All eyes were focused on the highest point of the [Light Palace].
As they gazed at the Pope and Mu Jiushi standing at his side, many people felt uneasy.
What the Pope wanted to announce with such solemnity was naturally related to the coup of the Mausoleum of Books. Many people had even thought of Chen Changsheng's name.
The atmosphere was tense and uneasy. No one noticed that two people walked out of the passage at the side of the hall.
Linghai Zhiwang and Daoist Siyuan, these two Prefects of the Orthodoxy, had been personally sealed by the Pope and imprisoned in the Dao Prison. Why had they suddenly appeared?
In just three days, they had lost a lot of weight, and their faces were pale without a trace of blood.
They passed through the crowd and walked towards the front of the main hall. Finally, someone noticed their presence and let out a low cry.
Gradually, there were more and more exclamations.
Linghai Zhiwang and Daoist Siyuan once more stood at the very front of the Great Hall of Light.
An expression of shock appeared on Archbishop An Lin's face, and Zhuang Zhihuan's pupils constricted slightly. Only Mao Qiuyu and the archbishop's leader, Daoist Baishi's expressions did not change. They had probably known about this beforehand.
The main hall was filled with light. Mu Jiushi stood on the high platform, where the light was the brightest. Her vision was somewhat affected, and even with her background, she could not help but feel nervous at the thought of what the Pope was about to announce. She did not notice the cries of alarm and the momentary chaos coming from the crowd below the platform.
In the next moment, she would become the successor to the Orthodoxy, the future Pope.
The current Pope glanced at her, his eyes brimming with compassion and love.
She smiled shyly, but her mood was extremely calm. She was slightly excited as she looked forward to hearing those words.
"The Archbishop of the Hall of Announcements, Mu Jiushi, has gravely violated the laws of the church and recklessly peered into the Heavenly Dao. What punishment should she receive?"
The [Light Palace] was filled with frenzied exclamations and discussions.
The Orthodoxy was about to welcome the first female Pope in history. As expected, it was very shocking, Mu Jiushi thought with a reserved smile.
Suddenly, her expression changed and her face became incomparably pale.
Because it was only now that she clearly heard the Pope's voice.
A serious violation of the church's laws? Prying into the Heavenly Dao?
Could it be that His Holiness the Pope wanted to announce not to confer upon him the title of the next Pope?
How could this be!
What was going on?
Mu Jiushi was shocked to the extreme, suddenly turning her head to the Pope.
What she saw was still that old face, that pair of eyes filled with compassion and love.
That compassion and tenderness were not bestowed upon her.
She knew it very well.
She was furious.
"Why are you punishing me!" she coldly said to the Pope.
She looked at the crowd below the platform and shouted sternly, "Who dares to punish me?"
The crowd was silent. The priests who had the right to participate in the Rite to Light were all important figures in the Orthodoxy. They were well aware of the origins of this mysterious Archbishop of the Hall of Announcements, and they also knew what her existence meant for the great cause of the Orthodoxy in the new millennium. However, their silence did not mean that they were uneasy. It was only because the Pope's question was not directed at them.
The halls of the Orthodoxy each had their own duties. The Hall of Drifting Clouds was in charge of punishment, and the archbishop of the Hall of Drifting Clouds had already arrived.
Linghai Zhiwang gazed at Mu Jiushi, the hatred in his eyes like a ghostly fire. "Thirty strikes of the cane, forbidden from cultivating, and exiled from the Orthodoxy."
These were the written laws of the church. Anyone in the hall could recite them, but upon hearing these three sentences, they still felt a bone-piercing chill.
It had already been six hundred years since the Orthodoxy had carried out such a harsh punishment on an archbishop of Mu Jiushi's level.
Looking into Linghai Zhiwang's eyes, Mu Jiushi felt her body become abnormally cold.
She knew that she could not stay any longer. With a grunt, she turned and floated out of the hall.
She was confident that as long as she left the Great Hall of Light, Shang Xingzhou would assuredly be able to protect her. The position of Pope was already like a bubble, but the future could still be expected.
Yet the moment she floated off the platform, she realized that she had lost control of her body and crashed to the ground.
Linghai Zhiwang, accompanied by several cardinals of the Hall of Drifting Clouds, impassively arrived in front of her.
… …
… …
Terrifying ripples of Qi could be faintly felt from the depths of the pure and holy light, as well as Mu Jiushi's furious shouts. After all, she represented the Great Western Continent. After receiving Mao Qiuyu's signal, Linghai Zhiwang used the excuse of the absence of the Divine Staff to temporarily record thirty strikes of the rod. But the forbidden technique … was still a very frightening matter. One had to endure unimaginable pain and torture.
The Pope did not hear, so no one in the hall heard. It was as quiet as a sleeping sea.
Supported by Mao Qiuyu and Daoist Baishi, the Pope descended from the platform and walked to the center of the priests.
He gazed at these people that had served him for centuries and said, "Three days ago, I said that I was going to die."
Sorrowful sobs rose from the crowd.
"After I die, the position of Pope shall be passed on to Chen Changsheng," the Pope declared.
His expression was very calm as he said this. It was like he was saying that the Hall of Pure Virtue should be repaired and that the pigeons in the left garden of the Li Palace had been fed a little too fat.
