Training by Empty Promises

Ever since news came that the Franks were questioning the Pope's legitimacy, the atmosphere Church the Sacred Light Mountain has been somewhat unsettling.

The originally kind-faced Pope Pius VII, became even more amiable, but this "amiable" demeanor was filled with an eeriness.

Having emerged victorious from a host of rivals to seize the papacy, Pope Pius VII was clearly no saint.

He usually maintains a friendly demeanor only when his interests are not threatened. This time is different; someone actually dares to publicly question his legitimacy.

The power transitions within the Church were also fraught with bloodshed. A closer look reveals that none of the Church's high-ranking officials escaped unscathed.

While it may seem like they were only questioning the Pope's legitimacy, the Franks' move actually dragged the entire high-ranking officials of the Church into the mess.

If even the Pope is illegitimate, then the clergy appointed by the Pope must also be redefined. If this ambiguity is exposed, we'll all be doomed.

What were the reactions of various countries in mainland China?

"I am exhausted," asked the Pope Pius VII.

He hasn't been having an easy time lately either. The Franks' questioning of the Pope's legitimacy isn't unfounded.

From his origins to his power grab, a whole lot of Pope Pius VII's dark history has been exposed.

Even if the Church's high-ranking officials, whose interests align with his, stand with him, it doesn't mean he's out of trouble.

The Church of Dawn has a very complex internal structure, with other factions in addition to the ruling vested interest group.

The deeply rooted family tradition of succession added much uncertainty to the power struggles within the Church. In the process of seizing power, Pope Pius VII also offended many people.

Internal struggles cannot possibly wipe out opposing factions; otherwise, it would not be internal strife but a civil war.

These losers in the power struggles are always waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback.

Once the Pope's dark past was exposed, rumors flew everywhere on the Holy Mountain, with all sorts of gossip and rumors swirling around.

Pope Pius VII was adept at internal strife, knew very well that the Franks must have gotten so much dirt on him from someone within the Church.

At this critical juncture, he cannot do anything internally. Any inappropriate move would be politically interpreted as a sign of guilt.

Internal power struggles can be suppressed. However, external reactions are uncontrollable. If an anti-popular movement were to erupt, Pope Pius VII would have no choice but to step down in disgrace.

After all, an organization like the church cannot exist independently of its believers. The current Dawn Holy See is far less powerful than it once was, and with the majority of believers united in their will, the Church cannot stubbornly cling to power.

"The situation is not good. Eighteen countries, including the Kingdom of the Dante Kingdom, the Black Forest Kingdom, and the South Bank Kingdom, are interested in the Franks' proposal."

They are very likely to launch an attack against us at the Human Alliance meeting in July.

The Alpha Kingdom, the Warhammer Kingdom, and the Moxi Duchy called on all parties to exercise restraint, but the Alpha Kingdom proposed that all parties form a joint investigation team to investigate the truth of the matter.

They are clearly hostile towards us; if we weren't busy with the war against the Beastfolk, their reaction would probably be even more aggressive.

Bishop Solon said with difficulty.

All the statements made were bad news; remaining silent was the greatest support one could give to the Church.

Bishop Solon said that dealing with the relationship between the Church and various countries is extremely difficult in this terrible situation.

Every cause has its effect.

In their efforts to restore the glory of the Church, they offended everyone they should and shouldn't have in the past.

Normally, people are wary of the power and influence of the Church and dare not act rashly, but recently the situation has changed somewhat.

First, the Alpha Kingdom publicly refuted the Church, accusing them of colluding with Heretical Cult and attempting to overthrow the kingdom's rule.

Now that this has happened, everyone has suddenly realized that the supposedly powerful Church is nothing special after all.

Once the fear subsided, the desire to cause trouble arose. Directly challenging the Church was somewhat difficult, but following the Franks and cheering them on made them more emboldened.

Even the Alpha Kingdom, which was being brutally beaten by the Beastfolk, didn't forget to make things difficult for them.

Is it possible to form an "investigation team"?

