Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 342 [Biography of Bishop Alfonso]

"You want to enter the Chamber of Secret Scrolls?"

Archbishop Sid looked at Luo Xiu and narrowed his eyes slightly.

That is one of the most central storage halls in the "Holy Storage House", where are hidden the sacred books that have been treasured over the years of operation of the General Church.

If it was any other request, Archbishop Sid might have agreed immediately, but Luo Xiu's request to enter the "Secret Scroll Hall" made Archbishop Sid hesitate.

"What do you want to do in the 'Secret Scroll Hall', Luo Xiu?"

Archbishop Sid asked Luo Xiu again.

Luo Xiu nodded slightly to him and replied solemnly:

"As the most sacred Grand Master of the Sun, I want to know something about the past history of the Holy Court. That will help me to more firmly practice the priesthood of the Bishop."

"In addition, I do have some 'holy arts' books that I want to study... but that is only my personal desire. I want to take a look at the sacred texts recorded in those holy scrolls to sublimate my faith."

"..."

After hearing Luo Xiu's answer that he wanted to enter the secret scroll room, Archbishop Sid did not respond to him immediately. Instead, he looked thoughtful and stared at him for a long time.

Until next to the archbishop, the voice of the taciturn "saint" was heard again:

"Let him go, Archbishop Sid."

Franya's voice was as cold as ever, and contained a tone that did not allow for doubt:
"His demands are reasonable - and for a 'Divine Glory Apostle', he will eventually come into contact with those things."

"……alright, I got it."

Archbishop Sid looked at Luo Xiu's pious face for a long time before he slowly nodded and said:
"I can let you enter the 'Secret Scroll Hall', Luo Xiu, but I have my own requirements."

"I will let a 'bishop' accompany you in, Luo Xiu. You can only stay for half an hour at most, and I only allow you to read three holy books at will."

Half an hour... three books... that's enough. Luo Xiu thought to himself, and then he thanked Archbishop Xide humbly:
"Thank you for your kindness and generosity, Archbishop, and Her Highness the Saint."

"Please rest assured that I will abide by my promise."

……

Songyuan City Church, the place of holy relic.

After leaving the Lofty Temple, Luo Xiu, accompanied by another "Bishop Qihui", came to the main entrance of the Holy Relics' Residence.

The "Bishop Qihui" who came with Luo Xiu - his name is Lawrence, Lawrence Falkin. He is a member of the bishops of the Songyuan City Church, and in the church's clergy, he is also one of the three managers of the "Secret Scroll Hall".

In fact, coming to the "Secret Scroll Hall" was not Luo Xiu's original plan. It was only because Archbishop Sid had made an additional arrangement for him to carry out the "Divine Revelation" that he added a new "need" at the right time.

When the clergyman guarding the holy reserve saw Lawrence for the first time, he immediately performed the most standard sacrament on him.

At Lawrence's instruction, the clergy checked the authenticity of Luo Xiu's "Bishop of Red Maple City" holy emblem according to standard procedures. Lawrence conveyed the oral instructions from Archbishop Sid to the clergy, and he was released smoothly.

They then headed straight to the core of the Holy Relic without taking any detours, and climbed to the top floor of a building that looked like a white tower, and came to a plain white door.

"This is the 'Secret Scroll Hall', Luo Xiu. From the moment you step through this door, I will start counting time for you."

"Bishop Qihui" Lawrence remained polite and pushed the monocle on his right eye. At the same time, he took out a gold-inlaid pocket watch from his half-black and white bishop's robe, opened the dial, and gently pressed his thumb on the tiny mechanism.

Looking at Bishop Qihui who maintained an "elegant" posture in front of him, Luo Xiu did not say much, but just nodded, and then pushed open the pure white door——

The smell of books wafted into the air, and a dark yellow light flickered between the ancient bookshelves.

The first thing that caught Luo Xiu's eyes was the rows of heavy wooden shelves and the various files and books that were stuffed inside, silently in the embrace of wood.

Although the door of the secret scroll hall is small, the space inside is very large - it seems that it is enough to accommodate hundreds of large display racks and reserve aisles for the clergy to pass through calmly.

His senses then began to reach outward.

He saw exquisite tapestries hanging on the walls of the Secret Scroll Room, with pictures painted in thick ink, colorfully telling ancient legends and sacred chapters;

He smelled the unique aroma of aged wood and ink in the air, the smell of knowledge and time.
He heard the wind blowing, the curtains fluttering gently, and the faint sound of "Bishop Enlightenment" Lawrence pressing the pocket watch behind him.