After the battle of the Bridge of Helplessness, the Pope had bestowed the Divine Staff, the symbol of the Orthodoxy's authority, upon Chen Changsheng. Everyone understood what this signified, and now, he once more confirmed it.
This signified an irresistible will and majesty. The entire Orthodoxy would protect these words at all costs, all the way until Chen Changsheng ascended to the position of Pope.
With Mao Qiuyu and Daoist Baishi at their head, all the bishops, the priests outside the hall, the teachers and students of the academies, and the Orthodoxy cavalry all prostrated on the ground like a tide.
Daoist Siyuan prostrated, as did Linghai Zhiwang. Gradually, they calmed down, and then devoutly began to chant the Daoist scriptures, praising the starry sky and virtue.
The hall exploded with light.
… …
… …
"Old man Yin, my royal father will not let you go! My sister will definitely take revenge for me! "
Mu Jiushi's furious shouts could be faintly heard in the distance, gradually transforming into sobs and then fading away.
This mysterious princess from the Great Western Continent, once a Prefect of the Orthodoxy, had been expelled from the Li Palace, and she would probably never have the chance to take another step inside.
The Pope was watering the plants.
There were only three Green Leaves left in the pot. They were rather weary, but they were still alive. After the dust was wiped away, they recovered a great deal of their spirit.
"Why?" Shang Xingzhou's voice was devoid of emotion.
"You also asked before, why did Chen Changsheng become Pope?" The Pope raised his head and calmly replied, "Because I wanted him to be Pope."
Shang Xingzhou was somewhat surprised by this answer, his gaze sinking.
This was definitely not the junior brother he had known for almost a thousand years.
"Senior Brother, you said that you came to see me today to discuss the legacy of my Orthodoxy … but the Orthodoxy is not your Orthodoxy."
The Pope placed the wet handkerchief by the pool and took out a dry towel to wipe the beads of water from his hands. "If I must say which person's Orthodoxy it is, then this is my Orthodoxy."
Shang Xingzhou confirmed that his judgment was correct.
The Pope of today was no longer the Yin of the past one thousand years. Why?
He expressionlessly said, "So for the sake of your own emotional inclinations, you completely disregard the greater good of the Human race and the future of the Orthodoxy."
The Pope was quiet for a while, then said, "On that night in the Mausoleum of Books, the Empress said that I was trapped in the 'salvation of the world'. This was correct. If it was the me of the past, perhaps for the greater good of the Human race and the future of the Orthodoxy, I really might have taken back the Divine Staff from Chen Changsheng and then, as you wished, conferred the title of the next Pope on that little girl."
Shang Xingzhou asked, "Why is it impossible for the current you?"
"It's still the same words," the Pope calmly said, "I'm old and about to die. I have to live a few days the way I want to live."
When a person was about to die, they naturally had the right to be a little more unbridled. They did not need to look at the world with pity. They could be a little more free, did not need to think about the greater good of the Human race. They could be a little more short-sighted and not look at the future of the Orthodoxy.
He was the Pope, so the Orthodoxy was his, not anyone else's. If he wanted Chen Changsheng to be the next Pope, then no one else could even think about sitting on that seat.
This was very convincing.
Shang Xingzhou stared at him for a very long time, then suddenly said, "He was raised by me. I know that even if you want him to be, he won't be."
The Pope replied, "I will give the Orthodoxy to him. As for whether he wants it or not, that's his own business."
Shang Xingzhou closed his eyes and then opened them, his eyes indifferent. "A dead man cannot be the Pope."
The Pope's expression did not change. "You want to kill him?"
Shang Xingzhou expressionlessly replied, "Even if he's just a little dog, after raising him for so many years, I still have some feelings for him. How could I bear to personally kill him?"
The Pope replied, "I've never understood how you could raise a student like Chen Changsheng. Only now do I understand that he was not raised by you."
Shang Xingzhou replied, "Everything he has comes from me, so it's only natural that I was the one who raised him."
The Pope calmly said, "If he really was raised by you, how could you not know just how powerful he is on the verge of death?"
Shang Xingzhou's eyes narrowed.
… …
… …
In the library of the Orthodox Academy.
"I was raised by him."
Chen Changsheng continued, "When I want to understand him, I can especially understand him. I know that three days ago, in the Mausoleum of Books, he had me take away the Divine Empress's body because he wanted to intentionally leave some loose ends in this matter and use it to stir up trouble. Even if Martial Uncle the Pope continues to protect me, there will still be people like you who will use this matter to kill me."
Eunuch Lin nodded. "Correct, even if I didn't come to the Orthodox Academy, someone else would."
Chen Changsheng said, "But there's a problem."
Eunuch Lin arched his brows. "What problem?"
Chen Changsheng raised the sword in his hand and calmly asked, "Can you kill me?"
… …
… …
(Recently, my updates have not been good and have not been explained. Today, I will report the situation to everyone. I took my leader on a trip for several days, and then midway, I had to interrupt the trip and return home. Because my mother was not feeling well, she was hospitalized. After several days of examination and preparation, the current situation is that I will have a preoperative talk tomorrow and then sign the papers. I will strive to complete the operation on Saturday or Sunday. When I have time, I will continue writing. If I don't have the time or energy to keep up, I will tell everyone.
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