A pope being investigated by a group of people? What kind of nonsense is that? It's obvious they want to humiliate the Church.

The most crucial point is that the Church cannot withstand investigation. If it is not investigated, at most it will only have these charges against them now. But if it is investigated, they will be found to be the largest Heretical Cult organization in mainland China.

In order to amass wealth and weaken the power of other countries, more than half of the Heretical Cult incidents on the mainland in the past century have been linked to the Church.

Many internal conflicts within the human race are also often linked to the influence of the Church.

The situation is even more serious now. If we dig deeper, they might add another charge: colluding with Beastfolk and betraying the interests of the human race.

With so many charges against him, not only is the Pope doomed, but the entire Church will also be finished.

Even if the Lord of Dawn were to descend in person, he would probably have to consider whether it was worth offending all the believers just to protect these scumbags.

"Ulise, any leads on the Blood Moon Horn?"

Pope Pius VII asked with concern.

He already has enough troubles. If the "Blood Moon Horn" also explodes, Pope Pius VII really doubts whether his family can withstand the pressure.

He had lost faith in the Order of Judgment Knights; those guys, obsessed with fighting and killing, would only make things worse.

Now we can only pin our hopes on the "Sacred Hand," which is more flexible and operates more covertly.

"Your Majesty, we have tracked down the Mountain Territory. According to information gathered by our intelligence personnel, the Mountain Territory is very likely Undead in disguise."

His strength is at least that of Magister, and he also has an adult Earth Bear by his side. In addition, the Mountain Territory has gathered tens of thousands of troops, making it almost impossible to take it by force.

Our people are communicating with him to see if we can buy him back, and so far the contact is going smoothly.

However, this person's asking price is too high, and our budget is limited. We can't squeeze out enough funds at the moment. What do you think...?

To increase the budget, Ulise would lie without batting an eye.

However, compared to the previous performance of the Order of Judgment Knights, the Sacred Hand has pushed things to this point so quickly that no one has time to dwell on it.

"Very good! Don't worry about the budget. What you need to do now is to get the Blood Moon Horn back to me at all costs. The Holy Treasury will cover all the expenses."

They also tried their best to win over the problematic Mountain Territory. Planting this seed of discord was, in fact, a good thing for the Alpha Kingdom.

"How could a mere Undead evade the investigation of the nobles of the Alpha Kingdom? This question must be answered."

Pope Pius VII said with satisfaction.

A high price depends on who it is. The Church is poor only relative to its heyday; compared to a "Undead," it is still much wealthier.

Moreover, transactions between powerful individuals rarely involve the direct use of gold coins.

Either use precious magical materials, or exchange for cultivation resources; even trading some knowledge is better than trading gold coins.

The Church's vaults are stockpiled with numerous treasures and cultivation materials used by Undead. At this critical juncture, Pope Pius VII is perfectly willing to put them up for trade.

Of course, what pleased him most was that his own intelligence organization had a handle on the other party's identity, but they dared not use it now because it involved "Blood Moon Horn," and they could not afford the consequences of being exposed.

The future is uncertain. Those willing to cooperate are good friends; those unwilling to cooperate could have their identities revealed at an opportune moment.

If we could master the method of secretly infiltrating and replacing without being discovered by the nobles, the value we could gain would be even greater.

All of this is based on the fact that Ulise's words have been confirmed. If we had known that it was all just speculation, the situation would have been completely different.

Perhaps feeling that things were progressing too smoothly and making him somewhat uneasy, Pope Pius VII added:

"Be careful when trading. The person who leaked the information hasn't been identified yet, and there might be more complications later."

On the northern battlefield, Beastfolk Five Great Royal Families gathered together. Apart from the Behemoth Clan, whose Crown Prince Alex was present, the other families were all represented by their own royalty.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The shouts of battle that filled the sky did not affect the progress of the meeting, as if the fighting outside did not exist.

Perhaps influenced by the grim atmosphere on the battlefield, the atmosphere inside the tent was also somewhat tense, and the faces of the emperors were not very good.

