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Edited by: Michyrr

After Chen Changsheng said those two words, it was naturally impossible for the reading of the decree to continue.

Eunuch Lin calmly gazed at him, asking, "Do you think I won’t dare kill you?"

Chen Changsheng replied, "Three days after the new emperor took the throne, he sent someone to kill the future Pope. Such a deed will go down in history."

Eunuch Lin still calmly gazed at him, speaking in a composed voice. "You are His Majesty’s cherished junior, and you also have many supporters in the Orthodoxy. Just as you said, if I really do kill you, His Majesty will be aggrieved and the capital in chaos. In order to pacify the situation, to give an explanation to history, presumably I will also be ordered to commit suicide."

Chen Changsheng replied, "But you will still kill me."

Eunuch Lin spoke with a cold expression on his face. "Because you’ve already made your position clear and I’ve sensed the danger you present. Since you’re not willing to become a minister, you can only die. When His Majesty ascends to the throne, he must awe the entire world. Anyone who still feels loyalty to the Demon Empress must die, no matter who they are. As for my own conclusion, that’s not important...because I am a stupidly loyal person."

"Stupidity does not mean you have the power to speak unreasonably, nor is it something that requires respect."

Chen Changsheng turned away from the window. The clear and cold autumn sun fell on his uniform, seeming very much like starlight.

He unsheathed his sword and inserted the hilt into the sheath.

His hand was very steady, as were his breathing and voice. "My master is in the Li Palace right now?"

Eunuch Lin slightly creased his brow. He had not expected Chen Changsheng to still be able to remain so sober and calm at this moment.

"Did you ever think about why, three days ago on the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, he didn’t kill me, and why he’s never come to visit me at the Orthodox Academy?"

Chen Changsheng looked at Eunuch Lin and continued, "Because he doesn’t dare to see me, and he can’t ensure that he’ll be able to silently kill me."

......

......

"He was raised by my hand. If I open my mouth and tell him to die, he should just obediently die. This is his obligation."

In that most quiet and secluded hall of the Li Palace, a voice clear and cold like the autumn rose up.

"If this is an obligation, Senior Brother, then why don’t you dare go to the Orthodox Academy and see him?"

The Pope’s voice also rose up.

"Why don’t I dare see him? I just don’t want to visit because of his silly depression and have him say some inappropriate words to me, making me angry."

Shang Xingzhou was no longer as ordinary as he had appeared in the last twenty years. He was still wearing a Daoist robe, but nobody would take him for some ordinary middle-aged Daoist.

He had a head of black hair run through with the occasional streak of frosty white. His appearance was handsome, his skin tender and smooth as if newly born. He was calm and indifferent, so refined that it was frightening. He was even older than the Pope, but he still looked incomparably young, his body seeming to brim with an infinite amount of energy.

The Pope looked at him and calmly asked, "Is that so? Then Senior, why have you come to see me? You’re not afraid that I’ll say something inappropriate and make you angry?"

Shang Xingzhou replied, "I came to visit you because I wished to discuss you with the matter of the successor to my teachings."

The Pope replied, "That staff?"

Shang Xingzhou affirmed, "Correct."

The Pope had confirmed his intentions. After a pause, he questioned, "Why?"

Shang Xingzhou calmly replied, "With Tianhai dead, what use is there in leaving him around?"

The Pope slowly shook his head. "As a child, he became well-versed in the three thousand scriptures of the Dao, he possesses an absolutely exceptional talent in cultivation, and there is nothing to complain about with regards to his behavior."

Shang Xingzhou calmly looked back and said, "Junior Brother, you should know very well that the succession of the Orthodoxy has nothing to do with talent, or how would it have come to you?"

The most important consideration in the succession of the Orthodoxy was how a successor would be able to make the Orthodoxy persist for thousands of generations. Candidacy truly had nothing to do with talent, only with benefit.

Back when the Li Palace was choosing the next Pope, Shang Xingzhou, who had been slightly stronger in cultivation and who was even better in terms of strategy and will, had withdrawn himself from the competition precisely for these reasons.

This was how it was one thousand years ago, how it was in their era, and so why would there be an exception now?

As he thought of the matters of the past, the Pope was quiet for a very long time. Suddenly, he noted, "His blood clearly comes from the descendants of the deceased."

Since he could not speak of talent or Dao heart, only of benefit, what he had in mind was this.

"Correct, I once promised that monk that as long as the great undertaking succeeded, Chen Changsheng, as a representative of the descendants of the deceased, would become the next Pope, and they would not contend for the imperial throne."