The half-hour countdown has begun... Luo Xiu no longer hesitated to wait and see, but walked along the light golden velvet carpet on the ground, towards the depths of the secret hall.

There were more than a thousand books in the collection, but Archbishop Sid only allowed him to select and read three of them - the ordinary books on the outside were not among Luo Xiu's choices, and he also had his own purpose.

In his previous life, when the 3.0 version of "God's Destiny" unlocked the promotion to the fifth level of destiny [Glory], Luo Xiu was allowed to enter here once, so he was quite familiar with it.

He walked straight to an antique nanmu display stand, stopped in front of several holy books whose covers were already covered with dust, and took down a thick book.

——《A Hundred Years of Spreading Dao's Journey》

That was the name of the holy book in Luo Xiu's hand, and when he took the book, he was seen by "Bishop Qihui" Lawrence who had been following him.

Lawrence had also read this book. It did not record any sacred skills or sacred arts, but simply recorded the hundred-year history of the "Holy Court".

But with Archbishop Sid's order, Lawrence remained silent and watched Luo Xiu start to browse the contents page by page.

……

Long before he made the request for the "Secret Scroll Hall" to Archbishop Sid, Luo Xiu had already determined his purpose.

He took down "A Hundred Years of Hongdao's Journey" just to investigate one thing -

Investigate things about "Alfonso Durant" that he could not ask others and could only learn from historical records!
Ever since he first asked Priest Leonard about Alfonso Durant, the former "bishop" of the Sina City Church, Leonard no longer talked to him about the former bishop.

Although Bishop Fabion had told him about Alfonso's deeds, what they knew was limited after all, and it was difficult for Luo Xiu to ask the clergy outside of Sina about this matter.

He clearly remembered what Priest Leonard had said at the beginning - the name "Alfonso Durant" was considered "heresy" in the eyes of many clergy in the "Holy See".

He would never risk asking the clergy outside the Church of Sina City about this person who was suspected to be his "ancestor". He only hoped that the Holy See would not be so sensitive as to completely destroy the historical records about Alfonso Durant...

While thinking about this, he flipped through the pages quickly.

……

Time passes by second by second.

It was not until he had read through the long "Biography of Pope Lorentz" that Luo Xiu finally came to the chapter belonging to the "Songyuan Diocese".

He went straight to the text belonging to the "Church of Sina City". Among the lines of tiny words, he finally found the words "Alfonso Durant" -

The "Holy See" did not completely destroy the records of him!

This cheered up Luo Xiu, and he began to browse more carefully.

[Biography of Bishop Alfonso——] [In the year 643 of the Apocalypse, Alfonso Durant was born in Songyuan Territory—Sina City—Rhines Town—Casivo Village…]

[He was born in a farming family. His family tradition taught him to be strong-willed, persevering and silent, and he did not have a harmonious relationship with his neighbors in his hometown.]

[In the year 653 of the Apocalyptic calendar, when ten-year-old Alfonso was working in the fields, the clergy of the Church of Sina happened to pass by on a pilgrimage, which inspired Alfonso to convert...]

[In the year 655 of the Apocalyptic calendar, Alfonso went with his parents to the town of Rhines - the Church of Glory to participate in the holy ceremony.]

【During the holy ceremony, Alfonso showed his outstanding suitability for the "holy light" and was converted to the tutelage of the great priest of Azerai and baptized on the same day.】

【After this, Alfonso Durant served as a novice priest in the Rhines Church.】

【…】

[In the year 659 of the Apocalyptic calendar, Alfonso Durant had been a priest for four years, so he asked the priest Azerai for instructions - he had seen the "Bronze Door".]

[After Priest Azerai reported to the Church of Sina City, the Church sent clergy to examine him for promotion. Alfonso passed the examination successfully and was promoted to the "second destiny" on the same day - becoming a "consecrated priest"...]

[That night, the Rhines Church lit up with brilliant rays of light—a sacred beast like a celestial fox descended from the clouds and sank into the room where Alfonso Durant was.]

【This is a divine manifestation.】

[The next morning, Alfonso Durant woke up and told the priest who was testing him that he had established a contract with the 'Golden Fox' in his dream.]

[Thus, Alfonso Durant was officially named "Son of Glory" and was transferred to the church in Sina City to serve as a priest - this was the beginning of the preaching of "Bishop" Alfonso.]

【…】

His experience is indeed very similar to mine... Luo Xiu chewed over the stories he had seen and had memorized several place names.

