"I believe it now."
Ice Empress crossed his arms, Orange-Gold's eyes flashed with complex emotions, and his tone was somewhat obviously unhappy.
"What do you believe?"
"Believe what you said, the Soul Skill I gave you are all beautiful."
Ice Empress snorted from the nasal cavity and returned Lu Ren's original ruthless evaluation to him intact.
Then, without waiting for Lu Ren to reply, she turned into an icy blue stream of light and got back into Lu Ren's body, leaving only a vague lingering sound.
"Next time, I'm going to be more aggressive and say it in advance. Don't look at me with affection all of a sudden and say those disgusting words. That's really disturbing."
Lu Ren was startled for a moment, then laughed and shook his head.
He also wanted to do a simple search in this bombed-out stronghold to see if there was anything valuable. After all, Holy Spirit Cult has been operating in Mingdu for so many years, and the Gold Soul Coin and Rare Metal in stock should be quite a lot.
However, before he could move, a familiar figure quickly walked out from deep underground with a wry smile on his face.
As soon as Zhang Peng saw Lu Ren, helplessness was written on that old face.
He, Just now, was in seclusion in the deepest part of the underground to attack Rank 97. Suddenly, the Soul Power alarms in the entire stronghold went off at the same time, followed by a violent shaking like the earth was shattering.
When he rushed out of the retreat room, what he saw was the spectacular sight of his stronghold being blasted from the entrance all the way to the depths of the ground.
And when he felt the familiar scent of Lu Ren in the ruins, he knew who was the initiator of this disaster.
"Little brother, I knew it was you as soon as I looked at the breath, but you just came and caused so much damage--it's hard for me to explain to my superiors."
"This is our largest stronghold in Mingdu, and it was turned into an open-pit mine by your bombardment. I'm afraid Zhongli Wu will be so angry that he vomits blood when he comes back."
"I was just trying out a new trick, so I couldn't stop it. I'm sorry, Brother Peng.
Lu Ren is a little embarrassed.
He really didn't expect Pure Love Cannon to be so powerful.
The full power of Ice Empress plus the compression release of Maximum: Uzumaki, plus the performance improvement of Cursed Technique after the information was disclosed, combined the three layers to directly turn an underground fortress into a tent.
"That's all, I'll just say that I'm in seclusion at a critical moment and can't come out to meet the enemy."
"Anyway, with my current cultivation and status in the sect, they won't do anything to me. I'm at the critical point of impacting Rank 97. The entire Holy Spirit Cult is looking forward to my success."
Zhang Peng waved his hand, then winked at Lu Ren, signaling him to leave quickly.
"Let's go quickly. Zhongli Wu Although the main force is not in Mingdu, there may be people from the periphery coming to check the situation at any time."
Lu Ren did not leave immediately. One of the main purposes of his coming to the Holy Spirit Cult stronghold this time was to investigate the matter about Holy Emperor. Now that the three Zhongli Tian brothers have turned into ashes, the only person who can ask questions is Zhang Peng.
"Brother Peng, I have something else to ask you. Do you know the Holy Emperor legend of Holy Spirit Cult?"
"Holy Emperor?"
Zhang Peng was stunned for a moment when he heard these two words, and then looked Lu Ren up and down with an extremely subtle look.
His expression switched back and forth between confusion and surprise, as if he couldn't figure out why Lu Ren was suddenly interested in Holy Spirit Cult's internal religious symbols.
"You are actually interested in such a fictional character? Holy Emperor That thing is the religious idol that Holy Spirit Cult uses to deceive those middle- and low-level believers, giving them a spiritual sustenance, so that they can obediently work for their superiors."
"Although I am also a worshiper of Holy Spirit Cult, my cultivation level was already high enough when I joined the religion. I don't need to rely on faith to support it, so I have not deliberately learned about Holy Emperor."
"I don't want to be interested in Holy Emperor either."
Lu Ren complained silently in his heart, but Ice Empress had told him before that these Evil Soul Master had Faith Power in them.
That can't happen by exposing it to the air.
Since Faith Power exists, it means that the objects of belief of Evil Soul Master are by no means completely fictitious.
But of course he couldn't say this directly to Zhang Peng, so he gave a more reasonable explanation. "I was mistaken by those Evil Soul Master for Holy Son of Holy Spirit Cult. As soon as they saw me, they excitedly called me Holy Son, and told me a lot of things about Holy Emperor."
