WTYTIAAN Chapter 279

Chapter 279

Chapter 279

Saintly Radiance Crown Island.

Yan Yunqing looked from afar. The Light Church’s temple stood tall on the island, built entirely of pure white, marble-like stone. The walls were carved with exquisite reliefs, probably murals. Sunlight shone down, and every line refracted tiny fragments of light, as if surrounded by twinkling stars.

The rebuilt Light Church was not much inferior to the Light Church during the Light Empire era. It should be noted that that was the most prosperous period of the Light Church when the entire empire was controlled by the Light Church.

But what attracted Yan Yunqing’s attention was not the grandeur of the Light Church’s temple, but the winding dozens of miles of people on the only road leading to the Light Church’s temple.

Those people were ragged, most of them didn’t even wear shoes, and walked barefoot on the path covered with gravel, drawing out streaks of blood without stopping. They kowtowed every step of the way, the expressions on everyone’s faces almost frenzied, repeating the same action madly.

There were white-haired old people, and children who couldn’t even walk clearly.

Even if they fell and were covered in injuries, they had to quickly get up and continue walking and kowtowing. No one could straighten their backs.

Yan Yunqing tried to grab someone to ask, but was struggled away when he touched them. The person he stopped didn’t even look at him, his eyes only on the magnificent temple.

It was like… a pilgrimage.

Too weird.

Yan Yunqing frowned. At this crucial time, the Light Church had a group of pilgrims who were suspected of being brainwashed. It was obvious that it was not a good thing.

What did the Light Church want to do?

Could it be that Keen was really in the Light Church?

“Let’s go, let’s go in and take a look.”

Yan Yunqing rushed along the direction of these pilgrims, and tried to stop them several times on the way, but received no response. Only then could Yan Yunqing completely confirm that these pilgrims were probably really brainwashed or controlled.

What did the Light Church want to do by controlling these people?

Going deeper, passing through the gilded dome leading to the temple, they finally entered Saintly Radiance Crown Island. They weren’t stopped along the way and followed the pilgrims up the Saintly Radiance Crown Island.

Yan Yunqing thought that their appearance would attract some attention, or perhaps some members of the Light Church would come out to stop them, but nothing happened.

Everything was unbelievably smooth.

It wasn’t until they reached the Sacred Plaza outside the temple that these pilgrims finally stopped moving forward, but all knelt down on the ground, sincerely facing the huge statue in the very center of the Sacred Plaza.

From their perspective, they couldn’t see the face of the statue clearly, but they could only see that it was a statue with its hands crossed, gently placed on its chest, its robe flying, and its merciful eyes lowered as if looking at this group of pilgrims.

Yan Yunqing looked around, and only saw ragged pilgrims. There were no members of the Light Church. Obviously, those people still needed a grand entrance. Yan Yunqing thought about it, and pulled Theodore and Sylph down to squat with them.

Sylph sighed, and with a gentle wave of her magic wand, an invisibility spell fell on the three of them. “Lord Theodore is not suitable for this kind of hiding.”

Yan Yunqing turned his head and stared silently at the three huge wings dragging behind Theodore.

Okay, she had a point. Theodore’s wings were too conspicuous. Anyone who saw him would focus on his wings. It was only because these pilgrims were now controlled and had no independent consciousness, otherwise they would definitely be surrounded.

At this time, one had to lament that elves were better. At least the wings of elves could be retracted.

Theodore was silent.

However, Sylph’s invisibility magic was still very strong, so Yan Yunqing didn’t pull them to squat down with him. Instead, he found a position with the widest field of vision and stood firm, ready to see what the Light Church wanted to do.

Not long after, with a creaking sound, the gorgeous and magnificent gate of the temple was pushed open, and dozens of white-robed priests walked out slowly, holding gilded shallow dishes in their hands.

Then came the Saintesses and Saints, who were also holding things in their hands. Yan Yunqing frowned. Why did he feel that this scene was a bit like the blessing scene of the Light Church in the past?

Sure enough, after all these priests, Saintesses and Saints came out, the door of the temple closed with a bang, and the towering stone pillars around the Sacred Plaza lit up one by one. Accompanied by a dull bell sound that came from nowhere, white-gold brilliance fell from above the statue, enveloping all the ragged pilgrims in it.

The high priest holding the gilded shallow dish sprinkled the liquid in it on these pilgrims.

When Yan Yunqing heard the dull bell sound, he was dazed for a moment, his head felt heavy and his feet felt light, and he staggered forward and was about to kneel down. Fortunately, Sylph and Theodore shot at the same time and held him up, so he didn’t really fall to the ground.

Even so, his mind was still muddled, and his head ached so badly that it felt like thousands of ducks were quacking in his ears at the same time, making Yan Yunqing dizzy.

Suddenly, he felt a warmth in his ear tips, and the noisy sounds slowly disappeared. After a while, he felt a little clearer.

Yan Yunqing opened his closed eyes and met Sylph’s concerned eyes.

He then realized that it was Theodore’s hand that was covering his ears, dry, with a warm temperature, helping him to drive away the noisy duck calls.

“What’s wrong with me…?” Yan Yunqing looked at Sylph. Sylph opened her mouth as if to say something, but Yan Yunqing couldn’t hear anything.

Yan Yunqing:?

Could he be deaf?

Before Yan Yunqing could get nervous, Sylph grabbed Theodore’s hand covering his ears and said again: “It’s the bell sound, it’s a ‘Soul Bell’.”

Soul Bell?

