Priest

Adam took the various materials. First, he built a fire, then arranged the corpses of several beasts in a circle around it, symbolizing the beasts dying because of the light.

He then took some holy water, called Adel over, mixed it with Adel's tears, and had him hold it himself.

Adam glanced at the surrounding mutants who had gathered to watch and lowered his head, chanting some vague incantations.

In truth, he was merely reciting a passage from the Divine Word backward, muttering it in indistinct words at excessive speed.

The Tears of God Ritual leaned more toward divine arts and chiefly borrowed the power of God, so its threshold was not particularly high. It could even be said to have no threshold at all. As long as one had the required materials and knew the procedure, most sound-minded people with the relevant theological knowledge could perform this ritual.

But most mutants could barely flee the church fast enough. Where would they find the time and energy to study theology?

Even Adel, who was extremely skilled at worship, lacked much of the relevant knowledge.

"For example, these beast corpses symbolizing the beasts may look as though they are merely arranged around the fire, but even the placement of each kind of beast has its own particular rules." Adam divided the holy water into two unequal portions again and poured them respectively into the soil from the highest place and the soil from the lowest place.

The surrounding mutants watched with utmost attention. Adam was certain that once they returned, these mutants would definitely try it out for themselves first.

Only after they failed would they place all their hopes entirely upon Adam.

The soil from the highest place symbolized the most prosperous land of the Age of Divine Revelation. The church had not yet risen to prominence then, so the holy water poured in could not submerge the soil.

The soil from the lowest place, together with the holy water, symbolized the lake formed from the Tears of God. Therefore, the holy water had to submerge the soil.

After dealing with the two bottles of soil, Adam said to Adel, "Drink half the water, pour the other half over yourself, then jump into the fire!"

Adel froze, but he still followed Adam's orders. After hesitating for a while, he raised the mixture of holy water and his own tears to his lips and drank it. His body immediately began to convulse involuntarily.

This was far more painful for a mutant than worship, but Adel still completed the remaining steps. He poured the rest of the water over himself and leaped into the blazing fire.

The church's fondness for burning people at the stake was inseparable from the calamity suffered by the beasts during the barbaric age. In most churches, light was believed to be a blessing, but when it grew too intense and transformed into fire, it became punishment.

Flames coiled around Adel's body, scorching his skin. When he opened his mouth, thick black smoke poured out.

Adam nodded. Adel had quite a few flaws, but he really could endure. As a mutant, coming into contact with holy water—if he had not drunk a potion before this, his throat and stomach would likely have been burned straight through.

Strangely enough, when the pain inside and outside his body mixed together, Adel felt even more pain.

Yes, the two kinds of pain produced a marvelous reaction. They no longer added together but multiplied, making the agony surge severalfold. The pain seemed to pierce straight into his soul. Though Adel's eyes were shut, he seemed to see hell and heaven.

Adam was in no hurry. This pain was indispensable; otherwise, how could Adel withstand the chief priest's probing holy power?

He picked up the bottle containing soil from the highest place, poured out the soil within, and began drawing a circle around the fire. This, too, concealed a great deal of specialized knowledge.

Because the divine incarnation corresponding to the first stage was the Sun God, Adam needed to calculate the location of the prosperous land in ancient times as well as the sun's current position, then adjust the circle accordingly.

Thus, though they all appeared to be circles, they were actually worlds apart. Those people might be able to guess some of the other ritual steps correctly, but this circle—rattle their brains apart, and they still might not be able to draw it.

Watching Adel struggle wildly in the fire like a fish flung onto shore, unable to breathe, Adam said calmly, "Don't jump out of the circle. Otherwise, all the pain you've suffered will have been for nothing."

After Adam finished drawing the circle, he picked up the other bottle of soil with one hand and aconite with the other.

Muttering unrelated words under his breath, Adam crushed the aconite into a lump and clenched it in his palm. Feeling his bloodline stir, his whole body grew slightly dazed.

