their hands clasped together as they praised the almighty Lord of Radiance in unison.
"Praise the Lord! May your light last forever and illuminate the way forward for us! "
After the ceremony, everyone stood up under Archbishop Ajani's lead. They collected their emotions and began a new day.
The nobles in the prayer hall left one after another. Only Count Schultz was left behind by Archbishop Ajani.
"Count, is Viscount Angley not back yet?"
Count Schultz shook his head. "Not yet. I've already sent someone to look for him. I believe he'll be back soon …"
"No need to look for him. I'm already back."
As soon as he finished speaking, Colin strode into the prayer hall and said with a smile, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency. I came back late and didn't make it in time for Sunday morning prayers."
Ajani smiled, indicating that he did not need to worry. She then asked curiously, "Did you catch him?"
Colin shrugged and said helplessly, "Sigh, we still let him escape!"
Ajani nodded doubtfully. "If a grade-6 warrior wants to escape, it's hard to stop him. But you don't need to worry. I've already reported this to Imperial Dragon City. His Holiness the Pope will send Holy Knights to capture him. "
Colin nodded. He did not want to talk too much about this and prepared to leave.
Seeing this, Akani tried to persuade him to stay. "Viscount Angley, can you stay for a while?"
Hearing this, Colin suppressed the doubts in his heart and nodded. "Okay."
Seeing this, Count Schultz bowed and said, "Lord Guardian, Your Excellency, I'll take my leave first."
"Alright."
Looking at Count Schultz's departing figure, Akani suddenly smiled and said, "Sir Viscounts, Count Schultz's attitude towards you is really respectful."
Colin said calmly, "I'm now the Guardian of the Northern Frontier personally conferred by His Majesty. Isn't her attitude natural?"
Akani looked at Colin with a meaningful gaze. "So that's how it is! I thought it was because of the Bloody Cavalry fifty kilometers north of Swan City. "
Colin's pupils shrank slightly, and he asked in surprise, "You even know this?"
Akani blinked her eyes and said in a playful tone, "Yes, a pious bird told me."
That was right. When Colin realized that Count Schultz might be up to no good, he had already informed the Bloody Cavalry to come to Swan City.
According to Colin's plan, if Count Schultz, who had been turned into a blood descendant, could not stand his ground under the pressure of Lucien and chose to betray him, then Colin would activate Plan B and ask the Bloody Cavalry to take care of everything.
Fortunately, Count Schultz did not let Colin down. In this case, Colin did not have to be so cruel as to wipe out Swan Castle.
However, he did not expect that Akani would know about the Bloody Cavalry hiding outside the city.
Of course, Colin did not believe that "a pious bird" had revealed the traces of the Bloody Cavalry. It must have been the believers who reported to the Church.
To be honest, Colin had always admired and envied the Church's intelligence ability. Of course, he was also afraid of it.
However, this also made Colin realize a problem. Did Count Schultz also know the whereabouts of the Bloody Cavalry in advance?
If she also knew, the reason why she did not betray Colin was because she was a Blood Descendant, or because she knew that the Bloody Cavalry was nearby. Once she betrayed Colin, what awaited the Schultz family would only be destruction.
When Colin was lost in his thoughts, Akani's voice sounded again, "Your Excellency, what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing." Colin answered casually, and then asked, "You asked me to stay just now. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Please follow me." Akani smiled mysteriously and walked past Colin, heading straight outside.
Colin was curious and followed her step by step.
The two walked out of the prayer hall and went down the spiral stairs. Finally, they came to a dim corridor.
On both sides of the corridor, there were fully armored guards every few steps. When they saw Akani, they all bowed their heads to greet her.
After walking for about half an hour, a steel gate appeared in front of them.
The guard in front of the gate saluted to Akani, and then pushed the gate open.
"Viscount Angley, please." Akani made a gesture to let Colin go first.
Colin smiled and strode forward.
