A Gift from the Holy Spirit

Fang Zheng naturally understood why Stone would ask that.

In fact, on his very first day here, after summoning the angel through the effect of Skyrending Sword, Stone and the Old Bishop had already asked Fang Zheng whether he had received the Holy Spirit's blessing. Fang Zheng neither admitted nor denied it—he merely showed an appropriate level of ignorance on the matter. And in truth, this was indeed not information an ordinary person could know. As for the data on Holy Spirit Protection, Fang Zheng only found some clues in the archives after entering the temple.

In the not-too-distant past, there had once been a group of people on this continent. They were either born with or later acquired, for some reason, the protection of Holy Spirit Angels. These Holy Spirit Angels would guard their lives and pass down the knowledge and power belonging to the angels.

People regarded this as—a gift from the Holy Spirit.

And within the temple, these people were seen as the Goddess of Order's envoys in the mortal world. They would use this power to eliminate chaos, maintain order, and strike down evil.

The Holy Spirit Knights of old were the temple's most prominent figures; every Holy Spirit Knight was a beloved hero.

But as the saying goes, the tallest tree catches the wind.

The Holy Spirit Knights thus drew the attention of Chaos Monsters and Cultists. The demons coveted the angels' power, while the Cultists sought to destroy the foundation of order. In the end, under their combined efforts, disaster struck.

They stirred up the masses, tempted those clergy within the temple who were dissatisfied with the Holy Spirit Knights' excessive power, and suppressed the Holy Spirit Knights. They even lured several young Holy Spirit Knights into corruption, causing them and their guardian angels to fall and become minions of chaos. At the same time, they used this as an excuse to investigate the Holy Spirit Knights.

At first, the Holy Spirit Knights could still accept these investigations. But soon, the temple's people grew more and more aggressive. Perhaps it was because they rarely saw the once-lofty Holy Spirit Knights in such a "docile" state, but the temple's power-holders became increasingly radical. They could fabricate any excuse to drag a Holy Spirit Knight away for interrogation. In the end, some even tried to force confessions through torture, compelling the knights to admit they were Cultists.

As time passed, the rift between the two sides grew wider. The Holy Spirit Knights had grown tired of being treated like Cultists, while the temple's power-holders, relying on the temple's backing, became ever more reckless. The conflict between them escalated gradually, which began to unsettle the Highest Bishop of the time. He tried to order a halt to this trend and sought to reduce the intensity of the investigations.

But what the Highest Bishop never expected was that his order would become the last straw.

When word spread that the Highest Bishop intended to end the investigations, the bishops below were unwilling to stop. Driven by desire and power, those bishops made a mad decision. They openly accused Antonio, the leader of the Holy Spirit Knights, of being a Cultist, imprisoned his wife and children, and tortured them to extract so-called "evidence" to force Antonio to confess.

But Antonio was not one to surrender so easily. He led his men straight into the High Court of Judgment, trying to rescue his wife and child. Unfortunately, Antonio was too late. When he arrived, all he saw were the corpses of his family.

Grief-stricken and enraged, Antonio declared his break with the temple on the spot and, in the name of the Holy Spirit Knight Order, declared war on the entire temple!

Those were the darkest of days. The Holy Spirit Knights, who were supposed to uphold order, raised their blades and attacked the temple. The temple crumbled under the Holy Spirit Knights' assault. They tried to stop it, but the tide had turned. The Holy Spirit Knights were human too, not saints. During the earlier investigations, most of them had already been simmering with anger—how could they simply nod and admit fault?

Not to mention that by then, the Holy Spirit Knight Order was no longer just dissatisfied with the investigations. They had begun to suspect that the temple had strayed from the Goddess's guidance, succumbing to worldly desires and power.

By this point, it was no longer a conflict of pride but a clash of ideals. Negotiations between the two sides ultimately broke down, and Antonio led the Holy Spirit Knights in an assault on the Supreme Holy Temple, attempting to end the temple's rule once and for all.

But at the gates of the Supreme Holy Temple, the Holy Spirit Knights finally met their obstacle—the Goddess's protection surrounded this supreme sanctuary, and they could not advance a single step.

And the College of Cardinals at the time had lost their minds. Believing that the Goddess's protection meant the Holy Spirit Knights could do nothing to them, they immediately began taunting them. They even openly declared that Antonio's wife and child had been killed by the Goddess's will, and that they were merely acting according to the Goddess's orders!

