The old priest's name was Richter Belmont. He was just an ordinary priest with some experience before, but he suddenly became the new pope!
No one raised any objections; everyone was simply waiting for the new pope's coronation ceremony.
Rejuvenated, Richter surveyed his surroundings with a commanding gaze and announced on the spot that he would reform the Holy See.
He declared that he would restore the former glory of the True God and let everyone in the world feel the greatness of the Only True God they believe in.
He rebuilt the priesthood, rebuilt the Heretical Inquisition, cracked down on all deviant beliefs, and declared all other gods to be evil gods.
He also declared the Vatican the only holy city, demanding that believers worldwide make a pilgrimage there within a month, and prohibiting other countries from interfering with their people's freedom of religion, or else they would face the consequences.
Most importantly, he personally destroyed the originally white statues and replaced them all with blood-red, upside-down statues.
Richter's words were bold and domineering, and cheers erupted once again, with the hymns of the young men and women resounding through the sky.
The events in the Vatican spread across the globe almost overnight. Aside from the celebrations of believers around the world and the furious condemnations Richter followers of other religions, most netizens simply laughed it off and didn't take it to heart.
Ordinary people are all focused on discussing the supernatural phenomena happening in their own countries.
Despite the fact that many supernatural events are quite blatant, most countries still use various flimsy excuses to cover them up, choosing to conceal them from the public in order to maintain order and stability.
However, once the Vatican incident occurred, the existence of the extraordinary could no longer be concealed.
Moreover, with capital cities and decision-making leaders around the world being harassed by supernatural events, the public recognition of extraordinary existence is inevitable.
The Vatican has been making a lot of moves lately, but no one dares to interfere, after all, it is a sovereign and independent country.
Of course, what countries fear most is that mysterious True God. They have precise video and video evidence, and the Holy See has developed a complete system of supernatural powers. Under these circumstances, no one dares to act rashly before figuring out what the True God really is.
However, some elderly financial tycoons and nobles, after confirming that Pope Richter had indeed Rejuvenation, all became envious and sought opportunities to contact the new pope.
Among the countries that remained calm or simply observed the situation, only Italy panicked, because the Vatican is located within Italy, and a significant portion of Italy's population believes in that True God!
As the Holy See's actions intensified, Italy grew increasingly apprehensive. Already embroiled in the chaos caused by supernatural events, if the Holy See were to suddenly go mad, spouting nonsense about faith and bonds to launch a holy war, challenging the existing social order with divine authority, Italy would be doomed!
"That's really interesting."
Having just finished a large-scale cosplay event, Du Zhong transformed from his Blood-Red Hanged Man form back to his original appearance: a brain trapped in a glass tank, wrapped in black chains, resembling a bizarre jellyfish.
That's right, the so-called "True God" was actually Du Zhong in disguise. He was already very skilled at this kind of thing and could even impersonate different gods simultaneously online.
With Hu Jiu's full help, Hu Jiu is skilled at creating various Phantom, Du Zhong's appearance this time was exceptionally grand.
"These people are so interesting. Many of them have seen through my facade, but they would rather revise doctrines and the Bible than question me. They even rush to believe in me, acknowledging me as the True God more firmly than anyone else. What exactly is this so-called 'faith'?"
Faced with Du Zhong's doubts, Hu Jiu said seriously, "The essence of faith is the projection of fantasy, using ethereal and illusory comfort to alleviate the unbearable suffering in reality, or to maintain the ruling class. Apart from those brainwashed fanatics, everyone else is weighing the gains and losses."
Du Zhong gave Hu Jiu a strange look and sighed, "As expected, it's always you. You're always so cold-blooded. After causing harm to the people, you can still talk eloquently to them and analyze their psychological state."
Hu Jiu laughed, "If I don't speak eloquently, am I supposed to empathize with them? Don't be ridiculous. Having finally escaped the sea of suffering, would I just stand on the shore and laugh at others? We should be grateful for our good fortune, otherwise you and I would just be one of these manipulated beings."
"..." Du Zhong was speechless for a moment.
Hu Jiu is a vicious person, and he never pretends to be vicious. In fact, all his shrewdness and intelligence stem from his viciousness.
