"What?"
Burns ' smile froze on his face; the way the smile, so obvious yet suddenly frozen, was so abrupt.
If it weren't for the fact that the surrounding air was still moving, Xilǐ'er would have almost thought that this space had been forcibly frozen by the Amber Dragon.
"Grasp this wooden staff and say: 'I am the Pure Ones.'"
Xilǐ'er repeated himself, and seeing Burns still hesitant, he looked at Burns with a sincere yet puzzled expression:
"Your Excellency, you first said that the ordinary believers in the Yiluo'en Province were not doing well compared to the Holy City, and then you said that you were willing to abandon darkness and join the Second Holy See to integrate the Tree Worship Church with His Holiness the Son of God. How could such a loyal archbishop possibly resist such a small matter?"
"Or perhaps, Archbishop Burns, you... are not Pure Ones at all?"
Xilǐ'er boldly revealed the truth, but the confusion on the faces of the people before him only grew more pronounced.
"So you really aren't Pure Ones? That's very strange, because as far as I know, thanks to the Tree God's protection, the Tree Worship Church Theocracy is the only power in the world where ordinary people can survive without eating."
"In the world after the Demonic Tide, eating increases the risk of Aberration, and being able to survive without eating is already a great blessing."
"Logically speaking, if the Theocracy is simply maintained, Theocracy territory will expand to cover the entire world. But look at the current situation?"
"Splitting, rebellion, the Second Holy See..."
" The Theocracy has become what it is today, and the very reason we exist is because of the existence of those shameless Stained Ones!"
Burns paused for a moment, then his smile vanished instantly, replaced by an angry expression:
"What a shameless envoy!"
He released the reins, took a step back, and stared intently at Xilǐ'er, asking in return:
"You may not know this, but the Son of God you worship is a product of the Stained Ones Project!"
"You say those Stained Ones are shameless, but I think that Son of God is even more shameless!"
"How could he have appeared without the Stained Ones Project? How could that power have belonged to him without the Stained Ones?"
"A ' Son of God ' who eats from a bowl and then curses others—what kind of good person could that be?"
"Envoy, you may leave. You are not welcome in the Yiluo'en Province. I hope you live to see the birth of a new ' Son of God '."
"Ha ha."
A soft laugh drifted over, and Xilǐ'er hadn't expected to laugh out loud in such a serious setting.
Moreover, he now has a mission to fulfill, and coupled with his previous experience of being separated by the Twin Kings, Xilǐ'er hasn't been able to laugh heartily for quite some time.
He had thought he would smile with relief after completing the mission, but he never expected that he would lose his composure after just a few words of nonsense from the archbishop in front of him.
Looking at Burns' increasingly distorted face, Xilǐ'er examined his own heart and finally realized what he was laughing at.
He hasn't had a proper fight since joining the Second Holy See!
Xilǐ'er held the spear-like wooden staff in one hand and pulled on the reins with the other to turn his warhorse around.
He turned around, openly exposing his back to Burns, but his disdainful words drifted on the wind:
"Ignorant fool, the will of the Tree God can resurrect from any individual."
"If it weren't for the Stained Ones, the seed tax, and the cruel experiments, the Son of God would have returned to this world long ago through natural birth!"
" Burns, I come from the Eternal Domain, where there is a saying—"
"The sun doesn't appear when a rooster crows."
"Excuse me, Archbishop, are you a rooster or the sun?"
After traveling ten paces, Xilǐ'er turned his horse around to look at the dispersed crowd, raised his wooden staff, and shouted:
" Son of God Decree: Anyone, of any species, may join the Second Holy See, except those who have participated in the Stained Ones Project!"
"They will have other places to go until their sins are fully repaid!"
Xilǐ'er looked at the crowd and demanded sharply:
"Who agrees with the Son of God's words, and who disagrees?!"
Don't listen to his nonsense!
Archbishop Burns was now furious. He turned to look at his priests and high knights, many of whom also wore angry expressions, clearly enraged by Xilǐ'er's scolding.
He waved his hand and pointed at Xilǐ'er, cursing:
"What kind of bastard messenger is this? What nonsense about spreading the deeds of the Son of God throughout the Theocracy? Since you're here, you're not leaving!"
As he glared angrily at Xilǐ'er, clear cracks appeared to creep up Burns ' face from his neck.
But what lay hidden behind those cracks was not darkness, but a very obvious dark red light.
Burns ' face resembled a hollow tree stump, its core burned out, with embers radiating light and heat through the cracks in his skin.
He extended his right hand toward Xilǐ'er, and surging heat and gray-black smoke gathered in his hand, causing ripples in the surrounding air due to the intense heat.
Burns took a deep breath, and his whole body suddenly became brighter, like a furnace being pumped up by bellows, or a piece of high-quality charcoal that was smoldering.
He looked at Xilǐ'er and said, word by word:
"At least for now, I am the sun here."
Burns suddenly hurled the scorching smoke ball in his hand, and with a loud bang, Xilǐ'er's figure disappeared into the toxic, high-temperature smoke.
Archbishop Burns Roy of Yiluo'en Province, symbiotic plant - [ Heart-Eroding Tobacco ].
"Come with me, kill him!"
Burns roared and charged into the billowing dust. After a brief hesitation, several high knights followed, their figures quickly disappearing together.
Archbishop Burns's Aberration plants were very special; not only did they grow at an astonishing rate, but they also produced toxic fumes with paralyzing and poisoning effects when burned.
The combination of these two factors allows Burns to quickly enter combat mode by adjusting his breathing rate, simply by keeping a tiny spark of fire in a corner of his body.
Although he didn't know what the envoy's trump card was, the other party clearly lacked understanding of him as well.
With both sides being Middle Tier, but their exact strength unclear, Burns ' Aberration plant provided him with an excellent first-strike advantage.
The poisonous fumes would irritate the enemy, causing them to cough incessantly, which in turn would cause them to inhale even more of the hot, toxic fumes.
It started with a burning and stinging sensation in my eyes, followed by complete blindness within a few breaths, then the skin and mucous membranes all over my body...
The enemies inside the smoke sphere will be tormented by the high temperature and toxic fumes, causing their skin and respiratory tract to ulcerate. In their unbearable pain, they will beg him to disperse the smoke and spare their lives.
Burns, rushing into the smoke and dust, believed that today's enemy would be no exception.