Fortunately, Adel's scream jolted Adam awake in time. He tossed the aconite in his hand into the fire, and the flames immediately changed, belching out great clouds of black smoke.

Adam did not hesitate. He poured out the water from the other bottle, the one containing soil from the lowest place.

There was not much water, yet it eerily extinguished the fire that was spewing black smoke.

After finishing all this, Adam fell into a daze again, but this time he regained his senses on his own.

"Smear the soil inside over Adel's body, then have him put on that coat." Adam tossed the bottle in his hand to a mutant beside him and slowly walked away.

"I'll come again tonight. I hope you don't make too much of a disturbance. If you draw Xia Ya's attention, this won't end well." Adam gradually disappeared into the distance.

The few mutants watched Adam's departing figure, swallowing hard before looking at Adel, who lay motionless in the fire as though dead.

"Who is Xia Ya?" one mutant asked.

"The chief priest of the southern district is named Xia Ya." Another mutant turned to look in the direction Adam had gone, his heart filled with shock.

At the mention of the chief priest, the mutants all fell silent. They hurriedly followed Adam's instructions, smearing the soil over Adel's body. Their hands trembled constantly, yet they discovered that as Adel was covered in soil, a look of comfort appeared on his face.

Once he was finally wrapped in the outer garment commonly worn by humans, the aura of a mutant around Adel vanished completely.

The mutants then carried Adel into the wooden hut to rest before gathering together again to discuss matters.

"I collected several extra sets of materials. Should we try it ourselves while the fire is still here?"

Several of the mutants were tempted, but when they thought of Adel's suffering during the ritual, none of them mentioned it again.

Elsewhere, the moment Adam saw the flames extinguished, he knew the ritual had succeeded. When he returned tonight, these five people would become his most loyal subordinates.

What concerned Adam now were the two times he had fallen into a daze while performing the Tears of God Ritual.

The first time had been when he came into contact with the aconite. Adam had felt his bloodline grow more active.

"Aconite is connected to the werewolf bloodline. If I study bloodlines later, perhaps I can start from this angle." Adam silently committed this information to memory.

He then focused on something else. After completing the Tears of God Ritual, he had fallen into a daze for the second time.

This second daze had not been caused by his bloodline, however. It was because he had sensed divine arts.

At the instant he completed the ritual, Adam entered a state of perception and became aware of some existence in the unseen. So long as he prayed sincerely and drew upon that being's power, Adam could obtain divine arts and become a priest.

"And then burn myself to death?" Adam smiled soundlessly. If he had been the Adam who had just escaped, then upon sensing the existence of divine arts, he might truly have chosen to draw upon them and attempt to pass through Roa to other countries as a priest.

But the person who had performed the Tears of God Ritual for him probably never imagined that he would infiltrate the church again and make up for some of the knowledge he had lacked from within it.

Therefore, Adam did not step into this trap.

"Though the Tears of God Ritual can protect mutants, that protection is only superficial. If one truly courts death by trying to obtain divine arts, the power of those divine arts will only erupt from within and burn the mutant to death completely."

Adam completely abandoned the idea of drawing upon the power of divine arts. He had to admit that if he had not understood this, he might truly have been unable to resist the temptation of divine arts.

After all, he was far too familiar with theology. If he took the path of a priest, the road would likely be smooth sailing, and no one would suspect that a priest was a mutant.

Unfortunately, that path had been cut off from the very beginning.

"Then I'll need to be more careful when using some of the knowledge I learned back then. Who knows when it might turn into a pitfall." Adam removed his mask and gently rubbed the scar on his face.

"It's stirred up memories of the past again." Adam hurriedly suppressed his thoughts as they began wandering astray once more. He quickly buried his gear, made sure no one had followed him, and returned to the Boku Family.

Thanks to Luo Jia'er's White Flame Heart, Lang Yunyu, Omnivorous Ice Cream, Source of Freedom and Self-Existence Ubosathla, Book Friend 20200111120523013, Sichennianjie, Seeking a Redemption, Ruo Tian, and I Am the Master for their rewards. Thank you for your support!