Chapter 163: The Cardinal's Secret
"Think carefully about this."
Hans's eyes were cold.
"Archbishop Levi Kelly of the Exorcism Academy, Archbishop Dorian of St. Paul's in Washington D.C., and Sister Eve Haywood of the Crystal Cathedral."
"These people all have good relationships with me."
William nodded thoughtfully.
Among these people, he only knew Levi, who had threatened him at "Saint Jehovah" back then.
But as for the latter two churches, one was located in the US capital and known as the sixth largest cathedral in the world.
The other was a Diocesan Cathedral in California, blending religious and modern art styles, also holding an important position in North America.
Archbishops serving in such places must be "Big Shots."
However, with a Holy See envoy behind him, William naturally didn't need to fear.
Therefore, he looked at Hans and said: "Thank you for confessing your accomplices; I will tell Archbishop Joran truthfully."
"You!"
Hans was furious for a moment, but quickly calmed down.
When the other party mentioned the name "Joran," he realized he had been exposed.
"How did you find out?"
He believed he had acted covertly and didn't understand where things went wrong.
"Find out?"
This time it was William's turn to sound puzzled.
"Was it even necessary?"
He stared at the old man.
"What normal person would make a move on their own territory? With such wide social connections, don't you even understand 'a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow'?"
"You didn't clean up your mess cleanly either. You actually didn't eliminate the hidden danger immediately, and even let her investigate in the seminary."
"If this is called 'acting covertly,' then even street gang thugs can be called artists."
Facing William's scolding, Hans's face flushed red.
Of course, he understood who the hidden danger mentioned by the other party was.
It was just that he was wary of that person having a backup plan, so he dragged it on.
Thinking about it now, he really shouldn't have made a move at the Dei Seminary in the first place.
With so many parish churches in Philadelphia, picking one or two at random to frame wouldn't have led to today's situation. But...
Hans frowned and looked up: "Are you really from the Church?"
He thought, Aren't you here to catch me? Why are you picking on my faults instead?
"Sorry, you are too amateur, so I couldn't help myself." William shrugged.
Hans suppressed the urge to curse and spoke again:
"Let's talk about your conditions. What the Church can give you, we can give you the same."
William remained unmoved and took out some more holy artifacts from his bag.
"High-quality holy artifacts, slaves, wealth..."
"Or powerful strength. You should have heard of 'Pouring,' right? It can grant you the power of a true Demon God."
Hans's tone became more and more urgent.
"What exactly do you want? And! Why are you placing so many holy artifacts around me again?"
William stood up upon hearing this: "Isn't this for fear of you running away? So I reinforced a few more layers."
Hans was suddenly speechless.
A moment later, he seemed to think of something.
"Since you are from the Vatican, you will inevitably climb up in the future. Do you know the secret about Cardinals?"
As soon as this remark came out, William stopped his hand movement.
Hans knew there was a chance, so he continued:
"The Church has Seven Orders of Holy Orders. 'Priest' is only the second order, which can be competent as long as one masters ordinary exorcism methods."
"But a Cardinal, besides making significant contributions to the Church, must also cultivate extremely vast Holy Power."
He stared at William: "Do you know why?"
William shook his head slightly: "Not interested."
After saying that, he continued his work.
Hans was stunned upon hearing this, and then became annoyed.
Negotiations aren't done like this!
But seeing that this young priest had no intention of stopping, Hans could only continue speaking.
"Above Cardinals, there is the 'Pope' rank."
"To become the Pope, one must practice powerful Church secret arts—a ritual that allows an angel to possess the body."
"But how can mortal bodies bear the power of God?"
"Therefore, such a ritual consumes lifespan."
"However, in the thousand-year history of the Church, a way to circumvent this was indeed found, which is—Divine Oil."
"Applying it can consume the Holy Power contained within, thereby avoiding the loss of vitality."
"And the raw material of Divine Oil is precisely Cardinals."
William raised an eyebrow; this secret indeed aroused his interest.
When he first encountered Holy Oil, he had searched for content about "Divine Oil," but found no answer.
He didn't expect it to be like this.
"Does Joran know?" he asked.
"Hmph, even he is not qualified. This matter only circulates among Cardinals."
Hans snorted coldly. At this time, he no longer intended to use this information as a bargaining chip for his life.
"Then how do you know?"
"Don't forget, behind me is a Demon God."
Hans's tone was tempting.
"Those old things have lived for so many years. Even if you reach the end, you will likely become a stepping stone for their promotion."
"Otherwise, why has there never been a young Cardinal in the history of the Church?"
William was expressionless.
He didn't ask "Why do Cardinals tolerate this happening?"
Presumably, it was nothing more than an exchange between interests and power.
He sighed secretly: The Church is still that Church.
The evil in human nature will not disappear because of faith.
After setting up three more layers of isolation arrays around Hans, William finally stood up.
"Hey! You arrogant kid, sooner or later you will become a victim of the Church..."
Hans had given up persuading the other party and just wanted to try his best to sow discord between the two.
From the previous words, it could be seen that this young priest was not completely loyal to the Church.
"This is just an isolation array; you won't die so quickly." William rubbed his chin.
The atmosphere fell into silence for a while.
Hans stared at William resentfully but shut his mouth.
William shrugged, then picked up the cloth bag and walked aside.
Pulling open the curtain, the sacrificial array appeared in front of him.
At this time, the children inside all showed uncomfortable expressions. Their skin was red, and many were bleeding from their noses.
And directly above, a crucifix was floating.
To protect so many people, the Holy Power inside was running out.
William didn't hesitate and started to act immediately.
When the reversal array was set up, the crucifix was completely exhausted.
And the sacrificial array instantly operated to the extreme.
The children fell to the ground in pain again.
But it wasn't over yet.
Within the range of the array, many scarlet dead spirits suddenly appeared.
Judging from their appearance, they were about the same size as those children.
"Could they be souls sacrificed in the past?" William guessed inwardly.
As soon as those dead spirits appeared, they tried to attack the children in the array.
William immediately drove the Holy Power to reverse the evil power in the array.
But soon he found something wrong.
The resentment of these dead spirits was extremely deep, actually able to block the flow between powers.
William frowned.
"Do I have to purify all these dead spirits first?" He thought to himself.
But those children probably couldn't hold on for that long.
Just at this moment, he suddenly realized something.
William reached into the cloth bag and quickly took out the [Amulet of the Necromancer].
This thing emitted a gloomy aura and quickly attracted the attention of the dead spirits.
Seeing that it indeed had an effect, William immediately said:
"Dear little dead spirit friends, can we talk?"
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