Chapter 1092: Chapter 1031: Crown and Mitre
Rocluwa took a step back, clutching his heart with his right hand, sweat pouring from his forehead, neck, and armpits.
This is not a mere clerical error, but a huge issue of ritual propriety.
Unlike the previous issue with Holy Seat City, it is not impossible for later monks to unintentionally copy Luogong City as Holy Seat City.
It’s possible to make a mistake with one or two words, but to confuse the material of a diadem, or even equate the diadem with a crown...
Holy Father, could "Saint Rania’s Life" truly be a forgery?
"Cough, cough, cough—" Rocluwa began coughing while clutching his chest.
As for the monks watching, many of them from the Divine Essence Sect were crying and praying directly.
Although the monks from the Holy Sect were not as overwhelmed, they were equally perplexed.
Not to mention the three months of preparation; was even their lifelong learning of the scriptures fake?
Moreover, is the theoretical foundation of the Church itself fake?
"From this, we can even deduce the era of the forger, likely the Dark Ages or the Second Great Expansion era.
During that time, roads were impassable, castles and churches were isolated, books were lost and buried.
The cultural level of the local bishops was not high, so they didn’t know the difference between a diadem and a gold crown.
Like farmers thinking the king uses a golden hoe to farm, the lords back then wore iron crowns, so naturally, the emperor would wear a gold crown.
But in reality, metal crowns were the custom of the Norn people.
Elves, or the El people, traditionally wore olive crowns, thorn crowns, and silk diadems like that.
They only wore metal crowns in one occasion, which was during the worship of the Holy Tree, where they wore seven-layered diadems."
Rocluwa at this point could no longer maintain composure.
In the moment Rang Buluo turned to face the other monks, he quickly ran to find advice from the other eight debaters.
But the nine scholarly bishops and monks pondered and surprisingly found themselves agreeing more with Rang Buluo.
Indeed, if "Saint Rania’s Life" was written before the 33rd year of the Imperial Calendar, then why does "Holy Seat City" appear in the text?
If "Saint Rania’s Life" is genuine, then why does it contain such a major ritual error? The crown customs even aligned more with Norn rather than El?
In the process of discussion, the nine debaters not only failed to find faults in Rang Buluo’s claims but even inadvertently uncovered another mistake in "Saint Rania’s Life".
That is, back then in the windmill area, the Goths were a tribe, with their tribal leader, King Laotland, later being posthumously crowned.
Yet in "Saint Rania’s Life", not only was he called a king, he even used the royal self-reference "we (implicitly suggesting the presence of divine beings)".
"Oh heavens, did his majesty give us such an important task only for us to watch that border priest slander the grand scripture?"
Rocluwa barked angrily at the other debaters, who furrowed their brows and gritted their teeth.
Some debaters, unable to help but become distracted, wondered if "Saint Rania’s Life" is fake, what about other parts of the "Gospel"?
At this point, the internal chaos began creating waves outside.
"How can a diadem be the same as a crown?"
"Using gold and jewels... damn it, the Saint Master isn’t a merchant turned nouveau riche, why use gold and jewels?"
"Holy Seat City, Luogong City..."
"I remembered the famous ’I Alexander the Great’ joke."
The commotion from outside didn’t affect Rang Buluo’s ongoing speech.
Walking around the oval venue, his face slightly flushed from excitement, his voice louder than before.
"For example, the term governor doesn’t exist in the El Empire, only generals or elders; it originated from the Royal Court in the 5th century."
"The text uses ’Papa’ to refer to the Pope, but until 235, ’Papa’ was exclusively the title for the bishop of Holy Seat City..."
"Following the great Gothic rebellion, the El Senate began to lose functionality; prior to this, elders were present in all aspects of society, yet the text shows none..."
"Traditionally, major events were always reflected on coins and memorabilia, other life stories have corresponding records, but ’Saint Rania’s Life’ has none."
"The document mentions Bear Castle Territory, which was only established in the 4th century of the Imperial Calendar, and the concept east of the Dragon Sleep Mountain Range was established in the 3rd century..."
"Not to mention its text mimicking classical El writing or using taboo words at the time..."
Initially, some debaters could stand and refute point by point, but as Rang Buluo’s evidence accumulated and mutually confirmed, there was no more room for excuses.
Within the entire chamber, only Rang Buluo’s relentless attack on "Saint Rania’s Life" and the sound of paper and pen remained.
When Rang Buluo finished detailing the main evidence, no one could offer any objection.
If it were just one example, monks and clerics specializing in "Saint Rania’s Life" could still stubbornly resist.
But there were dozens of examples here, with examples even verifying each other!
This border priest from the Juanist Faction had thoroughly exposed "Saint Rania’s Life".
Even pinpointing the era of the forger to around the 5th century of the Imperial Calendar.
"Holy Father, Holy Father..." some monks were already incoherent, even fainting from "heatstroke".
Seeing things go awry, even some debaters pretended to faint to avoid responsibility.
