"Church internal materials once mentioned that part of the Life School believes in the Primordial Moon. Previously, we thought the Primordial Moon was some avatar of the Bound God, but from the current situation, it appears not to be. On the contrary, you seem to have irreconcilable conflicts..."
After a long silence, Koliqi finally sensed that the vague, watching gaze had disappeared, and spoke of his understanding of the Primordial Moon.
"Well said. This is also one of my purposes for bringing you here. Haha, two demigods suddenly disappeared while executing a mission to clear rebel forces on the Southern Continent. Coincidentally, those rebel forces have close ties to the Rose School of Thought. And on the entire Southern Continent, who has the capability to cause the disappearance of two demigods?
After suffering such humiliation and loss, who do you think the Intis military and Eternal Blazing Sun Church will target? If I'm not mistaken, two angels will probably come to the Southern Continent."
Since everything was under control, Nimrod didn't mind revealing part of his plan to Koliqi.
His choice of timing for this action was precisely to provoke conflict between the Intis military and Eternal Blazing Sun Church against the Rose School of Thought, facilitating his own profit from the situation.
First, he could secretly strike and see if he could eliminate a few Rose School demigods, thereby gaining the Highland Princess's favor and reaching cooperation with her.
Second, he could use the power of the Eternal Blazing Sun Church and Intis to clear the Rose School's sphere of influence on the Southern Continent, removing obstacles for the Primordial Moon cult and his future forces.
Third, he could reduce the Mother Tree of Desire's encroachment on lunar domain authority, helping the Fallen Mother God strengthen her control over the lunar domain.
As for whether the Rose School would deny involvement? He hadn't considered it at all. Even if they denied it, who would believe them?
"Your Highness wants to provoke conflict between us and the Rose School of Thought, thereby planning something from it?"
Hearing Nimrod lay out his entire plan, Koliqi listened with a grave expression, silent for a few seconds, then suddenly spoke:
"The battle of angels will destroy the Southern Continent..."
Hearing Koliqi's concern, Nimrod uncrossed his legs, stood up from his seat, and smiled:
"Don't worry, they'll at most have some minor friction that won't cause much damage to the Southern Continent. Even if they really can't restrain themselves, aren't there the Seven Gods in the astral realm? It's not our turn to worry.
Please stay here for these days, Archbishop. When things are over, I'll have Dean present our conditions and personally escort you back to Kadra city.
Don't worry, we'll prepare Intis-style food and wine for you daily. Oh, I forgot - my memory! Devout believers of the Eternal Blazing Sun don't drink alcohol, do they? Dean, tell the kitchen later to replace the Archbishop's daily wine with milk or water."
"I obey your command, great God's Child."
Walking to the cell door, Nimrod opened the closed black iron gate. Looking back at Koliqi, who had closed his eyes and sat silently on the bed, he said with a playful tone:
"If you want to pray to the Eternal Blazing Sun every day, that's fine too. I won't have anyone monitor or stop you. Because no matter how devoutly you pray, He won't hear you. The only one who can hear you is me. Hahaha!"
With a "bang," as the cell iron door closed tightly, the "Lightless One" Koliqi sighed, clasped his hands together, and began praying under the dim candlelight.
In the narrow, long prison corridor with torches on both sides, Nimrod walked ahead and asked Dean beside him:
"I didn't expect you were once one of the candidates to succeed as the next Pope of the Mother Earth Church? If you hadn't left the Mother Earth Church back then, you might very well be an angel now. Can you tell me why you left the church? The outside world spreads rumors that you misunderstood the Mother Earth's teachings, but I don't believe that."
Hearing the God's Child's inquiry, the bald man Dean beside him fell into silence, as if recalling something he didn't want to remember.
Noticing the other's silence, Nimrod raised an eyebrow and said:
"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't need to force yourself. I'm not the type who likes to get to the bottom of everything - I'm just curious about everything."
"No, this isn't something I can't talk about. God's Child, do you know the advancement ritual for Classical Alchemist?"
Dean shook his head, indicating he had nothing unwilling to discuss.
"Mm, let me think - it seems to require crafting a Philosopher's Stone?"
"Correct. The ones truly distorting the Mother Earth's teachings weren't me, but them."
"There's something wrong with the Mother Earth Church's internal advancement ritual? Or is there a problem with this Philosopher's Stone?"
Nimrod seemed to see gossip unfolding and asked curiously:
"Crafting the Philosopher's Stone requires a large number of souls - insects, animals, humans, fish souls all work, but using human souls to craft the Philosopher's Stone has the highest success rate..."
Hearing about using human souls to craft the Philosopher's Stone, the smile on Nimrod's face immediately froze, as if he guessed what Dean would say next.
Not noticing that the God's Child before him had fallen silent, Dean continued in a flat tone, as if suppressing a ball of rage:
"During the advancement ritual, my Philosopher's Stone had major flaws because it was crafted with fewer human souls, causing me to nearly lose my sanity on the spot. Normally, I would have had almost no chance of becoming a demigod.
But I still succeeded - successfully advanced to become a Classical Alchemist, becoming a saint with divinity. They never told me how I managed to complete the ritual and become a demigod from a state of lost sanity and near loss of control. I could only attribute it to the Mother Earth's blessing.
But in a chance conversation, I learned the truth of the matter."
Speaking here, Dean raised his scarred face and said in a narrative tone:
"To ensure my successful advancement, Mother Superior Roland sent nearly two hundred slaves from Loen, Feysac, and the Rhosid Archipelago into the great hall where I was conducting my ritual! In my state of near loss of control and lost sanity, I killed them and seized their souls, thus completing the Philosopher's Stone and finishing my advancement at the last moment of the ritual.
I became a demigod by using their lives as stepping stones..."
"So you questioned that Mother Superior's decision? And began to break with the Mother Earth Church? Finally being sent to the tribunal..."
After hearing Dean's account, Nimrod sighed, his understanding of the Mother Earth Church deepening another layer.
Undeniably, the major churches made great contributions to social stability. Numerous Nighthawks, Punishers investigated extraordinary cases and evil god worship, serving as indispensable protective forces for ordinary citizens.
But at the same time, decisions made by church high-ranking officials or the will of various deities would cause tremendous harm to ordinary citizens.
In the original work, the tacit approval by the Evernight and the Tyrant for George III to become the Black Emperor had caused extremely serious harm to ordinary citizens of the Southern and Northern Continents successively.
The prevalence of slave trade, the Great Smog of Backlund, the full-scale war on the Northern Continent, the flesh compressed in the depths of the Blood Emperor ruins.
Did the Evernight and Tyrant really not know of George III's schemes? No, they simply didn't care.
As high and mighty, eternally existing deities, aside from their need for anchors and the coming of the apocalypse, how could they care about these ordinary mortals...
If even deities were like this, let alone the church angels who were severely influenced by the deities...