Nightmare Light

Chapter 201 Thorn Ring
Inside the temple, Lin Wang followed Bishop Du into the room behind him.

A low humming sound came from the room, and a faint smell of ionization could be smelled in the air. Lin Wang felt a slight tingling sensation on his skin.

It felt as if I had entered a high-power electrical signal field, where a massive amount of data was being transmitted.

Lin Wang looked around and found that it was an open space with an area roughly the size of a basketball court.

Inside the room, a dozen or so priests stood in twos and threes in front of several oddly shaped devices that looked somewhat like control consoles made of stone.

The equipment was placed in the four corners of the room. When the priests operated the equipment, light would flow down the floor and converge in the center of the room.

In the center of the room, on the floor, there was a circular ring less than a foot long: the ring was emerald green, made of metal, and covered with thorns.

Lin Wang could sense that the ring was emanating an astonishing sacred aura—the sacredness of that aura was almost indistinguishable from the feeling he had experienced from the tree fern.

At this moment, the metal ring projected a spherical, semi-transparent space with a diameter of two meters into the air about half a meter above. Shi Xiong's slightly burly body was inside this space, slowly rotating with the sphere, his expression serious with a hint of pain.

Lin Wang noticed that there was a trace of blood at the corner of Shi Xiong's mouth.

Lin Wang cast an inquiring glance at Bishop Du.

The latter smiled gently and said, "This is an ornament that my mother used to wear on her head... a thorn headband."

Lin Wang's face twitched. For a moment, he couldn't control his wildly racing thoughts and subconsciously said, "That thing weighs at least five or six pounds... She has a strong neck."

As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen pairs of eyes in the room turned to him, some of which were filled with hostility that seemed almost tangible.

Bishop Du sighed, "Mr. Lin Wang... thank goodness you're standing by my side..."

"Forget what I just said, you continue..." Lin Wang chuckled dryly, using this expression to conceal the seriousness in his eyes.

Ignoring the earlier lame joke, Lin Wang gleaned a crucial piece of information from Bishop Du's words that he couldn't ignore—they possessed artifacts once used by the True God!
And it's quite obvious that they can use this artifact!
Bishop Du continued, “The Thorn Headband, a true artifact that my mother herself wore, can create a space that simulates the thoughts of the true god—anyone who is immersed in this space is as if they are facing the god directly, and their thoughts and ideas will be truly exposed.”

"Commander Shi Zhan disappeared from the temple's hierarchy a hundred years ago, but has returned today, still holding the scepter from Vice-Bishop Zhao, and commanding a complete Holy Army..."

Bishop Du said calmly, "The temple believes that it is a good thing for Commander Shi Zhan to want to regain the glory of his mother, but he needs to face his mother's gaze directly."

"I see." Lin Wang nodded.

His gaze lingered for a few seconds on the thorn headband and the spherical space above.

For some reason, I always felt that spherical space had some kind of attraction for me... Oh well, it's best to avoid things from the temple.

Lin Wang shook his head, banishing distracting thoughts from his mind, and asked Bishop Du, "Old Du, I have a question for you."

“While I personally don’t mind this title at all, and even gladly accept it… could you give me some face in front of my mother?” Bishop Du lowered his voice and leaned closer to Lin Wang. “For example, could you call me ‘Bishop’ or something?”

“Okay, Lao Du.” Lin Wang nodded. “Um… since you don’t really trust the cook, Lao Shi, why not just take away the command scepter instead of putting him through this test?”

“Mr. Lin Wang, you probably have a misunderstanding of the temple people’s way of thinking,” Bishop Du said patiently. “We are the mother’s servants and children.”

“From the perspective of the temple people, everything has its reason—the fact that something appears in one hand... indicates that this is the mother’s will.”

“Since Mother agrees that Commander Shi Zhan should hold this scepter, it means that the Holy Army should rightfully be under his command… Why should we object?”

"I still can't quite understand your way of thinking..." Lin Wang shook his head and muttered to himself.

However, despite his incomprehension, he finally understood why the scene before him was like this.

At this moment, the spherical space in front of him suddenly trembled, and Shi Xiong's expression became even more painful, his brows furrowed, and he spat out another mouthful of blood. But overall, he seemed to be in good condition.

"Oh, Commander Shi, the ceremony of facing the mother is about to end," Bishop Du said, glancing around the room. "What was the result?"

A priest ran over from each of the four corners, bowed to Bishop Du, and then spoke in turn.

"Mental stability is good."

"Perfection in devotion."

"The pressure is a bit high, but manageable."

"In excellent health—perhaps the best among all the combat-type priests in the temple at present."

He ate chive pancakes for lunch.

Lin Wang almost choked on his breath: "That divine artifact can even test this?"

“Oh, no,” a priest explained. “At first, the space spun a little too fast, and Commander Stone Battle threw up.”

Lin Wang then realized where the faint smell of chives in the air came from...

Several priests deactivated the controller, the light on the thorny ring faded, the spherical space disappeared, and Shi Xiong collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Several priests stepped forward and helped the man up.

Shi Xiong was pale and was helped to the side. Several medical priests came forward to conduct further examinations on him.

"Old Shi is really in a bad way now... Does everyone who enters the Thorn Circle suffer as much as him?"

"Terrible? Commander Shi is actually doing alright," a priest said. "To be honest, I've never seen anyone emerge from the Thorn Aura in such good condition..."

"He's in good shape?" Lin Wang exclaimed in surprise. "What would happen if he failed the test?"

"Facing the gods head-on, and then failing the test..." The priest chuckled, "Tragic?"

Lin Wang understood his subtext.

He asked Bishop Du, "Old Shi, how much longer? I need to talk to you and him at the same time."

“I know about Vice-Bishop Zhao’s matter.” Bishop Du smiled and waved his hand. “Don’t worry, Mother knows everything… Mother will arrange everything.”

At this point, Bishop Du changed the subject, pointing to the thorny circle in the middle of the room, and leaned closer to Lin Wang: "Mr. Lin Wang, would you be interested in going in and 'having a chat' with the gods?"

"No interest." Lin Wang refused without hesitation. "I'm not a member of the temple."

“Those who are not from the temple can also participate in this test,” Bishop Du said. “It’s not only the mother’s servants who are qualified to speak with the gods… The temple has a rule that if someone performs well in the conversation, they will receive a gift.”

As if afraid that Lin Wang would refuse, Bishop Du added, "Don't worry, we will control the intensity and there will be no danger to life."

"Thank you, but I still refuse." Lin Wang had absolutely no desire to deal with such strange things.

But at that moment, a message suddenly appeared in his mind from the server function.

[Recyclable material found.]

(End of this chapter)