The Pope stood in place and shouted for a long time, but he didn't see Bowen and the others turn back, so he had to give up.
He was expressionless, but his eyes sparkled with a sinister light. The three men who were loyal to him were seriously injured and resting on the ground. He stared at them, like a serpent staring at prey, and when the three felt an ominous premonition, he quickly walked over and cut their necks with a sharp dagger.
Bright red blood flowed out all over the ground, it would soon lead dark beasts and devil plants to their location. But he was not worried, he slowly drew a closed magic circle on the ground with the blood.
Black demon fog emerged from the center of the magic circle, the shadow condensing into a human form. Gradually, the shadow solidified, revealing an extremely handsome and wicked face.
If Bowen and his group were still there, they would certainly recognize the man, he was the 'Duke Hubert' who had generously escorted Boel to the elves.
"Amazing, I never thought the Central Church's Pope himself would be the one calling me!" The man cracked his deep red lips into a smile, as if he was looking at something very interesting.
The Pope didn't feel embarrassed or shameful, in order to regain his power, he was willing to pay any price. He bowed, then pleaded, "Greetings Dark God, yes humble me is the one calling you. Please listen to my prayer."
"Mmm? If I satisfy your wishes, what do I get in exchange?" The man raised an eyebrow, interested.
"I'm willing to dedicate my soul to you as your eternal servant. And I can help you win the dark war!" The Pope offered.
"Oh? How tempting. But why do you think you have the ability to win the war between the two gods?" The man almost laughed out loud. No one knew better than him the truth behind the so-called 'dark war', it was just a game the Monarch played to relieve his boredom.
The Pope considered for a moment, then he laid out his elaborate plan.
The man's expression turned from casual to serious, then to surprise, and when the Pope finished, he even felt some admiration for him. The Pope was worthy of being the first mortal to receive the Monarch's divine power, he really was special. But he had to make things clear, any person who could earn the Monarch's attention and make him invest in them was certainly not a decent person.
The Pope's plan was to have the Dark God inject his soul into Joshua's body and replace Joshua, then he would become the Pope and stand as the most powerful person on the mainland again. Then, when the God of Light received him into the Temple of God, he would secretly send a message to the Dark God, so he could kill the Light God when he was most vulnerable.
This idea was too bold, too arrogant, too vicious, amazing even the King of Darkness himself.
He clapped his hands while laughing, "Herman, you're a talented person, no wonder the Mon … the Light God once valued you so much. It's a shame you didn't come to my Dark Temple to be a dark priest."
"So, is that a yes?" The Pope asked expectantly.
"Give me your soul, and I'll take you to Joshua." The man stretched out his hand.
The Pope was overjoyed, he immediately knelt down to the ground and allowed the man to touch the top of his head and suck his soul out without any resistance. His soul was pure black, filled with all sorts of dirty and evil thoughts and ambitious desires, his level of corruption didn't pale in comparison to one of his Devil Kings.
The man marveled for a moment, then he turned him into a soul bead.
Herman thought that as long as he stayed as a soul bead for some time, he would be able to get a perfect and powerful body, but he was wrong, it was not an ordinary soul bead, but one used for refining, the victim would face endless anguish burning in hellfire as they wished for death. He cried out sorrowfully, "Let me out! Dark God, you betrayed your word! Helping me will help yourself, are you brain dead?!"
"Sorry, demons have no such thing as integrity." The man scratched his head and opened helplessly, "I forgot to tell you, although I'm the Dark God, I have to answer to the God of Destruction. He's stronger than me, so his priest is naturally above me, I can't provoke him."
The man disappeared in a cloud of black mist, leaving behind four rapidly decomposing corpses.
—————–
Bowen followed behind the convoy, when the convoy met a dark beast or devil plant they would come out to help clean up, allowing the Sagya Kingdom people to guard diligently.
During the fights, Priest Joshua would look at them a few times, but his eyes were very emotionless, as if he was looking at objects. Bowen would press down his anxiousness every time he looked at him, re-assuring himself: Wait, now is not the time to plead.
Finally, Priest Joshua grabbed his statue of the Father and began his daily prayer. His eyes were closed, his face was peaceful, and his cold temperament, in the blink of an eye, was replaced by a gentle and amiable temper.