"The Town of Rhines", "The Village of Cassivo"... If I have time later, maybe I can go to these places to look for some clues about Alfonso's legacy.

Luo Xiu continued reading.

The following long passage describes the deeds of Bishop Alfonso before he was promoted to the "Fivefold Destiny" and became a bishop.

Alfonso was indeed gifted. Named "Son of Glory", it took him only one year to be promoted to the "triple destiny", and only three years to be promoted to the "quadruple destiny", standing on the threshold of "entering sainthood".

Alfonso was only nineteen years old that year, and his rapid promotion soon attracted the attention of the bishop of the Sina City Church at that time.

The bishop of the church then reported his "astonishing speed" to the Diocese of Songyuan - which also attracted the attention of the diocesan bishops and archbishops, and they gave the bishop of the Sina City Church a lot of resources to vigorously train Alfonso.

With a large amount of resources allocated, in the fourth year of Alfonso's promotion to the "Quadruple Fate", he finally glimpsed the "Obsidian Gate" -

The General Church approved Alfonso's application for the "Obsidian Key", so when Alfonso was 23 years old, he entered the "Sea of Spirituality" for the fourth time and was successfully promoted to the "Fivefold Destiny"!
When reading to this point, Luo Xiu's attention was quickly attracted by the following line of words -

[Thus, Alfonso Durant was promoted to the "Fivefold Destiny", from "Chief Judge" to "Bishop of Divine Glory"! ]

——"The Divinely Brilliant Bishop"!
That is also a hidden profession in the fifth level of destiny of [Glory], and it can be seen as having the same origin as Luo Xiu's "Apostle of Divine Glory". However, because the prerequisite profession of "Bishop of Divine Glory", "Judge of Sin", is not a hidden profession, the difficulty of being promoted to a hidden profession in the "Five Level Destiny" is much higher.

It turned out that Alfonso was also a saint from the "Divine Light" series, which was somewhat beyond Luo Xiu's expectations.

He was eager to know what Alfonso had done after becoming the "Glorious Bishop", so he stroked the pages and turned them over.

According to Luo Xiu's memory, the next part should be the "Holy War", when the "Holy Court" of "Glorious" truly seized the authority of the empire's faith from the "Lost" believers.

But when Luo Xiu turned to the next page, his eyes went blank.

The content of the next page was completely blank, without even a single word!

Luo Xiu had already guessed something, so he continued to flip through the pages.

The next page, the next page, and the next page were all blank, and so on for more than ten pages!

It was not until he turned to page 18 that Luo Xiu saw a line of inconspicuous words:

[In the year 672 of the Apocalypse, Fabion Novellan, the "Holy Fire Bishop", officially took over the priesthood from Alfonso Durant, the "Holy Glory Bishop", and assumed the holy authority of the Sina City Church.]

【…】

The next content was "Bishop Fabion's Biography", but Luo Xiu had no interest in reading on - instead of reading a book to learn about Fabion's past, Luo Xiu might as well ask him directly.

He was feeling a little complicated now. After reading "A Hundred Years of Journey", he roughly understood what the attitude of the "Holy See" was towards Alfonso...

Those acts called "blasphemy" were indeed blocked by the Holy See from all aspects, but Alfonso's title as a "bishop" of Sina City was still retained. What is this... Is this filling a gap in history?

Thinking this in his heart, Luo Xiu had already closed "A Hundred Years of Hongdao's Journey" and gently put it back on the bookshelf.

There is no need to look at it anymore... Luo Xiu thought.

He was actually a little disappointed that he had not seen any records about Bishop Alfonso in the "Holy War". All he knew was that Bishop Alfonso later ascended to the [Supreme], dominated the "Holy Light", and that he sealed the "Lord of Blood Sacrifice" with the holy seal...

However, it was precisely because of this that Luo Xiu became more determined about one thing—

"Rhine Town-Casiwo Village", Luo Xiu has made up his mind that he will definitely find time to go there.

Go to the hometown of Bishop Alfonso Durant, the bishop or "ancestor" Alfonso, may have left something there.

……

"Luo Xiu."

While thinking about this, Luo Xiu heard a gentle reminder:

"Luo Xiu?"

Coming out of his complicated thoughts, Luo Xiu looked back at "Bishop Qihui" Lawrence and responded with a normal expression on his face:

"what happened?"

"..."

"I saw you were stunned for a while, Luo Xiu."

"I just wanted to remind you—it's been twenty minutes."