"What Holy Emperor will lead them to rule the world, and what Holy Power is the power given by Holy Emperor, so I am more interested in the identity of Holy Emperor and want to find out who they are worshiping."
Zhang Peng After hearing this explanation, I was not surprised at all.
He even said with a bit of ridicule, "That's true. To be honest, I don't think there is much difference between you and Evil Soul Master."
"It would be better to say that when you use your full strength, those overwhelming negative energies, that decent source of darkness, I doubt that even our Holy Spirit Cult's Evil Soul Master is inferior to you."
"Compared to us Evil Soul Masters, it seems that you are the orthodox Evil Soul Masters, while our group can only be considered half-baked at best."
Lu Ren:
For a moment, he didn't know whether this was a compliment or a curse.
"Okay, okay, just kidding."
Zhang Peng laughed a few times, then stopped smiling and his tone became a little more serious.
"I really don't know much about Holy Emperor. Although Holy Emperor is a fictional character and is a method used by Holy Spirit Cult to deceive middle- and low-level believers, when we made up this religious symbol, we also adapted and mythologized it based on historical events that actually happened before."
"So if you want to say that Holy Emperor is completely fictitious, that's not true. This image has shadows of real history, but it has been deliberately distorted, magnified, and deified, and finally became an object of worship for believers."
"I don't know much about which ones are true and which are false. After all, I haven't studied this specifically. If you are really interested, we have a book specifically recording Holy Emperor’s deeds, which is in the library of the stronghold."
Saying that, Zhang Peng led Lu Ren through several half-collapsed Corridor, and came to a relatively complete dark room.
The four walls of the room are covered with bookshelves, which are densely packed with various yellowed ancient books and scrolls. The air is filled with a musty smell unique to old paper.
Zhang Peng glanced at the bookshelf, and pulled out a book with a simple binding and a worn cover from one of the rows of shelves, handing it to Lu Ren.
A few words can be vaguely seen on the cover of the book, but they have been eroded by time and only superficial traces remain.
"You can take this book directly. My suggestion is that you'd better leave here quickly. Holy Spirit Cult's high-end combat power will return from Shrek soon."
"Zhongli Wu personally led the team, and all the worshipers of Super Douluo level are also there. When they come back and find that their lair has been taken away, they will definitely seal off the entire Mingdu and conduct a blanket search. If you stay here any longer, it will be difficult to deal with if you are hit.
Lu Ren took the book and hesitated for a moment. "If I just take this book away, won't Holy Spirit Cult's people find out?"
"What if they find that one book is missing when they take inventory of the books? Wouldn't they follow the clues and trace them to you, Brother Peng?"
"No, this book is just a trick used by Holy Spirit Cult to deceive people. The content is all about Holy Emperor’s salvation myth. It is no different from the missionary brochures distributed for free to believers on the market. Basically no one cares about it, and no one will check whether it is still there."
"There are several books with exactly the same content, so it's no problem to pick one up."
Zhang Peng explained, then pushed Lu Ren's shoulder, urging him to leave quickly.
"Thank you, Brother Peng. I have to trouble you to clean up the mess again." Lu Ren put the books into Storage Soul Tool and said with some embarrassment, "I didn't expect that you happened to be preparing to retreat in this stronghold. If I had known you were down there, I would have been gentler."
"This is already our largest stronghold in Mingdu. If I'm not here, where should I be?"
Zhang Peng laughed out loud.
"Rather, I'm surprised that you could actually find this place. This stronghold is built nearly a hundred meters underground, and the entrance is so hidden that even the Sun Moon Empire patrol team didn't find it after searching for several years."
"It seems that my little brother has a wide network of contacts. Okay, let's leave quickly. If we delay any longer, we will be in trouble."
Lu Ren said no more. After thanking Zhang Peng again, he turned around and headed for the exit.
It was almost dawn when we returned to the Hongchen Family's mansion.
Lu Ren met the brother and sister Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen who were doing morning exercises in the courtyard, so he stopped and gave them some casual advice about their cultivation.
Since Xiao Hongchen absorbed the Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone given to him by Lu Ren in the Jingyang Mountain Range, his cultivation has improved rapidly, and supplemented by the absorption of drugs, he has now touched Soul Emperor threshold, but there is still a chance.
