Chapter 69
Chapter 69
69 About Faith
Thorn City had a total of eight churches of the Holy Spirits Church. This was the same configuration as most large cities. Every parish of the Eight Holy Spirits had one.
The Holy Spirits Church wasn’t just a place that was in charge of satisfying the people’s faith needs. A considerable portion of the municipal functions was handled by the different churches of the Church.
For example, the Funeral Church of the Seventh Holy Spirit, the Dead, was in charge of the requiem, cremation, sacrifice, and related work for the dead. As for where ghosts usually appeared or where an undead suddenly appeared in an ancient grave in the nearby countryside, it was usually handled by the Funeral Church’s Requiem Soul Masters. Of course, they would also collect the corresponding fees.
However, the situation in Thorn City was different. Duke Simon had expressed his determination to suppress the Holy Spirits Church almost from the moment he rejected the coronation of the bishop of the First Order during his nobility ceremony.
In his more than 20 years of rule, he had driven almost all the factions of the Holy Spirits Church out of the Blackwater Province. To this day, only two churches in Thorn City were barely maintained.
William headed to one of them, the Kane Church, which symbolized the Eighth Holy Spirit.
William felt a headache when he thought of this name.
Just as one could obtain the authority of Oka or Vera through the King and Rebel ritual, in theory, one could also obtain all the mythical Holy Spirits’ authority other than the Void Sovereigns, through the corresponding mirroring rituals.
Of course, the process of mirroring the level of a Holy Spirit was countless times more complicated than mirroring normal local myths. Moreover, the resources required were countless times more terrifying.
The Holy Spirits Church had tried this in the past. For this reason, they basically squandered all the wealth the Church had accumulated since the first year of the Platinum Calendar. Later on, they even squeezed out every bit from the secular regime, ultimately causing the Church’s influence to plummet, directly causing the end of the Platinum Calendar Era and the rise of the Seven Nations Era.
Then, what was the outcome of paying such a huge price and washing so many resources down the drain?
The answer was the appearance of the Seven Calamities.
No one could maintain their human personality after being baptized by the prototype powers of creation.
The main body of the ritual, the mortals whose brains had burgeoned from the vast Holy Spirit wills, vented their strength crazily. They instinctively wanted to transform the world into something that only symbolized their rules.
Currere was built on the delicate balance of the various elementals, and having too much of one would turn harmful.
As the power of the Holy Spirits directly affected the rules that built the world, in terms of pure destructive power, the disaster was even more serious than the Moon Realm’s invasion.
The Eighth Holy Spirit worship that had appeared in the past thousand years, especially the act of binding the target of worship to a specific individual, was more or less mirroring the actions of the Holy Spirit in William’s eyes.
It was the formulation of a myth’s prototype before injecting motivation through personality faith.
As well as the main body of the ritual that drove one crazy.
At the very least, the holy signs triggered by the Kane Horn incident had proven that the Eighth Holy Spirit was currently active to a certain extent. It wasn’t like the other seven Holy Spirits who had settled into the rules of Currere.
As for this active sign, it was currently bound to him. At the very least, half of it was bound to him.
He just didn’t know what state Terra Riel was in.
From the looks of it, this process could be said to be difficult to reverse. He could only slowly remove this latent danger in the future.
However, as the Holy Spirits Church had very strict restrictions on the Eighth Order’s preaching, it was still very far from reaching the calamity back then.
However, more importantly, no living person could be the main body exercising the power of the Holy Spirit-if Terra Riel had died of old age as recorded in history.
However, there was one now.
William pushed open the spotless church door which was meticulously taken care of with a heavy heart.
Oh, that woman can’t be here, right...
William thought as he pushed open the door.
...
“Praise the Hermit, praise the Holy Spirit, Kane. You are the head of the Holy Spirits. Father pioneers the law, Mother breathes life, Elder enlightens us with wisdom, Lady illuminates the heart, Youth provides rewards, Child brings growth, and the Dead promises rest... As for you, the Hermit who stays behind the light of the seven Holy Spirits, you have given us spirituality...”
Nizemar, who had changed into a linen robe, knelt in front of the cracked figurine and prayed softly.
The footsteps behind her made her pause for a moment before she continued praying,
“You are an indestructible spirit in every living being’s heart, a never-ending desire for freedom, and the first driving force of creation... You are the most benevolent existence among the many Holy Spirits. You have once walked the mortal world twice to save Currere from damnation, and now, you are about to descend for the third time...”
“Alright, stop worshiping. I’ve never been a Holy Spirit.”
A sudden voice from behind made Nizemar stop. She stood up and looked at the person who called himself William Kane.
The person continued to say to her, “I should have already told you that I’ve never been a Holy Spirit. That’s just an identity imposed by later generations to conceal my incompetence.”
Regarding this, Nizemar replied, “But Holy Spirit Kane has walked the human world twice and saved the Vic Continent. There’s no dispute about this.”
“I only remember it as once, and I’m also a mortal, just like now.”
“Mortals aren’t capable of such greatness.”
“They can, and I’m living proof of it. You were the ones who used your ways to prove the opposite conclusion.”
As he spoke, he walked to his figurine and carefully studied the artistic image that had evolved over a thousand years. Its appearance couldn’t be said to be identical to his. It could only be said to have an unrelated face with a crack on it.
Nizemar followed behind him silently.
Some time ago, she had been in an exciting religious experience that could be considered psychedelic-confirming the appearance of the Kane Horn that the Church had been searching for centuries, witnessing an unholy conspiracy that was about to plague the land being stopped by the power of the Holy Spirit, and meeting a person who claimed to be William Kane. This could be said to be the most authentic pilgrimage for any believer.
However, after coming into contact with this man who called himself William Kane and was suspected to be the Holy Spirit in the flesh, she began to suspect something.
It wasn’t that she doubted the authenticity of the Kane Horn, but that the man was the Holy Spirit in the flesh.
This was because she couldn’t figure out why the other party would completely deny his essence as the Eighth Holy Spirit while admitting his identity as William Kane.
He tried his best to deny it even though the divinity manifestation was an ironclad fact.
Anyone with basic common sense should know that the two were only different names for the same thing. It was impossible to separate them.
This doubt had been planted ever since the other party returned from the Holy Sepulchre and she wanted to kneel to the person according to the Eighth Order’s etiquette, but he stopped her with an invisible force.
Therefore, she changed into the attire of an ascetic and came to this church to pray for solutions, hoping that the Holy Spirit could point her in the right direction.
Unless he isn’t the real William Kane.
Looking at the other party’s back, Nizemar thought.
The other party was just a magic chanter who was lucky enough to obtain the Kane Horn and disguised himself as William Kane.
It was just like the countless fake prophets the Eighth Order’s Seal Temple captured every year.
The other party wasn’t willing to claim to be the Eighth Holy Spirit because he was afraid of being punished by the Holy Spirit after seeing it manifest.
As soon as this thought appeared, all her doubts seemed to be instantly resolved.
Then, a bold thought grew in her heart like weeds.
She looked at the ancient horn hanging at the other party’s waist and subconsciously touched the silver rapier at her waist.
As long as she figured this out, her instincts as a relic hunter were triggered.
“I advise you to abandon that bold idea of yours.”
the person facing the cracked figurine suddenly spoke.
Nizemar instantly froze.
Literally.
William ignored the petrified believer for the time being. He walked forward and reached out to touch the statue before silently closing his eyes.
Then, although it was very weak to him, William felt the Holy Spirit’s blessing on him.