The space inside the gate was more spacious than Colin had imagined, but it was a bit too empty. Except for the statue of the God of Light in the center and the small pool in front of the statue, there was nothing else. He could not help but wonder why such a large space was dug out just to put these two things.
Looking around, Colin did not see any light source, but the whole space was full of holy light, and there was no place for darkness to hide.
Bang!
After Akani came in, the iron gate was closed again.
Colin turned around and asked, "Where is this place?"
Akani did not answer. Her eyes were a bit blurred, as if she did not hear Colin's question. She just walked slowly toward the statue.
Colin furrowed his brows and followed him.
Before the statue of the God of Light, Akani devoutly prostrated herself on the ground and silently prayed.
Colin had no choice but to kneel on one knee before the statue, but he could not help but look at the pool in front of the statue from the corner of his eye.
The pool was not big, about three meters in diameter, and the water inside was very shallow.
But he was surprised to find that the water in the pool was not ordinary water, but more like holy water!
Gulp …
Colin could not help but swallow his saliva.
After a while, Akani ended her prayer and stood up again.
Colin immediately asked, "Is this holy water?"
Akani stared at the faceless statue of the God of Light, and without turning her head, she said, "No."
Colin was a little disappointed, and asked again, "Then what is this?"
Ajani finally turned around. Her gaze was filled with an indescribable meaning as she said softly, "
"This is the accumulated power of faith."
"Power of faith?" This was the first time Colin had learned that faith could be materialized.
"Yes.
The gods use their mighty powers to protect humans, and humans use their faith to serve the gods.
When everyone prays to the God, they will produce the power of faith, and this power of faith will be collected by the Radiance Churches of the various dioceses, gathering in a space similar to the one we are in. "
Colin rubbed his chin, staring at the swaying surface of the pool, and asked, "Then what is the use of this power of faith?"
Akani shook her head and said, "The cultivation of priests requires the power of faith, but we only need a very small portion of it. Most of the power of faith is needed by the God."
Colin nodded thoughtfully, and asked again, "This should be a secret of the Church, why are you telling me this?"
Akani did not answer this question, but said to herself, "Do you know? The power of faith gathers in this space, liquefies in the holy pool, and is then absorbed by the God through the statue. "
"So?" Colin was a little confused.
Akani pointed to the pool in front of her, and asked in a low voice, "Look, the 'water' in this pool, has it been absorbed?"
Colin narrowed his eyes and looked for a long time, and found that the 'water' in the pool did not decrease, but instead kept increasing.
Because it was Sunday, and Archbishop Akani had just personally led the morning prayers, the power of faith surged in and quickly filled the pool, and then —
It overflowed!
"What will happen if it overflows?"
"The liquefied power of faith will disappear after leaving the holy pool."
Sure enough, Colin saw that the 'water' disappeared after overflowing.
This time, he also realized that something was wrong.
Since the God of Light needed the power of faith, why would he let it overflow without collecting it?
"Is there … a problem with this statue?" Colin guessed.
Akani shook her head, and said in a low voice, "The holy pools under all the Radiance Churches in the Northern Frontier are like this, even the holy pool under the Holy Light Church in Imperial Dragon City … is the same. The power of faith is not collected, but overflows the holy pool, and is wasted."
Colin narrowed his eyes, and asked with a serious expression, "I still want to know, why are you showing me this?"
If the things that Akani had exposed to Colin were to be leaked, it would definitely cause a crisis of faith!
The God of Light had stopped receiving offerings from humans, what did this mean?
Akani still did not answer this question, but asked in return, "Do you know why the Dark Emperor was killed 300 years ago?"
Colin's heart skipped a beat, and he said, "Could it be that he discovered this secret?"
"Yes." Ajani nodded. "However, what truly sounded the Dark Emperor's death knell was something he once said."
"What did he say?"
"He said …"
The expression on Akani's face suddenly became extremely complicated.
"The god is dead!"
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