Most of the time, Hu Jiu's intelligence is no different from that of an ordinary person, but when it comes to cheating or harming others for personal gain, Hu Jiu's mind works faster than anyone else's.
In this performance impersonating the True God, Du Zhong originally planned to appear before believers in the standard image described in the Bible. He had always done this when impersonating other deities before, as a deity's image that conforms to their understanding is more easily accepted by believers.
However, at Hu Jiu's suggestion, Du Zhong descends in the form of an evil god, exposing the ugliest side of human nature, creating a powerful dark humor effect.
Du Zhong enjoyed the amusing farce, but he was still somewhat puzzled. "You made me appear as an evil god just for fun? I feel like you have some ulterior motive."
Hu Jiu didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "After playing cosplaying gods for so long, don't you feel tired at all?"
Du Zhong thought for a moment, "It is indeed tiring. It's okay when I'm only impersonating one or two gods, but with more and more identities, I'm really starting to feel overwhelmed. My original intention was to play a game, but now I need to respond to the prayers of different believers at fixed times, which feels like a job. It's gradually deviating from my original intention, but I've already spent so much effort and energy on it, so I'm reluctant to give up."
Hu Jiu chuckled, "That's the difference between you and me. We both stir up trouble behind the scenes, but I release the Fierce Ghost and then let them develop however they want, as long as they don't get out of control in the general direction."
"And you... my friend, you not only do everything yourself, but you also appear in the image of a true god. True gods often symbolize the benevolent and kind side of human nature, and believers have more positive demands of true gods. In order to maintain the dignity of true gods, you have to appear from time to time, so it's understandable that you feel tired."
Du Zhong lowered his head and pondered for a few seconds, "That's true, but can I change this situation by impersonating an evil god?"
Hu Jiu nodded. "Having you impersonate an evil god is mainly to stimulate the initiative of those believers."
"When you impersonate a true god, the true god's followers lack destructive power. These followers, aside from spreading their faith and boasting about the existence of their own deity, will directly pray to the true god for any other needs, hoping to gain something without effort. They won't do much unless you give them divine pronouncements. But the followers of evil gods are a different story..."
Du Zhong was puzzled. "Although I appeared in the world as an evil god this time, on the surface, the Holy See Vatican venerates me as a true god. What's the difference?"
Hu Jiu said, "The difference is huge. If you don't believe me, look at the new Pope Richter. Guess why he made such a big fuss as soon as he became the new pope? He demanded that believers all over the world make pilgrimages, interfered with the freedom of religion of people in other countries, and even defined the gods of other religions as heretics. He's practically courting death."
Du Zhong fell into deep thought, his cerebral cortex fully engaged, and after a long while, he finally came to his senses.
"The Blood-Red Hanged Man is completely different from the image of God in the Bible. Ordinary people can see that the Hanged Man is an evil god, not the True God. But in that situation, the Holy See had no choice but to accept the Hanged Man as the True God, which was essentially a change of faith, recognizing a thief as one's father."
"What's worse is that the Holy See's act of 'recognizing a thief as one's father' was carried out in full view of the public. The video footage spread across the entire internet overnight, and countless netizens could see through it all. For the sake of profit and life, the Holy See abandoned its original faith, becoming a clown on a stage, allowing the Blood-Red Hanged Man to usurp the position of God."
"After Richter became the new pope, he made such a big fuss, almost launching a holy war on the spot, simply to use a major event to cover up the fact that the Holy See betrayed its faith, and to show off the divine power it possessed, silencing those who saw through the truth. After ten or twenty years, the image of the Hanged Man will be deeply ingrained in people's minds, and the public will gradually forget that the Holy See had changed its faith. In any case, religions will evolve with the times to adapt to the times."
"Clap clap--" Hu Jiu clapped for Du Zhong. "You're absolutely right. It's just a pity that this world doesn't have a decade or two to allow the Holy See to whitewash itself. It will perish in three years at most. Richter caused such a commotion, and you and I could have fished in the mud and fanned the flames, letting a small matter quickly escalate to a point of complete chaos..."
