I have a long-lived pawn shop.

Wei Xi and the people in black robes walked forward in silence for a while.

There were no nuns or monks walking around casually on the road. On both sides of the steps and under the pillars, people in black robes stood, like secret messengers or lonely souls, holding scriptures in their hands. They lowered their heads slightly, remained silent, and even their breathing could not be heard.

No one stopped him or asked questions, because the burning lantern represented the identity of the envoy of Pope Salothir I. The Pope gave the fire in the glass lampshade to his envoy, and no matter where he went, the fire would light the way for the envoy like a divine light. If it weren't for the absolutely secret scene tonight, everyone who saw the lantern would be wondering what had alarmed the Pope to light this holy object that had not been lit for decades, just to guide a girl on the way.

After a series of doors, Wei Xi stopped in front of the bell tower deep in the church. The angel sculptures on both sides of the bell tower were old, with layers of peeling on the surface, and the places stained by rain turned gray and black. A series of towering stone walls separated this area from the rest of the white buildings of the church. It was cold and deserted, and the wind blew on my body and I felt cold.

The huge moon was moving slowly. It was hanging on the roof of the bell tower. The moonlight was pouring down like a waterfall. The candles in the bell tower were burning like torches. Dust was flying in the light, blurring the pattern of the stained glass: on one side, the Virgin Mary was weeping and holding her dead baby tightly. On the other side, the gods were riding their war horses and flying down. Angels were blowing brass trumpets in the clouds. On the other side, under the huge white moon, the resurrected dead were walking out of the dark river...

Resurrection. Wei Xi chewed on this word, her expression seemed to be sighing, but also looking forward to it. There was no fluctuation in her dark eyes under the silk, as if all the movements in the outside world would be swallowed up without a trace when they touched her gaze.

At the entrance of the bell tower stood an old man in a red robe, the edges of which were embroidered with gold thread. His thin figure and hooked nose made Wei Xi smile. She recognized him as the gatekeeper of the underground square. The man in black robe slowly walked up to the old man, handed him the lantern, and stepped aside. The old man walked up to Wei Xi and became the new guide.

Wei Xi tried to lower his voice: "It's been a long time since we last met, Envoy. Just like I said before, I am here again."

"You look satisfied." The old man's tone was as sarcastic as always.

"You don't look very satisfied... I've never received a look of pity twice in one day. What are you pitying?"

"Have mercy on a lamb that jumped off a cliff by itself." The old man was silent for a moment and said in a low voice.

"Messenger, I have always felt that most tragedies in life come from being confused when we should be sober, and waking up when we shouldn't be sober. I have worked so hard for myself and my family for so long. If someone tells me one day that you were chosen for a great goal and your existence has no other meaning - ha, my feet are already deeply mired in blood. If I don't wade through the blood and move forward, then the road back will be equally boring. Do you still remember the records about the end of the world in the classics?"

The old man could not help but look back at Wei Xi, and then recited calmly: "People in the world are ignorant and do all kinds of dirty and corrupt things. The gods in charge of life are disappointed with people. He sent down heavy snow for ten days and ten nights. During these ten days and nights when the most loving goddess closes her eyes, the gods will descend from the clouds, riding on winged white horses, holding swords burning with fire, and kill all the sinners in the world.

The gods cut off their heads like a farmer reaping ears of wheat from his field; the blood of the sinners will overflow the highest mountains of the world and drown the innocent as well."

"It's really pitiful. Because God is dissatisfied with people, innocent people must be wiped out. All things are God's lambs and sacrifices, but why must I be used as a sacrifice? I haven't worked hard until today for this." Wei Xi whispered, "Messenger, can you make me give up the unwillingness in my blood?"

"No." The old man's answer was simple and direct.

"Yes, you can't. People never work hard for foolish goals that cannot be achieved." Wei Xi's tone was gentle, "But if I were the one who wrote the classics, I would add a more beautiful ending to this doomsday legend, which would be more in line with people's expectations now."

"What is the ending?" The messenger took a deep breath and asked in a low voice.

"It is the counterattack of the strong, the burning of the Garden of Heaven, and the arbitration of God himself when the end of the world comes. I have found a way. You can no longer stop me. You can only wait for a decisive battle, just like in the legend of the Dark Ages, the demigod took away her Lord's throne, even though He had seen the revelation of the God of Destiny about the future." Wei Xi smiled lightly, "This is the price, the price that God must pay for evolution."

"Amen." The old man made the sign of the cross on his chest. Although he was a devout believer, he had a fair side in his character and was not furious at Wei Xi's heresy. Rather than believing in God, it would be better to say that he believed in the Church itself, which had been pruned of its deformed branches and was dedicated to redeeming the weak.

The two of them fell silent, walking deeper and deeper along the thin and tall black iron spiral staircase. The candlelight above them, like the sea, gradually went out. The lantern bearer in front of them held a small brass bowl and extinguished the candles in the bell tower one by one. He dragged his black robe, like a black snake swallowing the light.

Wei Xi came to the underground square. She was taken to a black iron building. She took an elevator from a secret door and went down. Inside the door was a deep and winding passage. There were hard stone walls on both sides. Mosses grew in the cracks of the stone. There was a faint scent of laurel. There were too many lights burning. She couldn't see the end and didn't know where it led. After leaving the passage, Wei Xi stepped on the soft meadow. She paused for a moment and sniffed. She thought the fragrance was so rich. She felt like she was standing in the late spring when flowers were blooming. Fresh air was always flowing around her, without any smell of decay.

