Chapter 342: Chapter 342: 340 Church’s Secret (Part 1)_1

In the grand and spacious Prayer Hall, Archbishop Agani was leading the believers in prayer, complying with the ritual requirements.

Today was Sunday, when, according to church tradition, all believers needed to perform morning prayers.

Of course, the Prayer Hall of the church could not possibly accommodate all the residents of Swan City. So, the privilege to stand in the hall and worship was mostly reserved for the aristocratic lords of Swan City.

As for the commoners, they had to squeeze outside the church, on the square, on the streets, or even at their doorsteps.

As the prayers deepened, the white crystal scepter in Agani’s hand gradually emitted a white gold holy light. It reflected the dazzling morning light, illuminating the entire Prayer Hall and creeping everywhere, cloaking the entire Swan City with a layer of divine radiance.

At this moment, Swan City displayed its most sacred side.

Under such grand divine signs and brilliance, hundreds of thousands of believers knelt on one knee, folded their hands, and unanimously praised the supreme Lord of Glory:

“Glorify the Lord! May your glory be eternal, illuminating our way forward!”

At the conclusion of the ceremony, everyone got up with the guidance of Archbishop Agani and then composed themselves, ready to start a new day.

The nobles in the Prayer Hall also hustled off, with only Count Schultz being held back by Archbishop Agani.

“Count Schultz, has Viscount Angler not returned yet?”

Count Schultz shook his head, “Not yet. I have sent people to look for him, I believe soon…”

“There’s no need to look. I’m back.”

As soon as the words fell, Colin strode into the Prayer Hall, apologizing, “I’m sorry, Archbishop, I was late and didn’t make it in time for Sunday’s morning prayer.”

Agani smiled faintly, indicating that there was no need to worry, then curiously asked, “Did you manage to catch Lucien?”

Colin shrugged, helplessly saying, “Ah, he managed to escape again!”

Agani nodded doubtfully and comforted him, “It is indeed difficult to hold down a sixth-rank warrior who has decided to run. Nonetheless, you don’t have to worry. I’ve reported this to Dragon City. The Pope will dispatch the Holy Temple Knights to arrest Lucien.”

Colin nodded but was reluctant to speak further on the topic. He prepared to bid farewell and leave.

Seeing this, Agani asked him to stay, “Viscount Angler, could you stay for a moment?”

Upon hearing this, Colin suppressed his curiosity and nodded, “Alright.”

Count Schultz, seeing this, paid his respects, “Sir Guardian, Archbishop, I’ll take my leave.”

“Alright.”

Watching Schultz’s retreating figure, Agani suddenly smiled and said, “Viscount, Count Schultz has an incredibly respectful attitude towards you.”

Colin responded lightly, “I’m now the Guardian of the North Territory, personally appointed by His Majesty. Isn’t her attitude only expected?”

Agani looked at Colin with a meaningful gaze, and said, “So that’s the reason! I thought it might have been because of the Blood Knight Army fifty kilometers north of Swan City.”

Colin’s pupils constricted slightly, and he seemed surprised, “You know about this?”

Agani blinked her eyes and mischievously replied, “Yes, a little bird told me.”

That’s right, as soon as Colin suspected that Count Schultz might have malicious intentions, he had ordered the Blood Knight Army to come to Swan City.

In his plan, if Count Schultz, who had been converted into a bloodline, could not stand her ground under Lucien’s pressure and chose to betray, then Colin would initiate “Plan B”, allowing the Blood Knight Army to sort everything out.

Fortunately, Schultz did not disappoint Colin. In that case, Colin didn’t need to resort to bloodbath Swan Castle.

However, he didn’t expect that the Blood Knight Army, hiding outside the city, would be discovered by Agani.

Of course, Colin wouldn’t believe the nonsense about a “devout little bird” revealing the whereabouts of the Blood Knight Army. Surely the believers along the way reported it to the church.

Frankly speaking, he admired and envied the intelligence capability of the church, which he also feared.

However, this made Colin realize there might be a problem – would Schultz have known about the movement of the Blood Knight Army?

If she knew, then it might explain her actions while facing Lucien previously. Did she choose not to betray Colin because of her bloodline, or because she knew the Blood Knight Army was nearby and that betrayal would only lead to the Schultz Family’s destruction?

Just as Colin was deep in thought, Agani’s voice rang out again, “Viscount, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” Colin dismissed it casually, then asked, “You asked me to stay earlier, may I know the reason?”