Bowen immediately jumped down from the treetops and stood beside the carriage shaft and waited. The guide and the men were afraid of interrupting the priest's prayers, so they glared at him but didn't start a fight.
Zhou Yun Sheng opened his eyes to see Bowen sitting in front of him, his face was still relaxed from his prayer.
He smiled and asked, "Oh? You came back?"
The gentle expression and tone made Bowen feel relieved, he went straight to the point, "I would like to invite you to the elves and the beastmen village as a guest. I also want you to help us take a look at the man who delivered Boel to our clan, Duke Hubert. He might not be a human."
"Boel was indeed in your lands." Zhou Yun Sheng thought for a moment, then shook his head, "I don't want to have contact with anyone rejected by the Father, so I'll not go. I remember you're a light priest at the level of saint, how can you not even identify a demon." Just a bit of light could solve that problem.
"But if the other is a Devil King, or something higher, even ten saint level light priests wouldn't be able to identify it. You're different from us. I can see a trace of gold in your eyes, that's divine power, no level of demon can escape your eyes." Bowen smiled wryly.
A few days had passed and two-thirds of the Elf Forest had already been swallowed by demon fog, such a fast spread was unheard of. This made him deeply skeptical of the identity of the demon lurking in their land, he was afraid it was not as simple as a Devil King.
A tier higher than a Devil King? The Dark God?! Zhou Yun Sheng was secretly surprised, but he soon remembered that Boel really did have the Dark God as one of his lovers, and the other also took the mortal identity of a Duke from some kingdom, so it wasn't strange.
Don't go! You must stay away from Boel and his lovers! Rational Sheng reminded him.
Brainless Sheng also agreed with him, he was just about to open his mouth to refuse when Bowen said, "And this forest only has the Light Temple our clans built. Priest Joshua hasn't prayed in a temple for a long time right?"
Although prayer could be done anywhere, praying in a temple made you more likely to be heard by the Father. Because he'd stayed in the carriage or the wild all throughout the journey, always surrounded by bodyguards, Brainless Sheng had not met with the Father for a long time.
As long as he thought he might be able to see the Father in the temple, even if the path was through a mountain of flames, he would still go.
"All right, I'll go with you." He nodded firmly, making his sensible other half almost faint in his subconscious.
Bowen and party rejoiced, then they quickly guided the team toward their clans' dwellings.
———————————–
The elf and the beastman clans lived in a village covered by a thick light circle. The once beautiful dreamlike scenery had been replaced by depression, the plants couldn't get enough nutrients from the land and had withered. Their leaves were an unhealthy yellow, and the fruit they bore were no longer sweet.
This was a very troubling situation for the vegetarian elves.
And wild animals not infected by the demon fog were getting scarcer, so the carnivorous beastmen were also having food shortage problems.
Although it was not life-threatening, they were mentally defeated, every passing elf and beastman had haggard faces.
"High Priest you came back. Who's this?" A female elf carrying a bow ran over.
"This is Priest Joshua." Bowen's tone was respectful.
"The Joshua of the Sagya Kingdom?" The female elf's eyes suddenly sharpened, she removed an arrow from her quiver and strung it, asking is a threatening voice, "If that's him, then he's an enemy of the elves and the beastmen! Why did you bring him back?"
Bowen and his party of elves and beastmen quickly blocked the boy's body, shouting at the girl to not be impulsive. Bowen summon a light shield and tried to patiently explain. The elves never kept secrets from their own people, although he didn't want to say the true identity of the boy, he'd forgotten that the boy was now the two clans' enemy.
Saving the Mother Tree was equal to saving the whole elf clan, they owed too much to Boel's kindness, so they were naturally willing to do anything for him, including get revenge.
Control of the body had been given to Rational Sheng, he was not a bleeding heart like Brainless Sheng, he sneered and turned around. If he went into the temple, he might be pounded by the God of Light again, as long as he thought about that, he was eager to immediately disappear.
"Priest Joshua, please stay!" Bowen was anxious, he used his light shield to block the angry elf and shouted at the boy's retreating back.
White hair and blue eyes, a face more beautiful than an elf. Yes, that's Joshua of the Sagya Kingdom! Hearing Bowen's shout, a burly beastman glared at the boy with hatred.