The Two Great Churches

While Leian and the others chatted, another conversation was taking place on an unnamed island in the sea between Nansen Continent and Chiyan Continent.

"Vittel, if I remember correctly, tomorrow is the day Jiadeliya holds the competition to select her nominal disciple. Why did you ask to meet me instead of taking the chance to go and build ties with her?"

At the edge of the island, atop a seaside cliff, a kindly middle-aged man in an ivory-white robe gazed out at the ocean and asked with a faint smile.

Not far from the middle-aged man, a young man in black robes stood facing the sea with his hands clasped behind his back.

If Jiadeliya and the others had been present, they would have recognized the pair at once. The middle-aged man was the Light Pope, Palmer, while the young man in black was the Dark Pope, Vittel.

At that moment, Vittel replied expressionlessly:

"Palmer, there is no need for such pointless probing. With the intelligence capabilities of your Radiant Church, I do not believe that what happened a hundred years ago could have been hidden from you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the middle-aged man named Palmer burst into laughter.

"You flatter us. When it comes to arrangements on Youquan Continent, our Radiant Church is far inferior to your Dark Church. You even managed to find the Undead Saint Archmage who had lived in seclusion for years. Impressive!"

Though Palmer's words sounded like praise, the mockery in his tone was impossible to conceal. Vittel gave a cold snort and did not respond.

During the operation to capture the Undead Saint Archmage Colin back then, he had dispatched nearly twenty Saint Realm experts at once. He had thought success was assured, but he had still underestimated the Undead Saint Archmage's strength.

In the end, not only had the operation failed, but he had also offended Jiadeliya, the Goddess of Dark Night, causing the relationship they had barely managed to repair to shatter completely.

Under such circumstances, how could he possibly have the nerve to visit Jiadeliya?

Seeing Vittel's face as dark as water, Palmer chuckled and did not continue provoking him. He steered the conversation back to the point.

"Tell me, why did you ask to meet me?"

After a stretch of silence, Vittel slowly asked:

"How much do you know about Leian, the one who became a god not long ago?"

At the mention of Leian, Palmer's smile faded, and his expression finally turned serious.

"Not much. What I know, you surely know as well. Of course, his background is simple, so none of that matters. What matters is that he became a god in a hundred years, and through the Destruction Rule at that. He is undoubtedly a genius."

Vittel seemed somewhat dissatisfied with Palmer's answer and said coldly:

"That is not what I asked. Do you think I cannot see how gifted he is? Precisely because his talent is so high, he poses an even greater threat to us.

"We went through great difficulty to lure those lower gods away. I do not want this Leian to cause the plan to fail in the end!"

Palmer spread his hands and replied helplessly:

"I understand all that as well, but who can say when someone will become a god? If nothing else can be done, we can only keep waiting."

Before he could finish, Vittel suddenly cursed:

"Wait, wait, wait! I have already waited a hundred thousand years. If I keep waiting like this, I might as well head straight to a God Plane and make my way there."

Facing Vittel's fury, a trace of disdain flashed through Palmer's eyes. He asked casually:

"Then what do you propose?"

Vittel seemed to have been waiting for that question. The anger on his face instantly vanished, and he slowly said:

"That Leian has only just become a god, and he chose to become one externally. You know the drawbacks of splitting the soul in two. That is his weakness!"

Palmer's expression changed at once, and he asked in alarm:

"You want to kill him?"

"This is an opportunity!"

After pondering for a while, Palmer slowly shook his head.

"The Destruction Rule excels most in battle. The chances of killing him are slim, and even if we succeed, there is only one divine spark. How would we divide it?"

At that, he turned to Vittel with a half-smile.

"Of course, if you are willing to act alone, I will not stop you. If you truly kill Leian, then once the plan succeeds, I will settle for Yulan Continent. Elven Continent and Youquan Continent can both be yours."

Vittel gave a cold snort at those words, then rose directly into the air and flew toward Nansen Continent without saying another word.

On the cliff, Palmer watched Vittel's figure rapidly vanish beyond the horizon. A peculiar smile suddenly appeared on his face, and with a flash, he too disappeared.

Youquan Mountain Range, the palace of the Goddess of Dark Night

Leian looked at the Elven King, Kyle, and asked curiously, "I wonder how much Mr. Kyle knows about the other gods?"

Among those present, Kyle had become a god the longest ago, so he surely knew more about gods than anyone else.

At once, the Elven King Kyle smiled and said:

"Other than the few of us, there are four other god-level experts in the entire plane. You must have heard of the Dark Pope Vittel and the Light Pope Palmer, Leian.

"The former is also a lower god of darkness, while the latter is a lower god of light. Both became gods before I did and took over as popes roughly a hundred and twenty thousand years ago."

In the era when the two great churches each controlled a continent, no one below the god level could serve as pope.

At that point, Kyle's expression turned solemn. After hesitating slightly, he finally said softly:

"Those two are not on the same path as the rest of us. If you encounter them in the future, Leian, it would be best for you to be cautious."

"Oh?"

Leian raised his brows and asked with an interested expression, "Could Mr. Kyle explain in greater detail?"

In truth, even without Kyle's warning, Leian could tell that the two popes did not have a good relationship with the Goddess of Dark Night and the others.

Setting everything else aside, among the hidden rulers of the five continents, only those two had not come. That alone was enough to explain the situation.

However, before Kyle could speak, Andrew cut in first.

"I will explain. In truth, all the conflicts stem from one thing—faith!"

As he spoke, Andrew slowly explained the conflicts born of faith. Leian listened while comparing it with the memories in his mind, and he soon understood the reason behind it all.

There was no need to mention the ancient wars between Chief Gods over faith. After the Chief Gods stopped valuing faith, the faith of various material planes gradually returned to the native gods of those material planes.

As everyone knew, the power of faith could strengthen the soul. Yet where there was profit, there would be conflict. According to Andrew, a great war had broken out in the Yulan Plane over faith long ago.

It was said that the war had been extremely brutal. Not only had countless ordinary people been killed or wounded, but several god-level experts had also fallen. It had truly been more trouble than it was worth.

Therefore, from that point onward, the god-level experts of the five continents established an agreement:

Anyone seeking the power of faith could only spread their teachings on the continent where they had been born!

As everyone knew, becoming a god in a material plane was extremely difficult. Sometimes, a continent could go more than ten thousand years without producing a single god.

Thus, in many cases, one god-level expert alone enjoyed the faith of an entire continent. For lower gods, that was actually enough.

As a result, the entire plane gradually stabilized.

However, in the eyes of the two great churches, this agreement restricted their growth. Therefore, the two great churches had been plotting against the other three continents for years.

And the root cause lay in the missionary goals of the two great churches:

What the two great churches wanted was not merely faith, but pure souls as well!