"The Giants, dwarves, elves... who promised to start a war with us, have not launched an attack on the human race as agreed."

If these races don't join the war, it's virtually impossible for us to challenge humanity's dominant position with our own strength alone!

"It is Eagle Emperor," he said in an icy tone.

From the very beginning, he was not optimistic about this operation.

The idea of uniting all races on the continent to overthrow the human race's dominance sounds wonderful, but putting it into practice is another matter entirely.

Even if everyone made prior agreements, when it came to the crucial moment, the allies, each with their own agendas, all failed to keep up.

It's all about self-interest. Uniting to overthrow humanity is inherently a high-risk operation, but whether the interests can match the benefits remains to be seen.

Ultimately, there can only be one dominant power on the continent; not every race has the strength to overthrow the human race.

For most races, preserving their strength is more important than unrealistic ambitions to dominate the continent.

Everyone secretly supports the Beastfolk' desire to cause trouble, but actually taking up arms and going to the battlefield is another matter entirely.

In response to the Beastfolk's actions, other races were not idle either, and in recent days they had created quite a few frictions with the humans.

Unfortunately, friction is just friction; we should think twice before we start a race war.

This is no one else's fault but theirs. During the last Continental War, didn't the Beastfolk betray all races for their own benefit?

What goes around comes around, and now it's their turn to be fooled, so naturally, no one can stand it.

The main reason was that the Elves also got involved. The pure elves had actually learned to deceive people, which was beyond the Beastfolk's imagination.

If the Eagle Emperor had personally participated in the negotiations, he would have discovered that the Elves representatives had never made any clear commitments.

However, the representatives attending the alliance were members of the pro-war faction, and in order to facilitate this war, they slightly embellished the news that came back to them.

The Lion Emperor was quite embarrassed. He was the one who had orchestrated this war, and even the alliance between the various races was his doing.

Unfortunately, there are too many clever people among the various races who want to wait for their allies to make the first move and weaken the human race before jumping out to reap the benefits.

As a result, apart from the Beastfolk who actually went for it, all other races stopped at the last minute.

"Eagle Emperor, there's no use talking about this now. The various races will pay the price for breaking their promises sooner or later."

The war has begun, and all three human kingdoms have launched a full mobilization. It's not something we can stop just because we want to.

Especially in times like these, we must be firm. Any act of weakness will only embolden humanity and lead to unpredictable disasters!

The Lion Emperor spoke with righteous indignation.

As long as you're thick-skinned, nothing is a problem. With war already underway, no one will believe a misunderstanding.

The Beastfolk army launched a powerful attack, and the human nations, wanting to preserve their strength, chose to wait and see. Once they showed signs of weakness, there would be no shortage of participants when it came time to strike while they were down.

The Human Alliance is not just for show; if there is a real chance to wipe out the Beastfolk, they will show no mercy.

On the issue of dealing with other races, the overall stance of the human race's leadership is actually consistent. No one wants these creatures to one day rise from the ashes and overthrow their own foundation.

"Eagle Emperor, please calm down. We need to unite now more than ever."

The decision by various ethnic groups on the mainland to wait and see is only temporary.

As long as we achieve a major breakthrough on the battlefield, they will still be unable to resist joining the war.

Let's put aside what happened before and discuss the upcoming war first.

The battlefield in the Alpha Kingdom has reached a stalemate. These old adversaries know us too well. Even if we break through their defenses, countless castles await us behind them...

Alex reluctantly tried to smooth things over.

The five-person meeting included four emperors, and he was the only one still the crown prince. Just thinking about it made him feel frustrated.

For the four emperors, winning this war would be a huge win.

Even if they lost, they could take the opportunity to eliminate dissidents and remove unstable factors within the royal court, except for Alex.

There are some things that the emperor can do, but the crown prince cannot. If he arouses the old Behemoth Emperor's suspicion, his time as crown prince will soon be over.

Thinking about these troubles, Alex wondered if his father was doing this on purpose, trying to kill him off prematurely by causing these troubles.

After all, given Alex's current physical condition, he can't withstand this kind of strain.

