The loosely organized Forest Goddess Church had always been a collection of "warlords."
The arrival of the New Era brought overseas territories and industries, but it also worsened this fragmentation.
With its decent foundation and low barrier to entry—its loose organizational structure—Lady Lin had reaped the dividends of the era and gained a great many "outside joiners." Yet from another angle, this only made the already scattered Forest Goddess Faction even more scattered. There were actually quite a few joiners like Lu, who came with ill intentions and served more than one master.
Now, he himself had two big shots backing him: Chief King Akul and Oboro Moon Lord Liu XiYan. He had also established alliances with Old Deer and the others from the Southern Petrel Faction. It could be said that he was already doing quite well within the church and was rather well-connected.
Demigods had always been the True God Church's "main pillars." Of the Forest Goddess Church's four pillars, two recognized him, one of whom was Old Liu, the most senior among them. Ordinary people neither had the nerve nor the standing to question his loyalty. Even though many knew that forget loyalty, this guy did not even possess a trace of faith.
"Who says? Didn't you see that I passed the clerical examination?"
"Quit messing around. When you took that certification exam, the two Tier 2 examiners nearly cried on the spot. They'd never seen a candidate walk in and start copying directly from the textbook. At least pretend a little."
"Given my understanding of Lady Lin, I would have nearly failed even if a closed-book exam had been treated as open-book. Anyway, no matter how I got it, I have the certificate now."
Lu PingAn had finally remembered that he had joined a "church" and