537 Archpriest Thurman
In the central interior of the Sun God Temple's main holy temple, a heavily fortified crystal glass pillar radiated with brilliance. It was the main source of light and illuminated the temple's core region.
However, the main purpose of collecting and gathering the concentrated sun rays within the glass pillar wasn't to illuminate the temple's interior. It was only a byproduct of its primary purpose.
The crystal glass pillar was a mana fusion reactor - its primary purpose was to mix mana and sunlight to create light-attribute mana for cultivation.
Although the Sun God Temple's light-attribute mana fusion reactor wasn't the only one of its kind in the Holy Knight Empire, it was the biggest and most impressive.
As such, the main temple possessed a pleasant, healthy atmosphere. The sick would get better, and the wounded would recover faster. Even people's lifespans would prolong staying in such a place.
However, the effects varied.
Furthermore, the light-attribute mana fusion reactor wasn't perfected. Overexposure to the temple's light-attribute mana could result in disfiguration and genetic defects.
Of course, only ordinary people had the greatest risk. Aura users and trained priests had higher resistance to the side effects.
At the foot of the central crystal glass pillar, High Priest Setheiman took a spiral staircase leading underground. It was a restricted area reserved only for the priests of the Sun God Temple. Outsiders weren't permitted on the underground floors.
After all, it was the main temple's inner sanctum - the place where most priests of higher rankings trained.
It was also the place with the most abundant amount of light-attribute mana.
As such, at least a thousand priests were always meditating on the prayer mats by the crystal glass pillar at any given time.
Nevertheless, High Priest Setheiman didn't stop on the first underground floor but continued down to the final fifth underground floor.
The final fifth underground floor only had three dozen rooms along the walls and open space at its center, where a single sun god statue was situated right under the end of the crystal glass pillar.
At the same time, the sun god statue was partially submerged in a pond filled with mana stones.
The sunlight from the crystal glass pillar was concentrated on the sun god statue, which heated up the pondwater with bubbling steam as mana was released from the mana stones inside.
Evidently, it was the place where the most light-attribute mana was created.
There were thirty-six prayer mats around the pond with the sun god statue, but only one was occupied by a person – an elderly man dressed in the temple's white robes.
The elderly man's snow-white hair and beard reached all the way down to his waist. It seemed to signify his long age, but in truth, some active priests of lower ranking were even more advanced in years than the elderly man.
Nevertheless, no one would doubt that the elderly man was the highest authority of the Sun God Temple, judging by the five-sun mark on the back of his white robe.
"Archpriest Thurman," High Priest Setheiman greeted respectfully, bowing with one hand placed over his chest.
However, the white-robed elderly man with five suns remained irresponsive, his eyes shut, seemingly deep in meditation.
"I have important news regarding the false Sun God's meeting with the Great Ratholos Empire's envoys. I hope you can shed some light on the subject from your perspective, Your Holiness," High Priest Setheiman requested subserviently.
Once Archpriest Thurman heard High Priest Setheiman mention the false Sun God, his eyes immediately snapped open with a solemn glint.
"What happened, High Priest Setheiman," Archpriest Thursman softly asked, seemingly indifferent but actually paying close attention to the matter.
"So, it's like this..." High Priest Setheiman briefly explained the events that unfolded during the meeting between the false Sun God and the Great Ratholos Empire's envoys.
He also included how he acquired the information by making a deal with the Great Ratholos Empire's envoys.
"You've done very well, High Priest Setheiman," Archpriest Thurman first praised before his expression turned serious.
"Never in the history of the Holy Knight Empire-No, in all of Pangea had an envoy ever been attacked, let alone killed during diplomacy by the other party. For something like this to happen... the envoy was either incompetent and foolish to the point of courting death, or something made the false Sun God impulsive..."
"But considering the Great Ratholos Empire had always worshipped dragons since its founding, it's very unlikely they would send incompetent people to negotiate..." Archpriest Thurman mentioned with a frown.
The Holy Knight Empire and the Great Ratholos Empire had never gotten along due to the conflicting views of their faith.
Even so, they were never enemies. They were just bad neighbors who were unwilling to interact with each other.
After all, if they met, they would only engage in a never-ending debate about the true history of Pangea according to their faith.
Since most people from the Holy Knight Empire followed the teachings of the Sun God Temple, they believed it was the Sun God that gave birth to all life on Pangea.