Yan Yunqing was stunned for two seconds before he realized that he was not deaf, but Theodore was covering his ears too tightly, so he couldn’t hear Sylph’s voice.

It’s good, it’s good. He thought he was deaf, that would really be dying before he even got started.

But, Soul Bell?

This word sounded a bit familiar, but Yan Yunqing had no impression of it.

“It’s the thing that Keen used to control the undead army.” Sylph wasn’t surprised that Yan Yunqing would forget this. Her expression was a bit dignified. “The previous Soul Bell only worked on the undead, but I didn’t expect it to have such a miraculous effect on living beings now.”

Yan Yunqing then realized that the ragged pilgrims around him were a little more miserable than he looked. Each of them had blood flowing from their seven orifices, constantly kowtowing towards the statue, their foreheads were already bloody and they didn’t stop, their minds were completely controlled.

Yan Yunqing’s back was sweating coldly. He didn’t have the feeling of wanting to kowtow just now, but at that moment his body was indeed out of control and he almost fell to the ground.

This Soul Bell was so powerful?

But… why were Theodore and Sylph okay?

Yan Yunqing looked at Theodore in confusion. Theodore sensed Yan Yunqing’s gaze and answered telepathically: “It should be the level…”

Yan Yunqing understood.

In the end, it was because his level was too low.

Tsk.

While they were discussing the Soul Bell, the pilgrims suddenly stopped kowtowing, and each of them tremblingly climbed up, and walked towards the temple in a slow pace. The closed temple gate opened again at some point.

Yan Yunqing exchanged glances with Theodore and Sylph and followed the team.

The blood flowing from the pilgrims’ bodies gradually stained the flawless white jade steps red, one step at a time, climbing towards the temple with pious faces.

For some reason, Yan Yunqing felt a little uneasy in his heart. Standing in front of the temple gate, he paused involuntarily. He looked up at the gorgeous and magnificent building, and finally gritted his teeth and stepped inside.

The interior of the temple was built even more magnificently. The top was a colored glazed dome, and dozens of pearls emitting soft white light were inlaid in it. The light passed through the colored glaze, and the bright white of the pearls refracted brilliant light and shadow, like dancing butterflies opening their wings.

Looking forward, in the center was a huge circular fountain. The water flowers kept surging and splashing down. The whole fountain presented a milky white color. In the center of the fountain stood a stone pillar burning with flames, and the flames were even more peculiar, being a brilliant golden color.

This was the Sacred Spring.

The source of the Light Church’s holy water.

Yan Yunqing raised his eyes and landed on the front of the temple – that was a statue a little smaller than the one in the outer square, but it was still obviously huge in this temple. The Goddess of Light lowered her eyes mercifully, as if listening to the voices of the believers.

In front of the statue, stood a young man, his face was even a bit childish, definitely not more than twenty years old. He was wearing a gorgeous Pope’s robe, holding a scepter representing authority in his hand, and looked compassionately at the pilgrims entering one after another.

In front of him was also a blood pool consistent with the small mountain village.

Those who were being controlled stepped into the blood pool without changing their expressions, and melted silently with the tumbling blood waves.

And the rest of the pilgrims who saw this scene still stepped into it unconsciously. After being wrapped in the blood waves, what was revealed was not fear, but a pure and admiring smile.

It was as if they had entered not a terrifying blood pool, but had returned to their mother’s womb – the kind of feeling of being wrapped in amniotic fluid.

Yan Yunqing felt a chill in his heart, because he found that these people were not completely controlled. They… also had extra expressions before stepping into death. Yan Yunqing even saw a child fall down, and his mother bent down and picked up the child.

But they still stepped into death without hesitation. The expressions on everyone’s faces were full of satisfaction, as if they had made some amazing contribution.

These were not pilgrims.

These were… martyrs.

Yan Yunqing was a little numb with fright at the scene in front of him. Before he could recover, Theodore had already taken a step forward and stood in front of him.

Yan Yunqing looked up and realized that the young man in the Pope’s robe was looking in their direction from afar.

Had they been discovered?

Yan Yunqing frowned, and turned his gaze to notice a holy girl kneeling at the Pope’s feet.

Her long hair was scattered, and she looked shaky. Her back view made Yan Yunqing feel very familiar.

“Unexpectedly, there are guests coming?” The Pope above the high platform slowly stepped down, looking at Yan Yunqing and the other two with interest. “Angel, elf… and a human, what an interesting combination.”

The young Pope’s voice was also young, but Yan Yunqing felt extremely strange. It was obviously a very young voice, but he heard an old feeling from it.

It was as if the owner of the voice had lived for countless days and nights.

Yan Yunqing remembered the son of the Baron he had once replaced, and what the thief he had traded with had said…

She had once seen a Saint named Xavier in the Light Church temple, but this person was unpredictable and had two faces. He had also played several Saintesses to death in the temple, but was still tolerated by the Pope…

Could it be…

“Xavier?” Yan Yunqing tentatively called out this name.

Unexpectedly, the young man actually agreed readily, and looked at him with surprise, “Oh? It seems you know – the previous me?”

The previous me?

Yan Yunqing’s thoughts flashed in an instant, as if he had found the only thread in the ball of wool.

“You are not Xavier.” Yan Yunqing found the name from the depths of his memory and said in a deep voice, “You are Tobias Dewitt?”

Tobias Dewitt.

The signature that once appeared on Xavier’s Sigrid Academy recommendation letter, the current Pope of the Light Church.