Bad teammates—no matter the era or place—always have the same effect. Driven to fury by the College of Cardinals' provocation, Antonio made a decision that shocked everyone.

He and his Holy Spirit chose to fall and become a Chaos Demon before the eyes of the crowd. Then, with a single sword strike, he cleaved through the Goddess's protection and annihilated the College of Cardinals.

After that, Antonio left only the words, "Since that's the case, there's no point in this world existing either," before turning and leaving with his fallen Holy Spirit.

And after that, the Holy Spirit Knight Order split into two factions. One part resolutely chose to fall and follow Antonio to the Twilight Borderlands. The other part chose to leave the temple forever, never to see them again.

After the internal strife and the departure of the Holy Spirit Knights, the temple was severely weakened. At that time, the Cultists and Chaos Demons began to stir, launching frenzied attacks on the continent. Without the Holy Spirit Knights, the temple's strength had diminished. In the end, though they still managed to drive away the demons and Cultists and once again ensure order, they were left badly wounded and have yet to recover to this day.

Not to mention that after that, people blessed with Holy Spirit Protection rarely appeared on the continent. Within the temple, there was even a vague rumor that the Goddess was disappointed with the temple's actions and thus no longer sent her envoys to this world. Only when the temple realized its mistakes might it earn the Goddess's forgiveness.

That was why, when the Old Bishop first saw the guardian angel behind Fang Zheng, he immediately wanted to report it to the Central Bishop Council.

But Stone clearly had little interest in that. He was more curious about how Fang Zheng had become so strong after just one night. Could this also be due to the Holy Spirit Inheritance? After all, that was many years ago. Information about the Holy Spirit Knights was now very scarce—either destroyed or sealed away. Ordinary people couldn't see it at all, even if he was a Grand Knight. So Stone was quite intrigued by Fang Zheng's "inheritance."

"I don't know if this counts as an inheritance."

As before, Fang Zheng did not confirm Stone's guess. After learning the history of the Holy Spirit Knights, he understood that this identity had its benefits but also many drawbacks. So he never acknowledged others' guesses, only selectively sharing his own thoughts.

"After I went back last night, I was thinking about how to improve my sword skills. Then I discussed it with her, and she let me have a dream..."

Facing Stone's inquiry, Fang Zheng didn't hide too much. He simply described the system as the guardian angel he had summoned through Skyrending Sword, and then recounted the dungeon experience as a dream to Stone in detail.

The reason Fang Zheng chose to speak up was not only to earn Stone's trust but also because he had planned this before coming here. That was why he had no qualms about showing his peculiarities. Even if Stone hadn't asked, he would have found an opportunity to seek Stone's advice.

The reason was simple: two heads are better than one!

Although Fang Zheng could indeed accumulate experience through battles in that world, wouldn't it be faster to have guidance from someone who had been through it? Why take the long way when there was a shortcut?

And even if he could revive, getting killed still hurt, alright?

He wasn't a masochist who only felt good after being cut down.

"There's actually a world like that..."

After hearing Fang Zheng's description, Stone couldn't help but marvel. With his greater experience, he immediately understood how hopeless the world Fang Zheng described was. A world that could only survive through the burning of flames—when the flames went out, all things would face death... Just thinking about it, Stone could feel the sorrow of that world.

But fortunately, it was just a dream.

"Hahaha, good thing it was a dream. Otherwise, with your skills, not being able to use power and relying solely on sword techniques to fight those enemies, you'd have died a hundred times over by now."

Hearing Stone's hearty laughter, Fang Zheng rolled his eyes helplessly but had nothing to say, because he really had died a hundred times over!

Maybe even more.

"Hmm... but actually, it's not completely hopeless. From the way you fought earlier, you've grasped the knack, but your methods are still a bit off..."

In the end, Stone didn't disappoint Fang Zheng's expectations. After only a brief moment of thought, he quickly began giving Fang Zheng pointers. As a Grand Knight, Stone had far more experience in this area than Fang Zheng, and Fang Zheng listened attentively to his guidance. After all, this was something you couldn't buy even if you wanted to. The system currently had no exchange function, and even if it did, Fang Zheng didn't think he could exchange for experience.

And now... with a mentor like this, wasn't it meant for learning?