"Speed up!"

You call yourselves knights?

With this kind of reaction speed, are they just going to throw their lives at the Beastfolk?

Hudson reprimanded him sternly.

Ever since they sensed the danger at the front, the members of the Coslo Family have been in for a rough time, facing the most rigorous military training yet.

Even Baron Redman was running in the ranks at this moment.

Military duty is an inescapable responsibility for every nobleman!

On the battlefield, Beastfolk don't care about your status. The higher your status, the happier they'll be to kill you.

To increase the survival rate, Hudson decisively chose intensive training. All the tribesmen who needed to go to the battlefield received the treatment of grueling training.

Running alone would be no challenge for these knights. But under the Gravity Domain of Beldens, it was a different story.

Everyone felt as if they were carrying hundreds of pounds on their backs; walking normally was barely possible, let alone running quickly.

The protests were ineffective, and once Hudson arrived at the training ground, he became ruthless and unrecognizable.

Beldens Stearns, who was having a great time, was even less likely to do favors.

The man and the bear, like devils, forced them to train.

The effect is fantastic; once they leave the Gravity Domain, their reaction speed is greatly improved.

However, it is still far from meeting Hudson's requirements.

In ordinary times, when nobles duel, the one with the higher cultivation level will almost always win. However, it's a different story when it comes to life-or-death battles on the battlefield.

Any unexpected situation can affect both sides in a conflict. It is common for the strong to die at the hands of the weak.

While we may not have the opportunity to experience life-or-death situations, we can still strive to improve our physical reaction speed.

These people are all elites of the Coslo Family. If they all die on the battlefield, Hudson will not be able to support the family by himself.

If the battle goes against them, those with quick reflexes can follow their lead and make a strategic retreat.

As long as he can protect these elites, even if his entire army is wiped out, he can always raise another force.

The most typical sign of the decline of a great noble family is that its population is sparse, or that its descendants are all useless.

A noble family that has lost its direct descendants and relies entirely on outsiders will soon be drained of its resources.

In this era that values lineage, family is the best bond of interest, far more reliable than any alliance.

Even if not all of these people were loyal to Hudson, their level of loyalty was generally higher than that of outsiders.

Hudson only stopped to wipe his sweat after everyone was exhausted from the ordeal.

Although his physique was much stronger than that of ordinary people due to the nourishment of the Mysterious Compass power, he would still eventually get tired and exhausted.

Beldens' Gravity Domain is great in every way, except for its indiscriminate attack.

The trainees were suffering, and Hudson, whose instructors received the same treatment, wasn't much better off.

"Hudson, this training intensity is too much for us, I'm afraid..."

Before Baron Redman could finish speaking, Hudson interrupted:

"Father, rest assured, I am active in the Gravity Domain just like you, and I am very aware of how much your bodies are being strained."

As long as you eat more nutritious foods, you can make up for what your body has lost. Don't worry about the expenses; if everyone shares the cost, it won't be much.

It only costs an average of two or three gold coins per day, which can enhance survivability on the battlefield. Such a good thing is something you can only dream of outside.

Moreover, this level of training is also beneficial to everyone's cultivation. I have clearly felt that the speed of the Life Seed's circulation has increased by nearly 20% recently.

Especially for you knights stuck at your current bottleneck, if you persevere a little longer, you might just break through your current level.

Hudson continued to bluff his way through the situation.

Whether this training can lead to a breakthrough in realm, only the Lord of Dawn knows.

What he needed to do was to convince these people that the current training could both enhance their ability to survive and improve their strength.

If their strength hasn't improved, it must be because they haven't been training hard enough. Anyway, with so many people here, Hudson doesn't believe there aren't a few who have broken through in their cultivation.

As long as a role model emerges, this "pie-in-the-sky" training method can continue.

The perfect answer left Baron Redman swallowing back all the words he wanted to say.

For a knight, the temptation to advance further in cultivation is simply too great.

Now they're fooling the officers, but they'll extend this to the entire army and fool the soldiers too.

The theoretical foundation must be improved.