Shang Xingzhou expressionlessly continued, "But on that night, Tianhai shattered his mental projection, destroyed the path the descendants of the deceased had used several hundred years to construct. Even if they obtained the true legacy of the Sacred Light Continent, they would need at least several decades to break through the crystal barrier again. This being the case, why do I need to fulfill my promise and have that child become Pope?"

The Pope’s expression did not change at these words. He indifferently asked, "Then who do you want to be Pope?"

Shang Xingzhou said nothing, only clapped his hands.

The clear clap echoed through the quiet and secluded hall.

After a moment, accompanied by extremely light footsteps, a young woman entered the hall.

On that night, this young woman had also appeared at the Mausoleum of Books.

She had a very delicate appearance, tender and charming, but there was an unconcealable air of nobility and pride on her face.

Mu Jiushi, the young and mysterious member of the Six Prefects of the Orthodoxy. Even the Tianhai Divine Empress treated her differently.

The Pope did not seem surprised at her appearance. He asked, "You’re sure that you must be Pope?"

Mu Jiushi giggled and said, "I’m a very cool-headed person. I have no confidence in contending with Xu Yourong for the hearts and favor of the southerners, so I won’t go to South Stream Temple to become Holy Maiden."

She laughed very freely and openly, yet her words were arrogant and tyrannical.

"But Chen Changsheng is nothing at all. Why should I let him be Pope?"

The Pope smiled at her, but said nothing.

Mu Jiushi’s smile deepened, a smile that a young woman of her age should not have.

The words she spoke were even deeper, like words carved into wood, not at all words that should be said to the Pope.

"Did Your Holiness not say...that you were about to die?" She looked at the Pope and laughed. "Even if Your Holiness does not want me to be Pope, there’s no means of stopping me after death. Why not do it now to be somewhat more straightforward? In the future, when I’m Pope, in memory of Your Holiness’s kindness, I’ll naturally leave Chen Changsheng a path of survival."

On that night on the Mausoleum of Books, the Tianhai Divine Empress had asked the Pope for a reason. The reason the Pope had given was very clear: he was old and about to die.

This should be a fact, but the way Mu Jiushi spoke had ceased to be direct and moved on to being discourteous.

Shang Xingzhou raised his hand to indicate that she should cease speaking. He then said to the Pope, "In the latter half of my life, I want to do two things. I’ve already accomplished one."

What he spoke of was naturally the death of the Tianhai Divine Empress.

"What I want to do second, Junior Brother also knows. It is to exterminate the demons and complete His Majesty Taizong’s dying wish. You also agree with me on this, which is why you allied with me on that night. You are also keenly aware that in order to exterminate the demons, we must unite all the strength that we can unite. His Majesty Taizong completed the alliance between the humans and demi-humans, then Tianhai and you succeeded at bring the confluence of the north and south into fruition. What comes next is naturally the bringing together of east and west. Consequently, many years ago, I began grooming Mu Jiushi. When she was five, I left the position of Archbishop of the Hall of Announcements for her, so why can’t she be Pope?"

The Pope wanted to say a few things.

Shang Xingzhou continued, "I know that there has never been a case where a woman has become Pope, but you were able to support Tianhai in ascending to the imperial throne of the Great Zhou, so you should also support her. Junior Brother, you must not forget, she represents all of the Great Western Continent. Archbishop of the Hall of Announcements is not enough. We have to pay much more before we can welcome an epoch where all of humanity is truly united."

The Pope was quiet for a seemingly endless amount of time. Finally, he donned the Divine Crown, put on his Divine Robe, and walked towards that wall in the deepest parts of the hall.

The stone wall gradually parted, sacred and pure light shooting out from it and shining upon Mu Jiushi’s face. Her smile was so proud.

Shang Xingzhou glanced at her.

Mu Jiushi stepped forward and took hold of the Pope’s arm.

The Pope stopped and glanced at her.

She returned a sweet smile, with no intention of letting go.

The Pope said nothing and continued walking towards the other side of the stone wall.

On the other side was the Great Hall of Light.

Several hundred bishops quietly waited within the hall.

Tens of thousands of priests, students, teachers, and cavalry waited outside the hall.

The Pope walked to the place where the light was at its most flourishing.

Mu Jiushi stood beside him.

At this scene, many of the important figures of the Orthodoxy, An Lin and Zhuang Zhihuan included, revealed expressions of shock.

Mao Qiuyu quietly stood at the very front, his expression unchanging.

The Pope gazed at the crowd and declared, "I have a matter to announce."