After finishing today's self-assessment and tomorrow's psychological boost, he took off his robe and readied to bathe, but someone announced outside the door, "Your eminence, Elder Bishop invited you to the Chamber."
He acknowledged the call and changed into a causal robe.
"Elder Bishop, His Holiness the Pope, and Priest Britte, good night everyone." He gave a graceful salute, a genial smile hanging on his mouth, his rebelliousness during the day was nowhere to be seen.
"Sit down my child." The Bishop pointed to a chair.
"Hold this scepter and enter your power of light, my child." The Pope handed him a scepter topped with four shiny stones.
Zhou Yun Sheng immediately realized what was going on. He didn't ask and entered his power into the held scepter, when two of the light stones were lit, he stopped the input.
The three people waited for a few minutes, but the top of the scepter stayed at only two lit light stones. The Bishop was deeply disappointed, but the Pope and Boel revealed unsurprised expressions.
They didn't suspect that Joshua was hiding his strength, everyone knew that once light stones were triggered, they would frantically absorb the user's light power, only stopping when they reached their limit.
Anyone who could light all four stones had to be a top level saint, in the whole continent, only the Pope could light them. Lighting two stones was not bad, but it was not rare.
"Boel, you have a try." The Pope motioned Joshua to hand the scepter to Boel.
Boel poured the light power in his body into the light stones, one, two, three, four, although the fourth one was dim, his strength was obviously unstable at that amount, the result was already considered a very frightening strength.
The Pope: "Bishop, as you have seen, Boel is the strongest priest in Sagya Kingdom. In accordance with the regulations of the Church, under the principle of not damaging reputations, the one with the strongest qualifications is eligible to inherit the Bishop's positon. I'm giving back the documents you submitted to me about selecting Joshua for Bishop two years ago. Please change the name of the successor to Boel."
To master the supreme power of the Church, you must place your confidant into important positions in all the powerful temples in the Kingdom. The previous plans of the Deputy Bishop were destroyed, now there was no one to object Boel.
The Bishop took the paperwork, his complexion gray.
Boel tried to resist a delighted expression. The Darling of God was nothing more than a fake title, Bishop of God was way more appealing.
Zhou Yun Sheng already knew that the Bishop title would be given to Boel. Although he was way stronger than Boel and even the Pope, it was not in his personality to expose his strength before his enemies. Staying in Gagor would likely cause him to be involved in disputes with Boel and his admirers, then he would inevitably become cannon fodder.
He was not the Brainless Sheng of the day, he would not deliberately fight with Boel.
As expected, the Pope continued, "The Bishop of the Kingdom must choose the most powerful person as successor, to be frank, they pick the one most favored by the Father. Joshua, you saw, Boel is stronger than you, so he is more loved by the Father. In the future, he'll represent the Father in this temple and lead the Sagya Kingdom to win the dark war. Please abandon the prejudice, jealousy, and resentment in your heart. Obey his commands."
Due to the psychological pushes day after day, Zhou Yun Sheng's side-effects were more serious than he'd imagined. He thought that Rational Sheng was the main personality, and Brainless Sheng was a sub-personality, but he was wrong. The Rational Sheng that was suppressed for most of the day was the weak party, and the Brainless Sheng that bathed in the sun and rain grew stronger every day.
Now, once the Pope mentioned the Father, Brainless Sheng could automatically take center stage even without the hypnosis.
He turned and sneered, "What qualifications does he have to get the Father's love? What qualifications does he have to speak in behalf of the Father? Will he use his mouth full of lies, corrupted human body, and filthy soul? I feel disgusted just looking at him. What 'Obey his commands'? He will never be my Bishop!"
"How can you say that to me?!" Boel was trembling with rage.
The Pope was also very displeased, he said harshly, "Joshua, since you are still a child, I'll forgive you for your rudeness. But I have to warn you to be cautious with your words. The Bishop position is carefully selected by the Father, slandering the choice is equal to slandering the Father. I can banish you from this continent for blasphemy!"
"No, His Holiness the Pope, please forgive Joshua for my sake." The Bishop quickly bowed and asked for forgiveness.
"Then please expel me, I'll wait." With this sentence, Brainless Sheng walked away with relaxed confidence. When they reached the room, he retreated to the subconscious, leaving Rational Sheng to deal with the backlash.
What the hell did I do to deserve this?! Have my tasks been too fucking easy for you?! The last time I almost lost my soul, this time it's split into two halves, which fucking deity did I offend to get this punishment? Rational Sheng punched and kicked the big pillow on the bed, his expression frustrated.