Meng Hongchen is playing steadily. Although it has not yet broken through Soul Emperor, the foundation is extremely solid.
After Lu Ren watched the two of them perform a set of sparring, he briefly pointed out a few problems in cultivation, and then reminded Xiao Hongchen not to rely too much on drugs to improve his cultivation, and then quickly returned to his room.
As soon as the door was closed, he couldn't wait to take out the ancient book Zhang Peng gave him from Storage Soul Tool.
The dark gold runes on the cover had a strange luster under the light, the paper had turned yellow and was brittle, and there were traces of being eaten by insects on the edges.
The whole book is not thick, only about a few dozen pages in length, but each page is densely filled with words, and there is a deliberately rendered sense of sacredness and epicness between the lines.
Lu Ren It only took a few minutes to read the entire book.
When he closed the last page, an extremely complicated expression appeared on that handsome face.
Mixed with surprise, shock, disbelief, and some inexplicable disgust.
He took a deep breath and threw the book directly into the trash can in the corner of the room like trash.
The pages of the yellowed and simple ancient book turned gently, and finally stopped on the open page.
Between the lines are Holy Spirit Cult's deliberately exaggerated narratives of gods, which are extremely flattering and deifying, portraying the unknown "Holy Emperor" as a savior who descended from the sky and overcame all the suffering in the world.
Ice Empress came out of Lu Ren's body and floated beside him with his arms folded.
She glanced at the ancient books in the trash can, and then at Lu Ren's expression as if he had eaten a fly, and couldn't help but say, "You seem to have the answer in your mind? Who is it? You are so powerful that you can get these Evil Soul Master's Faith Power."
"Hmm."
Lu Ren nodded and took a deep breath.
At first, he had no idea who Holy Emperor was.
The content of that book did not directly describe the true identity of Holy Emperor from beginning to end. There was no name, no origin, and there was not even any specific record of his appearance.
But the deeds inside felt extremely familiar to him.
Ice Empress looked at Lu Ren's solemn expression, his emerald green eyelashes trembled slightly, and asked again, "What exactly did you write? Looking at you, this so-called Holy Emperor is not a fiction at all, right? Do you know this person?"
Lu Ren raised his eyes, his eyes filled with unbelievable surprise and shock.
Then he recited the ancient records in the book that had been tampered with and beautified by Holy Spirit Cult, word for word. "The book says: Aeons ago, the continent was in ruins and evil was rampant."
"The sinners in the world have nowhere to go. They gather at Land of Extreme Darkness and form their own prison, named Slaughter City."
"There is a river of blood, evil thoughts are overwhelming, all living beings are sinking and fighting, and there will never be peace. It is the source of all darkness and evil in the world."
"At that time, Righteous Path was hypocritical, Spirit Hall was high on the altar, held the power of judgment, and was in charge of the world's Soul Master order, but he turned a blind eye to this hell on earth."
"They pretend to judge sins, but in fact they exile the criminals and let them fester. They use evil people to support their power and darkness to bring light. They are extremely hypocritical."
"It is Holy Emperor who came to the world, returned from nothingness, sympathized with the suffering of all living beings, and put an end to evil in the world."
Lu Ren's tone was low, and every word accurately exposed the shell of Holy Spirit Cult's carefully packaged lies, revealing the tampered historical truth underneath.
The ancient book writes in extremely wonderful writing: Holy Emperor holds Dark Judgment, and exerts supreme power, overturning the entire Slaughter City.
Overnight, the river of blood dried up, hell collapsed, and the land of eternal sin turned into desolate ruins.
Countless fallen sinners escaped from Infinite Hell, the darkness finally breathed, and the source of evil was eradicated by Holy Emperor.
Everyone in the world thinks that Slaughter City is the backlash of heaven and self-destruction. Only our teaching is passed down from generation to generation. This is the great virtue of Holy Emperor, which can save the sinful people from darkness.
Ice Empress is a little confused. "You can get the answer just from this paragraph?"
" I have only vaguely heard of the destruction of Slaughter City, but that was a thing thousands of years ago.
"That's enough."
Lu Ren sighed, raised his hand and rubbed his temples.
"You are Soul Beast, so you don't know the truth of what happened at that time."