Grandiva’s face underwent a cycle from white to red to green to black and back to white in this hour.
He kept signaling to Rocluwa, who could only lower his head as if he hadn’t seen it.
"Code of Horn! Code of Rocluwa! Code of the Grand Duke’s Conference!" Grandiva silently roared within his chest and abdomen, his eyes almost spitting fire.
Not far away, Horn noticed Grandiva’s angry gaze and even smiled and nodded in greeting.
Grandiva had worked hard for three whole months, three whole months, without even meeting his lover.
They had gathered all the scholars of the Falan Kingdom, working day and night to build a theoretical fortress.
The result was that the Holy Alliance didn’t even bother to besiege it, but with one swing, uprooted the foundation.
The castle of Saint Lanyan had not yet been built, and it was already reduced to ruins.
Similarly, the monks of the Holy Sect felt the same; they had conducted attack and defense simulations for more than two months around "Saint Lanyan’s Life."
Yet when they arrived on site today, not only were there no seats, but it was all in vain.
Even more despairing were those scholars who had spent a lifetime researching "Saint Lanyan’s Life."
The debaters of the Holy Sect and the Divine Essence Sect had spent only two or three months, but they had immersed themselves in it for a lifetime.
After the falsification, all the papers, articles, and annotations they published had to be nullified.
At the thought of this, several gray-haired monks suddenly cried out, clutched their chests, and fell down twitching.
"Doctor, doctor!"
"Coming!"
"...How did you get here so quickly?"
"His Majesty Horn arranged for us to be here yesterday; there’s a medical room in the little garden next door, with all the medicines."
"..."
Watching the chaos everywhere, with monks and priests trying to climb over the long table to hit Rang Buluo, Leimingston sighed softly.
"Indeed, the Saint’s Grandson is no ordinary person, capable of doing what ordinary people cannot."
Leimingston looked at Rang Buluo in the arena with a complicated expression, marveling that this Juanuo Sect had become famous.
This should have been his honor.
As for Swenson, he fell into contemplation.
These mutually corroborating pieces of evidence were clearly written in books, and they had read many of the documents several times.
Why hadn’t they realized it?
It wasn’t just Swenson; even the other scholars on stage were bowing their heads, pondering this question.
The examples Rang Buluo cited were scattered across many books, inscriptions on copper and stone slabs, yet they had been there for a millennium.
The scholars present weren’t photographic-memory geniuses, but they had gone through them many times, yet never discovered it.
What exactly was the key point?
Some old monks, deeply engrossed in theological studies, even began writing on the spot, restarting the review of Rang Buluo’s argument process.
Meanwhile, a more terrifying topic rose in everyone’s mind—
If so many mistakes were unearthed in "Saint Lanyan’s Life," then what about the entire "Gospel"?
Some scholars specializing in the Gospel began to tremble; just one quick blow, and it would cut down their life’s academic achievements.
"Ahem!"
A deliberately light cough echoed in the now-silent chapel, and everyone turned their heads to see Horn standing up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this ’Analysis and Critique of <Saint Lanyan’s Life>’ is actually a book that the Holy Alliance is about to print and publish.
Under the leadership of Rang Buluo, scholars from our Holy Alliance spent a great deal of time conducting this research.
When it gets published in the future, you can buy it from bookstores we’ve established throughout the Holy Alliance. It’ll be available for just 80 dinars, with an opening discount of 20% off..."
"Mr. Horn," Quivarin interrupted Horn’s words leisurely, "this is actually the question everyone present wants to ask. I’m old and thick-skinned, so I’ll ask on their behalf—how did you find so much evidence in just a few months?"
"May I first ask if there are any objections from the Falan side regarding human freedom rights?"
Quivarin and everyone present turned to look at the seven Falan debaters, who were sweating profusely but dared not respond.
Finally, Campbell sighed and spoke in a steady and calm tone: "Temporarily no objections, but we reserve the right to bring up a review before the meeting concludes."
In fact, in this session or on this topic, the Holy Alliance already had a crushing posture, and they must avoid clashing with it head-on.
All their attacks relied on "Saint Lanyan’s Life," and now that the narrative was essentially proven unreliable, they had lost their arsenal.
As for Horn’s side, they were certainly well-prepared, and they needed to return and prepare anew.
A moment later, Grandiva spoke, squeezing out his voice through gritted teeth: "I agree with Archbishop Campbell’s opinion."
With Grandiva, who held the hopes of all the disbelieving priests, bowing his head, nearly thirty priests and monks instantly collapsed in succession.
The continuous "thud" sounds resembled the school bell of Horn’s small classroom.
He calmly spoke, "What Rang Buluo discussed in the analysis and critique is actually the skeptical scriptures.
But past skeptical scriptures are sometimes reasonable and sometimes absurd because they are a summary of experience rather than a rational guide.
Coincidentally, the next topic of our Grand Duke’s Conference can resolve your doubts—
Is the Holy Father both creator and ruler, or merely a creator?"
