Nightmare Light

Chapter 173 The Old Stories of the Temple
In the square, under the light shining down from above, the fog in the sky was gathering.

In the gaps between the closing fogs, no one noticed that dark clouds were emerging and gradually obscuring the sky.

“My family has actually been in business for generations…doing business is our profession…of course, what I really want is to make money while serving as a priest…”

In the square, the young priest was still rambling on, describing his grand business plan.

"These shoes certainly can't be sold so cheaply. They're made by the temple, how could they possibly be sold at the original price?"

“My idea is… to hire some people to repair and clean these shoes, and then have a few priests… ordinary priests like myself will do, to ‘bless’ these shoes, and then raise the price tenfold or more…”

As Shi Xiong watched the young man in front of him rambling on and on, he suddenly lost his composure for a moment.

He suddenly remembered that more than a hundred years ago, in this very temple, there was that young saintess.

Although they are of different genders and have different thoughts... the feeling they give off is exactly the same.

"I have a great idea! What do you think about charging admission to the temple?"

"These aren't ordinary tickets; they're tickets blessed by the priests. Coming in for a visit not only allows you to make a wish, but also to receive a blessing from the priests... They're really getting a great deal!"

"Hehehe, once the temple makes some money, I want to build a fountain at the temple gate... and then I'll raise a bunch of fish in the fountain pool!"

"Then, let's keep a few cats in the temple!"

If that girl were alive today... she'd probably be a bishop in some temple by now...

Unfortunately, that riot back then...

Shi Xiong shook his head slightly, withdrawing his thoughts.

He reached his hand inside his robe, and a metallic scraping sound came from beneath it.

He took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, glanced at the young man in front of him and the common teachers around him, then took the cigarette out of his mouth and tucked it behind his ear.

"Commander, there's no need to be so careful... There are many laymen smoking in the square," said Shi Xionglue's subordinate.

Shi Xiong glanced at his subordinate and asked, "Do you know the connection between this plaza and our battle group?"

"All I know is that this square was the main temple during the Three Sovereigns period."

"This was also the headquarters of our warband back then," Shi Xiong said. "This temple was originally built for us... the Shadow Godslayer Cult."

“Boss, I’ve always felt there’s something wrong with the name of our cult, especially when it’s mentioned in front of Mother,” said Shi Xiong’s subordinate.

“Since the year 400 of the Imperial Calendar, this place has always been the ultimate fortress for the Shadow Godslayer Cult in its fight against evil gods,” Shi Xiong said, a look of reminiscence on his face.

He asked his subordinates, "Do you know who Mother killed in the end?"

"What a joke! Isn't this precisely the purpose of our order's founding?"

"Then do you know why our order is a shadow order that no one knows about?"

"This... subordinate doesn't know."

Shi Xiong said calmly, "Initially, launching a war against 'that one' was an open action by the temple—everyone believed that under the radiance of the Mother, that one... would be as pale and powerless as his white fire, and would soon be killed and forgotten."

"However, no one expected that the war would last for nearly five hundred years."

"In those four or five hundred years, the temple organized at least twenty expeditions against 'that person'."

“Almost every time, it ended in total annihilation,” Shi Xiong said in a deep voice.

He stared intently at the plaza before him for several seconds before saying to his subordinates, "Later, due to the enormous consumption and the tragic casualties, a voice emerged from within the temple—a voice that said the war against the evil god was fundamentally wrong."

"Later, these voices grew stronger and stronger, and gradually became more extreme—some people said that the so-called 'expedition against the evil god' was actually a conspiracy, a lie fabricated by the sect to clear its name of dissidents."

"Under the influence of this voice, the hostility towards the expeditionary force within the temple... grew stronger and stronger, and finally, in the nine hundredth year of the imperial calendar, it evolved into a bloody purge of the expeditionary force."

Shi Xiong raised his hand slightly and pointed to the square.

"That day, right here in this square, hundreds of angry priests launched an attack on our order... the last priests of the Expeditionary Force."

He gazed at the square, his eyes seemingly returning to more than a hundred years ago.

“That day, the blood of our Order… your predecessors, my colleagues, flowed through every crack in the bricks of this square.”

"Of the entire cult, which numbered over three hundred, fewer than twenty were killed."

"After that day, the temple headquarters moved."

He scoffed, his voice laced with sarcasm: "Do you know why the entire cult gathered at this temple that day?"

"Because on that day, we were preparing to launch a new expedition."

After a moment of silence, Shi Xionglue's subordinate asked, "Commander Zhan, how did you survive afterwards?"

“The saintess of this temple saved us.” Shi Xiong pointed to a spot on the steps where light and shadow met. “That day, that little girl stood in that spot. She told us to escape into the temple, and then she stood at the temple entrance with her arms outstretched, blocking the priests who were chasing us.”

"She looked like a sparrow protecting its young in front of a cat."

Shi Xiong let out a deep breath: "For the past hundred years, I have dreamed of that scene almost every night."

"...And then what happened?"

"Later, I buried her with my own hands," Shi Xiong said. "She had more than eighty wounds."

"My God... those lunatics, they even killed their own saintess?!" The subordinate's voice rose a little, attracting many gazes from those around him.

Shi Xiong did not answer his question. He said, "After that day, the remaining remnants of the expeditionary force disappeared from the temple's sight."

“From that day on, we went underground… The temple’s expeditionary force disappeared completely—and in its place came the Shadow Godslayer Order.”

"This is our order. Even without any help, even without recognition, we always remember our purpose—we must kill Him! Kill that terrible nightmare!"

"Kill that evil god!"

"We went underground, unrecognized by the world, but we continued to fight against the evil god... until that expedition, when we killed Him and threw His body into the deepest part of the underworld!"

Shi Xiong said in a brief statement: "Until... the White Fire Walker reappears before the world, our entire order will also awaken anew and continue the war that began hundreds of years ago!"

"Now you know why I don't smoke in this square, right?" Shi Xiong smiled slightly. "Because this is the square she protects."

He patted his subordinate on the shoulder: "Welcome to the Shadow Godslayer Cult, brother."

At that moment, a sudden "humming" sound came from the sky, followed by the entire temple shaking violently.

(End of this chapter)