Lazarus

The next morning, Xiao Yu went online very early.

Standing in the Great Graveyard of the Burying Ground, Xiao Yu waited patiently. To avoid any unpleasant disturbances after the exit, Xiao Yu chose the Heroic Spirit mode. Although the Skeleton General was nothing special, something still felt a bit off.

At 10 o'clock sharp, he received the summons from the Blasphemous Elder Council.

[System notification: The Blasphemous Prophet is casting Remote Summoning on you. Do you wish to accept the summon?]

It turns out that the person with the face he was talking to was called the Blasphemous Prophet. I wonder which is more powerful Blasphemous Prophet or the Blasphemous Saint.

Xiao Yu took a deep breath and then chose to summon.

He felt a tremendous force pulling him, the air in front of him distorted, and he was dragged into a spacetime wormhole, as if compressed into a ball. A flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and his body stretched out again. He found himself in a large hall.

This is clearly an underground palace. The surrounding light is dim, but the environment is still clearly visible. The hall is more than ten meters long and wide, and there are torches illuminating the walls. There is something like a teleportation array underfoot.

Before him stood a group of Blasphemers dressed in grey robes, among whom was a gaunt old man in a silver-grey robe. Judging from his dignified bearing and the intricate lace of his robe, it was clear that this old Blasphemers was the so-called Blasphemous Prophet.

The old man spoke slowly and deliberately, "Welcome to Lazarus, the Free City, Your King's Return. This is the home of Blasphemers, and also our refuge from the persecution of the gods. As the master of this place, I will soon explain to you why you have been summoned here. Now, please follow our attendant to the meeting hall to wait. I have other people to summon."

Xiao Yu nodded and followed the waiter to a fitting room. The waiter handed him a gray robe, a robe of Blasphemers. This robe was somewhat similar to Priest's robe, but without any divine insignia. After changing into the robe, Xiao Yu continued walking and soon arrived at a larger conference hall.

The most eye-catching thing in this conference room is that huge conference table.

A dozen or so people dressed in the same style of robes sat around the conference table. They looked to be the high-ranking members of the Blasphemers. Several of them had white hair and were obviously NPCs, most of them likely Blasphemers elders. These Blasphemers elders were mostly wearing gray robes.

In addition, there were several other characters with distinct appearances, indistinguishable from one another except for their robes; these were clearly players, and there were quite a few of them, as many as five.

Xiao Yu sat down in the chair that had been reserved for him.

I wondered who these players were, and what the criteria were for attending this meeting.

Just then, footsteps sounded behind them; it was the Blasphemous Prophet arriving with the last player attending the meeting.

(Hey, isn't that the Earl of Monte Cristo? What's he doing here?)

But Xiao Yu immediately remembered that the Chosen of Earl of Monte Cristo had killed Andrew, the Undead by Naraku, God of Death, and should logically have become Blasphemous Saint as well.

Xiao Yu watched in surprise as the Earl of Monte Cristo sat down opposite him. The Earl of Monte Cristo even greeted him in a friendly manner, seemingly without any sign of anything amiss.

Is this guy really Naiser? Xiao Yu's doubts grew stronger.

He glanced at the other five players and immediately understood. Could these all be Blasphemous Saint? Goodness, there were so many! He had thought there was only one Blasphemous Saint. This surprised Xiao Yu; it seemed there were quite a few experts in the game.

There were seven Blasphemous Saints, nine Blasphemous Elders, and one Blasphemous Prophet present.

The Blasphemous Prophet walked to the main seat and sat down, extending his hand in a welcoming gesture.

"Welcome! To my surprise, seven Blasphemous Saints have appeared here today. This is an unprecedented spectacle. It seems the prophecy has truly come true!"

"Prophecy? What prophecy?" a female Blasphemous Saint asked curiously.

The Blasphemous Prophet explained, "In the past few hundred years, only a handful of Blasphemous Saint have emerged. To become Blasphemous Saint, one must accomplish great things and survive the attacks of the gods, which is extremely rare. Each of these Blasphemous Saint has made great achievements for our organization."

However, thirty years ago, when the last Blasphemous Saint died, there were no more Blasphemous Saint. But before he died, the Blasphemous Saint made a prophecy: the rule of the gods was destined to end. One day in the future, the gods would fight each other for faith. At that time, a new Blasphemous Saint would appear, and this Blasphemous Saint would end the rule of the gods and liberate people from their deception.

I've been waiting for this, but I never expected that seven Blasphemous Saints would appear at once."

At this point, the Blasphemous Prophet glanced at the crowd and said, "One of you is destined to be the one to accomplish this great task."

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "This prophecy is really quite coincidental."

Actually, it wasn't hard for him to guess why there were so few Blasphemous Saint before, but now they were appearing in droves. It was a very simple reason: in the past, it was extremely difficult for Blasphemers to kill a Chosen or a divine messenger. Even if they did kill one, being targeted by the gods and receiving divine punishment might be the end of them. But players were different; even if they were killed, they could resurrect infinitely.

The Chosen of the gods are nothing more than powerful bosses. This is only because the game has only just started. If we wait another year or two, Blasphemous Saint will probably be running all over the place.

"So, did the prophecy say what to do?"

"Another Blasphemous Saint asked."

"No, the prophet only said that the gods' greatest strength is faith, and that faith will also be their greatest weakness."

A Blasphemous Saint with a large beard spoke up, "Does that mean that if we can expose the true nature of the gods and make people realize that faith in them is meaningless, we can destroy them?"

"No, it's probably not that simple. People's reverence for God is deeply ingrained, and the teachings of the gods have indeed benefited many people. This is not something that can be easily eradicated," said a Blasphemous Elder.

"I understand," the Earl of Monte Cristo suddenly said. "I've come up with a plan that might achieve this goal."