Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 331 Who is Stronger is the Eldest Son
On the surface, the Earth Church seems no different from other things before.

If Ujat, the creator of the new energy oven, were to regain consciousness, he would probably be the most qualified to speak on this matter—after all, having personally experienced that era, everything would seem the same to him, except that the temple had been replaced by a church, and the sun god by the earth. In short, it was just a change in name only.

"Human beings have always been the same, from ancient times to the present."

Ujat, who owns a new energy barbecue grill, would probably make such a remark.

However, all of this only appears to be the same on the surface.

The temple was indeed replaced by a church, and the worship of the sun god was replaced by the earth. The classics that once praised the gods were transformed into prayers for the earth itself, praising the earth's love for all things.

However, only one thing has changed.

That is, the attitude towards unbelievers.

During the era of the new energy source Ujat, or the era of the Temple of the Sun, although the power of the gods was quite extensive, they always adopted a relatively permissive attitude towards believers. In fact, even if you believed, you might not be qualified to enter the temple and worship the gods, but that meant you could enjoy divine grace, which was an immense blessing.

Unless some pantheons are too hostile, such as the Sun God lineage in the upper reaches of the river and the Snake God lineage in the lower reaches, where the two sides have long been at odds and it is truly a matter of life or death, otherwise, within the Sun God lineage, there is very little forced demand for faith in a single god.

In short, it was a relatively crude system, and the gods didn't put much effort into managing it. If the gods themselves didn't put in the effort, the priests below them were even less likely to care—after all, as long as they had divine grace in hand, they didn't need to worry about people having any other ideas.

However, the Church of the Earth has already reached a point of disagreement on this point.

According to the Earth Church, everything is a gift from the earth and a blessing from God. Since everything is a blessing, there is no such thing as "seeking divine grace." Obviously, this statement leads to a rather serious problem: since divine grace is always around us, why do we have to join the Earth Church?
Therefore, after much deliberation, Habisa II added to this.

"Divine grace is always with us; even our survival is a blessing from the earth. We should be grateful!"

Life itself is a miracle on earth, and the survival of life depends on the earth's nourishment. Therefore, to be born as a human being is to consume the earth beneath one's feet.

This is the explanation found by Habisa II.

Everyone must join the Church of the Earth and worship the Earth itself, simply because they owe the Earth beneath their feet a life from the moment they are born.

Since you owe someone a life, you have to pay for it.

The core of the Earth Church consists of those most willing to pay with their lives. They have vowed to dedicate the rest of their lives to serving the earth itself. They are the most loyal and the most trusted by Habiza.

Of course, there are many more ordinary people who don't really understand the Church of the Earth. In the Church of the Earth's view, these people are ignorant and need enlightenment. They need to know the importance of the Earth and their own obligations in order to be considered true human beings and qualified to continue living on the Earth as its children.

As for those who insist on not believing in the earth...

Then let them return to the earth.

To owe the earth a life and not know how to repay it is a sin. To bear a grave sin and not know how to atone for it deserves to be executed—for example, the cult of the snake worshippers, and those who want to take the earth's resources away from the earth, these are people who must die.

Of course, in the context of the Earth Church, that is not death, but rather letting these ignorant snake worshippers shed their old shells and return to the earth itself.

This is not killing, but a form of salvation, a good deed.

Everyone should perform such good deeds, as it increases the power of the earth itself, benefits the earth, and can atone for one's own sins.

Thus, the Earth Church expanded rapidly. It proved that Hapisa II was indeed extremely capable; although the Earth Church under his rule was still in its infancy, it quickly achieved a theoretical closure—supported by this doctrine, the followers of the Earth Church could plunder everything from unbelievers at will, and even kill all unbelievers at will, since the so-called killing was merely to return these ignorant people to the earth itself.

If you want to survive, you have no choice but to choose faith, otherwise you will be attacked by the followers of the Earth Church.

In just one month, the influence of the Earth Church had spread to all towns. Every town had a church that had sprung up, and each church had a corresponding priest stationed there. They commanded the local city guards and mage corps, and were responsible for purging all unbelievers. They were also responsible for organizing adventurers to clear out the monsters and the Snake Worship Cult.

"Let all the faithless return to the earth!"

Under such a slogan, they unleashed unimaginable fighting power.

Unlike the ancient sun temple system, the Earth Church founded by Hapisa II did not require any additional divine grace, because everything the unbelievers had was already the best gift. When the unbelievers returned to the earth, everything they had originally taken from the earth naturally became ownerless.

These resources, derived from the earth itself, became the provisions for soldiers and adventurers.

This makes them have even greater reverence for the earth itself, at least when they recite prayers with more fervor.

Habisa II also sensed that increasingly powerful force.

The wings of light behind him became increasingly solid, a condensation of the will of thousands of people. Now, these wings of light were becoming more and more dazzling and more and more expansive. Habisa II could sense that even the ancient serpent of the past might not have been so majestic.

After all, the ancestors of that time were too few in number, and only the people of Tatumbto truly sacrificed themselves.

Now, the Earth Church's sphere of influence has become extremely vast, even covering every corner of the entire empire.

"I'm stronger than it!"

Habisa II developed such confidence.

Even though the ancient serpent was born much earlier than him and even gained unparalleled power on this planet, Habisa II has now gathered considerable power—and compared to the ancient serpent, he has his own advantages.

That is, he is conforming to the earth itself beneath his feet.

The right time and place will provide for him, after all, he is working for the planet beneath his feet, and now, through his own abilities, he has gathered enough people, which means enough power.

Indeed, from the perspective of first come, first served, the ancient serpent could be called the eldest son of the planet, enjoying the planet's endless care.

But now, with the ancient serpent's betrayal, that care has been transferred to him.

When it comes to power, there is no such thing as first come, first served.

Even the position of the eldest son is the same.

"Whoever is the strongest is the eldest son!"

With this in mind, Habisa II took to the skies.

"With such power, who could possibly withstand it!"

(End of this chapter)