“Please follow me,” Agani said mysteriously, crossing Colin to head outside.

Colin, intrigued, followed at her heel.

The two of them walked out of the Prayer Hall, descended down a spiral staircase, and arrived at a dark corridor.

Fully armored guards were stationed every few steps along the corridor, all saluting as Agani passed by.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, a large iron gate appeared before them.

The guard at the gate saluted Agani and then opened the gate.

“Viscount Angler, please,” Agani gestured for Colin to go in first.

Colin smiled slightly and stepped forward.

The space inside the gate was more spacious than Colin had imagined. It was rather empty, apart from a statue of the Lord of Glory in the center and a small pool before the statue. He couldn’t help but wonder why such a large space had been dug underground just to house these two things.

He looked around and saw no source of light, yet the entire space was filled with Holy Light; darkness had no place to hide here.

Thud!

Once Agani entered, the iron door closed again behind her.

Colin turned around and asked, “What place is this?”

Agani did not reply. Her eyes were somewhat clouded, as if she had not heard Colin’s question. She simply walked slowly towards the statue.

Frowning, Colin followed her.

Upon reaching the statue of the Lord of Glory, Agani fell devoutly to the ground and began praying silently.

With reluctance, Colin also knelt down on one knee, but his gaze kept flickering towards the pool in front of the statue.

The pool wasn’t large, with a diameter of about three meters, and the water in it wasn’t deep.

However, he was surprised to find that the water in the pool was not ordinary water, but it looked more like holy water!

Gulp…

Colin couldn’t help but swallow discreetly.

After a while, Agani finished praying and stood up again.

Immediately, Colin asked, “Is that holy water in there?”

Staring at the faceless statue of the Lord of Glory, Agani answered without turning her head, “No.”

A bit disappointed, Colin asked again, “Then what is this?”

At last, Agani turned around, her eyes filled with peculiar meaning, she said softly:

“These are all accumulated power of faith.”

“Power of faith?” This was the first time Colin knew that faith could manifest physically.

“Yes.

Divine beings protect humans with power, humans serve divine beings with faith.

Every time a person prays to the Lord, they generate power of faith, which is then collected by the grand cathedrals of the dioceses and gathered in spaces similar to where we currently are.”

Rubbing his chin and staring at the rippling waters of the pool, Colin asked, “So what is the use of this power of faith?”

Agani shook her head, “The training of priests requires the power of faith, but we only need a very small part of it. The vast majority of the power of faith is needed by the Lord.”

Nodding his head thoughtfully, Colin asked, “This should be a secret of the Church, why are you telling me this?”

Without answering his question, Agani continued on her own, “Do you know? The power of faith is gathered in this space and liquidated in the holy pool, and then is absorbed by the Lord through the statue.”

“So?” Colin was a bit confused.

Agani pointed to the pool before them and asked heavily, “Do you see, the ‘water’ in the pool, Has it been absorbed?”

Colin squinted, watching for a while, he realized that the ‘water’ in the pool was not decreasing, but was instead increasing.

Since it was Sunday, Agani, the archbishop, had just presided over the morning prayer, thus the power of faith surged and quickly filled the pool, and then—

It overflowed!

“What will happen when it overflows?”

“The liquidated power of faith will disappear as soon as it leaves the holy pool.”

Indeed, Colin watched as the “water” disappeared upon overflowing.

At this point, he realized something was amiss.

If the Lord of Glory needed this power of faith, why would he let it overflow and not collect it?

“Could it be…there’s something wrong with the statue?” Colin guessed.

Agani shook her head with a solemn voice, “Every holy pool below the Grand Cathedrals of Glory across the North Territory is like this, even the one in Dragon City. The power of faith is not being absorbed but overflows from the holy pool, wasted.”

Colin narrowed his eyes, asking with heavy expression, “I still want to know, why would you show me this?”

What Agani revealed to Colin, if leaked out, would absolutely trigger a crisis of faith!

The Lord of Glory stopped accepting the offerings of humans, what did this imply?

Agani still didn’t answer this question, but countered with, “Do you know why the Dark Emperor was killed three hundred years ago?”

Colin’s heart stirred. He said, “Could he have discovered this secret?”

“Yes.” Agani nodded, “However, what actually sealed the Dark Emperor’s fate was a phrase he once said.”

“What did he say?”

“He said…”

Agani’s expression suddenly became extremely complex:

“The divine beings are dead!”