"But I know, because Slaughter City was destroyed by Tang San."
"It's not Holy Emperor's doing, nor is it a backlash from heaven, it's just Tang San that destroyed Slaughter City."
"Although this period of history has passed tens of thousands of years in human Soul Master World, it should be clearly recorded in the Shrek Academy's ancient books."
"Ah?"
Ice Empress opened his mouth wide and was completely stunned.
The whole person seemed to have heard the most ridiculous joke in the world, Orange-Gold's eyes widened.
"Tang, Tang San? Is that Tang San from the Ascension to the Divine Realm ten thousand years ago?"
"Is this the Sea God Tang San that you humans Soul Master World have worshiped for ten thousand years?"
"Why is he related to Holy Emperor of Holy Spirit Cult? Isn't he the leader of Righteous Path?"
"How did one of the first generation Shrek Seven Monsters of the Shrek Academy, the successor of Sea God Godhood, and the ancestor respected by Soul Master all over the continent, suddenly become the object of belief of the Evil Soul Master organization?"
Lu Ren did not answer her question immediately, but continued to recite the next paragraph in the ancient book.
"The book also says: Angel God lineage, who is aloof, controls the so-called light Righteous Path in the world. He calls himself Divine Realm orthodoxy, overlooks the world, and judges all things."
"But the light is not true. Righteous Path are all fake. Angel God Clan is condescending and manipulates Spirit Hall to control the order of the mainland. Those who follow it will prosper and those who go against it will perish. They monopolize the avenue of cultivation and suppress all living things."
"Holy Emperor saw that the light was decaying and the altar was festering, so he led the darkness to attack the light of the sky, and used his own power to counterattack Divine Court."
"The First World War destroyed Divine Hall, and the Second World War shattered God Position, completely shattering the Angel God dominion of the Spirit Hall angel lineage that lasted for thousands of years."
"The lineage of angels has since fallen from the altar, the light orthodoxy has been completely destroyed, and the hypocrisy Divine Court has collapsed."
"Since then, Angel God can no longer cover the sky with one hand, and the oppressed dark creatures finally have a chance to breathe."
Every word in this record is a tribute to the gods.
In the tampered narrative of Holy Spirit Cult, it was not Tang San, the Sea God successor of Righteous Path, who destroyed Spirit Hall, knocked down Angel Godhood, and overthrew the old theocratic order, but their supreme Holy Emperor.
Slaughter City was destroyed by Holy Emperor, Spirit Hall was overthrown by Holy Emperor, Angel Godhood was shattered by Holy Emperor, and all hypocritical rule under the banner of light was ended by Holy Emperor himself.
The deeds of Tang San were stripped off one by one, repackaged, given a different name, and a set of narratives, and then stuffed into the teachings of Holy Spirit Cult, becoming the object of belief that countless middle- and low-level Evil Soul Master worshiped throughout their lives.
"There is no need to continue investigating the next matter."
Lu Ren stood up and sat back on the bed.
"Because the Holy Emperor of Holy Spirit Cult is Tang San, and those Evil Soul Masters in the middle and lower classes, who they devoutly worship and believe in fervently, are actually the Sea God Tang San of the Ascension to the Divine Realm ten thousand years ago."
"It's just that they don't know. They think they are worshiping Holy Emperor, but they are actually worshiping Tang San."
"This is why Ice Empress you can feel Faith Power from them. Then Faith Power is real, but its final destination is not some secret altar of Holy Spirit Cult, but Divine Realm."
"Tang San collects this Faith Power adapted from his deeds in the Divine Realm as his own nourishment."
Ice Empress thoughtfully raised his delicate hands and gently rubbed his temples. His eyelashes cast a shallow shadow under the light.
She digested it for a while before completely straightening out this logical chain, and then said in an extremely subtle tone, "This, should I say it or not, you humans are quite capable of doing it."
"Who would have thought that Shrek Ancestors, the leader of the Ascension to the Divine Realm and Tang San, the leader of Righteous Path ten thousand years ago, would actually be related to such a dirty Holy Spirit Cult now."
"His deeds were used as teachings by Evil Soul Master, and his identity was worshiped as a god by Evil Soul Master, and he harvested this Faith Power with peace of mind in the Divine Realm."
"The so-called Righteous Path leader has inextricably linked interests with the most Evil organization in mainland China."
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