Zhou Yun Sheng rubbed his eyebrows. He felt that the worlds were becoming more and more difficult.
He took off his robe and walked naked into the hot springs, relaxing his nerves while transforming Joshua's body. Joshua's innate talent was not very good, when he'd tested his light attributes the property stone only issued a weak white light, but after 007's adjustment, he would be a top talent.
Unfortunately, on this continent, the quality of your strength and the positions you qualified for didn't have a proportional relationship. Many qualified children were rejected because their self-importance made them ignore their devotion to the Light God. The light power in their bodies gradually reduced until it disappeared.
On the other hand, a lot of ordinary and even children with inferior talent were blessed because they recognized their lowliness and dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the God of Light. They accumulated power through daily prayer, and after 10 or 20 years, they often got amazing achievements.
It seemed that the God of Light needed the power of faith, and he and his light priests shared a mutually beneficial relationship. You give me the power of faith, I'll give you the power of light, no faith, no light.
As a person without faith, Zhou Yun Sheng was in a bind.
The impurities in Joshua's body were slowly removed. At the moment, his white skin was like flawless jade, emitting a shiny luster, and his blue eyes were more distant than the vast sky and deeper than the vast ocean. His extremely beautiful facial features lost its paleness and sharpness, so he now looked like the perfect example of a quiet and compassionate person.
When you looked at his eyes, a peaceful and warm feeling would spread through you, all the creatures he gazed upon were not willing to lose his line of sight.
As a mortal priest, his appearance had already reached its limit, any more adjusting would be superfluous. Zhou Yun Sheng draped on his bathrobe and gave the boy in the mirror a satisfied look.
As the villainous male rival, Joshua's appearance wasn't inferior to the protagonist, but he was missing the protagonist's kind, pure and clean temperament. However, after Zhou Yun Sheng's blessing and transformation, the current Joshua was a clear blue crystal pool, a graceful breeze, no one could look more gentle and pure than him.
If he went out into the world, his image would become the supreme example of a great light priest in all the races' imaginations.
The external hardware was fixed, now all he needed was a devout heart. Zhou Yun Sheng laid in bed and thought about countermeasures, but he soon unconsciously fell asleep.
The next morning, he woke up at Joshua's usual time, and an idea quickly popped into his mind. He dismissed the two maids, then walked to the huge floor length mirror, staring at the slim teenager as he murmured: "I love the God of Light. With all my life and my soul, I love him. In order to be eligible to kiss the edge of his robe, in order to serve him, I'm willing to pay everything."
He paused for a moment, then stressed, "I love him. I love him until I'm senseless. I love him to death."
After speaking, the boy's slightly unstable eyes became firm. Yes, Zhou Yun Sheng had hypnotized himself. That was the only way to make his subconscious wholeheartedly glow with devotion, otherwise, the Light God would see through him.
The top deception was not to deceive others, but to deceive yourself. For twelve hours, within the period of validity, Zhou Yun Sheng would become a fanatical believer of the God of Light. After it expired, he would become his original self.
Of course, if more cultivation was needed, he could give himself a longer time limit.
He put on his priest robe and walked with his two maids to the main hall as a newly reborn light priest.
The Bishop was waiting for him in front of the statue, he whispered, "My child, you're sixteen years old, and you're going to travel in two years. The demons are very hostile to light priests, so to better protect yourself from them, it's best to increase your time of prayer. Be sure to accumulate enough power before traveling. I love you my child, and I hope that Father God will love you like I do."
He touched the teenager's eyebrows with his fingertips, vaguely revealing a few anxieties.
Because he had fallen in love with the Second Prince, Joshua lost his dedication to his prayers, so the power of light he'd accumulated in his body had weakened until it almost collapsed. He was the only child of light born in the Sagya Kingdom after nearly fifty years of searching, if he lost his position, the Sagya Kingdom would become a demon-ravaged purgatory.
A week ago, the Bishop had asked Joshua to light the property stone and he almost failed to do it, this made the Bishop suffer several sleepless nights. He was silent for a moment, but he couldn't let it go, he handed a piece of stone to Joshua and said, "Use your full strength to light it, my child." If the stone couldn't light, he would have to consider replacing him as heir. Perhaps he could ask the King to send troops to another country to grab a light child.
His body had just been transformed, so his light power had increased a lot. Zhou Yun Sheng was not worried, he calmly took the stone and inputted power.