Wei Xi looked at the end of the front. The bronze door was wide open. In the magnificent dome-shaped building, countless white candles were burning. The candles were bright, and the warm silver light filled the whole room. Todrod Saloshir stood in front of a huge mural with his hands on the holy book. He was wearing a white robe with gold embroidery, a towering holy crown on his head, and an ancient cross wooden staff in his hand.

The red-robed messenger who led the way walked in front of him, placed the lantern beside the Pope, and then returned to the companions who were arranged in a fan shape around him. Wei Xi bowed and saluted, and the Pope silently stroked her head.

She was standing right in the middle of the building, surrounded by old men in red robes.

The silver light was hazy, and the marble floor under his feet was polished very smoothly, reflecting another world of silver light. Wei Xi seemed to be standing on a mirror. This scene was more like "Queen Ptolemy receiving the prophets who came to pay homage" than the baptism of a saint.

The red-robed elders looked at her inch by inch, exchanging glances at the same time. The look in their eyes was definitely not the feeling of the ancestors looking at the younger generation with superior qualifications, but more like the devil examining the new human body... The elders were obviously very satisfied with Wei Xi, probably because they thought she was qualified to be the nourisher of the relics of the gods. Wei Xi certainly didn't take this kind of recognition to heart.

The saints in white robes turned over the ancient scriptures, and the elders in red robes bowed their heads and held the silver cross on their chests to pray. The whole church was filled with a solemn atmosphere. In the deepest part of the church, in the darkness where the lights could not reach, there was an altar. Wei Xi was guided to sit on a square stone slab in the center of the altar. A nun gently changed her outer robe and put on a white linen dress for her. The black-haired blindfolded girl was like a puppet, allowing people to manipulate her. But when the nun wanted to take off the silk blindfold, Wei Xi shook her head slightly and refused: "My body is not yet clean, and I cannot explore the relics of God. If I defile the glory of God, how can I get the liberation of my soul? Please wait until I complete the baptism before taking it off."

"What a pious man," the nun admired softly.

The sound of chanting sermons rang out under the dome. It was the unison chanting of dozens of core members, like an ancient elegy being sung by thousands of people at the same time. It reminded people of the time many years ago when the devout believers trekked to the courtyard of the gods. The Lord of the Silver Moon granted them authority in the glorious kingdom of God and allowed them to command all living beings on earth:

“God, the controller of life and elements, Lord of the Silver Moon.

We are unable to listen to your teachings, and do not know how long it has lasted - we have never counted, and we can never calculate the loss of our souls by the length of seconds; we can only silently appreciate the feeling of loss.

But I am thankful that I share a common fate with the humble. We endure and carry the weight of what is left behind. We shield the stubborn face of the Church and weep silently in the darkness.

Those waves of pain have leapt into the hidden depths of your moonlit night, and every insult we have endured is summarized in your great silence.

Our wish has been unfulfilled for a long time, unfulfilled for a long time, and brewed for a long time! But the past illness has been cured, and we thank you for your great mercy, allowing us to occupy the scenery of this day.

……

God have mercy on me."

As she prayed, Wei Xi discovered that the ground around the stone slab slowly dropped and turned into a clear pool. A large amount of transparent liquid flowed out, releasing a nectar-like fragrance. She could not tell the composition of the liquid. Perhaps it was a secret of the Holy See and there was no way to find it in any book. The method of making it was probably only circulated among elders and the Pope, and even the cardinals were not qualified to know it.

The saint was baptized in order to obtain psychic energy after integrating the relics of the gods. The "psychic energy" of psychics refers to the incredible energy excavated from the soul. The body is like the soil of the soul. A strong body can support a strong soul, and a strong soul has a better chance of developing psychic energy.

Wei Xi had read in the scriptures of the Vatican that "baptism" and "secret medicine" were developed with the details of human physiological characteristics as the main object. Their goal was to forcibly disturb people's physiological changes, induce psychological changes, and ultimately transform the soul in order to awaken spiritual power - in this process, the direction of awakening can be influenced.

That is why most psychics in the military possess the ability of "Eagle Eye" which is practical on the battlefield.

Wei Xi was thinking about psychic knowledge in his mind, sitting quietly on the stone slab with his head lowered, like a devout praying person. After the prayer, a song sounded in the church, it was a requiem, like a whole legion of angels singing in the clouds, the grand and majestic sound of the organ spread in all directions, and in the sound of holy music, the two leading elders walked to the altar that had turned into a clear pool, and at the same time moved two half-human, half-eagle statues.

Wei Xi heard the clanking of chains, and the resonance of the altar echoed throughout the sanctuary. A black stone coffin was slowly pulled out of the ground by chains nailed to the four corners. The surface of the rock was covered with various symbols and figures, but there was no coffin lid. Those symbols seemed familiar and were surprisingly similar to the totems on the stone slabs.

The sarcophagus rose slowly, buckling the stone slab at the bottom. Now Wei Xi was sitting in the huge and dark sarcophagus. She was quiet, with a calmness on her porcelain-like face that showed the emptiness in her heart after having seen past and present lives.

The Pope walked forward slowly, holding a scepter in one hand and a scripture in the other. The huge emerald ring on his finger glowed in the candlelight. He handed the scepter to his entourage and took out something made of strange material from the iron scripture.

It was a long scroll written in white paint on black paper, written in scribbled notes, interspersed with many obscure symbols. The Pope unfolded it and began to read in ancient language. The moment he began to recite, holy fire instantly spread from his clothes and extended forward along his fingers. The flames moved like snakes, and the scroll made a "whoosh" sound, bending and undulating in the air, and the colors of the symbols turned darker in the fire.

The fire leaped up and grew larger, illuminating the entire altar hidden in the darkness clearly.