In the Ninth Heaven above, the Light God really wanted to hold his Little Believer, who was jumping around on his bed like a monkey, into his arms and comfort him. The Little Believer looked very cute with his glowing red cheeks and shiny eyes, so he really wanted to kiss him, but he was still reluctant to see him so angry.
Every Bishop is chosen carefully by the Father? All right, he'll let everyone know what his real will was.
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The Pope appointed Boel as the next Bishop of Sagya Kingdom. The move was warmly welcomed by the ruler of Sagya Kingdom. He had heard of Boel's exploits, he knew of his high strength and his noble origins, his presence in Gagor was the glory of the Kingdom.
But the Elder Bishop didn't think so, so he personally went to the palace to negotiate with the King.
"I can't tell you more, but I can assure you that Joshua is the most suitable candidate."
"You don't explain to me, so how can I believe you? This decision was made by the Pope, no one has the right to veto it, including me. Plus, I heard that the Pope gave Joshua and Boel a fair competition, but Joshua failed to live up to his expectations. My friend, you should know how dangerous the situation in Sagya Kingdom is right now. We need the support of more powerful priests and the Church. If you insist on this, the Sagya Kingdom will be overthrown in the dark war."
The Bishop was silent. His heart was anxious to speak, but his mouth couldn't reveal the truth. He eventually left the palace with a dejected heart.
A few days later, the King and the Pope issued a joint statement, Boel Britte will be the next Bishop, and his coronation ceremony will be in a month.
As soon as the news was released, bad news about the Crown Prince came back to Gagor. He was torn to shreds by dark beasts on his way to inspect the lands. The Crown Prince's Princess, who was holding a crying month old baby, fainted, the King was also very sorrowful.
However, the Pope helped ease his anxiety, and he quickly cheered up and decided to set up the Second Prince as the Crown Prince, his coronation ceremony would be held the same day as Boel's.
The Grand Prince's funeral was held in a very impressive but hasty way. One big change after another made the people of Gagor feel restless, but the most restless one was Zhou Yun Sheng.
He'd stopped hypnotizing himself, but as long as he walked out of his bedroom, he would instantly start running at full speed toward the temple, carried by his love, then his rationality and emotions would start another battle. One shouting: If you go in there, I'll kick you to death! The other curling up and crying: Even if you kick me to death, I'm going in!
So the passing servants and maids would meet a stiff faced and pale young priest, standing in front of the main hall all day long. Sometimes, the small priest would take two steps forward, then bounce several steps backwards like he was retreating from flames, it looked very comical.
The Light God was accustomed to listening to the prayers of his Little Believer every day. It was his wine, honey, and spiritual food. But for four or five days in a row, the Little Believer just stood in the entrance, his expression rotating between fragile sadness and anger, as if he was experiencing a violent psychological struggle.
Was he still jealous? Or shy from kissing me the last time? The Light God was never tired of guessing the Little Believer's thoughts, and he relished his sometimes shy, sometimes angry, and sometimes dazed expressions. In short, no matter what he did, or how weird his behavior, he always looked very cute to the Light God.
Zhou Yun Sheng simply couldn't suppress his desire for the God of Light. Every day, he walked closer to the temple door. Even without his psychological pushes, Rational Sheng and Brainless Sheng coexisted in his brain, constantly competing for control of the body. With the passage of time, he was horrified to find that Brainless Sheng's leading occupation time was getting longer and longer.
His hair dropped out in anxiousness, to stop himself from kissing the statue's instep and other shameful actions, he could only sit in the doorway of the temple and carve wooden God of Light idols. As long as he could see the God of Light's beautiful face, Brainless Sheng would stay quiet, and even let him control his whole body in peace.
He never grew tired of carving, day and night, in just ten days he'd carved more than a hundred puppets, with all kinds of expressions and poses. He also carved puppets in his own image, and placed them around the Light God. Sometimes, Brainless Sheng would use the two puppets to enact a soapy, romantic love drama, and when he restored his rationality, he would immediately throw the two puppets far away like they burned his hands, and bury himself in his quilt with clenched teeth.
He was in a constant state of unprecedented confusion and embarrassment, it was almost enough to drive him crazy, but in the Ninth Heaven above, the God of Light observed his every move with amusement, and the once quiet and lonely Temple of God now echoed with hearty laughter every day.