Du Zhong hesitated, then finally said, "In terms of committing evil, I am truly far inferior to you."
"Thank you for the compliment." Hu Jiu glanced at him sideways and reminded him, "Don't get too emotionally invested in the game. When this world is destroyed, I don't want to see you leading a bunch of useless cowards."
Du Zhong felt a little embarrassed, thinking of his adorable fanatical followers, "If I really wanted to take a few people with me, what would you do?"
A pure and extreme malice flashed in Hu Jiu's eyes. "If you don't need my help, I'll pretend I didn't see this."
"If you need my help taking care of someone, then I'm really sorry, but I'll lock them in a special Ghost Domain, where they'll be forever hunted by Fierce Ghosts in Supernatural movie set, unable to live and unable to die, in an endless cycle of reincarnation."
Du Zhong shuddered and immediately changed the subject, "How's the situation in Jing City? And what about the capitals of other countries? How long do you plan to besiege them?"
"I'll wear down all the responsible, capable, and intelligent people, then lift up a bunch of incompetent fools. At that point, I'll temporarily withdraw, giving them a chance to breathe, and watch them destroy themselves," Hu Jiu said matter-of-factly.
"What a scourge to the country and its people!" Du Zhong's voice carried a hint of mockery. "I don't want to keep creating new deity avatars. What are your plans next?"
Hu Jiu: "I originally planned to have you cosplay the gods of all the major pantheons as evil gods, bringing a glimmer of false hope to the humans of this world. To survive, they would distort themselves, mistaking evil for good, and deceiving themselves into believing in evil gods. Just when they thought they had been saved, the truth would be unexpectedly revealed, telling them that all the gods were imposters, deceiving them all along the path to death, causing everyone to die tragically in endless despair!"
"But since you think cosplaying as a deity is tiring, then forget it. After all, I'm always a considerate boss, and this plan is just icing on the cake, so canceling it won't have much of an impact."
Hu Jiu said, "Chaos has already arisen, and the native Supernatural of this world are gradually reviving. You and I can simply fuel the flames. But there is something more important now, not originating from within this world, but from outside it."
Du Zhong completely Neglect the terrifying things Hu Jiu had said earlier and immediately became serious, "What happened?"
Hu Jiu looked up at the sky, and a strange red hue seemed to flash across the distant horizon.
"Perhaps we've created too many vulnerabilities in the barriers of this world, attracting the Red Moon hanging above the Ghost World. Its light keeps trying to invade, and I've diverted some of my power to block it, but I certainly can't hold it off for long. After all, I don't want to expend my energy protecting this world."
"He's like a persistent ghost," Du Zhong muttered. "I suspect Red Moon might be alive; he probably wants to invade this world to gain an advantage and strengthen himself."
Hu Jiu nodded in agreement. He, Du Zhong, and the Red Moon were all within the Ghost Tamer system. For Ghost Tamers, constantly creating bugs and triggering Supernatural Revival in a healthy world could yield considerable benefits.
Putting aside other things, they have already controlled quite a few local resurrected Fierce Ghost. Some of these Fierce Ghost, with their extremely tricky rules and unique effects, have even won Hu Jiu's favor, enriching his collection.
This world was like a fertile, uncultivated field. Hu Jiu and Du Zhong casually scattered their seeds, but just as the fruit was about to ripen, the Red Moon arrived.
Hu Jiu also suspected that Red Moon possessed consciousness and intelligence, and was alive. Perhaps she was once a Ghost Tamer gradually evolved into a non-human form during her growth, just like Hu Jiu's original form, the Bronze Ancient Tree, which looked no different from a fossil from a distance.
If someone were standing in the Ghost World at this time, they would see a very peculiar sight—
The enormous Red Moon emitted an eerie light, and the world below seemed to be particularly favored by this moon, its bright crimson light converging into a single beam, attempting to pierce through the barriers of the world.
A colossal Bronze Giant Tree, its branches and leaves spreading out, cast a shadow, blocking the pervasive bloodlust. The crumbling world found refuge in the shadow, but the tree's roots had already penetrated deep into the world's walls, which were riddled with cracks and holes, on the verge of collapse.