The property stone changed from an ordinary gray-brown into a transparent bright white, there was also some golden strikes mixed in, very dazzling. Even the Bishop himself could only make the stone glow white, never gold. Only those with the most devout prayers could obtain it, it was a rare gift from the Light God.
It seems that the child became aware of his own mistakes and confessed to the Father, and the Father graciously forgave him. This is outstanding. The Sagya Kingdom will have a great and powerful priest to watch over it.
The Bishop patted the boy's thin shoulder and said some encouragement, then slowly left the main hall. At his age, no amount of prayer was useful, his old body was unable to load more power. The future belonged to the young people.
Zhou Yun Sheng bowed to the Bishop as he walked away, then looked back to the statue of the Light God. His gaze was full of passionate love. Because he couldn't suppress the desire in his heart, he bypassed the long altar and kissed the statue's instep.
"Father, you'll never know how much I love you." He whispered, then he retreated back to the long altar, kneeled on the ground with his hands folded, and began to pray.
Since prayer was the source of strength, it was natural that the priests would not pray out loud. There were no prayer samples spreading between temples or a Light Bible or so on, everything depended on the priest's ability. They must try their best to impress themselves on the Father's heart.
Currently, Zhou Yun Sheng was extremely, deeply in love with the God of Light, even his soul was engraved with the words 'I love the Father'. Once he saw the Light God's statue, he would naturally tear up, and devout and touching prayers would spill out from his mouth. He didn't even need to stop and think.
"My Father, thank you for tending to me, choosing me, trying to refine me
To be your most faithful believer, and to bear your ubiquitous glory.
Your power is calling me, your kindness is a blessing to me,
You pull me back from confusion, and save me from the darkness.
I'm so small and unworthy of your care,
But still I kneel here, asking you to drive me, to rebuke me, to lash me,
So I may never forget your love, forever.
I'm willing to present my soul as a sacrifice, please accept it Father.
When you penetrate it to read it, I wish you could gaze at the humble love that is stored therein,
For that would be the greatest happiness in my life.
Father, please look at me,
Father, please listen to me,
Father, please use me,
Father, cast your most powerful light to crush me.
But if I have the privilege of you listening to my prayer at this moment,
I beg you to have pity on me and make this broken body live,
Because of my love for you, my heart is weak,
It desires to follow you until eternity."
The spiraling sound lingered in the main hall and reverberated, like jade impacting metal, like water crashing against the river bank, like bright flowers being weighed down by dew, like a gentle breeze rustling the trees.
So soothing, so gentle, so unforgettable.
In the Ninth Heaven above, a golden haired, golden eyed, beautiful man was listening. His frowning brow unconsciously relaxed, and the harsh corners of his mouth actually had a hint of a smile.
He reclined on a wide, soft chaise, surrounded by young, charming, and innocent looking boys. One of them seemed to be particularly spoiled, he quietly climbed up his lap and softly asked, "Father, why are you ignoring us?" As mortal beings, they naturally couldn't hear the voice coming from the mortal realm's temple.
The boy's voice was very sweet and very cutesy. His thin voice was quite charming, but he'd coincidentally interrupted the man's listening, making him miss the last few words of the prayer.
The man's relaxed brow scrunched up again. Millenniums of existence had shaped him into a deep chasm, which made predicting his majestic temperament increasingly difficult. He calmly lifted a finger, and the elf-like, beautiful teenager instantly poofed into smoke, as if he'd never existed.
The rest of the people paled in fright and immediately retreated far away, trembling on their knees as they waited for sentencing.
But the man didn't move against them, he just summoned the magic water mirror that only he could see into.
In the mirror, a young boy, who was more beautiful and gentle than any of the boys present, was kneeling in the temple in pious prayer. He'd closed his eyes, and his thick curly eyelashes were stained in tears because of his extremely warm love. He looked more fragile than the early morning blooming flowers, and more sweet and lovely than a lotus leaf covered with water droplets.
His rosy lips opened and closed, spilling out sweet words of love.
"Father God, please look to me. Father God, please listen to me. Father God, please use me. Father God, I beg you to use your powerful light to crush me …" His pitiable and pious prayer caused the man's heart that had frozen over hundreds of millions of years to soften a little.
He stretched out his fingertips to caress the boy's reflection in the mirror, rubbing his thick eyelashes and crystal tears as he murmured, "I'm looking at you, my child. I'm listening to you, my child. I'll use you, as long as you come to me. But sorry my child, I cannot bear to crush you."
He suddenly chuckled, then reversed the time in the water mirror, listening to the passage over and over again, contented. He waved his hand and dismissed the frightened boys.