On the other hand, the Great Ratholos Empire's people believed their Dragon God created all life and even the land itself. As such, true dragons were like royal descendants to the Great Ratholos Empire's people.
"That said, I've also heard the Great Ratholos Empire's guardian beast, the Wyvern Lord, was nearing the end of its lifespan," Archpriest Thurman mentioned.
"It wouldn't be a surprise if the Great Ratholos Empire's envoys acted forcefully out of desperation to acquire dragon blood for their guardian beast and angered the false Sun God. Even so, there are too many complications with killing an envoy."
"There's no way someone who led the witches to win the war against our empire would act so impulsively and irrationally..." Archpriest Thurman suddenly smiled smugly before adding, "Unless there is a problem with his mind."
"Do you also think the false Sun God practiced the Holy Aura Scripture that purposely altered to mess with his mind, Your Holiness?" High Priest Setheiman asked, half suppressing his excitement.
The Archpriest most likely came to the same conclusion as him.
"We don't know for certain. However, it is a high possibility," Archpriest Thurman answered conservatively before saying decisively, "As long as we can detect even a wisp of holy aura in him, we will be able to confirm the truth!"
"I have an important task for you, High Priest Setheiman," Archpriest Thurman mentioned seriously shortly after.
"Please instruct me, Your Holiness," High Priest Setheiman expressed his willingness to complete the task, regardless of what was asked of him.
"I want you to go and invite the false Sun God to our main temple. It doesn't matter how you do it or what you say. We just need the Sun God to visit our main temple," Archpriest Thurman stated while holding back his own excitement. "Do you think you can do it, High Priest Setheiman?"
"I will do whatever it costs to make it happen, Your Holiness!" High Priest Setheiman promised with a bow.
"Then, make haste," Archpriest Thurman urged, mentioning, "The longer we delay, the more likely the false Sun God will realize there is a problem with the Holy Aura Scripture we sent to the imperial palace."
"We can't let the false Sun God become wary of the Sun God Temple before we invite him into our inner sanctum," Archpriest Thurman stressed.
"Yes, Your Holiness!"
…
Shortly after High Priest Setheiman acknowledged the urgency of the situation and left to carry out his task, Archpriest Thurman directed his gaze to the closed-door rooms on the same floor.
These closed-door rooms were private meditation chambers. Thus, the closed doors indicated their occupancy. And at that moment, there were sixteen such private meditation chambers with their doors shut.
Although the private meditation chambers were built with sound insulation to prevent disturbance, the occupants could still hear outside if they really wanted
to.
Archpriest Thurman didn’t believe there wasn’t even a single person eavesdropping on such an important subject.
"Gentleman, I believe you have overheard everything and understood the situation" Archpriest Thurman stated.
"Ever since the false Sun God had proclaimed himself the Sun God of our faith, we have been losing daily visitors, and our donations have also steeply dropped. And that's not the end of it. Since the person decided to return and play god, our profits have continued to drop again."
"Our believers would rather camp outside the palace for a chance to catch the false Sun God’s attention than to visit our temple for divine blessings" Archpriest Thurman mentioned.
"So, what do you propose?" an effeminate voice escaped from one of the private meditation chambers, neither agreeing nor rejecting Archpriest Thurman’s statements.
"A Sun God we cannot control is one we do not need" Archpriest Thurman coldly stated before saying, "I know half of you are still waiting to see whether the false Sun God is truly the Sun God of our faith."
"However, you should all know better than anyone else that there was never a Sun God. Our faith was founded on the basis of profits - profits that we could use to enhance ourselves and improve our lives! And right now, this self-proclaimed Sun God wants to take away everything we built. I cannot allow that."
"I need all your help in powering the One-Mind Unity Spell. Once it’s confirmed that the false Sun God had practiced our faulty Holy Aura Scripture and made his mind vulnerable, we will lure him into our spell and make him our puppet."
"I don’t think I need to say what having the false Sun God in our control entails," Archpriest Thurman mentioned with a wicked grin.
Naturally, the other Archpriests inside their meditation chambers all understood the implication.
The Sun God Temple had great influence in the Holy Knight Empire, but that was all there was to it. It was still inferior to the imperial family and the Imperial Legion that backed it.
"However, if they could control the false Sun God, they could finally overthrow the old monarchy and become the new rulers.
Several Archpriests were quickly tempted by the prospect of acquiring more cultivation resources and reaching new heights in life.
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